Adila!

There's nothing like princesses working in concert. You race up the back of the Snake-Husband as, together, Tashanna and Shazari lure it in its battle with the snake-wife towards the hole in the ceiling. Behind you, Helya races, making it look easy; every buck or undulation in the furious snake's battle doesn't even seem to phase her, even though it's all you can do to keep your footing.

There! Your window for diving into the torrent is tiny, but it's there, as the Snake-Husband rears up and rakes the flooded checkerboard with his eye lasers. From the top of his head, you can leap--

***

Mittens!

It's that defiance that makes you push yourself against the thorny bars, ignoring how they prick you painfully, and poke one of your bound hands out to catch Red. As you clench your fingers around it, dragon's strength floods through you, and even as your floral bindings tighten and redouble in response to your sudden swell of power, it looks like you might, you just might have a chance here, even as Kazelia lets out an exhausted sigh and crumples onto the grass and the Cage That Walks tries to race you into the garden. No, forget that! You're not going to let yourself fail here, are you? Not when Kyouko and Kazelia lie defeated and drooling in the grass... no!

You are a princess of Ilumina! And if Rita doesn't remember you... you'll climb to the top of this labyrinth with your bare paws if you need to, and fix everything!

Overcome, Mittens!

***

Azora Howl!

Eewwwww! This room is so, so provincial! You're not going to go trooping through all those weeds, are you? No, you are not. What luck that in the last room, you managed to get a witch's broom! With a hup, hup, up, you hop side-saddle onto the broom and make it slowly rise over all these nasty thorns.

It looks like the golden apples on top of that hill are what you're supposed to get. You should take both of them! You deserve them, you know. You deserve everything. When you win, you're going to make Queen Eupheria crown you Super Awesome Princess of Everything so that everyone has to grovel and do what you say, and then you're going to make all those Iluminans fan you and bring you sweets.

Yeah! But while you're heading on your way, zipping along, you notice some more princesses, ugh, trying to get there before you. Why don't you mess with them a little? You have such wonderful witchy powers, after all. Maybe you should put a collar on that cat, or wrap up that dancer in her own veils, or even go pinch your nerdy little sister!

Mittens stares blankly at the light sitting in her palm. What is... this? What is this, what is this, what is this? Violet flashes like a beacon while Indigo pulses in the spaces between that flare while Green swirls about inside of her eyes, singing the song of reunion and joy. Her fuzzy little ears flicker this way and that; she can just barely still hear crystal song, even though her heart is soft and beating again. Her tiny mewl is piteous.

She doesn't move, even when Kazelia slumps into the grass and the Cage That Walks starts carrying her away. Flowering vines squeeze themselves ever tighter around her slender frame, crushing her into submission as her Red blazes furiously in her palm. She's not struggling against it at all. She squeaks when her bindings start to crush her, but she just sits there, watching her Light watching her. Ribbons of red light start snaking their way around her waist, down her legs, up her arms. Where they touch her, vines are neatly snipped or burned away.

She squeezes her eyes shut. She must be the dumbest princess in the history of Hyperborea. What was she doing, giving up when her love was being threatened? What was she doing, sitting there when her precious friends and family were in trouble? What was she doing, trying to quit? Didn't she realize by now how bad at that she was?

She closes her paw around her Red. Adila is here with her, the dragon's strength surging through this fuzzy kitty body. She can still see Kazelia behind her, still so brave and beautiful no matter what Eupheria tries to do to her. Mittens takes a deep breath. She bares her fangs, and she stands up.

She flexes, and her bindings are no match for the strain. Her back arches and her right leg rises high into the air, flowers and leaves and chains flutter away from her in a little garden storm as she rises into a perfect vertical split. Her left leg tenses and she leaps, flips, and brings her sharp claws crashing through the floor of the cage. She drops through the new hole and goes rolling, rolling, rolling away from her mobile prison, back to where she needs to be right now. Back to Kazelia.

When she pops up, she quickly snatches the snakerchief out of her mouth and smiles at its tiny squirms of frustration in her hand.

"Here, go bother someone else."

And with the tiniest flicker of mischief on her face, she reaches down and introduces her little friend to Kyouko. Ok! That's that problem solved forever, finally. She sits on the ground, watching the pair of sleeping princesses and huffing to catch her breath. Red gets exhausting pretty quickly when you've gotten used to not using it, ok? Just give her one minute, and she'll pluck these two up and carry them appleward. And then after that she'll--

Eugh. And agh. And yick. How did she get this dirty? Her ears twitch irritably, and she shakes her head once, twice. Bleh. Bleh, she says! Well if no one's watching, and she's catching her breath anyway...

Mittens' rough little tongue sneaks out of her mouth, and she starts licking her paw with barely a hint of shame. Lick, lick, lick! Then she brings it up to her face and rubs down the length, smoothing out her ruffled fur, unmussing her hair, generally setting things back to the way they're supposed to be.

Oh, and not looking up at all. Whyever would she need to?

[Overcome (with Hope, thanks Kazelia): 1, 4, 5 = 9. This is temporary]

Adila!

There's nothing like princesses working in concert. You race up the back of the Snake-Husband as, together, Tashanna and Shazari lure it in its battle with the snake-wife towards the hole in the ceiling. Behind you, Helya races, making it look easy; every buck or undulation in the furious snake's battle doesn't even seem to phase her, even though it's all you can do to keep your footing.

There! Your window for diving into the torrent is tiny, but it's there, as the Snake-Husband rears up and rakes the flooded checkerboard with his eye lasers. From the top of his head, you can leap--

She notes as she moves that things are much less confusing if you're doing the right thing. She'd thought that this kind of clarity was unique to racing, to moving at speed with everything she had through the air. She never thought her mind could feel this clean while slogging through raging water burdened by waterlogged fur. There wasn't grace in this; it was pure muscular exertion against the deluge. But she was being lead forwards by silver and that seemed like it was all that matter - she knew what she had to do and all that was left were the practicalities. The part of her mind that thought about others thinking about her was off, subsumed into the simple business of putting one paw in front of the other. When there were no questions about where she was going a strange reality settled over the act of getting there. Travel was different when she could see the path.

