Chapter Text
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The young prince woke up early on his birthday with the sun rising through his balcony doors. With a yawn and a stretch, Tango jumped out of bed to get dressed, giddy with anticipation.
It was somewhat of a surprise that these special occasions still held just as much excitement now as they did when he was little. His dad always planned something special for his children’s birthdays, and didn’t seem to waver from the tradition as they got closer to coming of age. Tango’s eldest brother was considered an adult well over a year ago, and yet he could recall their father still making plans with Sausage.
Tango never knew when his birthday actually was and probably never would. As a Nether foundling, he had stumbled through a wild portal into the Overworld when he was only a couple years old. A tiny orphan, all alone in an unfamiliar land.
His mother, Empress Eris, held a deep belief that the gods and universe itself must have chosen them to be his guardians, his protectors. The odds that a royal family from one of the largest nations happening upon Tango, a small toddler, hiding and scared, while wintering in the countryside, were vast enough for the empress to believe in a higher power’s meddling. She and her husband didn’t even think twice about raising him alongside their three other children.
The anniversary of the day their family became whole would always be celebrated. It became Tango’s birthday. Today in fact, eighteen years ago.
The servants had already filled his washbasin before he woke up. Brushing his sharp pointed teeth and washing his face, Tango was reminded, yet again, that he and his brother, Fwhip, needed to get proper plumbing installed.
As Tango began to freshen up for the day, picking out something to at least wear to breakfast and knowing he might need to change depending on what the day’s plans turned out to be, he couldn’t help thinking about how much he had been missing his dad lately.
Emperor Mythical V had been busy, more so than usual. The Nether was beginning to allow access to traders from the Overworld through the central portal, but there was disagreement amongst the rulers of the ten Overworld nations as to whether or not to allow the Nether to send their own traders. Some nations’ inhabitants lived long enough to remember the last war nearly five centuries ago, and were still wary of the current Nether queen’s supposed peaceful intentions.
Between managing his own empire’s affairs, and seemingly endless meetings with the other rulers who could not seem to come to any agreement that satisfied all parties, King Myth was swamped with his responsibilities. Tango knew, though, that despite all of the political nonsense that was taking place, his father would still make time for him today.
He got dressed, straightened his unruly hair as best he could, and began to make his way down to breakfast. He wondered what his father had planned; it was always something different every year.
The last several years, Tango’s father had taken him on extended trips to the other territories of their empire. The trip he remembered most fondly was visiting the Grimlands. He became enamored with the technologies being developed by the engineers and mechanics that seemed to populate a good portion of the territory. It was no secret how fascinated the emperor was by all the inventions that were being worked on through the use of redstone dust and sulfur. Father and son bonded well on that trip.
The trip to the Royal Mythland Barracks wasn’t nearly as nice. He was never very good with combat training, unlike his eldest brother, Sausage. The barracks was where the knights of Mythland trained as young warriors, for many generations long before Mythland became the central territory of the Wither Rose Empire.
The old knights who acted as instructors had noted Tango’s exceptional strength and dexterity, but despite being fast and strong, Tango seemed to lack the necessary reflexes to be anything more than barely adequate with melee. That went double for his aim with ranged weaponry, though he chalked that up to the world being too bright for his otherworldly eyes.
Sausage was great with all types of weapons. When Tango returned home, Sausage offered to teach his brother more. Tango never seemed to show any improvement but was always able to defend himself properly, which he credited to the lessons his brother gave him.
Fighting was one thing, but attempting to learn magic was another. Tango could not practice human magic like his sister, Gem, it turned out.
The year they journeyed to the Crystal Cliffs, the hope was the wizards would be able to help Tango control his inherent abilities with fire, and that some of those innate abilities could translate into the magicks the wizards of the territory practiced.
Sadly, neither would turn out to be true. A blazeborn’s living flame was nothing like the fire magic that humans were capable of wielding. His fire was very much a part of him physically, and he was forced to find alternatives to controlling when his hair ignited, and his body grew to temperatures that could burn anything with a touch.
As luck would have it though, his parents did eventually find an older Netherian willing to work as a tutor. They helped him learn at least some control to the more fiery aspects of his physiology. The only downside was that Tango’s mentor wasn’t a blazeborn, and could only share things they had learned second-hand.
