"Shye, Alcazar?" I ask, nervously.
"What's up, Jovi?" Shye responds. I glance at Alcazar.
"Well, first, how much does the Den need my services?" I ask.
Alcazar looks very surprised. "Jovi, you are extremely valuable to us. What are you thinking of doing?"
"I think I need to stay here, in the Orchard. There's research I want to do, there're questions I have that need answers."
"Oh? What could you possibly do here that hasn't already been known? You're in way over your head if you think--"
"Alcazar! Listen to me. I am going to find my tree. I need to know what fruit colors are on it. I need to know what actually causes the fruit to grow black or white."
I speak with such authority that Alcazar looks confused, angry, and hurt.
"We already know what causes--"
"No! You don't. You assumed that they grow black and white from illogical and logical solves because that's what you were always told! And here I thought that maybe you were above assumption, as a Light Clue!" I snap, as sharp as a knife.
Alcazar looks extremely hurt.
"Fine. Stay." He walks away, out of earshot.
Shye looks at me tenderly. "Jovi, if you find anything at all here that is useful, even just to confirm Alcazar's thoughts as to what the fruit are, please let me know. Call me, text me, write letters if you have to. If it's not safe, I trust you'll find some coded way to communicate."
"I hope the Persistence of my Memory is able to assist you in your upcoming tasks. I don't know what Alcazar has planned for you, and I'm not entirely sure if I trust him. He seems... cagey around certain subjects, like he's hiding something," I say, quietly.
"Right, because neither of us are hiding things," Shye says, sarcastically.
"Well, we're both trans, that comes with the territory," I say, jokingly. Shye and I laugh.
"Look," I say. "It's time for me to leave you to whatever comes next. I know it's dangerous. It's going to be okay."
Shye and I embrace. Alcazar watches on, hurt.

Walkthrough for yesterday's School Trip doppelgänger by Walker: https://youtu.be/2E7DYQwbD5w

Rules: Draw a non-intersecting path through the centers of some cells, starting at one circle and ending at the other, which visits each shaded region at least once. No 2x2 group of cells in the grid may be entirely used by the path nor visited more than once (Note: This just means that the path cannot touch itself orthogonally or diagonally unless it's just left that cell). If two shaded regions are the same shape and orientation, the line segments within them must be identical.

As always, an example puzzle and its solution are attached with the image of today's puzzle. Solve that here, if you wish (Penpa+): https://tinyurl.com/yu6p23af

To earn yourself a Speedy Sloth 🦥 solve today's puzzle in 10:00 or less!
To net yourself a Quick Crab 🦀 solve today's puzzle in 25:00 or less!
All other solvers are well-deserving of a Goodbye Goose 🐦!

Solve today's puzzle (Penpa+):
With color: https://tinyurl.com/yr4ozq4k
Without color: https://tinyurl.com/ym8n5clw