Azora Howl settled comfortably onto her new broomstick. She had only had to seize it from an enterprising shop gremlin who was absolutely wasting it moving boxes about like some kind of common servant. She had simply settled on top and it had obeyed her, which had been exceedingly gratifying. Quite frankly, she'd been worried that Eupheria would manage to screw up witches brooms, which would really have been an achievement, but one couldn't put any amount of failure past an Illuminan. She had sniffed, turned up her nose, and kicked her new broomstick to fly off without so much as a how do you do from the gremlin (probably because she had bound him upside down and gagged to the wall with shadow cuffs. Gosh that one really never got old).

Now, she was comfortably in the lead and there was that silly Illuminan princess, her bratty sister, and that...uh fox princess with them! Wait, hadn't the other one traveling with them been a cat though? Well whatever, it's not she like was expected to keep up with which fluffy animal princess her sister and that Illuminan traveled around with. She couldn't just let them traipse about in what was soon to be her kingdom! She needed to make an example of them, then she could show Daddy that she'd personally defeated all his villains and become a queen AND gotten him the Caduceus and he would know forever that she was the best and only daughter that mattered in the whole universe. This was in fact a perfect plan.

Oh and look, the Illumina's witty bitty kitty curse was getting worse! She had done some excellent acrobatics, but now she's just sitting there grooming herself. Oh dear though, Azora saw yet another failing on Eupheria's part. The little kitty didn't have a collar on! Why, people would think she was a stray, that wouldn't do at all. Now, let's see, ah yes, she did have those odd green eyes and it was important to color coordinate (Azora Howl considered whether she would make a "collar coordinate" joke upon landing, but determined that such a pun was beneath her). So, she conjured a leash and collar in a lovely green to complement her new kitty's eyes and shot it lickety split from her new broom to snap around Alina's neck. Then she gave it a firm, magically strengthened yank to pull her new kitty onto all fours like she was supposed to be. That was excellent. She was even so thoughtful and careful to make sure that the part of her arm being groomed wasn't pushed as hard as the rest, so kitty could keep working on making herself pretty.

She'd thought her annoying sister would hop up at an assault on one of her friends, but as she pulled her broom in closer, she realized that the nerd and her little cheerleader were out cold. No visible wounds, must be magic or poison. Either way, they were obviously in the same boat and ought to know it a bit better, not to mention be a bit more immobilized than now. She gives her hand a little twirl and a thick fluffy blanket appears out of nowhere. She's not going to hurt her sister, she's just errant and the forest floor is no place for a Rider princess, especially one carrying something so important as Mother. So she lifts her sister up on the blanket, Kyouko too, and then twirls and twirls and wraps them up together nice and tight. There, snugly held and dealt with. She was almost jealous of the sound sleep they would get, but of course there was other work to be done for her right now.

She starts to float down and as she does so, she sees another one of the competitors. That Askaian in the dancing girl outfit. Where's she going in such a hurry? It would not do for her to rush Azora Howl along, you can tell that much. Hm, how about...oh yes..Azora gives her fingers a little twirl and sends out an enchantment. Suddenly every piece of silk on that poor little dancing girl thinks it's a tree snake and wants to attach itself to a different tree branch. Just try and watch her twirl and leap when every piece of fabric she's wearing is pulling her in a different direction! She'll be hopelessly trussed up in seconds! Azora permits herself a light chuckle.

Then she floats over to Mittens and pulls her head into her lap, stroking her ears gently (it is not gentle, she's stroking your ear fur the wrong way, you want to shudder and arch every part of your back). "Good kitty. I think being a kitty is the best thing for an Illuminan, you're much better at it than the actual cat people, that one over there is doing an awful job of it. You though, if you're very good," she jangles your collar to emphasize the point "maybe I'll keep you and let you sit on my lap when I'm the princess of the whole world. What do you think kitty?"

Adila I!

The snakes have finally stopped their fighting. Probably. They are circling around each other, warily, and only seem to have eyes for themselves. The laziest possible explanation is that they are infatuated with each other, but it is more likely that they are seeking to analyze each other's strength, and decide whether any more fighting is worthwhile, or whether it would be more profitable for the both of them to slink away and never see each other again.

Regardless, you are dealing with a much more pressing problem: the drill that has just burst out of the muddy, swamped grass, and is still going, tunneling through the very air itself. Behind it is left a tunnel of swirling water and wind and earth, obscuring the small form of the pilot at the wheel of this infernal contraption.

"Follow that drill," you say, pointing dramatically at it. Easier said than done-- but you care about results. One way or another, you're going to use that device in order to go straight to the heart of this labyrinth, find Alina Cascade, and use her to steal the Caduceus.

***

Adila!

The chaos of the whirlpool is a foaming, roaring torrent. The earth sags and gives way underneath your paws. The entire room seems to be folding in on itself, collapsing, the ceiling bending down with a groan that suggests it's going to give way at any moment. Helya is, well, she's making her own way up, as she always does. This is about you, champ. This is all about you, and your refusal to let Dandy down. To not give your all to save her.

You can't be forced to blurt out your feelings about her and then not save her. That isn't how any of this works! And deep down... you know that, don't you? In Hyperborea... your Hyperborea... a happy ending can be deferred, but not lost. Eupheria can be wounded terribly by the failures of love, but she cannot be beyond saving. And as long as there is strength in you, Princess Dandelion of Feloria will not be abandoned.