Even second-hand knowledge was far better than anything the wizards of the Crystal Cliffs tried. They were ultimately of no help, and the temperatures had been too cold for most of Tango’s stay. It ranked amongst his least favorite birthdays.
After the first trip to the Grimlands, Fwhip finally allowed Tango access to his workshop. Together, the two brothers had spent most of the last few years visiting the Grimlands, going back and forth between their mother’s family estate in Eastvale and their castle home in Mythland.
They often spent weeks at a time there. Working on designing contraptions and learning everything they could from the engineers and mechanics that lived there. While he would never admit it, Tango often considered Fwhip the better designer. But if you asked anyone who had interacted with the brothers mid-project, it was clear that Fwhip secretly thought Tango was the better engineer. Neither ever voiced these opinions to each other, but it was obvious whenever they chose roles from project to project.
Our latest contraption will have to wait though, Tango thought as he entered the dining hall. Today would be for whatever surprise his dad had in store for him. Birthdays in the Witherrose household were always treated as sacred, holy, even, some would say. They rarely all dined together as a family, but on birthdays, breakfast together was mandatory. It was a tradition his mom had continued from her parents. Tango wasn’t sure if other royal houses acted as domestically as his for birthdays, but he couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Tango remembered the last breakfast for Gem and Fwhip’s birthday. His father got excited over the plans he and Fwhip had been drawing up for a series of traps to help their dad and/or Sausage next time they went hunting.
Tango realized, when he entered the small family dining hall, that he was the first to arrive for breakfast. It was early, and the kitchen staff were just starting to set the table. If Tango was being honest, though, this was not a familiar sight. His birthday seemed to be the only day he was an early riser.
Bowls of fresh fruit were the only food present so far. The remainder of it would likely be brought out hot once the rest of the family gathered. Attempting to remain out of the staff’s way, Tango sat down and reached for an apple from one of the bowls, only to have it snatched from his taloned grasp.
“Happy birthday baby brother!” Sausage startled him from behind with a wildly excited shout. He playfully grabbed the apple and took a large bite, dodging the servants that weaved around him.
“Hey!” Tango yelled. “Rude.” He scoffed as he watched his first bite to eat all day, taken instead by the elder sibling.
“Sorry, had to take the first bite, it’s your birthday, what if it was poisoned?” Sausage joked.
He tossed the half-eaten apple back to Tango and planted a large kiss on Tango’s forehead while still chewing. Fumbling the catch, while trying to simultaneously wipe the smear of apple juice Sausage’s kiss left behind, Tango made a disgusted face and laughed.
“Eww! Like anyone wants to off me. It’s too early to be this ridiculous and gross, Sausage.” Tango took a look at the unfinished apple, then his brother, and proceeded to finish the half-eaten fruit he caught.
Sausage giggled and shook his head. “Hey, there’s plenty of crazy people out there, you never know. Plus, my actual gift for you is gonna be late. So for the time being, I will be my little brother’s food taster.”
He took his seat next to Tango, eyeing the fruit dishes for a moment, before finally settling on a small bunch of green grapes. He leaned back and chucked a grape into the air, catching it with his mouth.
“He hasn’t been little since he got taller than me,” Fwhip complained as he entered the hall from across the two. Taking his seat across from Tango and grabbing a slice of melon, he chuckled.
“By like four inches dude, it’s not that much!” Tango rolled his eyes at Fwhip.
“He’s just sore cause even his own twin is a couple centimeters taller than him, the tiny man!” Sausage cackled.
“She is not. I told you guys, she wears heels.”
“I don’t wear heels, Fwhip,” Gem said casually as she entered the room.
“Betrayal!” Fwhip shouted in mock pain as his brothers began giggling uncontrollably. “First my lead engineer dares to have his birthday, and now my own twin calls out my bluff. I won’t ever recover!” he satirically cried.
“I tried telling you that we shouldn’t start the automatic storage device yet!” Tango defended himself.
Gem didn’t bother trying. “Oh leave him alone, it’s his birthday,” she scolded her twin as she took her seat next to him. “If this is still about that silly automatic wardrobe for all of Sausage’s outfits, I think it can wait.” Gem rolled her eyes and began scanning the table.
