Yuki stands in the ruins of the cafe first floor. She’s more than a little stunned. What she saw behind those glasses. It had been like her light. She unsheathes her old sword for the first time since she had had them take it down from the ceiling of the great hall in Kel where they’d had it enshrined. They’d been so embarrassed when she came back that they’d let it rust. A monument of course, and it had been quite high up in a stone hall in the mountain, too hard for someone to get done regularly to polish, and besides it was the chosen one’s sword, it wasn’t [i]supposed[/i] to rust! But they hadn’t looked closely at it either. 

It’s still just a sword. She’s oiled and polished it now, no more brown spots. But just a sword. No glow. No strength or courage filling her heart and making her believe she could accomplish anything. Her time is past. But even so, behind those glasses, that had been just like her light. Only…only it was sick. How could that be? Did stars get sick? Was the star itself sickness? Could there be a starlight of sickness? Or was it that the monster, the…the dragon was sick and did something to the starlight in her? 

She brushes a hand along the sword. It wasn’t sharp. She hadn’t sharpened it because she didn’t plan to fight with it. Because…because she thought that everyone in Thellamie fought with heartblades and because it seemed wrong to want to actually kill someone. She was fighting in a fantasy world where you didn’t do that. But were star-chosen dragons bound to the same rules? It didn’t seem like it. Thought she still believed in knights, right? At the beginning, she had knights. Did that make her a queen or a princess then? Or at least a noble of some kind. You only had knights if you were high-ranking, right? And that meant she fit into…something. Some place, some castle or fiefdom or, well, something. Yuki didn’t know, but there had to be something.

But then, what did that other voice mean, about the wildwood? And did the dragon want that, or just the mushrooms and the nothing? She’d heard about this kind of, she vaguely recalled. That was part of Heron’s legend, right? A dark dragon who kept trying to return the world to nothing. Was this the same dragon? Or uh…well, she looked up at the dragons battling in the skies. Could they both be the same dragon somehow? Thellamie had a long history and Yuki knew there were many stars and many cities and peoples, but it still seemed kind of weird that there would be multiple dragons all longing for the nothingness of the void. Like, that was a role that usually had one being fill it in most stories since it was kind of the big boss role. Kind of? 

But then, did the dragon want that? She wanted knights, right? She’d fought Yuki like she wanted Yuki to be her knight. That other voice had called Yuki a squire as an insult, maybe a fair one since Yuki had claimed no title for herself. But the dragon herself hadn’t, and the other voice had kind of…like…disagreed with the dragon. The why mattered to one of them. Ugh, was that other voice the tall woman who had gone after Suli and Hazel or like some voice of the star speaking through them both or something? 

Yuki sighs, tries to brush and pick all the scattered shards of porcelain off herself and achingly gathers herself to exit the wrecked first floor of the cafe. 

[b]Pasenne[/b]

Yuki is a bit caught in her own head and she isn’t in the open air right now. But you are. You were the only member of the fellowship who wasn’t attacked, not really. You were kind of near that flower one, but you had a veil over your face that caught most of the pollen and you slithered to safety when she started to charm Sulochana. You were planning a heartblade ambush maybe? You’re not sure, everything was very confusing and you weren’t exactly sure what Sulochana was planning there either, so you were hoping to let the wait staff kind of sort things out first and then help your mistress once you understood what you were supposed to do. You may also have been hoping that any of the other fellowship members would come back and tell you what to do, but that hasn’t happened.

Only, well, mistress ran up the steps and now you’re in the crowd and somehow half of her coils are dangling through a window in space. And so it’s up to you to catch her! You heroically throw yourself from the crowd, despite this putting your nearly bare chest and stomach on full display, and gallantly catch your mistress with your own coils. You’re a hero!