Kathelia!

Wham. Blam. Right on the button. Azora Howl’s eyes prick with tears. “No,” she howls, stomping her foot. “No, no, no! You’re wrong! Daddy likes me bestest and he wouldn’t ever throw me away!” She tosses Kyouko aside casually; the fox princess flops down like a wet noodle, bonking her head on the floor in the sort of way that will cause headaches and a bruise later. But now she’s just thrown away her leverage, and is advancing on you with murder in her starless eyes, like using you like her punching bag would let her pretend what you said wasn’t true.

And that’s when the wall explodes.

***

Adila!

Everyone ends up squished up against the front of the drill when Hornet presses the big red STOP button this time. You reach down and pluck Hornet carefully out from under you by the scruff of her jacket, and she, in turn, grabs a Lightning-Infused Tuning Fork and an Autonomous Net as her weapons of choice. “For Hobling Keep!” She cries, dramatically, as the two of you tumble out the hatch with Helya and Tashanna, leaving Dandy, Ninian and Adila I as the secondary strike team.

Azora Howl is dumbstruck by the appearance of a giant drill inches from her nose, and has big fat tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. This is the most vulnerable she will ever be, and if you want to take her down, you need to do it now.

Good thing you’re not alone. You have a team. You also have Hornet. And you have orders.

Pay a price and then roll to Finish Her. With Advantage, even.

***

Mittens!

Brush brush brush. The brush runs through your hair as you purr delightedly.

This is the perfect world, always in the same moment even though it changes. The rain will always be falling. The fire will always be crackling. Your head will always be full of catnip, incense, and love.

Your Mommy pulls a glass hairbrush through your hair and sings you a song.

What does she sing? What appears and disappears without you noticing? What makes this moment the kind you could lose yourself in forever?

Princess Adila doesn't want to hurt Princess Azora Howl. She knows she's awful, intellectually - Kazelia's told her, a lot, and Eska has made sure to let her know how she feels about her, and she's been arrogant and insufferable all throughout the challenges...

But all that Princess Adila knows is that she helped her once - and that's how she thinks of it, even though it turned out to not be what she wanted. She knows that Princess Howl has a beautiful singing voice. And she knows that right now she's crying. This isn't someone who she wants to come out and just... just hit, no matter how easy it would be, no matter what orders she has. Apply overwhelming force from ambush to deny your opponent any attempt to retaliate is what's in the Operations Manual... but A Princess Must Be Graceful is a rule for all of Hyperborea.

That said, there's a limit to how much grace you can apply when you're in the body of a large, clumsy dog ridden by a goblin princess. She does what she can.

Lightning energy propels her forwards. She presses her head against Azora's, brow to brow, holding her in place so she can deliver her thoughts directly into Azora's head. Her mind ignites like fire, thoughts clear enough to shake the earth around her.

+Princess Eska idolizes you,+ she thinks. +She can hardly finish a sentence without comparing herself to you. Princess Kazelia admires you so much. You don't know how much courage it took her to stand up to you like that. You mean the world to your sisters! I've seen enough of Oberon to know that he doesn't need anyone - not like your sisters need you, not like we need you! We don't have a chance of escaping if we don't all work together, so please, Princess Azora Howl! We need your help!+

[Price: Blessing of Glory to force Azora to listen to my words.
Finish with Wisdom: 5, 3, 5 +1 = 11]

"As you wander
Through the storm
Let my song, dear
Keep you safe and warm

Go see the world, Love
River and sea
But hold me in your memory."

Mommy's lap is even warmer than the fire. It's even softer than the wonderful rug that's just for Mittens to take naps on. Mittens squirms happily under the ministrations of her favorite brush and looks up with eyes so filled with love they're almost leaking. Mommy's voice washes over her like a river, so powerful and deep, but at the same time calm and soothing. Mittens purrs her accompaniment. It's the only sound she needs or wants to be making right now.

The brush feels heavenly in her hair. Every time it finds a tangle there's a happy tingling sensation that crawls across her entire silly head and sends a shiver straight down her spine so that there's nothing left to do but swish her tail contentedly. It's even painted through with green, her favorite color ever. Mittens' eyes drift shut and there's nothing in the whole world beyond the gentle tap tap tap of raindrops on the glass saying hello in their soothing voices, Mommy's singing that sets her heart adrift, and the sensation of the the brush running through her hair and making she brain go all fuzzy happy squeak squeak mew.

She opens her eyes. The brush is painted through with pink. Her favorite color ever!

"In the valley
Past the hills
Lies our meadow
Full of daffodils

There sleep, my Darling
And in your dreams
Take my hand and dance with me."

It's been a very long time since Mittens last heard this song. It's an old song, much older than she is. The first time Mommy sang it to her was the Sad Day, the one where... where the... it's so hard to remember but there was a... a really important lady. Mommy's special friend who left on an adventure. And for a while after that this was Mommy's favorite song. Mittens heard it every night as she fell asleep, her and the two little girls she shared a bed with.

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy with Mittens on her lap and two smiling girls with their arms wrapped around either side of Mommy, one of them like Mommy in miniature, the other a little older and a little more out of place. Mittens yawns and nuzzles Mommy's stomach so the old song doesn't make her sad.

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy with three silly kittens on her lap. Even though Mommy is looking at all her little kittens with so much love, looking at her back then you can't help but think she looks the tiniest bit lonely. That's why she's singing her old lullaby, you know. She still misses her Special Friend. The one with the long fingers who gives the best ear rubs in all of Hyperborea!

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy, an excited smile on her face. The teeny, tiny, itty bitty Mittens is sitting on her shoulder, headbutting her cheek with all the affection she can muster in her silly little heart. It's just the two of them. It's only ever been the two of them in all the world. Who needs anybody else, if Mittens and Mommy have each other?

"See the river
White with foam
Let the waters
Carry you back home

I beg my Starlight
Listen to my song
Come back to where your heart belongs."

This is not the perfect moment. There's no Rita here, none of her friends are around, and sooner or later her heart would start yearning for adventure. Or maybe she'd... maybe she'd... the catnip carries the thought away again. This is not the perfect moment. But she feels safe, and warm, and oh-so-loved, and oh-so-very-needed.

Even still, all the catnip and all the brushies and all the singing in the impossibly vast universe might not have kept her here forever. It's the open door to the hallway that finishes weaving the net around her forever. Mittens can leave any time she wants! It's so easy! All she has to do is stretch her fuzzy body and hop hop down onto the floor, and she can trot through that door as simple as you please! She can do it whenever. She can do it now! That's why... one more tiny moment can't hurt. One more round of brushing. One more verse. One more hug, one more nuzzle, one more extra special hug. Mommy needs her Mittens. For just more minute. Until forever.

