Anarion

Return to Thellamie

Their stories? A moment of panic flashes through Yuki’s mind, though the advantage of a playing the guard and trying to put on a role is that she keeps it off their face. She can’t lie though. What if the Legendary Hero had some kind of lie detection spell on her? Or, like, a lie detection magic item or something? She had a lot of very pretty jewelry and her attendants could have who knows what on them hidden in a pocket or something. She’d heard a lot about the Hero, so lying was right out.

“I want to be a knight” she says at last. “I don’t…know if that’s a good story or not, but I will fight for my friends and bring their dreams to reality. I can…tell you perhaps of what I’ve seen recently? The story of Eclair, the…um…the lavender-haired maid knight who skateboarded through Crevas only to be tricked into some kind of fireworks explosion and knocked out. Or the story of the myriad golden fawns running all about Aestival, though perhaps you’ve already heard those rumors? I could tell you a story of the Khatun and how she and…she alone perceived the whole of the contest of the golden fawn in its opening moments. But also of how mean she was, how she stabbed Princess Sulochana Arju with her Heartblade and then simply left her with no care. Or…I could tell you a more distant story, maybe? Have you heard the myth of Artemis and Atalanta and the Caledonian boar, maybe?”

She looks with hopeful eyes. Has she answered the question properly? She tries to hide her anxiety, though her tail flicks side to side. She hopes that she hasn’t upset the Hero in their first ever meeting.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki is by herself as far as warriors go. So, she does her best when they reach the campfire to look stern and a bit dour. She’s not really sure what dour actually looks like though? How many times do you sit around and think to yourself that you want to look dour? Outside of trying to be somebody’s bodyguard, it doesn’t really come up. She thinks it looks sort of frowny, but like, without trying, like if you could frown with fewer muscles and without actually looking sad but just kinda not happy instead. Mostly she looks like she’s pouting though.

Of course, there’s not much reason to actually be guarding anybody on the Roads. The meal ritual is part of the travel and it’s very rare to have fights here. Certainly, nobody would actually try to assault a merchant on the Roads, they’d put such a huge target on themselves for everyone else everywhere. Travel had to be safe. So guarding was more of a theoretical thing. It just felt right with both Anna and Magasha at another camp. She was the only guard, so she had to look guardy! Guardesque! Like a guard!

But, when the announcement is for Heron herself, the great hero of the ages, well, it’s hard to hold a pouty dour face. Instead, her tail flips up in excitement. Before she can think the better of it, she gushes “Oh gosh, I never got to meet you the last time I was here!” Suli coughs, and Yuki blushes. “Um…that is, this is m-my um first ever errantry and um, I was busy with training when you last came through Kel, and I’ve only ever visited Aestival once before, s-so I’ve never met the Hero before and it’s a very great honor. We are merchants returning to Aestival after the Crevas festival. I have taken a contract to protect this honorable trader and her servant and see that they come to no harm during their travels.”

She offers a belated bow. “Um, as to your granddaughter’s request. We um…well I suppose I don’t know what animals count, but I was at the er, the light crown ceremony in Crevas and there was a very strange large and heavy crow that arrived during it and transferred the power of light into the golden fawn that everyone seems to be hunting now. I um, imagine that would be interesting. Oh a-and thank you for sharing your food your um…h-highness…hero-ness?”

Return to Thellamie

Oh coats! Coats are fun, but they got kinda fraught with meaning cuz of overuse in movies. It's like, every coat's a stereotype, y'know? Big puffy colorful coats shout that you're a nerd who needs to bundle up cuz you don't like the cold, silly and waddling but also cute and funny and lovable. Big wool coats are for rich business people who all look the same walking around in winter with accompanying wide hats and brown briefcases. Nothing but one big sea of people who all have somewhere better to be. Long coats are still somehow The Matrix, even though the Matrix came out before Yuki was born, but her dad used to watch it on TV all the time and tell her about how it marked a watershed moment in the art of cinema that everybody copied to the point that seeing it now doesn't make the effects look special because that's what the entire industry does. But they did do long black coats and that stuck. And then there were, like, Yuki didn't know the word for it, but like, good coats: coats that took a normal person and fit their figure just right and made them look dashing and really hot! Like, y'know, a girl with a coat running down her back that made the curve of her shoulders stand out instead of hiding it, but like it depended on the girl and there wasn't just one cut exactly, but there was a way that a coat made you just extremely hot holy shit, excuse her, she needs a moment.

