Book 3: Chapter 25: Getting out of Hand

Jun looked back through the closing gap of the courtyard gateway.

Shui sat on the steps of the eastern wing with her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on top of them. The massive hammer lay across her lap like a sleeping pet she couldn't bring herself to put down. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. Her lower lip jutted out far enough to land a bird on. The perfumed scarf hung limp around her neck, forgotten, and her hair was a disaster that suggested she'd spent the entire night tossing and turning and arguing with her pillow about the fundamental injustice of the universe.

Ta Rae's branches hovered above her in a loose canopy, occasionally dropping a leaf onto her head in what the tree probably thought was comforting.

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