***

Mistress is missing! She's missing! Yellow and Orange chime anxiously at each other. They've been chasing her all the way through the labyrinth and she's been slipping farther and farther away but now she's just gone! Blue thinks that somebody needs to find Gold, but she's being ridiculous. What good is the Queen of Lights without a Princess to wield her?

The little lights spiral around each other. Their chimes are heart rending as they slip into the strange tunnel of air and dirt and Euphie's discarded ideas. Find! Find the princess! They zip across the scene like twin bolts of lightning, and hurl themselves straight at the door made for Alina. They remember. They'll never forget.

Crash! Crash! Orange and Yellow hammer the door frame with unshaped blasts of raw magic. She needs them! Princess Alina needs her little lights! But they can't! They can't they can't they can't they can't get through! What is? Where is? Help! Need help!

Two lights zip back and forth through the chaos and confusion like a pair of glowing hummingbirds. Back! Forth! Up! Down! Chime! Chime! As a pair, they find Kazelia. The closest thing to a hope they've noticed. They tug on her sleeves, insistent. Come! Come! Please! Please! Help! Help!

Tug! Tug! They pull her away from her sister, away from the Caduceus, away from the madness. Toward their Alina's door. There's just the tiniest bit of a crack in the middle of the portal. Not enough to fit even a light through, but just maybe... a voice? Alina's lights are asking you to be their hero, Kazelia. Reach their princess' heart and bring her back to them. Or if you can't, then find the voice that will reach far enough in your stead. But do something! Do anything! Please! Please!

Stars sparkle in front of Kathelia's eyes. Not the Rider stars, just little bursts in her vision as she tries to clear her head. She had flung herself out of the way as the wall burst into shards of tinkling Illuminan glass, and she was still trying to get her vision back, furiously polishing her glasses on her dusty overalls and trying to blink away the bursting in her vision to clear it up. Kyouko is okay, she can see her and the blanket sprawled nearby, and it looks like Adila has burst right out of the drill and jumped up to Azora. She can tell that even without being able to see that well because Adila has a very distinct blurry outline. Woo, go Adila! She's super cool and it occurs to Kathelia that she should celebrate their friendship with a formal friendship contract after this.

Polish polish polish. She lowers her eyes, slips her glasses back on, blinks, looks up again. The lights are still there. They're...that's not her vision. Oh stars and void, these are Alina's lights. How did they get here and why weren't they with her?! She's starting to follow the lights, but her glance strays to everyone getting off the drill. Oh! There's princess Hornet! Oh no. W.W.H.D. has no answer for what to do when meeting Princess Hornet since Princess Hornet has never had to meet Princess Hornet (this, of course, discounts both clones and self-modeled automatons, both of which have separate response protocols). She should ask Princess Hornet what to do, but she's wheezing from all the dust and her knees are locking up and...and nobody is paying attention to the lights!

Kathelia resignedly hitches up her overall straps and resigns herself to waiting before meeting her idol, following the little lights to their door. Oh, wait, now that she's looking at the door, it occurs to her that she really ought to shout a warning to everyone else about the door traps and the fact that Eupheria is right there. But...wait if she does that Eupheria might jump out and turn her into an even tinier, muter nerd for being a spoilsport. She settles for a magical whisper carried to...well Adila because even though she's a dog right now, there's too much else going on here and she still trusts Adila to handle things right.

"Adila. Caduceus trapped. Doors trapped. Eupheria hiding here." That should be simple for a dog to get, right? Even if the dog is hearing it through a magical whisper.

It would have to do, she's shoved her way past the crystal rubble to Alina's door while everyone else is distracted and the little lights look like they're very panicked, which is not good. Hmm, Kathelia analyzes the door briefly. Despite presenting a rustic facade, this appears to be a class A-37 dimensional gate, suitable for narrow-frequency attuned resonant dimensional travel, communication, and three separate categories of scrying (though visible light divination was clearly out or Alina's lights wouldn't be blocked). Obviously Caduceus-crafted, and the seamless fitting into the temple facade was a masterwork. Eupheria clearly had an eye for detail in her pieces, nobody could take that away from her.

Okay Kathelia, stop admiring the insane princess who's trapped all your friends and figure out a way to help. Right, right. Kathelia presses against the door. Her magic wouldn't penetrate this, it wasn't attuned to her and she didn't have the time to try and figure out the right frequency to get it to Alina. It was obviously very specific or, again, her lights wouldn't be blocked like this. She'd have to rely on something more old-fashioned. Auditory bounceback scrying was in one of the likely functional categories after all.

"Alina." Kathelia's voice is hoarse and quiet. She coughs, it's so dusty. She wishes she had a glass of water. Or cookies and milk. NO, focus. "Alina, can you hear me? Itth Kathelia!" Her voice cracks when she tries to raise it. She presses on anyway. "That roomth a trap! Itth a ssss, a ssss..a unique trap jutht for you." She pauses to catch her breath, she's wheezing a little. "You have to...to come back to uth. Quick! Your lightth are here and I think thomething really badth about to happen! And I...I don't want you to be trapped. I want you to be okay. I hope you can hear me." Kathelia trails off, not sure what else to say, listening for some sign that her voice is getting through, faint though it may be.

Adila!

Princess Azora Howl, greatest witch of her family, the wicked scion of Oberon, wipes her nose on her sleeve and makes a gross sniffling noise. “Okay,” she says, and puffs out her chest. “Okay. I’ll decide what to do with you all after I get the Caduceus.” Don’t worry. Even as a dog, you can recognize when someone is just saying something in order to have something to say. She turns and marches down the hall to speak with Kazelia.

As you watch her go, down at the other end of the hall, there is spontaneous creation: something from nothing. It’s subtle, the sort of thing you might only notice if you were a very good puppy, yes you are. It’s an hourglass, perched neatly next to the Caduceus.

It’s very small. You don’t have much time until it runs out, and then... game over? Difficulty spike? Confetti? Who knows!

***

Mittens!

When you hear that silly little voice, it’s like it’s coming from down the hall. You have to perk up your triangles to be able to make out any of it.

How much of it do you make out?

***

Kathelia!

You probably weren’t expecting Azora to march down the hall, were you? She’s sniffling and trying desperately to cling to a little bit of her dignity, which breaks completely when she asks: “Bring my kitten back!”

But... there’s no sign. No sound. You wouldn’t put it past Eupheria to actively scramble attempts to get anything through the door; it’s what you would do, if you were in her position. And you’re likely running out of time fast. Even if you manage to get Alina out, Eupheria’s not going to sit around and let you rescue everyone...

***

Eupheria!

Everything is perfect.

