[As for Lucretia, she looks much like how they first met - although she has both of her hands now, one of which is wrapped around the white-oak staff, using it surreptitiously as a walking stick the rest of the way up the hill. More from exhaustion than enfeeblement.]

Not at all, [She says, then grins when she realizes she echoed him,] I have a lot of walking experience under my belt. Although I think I was much younger the last time I did it so much.

[Which isn't so long ago, she doesn't say. Instead she stretches a little bit, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.] So is there something different about a tea ceremony, or is this just a fancy word for drinking tea together?