Ignoring the protests of Sausage claiming his wardrobe ‘wasn’t that big’, Tango beat Fwhip to a response. “Thanks Gem, but no, we moved beyond that system last week, although it is based around those initial designs that we-”
Gem raised a hand. “Please, it’s too early for me to try and even pretend I understand half of what you and Fwhip go on about with all that stuff.” Pots of coffee and tea were placed on the table and Tango saw Gem immediately reach for the coffee. “It’s not like any of us ever pass up what dad plans for us. You can’t expect Tango to want to spend it working on some dumb contraption.”
At this, the mechanically inclined brothers responded with a wounded ‘hey!’ in unison. As Gem waved off their grievance with a muttered “Sorry, smart contraption,” their parents finally joined them at the table.
“Good morning children,” the empress smiled as her husband helped her with her chair. “Happy birthday, Tango. I hope you enjoy your surprise as much as your father seems to think you will.” She raised an eyebrow towards her husband. Tango didn’t miss the faint smile tinged with worry his dad flashed towards his mom, before taking a seat and smiling proudly at his family.
The emperor was a large man in both height and girth, well muscled from years of combat training. He had brown hair, and a full mustache and beard covered much of his face. His green eyes starkly contrasted his wife’s sky blue ones. The empress kept her long red hair tightly braided the majority of the time, but this morning it hung loose down the length of her back.
As the two rulers got settled, the kitchen staff brought out trays of eggs, pastries, and various breakfast meats. The family began to fill their plates, passing trays to one another as needed. Carafes of cherry and apple juice were set out, alongside two pitchers of water. It was terribly domestic, and something that all of the Witherrose siblings knew their father did more so for their mother on their birthdays than for them. Alongside their birthday traditions, her family had been much less formal than most noble households, and it was something that their father loved to indulge in ever since choosing her as his bride.
Not even two bites into his meal, Tango couldn’t resist any longer and finally broke, “So Pop, what are we doing this year?” He looked towards his dad and continued to prattle on excitedly, “If it means a trip over to Eastvale, I would love a chance to show you what Fwhip and I were working on there at the chateau last month, we redesigned the entire plumbing system.”
Setting down his napkin, King Myth looked towards his youngest with a careful smile, “Well, Tango, I actually have a bit of a further destination in mind, opposite direction really, how would you feel about visiting an old friend of mine in Rivendell?”
Tango missed the glances his sister and Sausage exchanged when their father mentioned the elven kingdom just west of the Crystal Cliffs, but Tango’s curiosity was now dancing with his excitement, as he had never had reason to venture outside of their empire before; he still had a few years left before it would be expected.
“What would we be doing?” Tango asked, with Sausage on the heels of his brother’s question asking one of his own, “Is it your old hunting buddy dad?”
Their father looked towards both of them, answering both questions while filling his glass from the carafe of apple juice. “Yes Sausage, I received an owl from Ilyn a few days ago. It would appear that one of their forest villages is being overrun with wild boars. It’s the start of the winter hunting season there, so his other game wardens are otherwise occupied, and he needs any help that can be offered.” Emperor Myth took a long drink from his glass and then turned his look slightly more towards Tango, “He also said that he is bringing Prince Scott with him. After telling him about your birthday, and given how close the two of you are in age, he felt that it would be a fun outing for all four of us. What do you say son?”
Tango rubbed a hand along the back of his neck as he considered what his dad was proposing. A trip outside of the empire sounded like it could be fun, exciting even, his curiosity was definitely trying to drag him by the sleeve, but, “I’m not that great with weapons dad, especially my aim with a bow. Wouldn’t Sausage be better to take with you?”
“Nonsense,” his father huffed, “It’s your birthday, this’ll be a chance for us to spend nearly a week together, maybe more. And if I recall from the twins’ birthday, weren’t you and your brother designing some redstone based traps?” The emperor waved his fingers, “Something to do with wires and pushing stuff around or dropping things?”
“It’s a dispenser Dad, not a dropper.” Fwhip interjected, reaching for a sweetberry muffin.
