While the door used by the trespasser had been closed, it had not been locked back up. And the mutant-plant-duck never forgot to lock a door. That was how he knew something was amiss. Other than that, everything else seemed to be business as usual. Brandishing a shovel in self-defense, Bushroot skulked through his greenhouse in search of the intruder.

He wasn't prepared for what he found and if he hadn't been looking so intently, he very easily would have missed her. She was sitting with her lower back against the trunk of a banyan tree, hugging her knees to ample bosom and her head tucked down so all he could see was a mop of blonde curls and just a hint of the very tip of her bill from between her legs.

Keeping his gaze on the greenhouse stow-away, Bushroot set the shovel on the ground and straightened. "T-Tegwen?" He stammered. He hadn't seen her since November.

"Please don't make me leave," Tegwen said, neither moving from her spot nor even looking up at Bushroot.

"I -- I wouldn't," he reassured her. "B-but. . . well, uh, what're you doing here?"

"I had to get away," she replied weakly. "When I was little, I used to run away to Daddy's solarium so I thought maybe coming here would help me feel better."

Slowly, Bushroot sat on the ground about a foot away from her -- close enough to be friendly but not close enough to seem too friendly. "Do you wanna talk?"

"No." Tegwen slowly lifted her head just enough to peer at Bushroot from above the crook of her elbow. "Yes."

"Okay."

"I'm depressed."

"Obviously."

She frowned, strangely offended that he was not startled by her confession.

"Why?" He asked.

Tegwen took a deep breath. "It's what happened with Steelbeak."

"Don't be too upset over that. You're -- well, you're really pretty." He blushed. "I'm sure you'll find another guy soon enough."

"That's not it! I -- I can't believe I dated the guy who --" she stopped abruptly. "Damn it." Megavolt must have told him about their relationship. Why was everything about her public knowledge?!

"Tegwen? What did Steelbeak do to you?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

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