You burst through to her. Only your eyes could see her down here in the midst of the mud and muck, her curly hair flowing all about her like a net, her hooves digging a groove in the mud, shaking and trembling like a spooked horse. You clasp your jaws around the roots and pull with all of your strength, and then some. Lights burst and flash behind your eyes, but then they come undone-- and all the earth around them, too. Dandy throws her arms, still entwined in roots, around your neck, and you leap like a dolphin from the water even as the room folds in on itself completely, standing stones and trees and all.

You fall.

And then your rear paw is grabbed. Princess Helya Laynasdottir holds you up, dangling from the last handhold she could find in the collapse. She makes holding your weight by one hand look easy, even though the strain must be immense. Dandy wraps her legs around you to avoid from flipping over, and buries her face into your neck, clinging so tightly she almost chokes you.

Her shoulders heave with... well, with what must be a whole jumble of emotions.

There's something coming up towards you from below, but you have a moment here. A moment to think clearly at Dandy, even if you add in little woofs. Just you, and her, and Helya stopping the two of you from plummeting to your dooms.

What do you think at her?

She'd never actually said it, you know? She'd spent so long, years, implying it to the best of her ability, even when the feeling rose so clear inside her it felt like it would split her in two. It had never been an issue with the feeling - she'd been the one that had stopped herself. There had been so many thoughts between her and the words. Am I worthy of love? Am I capable of love? Will I one day fall out of love and just move on? Will I have to move on even though I'm still in love? How can I know for sure this is what I want? What if I find someone else I love more? She'd felt like she'd needed to logically work through every single question in turned, to unravel these intellectual knots with facts and arguments, but they didn't play fair in response. It had been like boxing her shadow as they shifted and came about behind her and added an evil little question mark to the end of every sentence.

But she knew now how treacherous thoughts could be. There was never a solution to them. They'd come back and repeat arguments long settled with the same intensity as the first time it made them. Imagination was a fearful thing, attempting to scare her away from even the possibility of pain using all the resources at its disposal. Thoughts were like wild animals - they had their own instincts and own agendas, more bestial than she was now.

And only the heart could tame them.

As she held Princess Dandelion as best she could, she allowed a whisper - then a statement - out past all her walls and wards. Something that was true despite all the ways she might imagine it not to be.

+I love you,+ she said.

There's a low growl building in Mittens' throat, and she can't get it to stop. Azora probably thinks its a purr, the dumb brat. Mittens glares at her with barely restrained loathing as her hair gets mussed up almost as badly as her fur. At least, she's trying her best to get that across. It's really hard to get a good glare on when your face keeps getting scrunched up and your head flopped from side to side on somebody's lap, just in case you've never been in that position. So that low, warbly rrrrRrrrrrRRRrrrrr is what she has to rely on.

Eupheria's curses are pretty hit or miss, anybody would agree. Mostly miss. They're all cruel and pointless attempts at humiliation with only barely more effort than the old "party favor filled with snakerchiefs" gag. Was Rita's curse meant to make Mittens love her any less? Pointless. Petty. Ridiculous. But ohhhhh, scritches and warm sunny days, did she ever nail Azora. Selfish, greedy, short-sighted, petty, and utterly devoted to the only person anywhere in Hyperborea who didn't deserve that kind of loyalty. Mittens tried her best to feel bad for Azora, being cursed the same as the rest of them. She even tried laying out the groundwork to win her over and give her the chance to start atoning and fit in like a princess ought to. For Kazelia's sake. She tried harder than almost anybody would have asked of her.

RRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr. Every stab of pity is met with a fresh surge of vindication. This was too nice a punishment for what she did to Rita. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Her lips curl up and she shows her sharp teeth. Learn how to pet a cat! RRRRR! Gonna bite you! Gonna hiss so much! Gonna bite while hissing and you're gonna deserve the itchy mark on your hand!

...A Princess is always beautiful, Mittens.

She forces the growl to stop. Covers her teeth again like the goodest of girls. And then she looks up at her tormentor with the sweetest, my soulful eyes she's ever used in her life. Even Momma's never seen her lay it on this thick.

"Well obviously I'd only want to sit in the best lap in all of Hyperborea," she sings with vapid sweetness, "But that'll never happen if we can't both get those apples before someone else does!"

Oh no! Queen Halcyon please hire a royal acting coach, nobody would ever be stupid enough to buy this.

"Come on, weren't we the best team in history? We won even with dumb old Adila weighing us down! And aren't I your faaaaaaavorite kitty? Don't you want to be allowed to keep me? Come on, all you have to do is let me up and it'll be as easy as taking crown jewels from Jedad. Because we're partners, you and me. Princess and her knight. Doesn't that... doesn't that make us... friends?"

Mittens flashes as dazzling and charming a smile as she's capable of, while her lights twinkle for that little extra something. Bit by bit, chip by chip, if it takes her another hundred years in this labyrinth, even if it's only possible because of these curses... she's gonna find her way inside that heart. And that is how she'll get her revenge.

Azora Howl

On the one hand, you know to be careful. Look what this little Illuminan trickster did to Kazelia and Kaja. Disgraceful. You, however, are the smart sister and there is no way you will let her get to you like that. You should just leave her here and then come pick up your new pet kitty when you are princess of everything and you have the Caduceus.

On the other hand, any team with you on it is, by definition, the best team in history and it's very gratifying that your kitty acknowledges that. And she thinks it's because of you and not that stupid old woman who was dragging you down. You feel extremely good about this type of praise. Also you kind of like having a kitty: it's very on-theme for you as a witch and she feels really good to pet. Her purring is very nice too and you would kind of like it if she fell asleep on top of you.

Well, the obvious solution was magic! Magic was, of course, the solution to nearly all problems and your magic is the best magic so it had a solution to this problem too. You'd just suggest a simple geas to the little Illuminan. She'd never agree to it of course because you knew that she was trying to trick you, but if she did magically agree to be a good kitty for you, then you'd feel totally safe because your magic is awesome and totally foolproof.

