"Oh! My! Gosh!" Chen bounces up, almost standing in her stirrups to see as the balloons come into view. Her horse (she named her Hei because Chen took the black mare) prances forward nervously, feeling Chen leaning forward, and realizing she's distressing her mount, Chen leans back and urges Hei into a trot instead so that she can get to the full view over the hill faster!

The others might be forgiven for not immediately riding forward to match Chen. She had spent the entire trip bouncing up and down at new sights, sounds, and smells. She had been popping up out of hay bales and accidentally causing the boat to rock, and generally being an incorrigible little bundle of energy the whole trip.

You have to understand, it's not that Chen hadn't seen the countryside. She had her painting spots near Sourcefall, and a few special places further afield. And she had been kidnapped and dragged about a fair few times. But mostly, Chen flew, and the people who kidnapped her flew and stopped at little cottages or glades, whatever safe place they knew. She saw the world from above it, and often at a blur when she was in a hurry. She never just traveled. So on this trip, bouncing from wagons to boats to horses, everything was new and exciting because Princess Chen of the Northern Wind, for all her training and skills had just never traveled this way.

There had been a little glimpse of Chen's regular life when they got the horses. She had to go back, so she had stepped a little distance from the horses (so as not to startle them) held out her sword, and then zipped off just like that! She'd been back at the shrine within moments, bowed and offered payment without trying to negotiate, and then zipped right back, the whole morning's walking trip done in about fifteen minutes. And yes, she had been showing off a little bit, but she also didn't want to keep her new friends waiting, so she'd gone for a speed record on that route that wouldn't be broken for decades.

But, back to the balloons. Chen rode forward and caught the first glimpse of the flying dragon, bringing Hei to a stop. This, she had never seen. Her parents had taken her to visit the Sky Castle when she was little, but they didn't go to the market below (or maybe they were there at the wrong season, she didn't know) and so this was the first time she had witnessed their trading like this. It was incredible, almost beyond words. She gently urged Hei to a stop and just stared from their hill as the world flashed with dragon breath and the balloons began to take off.

"Amazing. This is just...have any of you ever seen this before?" She turned back to the group, sparkling wide eyes aimed mostly for Rose who seemed the best traveled. "This has to be special, right? They can't just do this all the time, can they?" She asks nobody in particular.

As you might have guessed, Yue is the world's foremost expert on dragons. For example, did you know that they are, um... very big? Usually? And many of them can fly! But some can't! Or don't? Because they prefer... swimming? Oh! Oh! And some stories say that dragons are the lynchpins of all creation, and that their breath is the breath of the planet and where they pass by is where the earth's energy flows freest and that one time? A dragon created an invincible shield and an unstoppable spear as gifts to a beautiful warrior but then stuff happened can't remember exactly what but anyway they hit each other and both broke and isn't that just amazing?

But the one thing that all dragons have in common is that Yue has never seen one before in her entire life. Her eyes sparkle with delight as she turns her head up, and up, and up, and up, until she can't see the road anymore for all of the skygazing she's doing and it's really more her horse guiding her than the other way around. Wh-which is fine, by the way! Horses are very intelligent creatures and know just how to step to keep a rider on top of them even when that rider has a dozen other things on her mind. It'd be a stretch to say the horse wasn't already better at this than she was to begin with!

She doesn't breathe so much as gasp, and doesn't gasp so much as giggle in endless waves that ebb and flow like they're being pulled by the moon. A burst of lightning flashes overhead and she trills with total delight, actually lifting her hands up from her lap to clap, acting for all the world like this was a show put on just for her. Encore, encore! Rise higher, balloons! Go find your homes up in the clouds where you hide the treasures of the universe! Um, sh-she... she heard! Don't worry, it's just a rumor! Your secret is safe with Yuuueeeee~

She's never been this far from home before. Every step she takes is another step where she gets to say it, and the fun of it all still hasn't worn off. Maybe it never will? Every hour brings something new. New breeds of frog to be coaxed along their way, the warble of some tiny, bright green crested songbird she has no name for, but instinctively knows to watch the flowers as it sings, because, oh! Oh yes! Look at the way the petals open! See that, see? When the Malachite Jay sings its song, the flowers bend their stems to listen! In another hour they'll start to make a nectar that's sweet and refreshing and is said to cure almost any kind of sore throat or muteness in a flash! Oh, can't we stay? Can't we wait just a little while to gather some? Please, it'll only take a bit, please? Something this amazing only comes so oft-- oh! There's another one over there!!

Adventures are a lot of things that Yue the Sun Farmer never counted on. They're difficult and painful in ways she didn't know anything could be. They're scary and hard and involve plenty more demons than she ever thought somebody like her could attract. But, also? They're soft and sweet and... what's the word? They're it's, y'know the thing where, where... where you find a million tiny holes inside yourself that you didn't think were there before, but it feels good instead of bad because you keep turning your head, keep taking that next step, and you feel the warmth wash over you as another one of those holes fills in and you realize you're that much more finished than you were a minute ago. There's a word for that, right? Would you mind teaching her?

Yue's eyes finally find the earth again, and what she sees turns her into a squeaky toy, or near enough as to make Kat's ears perk up hopefully. Her smile is so bright that she could ignite a new sun if enough dragons were around to breathe the necessary energies into it, which is a good thing they're not because then we'd have to find another princess to shoot that one down too and don't you think we've learned enough of that lesson already?

"Oh! Oh gosh! Oh gosh gosh gosh gosh! That's sooooo much bigger than the markets we have in town! How could? Who even? Where does it all? Wow! Wowies!! Ohhhhhh, gosh, is it ok? Can we stop for a little bit? Can we? Oh. Oh! I hope I have enough to... w-well it'd be fine just to see, but, mmmmm! Gosh! Gosh!"

And before anybody can blink, she's tossed her pack across her shoulder and springs lightly from her horse to run up the hill alongside Hyra, as though this could be faster. She laughs like sunlight and drops of dew, and when she twirls and sets the fabric of her miraculous dress in motion, when she catches the eyes and sees the expressions on everybody's faces... well, when that happens? There's not a soul around who could doubt she made the right wish to Cyanis Two-Tails after all.

Rose from the River has been very much like a tree. Which is to say, she looms, and in looming offers shade on the road; her voice is like the rustle of leaves as the wind kisses them, one by one, and she has offered up wordless walking-songs and quiet, straight-faced jokes and has made many an appreciative noise listening to Chen and Cyanis and Yue talk; she has been a quiet strength, though never too far away from Cyanis, who is still (eventually) headed to Cutie Fox Jail.

And perhaps someone remembers getting up in the middle of the night, because there’s nothing like sleeping under the stars for making you need to go after just a few hours of sleep, and hearing that low, husky laugh, and peering in through the dingy glass windshield of the helm to see Rose curled up in a chair, legs crossed, chin on her palm and elbow on her knee, bottle of the local special resting in the hollow of her body, hunched over the Go board. She was playing black, they might remember. Did they stay to watch her consider her next play, finger running circles around the mouth of the bottle, the low lamplight playing on her beech-smooth skin? Rose didn’t seem to see them, if they did; or did she simply not acknowledge them? It’s hard to tell with her, after all. The creak of his voice, the rich vibration of hers, sound without coherence, all mingled together with the lap of water on the side of the boat (a reminder of why they woke up in the first place, come to think of it) and the whine of the mosquitoes all about.

