Juniper whirled around so fast her hair practically smacked her in the face, eyes wide as saucers.

  A door—just appearing out of nowhere? And Tenzing, looking like she’d just woken up from a nap and walked into a horror movie scene?

  "Wh—what the actual fuck, Ten?" Juniper hissed under her breath before shooting an incredulous glance back at Alice. "Did you...did you just make a goddamn door appear with your powers or something?"

  Tenzing blinked once before deadpanning: "You two are being weirdly loud. Also no—I don’t have dimensional warping abilities." She paused, glancing between them with increasing suspicion. "...Do I need to start charging rent for emotional distress now?”

  Juniper pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the beginnings of a stress-induced migraine coming on.

  This was exactly what she needed right now—Tenzing bursting in mid-argument with the most perfect timing ever.

  "No, you don't," Juniper snapped bluntly, shooting a glare over her shoulder before turning back to Alice. "Everything's fine. We're just..."

  She hesitated, struggling to think of an excuse.

  "...Talking."

  Tenzing raised a brow—then pointedly took a slow sip from an inexplicably appearing thermos of tea before speaking again: "Mmhmm~ So you two were just 'talking'? That's why one of you looks like she's about to cry and the other is holding onto that cushion so hard I'm surprised it hasn't exploded yet?"

  Alice made another tiny noise in response.

  Juniper’s eye twitched. She wanted to scream at this point. Of course Tenzing would waltz in here, all sleepy and casual, and call them out on their bullshit right away.

  The woman had a knack for that.

  Tenzing's gaze shifted to Alice briefly, taking in the flushed face and hunched shoulders of the poor girl who looked ready to bolt at any second. Then she glanced back at Juniper, the same eyebrow still raised. "...You've got some explaining to do, Jun.”

  Juniper's jaw was clenched so hard she could practically feel her teeth grinding together.

  She was already pissed off to begin with, and seeing Alice all...tense and quiet wasn't helping matters.

  And now? Tenzing—in all her sarcastic, deadpan glory—was looking at her with the most damn judgmental expression on her face, and she knew something was wrong.

  "Yeah," Juniper bit out, practically glaring at Tenzing. "I'm aware.”

  Tenzing took another slow sip of tea, unfazed by Juniper's glare.

  "...Mmhmm~ You were saying?"

  Juniper's eye twitched again.

  "You want me to explain?" Juniper hissed under her breath like this whole situation personally offended her. "Fine! Alice was having fun with me moments ago—we were caking and all that! Now suddenly, after Chie called to tell us about where Pride's at, Al suddenly looks terrified every time I open my damn mouth like she's a shell-shocked war veteran!"

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  A pause.

  "...That enough for ya?”

  Tenzing set her tea down with a quiet clink, the corner of her mouth twitching—just slightly.

  Juniper’s entire explanation was so dramatic, so desperate in its need to justify herself that it was almost funny. Almost.

  But Tenzing had been around long enough to know when someone wasn't just "being loud" and instead needed an actual conversation about their feelings—which Juniper clearly did not want right now.

  "...So you're saying," Tenzing said slowly, tilting her head like she was dissecting each word for meaning, "that because Alice got quiet after receiving news about Pride's location...you started yelling at her?"

  The way she phrased it made Juniper look ten times worse than she already felt.

  Alice let out another tiny noise from where she sat frozen on the couch.

  Juniper looked ready to combust on the spot.

  The moment Tenzing rephrased the entire situation back like that, Juniper flinched as if the words had been a physical blow.

  She had started yelling at Alice. She'd actually started yelling at her.

  And the tiny, barely-there noises Alice kept making in response to everything—how she kept flinching when Juniper got loud.

  Guilt settled like a stone in her gut.

  Tenzing was looking at her now, her eyes holding a strange understanding Juniper didn't like.

  Juniper swallowed thickly, struggling to find her voice again.

  She knew—knew—that something about Alice being too quiet bothered her more than it should have.

  She just kept going quiet, like she was afraid Juniper was going to yell at any time.

  "Yeah," she mumbled, the confession feeling like acid on her tongue. "I...guess you could put it that way.”

  Tenzing's expression softened by the smallest fraction, noticing the flicker of guilt in Juniper's eyes.

  She knew—could read the signs like an open book now that she had all the pieces—but she still needed to hear it from Juniper herself.

  "You got angry when Alice got quiet," Tenzing continued carefully, taking another slow breath before asking the question that would make or break this whole situation.

  "Because you thought she was afraid of you?”

  Damn Tenzing for understanding her so well.

  The way Tenzing said that—the way she looked at Juniper like she saw right through the tough facade into the part deep down that hated the idea of being feared—pried her open like a damn can of sardines.

  Juniper let her shoulders sink, finally looking defeated.

  "...Yeah," she admitted after a moment, voice so damn soft, it was almost a whisper. "I did.”

  Juniper's breath caught in her throat—because she knew.

  She knew Tenzing wasn't wrong. Not one bit.

  The way Alice had gone quiet, the way she flinched when Juniper raised her voice—none of that was just some passing thing. It wasn’t new behavior either, not if it made someone as observant as Tenzing look at her with that expression.

  Tenzing took a slow step forward, tilting her head slightly to study Juniper’s reaction carefully before speaking again:

  "Did you ever think...maybe why this is bothering you so much is because deep down? You don't like being the kind of person who makes others feel scared.”

  Juniper flinched like she'd been slapped in the face.

  Hearing the words out loud was like a gut-punch. They were simple, direct, and cut right through the layers of anger and denial to hit whatever tiny, vulnerable piece of her was still hidden away.

  It took every single bit of Juniper's self-restraint not to lash out or snap at Tenzing.

  "...I..." she started, then hesitated. "...What difference does it make?”

  The moment those words left Juniper's mouth, she silently cursed herself.

  She knew that sounded harsh. She knew what those words would sound like to someone as perceptive as Tenzing.

  The monk tilted her head like some curious bird, studying Juniper carefully before asking the question she knew was coming.

  "It matters," Tenzing replied, her voice steady as if she were reading a list of facts she knew to be true, "if you care about how your actions make the people you care about feel."

  Damn Tenzing for being brutally honest and hitting the nail right on the head.

  Juniper gritted her teeth again, her hands clenching into fists as she stared at the ground. Of course this was why this all affected her so much.

  And of course, Tenzing would pick up on that, because that was what she did—read everyone like books.

  She was right about one thing though. It did matter. Because…

  "...I do care.”

  A short pause.

  "...I don't..." Juniper continued weakly before cutting herself off mid-sentence when no further words came out right away because holy shit.

  Tenzing exhaled through her nose (almost a sigh) before murmuring: "Hm~ Maybe you two need more than 'talking' after all."

  That was when Tenzing turned her attention to Alice, who was still sitting there, silent and still.