Hyperborea is yours, now, and everyone agrees that it’s an improvement! You know this because of the massive carnival taking place all around you. Glass pinwheels make delightful whistling sounds that cut through the tumult of everyone in Hyperborea celebrating the most special, most beloved queen in Hyperborea’s history. You are mobbed by commoners and princesses alike asking for your autograph; with a wave of your hand, you create Autonomous Autograph Ants, which dutifully take to the air and, buzzing, use their quill-heads to sign book after book, not to mention foreheads and articles of clothing.

You hug your laughing great-granddaughters close; they’re all wearing masks you made for them, snarling cats and dragons. They love you. Everyone loves you. Even Adila loves you, and is happy to be on all fours underneath you, locked into place with glass chains for being a naughty girl. It’s all right, though. After the carnival ends, you’ll forgive her. She just needs to be reminded of her place, that’s all.

“Eupheria! Eupheria! Eupheria!”

You start crying, and your heart hammers huge and warm in your chest. They’re finally all happy. You did it. You made everybody happy, and they all love you. Even Adila.

You did it.

It's not the words that reach her. Even straining her clever, pointy ears as hard as she can, Mittens can barely make out the muffled voice floating down the hall. And the words that do slip through get all muddled in the haze of catnip. But even still, they're not wasted. Because Mittens can feel the strain and the panic in that voice, and that makes her try to think. And when she tries to think, she remembers who that voice belongs to.

It's like turning back into herself. Memories drift into her brain and stay there, old ones and very fresh ones, all clearer than the morning sun. She's not alone. She's not alone. She's not alone! She's... a princess. And, she...

She lifts her paw to stop the brush from coming down on her head again. It's harder than plucking a star from the sky. Harder than lifting Argossa itself by the roots. She looks up at her Mommy with clear eyes, but with no less love for the person they see.

"Mommy, I," her words get cut off by a thumb pressed against her lips, that pushes so firmly before tenderly brushing her cheek. Her mother smiles at her and shakes her head.

"I need to go. I'm sorry, I... I can't stay anymore. I've got to go. My friends need my help so I--"

She tugs on her arm. She doesn't budge at all. Mommy's gripping her firmly, not letting her move, looking at her with a smile on her face, but eyes that look as hurt as they did on the Sad Day. What is this? When did somebody fill Mittens' heart with knives?

"Don't speak like that, my little kitten," Mommy whispers, "My precious Little Light. There's nothing out there. Stay with me. Stay where it's safe."

"Mom, I... nnf!" Mittens shakes her head. The incense is making it so hard to think like a proper princess, "I don't think this is, is real. We're not really--"

"Please," now Mommy's voice is strained. She's begging. Her eyes are filled with ice pain and it's cutting Mittens to shreds just to look at her, "Please don't keep speaking. Sit back down, my love, let Mommy take care of you. Don't leave me all alone in here. Not again. Not again. I'm so cold, darling. I need you here. Don't you leave me like all the others. Please."

All at once, Mittens surges up with strength she'd forgotten she had. She can't see the room or even hear the rain through her tears, her sobs. She jumps up, and bonks her forehead softly against her mother's, while reaching up with one arm to hold them together for just one moment longer.

"You're not here! My Mommy's not here! I know because... because I left you in a soft bed in Illumina! You're resting in a dumpy house because the castle is in ruins! And, and, and you're sick, ok? You're very sick! I need to go! I need to go so I can make you better and I can't do it if I stay here any longer! I love you! I love you so, so much and that's... that's why I've got to go, ok?"

She wipes her tears away on her sleeve, and in so doing remembers she has sleeves. She remembers she's wearing a suit. It helps her stand on two legs. Her ears press miserably flat against her skull and she turns and runs as hard as she can before she has a chance to regret it. And every step hurts. It feels like she'd fallen apart and she has to remember how she fits together all over again. Every instant is painful and even as she reaches out to open the door and step back into the hallway, her heart and head are screaming at her to run back and just stay with Mommy, just a little bit longer.

But she opens it and stumbles through. Toward the voice she heard. Kazelia's voice. Because that pain she heard was real. She's coming, ok? Hold on!

[Overcome: 9. Damaging Blood as the price to make it last]

Adila!

Princess Azora Howl, greatest witch of her family, the wicked scion of Oberon, wipes her nose on her sleeve and makes a gross sniffling noise. “Okay,” she says, and puffs out her chest. “Okay. I’ll decide what to do with you all after I get the Caduceus.” Don’t worry. Even as a dog, you can recognize when someone is just saying something in order to have something to say. She turns and marches down the hall to speak with Kazelia.

As you watch her go, down at the other end of the hall, there is spontaneous creation: something from nothing. It’s subtle, the sort of thing you might only notice if you were a very good puppy, yes you are. It’s an hourglass, perched neatly next to the Caduceus.

It’s very small. You don’t have much time until it runs out, and then... game over? Difficulty spike? Confetti? Who knows!

Stick! Get the stick and bring it back and then Dandy will throw the stick and then -

An overpowering impulse sends Adila hurtling down the corridor. The Caduceus is here! Unattended! She can get it! and then bring it back! and then the day will be saved and she'll be the best dog who ever brought back a stick and she'll even beat that hourglass while she's at it...

She screeches to a halt just in front of the stick, straining against every fiber of her body which is screaming at her to get stick. But she's a watcher, too. Kazelia has warned her. It's not a game any more. She stops. She turns to the side. She glances around. She sniffs the air. Remember always, the creaking paper-voice of the Operations Manual said, though it was more memory than it usually was, not to trust that which seems to be your heart's desire. Such is the preferred bait of the powerful and unsubtle.

[Look Closely: 8
- What will happen if I take the Caduceus?
- What is going on here? What do my senses tell me?
- Tell me about Eupheria - what is she doing? What will she do next?]

Kathelia leans against the door. She's tired and it's really, really hard for her to talk. There's so much to do. Princess Hornet would, clearly as evidenced by direct empirical observation, be exiting the giant drill that she crafted and commanded for a perfect entrance into this room. But Kathelia couldn't mimic princess Hornet when princess Hornet already that job handled. There was a ton else to do. She needed to monitor the magic and try to protect Adila (who is racing forward far too quickly and is probably going to trip her own door trap before even reaching the Caduceus if she's not careful). She needed to figure out how to protect all the other princesses who had just piled in here. She had to find some way to keep Eupheria entertained so she wouldn't come out and complicate matters. And it was extremely likely based on what had happened to Alina that both Isolde and Rita were trapped in other doors, which required identifying those doors and then determining a way to get them back (which seemed pretty hopeless if she couldn't even reach Alina, who she definitely had the strongest connection to). Plus she should try to wake up Kyouko, figure out a way to access the Caduceus, and continue working to break this curse so that she could bring her full strength to bear without distractions.

This was too much homework for one princess! So instead of doing any of those things, she procrastinated and looked back at the door where she knew Alina should be, leaning against it to catch her breath. She looked with longing because at least if this one thing worked, she felt, then everything would still be okay. Somehow.