And yet she remains as mild and pleasant as ever the next day, despite how little sleep she may have had. The danger of her is a deep-hidden thing on the road, only visible in the way her muscles work under her skin as she walks, slow and slithering, lightly coated in sweat by the time the temple is reached. And there, oh, her swordplay! That was a chance for Chen to watch what Rose is like when she is simply playing for time, effortless, not even drawing her sword from its staff-form. Her opponent attacks, and she simply envelops the move as if she had been in charge of the stage-directions. Her staff hooks ankles and pins wrists and lays the priestess out right on her rear end and lifts her chin up so playfully, so carelessly, to that low and seemingly careless smile. And then perhaps Yue was glad not to see Hyra fight her, then!

Rose has been very much a tree, and so it was perhaps, not surprising when the horses shied away from her, and knickered their concern, and Rose ruefully chuckled and told them that she could keep up with horses if she pleased, but that was before the big teal-blue horse with the shaggy fetlocks approached her, the one with a shoulder as tall as Yue. Then Rose reached out and touched its cheek, and a moment passed between them, and Rose bowed her head until her forehead rested on his, and she thanked him for his service. She rides side-saddle, with her staff over one shoulder and her hand on his flank, effortless in how she shifts her balance to avoid being thrown.

And now we are in the now, and her companions are delighted by the sight of the balloons, and perhaps no one is looking at Rose from the River (which is to be expected, when there are such wonderful things to look at just above their heads), but that would be a shame, because her smile is a sudden flash of white and her eyes shine as she looks up and sees the balloons and the dragon, and she does not look away from the lightning-strike, she drinks it in and watches as the balloons soar. And only then does she breathe out. “Ah,” she says, in gratitude. The world has given something to her again. It has given her a dragon today, and a hundred balloons, and, yes, a chocolate egg, for (and perhaps someone who glances back might read this in her smile and the way she watches so intently) Rose from the River has never had the good fortune to attend the carnival of balloons, descended all the way from the Sky Castle.

And when Yue asks if she can without explaining what she means, because it’s clear as dawn what she means, and charges off without waiting, Rose meets Hyra’s eye for a moment, and a moment of acknowledgement between guardians passes between them. Then she nods, and pats her equine companion, and slides off him with serpentine grace. “Of course, Yue the Sun Farmer!” She plays with one of her golden earrings as she catches up with the excitable girl, and by the time she catches up with Yue, she’s able to slide it easily out of the furrow in her skin, already closing again in its wake. Her changing may be slower now, but it still comes well enough for such small things. “Here,” she says, her voice the sort of gentle that makes grand proclamations sound quite ordinary, dropping it into Yue’s palm and closing her fingers around it. “Jeska the Fire Sage gave this to me for my service. Now I give it freely. Trade it for whatever you like.”

Then she gives a playful look to Chen and taps the ring in her nose. “Would you like an allowance, too, illustrious Twinshard Princess? I might not be as rich as your mothers, but in their absence… well, someone has to take care of you,” she purrs, almost keeping her intent to fluster off her face. Dear, darling little Chen, beware! If you accept a ring-gift from Rose from the River, you expose yourself to headpats and affectionate condescension-- but if you don’t happen to have your allowance on you, what else are you to do? (And even if you do have it, perhaps you might want to be taken care of, to have Rose’s strong, sure fingers curl around your hand as she looks you in the eye and you go redder and redder until you’re as red as the cherry tomatoes, and to hear her whisper good girl juuuust loud enough for Yue to hear…)

[If Chen is enticed by Rose from the River, at any point on this journey, Rose has rolled a 10 just for her.]

Yue!

There is a special magic to a market like this. It's not about what you want as much as what they have that you might find a use for. Three things catch the eye, and with the gold given to you by Rose you might purchase no more than one of them.

The first is a scroll with detailed instructions on how to perform a magic spell. Spells are tricky to get the head and hands around and you'd expect this one to take from weeks to months to learn depending on how much focus you can give it. The reward for such effort would be that you might reduce the call of gravity upon yourself, letting you run and leap like a figure from a show.

The second is a true curiosity - a wax-sealed envelope that claims to have a code for invitation to Princess Kikil's website. It's a challenge! Kikil designs fortresses and her website is no different; the legend of it runs through high and low parts of the world. With this invitation you could take part in the great exploration and try to uncover the treasures the Hive Princess conceals within.

And finally, something dangerous - an Assault Ribbon, twisting and thrashing inside a long glass tube. These are Princess Qiu's weapons, unleashed in great swarms to distract, delay and bind so that she might close the distance to finish off each opponent. This one flows in electric blue and writhes like a snake before tying itself into beautiful woven knots and bows, playing dead for a time.

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly...” Princess Chen grew immediately flushed and cut herself off.

Of course, Chen didn’t need an allowance. Of course. She carried some coinage in her bags for travel needs, and her reputation alone, people would happily trade her for a future favor or a good word with one of her mothers (though the cactus episode had taught her to spend that currency carefully indeed). Besides that, it would be incredibly rude for her to accept gifts like this given her station, and on top of that accepting a gift would mean that she would owe Rose a favor, which was out of the question given everything she knew now. It was definitely improper and she shouldn’t do it. But...she wanted Rose to give her a little gift and make a big deal of it. She sort of even wanted Yue to laugh again, even at her.

“That is...I...um...it would be rude...but...er...if you insisted...” Chen is barely getting words out in between short breaths as her embarrassment grows and her voice gets progressively higher as an embarrassed squeak builds in her throat instead. She can’t bear Rose looking at her that way, but can’t take her eyes off either, and with words failing her, she manages just the tiniest little nod that yes she wants this very much. The cherry tomato flush making her want to sink into the earth (or into Rose...aaaaah) finally becomes too much and she yanks her eyes down, looking back up just a sliver to see if Rose is indeed giving her anything.

[Chen is very much enticed and now flustered]

There is no hemming or umming or erring from the girl named Yue (the Sun Farmer) when the topic of allowances comes up. And maybe that's a bad sign? That, for all her simple country girl opinions and antics she takes what is offered to her without so much as blushing. That, perhaps, at her core lies something privileged and spoiled, who expects some manner of good things and luck to fall into her lap so that she doesn't even question when it happens? It might be that she is secretly a creature of greed, and not even so secretly anymore!

But, Rose from the River? If you doubted how she felt about it... no, if you doubted how she felt about you? That is to say, if any lingering corner of your heart or even an entire beating chamber still held on to the idea that she thought of you as some sort of monster? Well, I guess it's understandable. It's difficult to shake first impressions, y'know? But still, if you did think that, then it must've been really surprising when she threw her arms around you and wrapped you in that hug, huh?

She's not a shy hugger, not in the slightest bitty bit. She pretty much just chucks herself right into your arms and squeezes as hard as her scrawny little ones will let her. And when she lets go, the only emotion on her face is joy. The sparkle in her eyes, the smile on her face? The giddy laughter rushing from her lips? I'm no expert on economics or anything, but that's worth at least an earring. Right?

