Lisa slowly raised a paw to her neck, and her fingers, or rather, the tips of her claws, worked with great delicacy, almost ceremonial, to undo the small leather cord that had been with her for so long.
For all those weeks she had grown used to the weight of the pouch against her chest, and when it finally came off her neck, she felt a strange sense of emptiness, as if she were handing over something that was also a part of her.
"I'll confess something," she said, holding the pouch between her paws with her eyes fixed on it. "There was a moment, a few days ago, when I thought you could already do this."
"Me too," Lohan replied, and this time his voice carried an almost embarrassed honesty. "When we got back from the volcano and I felt my mind opening up like that, I thought maybe I was already ready. I even felt like asking you for the Stone that very night."
"And why didn't you ask?"