That was when Alina burst out the door, wiping away tears with her suit sleeve. Kathelia was standing right there, so there was a bit of a tumble, although somehow Alina landed perfectly while Kathelia picked herself off. The little yellow and orange lights were already rushing over to Alina and Kathelia had just a moment to exult! "I knew it! Magically attuned, but the door material wasn't sthtructured to keep regular thoundth! This meanth we need to thave Rita and your Momma, they're in other doorth I think!"

If Alina was back, she was safe until Eupheria changed the conditions. The same door trap wouldn't work on her and she wouldn't be attuned to any of the others, so she was the best person to make an approach on the Caduceus. But, Kathelia had to warn Alina what was happening. She tried to pull her aside and speak really fast before something bad happened. "The roomth trapped, only you're thafe thinth you got out! But Eupheria'th here, behind the thtaff. And, and Rita and your Momma are in thome other doorth I think. But nobody elth but you can go look."

Adila!

“Well, well, well.” Eupheria steps out from behind the Caduceus, and it’s just as freaky as it was the last time. She’s back to the black bodysuit and the writhing, neon silks draped loosely over her, and the big floofy cyan-and-black bow in her magenta hair. Her lights (and Alina’s gold) spin in wild wheels around her head. “It looks like you figured it out! Congratulations! Those doors are where every one of you losers are going to go— all except for the lucky winner. That would be the first princess who comes and touches my hand, by and by.”

She holds out one perfect hand, even as the Caduceus hums, and inflicts in the hearts of every princess here the wish to hold that hand, to have their wish come true, to win.

[Eupheria has inflicted the Location Stat: I’d do anything to win.]

But you? You are a good girl. And you know that if you dive for the Caduceus... well, you’ll get turned into a plush doll, probably. Or muzzled and locked in a cage. But if you wait just a moment, and let all of your friends make a big distraction... then you can win. You can dive for the stick and then you’ll have all the power in Hyperborea.

And then you’ll get headpats! No one will be able to deny you headpats! You can make Dandy and Iron Star happy to share you! You can let Adila I stay out of your head and eat hot noodles in the Bazaar with you! All of that will be possible once you hold the Caduceus!!

Behind you, there is chaos. Half a dozen princesses are stampeding down the corridor, but all you need to do is whimper and stand aside and wait just a moment. The minute Eupheria is distracted enough... pounce.

***

Mittens!

You have to win. Once you win, you can have a perfect world with your family. Faces seem to float in front of you, almost impressionistic, allowing you to imprint whoever tugs your heart most on them. You can have that perfect day, you can be safe while outside your doors the world changes daily— but you and yours will be safe forever and ever.

Then... something shakes you, not all the way out of it, but enough to dull that need to a muted roar in the back of your head. Around Eupheria’s head, her tainted lights spin merrily... and one gleams perfect, shining Gold.

You can’t win this except by Eupheria’s own rules. If you try... she’ll just use the power of Gold, and she could keep it going for as long as she wanted. You need to take her hand and make your wish, because otherwise... how can you fight someone who can become invincible with a thought?

That’s what you’re thinking when Helya effortlessly elbows you in the stomach on her way down the corridor, slamming the wind out of you and bouncing you off the door frame.

***

Kathelia!

This is the most terrifying thing. You are watching six princesses (and Adila I, honorary princess) charge down the narrow corridor. Hornet is going over everyone’s heads using her Extraordinary Rotational Backpack, but Ninian is clinging to her ankles and trying to claw her way up. Helya just slammed Alina in the gut so hard that she nearly punted her right back through the door, but she has a silk sash wrapped around one wrist as Tashanna tries to reel her in. Old Adila and Azora are on the floor, having a cat fight at the end of the corridor, and Old Adila is screaming about how only she can be trusted with that power. Jessamine, meanwhile, is at the back of the pack, but preparing to make a mighty leap over everyone’s heads!

You glance back over your shoulder at Eupheria and your Adila, and notice the tiniest little wiggle of Adila’s haunches. She’s planning to pounce. If you distracted Eupheria, she might have a chance!

(But you shouldn’t let her. She can’t be trusted with that power! She’d make a silly wish. Only you are smart enough to undo these curses with a carefully worded wish! You need to figure out a way to stop all of them!!)

She can't win. Kathelia's a know it all. She doesn't have Hornet's inventions (and even with Hornet using them, she can see that this is a mess). She doesn't have Alina's grace. She doesn't have Helya's competition genius (and the new princesses don't even look like they're cursed yet, Eupheria must not have been accounting for their arrival).

Kathelia's got a keen mind though. Even if she can't win herself, she can be a queen-maker. She can give Adila a chance. The moment is there. She knows Adila can't hold onto the Caduceus, maybe nobody here can, save perhaps Mother, and on the order of extremely bad plans, handing the staff of pure creativity to the void of pure destruction was a real list topper. But chaos was a good state of things, and better by far than Eupheria's controlled chaos. They needed to shake her.

So, she did the only thing she could and sent Euphie a direct magical broadcast from across the room. "Eupheria, I got Alina back from your doorth" she brags, her voice broadcast by magic right to Eupheria's ears (there's no way she could shout above this normally). "I sthtopped my thithter from falling into your trap. I hope you liked the drama, I did it for you. And now I'm gonna find a way to cheat your game too. All your magic'th no match for a smart princeth." She gives Eupheria a little cheshire grin, showing off her shiny braces in a way that screams come get me even though there's nothing that's putting her ahead of the princess pack. It's not about that, it's about having Eupheria look Kathelia's way for less than half a second and thinking about her and not anything else. That's all she needed to do.
[Keep busy: 4+1+2=7. It works, but there will be reprisal at the end.]

Go get her Adila.

Adila, from her perspective in the depths of the curse, understands intellectually that there are people out there with different priorities than stick. She understands that people have motivations like pride or jealousy or competition or protectiveness or love - she is aware that she has all of those herself, even. But none of them have the same utter immediacy of stick. The world orbits around it, her limited doggy mind processing all of the importance of saving Hyperborea, defeating Eupheria, all of her hopes and dreams - all that immense complication is condensed down into a single laser point that can only be articulated as get stick. Maybe bury it later. But get stick.

So even though Eupheria loves and cares for the Caduceus it isn't literally her entire world like it is for Adila - Caddy helps her get other things she wants. But for Adila, she has to win, and winning means getting the stick. She'd do anything for it - even being a bad dog and leaping up to grab it when Eupheria is distracted, grabbing it out of her hands, and bolting. It's not good but - but Eupheria hasn't thrown the stick once and that makes it her fault too.