With a Kel cloak already though, getting a coat really is about adding warmth, mostly a layer to keep the heat in. So Yuki gets a winter coat that's not too heavy, and that she really hopes makes her look hot, though she's not sure if it quite verges into featureless since they didn't have time to get all of this tailored. It is time to leave. the thing she did suggest was that everybody gets similar coats. It makes them look like a traveling party for the cold weather, and it makes them look a little less vastly wealthy princess party. They're obviously still a well to do group, but all same travel coat hides things a bit more than if they'd all doubled down on their unique costumes and shown off wealthy nobles traveling with elite guards as their thing. Suli gets to pick the color though, it is her house.

With all that done, they're finally on the road. No, on the Road. Yuki thinks of the Roads and the Outside kind of like Mirkwood. The Roads are Mirkwood if you're a friend of the elves. They wind and roll and you're never quite sure how far you've gone or how far you're going. And everything is dark and black even though the black isn't from thick tree canopy, but it has that mirkwood vibe with everyone traveling with lanterns. It's just that when you're on the road, you know it's safe, you know the turnings are going to lead you to a fire and a good meal and then to where you're going more or less as you planned the trip. So it's like the elves. The Outside, in contract, must be like Mirkwood if the elves don't like you. Everything feels the wrong way, every route elusive, every respite a cruel trick and every corner surrounded by danger. She wasn't sure how the Khatun handled that, but she must have her own power to create safety for her group to shortcut to where they were going.

Regardless of the outside though, the Road is special. It's part of the magic of Thellamie. The way that it makes places feel different. It doesn't match with a car where you know the route. Or with a plane or a train where you're stuck in a big box that's doing the magic travel. This is your own two feet (or a cart if you're lucky) making your way and yet you make that way in a certain time and it crosses some sort of impossible distance until you reach a new island. She could see how the people who lived here might struggle though. Knowing how dark it was here, how much there was that was outside the light of the sun and the created beauty of people who wanted to make a life for themselves really gave her the sense of urgency that Sulochana was feeling about Crevas. How could families grow if there wasn't space and wondering too far got you lost out here? She really hoped this queen of light thing worked out and that whoever won did their best for all of Thellamie.

And so, the Fellowship of the Deerboy (no, no they needed to workshop this. Yuki's suggestion is "The Fellowship of the Golden Fawn") marches and slithers forward. For the moment, they go in the silence of their lamps, each lost in their own thoughts and speculations, interrupted only occasionally by the swish of silks and the rattle of Pasenne's tail and jingling bells.

Who do they meet at the first camp along the road?

Return to Thellamie

While the thought of squirming along with Pasenne does briefly cross Yuki's mind, it's not what she's looking for (right now). Yuki wants to be a knight. A knight of Kel. In the Nagi sense, that would be most similar to an agonistes, though she has not chosen to make herself a Nagi apprentice, but a Kel one. A sword for hire and companion. This is not unheard of. Aadya is doing much the same thing for the Civil Church at the moment, and while Kel always maintains a contingent of knights upon the mountain tops to guard its lands and serve the roads to the moon, many young Kel knights strike out for a range of service missions. A questing Kel knight might well take on service to the Nagi.

