Anarion

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Oh no. Oh no. Suli’s done everything right, but she set this up as a standoff. She’s too kind by half. Maybe this is a sign she’d make a good queen of light. It speaks well of her that faced with this sudden turn of events (the real Hazel! Two dangerous plant people!) that instead of merely stabbing as Yuki had done, Suli had gone for the standoff and the demand to release Hazel. Perhaps she imagined that the radiant one was the most important, and so a threat to drop her with a heartblade to the throat would be enough not only to get her to let Hazel go, but would also be understood by flower one Yuki had knocked down as reason not to attack. And then they could back off slowly with Hazel.

But Suli hadn’t thought this through all the way. Back off to where exactly? The flower couple had been trying to make this quiet and maybe if left alone they would have simply walked out with Hazel while making it look like he’d walked out to take a break. But now there had been a fight. If the Fellowship left with Hazel, they’d be the ones kidnapping Chrysanthemum staff, so they were hardly going to be able to run back to their rooms. Maybe straight to the road out of Vespergift and hope to reach Crevas without violence? But if so, Suli needed to be moving already, not setting up for a standoff. And that, of course, wasn’t accounting for the extremely loud roar and rumble that was happening directly behind them that Yuki suspected was going to be an extreme problem for a standoff situation the second she turned around.

But. But, well, Suli had pulled Hazel into her coils and now they had to be careful not to rip his arm off. Damn it. If Yuki just slashed at radiant plant girl and hit the arm, would it go dead and drop or would it go dead and the grip would lock in place? Too unreliable. Plus she might hit Suli or Hazel if she went in for a second big axe chop with her full sprint momentum as she jumped over the table (carefully dodging the platter of cinnamoon rolls, which remain pristine except for the one she dropped as she clears them by a scant inch).

Instead, she lands, thrusts her heartblade into the ground as a pivot, and turns all of her momentum into a full body kick into radiant plantgirl’s elbow, breaking her grip on Hazel’s wrist completely and sending her reeling back from the impact and the loss of balance of pulling on Hazel. A shudder runs through her as her foot touches the hand, memories of a glowing sword and starlight from years prior. Starlight that she misses dearly, but that isn’t for her.

But, there’s no time for that, no time for anything. She gives Suli a nod and sets her own feet in front of Suli and a now fully encoiled Hazel, bringing her axe up level and pointed out, hopefully so that she can keep track of both radiant and flower at the same time as everything comes crashing in on them. They’ll have to go through Yuki first.

And…if she’s still standing afterwards, she’ll try her best to persuade Suli to gently put down the deerboy because they’ve finished defending him and nobody wants to kidnap an actively working member of the waitstaff of a Chrysanthemum host club. Right?

[Yuki rolls to defy disaster with daring, 5+4+1=10. She risked all her advantage from running in, but managed to do it with aplomb.]

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The first thing that happened is that Yuki was handed an absolutely delicious and adorable cinnamon roll by her dear friend Hazel. Who was dressed in a very revealing work outfit. Which, you know what, she'd never have guessed it for him, but if he'd taken a job here to hide, well, honestly, Keli and Seli could have done a lot worse to him actually. This was within scope of actual foxgirl help and that was great, and Hazel really seemed like he was enjoying himself and that was great too. She wouldn't mistake him for anyone else, and she had a lot of questions, but she was hardly going to be asking those in front of the double Yakuza team. No, she happily took the cinnamon roll and raised it up to take a bite immediately. A bite would be a great way to take stock of the situation, figure out who might be recognizing Hazel rather than a waiter, look at her friends and signal them. Also it was a delicious cinnamon roll, this was definitely the best approach to the situation.

Except: the woman in the dress didn't take a pastry. She took a deerboy.

Typically, there's a decorum for a place like this. Guests are supposed to maintain respect for the staff. Because the staff are engaged in a performance. And it's a fun and lovely performance, but they can hardly manage that at either a physical or mental level if the guests are getting inappropriately handsy. That's a general sort of thing. Then there's the expression Hazel made. The expression that said that he did not in fact want this, that something was wrong here. Wrong well beyond merely grabbing someone inappropriately. Wrong in the sort of magical way that says that a person is being...violated? Yes, if you asked Yuki to describe it later, she'd say this crossed into violated in a sense.

She's not actively thinking in this moment though. Thinking is for later. Right now, Yuki is up, her tail flicked up and out for balance, her legs springing her forward, her arms held one fist above the other as though they're grasping an invisible handle in the air, her shoulders rotating.

