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A Ravens Heart and a Witch's Soul....(Anaeria and runawayninja only please! )

He sighed softly and nodded slowly to her. "We'll see about that. Haedrian is no ordinary vampire, I've killed those before. I'll killed many things of unusual nature and pallor before." Rafe looked down at his wounds and laid back, whispering softly. "There is a goddess that has ruled over the lands I'm from, called the Raven Lady. A minor goddess that the people of Ravenholm have served and benefited by since before our lands had a name. The Raven Knights are her hands and talons, caring for her people, meting out justice, and serving her will. Now she weeps as the people suffer and the lands grown fallow with the taint of undeath. And I, her last son, is away from Ravenholm." He growled softly in frustration at the situation. "Her clerics still do what they can, but they live and meet in secret and are nomadic by necessity. If they're caught by one of Haedrian's minions, they're killed on sight, or abducted to his castle. The fiend that did this to me was one of Haedrian's Death Knights, his undead knights. He was a particularly grim foe, called Lord Soth of Krinn. I heard in his life he murdered his wife to continue an affair with an Elf seductress." He slowly passed his hands over his wounds and the emitted a soft glow, not totally healing his wounds, but making them more manageable. "The Raven Lady is weakened, but still grants her blessings from time to time."

He looked at her with sad eyes, sad from remembering his home. "So...where are you from, Lady Ariana?" He didn't call her Lady Snow.
 
Oh thank the gods he hadn't called her Lady Snow....she'd have bitten him right then and there. His tale was similar to her own however, though her own was no less bitter. "I've never had a home, not since my magic was made known to those who would do anything to take it, use it and me for their own purposes. I was born though....so I guess I have a homeland....it's the Gods' Forest, to the northwest of here, deep, ancient forest that holds all kinds of strange and rare creatures...I grew up there, somewhat, until hunters came and captured me as a pup. Slavery for a dozen or so years turned me nomadic, and when I killed my last owner and escaped...well, I've been running since. Until this cursed place of course." Shaking her head, as much to clear her thoughts as to get some of her hair out of her face, the lycanthropic woman considered the injured knight and his wounds, then crawled forwards slowly and touched her hand to his own, the power of the storm overhead masking the energy she used to boost his godesses' magics, so his wounds would heal even faster. "How is the pain?" Her tone was more friendly once it was done, and she sat back, crosslegged in front of him so they could talk better. The horse was asleep thankfully, she didn't want to have to deal with the creature if it spooked thanks to the thunder and lightning overhead after all, though somehow she doubted the animal would do so, it seemed much calmer than she was herself.
 
"I'm very sorry to hear that. Unreasonable people make life so difficult. Some people do not respect the lives or wills of others. I can tell you are one that is determined to ran wild and free, not bound by the will of another. I will help you get free, if that is your wish." He gave her a soft smile to try and put her at ease, seeing that she seemed to be a serious and troubled individual. "I'll give you my word. If it hadn't have been for you, I would've fallen prey to Lord Soth's venom." He stretched a bit, still wincing. "It hurts some, but only when I force it. Thank you for the assistance."

Rafe lifted a curious eyebrow at her. "A pup you say? Were you raised by wolves?"
 
Raising her own eyebrow at his question, the woman snorted then bared suddenly fully canine teeth around a muzzle covered in white fur, canine ears and a woman's body, though just her head shifted forms and spoke "I wasn't raised by them, I was raised AS one human." Reverting herself easily once she'd spoken and gotten her point across hopefully, she looked at him seriously then snorted. "I don't care if you do kill those who are unnatural, if you try to kill me I'll rip your throat out....or Lord Rose will. Thank you for the assistance, if you still wish to give it though." Her words were quiet as she considered him, then sighed and laid her hand over his wounds again, a pulse of energy lighting her palm up with white, powerful healing light for a split moment before she sagged backwards and winced.

She wasn't any good with healings after all, and apparently, judging by the wounds that were now on her own back, all except for one which remained on him, she was better at transferring injuries than simply healing them, though her own healing ability took over quickly and began to seal the wounds over while healing her up. "Huh. Never done that before....hope the freaks didn't notice..."
 