The greatest change, then, is that she has dropped her Earth attire. It marks her out too clearly and begs questions as to how she could have obtained a t-shirt and jacket in such a foreign style. Questions that might lead someone thoughtful to consider whether they've seen her face, or her picture from when she was younger and judge whether or not she might in fact be Yuki all grown up. But, at the same time, it was clear enough that out of context Nagi and Serigalamu didn't necessarily know who she was. So, her Earth clothing is carefully bundled into a chest and left in the safekeeping of Sulochana's staff at Crevas.

In its place, she bedecks herself as a Kel knight who has taken on service to the house of Arja and has prepared herself for travel. She wears her light Kel mail, which covers her chest, her upper arms, her waist and upper legs, and then her armguards between elbow and wrist and her shinguards between ankle and shin. Below the mail, she wears a knee-length pleated skirt in lavender, loose and easy to move about while making her feel both pretty and a little more formal than her typical pants. She wears gray woolen socks and Kel fit sandals (from a Nagi shoe artisan in the upper city known for making good fits for those who have legs, Yuki does not want blisters on the road!). Over the top of the mail, she wears a sash of burgundy red cloth fringed in gold, emblazoned in white with two symbols: the symbol of the agonistes, a stylized serpent bearing sword and shield, and the symbol of Crevas: a canyon flanked by two serpents. In this, she has acknowledged Anka as her senior: the solid gold sash is only for a champion who has been awarded it for her victory in competition. Yuki's sash acknowledges that she has taken the role of agonistes within Nagi society, and that as a Kel knight, she demands equal status in the Nagi system (hence the gold fringe, rather than unadorned red as would befit a trainee). Though she would typically be expected to wear a red cloak to match, she has insisted on a gray Kel cloak. This required seeking out a dyer, as it would typically be unseemly to produce Kel knight cloaks unless a Kel knight like Yuki requested a replacement. The hood is sized for her face and her kitty ears. Her mask, matching her other colors, is red and gray: agonistes and Kel knight together. It is cut for her mouth in a stoic face, betraying no particular emotion. Finally, as a nod to Sulochana and the status of her party, Yuki wears an emerald on a delicate silver chain around her neck, a gift for her service, one would expect.

The whole of this is a quite strong disguise: Yuki is fit, speedy, and looks every bit the part. Though if she were interrogated by actual Kel knights there would be some awkward questions as to her training and mission. She was made an honorary knight at the end of her last adventure upon Azaza's defeat, but she can hardly reveal that without giving herself away, and she had never asked Aadya for details of Kel knight training. So, if push comes to shove, she'll probably just say she trained with Aadya. She's actually considered posing as Aadya, but figured she couldn't pull it off. But even without that, much of the specifics here are designed to lure Aadya into a duel should they meet in the course of this quest. Yuki owed that to Aadya for standing her up, and she couldn't think of anything her friend would want more than a chance to go all out against a fellow knight.

She has prepared everything except a name, which, if none of the party has suggestions, she will come up with on the road as needed.

But, of course, getting dressed is only half the matter. Now she has to deal with a shell game. Yuki steps up closer, cloak loose and open, waving behind her as her tail flicks in agitation while looking at the map that Timotheo gestures at.

"Damn. This is...somebody's playing a dumb game here. I mean, everybody knows shell games are never fair, the whole point is that it's a sleight of hand trick: you slip the ball out of the shells as you move them so that no matter what shell is chosen, the player always loses."

Yuki rubs her chin. "That would mean that the real Hazel is heading...North." She points at the map, finger tracking the empty space: "...to Vespergift or Stoneward. I can't tell which. Maybe...whichever is most secure against the Khatun? If there's even a difference. I mean, I dunno, everybody keeps saying she can travel and just drop into a random city, but if one or the other is better against that, then that one."

Before anybody can talk, she holds up a hand that she's still thinking. "The problem is like, okay a) who's the target of this shell game? The Khatun's going to figure out the same thing I just did, she's way too smart, so who's this even aimed at? b) How and more importantly WHY is someone doing a Hazel shell game? It's not even two days into this thing!"