The emperor waved his hand at this, finishing chewing a bite of his meal, “Whatever the devices are called, whatever the supplies you need, you should pack them Tango. I remembered enough of you boys going on and on about it a couple months ago. With how excited the two of you got, it piqued my interest. I think an overpopulation of wild boars is a great test to see how many of the beasts your traps can ensnare.” His father took another drink, this time a sip of the coffee he had poured himself earlier, finally cooled enough to his liking. “And it just so happens that I mentioned your trap ideas to Ilyn in my last correspondence with him, and in this latest letter he wrote that he thought it would be a good idea as well, given that they are only attempting to thin the numbers, not wipe out the beasts. If the traps you set manage to catch the beasts alive, that is better, given that we need to leave some alive to maintain the population.”
Gem set down her fork, “How bad has it gotten though? He said the village was overrun?”
“Yes,” their father nodded, slicing a piece of steak, he chewed it, then while nodding before answering his daughter’s query further, “The loggers who work out in the forest maintaining their timber supplies have reported several injuries, a few severe, luckily no deaths yet.”
Tango noticed a shiver run through Sausage seated next to him. He knew his older brother had hunted boar before, and even witnessed a hunter being gored to death once. Sausage attempted levity when telling his siblings about it after, saying that it alleviated any guilt he ever felt when eating bacon, but they all saw the haunted look in his eyes that told them how truly awful the experience really was.
“The village is gathering as many abled bodied people as they can, to both assist in the hunting and to butcher and preserve the meat for the village’s larder. Ilyn will be organizing everyone and I’ll be assisting him however I can. When he and I are occupied with that part of the trip, Ilyn thought it might be nice for you and the prince to get to know one another.”
Another look was exchanged between Tango’s older siblings and this time he took notice. There was something there, something unspoken that he knew he was going to have to wait until their parents were not present to find out what it truly meant.
“So, are you up to spending a week, showing off your traps to a couple old hunters?” The emperor’s gaze settled on his youngest with a fond smile.
Tango already knew, it wasn’t a difficult choice. The chance alone, to travel and spend time catching up with his dad was already enough, but to get to test the traps he and his brother designed in what sounded like perfect conditions was an opportunity he’d be a fool to pass up.
Returning his father’s gaze, something in him needed to reaffirm that this was for him alone. “Are we bringing Sausage? Or did you want Fwhip to help me with the traps?” Tango asked hesitantly, a smile still on his features, but his tail was anxiously wound tight around his leg, out of sight of his family under the table.
“That’s entirely up to you. This is your birthday we’re celebrating.” His father answered, seemingly leaving it up to Tango’s discretion before both brothers spoke, one following the other.
“I have a trade negotiation to help Mom with in Oceana this week,” Sausage said. “I promised her I would bring the boys with as royal escort.” Sausage’s boys were his best friends and knights of the empire who grew up and trained alongside him. Owen, Jevin, Skizz, and Wels were his brother’s best friends and knew all of Sausage’s siblings well because of it. Tango was only close with Skizz though, who treated him like a little brother same as Sausage.
“And since I’m losing my engineering partner all week,” Fwhip smirked at his brother, undermining the irritation he sarcastically laced his words with. “I’m going to have to do twice the work to see if we can get the new hopper-cart storage system working for the smiths in the city.”
“Just send a raven to Zed.” Tango offered, “Last he told me, he didn’t have any major projects on the books, I’m sure he’d be happy to take my place.”
“Yeah, but he isn’t you. If something blows up I’m holding you responsible.” Fwhip teased.
“That settles it then.” Their mother finally spoke, having spent most of the conversation silently listening and eating. “After breakfast, the two of you will get packed. It’s almost a three day journey by horse if I recall correctly. We’ll have a carriage setup for you two and an empty wagon ready for you to load whatever supplies you’ll need to take.’ She turned to her husband, “You should try to be ready to leave just after lunch. You’ll want to meet up with Ilyn at as soon possible. Oh and be sure to pack warm clothes, both of you. Rivendell is bound to be freezing this time of year, if not covered in snow already, which you know what that means Tango. And do try to be careful, boars can be unpredictable. I’d feel a lot better about the two of you away if I knew you were both coming home safe and not sick or injured.”
“Of course my dear.” The emperor leaned in and brushed his wife’s cheek with a chaste kiss. “You’re my guiding star, my love, I’ll be sure we’re careful.” The emperor returned his focus to the rest of his family. “Let’s finish breakfast,” he looked at Tango, “and then we can see how far we get in packing. Be sure to grab whatever supplies you may need for your traps, tools and the like. We’ll see if we’re ready to leave today after lunch.”