You have to understand that if there's one core thing about Yuki, it's defending her friends. She's still thinking very hard about what she wants for herself. What a happy life looks like, how to keep all her friends together when they all have so many different and sometimes competing interests. That's hard, especially when her friends might be fighting with each other or hurt each other. But defending her friends from someone else. That's so easy. She will always defend her friends when they need it. She will leap to their defense immediately, she will go all out for them, she will give everything of herself for them. Every time without fail.

She's practiced this a thousand times. There may not be any heartblades on Earth, but Yuki knew the feel of hers from her last visit. She had imagined drawing it. She'd imagined her fencing footwork and how to hold her hands so that instead of thrusting with a foil she was cleaving with an axe. She'd done it in her mind lying in bed, she'd done it while stretching in slow motion, she'd done it in a mirror at full speed when nobody was watching.

The heartblade axe materializes in her hands in full swing, one hand at the base, one hand in the middle. Instead of slowing down, the weight of it adds to the momentum of her pivot, and the blade connects with Flower Yakuza at the same time as she's shifting her stance to go for Suli. The same time as Yuki catches that gleam in her eyes hiding behind the starglasses. The same time that it registers that she's using real flowers. Yuki's arms flex, and the blade connects hard. Flower may be strong and supernatural, but it's a hard thing to keep your balance when a full momentum axe rams into you above your center of mass. Flower's going over backwards, Sulochana is running forwards, Yuki is already leaping after her, powerful leopard legs balance by that extremely useful tail.

This all happens in a fraction of a second, even as a flash of light bursts from Hazel. Flower's going to get up and she's going to be mad. And god knows there's going to be consequences for all this. But that's for thinking about later. Now is for protecting her friends.

[Yuki rolls to fight. 4+2+1=7. She will create an opportunity for whichever of Sulochana or Hazel is more fitting for the scene through her prowess. And she will seize a superior position by dropping Flower with a heartblade axe blow, whether that's from the heartblade itself or the power of the hit even if Flower has some supernatural resistance. Flower gets to pick an option in return.]

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“W vs. U? I didn’t even know there was a different way to say the two, but you definitely managed it.” She answers about nothing while she thinks. Because Yuki’s hackles are up. Every part of her hates this. Not even sure exactly why. It’s the tall one though. The one that seems nicer. Hate it hate it hate it, burn it with fire. She reads like some of Yuki’s extended family members. Who may even be in the Yakuza for all she knows, but there’s this comfort with her. Like she’s never even considered the possibility that she might not be able to do whatever she wants. You can feel it around her, that pressure to just relax and be comfortable and pleasant with her and let her do her thing and no fuck no burn burn burn.

She turns to suit instead. Suit is a normal problem. A very simple I don’t want you here and now I have to deal with you. She can focus on that. “My apologies my lady” she says, turning to Sulochana rather than continuing the conversation with either of them. “I appear to have erm, moved too quickly when we heard about the Golden Faun” (said with the U). “I am on business, to serve as a guard for my lady, and she wishes to go here. I’m sure you know that a knight on errantry doesn’t do things by half measures.”

She’s trying to be formal, and it’s probably working here. She doesn’t need to fake the glower or the stern look. She’s barely keeping herself from putting a hand out to summon her heartblade. It’s not appropriate for these streets, certainly not appropriate to start a duel in the middle of the line to the latest craze cafe, and so she won’t be the one to instigate, at least while in control of her own faculties. But she’d welcome it if these two made something happen. The combination of threat and condescension is quite nearly too much.

No, better to play her part, act the bodyguard, let Sulochana speak as much or as little as she wants about why they’re here, while she stares daggers at the pair and they all wait calmly in line.

Hazel, when you find them in line, you’re not going to see a particularly happy-looking Yuki. In fact, as a cutie host, it’s probably your job to notice the tension and try to ease it. Don’t want the customers complaining about shoulder and neck pain after waiting in line at the Golden Faun, after all!

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“Did you hear that?” Yuki says, steadying herself against Suli’s extremely steadyable yourself against coils. “Cafe la faune, is that like, uh, wow now I need to wonder if Thellamie has some kind of universal translator thing happening and I heard that in French because that’s like the universal signifier for someone being pretentious.” Yuki blushes, straightens her cloak and stands back up. “Well, we need to check it out at any rate. Even if it’s just a costume cafe, it’s a great starting point. Plus those two down below us kind of looked like hunters. I mean, I dunno, they looked like what I’d think hunters would look like, like, they had a strong aura you know?”