Yuki's ears droop and she puts a hand to her head as she's thinking herself into circles. "I don't know enough about the magic here. Magasha, do you maybe? If we went and caught one of these fake Hazels, would he disappear in a puff of smoke, or could we do an interrogation? Otherwise, it's the best coinflip we can make between Stoneward and Vespergift I think."

Return to Thellamie

"Oh gosh, this is so cloak and dagger! This is much better than trying to show up with an army! We can sneak in as travelers, maneuver through the space even if the Khatun shows up."

Yuki is grinning big and wide, from ear to ear. It's probably a little unnerving on a Kel, showing off cute little fangs as her ears twitch happily. It's like Suli put her in charge of her own adventure novel! And everybody knew that a couple of heroes can go a lot further and get into a lot more places than an army. An army has to make a big deal of moving itself around! You have to, like, pack food, and pitch camps, and house everybody, which you should normally try not to drop on a random town because forcing people to house a bunch of soldiers they weren't expecting is rude! But a few may go where many could not.

Okay, okay, Yuki is resisting the urge to literally make a fellowship of nine here. But something like that. "Let's take Pasenne. She's been super helpful and has been listening to all our planning anyway, so you must trust her, right? And maybe, like, two or three other Nagi that you trust. Enough that when we're traveling all together we look like a solid group that nobody wants to mess with, but not so big that we can't all sit down at a restaurant and have a meal at one table. If you've got someone that knows Aestival really well, bring them, plus I want to learn all about the terrain so someone who's been there can tell me about it on the way. And I guess at least one guard in case we need to do some fighting, but like, not one that's gonna pull her heartblade at the first sign of trouble!"

Yuki rubs her chin. "Hmm, how recognizable do you think you are outside of Crevas? You're like, royalty now, so do you need a special disguise? Do you need to bring a makeup person with you for that? Or a costumer? Also like, what's your um, expected traveling accommodations? Do we need to stay in the nicest places wherever we go? Be honest about it, cuz I went to camp with plenty of people who said they liked roughing it, but the second that a leaf touched them they were freaking out and couldn't recognize poison oak if you gave them a field guide with the picture and held it right next to the damn stuff." She blushes, this is obviously a sore spot. "A-anyway, my point is, just be honest if you need nicer places and make sure we bring enough money for what we plan to do and then we'll make that work, we don't have to make you suffer."

She thinks again, taps her foot. "Oh, also, also, what's the weather like in Aestival? I brought a snow jacket that I mostly haven't worn here cuz it's cold where I'm from and it's cold in the Kel mountains. But is Aestival usually really hot? What kind of stuff should we wear to blend in? Can we do cloaks with hoods? Or is that weird? I kinda want a cloak with a hood though, it's the adventuriest piece of clothing!"

All of this is happening as they move in and out of rooms. As Yuki stops to use the bathroom and wash her face and her hair and fluff her ears. As she gets her old, rusted sword and the clothes she has, along with her bag and her phone and her tablet. She doesn't carry a ton on her normally, but her bag has a few dice and a handful of buttons that she got at a Magic prerelease and stuffed in there cuz they were cute and she liked the blue and green color scheme on the dice.

Hoping she hasn't bewildered Suli too much, she stops and tries to summarize. "Okay so, you, me, Pasenne if that's cool with you. One Aestival expert who can be a guide and teach us or at least me about the place. A person for your disguises if you need one. And one guard/fighter person who isn't going to cause us too much trouble but can back us up if we need it. How's that work for a traveling party?"

"Oh, wait, crap, what about the people you're leaving behind? Is it a political problem if you're out of the city and nobody knows where you are for too long? Do we need to, like, bring Purnima or one of her close allies with us so they don't all plot against you while you're outside the city? Not that I want to see an enemies to lovers run or anything" No, she didn't say that last part, shut up.