He looked at her as she regarded him carefully and with a small amount of defensive hostility. He didn't like it, but he understand that it was probably because if the life she had to live. Hard lives breed hard people, he knew this well. "I assure you, I have given my word, and I won't go back on it. I was told once, that a person is born into the world only with their word. All other things are given to them, their word is the only thing they have that is truly theirs. Once you have broken it, it is useless and people will remember that. I confess, I have fought and slain lycanthropes before, but only because they worked for Haedrian, not because of what they were. I did know a silvery werewolf once who assisted me, so I know not all are the same."

He noticed what she did and raised an eyebrow. "You are indeed an unusually gifted one...I suppose this Rose Lord is powerful indeed to put you on a leash...but I won't go back on my word, I will help you however I can." He slowly sat up and looked at her, smiling just a bit. "So do you choose to live as a wolf? Is that why you prefer...simplicity?" He was referring to her nudity more than anything else.
 
Ariana smiled slowly at his admissions, the shrugged her shoulders when he asked her about her choices. "I like my fur, and it pisses the Rose Lord off that I don't wear the clothing he chooses for me. I find a great delight in pissing him off, especially when he tries to be 'nice' to me and let's me wander around as I like until he needs to bring me to heel." Comfortable in a cross legged position now, she yawned and looked at the roof of her little home silently for a moment she shook her head and laid down on the bedding, curled up beside the man. If he wished to kill her while she slept she had no problem accepting that, but he was a knight, and his honor to him was apparently everything and she believed that he would help her...somehow. "You should get some rest, it will help your wounds to heal...the storm will last the night, so you'll be safe so long as you don't use magics once it's over, or keep it small enough to not be noticed, the Rose Lord had a sensory spell put over this place and it's taken me forever to figure out its perimeters.....anything higher than a candle flame....is noticed." And then like that, she was asleep, curled up against him as the wounds she'd transferred from him to herself healed up, leaving a few tiny pink scars that faded from sight within minutes.
 
Rafe watched her sleep for a short while and felt that she were a caged animal. It was wrong to treat her this way, but then he hardly knew her, it was a bad idea to pretend like he did. Rafe finished his half-loaf of bread and then he closed his eyes and relaxed against the bedding, letting drowsiness overtake him to the land of sleep and dreams.

In the morning, Rafe was awakened to the morning light streaming in through the small hut and he stood up and stretched as much as his body would allow him to. Not really caring about his state of dress since the present company didn't care much about her's, he began to pray to the Raven Lady softly and silently to not awaken his hostess, if she was asleep. Then he started to do some basic exercises intended to keep him in shape. When that was done, he took his blade and did some simple sword exercises, given the limited space. It was his morning ritual.
 
Waking up herself while her guest stretched and did his daily routine, Ariana considered his form in the morning sunlight and smiled slowly. He really was an appealing man to look over; not too heavily bulked out in muscle, but not a weakling either. She was attracted to him, and that was mildly disturbing to her, who had never been attracted to anyone before. Ever. Closing her eyes and then opening them again with a yawn, she stretched luxuriously in her pile of rags and torn bedding and then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes in order to watch him move about, emerald eyes soft in the dawn lighting.
 
Rafe moved through some basic motions with his sword, guards and thrusts, gripping the hilt and the blunt base of the blade like it were a short spear, but his practices turned into slow dance-like movements, guarding and striking invisible targets and guarding against non-existent hits. He used all parts of the sword, the tip, the blade, the pommel, and the guard. He even switched up his grip on the sword, sometimes grabbing it as a huge, two-handed sword with wide swings, but even these were slow, measured, and controlled. His style was disciplined and fluid. When he was done, his bare chest, shoulders, and flat stomach had a fine sheen of sweat on them, and he dug the top of the sword into the ground, leaning on it a bit as he looked at her. "Good morning...I feel very good considering my shape last night...thank you again, I imagine it was a lot of your doing. So...is there anything I can do? I'm not even sure if I can leave this hut."
 
His words when he addressed her were more personable and she smiled and sat up in her bedding, not caring that she looked rather like she'd gone through a bout of good sex as she looked him over. "To be honest, I don't know where to start with this. The Rose Lord is powerful, and I think the only way to deal with getting me freed is to kill him but I'm not sure. He's too powerful for me to defeat on my own and....I don't honestly know how he is with a weapon, I've never seen him fight though he looks like a strong wind could blow him over." Shaking her head, she rummaged around in the bedding and pulled out a small picture that Rose had given her of the men, to 'help her remember who was who'. Not that she needed the help of course, she knew their names, their favorite foods, the women the sons liked to bed and various other things, all of which she told to the knight, sitting crosslegged again with a small frown on her face.
 
