a wedding

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It's Day 272.

It's been a while since Cobalt and Thorn were here last. The snow has melted and the trees have filled in. The branches, no longer plastic, arch overhead as if shielding the temple like a secret. Instead of the eerie hush of winter, this time the air is full of the quiet songs of birds and the droning of cicadas, and the shush of swaying leaves in the summer breeze. There's the far-off trickling of the fountain the feeds the pond; what once was a makeshift winter onsen is now alive with koi and dragonflies.