Return to Thellamie

"Oh! Ah...Ah...I see." Yuki blushes in turn because she was dumb, and the whole lecture on what to do later, and everything was just...well...oops. "You're...you're really committed Suli. I mean, I guess you would be, the ceremony for the crown of light was here in Crevas, and you were crowned as one of the possible candidates to tame the golden fawn, so it makes sense. I'm just worried, y'know?"

Yuki paces in front of Sulochana, teacup in hand, sipping and thinking. Her other hand is also on the teacup, keeping her occupied. "Dang, I hate leaving Aadya, but I have to go with you. I mean, like, every which way I think about it. Yuki and Suli against the world. But also I gotta make sure you don't lose your head either. I'll tell you the same thing I told Juni. Hazel's...well...he's a little shy and he's never had a girlfriend. If you come on too strong, I don't think it will tame him, it will just spook him. I'm not sure the Khanate can so easily tame him either. Whatever it means, it's different than capturing him or forcing him to serve. Locking him up in the middle of nowhere will just make him want to escape, not tame him."

She sets her empty teacup down, she's been sipping at it constantly and now it's down. She gives Pasenne another smile as Yuki puts the cup on the tree that the Nagi maid is bringing.

"Man, this sucks though. I mean, not us hanging out! That distinctly does NOT suck, it is awesome. I'm just so curious to know what happened with Aadya though, I wish we could do both! Like, first off, somebody managed to beat her up, and like, I'm pretty sure she'll be fine even without me to help with her bruise ointments. But that's pretty rare, she's super strong. And she's on an investigation, which is...uh...not really Aadya's forte last I checked. I feel like we're setting her up on a Boromir story route here, and I really hope that's not the case. I mean, at least getting shot with heart arrows by the Khatun doesn't kill you, but it clearly sucks." Yuki offers a sympathetic glance at Sulochana. "You probably have no idea what I just said, but I just mean that we're kinda leaving Aadya to be the big dumb strong person who's gonna get confused and maybe corrupted if she's left alone too long. And then she'll try to redeem herself because her hearts in a good place, but she'll probably do it by taking on a fight against overwhelming odds and get herself beat up even more in the process. Or maybe taken captive by the Khatun in our version of events. That seems to be the big thing everybody but Juni's worried about, right?"

Yuki sighs, then gives herself a shake, takes a few steps, and loosens up her shoulders. "Okay, enough getting worried over stuff I can't handle. Today, it's you and me and however much of an army you pull together traveling to Aestival! And then we'll figure things out from there. Just try and be nice when you finally meet Hazel, kay? Now let's..." she was about to say let's go, but Yuki gives a glance at her empty cup and Suli's giant breakfast and her own nervous energy. "Let's freshen up and get our stuff together, and let me get my coat and all my stuff. And then let's go!"

Chatted to home-away-from-home
>[.snowkitten]
>chatted with Suli. I'm going to stick with her. Sorry Aadya, I really miss you! But I spent all last night running off after every single new face I saw and everything kinda went wrong. So I want to make sure things go well with Suli, and then we'll figure stuff out from there. Maybe whatever you're dealing with will bring us to the same place and if so we will definitely make up there. Pinkie promise!

Return to Thellamie

Yuki offers Sulochana a weak smile, and turns to Pasenne at just such an angle that if Sulochana were to, say, immediately drop all manners and dig in as fast as she could, nobody would notice for a moment or two. "I don't think I'm radiant. At least, not this time. This time it's just Yuki. But I really do hope you can get your parents a house, that sounds really nice! I think...well...no...I...I don't know how this contest will end, but I think that whoever's in charge should know about the needs of Crevas no matter what."

She looks at Pasenne a bit longer. She's not sure about the tail and the ribbons but she decides to venture her opinion. "Oh and I love the sound your tail makes, it's very soothing." A smile with that as well, a little bit lowering her ears, a sip of tea immediately after to hide her face because she's worried that was a social faux paus but also really hoping it was helpful and good, and it was how she really felt so that probably counted for something too.