He paused in the middle of a two-handed thrust, holding his blade like a spear as his body was pushed forward in a lunge, his weight mostly resting on his right leg and foot which was bent before him, his left leg extended behind him for leverage. His musculature was well-defined in this flexed state with the morning light streaming in upon his form. If he looked dainty or slight in the pale moonlight or the raging storm last night, now he was different. He looked as though he could fight a much larger man, with danger seeping through his pores as the sword was positioned to stab right through someone's head who was of comparable height to him. Indeed, head blows were what his fighting style primarily called for. Body blows risked too much of the sword becoming stuck in muscle, bone, and armor.

He stood there for a long moment, letting her words hang in the air before he slowly straightened himself up and he looked over at her. "You say he's powerful...so risking fighting him without a measure of his abilities is suicide. So...let's run. Let's get you out of here...maybe we can flee and hide in Ravenholm. I can't guarantee safety, but there...I know the dangers there. I don't know what's here. And there's no Rose Lord there."
 
Looking the knight over carefully as he paused, the wolf woman raised her eyebrows slowly, having to almost literally tear her attention away from the way his muscles moved under his skin. His scent was also.....quite nice actually, and she found her mouth getting dry until he said some of the stupidest words she'd ever heard. Uttering a short, sharp bark of laughter that held absolutely no humour to it whatsoever, she brushed her hair back away from her face and shook her head. "Don't you think I've tried to get away? I can't get ten feet past the edge of the third tree in the forest without being forced to return....the magic that holds me here turns everything violent, cruel...I can't escape on my own or I would have. Years ago."

She wanted to go, she needed to escape so badly it made her itch to run and hide, but she couldn't, and the frustration and horror that she went through as she realized, yet again, that she was trapped sapped the energy out of her limbs and made her shiver. "...I'm strong...but not as strong as I need to be...and if by some miracle we do escape, his sons will come after me. And they aren't to be trifled with either." She knew of only one person, one person who was awake at least, who knew more about the magic that Orlouge used, Lady White Rose, Rosy as she'd told Ariana to call her over and over again over the years, was very much adept at the magics she used, and was nearly an equal to the Rose Lord and his power, though she was by far too meek and gentle to attempt an escape of her own volition, one of the only reasons, Ariana was certain, on why she still remained awake.
 
The Lion Princess was, perhaps, the fiercest member of the court aside from Orlouge himself. She had melded magic and fighting form into a deadly art, something that she took pains to remind Ariana about whenever she got the chance. But White Rose was no weakling either. She just usually kept her magics in reserve, often only demonstrating them in forms of amusement like music and the arts. But those few times, usually in training, that she did display her potence, there was little question as to what degree of mastery she possessed over her Mystic blood. Rafe was about to reply to Ariana, having broken his stance to dig his sword's blade into the ground to lean a bit on his length as fine sweat ran down the length of his exposed torso when a familiar, musical voice announced it's presence, like a songbird.

"Hellooooo Lady Ari...I've brought some delicious..." White Rose's voice caught in her throat and her pale flesh caught a rather deep shade of crimson, as if her white roses had turned red. There, standing through the doorway of the hut was White Rose, intent on one of her regular visits with her more feral friend, when what should greet her eyes, but the sight of Ariana in a state of disrobe, and a glistening, half-naked young man whom she had never seen before. White Rose slowly took a step backward, unable to react otherwise as she nearly lost her grip on her woven basket of pastries. She had never seen a male stranger in decades. She looked at him and then to Ariana, unsure of how to react, her mouth hanging slightly ajar. Rafe could only reaffirm his grip on his zweihander, unsure of if the well-dressed young woman before him was friend or foe. He had seen many pretty faces turn deadly before.
 
