The unfairness of it burned. Listen, Lyra kept saying, but Rosario was, she was hearing every word, she was trying to see it from Lyra's point of view, she was trying to make sense of it, but none of that seemed to be enough! Because what Lyra really seemed to want was for her to just— switch her brain off. Don't think about it, don't question it, if you wanna be supportive you gotta drink the Kool-Aid. Avery did it, why can't you?
But how was she gonna be supporting Lyra by lying to her? How could she possibly look her best friend in the eye and pretend things were okay when there was clearly something very, very wrong that had nothing to do with fairies and goblins? She'd be enabling the delusion, and it'd kill them both: Lyra drowning in a messed-up fantasy world and Rosario the one holding her head under.
Rosario surged to her feet as well, eyes stinging, heart stampeding. "What does that even mean? Prove it how?" God, what if this was worse than she'd thought? Would Lyra hurt herself if she thought it would prove Archer had healing hands?