After that, she turns back to Sulochana. Decides to grab some more chai first, and hmms while she fills her cup, tail flicking as she thinks. "Yeah, today, Yuki and Suli against the world" she says as she sits down. She gives Sulochana a serious face though. "I doubt my axe will really matter much in a huge fight though, and I don't really want to fight the Khanate even though you're competing with them. You know that's going to end up with you and Juni each trying to kidnap me from the other a bunch." She grins because that part was kind of a joke, or at least kind of funny and fun and, well having a bunch of her friends all trying to kidnap her back and forth didn't sound like the worst thing in the world at any rate.

But then it's back to serious Yuki, looking Suli right in the face, ears up, eyes clear. "You deserve a hangout day, and I'll come with you to the council and support you however I can. And after that, we're both going to find Aadya once she's done with her council thing. Cuz like, seriously, who beats up Aadya?! Aren't you dying of curiosity, Suli?"

She waits for Sulochana's response before she chats the group to confirm.

Return to Thellamie

As Yuki hastily straightens her tea, her first thought, absurdly, is that she should have shared more selfies. She is thinking that while blushing. Imagining Aadya's muscular, naked body. And yes, she needs to respond to Juniper, but just give her a second, okay?! It's like, Aadya's still thinking about her like she's twelve, skinny and twiggy and there to be brave and play. Aadya is not thinking about how Yuki will feel about her now. Aadya is dumb as the rock in her name, and all the more beautiful for it. But maybe if Yuki had shared more selfies, Aadya would be seeing her differently now.

She lifts a shaky cup of the chai up to her face, sniffs in the beautiful steam that smells of cardamom and cinnamon. She takes a sip and lets the sweet warmth flow over her tongue and then breathes it out through her nose. Tea was good.

"Your name was Pasenne?" she asks, looking over at the maid. "Did you make this tea? If so, thank you! And if not, please thank the kitchen staff for me, okay?" She smiles at the maid, only still blushing a little bit at her fumble that Pasenne had obviously just watched. She turns down to her tablet, but then on second thought looks up at the maid again. "So, what do you make of all this crown of light, destiny stuff?" She asks.

She looks back down and starts typing, but glances back and forth at Pasenne, doing her best to signal that she wants conversation while she's working.

To Juniper
>[.snowkitten]
>I'm mostly okay. Suli's mostly okay too, she's on the mend, makeup doing a lot of work. 😊 The Khatun's pretty vicious though.
>But yeah, I think you could DM her, but give it a little bit so you're not interrupting her morning routine. Maybe hit her up in like half an hour.
Here she looks down, and if Juniper's watching the messages come in, she'll have a bit of a gap, maybe even respond first
>I'm sorry about last night. I kept seeing someone new and running off. First Suli, then you, then I ran off from you cuz I saw Eclair, that maid knight from all those years ago. I'm glad you're okay at least.

To Aadya
>[.snowkitten]
>I can probably come by. Currently with Suli, she got stabbed by the Khatun last night :(
>But she's almost done getting ready, so maybe we'll both come out together. Let me chat the group, actually.
>...wait hold up. Who managed to beat YOU up?

To Home-away-from-home
>[.snowkitten]
>okay, hi. So like, Aadya needs some help, I'm hanging with Suli, and I jumped over to Juni last night and then dashed off. We need, like, a plan for what we're doing today. And maybe some way to start thinking about what we're doing with the whole magical deerboy thing. Cuz he's my friend and I want to help him too, I left him alone at the festival and he got hit with the destiny hammer and now he's run off somewhere with the fox twins of all people 😕. Not sure what to do.
[Invoking family meeting here]

She's looking back and forth at Pasenne this whole time. Listening between messages. Sipping her tea. Occasionally putting the tablet down to cut herself a piece of sausage and eat some egg. Yuki's absolutely starving, in fact, and seven course breakfast really hits the spot.