Ariana went pale as well as Rose opened her door and stepped in with a cheerful, singsongy voice that died a horribly fast death at the sight of the two people in the hut. Getting to her feet, completely careless as to her nudity, the wolf woman lunged forwards and grabbed Rose's wrists, pulling her inside with a gentleness she'd normally not have as the young woman stepped back a pace as though she were going to run. Shutting the door to her home quickly, she slid down the wall slowly into a heap, staring at the one woman who had tried so hard to become her friend over the last few years, her determination winning a place in the wolf womans' heart and her respect. She'd seriously begun thinking of a relationship with the other woman as well, she was certainly beautiful, and was her type once she had gotten past her mastery over the magic that Ariana hated so much, but hadn't acted on it yet and was stunned that her plans were going to be disrupted so damned fast now. She knew that Rose disliked the Rose Lord almost as much as she did, but she wasn't certain of her loyalties even to this day. "Rose......you shouldn't be here yet...it's not even noon..." Dumbly, since she had no idea what else to say, Ariana looked between her and her new 'guest' then smiled weakly. "Rosy....this is uhm....this is Rafe....he uh....Rafe, White Rose...she's...uhm...." At a loss for words herself now, she felt her cheeks turn a light pink in embarrassment and plopped her head in her hands as confusion got the better of her...and certain other emotions as well.
 
White Rose wasn't quite sure how to react and she shifted her weight, slight as it was, from one leg to another as she clung to the basket with both hands. She was unsure of this situation. Rafe himself felt the tension in the air and thought that anything he might say might make things worse, but he felt something had to break this unbearably stiffing silence. He smiled and bowed his head at the neck. "A pleasure to meet you Lady White Rose..." Rafe's eyes might have feasted on the beautiful noblewoman, but the tension was just too much for such a possibly improper greeting.

"Let's move fast..." That was White Rose's reply as she looked worriedly at Ariana. "Orlouge hasn't noticed him, at least he didn't say anything to me. I don't know what Orlouge would do, there hasn't been another man here besides his sons since I've been here. Do you want to condemn him to live like we do? Or worse? Maybe I can shield his escape, but if he stays...Orlouge will learn of him."
 
Roses words jolted Ariana, who nodded after she looked up in surprise at the direct words. Normally her Rose was more delicate, more diplomatic, gentle. But this side of her was also amazing, and she took another little piece of her heart....and Ariana knew she couldn't leave without her. "I'm going with him. I have to Rose, this place is killing me as surely as if Orlouge had shoved a knife in my heart and cut it out of my chest." Getting to her feet again, she headed for the delicate beauty, her hands moving to Rose's face gently, using much more care than she ever had, her green eyes serious.

"I need you to come with me....I can't take the idea of what he'd do to you if he discovered you'd helped. You might be a near match for him magically, but you and I both know you don't hate him nearly enough to do what needs to be done to keep him away from us permanently." Her words were calm, cold as she spoke of killing the one who had forced her to learn magics, the one who held the women here hostage as surely as if he'd put chains about their necks. Taking her hands gently in her own, more rough skinned ones, Ariana looked at Rafe carefully for a moment then at the horse. "Can she move with three? I can work with Rose to conceal us but you'll have to direct, since you're not under His command...."
 
Rafe looked at the two of them and then he figured he understood their relationship better now. If one couldn't leave without the other, it meant more than mere friendship and that meant Rafe wasn't likely to find much than a friend here. He walked over to his warhorse and slowly ran his hand down along her back. "Give her the pastries, she'll need the energy and the rush. Three is going to push it, but Lady White Rose doesn't weigh nearly as much as either of us, and I've ridden Alexandria in full plate, which is almost as much as two people. We won't be able to sprint for long, so I hope this guy's reach isn't far. After that, it's cross-country pace, that's a mix of trot and a light gallop." He ran his fingers through the horse's mane slowly and softly.

White Rose looked fearful and though she didn't break Ariana's grasp of her hands, she couldn't look her in the eyes. "I'm...not sure about this. We're no match for all of them if we fail to escape, Orlouge, the Lion Princess, and his sons are more than a match for us...if this doesn't work..."

Rafe whistled softly and before long there was a raven at the window. Rafe walked to it and muttered softly to the raven. Then it gave a caw and took wing. "Deus will keep a look out, if anyone else approaches, I'll know about it..."
 