Yuki glances slightly away, partially to follow where they went and partially because powerful aura was also code for wow that dress with those curls was hot, huh, yeah. By the time she collects herself and the search party is about to get moving, however, there’s a crowd. And quite a crowd! Yuki’s never been to an opera, but she’s been to several soccer matches and normally with that sort of thing there’s, like, a regulated space for the crowd. Everybody is supposed to go in and out a certain way and then once they’re out there’s space for them to spread out and it’s not a big deal unless you get stuck right at the entrance. This is much more chaotic, the opera house letting out directly onto the street and the crowd all seemingly trying to get somewhere with considerable haste, despite most of them looking like they have nothing better to do but relax at their next venue.

Even so, Yuki’s always considered herself good at moving through crowds. It’s one of the advantages of being on the smaller side. And the fellowship of the golden faun is full of competent people who know how to take advantage of an opportunity. So, Yuki strides forward confidently, with all the authority and boldness of a Kel knight about her work. And she forms the tip of the spear, creating the space between people as she goes that forces people to widen and move aside for the Nagi behind her. Though it’s by no means subtle and risks angering someone important if they were to misstep, there are no missteps. Yuki nails the look and and she nails the route to make sure that people see that look. Nobody wants to be the person who got in the way of a knight, and Yuki makes sure that they’re moving so that everyone sees that rather than any fools crashing into her by accident absorbed in conversation or their tablets. So the crowd parts for her and for the fellowship and they rush after the unusual pair headed to cafe la faune.

[Defy disaster with Daring to rush through the crowd without losing the Yakuza pair. Risking a blunder into someone important. 5+6+1=12.]

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It's not that Yuki intended to spend the whole day relaxing. She knew they needed to search for Hazel and it was her duty as a knight to lead that search (well, it's Timatheo's duty to lead it from a planning perspective, but it was Yuki's duty to actually get out there.). No, it's just, well, sometimes time has a way of tricking you, especially when you spend it in the company of friends.

If Yuki had been alone, she'd have had a light breakfast, cleaned herself off properly and then taken a refreshing soak in the hot springs, and then she would have gone to her rooms, gotten dressed, and headed out to search the town, asking around for rumors about the Golden Faun and following whatever leads Timatheo had cooked up from his contacts. She'd have felt strong and refreshed, and the day would have gone great, with lots of energy for the search!

In Yuki's head, that was how things were going. But it was just, well, breakfast hadn't been that quick at all. Suli had insisted on the fluffy stack of huge pancakes slathered with syrup, eaten at one of the restaurants high up the branches that gave a full view of the entryway. She'd said it was so they could get the lay of the land and look at the guests for information, and Yuki supposed Timatheo had done a bit of that. But after that huge meal, everyone was so full that they had to take it slow and savor their tea until they'd digested enough to get moving. Anka had been the only one who insisted on a black coffee, and had given Yuki a mild look of reproach for partaking in the super sweet pancakes, but she had a sweet tooth and they were yummy and she had to at least try a bite, right?!

And then, well, their suite included access to a private spa down below the roots, right near the base of the great tree. The ceiling was woven into the roots so that above their heads they could see bits of the tree itself. Paper talismans hung from them, blessing the spa room. And so Suli and Pasenne had gone in to enjoy and insisted that Yuki come, and there was something special to cuddling with a group of Nagi. The weight of those coils pressing just hard enough into Yuki's toned core muscles as they relaxed in the heat. That made it far too difficult to even suggest moving, and in her head Yuki was thinking I wish I could cast Time Stop right now. And in a way she could because nobody else was moving either and they could enjoy the moment as long as they wanted! It's just that, y'know, time didn't actually stop.

And, well, after that long in the hot sauna, everyone was kind of wiped out and they needed to hydrate properly. Yuki hung up a prayer strip for luck as well, it seemed appropriate and in her mind she was sure she was about to depart for a morning of searching at last. Except that her stomach growled at the same time as Magasha's and would you believe that it was already lunch time and they'd used a lot of energy just existing in the spa! And, well, Pasenne had been looking at that pet cafe with such longing on the way down, so they really had to get lunch there, it made her squeal with delight when they went in!

And at lunch, well, Yuki and Suli got to sit together and pet all the different animals. They had cats and rabbits, and some goblins that Yuki didn't quite recognize but looked sort of like an indeterminate cross between a mouse and a cat and had the most velvety soft white fur you'd ever felt. And that was just super nice.