So, while you move your hand from ear to neck scritchies (which, an objective observer would note you are mildly more competent at) you give her a lovely little smile. "Well, after what you did to Daddy, I think I'll need a little insurance. You understand, right kitty? One can never be too careful. All you have to do is promise out loud to be a good kitty for me while I cast a little magic on you and then you and I can go fetch those apples together while Kazzie takes her little nap. How does that sound?"

She'll never do it. You raise your hand, which glows ominously with shadow bindings just waiting for her to refuse and put on that resolute little stare that all the princesses do right before you bind and gag them with shadows. It's very gratifying to...wait is she nodding?! She's nodding, and she's saying out loud "Of course, I'll be a good kitty for you while we go and get those apples together!" You did NOT expect this, so you hurry and switch from conjuring shadow bindings to the geas (this is not a problem for you because you're the best at magic and you cast it perfectly even on the fly). The little promise pops right out of kitty's lips and ties her all up in little purple and blue bindings that merge all around her before they disappear so you know the promise is really on her.

Now there's nothing she can do but be your best little kitty. Oh this is exciting! You give her collar a tug and it magically lifts her by the scruff of her neck onto your broom in front of you so you can keep petting her. As an afterthought, you levitate the blanket with your sister and the fox after you too. It wouldn't do to leave them, you are far too busy to have to come back for them later to bring them to Father. The dancing girl can stay, she won't be trouble for anyone.

Oh yes, this is delightful. Up you go to fetch the golden apples, giving your new kitty all the scritchies. You're going to be the best princess of everything Hyperborea has ever seen!

Adila!

The words are whispered back into your fur. How funny that it takes a nightmare like this to bring them out of you. And speaking of nightmares, that... that thing is coming closer.

It’s somehow digging through the air, and its drill is studded with little bits of night and falling stars that chew through what is, only for a groaning engine to reconstitute reality behind it. The sight of a tunnel in the air is viscerally upsetting. It literally Should Not Be.

The machine comes to a whining, grinding stop level with you. It’s a goblin device, all burnished copper and flashing runestones and venting steam.

A door dilates with a hiss in the side, and Princess Hornet pokes her head out. She stares at you for a long moment through your work goggles. You stare at her. She stares at you.

“Do you need help?” It’s an actual question. Like, any other princess would be asking it teasingly, to tweak your nose. Hornet very literally doesn’t know if you need help or if she’d just be messing up your plans.

Luckily, you have Helya with you, and she thinks fast.

“Hornet,” she says, swinging herself from side to side, building up momentum, “Catch.”

You and Dandy are flung into the interior of the drill, which... is bigger than it should be. Like, wow. You shouldn’t be able to stand up, but the ceiling’s high and vaulted, and there’s a tea corner with wicker chairs and an array of untouched teas, and dials and buttons and levers everywhere, and pictures. A lot of pictures.

They’re drawn by hand, and oddly impressionistic. The sweep and curve of your neck, making you look like a desert wind caught in flight. Dandy, looking almost like a mushroom, mostly hair and robes. A goblin queen who’s all smile, her eyes unseen. Helya, sharp lines all over her suggesting muscle.

Helya is negotiating with Hornet, asking her to go back and pick up the others, and asking her if this thing is proofed against “changes in reality” given its strange properties. But you’re stuck looking at the pictures of you, and a sticker pressed up against one in particular, which is almost shamefully tucked behind a long sketch of Deep Hollow: “my friend,” in a golden star.

Aren’t dogs good at being friends?

***

Azora Howl!

One challenge remains before you! There’s an irate four-headed dragon, and a bunch of manticore gardeners, and they’re all going to try to stop you!

Stomp them down. Show off. Claim those golden apples.

***

Rita!

You drop lightly to the ground with a whisper of silk. Never underestimate the flexibility and cleverness of a Jedadi dancer.

Your adversary is there, atop that broom. She has the beautiful cat princess with her, your noble mistress who drives your heart to strange passions.

While the dragon is distracted, dance through the danger! Get an apple before the witch can secure you more readily! This is the last song, and you can’t give up now!

And be sure to blow your noble mistress a kiss and show her that it is in her honor, all for love of her, that you dare!

Princess Adila has a secret fascination with seeing the inside of people's rooms. She often finds excuses in the course of her duties to go into peoples homes and just... look around. Take inventory. See what she can figure out from the physical items that people take into their private spaces with them. She constantly shares and broadcasts the contents of her own head but it's not until she's poking through somebody else's bedroom that she feels like the favour is being returned.

She instinctively feels a shadow rise in her mind as she notices her attention drawn by being suddenly thrown into what feels a lot like Princess Hornet's mind. She can feel it try to guilt her for this being the first thing that she thinks right now - not about processing the jarring exhilaration of being almost crushed by a massive sky-piercing drill, or from being caught and thrown by Princess Helya (who, wow, she has not been thrown like that and uhh), or from the heart-stopping world-shattering impossibility of finally letting out words hidden deep within her heart and hearing them echoed back at her. It tries to pull her down, but she doesn't let it. She sometimes deals with important things out of order and she secretly wishes she could rifle through everyone's drawers for Clues. That's as much a part of her as the fact that if her heart beats any harder it's going to crack her ribs.

So she doesn't stray from Princess Dandy's side at all, but she does soak in this room she's suddenly found herself in, head turning so she can take as much of it in as possible. She looks about, glowing eyes taking everything in, forming a picture of a surprisingly quiet and reflective mind. One that captures the essential nature of people, their motions and movements, how they settle into the worlds around them, and yet for all this private artistry there's still a place for guests...

And, too, that there's only a single golden star.

And she isn't quite sure how her heart went from feeling so full it could burst to so empty it might shatter.