Yue leaps as she darts toward the market on legs as light as air, as Hyra darts about her like a protective silvery moon because oh! Oh gosh! Oh gosh and gosh and goshies! To have a treasure! To have a real and actual treasure that's hers to trade for something even brighter! She's never held anything like this before! And, and Yue's no expert on economics either, but she's pretty sure as she clutches the bit of jewelry in her palm that she's holding a decision that's worth more than her entire house. After all, even by the standards of her little village her house is not especially big. It's sturdy and cozy and safe, just you say it's not, but it's not made of any kind of fancy materials like the swordmaiden's shrine, and everything in it is so old even GranGran must've inherited it from somebody.

But these? But these? These things for sale? This stuff is nothing less than a bunch of miracles! Plus one extra one which nobody's even selling, and that's the magic of getting to shop in a market in the first place. Market days are always special, y'know? Even when they're homey and simple ones where nobody is selling anything more amazing than a bale of rice. It's hard to get a lot of purchasing done when most of what you've got to trade is sunlight, 'cause most folks say they've got no use for it 'cept what comes down natural from the sky, right? It's hard to convince them all the time that a little warmth and comfort is worth their weavings or their produce or their spices. But, even still... market days are fun! It's the adventure of browsing goods! It's the fun of learning what each person thought would represent them best! It's getting to look at treasures, big ones or small, that don't just grow in fields for her to pluck them or swim in ponds for her to catch. A market day where she doesn't buy a single thing is still as much fun as she could ask for.

And this time the treasures are so big she can barely wrap her brain around them! And this time when she holds out her hand and asks for what she can have for what's inside, people actually gesture at wares and say "These ones, love!"

You say that she can buy no more than one of these amazeful things? No no no no, friend, you've got it backwards! She can buy any one of these! She's so excited she can't keep the smile on her face tamped down enough to even remember the word haggle, much less attempt it!

This is a decision that will follow her for her entire life, don't doubt it. She smiles fondly at the ribbon when it ties itself into just the most precious bow in the world, and caresses the jar with her fingertips even though the seller grouses and says something about being more careful with the merchandise please. What a pretty thing! What an awesome weapon! With this she could do so many party tricks she'd never need to pay for another dinner again! Or she could even master it and be the kind of warrior that got to pick and choose how and when she fought and finished her opponents. People would speak of her in hushed whispers and admire the grace of her battles, and when she wasn't using it for that wouldn't it make just the most darling accessory?

But she lets it go. She hasn't even mastered the sword yet, sillyhead! How's she gonna go and boast about picking up Assault Ribbons before she's even proved she can handle a real blade? Besides, the duel is not about fancy tricks and weapons. The duel is about the duel. And if she wanted it for a pet, well, she's already got one of those and she's the very bestest best girl anybody could ask for! Besides which, Kat was very much not a fan of snakes, and never showed much skill at knowing for sure which things were snakes and which were simply snake-adjacent. Always with her frightened little yips screaming, "It's not snake time! It's not!" So she knew in her heart that she was not the home this little cutie was looking for, or needed. Still, she slips a sun bead into the jar before she walks away, so that the ribbon wouldn't think anything silly like that it hadn't done a good enough job.

And the envelope looks fancier than anything she can remember seeing in her life. Well, 'cepting the dress she's got on, or a plum tree in full blossom, or the light bending into rainbows in the misty spray at the bottom of the waterfalls, but, like... stuff what people'd call for sale? This is definitely the fanciest. It's so fancy she can't even figure out what it means. Well like, she knows the stories about Princess Kikil. Or at least she knows a couple of them. Enough to know the name and the reputation that comes with it. So she definitely understands what sorts of incredible adventures an invitation like this must promise! After all, what could be more adventure...y than a daring raid against an invincible fortress and proving her skill by making off with the treasures inside of it?

But when she holds it in her hand, she winds up shaking her head and lets it go. Because when she tries to imagine what it might be like... she can't do it. What even really is a website, anyway? Plus, even if it's not as dangerous as a sword fight with an angry princess (and who's to say it isn't?!), isn't it still the same as challenging one to her face? And isn't that, um, y'know, blindly terrifying? Sure she could ask Chen for help but... mmm, no. No. She'd rather ask Chen for help learning to paint, or with tidying up her hair a bit or, or... um, something proper adventurey, but in a more wind-in-your-face kinda way, right? Something like this doesn't belong with her. She'd feel stupid just staring at it and wondering how to get started. But before she passes it by, she leaves three entire sunbeads with the vendor. T-to... to thank them for trusting her to touch something so valuable with her own bare hand.

But a magic spell? A way to learn to run and leap and jump and maybe even fly like Hyra can? Her eyes start watering when she thinks about it, and her heart patters fondly with something like nostalgia at the idea that she could maybe, possibly, if she worked really hard at it and didn't give up, become somebody that people like her would point at and call a magician. Would it be hard? Of course! Would it take her forever to figure it out? Probably! If she even could! But even still, it called to her in a way none of the other treasures did. She looks down at Hyra, and instantly understands why.

Her vision is full of waterfalls high above the serene surface of the lake. They always are, almost no matter what she tries to think about. It'd be like trying to imagine the earth without grasses or trees or fish. Impossible. Just a fact of life, y'know? So it's the water that she sees, and her reflection barely noticeable as she soars above it. She's running, like in a song. She's laughing and leaping and soaring through the air, and she's chasing something... someone silvery and beautiful and worth racing after across the entire world, even if it took her whole life to catch up. To chase her moon? To not need Hyra or anybody else to carry her just to let her stay close? To... to make it real, to even just get to stand in place and see just one more incredible thing before it all had to stop? That's worth more than thirty of her house, she's pretty darned sure.

She offers Rosie's allowance over without so much as a whisper of a second thought. Her hand trembles when she reaches for the scroll.

"One magic, please!"

Rose from the River has gentle hands that could split open logs of wood. There is no clumsiness in them, and neither does she overpower Chen like an overexcited hound. When she places the nose ring in Chen’s palm and curls Chen’s fingers around them, it is simply that resisting those fingers would be like throwing yourself repeatedly against a tree trunk. And when she encloses her fingers around Chen’s hand! Chen could tug and tug and set her heels in the grass and fling herself backwards and still not free herself from that tomb of fingers, that prison of cool flesh (or is it simply that Chen is too, too warm?).

“I do insist, Princess,” she says, and the capital letter is perfectly enunciated. “After all, you are such a polite and pleasant young girl. Eloquent, too.” When those eyes glance up, those eyes so used to betraying weariness and the inner grief of a princess, they find Rose’s steady gaze and the corner of her mouth cocked up just so. “As a devotee of the Way, it is my responsibility to both accept the gifts I am given for my services,” and the way she purrs the word might send a lightning bolt right down through a Princess’s spine until it dissipates in the earth below, “and to give freely as the Way moves me.”

She does not let on that she is far less certain that this use is, strictly speaking, the will of the Way. Bringing joy to Yue was one thing, but this is winding up a girl just for the satisfaction, for the way her heart jumps when Chen squeaks, for the feeling of her hot pulse where Rose’s fingers rest against that pale wrist, for knowing that every word she speaks makes Chen redder and happier. And happiness is good; and as long as her touch is light, she will leave Chen with fond memories, not a broken heart. But she plays a perilous game with high stakes, and she will not suffer the loss if she loses. Or, at least, not as much of a loss. Surely.