“Gem my dear,” their mother said, “how is your spellwork coming along on the orbs you were telling your father about last time?”
And with that the family continued chatting, sharing recent events and the daily goings-on of their lives with one another. After a particularly embarrassing story Sausage shared about him and his boys, their parents decided they were finished. Each gave a departing hug to their children, the empress laying a soft kiss against their cheeks. “Don’t dawdle too long with your siblings,” she reminded Tango as she embraced him.
He smiled at her, “I’ll try, but you know how we are.”
She shook her head, face grinning, as she left the dining hall behind her husband.
“So,” Tango gave each of his siblings a considering look, “I noticed some sorta secret sibling mind-to-mindification going on. Am I allowed in on it, or is this some sort of surprise I shouldn’t poke too hard at?”
Biting into a piece of bacon, Tango slowly started to lose his smile as he noticed their faces begin to turn inwards, each distractedly picking at their finished meals and avoiding eye contact with him. He felt a strange anxiety begin to lurk at the edges of his brain. Something was definitely wrong, something he obviously wasn’t aware of, but the other three were.
“What?” he asked, worry threading his voice and causing the question to be higher-pitched than he intended. “Is it something about the trip? Dad’s friend? What?”
The twins first shared a glance with each other, Fwhip giving Gem a look that Tango translated as a panicked ‘I don’t know,’ and shrugged. They both then looked over to Sausage. After brief eye-contact between the three, the eldest looked down at the table and began to shake his head slowly.
“If he’s going to be there, Tango needs to know.” Gem stated matter-of-factly.
“If who’s gonna be there? Dad’s hunting guy? The prince?” Tango was still largely confused as to why either of the elves that they would be accompanying would have this effect on his brothers and sister.
“You haven’t been keeping up with recent news from the other kingdoms much have you?” Sausage gently asked.
“In your defense Tangs, I didn’t know either until a couple days ago. There hasn’t been any sort of official announcement yet.” Fwhip gave Tango a weak empathetic smile at this, but the response only served to make Tango more anxious.
“That makes sense.” Sausage pointed out, “I was the only one expected at the funeral with mom and dad.”
Tango’s mind latched onto the word ‘funeral.’ He was starting to get an inkling as to why his siblings were looking the way they were.
Fwhip stacked and pushed his plates to the side and set his tea cup in front of himself, grasping it with both hands. He looked directly at Tango. “Remember a month before mine and Gem’s birthday, when you and I were staying in Eastvale working on the new iron collection system?”
Tango nodded, Fwhip continued. “So, we weren’t expected to attend cause we’re not fully adults yet, at least not by most countries’ standards, and we’re not from there, but Rivendell kinda, - there was - how do I put it?”
“Half their royal family died.” Sausage spoke with an eerie emptiness that Tango rarely heard, only recalling it when Sausage opened up about the nightmares he had after the hunter and the boar.
The revelation shook Tango. His mouth moved up and down soundlessly until he was finally able to ask “What happened?” sounding smaller than he had all morning.
Gem reached across the table and held her hand out to him. He took it gratefully and squeezed. The very idea of losing half of his own family seemed so impossible and he was conscious of the fact that much of that feeling was tied to them being one of the most powerful families in the Overworld. How could something have happened to another equally powerful family?
“From what I got from mother,” Gem started, “Queen Cerridwen and Prince Xorn were traveling from the Lost Empire’s trading post. They were somewhere near the jungle’s border on their way home when a really bad storm hit. A flash flood hit their carriage and they were gone.”
Sausage coughed, “They found what was left of the carriage several kilometers from the main road. The queen’s body was recovered nearby, but they weren’t able to find the crown prince’s.”
“That’s good right? I mean he might still be out there?” Tango hesitantly suggested but from the looks on their faces he already knew there was compelling evidence waiting to assassinate the hope that laced his question.
Sausage reached over and placed an arm around Tango’s shoulders, “It’s been more than a season since it happened baby brother. Everyone’s pretty sure his body got taken by wild animals, the remains were found pretty deep in the woods.”
Tango leaned into his brother’s hold as Gem spoke “Do you remember learning about the different governments of the other nations and how they work? Do you remember what makes Rivendell different from most of the world?”
