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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 7492797" data-attributes="member: 23484">"Just a sec," says Miss Imogen, and turns around, bounding again into the trees. A few minutes later she returns, with both of the rings she had left hidden. One is on her finger -- the signet ring given to her by her Uncle in her twelfth birthday, that arrived at Miss Enna's school only a few days late, but which was the most important gift she had ever received. "I can't do it," she tells herself. The other ring, the Ring of Winter, in her right fist. She catches up to Chrysagon, and marches past him and Weed. She is terrified, if she admits it to herself, having made a rash choice that has hurt others and violated friendships she had thought were deeper than they were. She returns to the clearing, walking between the giant statue base and the collapsed tent. She walks up to Artus Cimber, and fall on one knee, before him.Her head is bowed. This is no longer about the Sticks. She offers up her right hand, supplicating the man who had so recently been paralyzed, and from whom she had taken the ring on a caprice. "Mr Cimber," she begins, her hand outstretched. "I was sincere in my apology to you before."The mortification she feels sends a chill in her bones that is like the cold of the North wind. "But now I make what reparation I can. This ring is your burden to bear. I do not believe you should wear it, despite your mastery of it. But it is for you to take my advice or not. And if you wished, I would carry it for you that it would be destroyed. But I return it to you, and urge you to hold me responsible entirely. This was me, and not the Sticks. They seek an end to the Death Curse, and need your help, whether they ask for it or no. I do not expect to count among their number henceforth, but I offer you this ring, fully aware of what power it has, and fully aware of the strength required to master it." She does not add, "and of the envy is sows amongst friends."She feels the eyes of her companions upon her. Her outstretched hand rises up, her head bowed, as if waiting for a sword to strike. "Take the ring, if you truly wish it. Do with me as you see fit." At this she cannot help but look at Dragonbait, fearing his retribution too. "But I pray that you direct your anger at me alone, and not at my companions, who do not see the matter as I do."She holds her head bowed, her right arm outstretched and holding the Ring of Winter. She is not defending herself should anyone strike at her. She knows she is misunderstood, and remembers the experience of wearing the ring, the first new person to do so in a century, if Artus Cimber is to be believed.</blockquote>

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