But she does not let go of Chen’s hand. “But remind me. What do polite little girls say when they are given a gift? I’m sure you know the answer, Princess Chen of the Twin Shards, Bladesaint and aspiring artist. Hmm? Use your words, Chen. I haven’t gagged you again, after all.”

The yet is palpable but unspoken.

Yue!

One magic! Soft and crinkly paper, old enough that its sharp edges have faded away enough to make it fit into your hands comfortably. There are only eight images in the sequence but nearly forty pages of commentary. When transitioning between stances #2 and #3 ensure to let your thumb brush each of your fingers. This discharges the accumulated energy and prevents mana burn. It's very daunting; there's a lot to remember! If you do it right then you should be able to complete the motion in exactly five seconds, but you've got to satisfy the conditions of each of those forty pages. It's a lot! It almost seems hopeless, doesn't it, learning to fly? Training at some arcane skill that may or may not ever resolve into a thing of beauty?

Hyra watches on sympathetically, wishing she could help but unable to do anything other than provide a fluffy pillow for Cyanis who is taking casual selfies and then spending extremely non-casual sessions sorting through the dozens of pictures, applying filters and photoshop, endlessly working towards the perfect prison mugshot. You can't leave these things to the monks!

You have a long autumn afternoon to practice before the ship will arrive to take you to visit the most powerful Princess in all the lands, with the triangle squad as your cheering section. Tell us about magic. Do you know any other spells, or is this your first? What is learning it like?

"So I just... I put my hand like this and then, uh... oh gosh, eep, eep, EEEEEP!"

The air is filled with the sounds of panicked flailing as Yue learns (again) that you can't perform complicated gestures with your hands while also holding an ancient, slightly worn down scroll of magical wisdom. She holds it in her trembling hands for another minute or two and then flops over onto the ground with a loud and maybe kinda-slightly-just-a-little-whiny-if-you're-really-gonna-call-attention-to-it-and-be-rude-like-that sigh.

"When the lady said it had detailed instructions I didn't think she meant this detailed!"

To her left, Hyra flops down on the ground next to her with a judgy-sounding snort. Cyanis giggles and takes advantage of the new angle to snap another dozen selfies. Just look how great the lighting is from down here! Ooh, ooh check it out Yue! If she holds the phone like thiiiiis it like Hyra's tail is one of hers!

"I... w-well I know it's better for it to be too detailed than not detailed enough, but... still! Y'know? I get to the end of one page and I can't remember how the first one started! Seriously you must be some kinda genius if you figured all this out..."

Point of fact, this is technically not Yue's first time learning a spell. It's actually her third! Although in a much more real sense, this is so much her first brush with learning magic that it might as well be her zeroth. That makes sense, right? See, 'cause Yue's first magic was learning how to prep stones for holding sunlight. She found the book describing it gathering dust when she was looking for something to hold up the leg of a wobbly chair one day and, well... it just looked too interesting to not try it. Then of course the second thing she learned to do, obviously, was actually capture the sunlight.

And those two things are definitely magic! There are, like, circles and stuff! Prayer slips and words you haveta say to get it all to work! But they're also not... th-this. This is more... actually does the scroll have a name for, oh gosh gosh gosh goshies gosh no. Nope! It is a mistake to go looking, believe you me. Ok, uh... words, a word, what'd you call it? Let's call it "You Magic", how about? Y'know, like, magic that's about, uh... you. And stuff. Where you do the gesturing with your own body and the, y'know, the uh... the chi is drawn from inside yourself instead of the earth or the air or the water or something sensible like that. Truth is? She'd always thought she didn't have anything like that.

Well... no, that's ridiculous. If there was no energy inside of her, how could she be alive? Doesn't make any sense. But, like, if you think about it another way, it's pretty easy to look around and see that not everybody grows up and becomes a wizard. Right? Honestly most people don't. If Yue's ever seen people practicing You Magic then she definitely didn't realize it at the time. And definitely nobody's ever flown, or even jumped a little too high. And maybe it's just 'cause it turns out this stuff is annoyingly complicated and it's too big a pain to put in the effort for what could easily turn out to be a party trick, but the way that she's always seen it is, the fact that there aren't flight scrolls sitting around all over the place is proof that only special people can learn it in the first place.

And it's not like she's ever had a very good reason to think she was one of those special people! Most days it feels like a lot of effort just lifting a tiny little fox! She's never felt the mystic energies of the world flowing through her muscles. Sometimes she get cramps, is that close enough? So until now, until these last couple of days...

"Aaaiiishya! I'm goin' about this all wrong, aren't I? What if I just... hmm. So I move like this, and then my thumbs... brush my fingers? How in the world? Ummmmm, well, never... yeah, never mind filling all the conditions. Today let's just see if I can get these hand sign thingies down. Or at least the first one! Yeah. Yeah! I think I can do at least that much. Hyra, could you... hmmm, oh! Yeah, I know! Bark if I do it wrong, ok? No? You... oh. Ooohhhhhhhh. Right yeah, sorry. W-well, what if you shook your head? Ok, great! Thank you, you're the best!"

The simple joy of fluffy hugs brings meaning to this autumn afternoon that the drudgery of learning magic simply can't fulfill. A moment later the hugs become slightly fluffier when Kat realizes there are snuggles going on and she's not getting any, and the moment after that it gets plain awkward when Cyanis squeezes her way into the middle of everybody by way of rewarding herself for being so helpful! And it turns out? The real magic was--

"Hm! Ok so in the first picture I put my hands together and put my thumb... here?"

"No no no no, Yue you dummy you have to bend it the other way! See, it's going behind the hand!"

"I, huwha? Um, but that doesn't... oh! Oh yeah you're right! Haha, thanks, Cy! Ok, so I just--"

Three. Two. One.

"OWWWWW! Owowowowowowow owwiieeeeess! Cyyyyyyy, my thumb doesn't bend that way I'm not double jooooooinnnteeeeeed~"

"Ahahahahahaha, you should see the look on your face! Actually, ooh! Here!"

Click! This one's going in the scrapbook for sure! Or at least the cloud! Yue can't help but giggle as Kat tries to kiss her poor mistress' hand all betters, but the really funny thing about it all is that even in the middle of the pain, she can't stop smiling. She tries to match the pose for two whole hours before tummies start getting too growly and it becomes necessary to break for a meal, and in those two hours Hyra never got to nod her head in approval even once. She got close, once! There was a bit where it looked like Yue really had it and she tilted her head half in amazement to see it. But then it turned out she'd cheated by folding her pinkies together and she had to switch quickly to another shake of disapproval.

And still, Yue was smiling. Because, like I was saying, the real magic was that Yue believed in it. The miracle was not the promise of flight (or at least crazy hops), but the willingness to hope that all this work was going somewhere, after all. And after all, why shouldn't it? Hyra believed in her. Kat super believed in her. And Cyanis? Well...

"Wow Cy, you've really mastered your duckface! Could you teach me sometime?"

“Thank you so much, Rose, you’re an incredible friend and it makes me happy how you’re so kind to me and such fun to do things with” ...is what the calm, thoughtful part of Chen’s mind wanted to say. However, that part of her brain was, at best, around 10% in operation at the moment. The other 90% was too busy having an extreme meltdown for coherent words.