Mittens is as good a kitty as her word. And not just because she has to be! She'd made a very open ended promise, you know. Really, she'd have been well within her rights to focus on being a good kitty: sitting on this broom looking oh-so-pretty, keeping herself groomed, and purring when her... ahem, 'good friend' pet her (even though Azora is the single worst person Mittens has ever seen at handling cats). There's nothing in this magic that says she has to shield Azora from harm, no extra verse that compels her to, as a random example, lasso a light around the mouth of this super scary looking dragon head and yank it down to the ground before it can chomp Azora. She does that because she wants to!

She plays it just like she did for Heist! She's an acrobatic whirlwind of pure defense, never letting a single wing, claw, or snappy glass head bring harm to the Princess player. But for all her whirling and twirling with her shining red light, she never once makes a move that would make Azora feel like she's not the one executing... whatever grand plan it is she's up to. Mittens plugs up the holes, guards the openings, and then when it's time to strike back she zips back up and presents her head for pats, soulful eyes and adorably jingling collar begging for the attention. Let Azora have fun, that's fine. Let her have an apple, even, that's fine too.

Every second weaves the trap tighter. Azora Howl made a huge mistake when she invoked promise magic without really understanding how it works. Any old princess can play clever word games and wriggle out of a poorly worded deal. As a guard against those things, a geas is barely better than an umbrella in a surging river. But a promise made in good faith and followed through on with a girl's whole heart? That binds deeply indeed. There may come a time, and soon, when she regrets letting silly little Mittens get so close.

The Great (and by turns, Ridiculous) Glass Dragon falls before Azora's obviously perfect onslaught. Mittens sits beside her, purring her victory purr and fighting off the gross feelings telling her to stop this before it's too late. And that's when she sees the most beautiful thing she's ever laid eyes on in her entire life.

The Illuminan Water Dance is a prayer for a bountiful rainy season. It's also one of the most technically difficult dances in all of Hyperborea. But Rita isn't missing a step. She prances across the field on the balls of her feet, swerving and swaying like her whole body's turned to liquid as she slips out of shadow bindings, bends out of the way of giant crashing wings, and sails over the sleekest and most impressive of the dragon's four heads. Mittens pulls her paws up to her mouth and gasps out loud when she sees Rita's dark and luxurious hair come trailing through the air behind her after a particularly graceful leap. The curve of her hips, that cute flash of her belly, the dancing silk scarves she weaves through the air to mimic the patterns of a river... oh, whiskers. She's falling in love all over again.

There's no stopping her. Rita sways and spins her way right to the apples and snatches one up, daring as you please. She winks, lifts her veil just enough to tease the outline of her lips and blows a tender kiss straight at Mittens (!!!) with deadly accuracy. Oh naps on a sunny couch, she's beautiful.

"Did my dancing please you, my heart? My sun and stars, my dew-kissed morning light?"

Mittens blushes straight through her fur and buries her face in her paws. All of a sudden, there aren't enough apples to go around. She's in deep trouble. But, right this second? Her heart is so incredibly full of love that she can't bring herself to care.

Princess Azora Howl expected to be obeyed. However, it was her constant source of frustration with...well, really everyone in the world that they did not simply anticipate her needs and act to serve her (except Daddy of course, she was there to anticipate his needs, that's how hierarchy was supposed to work). As such, the stirring defense that her new kitty was providing was...well, not actually expected. Oh sure, that's what a good kitty ought to be doing, but she hadn't really expected the girl to do it. Even the geas wouldn't require this level of skill and commitment, unless the princess had been holding out extensively and this was the bare minimum that she conceived of as being good. But...but there was no way that was possible, she had never shown off enough power for that to be true. No, no the only possibility was that she was just very happy with the arrangement and had truly seen Azora's genius!

Azora Howl permitted herself a brief smile before she continued her magical barrage.

Her primary plan, not including her new cat's wonderful assistance, had been elegant in its simplicity. A glass dragon, however many heads it had, was still glass and hence vulnerable to all the things that glass detested: high heat, shattering, resonant frequencies. Really, it was simple magic. Eupheria was terribly uncreative with the Caduceus, just animating regular things. Of course Azora couldn't directly take her on while she held an artifact of such power, she wouldn't be doing this whole maze if she could, but Eupheria's creations were entirely pedestrian. She had simply planned to fly above its current reach and when it tried to stop her, she would rain down fire and that would be that. The manticores could be held with simple shadow bindings, and really the only challenge had been one of attention and scale. But with her kitty giving her time to work her wonders, that wasn't a problem either. She anticipated this being a wonderful relationship.

Really, everything was going swimmingly and it was not until she saw that dancing girl (who she had certainly disabled with enchantment) cavorting towards the trees and blowing her cat a kiss that anything even seemed slightly out of place. Oh stars, she was not going to let this stand, especially since they were talking to each other and ignoring her!

Adila!

Thankfully, you have one Princess Dandy to distract you. She wraps her arms around your neck again and squeezes. "I knew you'd come back for me, sugarcube," she says. "But you know what I realized down there?" Her hands still shake where they touch your fur. "I reckon that I haven't spent half as much time with you as I'd like. When all this hurlyburly is over and done with, well, I reckon that... if it ain't too much to be asking, we sit down with Iron Star and see if we can't talk things over about you being inclined to have a heart for a whole packle of princesses at once."

It's a lovely moment only spoiled by Hornet yelling from the front, "Hey, official friend! Want to come pull this go backwards lever? It makes us go backwards!"

***

Mittens!

"You are such a naughty little thing, aren't you? Yes I am! But I'm soooooo cute!! Aww, okay, I'll forgive you this time! But next time you go around being a little flirt, you're going to get grounded, you hear me? Mew mew mew!" You stand before the tree amid the burning, shadow-scorched ruins of the garden. Well, you don't stand. You're dangled above the ground being given PAT PAT PATS by Azora, whose shadow is even now plucking the last golden apple off the tree, and being narrated for by said Azora.

