Sizhui's face softens, he nods in grateful acceptance for the 'sorry,' and unfolds to put on his own outer robes, too.

"I know you would have. I know I would have at least told you, if I had known what it means, what it is. It didn't start there, but the awareness did, if that makes sense? But I just mean - what I told you. What I feel. It's not just because that place was different.

"It's because of you and me."

He stands ready for them to walk back to their rooms, shoulder and elbow right next to Jingyi's.

"And I thought - we're both here. We're both pretty young. Whether I would speak now, or in a little while, as long as I'm near and you're happy, it doesn't matter too much. Especially if you never remembered - I wouldn't have want you to choose because of - a dream I had, or something that happened elsewhere, or because I said you felt a certain way. I thought with a little time between ... that and when I spoke up, that would be less under question."

Why, yes, no matter if Sizhui would have talked about Prismatica... about his feelings, he would have spoken up.

His father's example is far too important for him to even consider things otherwise.