It was somewhere around “polite little girls” that Chen just started imploding completely. Her blush, already building, completely overtook her from neck to forehead, her cheeks like bright little tomatoes. She vacillated between wanting to jump directly into Rose’s thick, strong arms and desperately begging the ground to open up a hole and swallow her quickly so that she wouldn’t have to endure a second longer. The result was Chen unable to meet Rose’s gaze and unable to stand still as that strong, firm hand cupped over hers held her firmly in place. She moved her shoulders, she shifted her legs, pulled her feet apart, brought her feet back together, and progressively started shaking more and more in that grip. She loved this, the games and the teasing, and the strength that Rose emanated. It was too much, aaaaaaaaah!

What came out when Rose paused and looked to Chen to use any words at all was something like “mmnnrrrfff” which might have made you think the gag was already in place, and then a high-pitched squeaking and shaking her head as Chen tried her absolute bestest to respond to Rose with something and failed utterly.

Rose from the River and Princess Chen of the Northern Wind end up joining the rest of their merry band of travelers for lunch. It’s easy enough to see them coming, as Chen sways up and down as Rose walks, perched on the monk’s broad shoulder like a colorful parrot. Rose has one arm up to keep her aloft, and another on her walking stick, and waves at Yue and Hyra (and Kat and Cyanis) with a third.

“Maybe you can help our dear, sweet little princess out,” Rose says, swinging down Chen neatly and putting her down in a seat. “She can’t seem to decide what she should get as a souvenir, and she’s having such trouble enunciating clearly. You’d think all those royal tutors would teach her how to speak, not squeak~” Condescending headpats, deployed! Pat pat pat!

But can you blame Chen, when she’s been shown off like a trophy on Rose’s shoulder all morning? When Rose has had girls come up to her oohing and aahing over her strength, taking her for a last marvel of the market, and asking if they can touch her muscles? When Rose has quietly reminded Chen that all she needs to do to be put down is ask like a good little girl? Anyone would be a flustered wreck under those circumstances, the poor darling— and still she’s got that ring in a death grip, not having figured out what to spend such a precious treasure on at all. (Why, surely, she doesn’t mean to keep it. But what if, hypothetically, she didn’t get anything? Would Rose demand it back, or would she get to keep it, or would Rose take her by the chin and tell her that she’d look beautiful wearing it? So many distracting thoughts to think about!)

Rose buying Chen noodles without asking her what she wanted is also a flex. A gambling flex— Rose might quietly be hoping she read the princess right— but a flex nonetheless. Rose from the River rides the hard edge of temptation, just so she can see Chen hide her face and make those incoherent little noises in front of everybody.

If only they could have continued all day, and into the night, when it comes to that! As it is said,

The pheasant calls his mating-song,
the water ripples in the rushes.
How pleasant is the wickedness of a lover
in the coolness of the patient dawn.

You travel next in the care of Zatoichi the Blind Samurai.

In some measures this statement is inaccurate. Zatoichi is not blind, he is not a samurai, and his name is not Zatoichi. But in terms of driving style no statement could be more accurate.

The little white truck screams around mountain bends at speeds that require both a handbrake and a flexible attitude towards keeping all four wheels on the ground. The gear shift whirls and clacks from second to fifth and back to first with the wild speed and flawless footwork of deadly battle. The last second reaction to each corner speaks to the swordsman's blindness, the willingness to take off-road shortcuts through the underbrush speak to his connection with nature, and the unflappable stare of the gleaming sunglasses speak to his fearlessness. The roaring pulse of Mongolian throat-singing from his car's CD player that keeps him from hearing phrases like 'slow down!' and 'watch out!' and 'AAAAAAAAAAAA' represents his perfect battle focus.

If there's a silver lining to all of this it's that his driving is not meaningfully impacted when the windshield starts to become blocked by all the Assault Ribbons he's hitting.

In a way it's worse when he hits the flagstones. Yes, he's not putting you through wild turns and spins any more, but that just means he can floor the pedal and let the little truck roar to its fullest. Things are definitely worse when he hits the stairs and now you're going up diagonally, everyone thrown together into a heap against the back doors of the truck, left to helplessly watch as the Zatoichi takes one hand off the wheel to grope around under his seat for a bottle of water. He starts taking a drink right as the car hits the top of the stairs at a speed that sends it sailing spectacularly into the air and sets the bottle down right before the bone-shaking impact as it lands again.

Zatoichi then grips the handbrake and pulls it as high as it will go, throws the wheel hard to the left, and swings the entire truck around in a complete one-eighty degree spin. The truck screeches to a halt at last and the tangled heap of girls in the back of the vehicle finally sinks down to the floor.

Zatoichi hops out and walks around to the back, opening the doors like a gravedigger opens a coffin. "We're here," he grunts as he bites down on an eucalyptus drop, crunching it like a candy. "Princess Qiu's palace."

This is a palace worthy of the Empress of the Middle Kingdom. A great field of stone, filled with enormous black marble pillars rising regularly up to the sky like a great stone forest. A great terraced pyramid of stairs rises up, layer by layer, and continues within the palace itself. It is bright, bright in a way it rarely is - the sun dares not disappoint the Princess who dwells here. It is a field that calls for armies to stand upon it and their absence is deliberate, it is a palace that should be forbidden but the doors are open wide, it is a landscape that would make a spectacular battlefield and its potential is exciting.

Zatoichi is already climbing back into his truck. There's only one way back out of here and probably no one thinks much of it right now.

Inside each living creature there are hidden pathways that connect them to the Universe. Call it what you will: chakras, qi, your cosmos... it's all kinda the same thing in the end, y'know? It's a bunch of mystic bibbledy blorp that means that you, yes you, can do incredible things. It's the thing that makes magicians! It's the thing that Yue thought she wasn't special enough to have!

But finally, finally! The absolute terror of a near-death (and by "near-death" I really do mean a cat's whisker away. If you're writing this story later, let it be known that Princess Yin was nowhere near as big a threat to Yue's life as Zatoichi the Blind Samurai) experience has finally unlocked the pathways to power inside her! She can feel it rushing through her as she scrambles madly out the door and onto the Stones of Safety! What else could she be but a magician? If she could just remember the shape of the fourth form in the middle of all the buzzing in her head right now there's no doubt she'd be able to fly. She's one with the universe, connected with all living things and sharing their energies, she's...

"Hoooooooorrrrgghhh~" she horghs, "I th-think I'm gonna be sick."

She's flopping over face first onto the grand fields of Princess Qiu's home, is what she's doing. She's valiantly, heroically turning onto her side so that her panicked coughing doesn't choke her to death. She is... dizzy? And, and crying, just a little bit? She's... oh. Oh dear. Oh gosh. Oh no... ok no, no no no, she's done. Yue would like to get off Mr. Universe's Wild Ride, please.

"No more... no... n-no more cars, please. Can we walk? For the rest of our lives? Pretty pretty please?"

Or so she tries to say, but since she's mostly mumbling it into Kat's kindly offered Sympathy Floof it's really anybody's guess how many of those words mean anything to anybody. She's useless. Overwhelmed. A lump, really. A lump on the lawn of the most beautiful palace in the entire world.

But palace go spinny. Spinny bad. No spinny, palace. Nnnnn, Kat stop... this is no time for kissies, sillyhead. Nnnnnf, blerg. Eyes go shut now, kay? Sleepy time. Time for dream bout be happy for be alive. Time... time for...