Ariana scented the air, then frowned slightly at Rose's hesitation. "You want to leave almost as badly as me Rose, you've said so before, remember that night it poured and you came out here to cry? With us working together we can escape, I'm much farther along in my 'studies' as you think I am." To prove it, she sent a subtle, gentle swell of energy through to the other woman, the power a boost that most couldn't control nearly as well as she could, they tended to give all of their energy, whereas she only gave her Rose, the only one here with a name like that who didn't reek of the scent of it, a minute bit of her energy to help bolster her.

"Besides....if I leave with Rafe, I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. You're the only friend I have here, and it's impossible for a wolf to leave a pack mate behind in a dangerous situation, do you understand?" The soft whistle caught her attention then, and Ariana and Rose both watch as Rafe muttered to the raven, then spoke to them, Ariana's hands letting go of her only friends'. She found the both of them incredibly attractive, Rose for her friendship and loyalty and caring heart, and Rafe for more physical purposes at the moment, though that was perhaps her heat, which was coming on fairly soon this year it seemed. She'd always locked herself within her hut when her Yearly Heat came about, as her scent tended to drive males of all species insane with lust until she was sated or the heat dissipated. Even Orlouge had been nearly powerless under it when he had deigned to come out to her when he had felt her powers spiking so dangerously high the first year. Hell, she'd nearly jumped his bones then too and they had avoided each other during her Time since then, The Rose Lord actually having found her threatening enough to warn his sons away from her during her Heats.

"I will tell you now, if everything else fails, collar and muzzle me and drag me along behind the horse, I'll keep up either way, but I won't be able to move without direction of some kind, so if your horse begins to founder at all I will run with her alright? I know I have rope around here somewhere...." Looking about the rag strewn room, she sank to her knees, ass in the air, and began to tear up piles of old rags in search of the softer rope that she normally used during her heat to tie herself to her hut in case she ever broke the door down.
 
White Rose still looked unsure, but she walked to the horse and began to feed her the pastries, a look of uncertainty on her face, but her actions speaking to her silent agreement with the plan. She softly pet the horse's muzzle as she fed her. Rafe put his shirt on and started to strap on his used armor, a lighter and more flexible armor than even field plate, which was itself lighter and more maneuverable than full plate. He sheathed his blade into the horse's side and packed up his other things, silently praying. He looked at Ariana. "I doubt it'll come to that." He looked at her rear high in the air, but quickly broke off that look. "Just provide the magic and I'll do what I can to provide the speed, how much time until you're ready? I can go when you're prepared." White Rose certainly wasn't going back to the castle, she was going with what she had.
 
Ariana finally pulled up the rope with a soft "Got it!" Just as Rafe spoke up, and she looked over with a short nod, her hands working fast to make the muzzle and lead that would be used for her to help her get out of the forest without biting anyone in terror. "How is your horse with carrying prey animals? I don't smell like one but she's steady enough with me as I am, and I'll be lighter as baggage and less able to hurl myself off the saddle if I'm tied to it better...." Shaking her head slightly as she considered ending up somehow sliding under the horse due to the ropes getting tied wrong or something, she nudged the muzzle and lead to Rose as then smiled quietly before she shifted.

The move was fast, fluid and silent but for a sharp, quiet crack of displaced air, and then she was Wolf once more, shaking out her white fur and looking to Rose with much more friendliness than she ever had before, even as the woman placed the muzzle and lead around her mouth and throat. ~"I will leave it up to you how you wish to bring me, I can run for days without stopping, and I can move fast too, so it's entirely up to you two as the riders."~ Her words came like a quiet whisper, telepathy not even counting as magic since it was so subtle and used by many in this world. Looking around at the hut that she had called her Den for the last forever odd years, the white wolf had absolutely no regrets about her actions, and what she intended on doing, none in the slightest as she turned brilliantly intelligent eyes to the two two legged beings and the horse.
 
Rafe stared at Ariana and tilted his head a bit. "Intriguing...somehow I'm never prepared for that. But I suppose that's usually when they happens, they try to tear my throat out." He looked at her for a long moment, thinking. "Do you think you can run with us instead of riding? Wolves are quite fast...I don't know how far we have to get to, but do you think you can sprint that far? If you can, it'll be much better if you run. If not, I'll...find a way to get you on the horse I suppose."

White Rose set the empty basket and knelt down to Ariana, softly running her hands through her fur. "You're very calm for this...I suppose when there is no danger you get agitated, when trouble is afoot, that's when you relax?" She smiled a bit playfully.
 