At least you saw Rita, her eyes sparkling with love, dart through just ahead of grasping shadows, bereft of her scarves but still able to make such amazing acrobatic feats! Maybe she'll be able to stop your Momma from doing anything bad...

You put your trust in your Rita, and in your unlikely friend, as Azora plucks the last golden apple and the tree opens wide to receive the four of you into the next room...

***

Kathelia!

Your head is a sack full of turnips that is being shaken about. They are soggy turnips. You are soggy and sweaty and Kyouko feels clammy where she's pressed up against you.

...

Kyouko is inches away from you, a snakerchief stuffed between her lips, and you are very pressed up against her. Again. Gosh. She's still groggy and somewhat out of it from the manticore venom, which means you have time to analyze where you are.

It's a vast shrine in the Classical Illuminan style, except instead of being in honor of Argossa, this shrine is in honor of Eupheria. Her swirling eyes look down at you from icons, the rafters are shaped like her arms, and the altar at the end of the shrine holds the Caduceus, hanging ominously above it just like it hung over Eupheria's false tomb. Was that today? It feels so long ago.

It's too easy.

There are rooms behind screen doors on either side of the long hall. Muffled sound emerges from behind each one, and each one is labeled with sigils. This is obviously a trap, especially because neither Isolde or Rita are in sight. Something's behind those doors. And Azora's going to just wilfully march down that hall, leaving you and Kyouko to squirm in the blanket, dragging Alina with her to whatever terrible fate awaits them both...

Kathelia stirs and tries to rub her eyes. She can't though, she's trapped in the blanket, bound up magically tight by Azora so that there's no hope of it coming loose. That's when she realizes how close she is to Kyouko. This is...uh W.W.H.D. uh, uh, panic, blush, activate the ejector seat! Oh sure, they'd kissed and everything, but this was different, Kyouko was knocked out and there was a snakerchief and they were so close to each other and it was extremely untoward! Oh goodness gracious how had this happened?

Kathelia tries to look anywhere but at Kyouko, which is a challenge because she can only move her neck so her field of view is pretty limited. She does notice Azora though, and Alina, both moving forward. That's...that's not good, the room is a trap. Is Azora really that dumb, she's just going to assume she can handle it? That's the exact sort of thing Eupheria would count on, especially with the Caduceus this close.

When this was over, Kathelia was going to go build an entire stable of inventions, all of which could be activated by waggling her eyebrows in the correct pattern! Then this type of problem wouldn't happen! Okay, but right now she needed to...do something?

"Hey, Azora!" She called. Her voice was horse from the manticore venom, it came out as little more than a croak. Slowly losing her voice had been the worst part of this curse. Maybe if she concentrated her magic she could throw off that part? She'd need to find a way to shift how the world saw her, Eupheria's curses couldn't just be pushed off without replacing them. But she'd need her hands free for that. Let's see, there had to be something, maybe she could. Well okay she could broadcast her voice to Alina at least, with magic. She managed to croak out "sthomethingth wrong! Sthtop!" and cast that magically towards her kitty friend...her cursed wonderful princess friend.

She shook her head, looked around. There had to be some clue here to how all this worked. Maybe even some way to get free.

[Look closely: 2+6+0=8.
what is going on here, what do my senses tell me?
Is something hidden or out of place? If so what looks suspicious?
Tell me about the hidden rooms. How could they hurt me? How could they help me?
One answer the hard way.]

Adila!

Thankfully, you have one Princess Dandy to distract you. She wraps her arms around your neck again and squeezes. "I knew you'd come back for me, sugarcube," she says. "But you know what I realized down there?" Her hands still shake where they touch your fur. "I reckon that I haven't spent half as much time with you as I'd like. When all this hurlyburly is over and done with, well, I reckon that... if it ain't too much to be asking, we sit down with Iron Star and see if we can't talk things over about you being inclined to have a heart for a whole packle of princesses at once."

It's a lovely moment only spoiled by Hornet yelling from the front, "Hey, official friend! Want to come pull this go backwards lever? It makes us go backwards!"

There's so much to process there. She's been shocked and mortified to have her secret fantasy dragged out of her and now - h-how does she even translate that into reality? Will she really be able to say - or do - or be the person she imagined being? It's overwhelming to be told that it is okay to be into what she's into -

(Like, is it okay if she thinks of it as her harem? She'd like that - but she'll accept kind of like a relationship of equals if that's better, she already understands she's asking for a lot already. Everyone has kingdoms to look after, after all, but you know she pursued a princess through the Jedadi Queen's harem when she was younger and that left a really big impression and, you know, she had a while to think about that after she got tangled in some of the chains that had been lying on the ground - and she'd understand if they don't want to wear the veil but maybe they could -)

There's one fortunate out that saves her from the sound of her brain suddenly starting to process... everything. It's that the most important part of all of this is that she gets to be confident, decisive and aggressive. The underlying impulse cuts right through all the complex swirls of thoughts and she leans in to affectionately nuzzle Princess Dandy - a lingering motion that promises one thing: later. And then she smoothly breaks away, leaving the tension crackling in the air.

With that same electric confidence she walked up to the side of Princess Hornet, took the lever in her mouth, and pulled it back. She needed to deal with this too.

And then her brain reminded her that they were on a vertical axis, suspended in mid-air, in a device built by Princess Hornet, she had just done something that would make it stop being in the sky, she lacked her wings/a seat belt, and also she was now legally complicit in anything that subsequently occurred.

"Um, Azora, I don't think this is such a good... eep!"