Slowly, she becomes aware of her surroundings. Example: she is presently being nudged and prodded by a very soft nose attached to a large and beautiful muzzle. Or, well, she has to assume it's beautiful. She can't see it, but she can tell who it belongs to, so unless the Demon Car currently shrieking away from her mangled Hyra beyond recognition on the way up here, a very beautiful wolf is what is trying to roll her over onto her back.

And honestly even if that did she must be beautiful, because Hyra's one of those people who just seems like she'd take to scars really well, y'know? Like, with her build and her smile if you cut a big ol' slash across her face or (oooh, gosh) her tummy or her chest it'd only make her more beautiful. Just imagine the rough, pale line all shining in the light of the full moon, and her shirt's tossed so careless-like over a wet rock (and her hair is soaked, just so sopping and clinging to her bare back, because it was raining earlier so there's still all these dark mysterious clouds in the sky, that's reaaaaaally important ok?), and then, and then, she reaches out and touches your chin, and you reach out and brush your fingers across her scar, and she pulls you closer until your face is full of her, and she asks you if you'd like to kiss it, but you're a naughty girl, aren't you, so instead of your lips you use your tongue and, ehe, ehehehehehe~

"Oh gosh!"

Yue shoots up into a sitting position with her face just as pink as an apple. She stretches to cover her embarrassment, but that just gives her a handful of Hyra fur, and that's only making things worse and um, so um, um um? Distraction? She, uh...

"S-say... don't you, e-erm, d-d-don't you think this place could use more, more flowers? It's, this place is beautiful, but it's so... empty. She could really use a garden here, don't you think? She could put a peach tree here, and here, and a row of poppies over here, and... w-well, it'd be so much more welcoming, y'know?"

Chen steps from the car after Yue tumbles out, sword drawn, knuckles white on the hilt, breath tense. In comparison to what had just happened, Ysel seemed tame and restrained, and Elkibrand must have been an angel gifted specifically with driving skills for Chen's personal comfort earlier. Chen had drawn her sword around one particularly tight corner on a steep curve, absolutely convinced that the car was going to flip and she was going to need to either try and right it or pull everyone out before they crashed to the bottom of a nearby ravine. Somehow that hadn't happened, and she couldn't remember if she had panicked and helped with the cornering herself, or if she'd simply been clinging to Rose the entire time, sword clenched tightly in one hand as part of the tightest hug of her life.

A-a-anyway! Clinging to Rose had been the perfectly sensible choice. She was by far the strongest, so if there was a crash, having her and Chen together gave them the best chance of weathering it, getting out, and being able to save everybody else. S-so, it made sense that she would hug the huntress as tightly as possible, and squeeze with all the might of her tiny little arms compared to that thick, deep chest. So, that was totally normal, smart, and sensible and everybody was perfectly fine with that.

Oh, right, they were out of the car now and she had let Rose go so that they could all get out because that was also what normal, sensible people did and now she was stepping a few feet away so everybody else could get out and taking in the new scenery. And they were...oh for the love of the suns. This entire space just screamed arena duel. Each of those pillars was thick enough to hide behind and sturdy enough to bounce off of, creating a hundred different angles for surprise attacks. The pyramid offered a perfect landmark to orient yourself from any angle and a potential goal if the contest was more than just a sword duel (maybe a race or offense/defense sort of contest?).

Chen already had her sword in her hand, the crystal blade sparkling merrily, her own stance not quite staying still, keeping light on her feet and ready for a sudden movement in any direction. She could feel the sort of hunger that Qiu had for this contest reflected in the landscape all around them. Was she going to have to defend her new friends in a duel after Yue refused Qiu's coterie? She didn't think she could beat Qiu straight up, even if the three-shard princess didn't use any sort of shard cheating, but she could make a fight of it and give the rest time to escape. She knew Qiu wanted that badly, Chen had danced around ever facing her directly and the tantalizing prospect of that duel had kept Qiu's interest even before they'd shared art tips on the boat and Qiu had wrapped her tail around Chen so...enticingly.

A blush was creeping onto Chen's face, when she was saved by poor, sick, blessed, wonderful, Yue, asking for flowers and peach trees. Chen laughed, covering her blush. "Oh, this isn't for decoration. This is a dueling ground! Qiu loves a personal contest of skill best of all, that's how she won all her shards." Chen's levity let her at last relax her white knuckle grip and settle herself, though she did not put her sword away just yet. Something about the place held her back from that, maybe the first creeping of Qiu's shards already influencing her, and that took the smile right off her face. "Be careful when you meet Princess Qiu Tian. She has three sunshards and even more than Yin they let her influence the whole world around her. You might find yourself feeling things you've never felt before. Right now I'm still sort of on an errand for her, but when she realizes that's not what's happened, she might try to push any of us into competing with her. So, be ready for the unexpected and don't try to confront her directly."

Chen spares a glance for Hyra and Rose in turn, the other two most likely culprits to do something stupid in this scenario besides herself. Then she looks up to the pyramid, wondering where the three-shard princess has gotten herself.

Rose from the River was, as always and ever, an anchor of calm in the vehicle, a mountain that set itself in opposition to the world and refused to move. It would be rude to say she “clung” to the frame of the car, or to point out the “holes” where her fingers “punched through.” “Dear life” should not even enter the picture. And she’s definitely not sore where Chen’s head kept bouncing off of her. The slow and very particular way she exited the vehicle, with the shear of metal following her, was deliberate grace and not a word more shall be said about it. As her companions groan and flop, Rose from the River stands straight and tall and makes a sound through tightly pursed lips that is something like a teakettle.

Then she scoops up the limp form of dearly departed Cyanis, who really did make a sparkly mess in the grass, and pats her with her best estimation of maternal care. There. There. You’re held. Please don’t— oh, that was just a dry heave. Okay. You’re okay.

Rose opens her mouth to speak. Sound doesn’t come out. She coughs and tries again. “Chen and I are going to have her attention the moment we set foot there. If you were trying to sneak in, it would be best for us to be a distraction, but as it is...”

As it is, she is being a fool. She is walking into Qiu’s jaws directly so that this ditz and this Princess can be silly and hopeful, and when Qiu demands their arrest en masse, Rose from the River knows that she will fight with the fury of three bears (and ten thousand rats) to allow these silly, silly girls the chance to run away. She’ll fling Chen away herself, if she has to. (It’s quite all right; the little thing will bounce.)

“Well,” she says, hoisting the quivering bundle of fox up higher on her shoulder. “After you, ladies.”

There are some forms of music that did not survive the long years spent underground. Music was an optimized thing of proprietary computer software, audio libraries, and rotating spirals of human stars sculpted for purpose. Things were done based on beats and earworms and optimization, the most efficient way to insert a buying craving in the mind. In the years since the emergence music has been discovered in bits and pieces again, learned anew or allowed to simply be a warm comforting thing sung between friends over a roaring fire.

The pipe organ - those enormous, insane contraptions with ten thousand keys, switches and pedals were too unwieldy for the old world and too complex to have been rebuilt by the new. So when you ascend the steps to the sound of a live performance of howling pipe music it is like nothing you have ever heard before. It's music performed not for financial gain, for how could a nightmarish device like this ever pay for itself? It's music not performed for beauty, for its sound is so unique and alien that no one would imagine it if they hadn't heard it first. It's music not performed to develop a useful skill, because each organ is so wildly different that talent in one is not guaranteed to be transferable.