So, by the time that the crew had eaten two meals, enjoyed the spa, refreshed themselves, and dressed to exit the Chrysanthemum, the sun was already on its way down the horizon and the shadows were getting a little long. They could still search, of course! It was just going to turn into a night market sort of search. And it's not like anything major had happened that day, right?

[Writing off Suli's need]

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Yuki squirms under that blank stare. She's doing her job, right, talking with the princess while Sulochana and Pasenne do the serving. A guard isn't supposed to serve, she's supposed to guard while other people do their thing. But that also means that she's the one getting the stare, and the total lack of feedback is hard for her composure. She feels sort of like being younger and getting called in to talk to the principal because she was being too disruptive in class. And y'know, like, it's the principal and you're supposed to just stand there and listen, so it's kind of the opposite of this where she's supposed to just stand here and talk about whatever she's supposed to talk about. But like, there's this inherent sameness to it, this feeling of authority where you're on the hook to perform properly and you're in big trouble if the person on the other side isn't happy with you, but you can't really get a read on them because they're doing their own thing and you just sort of have to guess and hope that you're following the right script.

At l-least, the hand gesture is helpful, from the seneschal (come to think of it, Yuki's mind wondered, what really was a seneschal anyway? Was it like a fancy butler? Probably close enough? Probably not the thing to be thinking about when she's supposed to be telling a story.)

"I um..." okay, okay, focus. They're on a mission here right. And, well, Suli was being a bit rough about it, but she'd want her claim favored, and Yuki had one really good story that might help on that front.

"um...well, how about the story of the Khatun then? She's famous, and maybe you even know her. I mean, um, of course you know her, she's an important leader! And everybody says she's one of the most special people in Thellamie. She's um, unique because she can travel the Outside without using the Roads. And everyone says she holds her entire people together with just her force of personality. I don't know how she united them, or how old she is or how long she's been a Khatun. You might know those things better than I would, s-so I don't need to waste your time on that. But, um I know how she was at the Festival of Light in Crevas. She was sharp. Uniquely sharp. I saw her when...when the crow landed on the Golden Faun. There was a moment where the Crown of Light settled on different factions, especially on Princess Sulochana Arju and on the um..." (crap crap, would Yuki know Oley's name??? A Kel knight probably wouldn't know the names of most of the Khatun's followers, but people had been cataloguing the hunters and word was going around of who had been known to be selected in Crevas already and Oley had been a really visible one)

"...the b-baygum Olesnya. And um, each of their factions started celebrating them without noticing the others, but the Khatun saw them both and immediately started figuring out that something was weird. She looked super smart and like she was paying more attention than anybody else! And then, then when the fighting started and everyone went to capture the Golden Faun, the Khatun leapt into action faster than anybody because I think that maybe she understood the contest faster than anybody. I, I didn't know that heartblades could morph like that either. She had a bow and arrow, but then when she closed with the princess, she somehow pulled a terrible dagger from within her bow, or part of her bow."

Yuki pauses, considers, asks a question. "Do you know, perhaps, if that can be learned? The skill of changing or splitting your heartblade like that, I mean? I should be quite interested to improve my own swordsmanship if trying the technique isn't a waste of my time." She tries to speak that formally like she thinks a knight would speak when discussing their professional skills. She holds herself straighter, squares her shoulders as she does it, and tries to imagine herself truly a knight. This was her craft, a craft she aspired to master, and surely the Hero or one of her servants would have such knowledge of the world. But...of course, it was on her to finish her story first and ensure that the Hero was pleased with her, not interrupt to demand a training lesson. Probably at least.

"At any rate, what happened next was that the Princess of Crevas was surprised, and um...in that moment of surprise, she was stabbed through the heart without any guards to defend her. Because, well, who would have thought she'd need a defense when seated at the highest point of a festival held in her own city, right? And then the Khatun left. Moving on with her pack, I guess. And...neither she nor any of her attendants stopped to tend to the Princess Arju. Which, though I don't know all the customs of Thellamie, seems strange to me. I thought you were supposed to take prisoners, or take care of the defeated. I suppose this wasn't a duel, but it was an attack in the middle of a festival and shouldn't the Khatun have shown basic courtesy at least? It makes me worried if her pack tames the Golden Faun. I don't think they would take care of the rest of Thellamie, no matter how much it's needed."

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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.

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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?”

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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?

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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."