Mittens squirms. She tugs, and she pulls. She struggles with every ounce of her kitten might! All that gets her is a stern look and a magical swat on the butt. She squeaks and goes limp as she's dragged helplessly through the hallway toward the most obvious trap in the universe. It's weirdly comfortable, being carried by the scruff of her neck. It's a strange sensation, helpless and safe at the same time. And it makes her continued squirming all the more heroic.

The thing that stung the most in all of this is that Mittens could tell exactly what Azora was thinking. Curse or no curse, it's not like she'd suddenly become an idiot. It's just, Mittens knew she didn't care. That total confidence that she was more than good enough to get past the trap and get what she wanted anyway. The bratty, selfish insistence that this belonged to her in the first place. She might not have been this bad about it, but it still felt like staring at a reflection of her younger self. A reflection that was dragging her into danger, that she was powerless against. Stupid Azora, getting to be so tall.

"J-just think! Where did the others who took the apples go? We need to figure out a smarter way to--"

"Kitty if you don't quiet down I'm going to pack you so full of snakerchiefs they're going to start slithering out your ears. Is that what you want? Mew mew mew, I'm sorry princess! I'll be such a good girl like I promised, you're my best friend!"

Mittens blushes. She didn't have to smoosh her face and move her lips for her like that.

Her emerald eyes dart across the room, back to Kazelia. Her last hope for sense in all of this. It's no good, she needs more time to figure out the point of this room and find the hidden way through it. And there's only one way Mittens can see to buy that time for her.

"Mew!"

...Honestly, thank goodness. For the first time, thank goodness for these curses. Without their subtle tug and pull, this would never work. Mittens paps her paw on Azora's shoulder and stares into her face with the brightest, cutest, most soulful eyes she can manage.

"Please," she begs in a voice as sweet as sugar, "I just wanna protect you! Just... just let me go first! A-and if it's safe, you can follow! It'll be like a test!"

Sharp eyes try to pierce her soul. Azora holds Mittens at arms' length and looks up and down every inch of the princess trying to shine through the cat. And, it's weird. Maybe Mittens' eyes are playing tricks on her, or maybe she's so desperate for something to put her hope in that she's forcing herself to think it means anything. But she could swear Azora's expression looks conflicted for a second.

"Do you promise me you won't take the Caduceus? No matter what, you won't use it or run off with it?"

Mittens hesitates. She looks back down to the end of the corridor, where Kazelia is staring at her with a definite edge of worry behind her bespectacled eyes. It's hard to tell from this far away, but is she shaking her head? Mittens smiles.

"Of course I promise. Aren't we friends?" Mittens turns her head just enough to where it's hard to tell whether she's looking at Kazelia or Azora, "I'm counting on you! Alright?"

She hops away and reaches for the Caduceus before her stupid cowardly heart can make her flinch away from it. This is the final step to finish casting her spell. She hopes.

Before her paw can close around the staff there's a flash of blinding blue light. When it fades, the only sign that Mittens had been there at all was a jingly green collar dropping noisily to the floor.

[Talk Sense with Wisdom: 9]

Kathelia!

The collar falls to the floor with a melancholy jingle, and Azora Howl breathes out in shock. "My kitty..."

Then she turns on you, furiously. "What did you do to my kitten? Bring her back!!" She unrolls the blanket dramatically and steps on the still sleeping Konkon princess, sneering. "Go and bring back my little Mittens or I'll toss your little girlfriend down there instead!"

She's being arrogant and vulnerable to a sudden strike, but even if you managed to overcome her, you would have to move quickly and skillfully in order to avoid her vengefully hurling Kyouko down the hallway.

That being said, you've already figured out the purpose of the hallway. Behind each of the doors is a dungeon dimension, naturally, given the runes etched into the frames. They're custom designed just for each and every one of you, and... well, either there's unbelievable torment or pleasure so decadent you'll never want to leave. Imagine what might be behind your door... maybe it'd be Hornet's workshop! You could spend the rest of your life there fangirling over her inventions and notes!!

Eupheria has to be here. She's hidden, for once, but she has to be here. You're being watched by her right now. If you play your hand too early, if you spoil her game, you'll force her hand. But if you manage to figure out where she is, to surprise her... wait. There. Of course she's hidden behind the Caduceus, again. Just like at the beginning.

Too bad that Azora's playing right into Euphie's sense of drama.

***

Adila I!

This really is an impressive device. Everything inside of the drill is finely crafted, except for the shambles of a ruined tea corner, covered in broken porcelain and dog hair. You've managed to fit your army inside, and are homing in on Eupheria's location, using Hornet's strange homing device. It repeatedly pings as an arcing line sweeps across its face.

"You'll have to tell me when to stop," Princess Hornet says, though in the larger sense, you have no such intentions to stop her chaos. She is your new secret weapon. You will use her to attract Eupheria's attention, along with your young successor.

"Adila," you say, scritching her behind her ear. "I would like for you to spearhead the assault on Eupheria, and your partner will be Princess Hornet of Hobling Keep." You quietly ignore the fact that she is draped over the satyrian Felorian princess. She is a member of the Watch. She knows her role is to carry out your own orders.

"Good girl."

***

Mittens!

The fire in the fireplace is sparking and warm, radiating heat onto the rug and the sofa. The brazier smoking on top has a lavender catnip mix, so faint and so delicate from your position curled up on the rug.

Your Mommy pats her lap and smiles at you, a smile without any exhaustion or shivering. Outside, the rain plays a soft staccato on the glass balcony, kissing the orchids so gently. The clouds are faintest violet.

"Come here! Come here! Who's Mommy's special little kitten, huh? Come climb up here!"

You were doing something else, weren't you? Just a moment ago? You put your head in your little paws. All your thinkies smell like lavender catnip.

Pat, pat lap!

"C'mere, raindrop! That's a good girl!"

Adila I!