The only reason to learn to play the pipe organ is as a response to the pipe organ itself. This device is a peer to the mountains. One cannot respond rationally to mountains - one can only climb them.

Princess Qiu Tian climbs this one in her bathrobe.

"Chen! You made it!"

From up in the mad control dais, surrounded by switches and levers, Princess Qiu waves enthusiastically with one hand while her other keeps the spooky beat rolling. She's dripping wet, hair long and hanging down around her shoulders, a trail of damp footprints leading up the marble to her musical throne. From the spacing of the steps a deadly huntress of the ancient world might determine that she'd had to practically bound from her still-warm bath and bound up the steps to the control seat of her terrifying instrument upon sensing the arrival of visitors.

She hits a long string of intimidating notes as she stands up - and in return, reveals a surprising detail about herself. Princess Qiu is... kind of average! Not slender, not rounded, not graceful, not clumsy, not tall, not short, not the most beautiful girl in all the world and not the least. She has a body that's well exercised but doesn't ripple with muscles, that isn't particularly curvy or flat. For all the talk of her exceptionalism she doesn't really show it. She's just a kind of normal looking girl (although when she turns her head to the side and you see her face in profile, oh - she is handsome from that angle.)

She leans forwards on the railing around her organ, resting her chin on her hands, tail swishing above her. "And you've bought friends," she said, eyes flicking through the group - and oh, it must be added that her eyes, too, are beautiful, even from here. They're filled with so much intricate detail they're distracting and compelling in a hundred ways, any of which can distract you from how intense the gaze coming from them is. "I am absolutely charmed to meet you. I am Qiu Tian, future ruler of the world and one true Princess."

She's eager, tensed, focused even though she's smiling playfully. Every part of her feels like it's on the edge of saying "But enough talk!" and pouncing across the room. She's an illustration of anticipation - but moment by moment she stays still and keeps that smile, and the faultless restraint that holds back that obvious intensity is a strangely reassuring thing. For all the sheer force that comes from meeting someone playing a pipe organ atop a pyramid of black marble there is no true danger here.

"I uh...yeah, I did."

Despite being far away and below Qiu, Chen's whole body hangs like someone who was about to open a door and just realized that somebody was on the other side and grabbed it as fast as they could so they didn't slam into anyone. She almost looks like she's going to fall over for an instant, before she manages to settle her weight back and keep her center of gravity over her feet. She just...she was ready for a lot of things. Like, surprise attacks from her supposed arch-nemesis! Or, or sudden hugs to create lots of confusing emotions! Or maybe...um...a big showy grand entrance with flaming pillars and stuff! But, you'll have to forgive her because she was not ready for the hot wet hair look and this weird sort of restrained tension where she knows Qiu wants to have a duel, but she's clearly being nice and it would be incredibly rude to push her when she's trying so hard and...and...eeep! Yes eeep! That's what she was not ready for!

Okay, deep breath, everybody is looking at Chen and she's got to say something more than just uh yeah to fill the silence. "I have, um, very technically, fulfilled exactly what you asked of me. I have found Yue and she is here, now, with me, in front of you. But...I don't think I should really collect on the prize because she only came here to tell you in person that she's not interested in being your handmaiden. Or anybody's handmaiden I think. A-Anyway, she's really special and I totally get why your demon advisor said she's special (reader: Chen has no idea why the demon said that) but I think she should get to choose what she wants, so I'm here to let you know that I promised to protect her whatever she chooses. Oh also, just like, please don't let Yin go looking for random innocent girls again. She is seriously a lot and I'm pretty sure she freaked out, like, everybody here with me."

Chen looked like her brain was just catching up to her mouth and, before her brain could manage too much thinking of how sideways that had just gone, she turns to the group. "Well...um, anyway, you already know what she looks like, but this is Yue, just Yue. Yue, above you there in all her...glory is Princess Qiu Tian, the three shard-princess. And uh, the person whose weird old world demon advisor started this whole mess by saying you were the most valuable thing in Qiu's new kingdoms. You should introduce yourself."

Well, that was something at least. Both her parents would be horribly disappointed, and she still couldn't tell why Qiu was being so nice about this, but she was very definitely putting a lot of effort into it and it was really throwing Chen off her game. But...maybe it meant this was all fine and there wouldn't be any big fights?

What... was that?

It sang like a whole chorus all by itself! So soulful and mourning and... and old! Princess Qiu danced like a dragon up there, like she was caught on the wind and lived inside of it, and that frenzied dance on all those buttons and pedals made a whole wall sing for her! Did she, did, did she capture a whole bunch of wind spirits and trap them in those tubes?! Or even, um, e-e-even ghosts??

'Cause the music is so pretty and impressive, but it's also loud and scary, but even that can't quite hide that it's kind of... sad? Like, the happy notes sound like sad notes, and the sad notes sound like tears turned into music, and how could anything make a noise like that unless it was old enough to have seen the world when it was brand-and-shiny new?

No, she's being silly. Silly Yue! This is just like the time she found that cave when she was little and thought the wind was made of demons. But, but still. But... still. It had to be very very super old, if this music wall thingy could make noises like that. And it must be very hard to play it, too, 'cause Princess Qiu... the Princess Qiu, by the way! The one everybody's supposably been working for this entire time, who threw that very lovely parade through all the villages of the Terraced Lake when she took it over, the one absolutely everybody who was anybody (including the people who were nobody at all!) talked about like she was some sort of super-monster that all the regular monsters told campfire stories about to scare each other... that Princess Qiu, looked like she...

She made it look very hard. She made it look like playing was a thing that took her years and years to learn, she made it look like that might not even be enough. She made it look like every note took sweat and effort and it'd never, ever, never-ever be easy for her even with the power of three or six or however many sunshards she was supposed to have. But, even then, the other thing she did was make it look... fun? Or, um, what's the word? Like it was something that Yue could do herself if she got lessons and had just a little bit of determination to not quit right away.

It almost makes it seem like anybody could be a Princess if they really wanted to. Yue's jaw hangs very obviously and impolitely open in awe. Princess Qiu must be the most powerful creature in the world if she can manage that bit of magic. Yue startles when she hears the first sharp slapping noises reach her ears, and when she looks down, is surprised to see that she is clapping her plain and boring heart out.

"Oh wow! That was, I mean you were, um, I mean! Gosh! Goshies! How did you do that? Can you do it again? Can you t-- eep! N-no I mean!"

Yue, you dummy, you're in the presence of royalty! Sopping wet, jumped out of the bath just for you, looking so cute and snuggly in her bathrobe royalty! Where are you looking, you silly girl? Where are you putting your eyes? No, not there! Oh gosh not there either! No just, do the, just turn your head to the, oh no no no, now you look disinterested! Just... isn't there something you're supposed to do in moments like these? She turns and looks at Hyra, who huffs loudly and makes the wolfish equivalent of a shrug.

Is she supposed to bow? She's supposed to bow, right? Or, or um, the other thing, the... kneeling? Dogeza? Is there a dance or a special gesture or a... oh ok she's waving, she's waving now, that's a thing she's doing welp too late to take it back you wave and you watch and you smile like you mean it, Yue Just Yue The Sun Farmer!