Mittens slams against the frame of her Dream Door so hard she bounces off of it. She manages an indignant little 'oof' as all the air gets forcibly knocked out of her, and then there's a few seconds of blank where she has to reorient herself enough to notice she's face down on the floor.

At least she can think clearly again, and before she could do anything stupid. Goodness, she'd just about put her foot in the kitty litter, hadn't she? What was she thinking, worrying about Gold when the most important thing here was Helya?

Helya! Mmmm, whiskers, but she's still got it. The feeling of her elbow in Mittens' chest! Mew. Mew!! That's why she needs all her focus if she's gonna win. You don't just beat Helya, you have to really think your way around her and change what winning means so that it's something you both do. But right this second it's hard to do anything more than admire her back as she heroically charges into the chaos.

Mrowr! Mittens heart beats only for her Rita, don't misunderstand. But maybe... maybe when she wins, Mittens can make her wish be a little slumber party? Her and Rita and Tashanna and Helya, with snacks and pillows and, and lacy nightgowns, a-a-and flustered, teasy dares, getting just a little bit bolder... w-with all of them together, it'd be magic.

Mittens shakes her head with brain rattling, ear thwapping ferocity. No! Bad girl! Wasted wish! There are so many more people she needs to save than that! And before any of that she needs to win. She needs focus, and a clever plan, and--

"Jess?!?"

What is she doing here? What is she doing here?? That little idiot! She promised she'd... rrgh! Ok, change of plans. Big sister's gotta set a certain little brat straight. Just, nnff! Just as soon as her lungs start working again...

Adila!

Caddy is in your head. It’s not a natural telepath, the way you are; it inserts seeking tendrils of curiosity into your thoughts, rummaging around, trying to understand: what do you want? What do you want?

You want... normality. The thoughts twine around the word. Normal. Beat. Investigation.

Criminals.

The colors grow bolder, even as the shadows deepen. When you move, your scales glint for a moment like your Watch badge. A seasonal rain begins caressing the windows. Goblin saxophones begin playing.

In this world, a Princess might think she can get away with a crime. She’s wrong. No matter how far she runs, how well she thinks she can hide... the Watch will find her and bring her to justice—

And that’s when you realize Stick is missing!

***

Helya!

A crisp mountain breeze cuts through the air. The sun shines brilliantly through the windows, and the distant thunder of hooves tells you that you are home.

You turn, triumphant, and there she is, your love, her head wreathed in a garland of forget-me-nots and ivy, wearing the dress you wove for her yourself. Her eyes are so beautiful over her veil, which you also wove for her after taking a class on traditional Jedadi crafts. She’s carrying the Mare’s Bouquet, and—

She lifts her veil and kisses you, and you melt into her, and you don’t even notice when she slips the Caduceus out of your hands.

***

Tashanna!

Violins play a stately waltz as you dip the stunned Helya onto the floor. Black Lily Lipstick: never leave home without it! You spin, your beaded dress swirling about you, and curtsey to your worthy but defeated opponents. You can’t wait to show Shazari! For once, you managed to win!

“I thank you all for helping me get this far,” you say, to the sound of courteous applause. Your heart is doing cartwheels in your chest! “You have made this celebration one of the happiest in my life. I value each and every—“

Dandy roundhouse kicks you in the stomach.

***

Dandy!

The walls begin to bloom. Vines wind their way around pillars, flowers burst from the stone in high speed, and the air fills with the smell of apple pies and roasted corn.

What’s stopping all of Hyperborea of being a garden and a farm, when you think about it? It’s already fruitful, it just needs that push over the edge. It just needs someone to sort everything into neat little rows and organize the harvest.

A crown of wheat stalks blossoms around your head as you tramp your hooves eagerly on the floor. You’ll make all of Rowan into a garden just for Adila, or at least, the parts that nobody’s really using...

And that’s when Hornet drops out of the sky onto your face.

***

Hornet!

This is the Ultimate World you came up with! Ba-bong!! Gears and wheels and pulleys cover the walls, churning away to provide the power to do anything! Do you want to fly? You can, tucked inside a Unusual Flying Object or a Dragonfly Glider! Zooooooom!! Do you want to be a good person? Just walk inside a Moral Rebalance and Refueling Station! Dun dun!!

You even have a Friendship Wall, covered with the faces of all the princesses who are friends with you! A Miraculous State Analysis display next to their faces ticks ticks ticks as all of their hands swing to: SAFE, or WITH FRIENDS, or even ABOUT TO HUG YOU.

Now you know how your friends are all the time, and don’t need to worry about reading them wrong or not being there when they need hel—rrrrrkk!

***

Azora Howl!

The room darkens, lights extinguishing, and the boom of thunder rattles the windows. Rider blades keen and wail as they are drawn by shadowy figures, holding them to the throats of all these silly little princesses. You drop the silly unconscious goblin, holding the Caduceus victoriously, and cackle! Yes, you cackle! It’s your right!!

“If you want this dumb stick back,” you say at Eupheria, who is looming furiously over you, her eyes spinning so violently it looks like they’re about to pop out of her skull, “you have to promise that you’ll do all the boring things I don’t want to do, and that I’ll get to keep my kitten and my sisters and make them do whatever I want! Though... why should I make you promise, when I can just make you?”

Chains begin clamping at every one of Eupheria’s wrists, dragging her down to the floor screaming as you hold the Caduceus between the two of you.

And with the crunch of frost on the tiles, your father begins to appear. He’ll be happy to take the Caduceus from you... but maybe you should make him kneel, too, until you’ve made sure that he really will love you best forever and ever.

[Azora has replaced the environmental trait with Shadow Riders, Slowly Becoming More Solid]

***

Kathelia!

Interesting! The Caduceus seems to be making shadowy Riders out of nothing instead of real ones. Possibly it is limited in its ability to create life? That would have massive implications about the Nightmare Army. Or perhaps Azora is just so narcissistic right now that she’s only able to think of others in vague terms, defining her guards by their weapons and your father by his Presence. That suggests that clear intent is required to use the Caduceus, despite the anarchic events of the past minute. Or perhaps making so many changes in quick succession is wearing on the Caduceus, and soon it will need to rest? If true, that would open up many possibilities for conflict resolution here! If you keep passing it around, eventually it will be worn out!

Unfortunately, you can’t voice any of this, because a cold, shadowy hand is clamped over your mouth, holding your jaw shut and pressing up against your nostrils. You take big, desperate breaths, despite the fact that it makes the three swords held to your neck uncomfortably dig into your skin.

Of course Azora sees you as a uniquely dangerous threat, which is why you’re surrounded by shadow Riders, your arms pinned and your words unintelligible. All you can do is watch helplessly as Azora achieves Ultimate Power...

And then your father touches you.

***

Mittens!

He steps on you. Jessamine howls in fury and lunges at him, only to take a backhand to the face that sends her sprawling. He steps on you and twists his heel cruelly. Stars burst in front of your eyes.