This really is an impressive device. Everything inside of the drill is finely crafted, except for the shambles of a ruined tea corner, covered in broken porcelain and dog hair. You've managed to fit your army inside, and are homing in on Eupheria's location, using Hornet's strange homing device. It repeatedly pings as an arcing line sweeps across its face.

"You'll have to tell me when to stop," Princess Hornet says, though in the larger sense, you have no such intentions to stop her chaos. She is your new secret weapon. You will use her to attract Eupheria's attention, along with your young successor.

"Adila," you say, scritching her behind her ear. "I would like for you to spearhead the assault on Eupheria, and your partner will be Princess Hornet of Hobling Keep." You quietly ignore the fact that she is draped over the satyrian Felorian princess. She is a member of the Watch. She knows her role is to carry out your own orders.

"Good girl."

It means a lot to hear that.

For everything that is - and isn't - going on inside her turbulent head right now, she's still having difficulty thinking and projecting specific thoughts. She's struggling with a curse that's already so far gone she's looking at Hornet's pinging line thing with a guilty fascination even though she's finally managed to suppress the urge to pounce and lick it. She wouldn't be sure if she could hold all this together if she was at full capacity, let alone leading an attack alongside Princess Hornet -

But then she gets told that she's a good girl by the First Princess of the Watch, by the Captain's superior officer, and suddenly everything just... calms down a bit. Okay. She's got this. She can focus. She's a good girl, after all. It's been proven.

+As you command, my Princess,+ thought Princess Adila, finding coherence in protocol. +Princess Hornet, could you please translate what this pinging line thing is saying for me. Further, if it is possible to make it look less like a laser dot that will cut down the instances of me trying to lick it.+

"Mrowr?"

Feel warm. Smell... sniff, sniff! Mmmmmm~

Mittens was, ummmmmmmmm. Something? Was... important? Maybe? Lots important, yus. More important than Mommy? Silly girl! Silly Mittens!

The thought drifts off in a haze of catnip and pretty flower smells. Mittens lifts her heavy head out of her paws and does a biiiiiiig stretch to get all the sleepy feelings out of her body. She yawns and wiggles her head a whole bunch to finish the job, filling the cozy room with the silly flap flap flap of her pointy ears on her fuzzy head. There, all better!

Twitch twitch! Her clever triangles soak in all the sounds around her. The crackle of the fire makes her heart sing. The drumbeat of rain on glass soothes her heart and sets her tail to happy swishing. The gentle creaking of the brazier lulls her back into a sleepy bliss, but the pat pat pat of pretty hands on Mommy's perfect lap and the trilling of her loving voice win out.

And still, it feels like something's wrong. Mittens mews in frustration. Her thinkies are so slow! She still needs... she's got to...

Oh! Mommy doesn't have a blanket on her lap! Mittens scampers across the room on all four paws, darting from fireplace rug to comfy chair faster than you can say 'ear rubs' and then, triumphantly, hop hop! She stretches wide and luxuriously across Mommy's lap so that her silky fur is smothering as much chair and as much Mommy as she can. She buries her face against the softest, sweetest smelling hip in the whole wide world and squeezes her eyes shut tight with all the love, trust, and happiness she can fit into one silly body.

The song inside the room finds its missing instrument: the deepest, rumbliest, most happyful purr in the whole of Hyperborea.

W.W.H.D.? Stall. Stall like your life depended on it. Or Kyouko's life! Kathelia just didn't have the tools right now to do more than that. She could let Azora get whisked away, but her spiteful sister would probably hurl her and Kyouko into the traps in the process and despite everything else, keeping Azora around might be useful. She was powerful after all. Plus, if Azora dropped out and Kazelia just sat there, Eupheria would come out and mess things up. So stall, stammer, stutter, and generally keep Azora focused on not moving forward.

"Ha, I'm calling your bluff sthithter!" Kathelia managed, trying to roll out of the way of the stomping feet of her enraged sister. "I'd say that we're at an impathe! I cannot go forward, for doing so would cauthe you to harm Kyouko, one of my dear friendth. But you, dear sthithter," she says, using her spear to help struggle to her feet. "You can't carry out your threat or you'll lothe your leverage on me." Kazelia grins. "You've made the clathic blunder, sthithter! You are alone, while soon my friendth will stir or come to my aid. Our deadlock will guarantee my victory!"

Kathelia gives Azora her best grin, trying not to show that she's bluffing and that her best guess is that Rita, Alina, and Isolde are all trapped right now and probably need her help rather than coming to her aid anytime soon. Besides, she knew just how to push Azora's buttons and that was the goal here.

"Really sthithter, thith ith stho like you!" Kathelia is really warming up to this part. "You only think about Daddy and yourthelf. Did you even think about what happenth when he getth the Cadutheuth?" This part's a little for Eupheria too, since she's listening in. "You think he'll be proud of you, right? sthooooo proud of hith favorite daughter ever. But you've just been flying about, paying no attention to how all thith workth. If Daddy gets the Cadutheuth, he'll freeze Ourania, but then the retht of uth will follow. You too, sthithter. He can't pay attention to you all the time, can he? Where ith he now? Why ithn't he bailing out hith favorite daughter from an Illuminan curthe?"

Azora's probably fuming, she's absolutely going to lose it, nevermind the contest she's gotta take this out on Kathelia right now. And Eupheria, well, she should be getting some top quality entertainment from the sibling rivalry. You can't conjure pettiness this good, it takes that real thousands of years of pent up sibling rivalry unleashed by magical curses that make both of them immature kind of situation to give it that vicious flare.

So Kathelia goes in for the kill shot. "You know Daddy ithn't capable of loving anyone, right sthithter? He thinks you're utheful, but the thecond he focutheth on anything elthe, he'll forget you even exitht. I'm thorry to have to be the one to break it to you."

[Keep Them Busy: 6+6+2=14. This works really, really well and there are no consequences. Also someone else who drops in here might be at an advantage.]