"R-right! I mean, um, hi! Hiya! I'm Yue, pleased to meetcha! Erm, uh, i-i-t's an honor to make... n-no, meet your... oh gosh. Y-you're very, um, very pretty and... er, n-no I meant, I'm sorry to interrupt! I love your robe! I love your... uh, your thingy! With the music?"

Yue is retreating. Slowly and tactically, one tiny little baby step backwards at a time so that nobody will notice until she's already over the next hill. She buries her face in her hands and whimpers, 'cause it's hot all of a sudden and she's being such an idiot and she hasn't even said any of the stuff she came here to say! How she's supposed to do this when everything's all backwards spinny yip yip? Yip Yip? N-no Kat, get down from there! You don't belong on... ohhhhhh gosh she's gone to introduce herself.

This isn't how this was supposed to happen! There was supposed to be, like, servants or something? And she'd sit in a prettily decorated room being served tea? Waiting to be called? And Chen would tell her what she was supposed to do with her body to say hi and then she would and she'd get asked what was going on and she'd say what was going on and she'd be so respectful to the powerful and beautiful super-princess and then there'd be nodding and more nodding and hmm-I-see-I'm-sorry-to-hear-thatting and yes-I-know-I'm-sorry-to-say-it-too-but-maybe-next-time-don't-sick-a-bunch-of-muscled-oiled-up-demons-on-me-and-just-send-a-letter-like-a-normal-personing and then she'd get throne in jail or let go or given a hug or something somewhere in between the three of those things she's not sure she ran out of paper when she was drawing the plan.

It was such a simple plan! But she can't remember the barest of barely bare steps right now. All she can do is squeeze the hilt of her wooden sword (which she's still barely put down except to practice the magic spell) and swallow much too loudly while she tries to conjure something like dignity and not embarrass the original owner of her dress into dying all over again. Or worse, swooping down from her happy place in the heavens to pluck her into the sky and lecture her until Yue's ears turned blue.

She swallows. If there's one thing she knows for sure, it's that it's rude to let Chen do all of the explaining. Yue came here against Rosie's advice just to say it all herself. She can't get swept up in first impressions, and her mind hasn't changed, as much as she's trying to convince herself that it has. It's true; she doesn't want to be anybody's handmaiden. There's so much more to see and do before she's ready to call herself anything but plain ol' Yue. She lifts her silly wooden blade to the sky in a grand and sweeping gesture that makes her dress feel cool and soothing against her goosepimpled skin as she does it, because this is what she needs to do to make herself brave enough to cut to the heart of things and tell a Princess 'no'. To her face, even!

"I, um... I came here to say..." she falters, and lets the sword drop to her side. She sighs, "I'm sorry, may I please come inside and use your kitchen? I don't have any cookies. In my head I was supposed to do all this over cookies. Do you have time to wait?"

It’s one thing to know that one day you will likely duel someone over their oppression of your monastic school, in the name of the Way, to bring all things to harmony and force them to surrender their unjustly hoarded power.

It is another thing entirely to watch your new friends fawn over her and act like she’s all that. After all, some people happen to be thriving, flourishing, valuing themselves for how adept they are at flustering and nettling and eliciting squeaks from cute girls, and then there’s this girl scrabbling up over the backs of others with nothing but power and overwhelming, hubristic self-confidence? Drinking in all the attention that Rose from the River shouldn’t be envying, shouldn’t be wanting so she can humbly deflect it elsewhere? As it is said,

I writhe underneath my blankets,
I groan both day and night.
While my enemy knows good fortune,
my torment will not cease.

“Rose from the River,” the monk interrupts, feigning good grace. “Champion of the White Doe School. I believe we owe one another a duel, one I am willing to see postponed so long as your behavior towards Yue the Sun Farmer is immaculate.” She offers Qiu her most aggressively weaponized head-tilt-and-closed-eyes-smile, the kind that would make a lesser woman than Qiu wilt on the spot.

Princess Qiu smiles. Her hand brushes the hilt of her katana and she pulls just an inch of it from its sheath - and whisper of metal is enough to divide the world.

Everyone who has ever faced her has told tales of how Qiu wields the power of her Sunshards, each contradictory and impossible. The truth, though complex in magic and metaphysics, is profoundly simple in intent and effect. Her blade cuts away everyone and everything else so that she can be the absolute centre of each person's world - and so she can give everyone her undivided attention in exchange.

Stare hard enough at the edges of the world, the perfect severing of reality, and you'll see her again and again. There she is with human-shaped Hyra, facing her down beneath the full moon, blades in each of their hands. There she is with Cyanis, competing for whose kissing booth can attract more customers. There she is with Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits, engaged in a trial of ultimate endurance: can she continue providing pets for the entire duration of the pet-ee's nap?

But in every other respect she is here, now, the centre of everything.

"But why postpone, Rose?" says Princess Qiu, turning her full attention directly onto you, letting the others and their failure to recognize you to fade into the background. "You have been dogging my footsteps for months now. You have been ambushing my demons and I hear you have terribly humiliated and confused the poor Scales of Meaning."

She comes down the steps, scales still glistening wet with ruby and gold, as her talons run along your collar and then up under your chin.

"I have had so many other priorities lately but time and again you seemed so determined to push yourself to the top of my list. What is it that could have attracted such intensity from a monk of all things, hmm? If I didn't respect your vows so much I would even suggest you had become obsessed with me."

But at the same time, in a different world, she's taken the arm of Yue - gently! Casually, even, the kind of ordinary gesture that proves that she's not made of fire and ruby, the kind of gesture that answers unaskable questions about the texture and smoothness of scale and the warmth that runs beneath. "If you intend to bake, Yue, then of course I'm going to help! Come on, the kitchen is this way!"

There's such interest in her eyes as she walks with you, such focus which is all the more intoxicating by the fact that she doesn't seem in the slightest bit disappointed by what she sees. Any stuttering or hesitancy or awkward laugh she can wave off with such confidence that it's impossible to think that you've somehow fooled her into thinking you're someone you're not. Princess Yin had seen through you and her eyes had hardened with contempt; Princess Qiu's blaze with genuine fascination.

"It's a bit of a mess, but I know where everything is," she said, and sounded legitimately embarrassed even though her idea of messy was 'left a box of cereal on the table'. Everything else was gorgeously clean while also being surprisingly compact and ordinary - after all the cyclopean architecture outside, Princess Qiu at least has enough sense in her not to put the stove five hundred meters away from the sink. "Tell me what you need and I'll fetch it for you!"

"Hey, that's a lot Chen, so thank you," said Qiu elsewhere still, patting your head affectionately. "The Scales made it sound like she was in the game, and if she wasn't I'm going to bind her into a vending machine. I might do the same to Yin, to be honest. Is she back on her bullshit again? I'll take care of it, don't worry"

She hasn't stopped patting your head, even crooking her arm around your neck so she can gently lead you along as she does so.

"But anyway, what I've really been thinking about recently is painting. You wanted to see that from me, right? Well since you made me commit to not knocking over any other kingdoms until you showed up again I've had nothing to do but paint. Have you gotten the opportunity lately? I can't imagine, with all the running about you've had to do..."