"She scared you a little, huh?" asks Avi, as the sun illuminates the castle from a little higher up.
"Hm-hm."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's— I wasn't really thinking about what I was saying," says a sad Annie.
"You caught a contradiction and called it out, I get it," says Avi, as he fills a small pan with some tap water. "But you have to remember she's... thousands of years older than we are. Her life is a contradiction. Encyclopedias and history books are mere attempts to... reconstruct her real life lived experiences. And she can be intense sometimes." Avi, his hair in a ponytail, is holding a carton of eggs. "Go put these plates out. Then go apologise to her. Bonus points if you get yours out before she can apologise to you, because she will definitely have realised she was being a jerk, too."
Holding three plates, Annie smiles.