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"I'm not surprised you think that's the best solution, everything considered," Tamru says. He looks away. "I'll be honest, though. It's scary. Taking the plunge like that." He sighs. "I guess it's just hard to make that plunge," he says. "To willingly choose to give up a part of yourself, even if the benefits are good. I don't know how I could do something like that. But maybe you're right. Maybe it's time I stopped pushing back and just made all the problems go away. After all, I won't care once it's over."

"I should go through with it tonight, so that I don't second-guess myself," Tamru says. He looks back at the crowded party and the whales in the distance. The whales will be busy until the official end of the celebration. Tamru usually doesn't care about respecting niceties, but maybe things are different when he's actually planning to ask the whales for something. "We should wait until the party dies down," he says. "Just don't let me back out of it when the time rolls around, OK?"

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