[She closes her eyes under the kiss, and lets out another sigh.]

... It's not like I wasn't expecting it. At some point. But not so soon. If she asked, it's because she thinks I am ready, but am I, really?

[And she hardly expected to be the first among them three friends to be asked such a thing.]

Besides, it's not like she is planning to reurn to the star when she retires. Her work is not done. She just does not think she can accomplish it while being on the Convocation.

[It is supposed to be a great honor and a momentous occasion to return to the star, of course, but... She shakes her head. Her years of journeying alongside her master have taught her many things, and one of those things is to ask uncomfortable questions that a lot of people here are not ready to hear.]

She is giving me time to think it over. But I cannot help thinking that every moment I delay my answer, I am keeping her from this work she deems so important that she would abandon her Convocation seat for it.

[No one has ever done that that she can remember. Never has a member of the convocation simply left their duty to go do something else.]