Then he’s continuing forward, without a backward glance. He’s not all here, you know that instinctively, but... but he’s coming. Wherever he is in Hyperborea, Oberon Greymane is fading away to appear here.

You’re hauled to your feet roughly. “Distract her. Now.” Adila I pushes you down the hall to act like a good pawn, even as she reaches into a pocket of her Watch uniform and brings out a vicious little brass knuckle clenched in her fist. If there’s anyone who deserves it, it’s definitely Azora, but...

But do you trust Adila I with this power? And if you don’t... do you have any way of stopping Oberon Greymane from taking the Caduceus for himself??

Mittens runs. Pain and fear have driven purpose into her veins, and her heart pumps it through her entire body. Mittens runs. She drops down to all fours just to make it there that little bit faster. Mittens runs. She's whisper quiet; even if the room wasn't thundering with Rider blades and nasty taunts, you'd have to strain your ears to notice her.

Mittens runs. Because he touched her. He touched her! Her skin is crawling and her pain is ice and she has to run, has to run, has to run! But she's not the girl who collapsed into crystal guilt in Feloria. Not anymore. Mittens leaps.

And she punches Azora Howl full in the face. That's for Rita! She doesn't say it out loud, but she thinks it very hard. The Caduceus goes tumbling out of Azora's grubby little hands, twirling through the air toward Eupheria. Mittens snatches it out of the air on a beam of yellow light without so much as turning her head. Her paws wrap around the most dangerous stick in all of Hyperborea. And she watches Azora without pity.

"I hope... I really hope you grow a heart someday," she says as her voice trembles, "I hope it's the brightest, most beautiful, most deeply loving heart in the world. I want that for you. Because no matter how hard I try, I can't think of a single punishment that would be worse than if you really understood what a horrible person you are."

And she leaps into the air. Leashless, collarless, unowned and nothing more or less than the most powerful and most dangerous princess in the room. And, by extension, the world. Her back arches at the height of her jump, and her lights surge around her in a brilliant rainbow halo. She feels the pull inside her brain, the feeling of limitless potential and creativity. What does she want? She smiles.

"Can you hear me, O Great Glass Roc? If you haven't flown away to better skies, if your heart and your wings still beat for this place as beautifully as I know they do, please come to us now. As Princess-Promised of Illumina, I humbly ask of you to share with us now your gift. Please, bless us with a summer rain."

Mittens lands lightly on her feet. It's quiet in the chamber. Everybody's looking at her, some with fear and some with anger, some with anticipation, and in one particularly terrifying case with patience. Does anybody look at her with hope? If they do, she doesn't notice. She's too busy looking at the sky. Waiting for the moment. Holding on with her entire heart to one singular idea.

Thunder peals overhead. It drowns out the sound of keening blades. It smothers the sound of chains being rattled. It blankets over words and even thoughts, and fills every princess in attendance with the deep rattle and vibration of its roar. The storm is coming. It drips on every head, slowly at first. Big, cool droplets that startle you when they hit your head and splatter against your nose. One. Two. Ten. The proud cry of the Roc is even louder than the thunder.

And then the rain begins.

All at once the room fills with the scent of petrichor. From the east, a warm breeze wafts in and mixes with the slick, cool waters. And everywhere and everything is filled with the heartbeat of creation. And everywhere and everything is filled with the love of Alina Cascade. All around and all at once, things start to change.

First, the paint on all the doors starts to peel. And then it starts to run, filling the little rivers that run across the ground with colors. The frames crack. And then with a loud crash, the doors split open entirely, dumping a bewildered and disoriented dancing girl and Lil' Euphie into heaps in the water.

Next come the curses. Long suffering and freshly arrived princesses alike are washed clean. Little tufts of fur and shreds of veil wash off as easily as hair dye. Bodies stretch and grow and shrink and squish themselves back into their proper forms. Cuts weave closed, bruises fade, callouses soften, braces fall out entirely and melt away into the same prism-swirling rivulet as rainbow unicorn stickers and tacky Labazaar merchandise.

Even thoughts come washing out in the cool refreshing waters. They drip their way across cheeks like silver tears from green eyes, golden eyes, eyes filled with stars or eyes filled with fury or eyes filled with wonder. And where those thoughts run dry they're filled up again with a sense of peace. Kindness rules here, and love. Alina's love for the rain and for the whole of Hyperborea and all the wonderful, special people living in it. A hard fought for and even harder won love that she might never have found without this journey and these wonderful people she's now sharing it with. And then, roaring up against that love like defiant campfires comes each princess' essential selves. Names come rushing back that even a moment ago felt locked behind impossible jails of fog and confusion. Rita! Kazelia! Adila! Isolde! Alina!

The noisesome Rider weapons have fallen silent. They've been knocked aside, drawn up into a river, and tossed away into a current to one day find their way to the sea, or perhaps the treasuries of the River King. He always gets his due, as they say, plus a little extra as interest. The ghostly forms of the Riders themselves evaporate into warm mist, and Oberon... Oberon? He is pushed back out the way he came, back to existing wherever he had been before that wasn't Here. This place is special. This place is not for him.

The chains around Eupheria's wrists rust into uselessness before crumbling like old clay. But instead of stopping there, the rains keep beating down, maybe harder on her than on anyone else. Her many arms, her swirling eyes, her hair, her clothes... Euphie hasn't had a bath in years! She's had nothing to pretty herself up with but her old friend Caddy, but now the Roc has blessed her with a proper shower! What does she look like, now that she's free from the image of herself she's forced on everybody else? What's the shape of the true Eupheria?

Alina loves the rain, and her love is flowing through the Caduceus and out across the last remnants of the Roc's great storm. For her, the water that falls from the sky is the best medicine in all creation. It's a cleansing, soothing, healing salve that wipes clean the hurts of your body and your heart and refreshes you for another try and a new adventure in the morning. And finally, for once in her life, she has the power to share that feeling with everybody else. It's the thought held inside her head, the first answer to the question: what does she want?

Up above, the rain is dribbling to a halt. Clouds part, and behind them shines a light not unlike the Sun's. The great rainbow of Illumina arches across the entire chamber. Alina spreads her arms to match it, and notices for the first time that she's standing there, not as a cat but as herself. Not in her borrowed princess-killer suit, but in her full battle regalia once again. Her eyes sweep across the room with pride as she sees each and every princess restored to their proper, deserved shape and self. Then she catches sight of Azora again, and... well. No princess can hold the Caduceus for long without giving into temptation a little bit. She twirls the snakes-stick lightly in her fingers (yes, her fingers!), and pop! There's a tiny flash and then Azora's mouth is suddenly filled with the brightest, cutest, and (goodness) most enthusiastic little snakerchief anybody's ever laid eyes on. Whatever she's got to say about things right now, it can wait until Alina has comfortably fixed everything.