Tango answered her with a quizzical stare, unable to piece together what the question had to do with the Rivendell prince’s survival.
“The marks of Aeor!” Fwhip gave an exasperated sigh, running his hands down either side of his own face and looking towards the ceiling. “I completely forgot about that,” he admitted.
“According to mom, Scott started growing the antlers right around our birthday.” Gem replied. Tango remembered now. He remembered that Rivendell’s leader was chosen by their patron god, the signs of their choice manifesting in the heir growing antlers and wings. It was something that generally occurred at a very young age, and only rare exceptions caused it to happen at a later one. Tango realized that the loss of the previous heir would most definitely qualify as an exception.
After the four lapsed into silence for a moment Tango finally regained some of himself again. “That sucks. I can’t even, geez, so I’m gonna be hanging out with a guy who just lost his mom and brother. That’s what you three were all mindmeldy about earlier?”
“Yup.” Sausage answered, popping the p-sound, he seemed to be coming out of whatever dark thoughts the siblings had been swimming in since Tango first asked them to explain. He let go of Tango’s shoulders and leaned back in his seat.
Gem let go of Tango’s hand and began stacking her own plates off to the side. “I only found out cause I caught mom crying. She had just gotten the letter from Queen Valindra, about Scott’s antlers, and I guess it made her think about us.” She shrugged, “I told Fwhip cause I figured the public announcement is coming soon. I mean, obviously the other rulers all know, and all of Rivendell, but most of the Overworld doesn’t even know yet. I guess they were waiting to see if they could find Prince Xorn too, but now . . .” She let the statement trail off. They all knew that Scott inheriting the marks of his god, the same that once belonged to his older brother all but assured the latter being deceased.
Tango turned to Sausage, “So you met this guy right, Scott? How did he seem?”
“Other than crushed and emotionally distant I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him much. It was a funeral, I mean he is closer to you in age, but that just means the elves there were treating him with the kid-gloves. He was pretty much allowed to do what he wanted and after the services were over he just poofed out. Didn’t hang around for the wake. So, I don’t know what to tell ya.”
“I met him once a few years ago,” Gem added, “It was when I was studying ice and frost based magicks, he visited the Crystal Cliffs with his mom,” she hurriedly specified, “the dead one. He seemed pretty nice, was just starting to get a handle on his own elemental magic and his mom thought he would benefit from seeing how us humans manipulate it, so he sat in on some of the classes I was in.”
Tango stared at the table, his arms hidden underneath with his hands nervously wringing his tail out of sight of the others. “So, dead mom, dead brother, ice powers,” he gave a weak laugh, “s-sounds like we’re gonna have a great time.”
“Don’t forget the antlers.” Fwhip added unhelpfully and Tango returned the comment the grimacing smirk it deserved.
Sausage put a hand on each of Tango’s shoulders and spun him to face the other directly. Tango dropped his tail, startled into looking at his brother’s face. “You got this baby brother! You are so good at distracting people.” Sausage ignored Tango’s quiet ‘hey’ of mild offense, “The two of you are gonna get along great! You’ll see, you’re gonna get him completely distracted with your traps and machines, and if that fails you have a million funny stories about us and yourself. You’re going to have a great time!” He pulled Tango into a crushing hug.
“You got nothing to worry about Tangs,” Fwhip said, tossing an apple he grabbed up and down in the air above his head, still staring at the ceiling but looking less pensive than moments earlier. “Worse case, you both end up hating each other and Sausage here will just have to work extra hard at diplomatic relations with Rivendell when he becomes emperor.”
Both Tango and Sausage let go of one another and looked at their shorter brother with mock offense. Gem slyly knocked her hand up the back of Fwhip’s head in a playful rebuke of her twin’s comment. “None of that now, Sausage is right. They’re going to have a lovely time.” She looked towards Tango, “And I hope you have a good time with dad. The long trips with him are the best.”
Tango smiled. The surprise of learning about the recent tragedies in Rivendell almost caused him to forget what the point of this whole adventure was. It was a birthday gift, from his dad to him, a chance to spend time with the old man before his dad was back to being stuck in meetings and traveling all the time.
“Thanks for reminding me Gem,” he grinned. “You’re right, everything’ll be fine.” As the siblings parted ways for the morning however, Tango couldn’t help but feel his anxieties about the hunting trip creep in.
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