Return to Thellamie

Her first reaction was not to wake up at all. Screw the sun, this was comfy! Yuki turns her head the other way, away from the light beams and buries her face in the nice warm coils. Her ear tickles across them and twitches. This is good. This is ideal. She hugs the coils close, scrunches her own body, and tries to go back to dreamland. She holds onto this for a minute or two. No light, no vision. But there's too many things. Her nose wiggles with the smell of chai, she wants some. Her ear keeps twitching with each breath of wind, it's so much more sensitive here, and she can hear the motion of the air in the room, can feel it as much as hear it. The sun keeps moving and even turned away, she can tell the room is a little lighter, the curtains are not trying to be blackout curtains, they just want to smooth it out a bit so it's not too harsh.

She turns her head back to the sun, opens her eyes. Sulochana is still asleep, she can tell because of the slow rhythmic breathing. Sulochana needed that. She'd actually been stabbed last night and then left by the Khatun. That must have had its own special sort of pain. Not being taken, not being cared for. From what Yuki knew of Thellamie, that was considered a bit cruel. Maybe necessary in the big fight, nothing personal in that sense perhaps, but still kind of cold at best. The kind of cold that says that what you're doing is more important than stopping to make sure your opponent is okay. Hmm. The clinical part of Yuki's mind finds that interesting. Quite the contrast with Juniper and Olesnya. Really stands out. Maybe that's just because the Khatun had bigger things on her mind. Maybe that's just who she was. She had attracted Yuki's attention because she'd uniquely observed what was happening faster than anyone else. So...maybe that's just part of who she was and it took something really special to get her to actually care about you?

She shook her head gently, making sure not to tickle Sulochana, but she needed that motion to clear her thoughts out. She could run in circles on the Khatun forever. Lots of data, but not enough to know anything for certain. People were too complex for that. Too hard to get a read on them from one conversation, even one fight usually. You could get something, but not the whole person, and if she let it, she'd just speculate about this forever. What if the Khatun had just been hungry that night since they didn't get to the booked out restaurant that Juniper wanted Yuki to attend? And...yeah, just who knows, right?

She breathes in, slowly through her nose, taking in the scent of the chai again. That was good. She was definitely going to have some chai when she got up. But...not yet. She really didn't want to disturb Sulochana. Her fault, her mistake. So she needed to put Suli ahead of herself and let her rest, at least until she woke up naturally. Then they could plan together. She had to help Hazel too, and Juni, and figure out how to balance the whole competing crowns of light thing. Though like, she knew that wasn't really her problem exactly, but it kind of was because all of them were close to her friends for some reason. And she just knew in her heart that if she didn't figure it out, they'd fall apart over this.

The coils are still warm. It's nice how warm Suli's coils are. It's unfair. Yuki wants to just be held like this. To have someone take care of her, keep her warm, hold her close and safe. But...she's always got to be the one to handle things. It's not...when she thinks to herself it's not like there's any one big trauma. Her parents are together and nobody died or anything. It was just that...her friend when Yuki was like eight who lived down the street never called her. She always had to do it, and eventually her friend started making excuses. She was older, she had other activities to do. Family stuff too. Mom always had Yuki do the scheduling for things. She was good at it! She knew computers! But that meant if Yuki got busy, stuff just...didn't happen. She had booked her own camp stuff because her parents didn't really know how to help and she'd known what she wanted after Thellamie anyway. School clubs, same deal, she'd organized the literature club in high school and when she'd left, she heard a bunch of other people did too cuz nobody planned for how to bring snacks to the meeting or made sure to keep the teacher sponsor forms up to date or anything. Hangouts, weekends. Whatever, Yuki had to make it happen if she wanted her friends to be together. Being held by Suli was the weird thing. If Yuki didn't figure a way out of this, everybody would be at each other's throats.