There's still so much that needs doing, after all. Like, in the first place she should--

[Finish Eupheria with Wisdom: 11. Alina has replaced the environmental trait with Heal What Has Been Hurt]

This time Adila I will not be found wanting.

The knife was the least of her creations. It was also the first. A test, she said, no better than scrap. Adila thought otherwise. It was simple, practical, direct, unadorned, glittering bronze with no embellishment. And it was the first. When it came time to bury herself in the pages of her own book she knew she needed a weapon and this was the only one she trusted to sleep away the centuries with it under her pillow.

She'd never thanked her devil-princess. She'd hoped just wearing it every day was enough. But it felt like she should have...

Nngh. Distractions. Illuminan distractions. Already starting, confusing her. Keeping her away from what had to be done. Not this time. This time she was armed, she was ready, and she'd purged all hesitation from her heart. She'd trusted Hyperborea last time. She'd let her guard down. She'd believed that this magical land perhaps was what it showed itself to be. She'd thought she'd found a world without terrors, a world where love triumphed in the end, a world she didn't need to take, and break, and force into a shape where hearts could be whole. She wouldn't make that mistake again. She'd let Eupheria fall because she hadn't believed that could happen here. And when she'd sat down to write her manual she'd carved the lesson Eupheria had taught her into the bones of the words, the principle from which all others flowed: Trust no one.

She was ready. She would not stand by a second time. The knife was in her hands as she stepped forward, fixated on her target, on the bloody promise of an immortal sin undone.

And then her gaze was eclipsed. The sun she was fixated on went dark. Her eyes couldn't adjust, couldn't focus. They were blurred and stinging.

She should step aside, lean low, break into a run. She stepped forwards instead. She should lash out, push it aside, step over, finish the mission. She was blinded. How had Cascade known her weakness, to bedevil her with illusions like this? She should let the knife perform its bloody function, let herself perform her bloody function. Save another world. Be done.

Instead she couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. This wasn't right. She'd underestimated her opponent. She should have had time before she mastered the Caduceus. She should have hidden herself better, found deeper shadows. Should have trusted more in her successor, her strength, she would have been strong enough to keep her fingers wrapped around the hilt instead of being so weak she couldn't even hold that precious blade and let it thud into the floor with a heavy weight. Oh no. Oh no, she was making the mistake again. Oh no. Decades of darkness and war and regret enough for a dozen lifetimes hid within this feeling, this mistake, this failure, this weakness. She should have learned by now. Should have learned when she was committing a crime.

But even now. Even after everything she'd learned. After every lesson she'd written into her very soul, the howling and eternal reminder of TRUST NO ONE, she still couldn't see that this was wrong. It didn't feel that way.

The tears dropped from her eyes and for a moment, just a moment, she could see Princess Eupheria. As she was when they'd first met. Kind and gleaming and water-sweet and the reason why she would fight to preserve this strange and precious land against any that might do it harm. Void-sick and star-eyed, she hadn't known where she was, hadn't known right from wrong, had only the most tenuous grip on herself at all - but she'd known then that anything that could create such a person was good, and anything that threatened to harm her, evil.

Her will was iron. She had crossed the void between with her pilgrims behind her. Armed she had come, the core of her being immutable against the ravages of nothingness. All that conviction afforded her three more steps before she fell to her knees at Eupheria's feet and the tears finally took her.

Were they still in the Bazaar after all this? Cool clear water flowed downwards and Kazelia (Kazelia!) had to try and remember that they weren't in the heart of the Illumina that had once been. A little part of her heart came free with the flowing water. All the nerves and energy that she'd been saving up, all the burdens of the world that she had been trying to shoulder, thinking that her curse was somehow more tolerable than those of her friends. Ha! Alina had done it, they were all free and her mind felt clear.

With a whoop that burst like a thunderhead, Kazelia jumped into the air and thrust her spear skyward as sparkling raindrops tinkled along its length and wet her tongue. She twirled amidst the rain and laughed in her own voice. Her voice! It was clear! It was loud! Its echo bounced around the glass room like sparkling crystal in the heart of the rainfall and joined hands with her laughter to dance among the rafters and soar to the glittering clouds.

She sang a few words experimentally. "A summer rain came calling. Playing peek-a-boo with the summer sun. It sparkled out like diamonds, falling softer than fresh down. The sun thought this delightful, and laughed a merry song. It tried to glimpse the ground below, though it hadn't rained for long. What do you suppose, the sun song down below? Why a truth that every child knows the sun had just now seen: sunlight in petrichor times means rainbows come to gleam!"

The joy in her heart was infectious, and every princess in the hall would feel for a moment as though their heart wanted to join in the same silly song. It was only at the end as she laughed again that she saw Alina still above them, and still holding the Caduceus even though her task was done. Only then that a little shadow of doubt started to creep up to Kazelia and she started racing along the wet floors to get below her friend and call to her. "Alina, you can come down now!" She shouted and waited for a response.

Adila I!

Eupheria hits you.

To be fair, that’s because you’re holding her.

To be even more fair, that’s because she’s trying to struggle to her feet and take the Caduceus back, and that would destroy everything in the room, including— perhaps especially— Euphie herself.

She’s the way you remember her. She hasn’t aged a day. She’s gangly and her hair’s full of bouncy curls and she’s old enough to be a queen herself. Just like you, really. When she cries it’s a messy affair full of snot and great big tears rolling down her cheeks and snorting breaths through her upturned nose.

She hits your chest with one long hand, curled up into a shaking fist, and it’s like having a beanbag gently tossed at you.

“I hate you,” she gasps out, broken. “You abandoned me and broke my heart so bad it’ll never ever be fixed. I hate you. I hate you. Why don’t you love me? Why don’t you kill me? At least then...”

She leans forward into you, blows her nose on your shoulder, and sobs incoherently.

***

Alina!

The room recedes. No; you grow. You lift your chin as you stand radiant in your battle regalia, easily the match of Helya. Your lavender hair cascades down in perfect curls. This is what you want. Yes. Yes, it is. Maybe now, when Oberon sees you, he’ll take you seriously. He’ll regret stabbing you, rue the day he made that mistake!

Your crown blossoms, new colors twinkling into place alongside the old: powder blue, sea green, ash grey, burnt ochre, midnight maroon, and the grand centerpiece: radiant diamond. Each and every one has powers you never would have dreamed of wielding! This is what you want. Princesses love lights.

When you blink, emerald tears run down your cheeks in rivulets, dropping to the floor as tiny, flawless emeralds, until your eyes are wet and soft and whole. Your limbs, instead, become gleaming silver crystal, shaped like ones belonging to a knight you once met. Effortlessly strong! Beautifully shaped! Yes, these are much better than the eyes. The eyes made you sad. These make you want to jump to the sky. This is good. This is right.