Ariana nudged Rose's hand lightly and gave her a doggy grin, responding easily to them both so they could understand. ~"As long as the rope leads me, I can follow you on all fours, it's not a problem for me to keep up at a full out gallop of any horse I've ever met. Just....don't let the rope go or get snapped or something okay? The magic that bastard has on me makes me see and hear and smell some really horrible things, and I can't handle it unless I have something physical to hold onto, so having me being led, by the nose as it were, will work, I know it will."~ Nudging Rose again as she felt her hands in her fur, she was gentle with her nudging then went to Rafe and nudged him as well, affectionately as she had done to Rose. She wasn't jealous, or envious of either, and was attracted to both, so she showed it, though she was a bit more tolerant of Rose, who knew more about her than Rafe did at the moment.

After a few minutes, she shook herself and headed for the door slowly, the end of her rope not yet attached to the saddle or whomever would hang onto it. ~"I uh....can't open the door like this....or tie the rope guys...little help?"~ She was ridiculously excited at the idea of freedom now, and it showed as her tail began to wag and her ears were perked up, the first they'd been in years almost, except for that time when Rose had shown up with a huge ball of some tough, springy material she'd called rubber, something she'd made from magic. Gods that had been fun to play with, until she'd accidentally sent it bouncing into the forest, past where she had to stop and turn back.
 
Rafe was reluctant to tie a rope to her and the horse, for fear of dragging her or the rope becoming caught on something. "Alright, but listen to me. If something happens and I start to drag you or the rope catches on something, you howl, howl loudly. And if you get separated and the rope is cut, you howl at that too to get my attention. I'll send Deus to help guide you out, if he can." He sighed and tied the rope to the front of the saddle and then the other end to her body rather than her neck. He didn't want the rope to snag and then choke her or snap her neck. Rafe then helped White Rose up into the saddle and he opened the door and mounted the horse before White rose, his arms firmly around her to take the reigns. "Hope you both are ready..."

White Rose had her eyes closed by now and she was firmly locked in a trance, whispering words of might to help her concentration as she focused, not to fight Orlouge's clairvoyance, but to mask their presences.

"Let's go! HYAH!" Rafe kicked into the sides of his destrier and sent her barreling out of the hut towards the forest line.
 
~"Ignore me. If the rope snaps while we're on the run I'll be caught and that will be that. The magic that Orlouge put on me will take my mind, make me see and hear and feel and smell horrendous things, including probably mistaking you and the horse and such as enemies. Ignore me until we get away."~ With that order given, her tone entirely serious, since Rose only knew what it was that the red headed woman saw in any of her forms, Ariana followed quickly, grateful for his changing of where the rope was tied, she hadn't thought of that positioning really, only that she didn't want to bite one of them if she lost it too far, she'd done that before and spent a week in isolation when her brain had disconnected from reality, almost permanently. Something else she had yet to thank White Rose for. The horse was fast, she had to admit that and did so easily just before they hit that blasted line.

Then her world went bad. Horrendous. The thing pulling her was monstrous, with three heads and scales and claws, it's tail was wrapped around her chest and it was dragging her towards a cavern in the forest where she knew it would eat her only after doing other horrible things to her. She didn't know what those horrible things were but she knew they were be painful. So she tried to bite, the piece of rope about her muzzle preventing that, the smaller section having been cut from the rope that went about her chest to her muzzle preventing her from biting but registering as a clawed grip, disembodied so that she was forced to run with the tail that was wrapped around her, following the beast even as she tried to skitter away, her mind completely swamped with the horrors that Orlouge's magic made her see. Thankfully, she'd already given White Rose some of her magic, she was useless like this, and she kept trying to lunge away from the horse and its riders, perceiving them as the threat within seconds of entering the forest.
 
Rafe kept pushing the horse on faster as he now saw he had something to run from as well as towards. He whistled loudly and Deus came swooping down onto Ariana with talons and beak, not trying to harm her, just distract her, by clinging and pecking on her back and the back of her head, harrying her. Rafe kept riding through the woods at breakneck speed, trying to get away from that cursed land as fast as possible. White Rose was mentally crumbling as they rode away, gasping and crying out as he mental defenses were assailed. Orlouge knew at this point...
 
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