Another deep breath. She finishes working her arm out of the coils, something that had been slowly happening as she contemplated, the careful shifting kept her body focused while her mind wandered. So, arm out, check the tablet. Message from Hazel. Did he mean Keli and Seli? The fuck? She'd definitely told him about them. They could keep him safe, but they were for sure going to collect payment and if it went anything like Yuki's adventure, they'd happily "turn in" the golden faun for a big reward and maybe have a rescue plan after. If nothing else, they were going to let Hazel build up a big debt of services without even knowing he was doing it. But he was suspicious of her hunter thing too, which was fair enough. No point upsetting him.

>[.snowkitten]
>k glad you're safe, I'm okay, my nagi friend got stabbed though :(
>helping her for now. She's um...also a hunter though. There's a bunch of people that were supposed to get a crown of light but they need you for that I think. I dunno what it means, but just try and stay safe
>oh but, just make sure you know what you agreed to okay? If it's the foxgirls, they might be secretly expecting a bunch of favors without saying that out loud, so just pay attention. Please.
>I...I'll find you eventually and we'll figure out how to make this okay for everyone. ...sorry I left you alone in Crevas.

Yuki taps this all out with her free hand. She hovers for several minutes, thinking about a follow up line. Promises to make everything okay. Promises that she can't keep. She sighs and hits send. Then she curls back into the coils and waits for Sulochana to wake with the rising sun.

Return to Thellamie

Her first mistake had been dropping her heartblade. When she saw Eclair fall (and that had to be Eclair, there weren’t that many purple haired maids, right?), she had tried to rush to her. Her second mistake had been not paying attention to what was in front of her feet. She thought all the firecrackers had gone off! They were all the same length, all the same design, why wouldn’t they all have gone off together?! Her third mistake was thinking she could explain herself and anybody would listen.

No, no, her first mistake had been jumping into the crowd. She was safe and had a little team and she’d left them. For what? So she could run hopelessly into a mob trying to catch Keli and Seli for god sakes?! She’d left her team behind.

No, no that was her second mistake because she’d done the same with Sulochana. Granted, she’d left Sulochana before she knew a riot was going to break out, but she’d still left her when something important was happening instead of staying with her! That had been stupid. Stupid, bad friend Yuki. Jumping off after whatever was happening.

No, no that still wasn’t her first mistake. Her first mistake had been sending Hazel off to enjoy the festival. She shouldn’t have split up with him! He was new to Thellamie. They should have stayed together, he could have come with her, or she could have explained to her other friends she needed to show him around first instead of sending him off to fend for himself.

Her fault. All of them her fault. One after another. Hazel gone and in danger. Sulochana stabbed. Juni abandoned (probably stabbed too? Who knows, not Yuki, that’s for sure!!!). And she couldn’t even help Eclair, the latest in her haring off after the latest acquaintance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She pounds a fist on the floor weakly, barely enough to make a sound, not enough to even alert the Nagi guard on top of her that she was moving.

Yuki hated being alone. It happened, obviously, but she hated it. She’d just run through all her memories over and over. Mistakes she had made. Occasionally fond memories. Maybe something that tasted good, or something fun she had done. But then she’d just miss it all the more. She remembered Thellamie so, so fondly. Sure everyone had been worried, but they’d worked together and saved it and it had been so wonderful. She never really appreciated the danger last time. How could she, cloaked in light and surrounded by people helping her. Even Seli’s betrayal was okay, things had worked out, nobody had really hurt her. Not really, though Azaza had wanted to, hadn’t she? God she’d never really thought about it like that? Had dumb had she been as a kid? How blind?

She just wanted to come back and see all her friends again. Hang out in person. Try the good food, listen to music, see the world. Was that seriously too much to ask? Were people only summoned to Thellamie for super special emergencies? Why had she even been brought back then?!

When Sulochana arrives, she’ll find Yuki with her face against the floor. There is a small dark spot on the stone, and when she lifts her eyes, they are wet with silent tears.

[Yuki is Guilty]