You should give everyone else what they want most, too.

But where to start? Maybe you should pull the void out of Kazelia’s soul; she’d thank you! You could give a curse— no, a blessing, to make Azora a good little princess, guilty forever, groveling at your feet. You could have Helya and Tashanna and Rita as your royal consorts, and give them dresses befitting their new station, glass corsets and translucent silks and dainty veils! You could stuff Adila’s soul full of lights, and lock Adila I and Eupheria in a room until they apologized to each other or made out, and you could make Jessamine twice as strong and fast and nimble, and, and...

***

Kyouko!

When you come to, it’s to a headache that’s already slipping away, rain dripping down your fur, and the sound of Kazelia’s voice. She is more lovely than the nightingale which calls down the close of day, and you sigh happily as you sit up and dust down your dress. Already that silly skirt seems a passing fancy.

Yes, everyone seems enthralled by your destined to be betrothed... at least everyone who wasn’t tossed down or knocked aside in the battle against Eupheria. That’s why you’re the first to notice the wavering in Kazelia’s voice, and the first to notice that Alina is playing a dangerous, dangerous game.

As the King of Ilumina and the Princesses of Askaia and Ilumina gasp in surprise, jolted from their appreciation of Kazelia’s song, you slip a weighted line out of your sleeve. While you’re very sure that Kazelia will be able to handle this... it’s always prudent to have a plan B for pulling it out of her hands.

This is... amazing! Like swimming through the deepest lake, but you can still breathe! Like sunbathing after a shower but you don't have to get out to do it! Like... like dreaming. It's like dreaming, but you're still awake enough to enjoy it. Alina gasps with wonder.

She's so happy she's floating! She stretches one crystalline hand out in front of her, wiggles her fingers. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Beyond compare to anything but a single memory. A dream. A memory of a dream, or, or a dream of a memory. Hers now. Forever hers. Alina is beautiful and flawless. Her silks and her hair flutter gracefully in a breeze that's just for her. On her crown, her new lights glitter and she lights up in all new colors. A pair of great, shimmering diamond wings sprouts from her back and unfurl themselves with Queenly poise. Where her lights shine through the feathers, the ground is bathed in wondrous pools of color.

On the ground, the emeralds she'd seen the world through sparkle brilliantly, full of pride. Full of softness. Full of relief. They rise before Alina, and when she clutches her shining hand around them there's a feeling of raw heat, and then she's holding a single perfect gem which floats up to her ever expanding crown and flits happily between old friends and new. Green is healed at last.

"Look at me!" she says with breathless, giddy laughter, "Everyone, look at me! Can you believe this? I feel so good! I can do... so much!"

She twirls in the air with a massive flutter of her diamond wings. Underneath her, all her friends and family are covered by a kaleidoscope. So strong! So fierce! Faster than fast! More graceful than grace itself! So, so warm! So warm! Alina feels her scar melting into nothing, lifting her higher and higher, further and further into bliss!

"Keep singing, Kazelia! Please, your voice is so beautiful. I want to hear the songs of your journey, now that ours is finished. And after that, I'll... oh! I'll help you see the stars again! Won't that be great? And Adila! Let's give you a voice that you can speak with, safely, and extra hands for holding things, and oh! My stars! There's so, so much that we can do now!"

Alina gestures with her free hand and, as her fingers curl delicately into a fist, she lifts Rita up into the air with her on a column of ochre light. Her heart beats lighter than it ever has in her entire life, and she dips her neck down to kiss her perfect girlfriend, hardly noticing the way that Rita's looking at her even as she melts against her lips. She pulls away and looks surprised to see Rita shivering, eyeing something or someone on the ground and looking more uncomfortable than in love. Her little hands keep twitching, like she's thinking of doing something awful and then second guessing herself. Alina's wing bends so that she can scratch Rita on the special spot behind her left ear that always calms her nerves with the tip of one radiant feather.

Her mind is already drifting out and away, across Hyperborea. Thinking of all the little hurts, and then all of the bigger hurts she's seen or heard about since all of this began. Plans are forming in her head, the rivers she'll move, the oases she'll build in the deserts and the hills she'll shape and the houses she'll rebuild and the towns she'll make grander, and everyone, everyone will love her and forgive her and never say she's a screw up who doomed Hyperborea again! They wouldn't... wouldn't dare. Would they?

"...Kazelia?" Her smile strains her lips. Her eyes are so soft they look liquid, "Why aren't you singing?"

She wanted to sing. Alina was so beautiful. So incredibly, painfully beautiful. Kazelia wanted to sing her praises forever and exalt her in the halls of the greatest princesses in all the universe. But she knew it was a lie. Mother knew, she had been railing against everything the Caduceus made since they first got here because none of it was true. The Caduceus was an overlay that fell over people, a cheat from the devils that simply altered reality. But Mother knew that cheating wasn't truth. Magic might be someone's truth (it was probably a part of how Kazelia's was expressed, likely Azora's as well) but changing yourself with magic never changed your truth.

Also, all that philosophical reflection aside, Kazelia wanted her friend back. The happy ending here wasn't replacing one Caduceus wielder with another, distant and open only to worship and painting reality as her canvas. A happy ending was having her friend back and saving the world from Oberon and mad devil things alike!

That's why Kazelia's answer to this wasn't to raise her spear or gesture for Kyouko to use her ninja tools (don't think she wasn't paying attention). Instead it was to drop that spear and let the rainwater run over it without any steam hissing up from its fire. It was to stand beneath Alina and raise her arms in a gesture of begging and just say one thing. "I stopped singing because I don't want to lose my friend, Alina. Please, come back to us. To me."

"I have a responsibility, Euphie!" the words are ripped from her soul by a magic more terrible than she has ever encountered before. "It doesn't matter what I want! Someone needs to watch the dark, someone needs to ward the liminal gates with spear and bronze, and it has to be me! This world is so unready, so precious, so vulnerable, you have no idea the heartbreak - you don't know what it's like out there. In just two hundred years another like me has already found this place, shattered Illumina, attacked you, brought this world to its knees. I can't! I can't stop! If I stop -!"

All the iron is bent, rusted, eroded with water. "But I did! I let it happen despite everything I sacrificed! I couldn't mobilize my army, couldn't march out to face the threat, couldn't abandon you. I have a responsibility, Eupheria! And I've failed it because of you! The world is on the brink of defeat and all I care about is that you're safe. I can't..."

Trust no one. That includes herself. The bronze is thick with verdigris, her shining soul dimmed and dark and sea-sky green. She could never be a part of this world and it got to her anyway. What a terrible place that corrupted even its guardian spear.