"I guess if she really likes him, and doesn't want him hurt, then maybe it could be pretty hard for her too." "And Jenny—when Electra asked her why she couldn't tell Che to just say no and she said she couldn't and Electra asked her which side she was on, she said 'Why don't you marry Dolph?' and that sort of floored Electra. So maybe there's an answer there, if we can just figure it out."

Dolph was amazed. What did his possible marriage to Electra have to do with whether Che remained with the goblins?

"It doesn't make sense to me," he admitted.

"I guess maybe it's because Electra can't just decide to marry you," Gloha said. "Because you're the one who has to decide."

"Right. So if Jenny couldn't decide, because it was Che's decision, that would make sense. But if he told her to make it, then she can make it, can't she?"

"I would think so. But something must be stopping her." She pondered. "Dolph, suppose you told Electra to decide? I mean, you wouldn't decide, she would, and she would tell you which of them to marry? Her or Nada. Would that be the same?"

"Well she'd just tell me to marry her. Everyone tells me to marry 'Lectra!"

"Would she really?"

"Wouldn't she?" What was Gloha trying to get at?

"I don't know. But I think maybe Jenny Elf knows. It sure set Electra back! So if you can figure out what Electra would say, maybe you can figure out what Jenny's saying. Why she's not deciding about Che, yet, despite everything. And why Che lets her."

"That's another mystery! Why doesn't Che make his own decision, before things get really bad?"

"Why don't you?"

"That has nothing to do with it!"

"I think maybe it does," she said. "I think maybe it was such a tough decision that Che couldn't make it himself, so he asked Jenny to make it, and it's still so tough she can't make it either. Just as maybe it would be too tough for Electra, if you told her to decide. Maybe it's not quite the same problem, but maybe close enough so the same principle holds. All we have to do is figure out what it is."

She was making more sense. "How come you're making better progress on this than I am?" he asked.

"Well, everyone knows that girls think better than boys do," she said shrugging.

"I didn't know that!"

"Well, you're a boy."

Why did that seem to make so much sense? "Okay. So maybe there is a similar principle. But I don't think they have any love triangle."

"Not a marriage triangle," she agreed. "But it could be love."

"How could it be love? They're children!"

"And we're not?" she asked archly.

"Well, I'm not! I'm going to be married within a week!"