"Saber... wait..."

Diaofei watches them leave, too weak to follow, too weak to raise her voice. She'd seen the curse in that kiss - seen it for what it was, realized what it represented. Her Servant had started to look to humans to drain.

That had been her first duty. To maintain the barriers of the spirit world. To prevent demons from preying upon the innocent. She'd thought that it wouldn't matter, that she could burn out Saber in one foolish act of revenge, removing her and Actia's servant in mutually assured destruction. She could confront Actia in the aftermath. That would have been enough.

But things had gone wrong. Her creature had slipped its leash and was growing more powerful, not less. What had she done? At this rate...

With aching arms she clawed her way forwards. She had to stop this...

*

Cyanis, dressed in the silken costume of a dancing girl, staggered into the kitchen. Hair frizzled, clothing torn, hickeys on her neck and sunglasses missing, she looked a mess. She limped over to the refrigerator, threw the door open, picked out a bottle of oat milk and drank directly from it. 

"Um," said Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits, looking at the bowl of dry cereal she had just poured for herself.
"Want some?" said Cyanis, shaking the bottle.
"No thanks..." said Katherine.
"Or do you want some of that?" Cyanis asked, gesturing back at the bedroom she'd emerged from.
"Um," said Kat, blushing furiously.
"Why not?" said Cyanis, taking another sip of milk. "Lot of benefits to it. Mana transfer. Educational. Get to practice your dancing moves. And I've already tired her out for you so it'll be an easy ride."
"Uh, um," said Kat. "I'm kind of saving myself for... someone special."
"So what?" said Cyanis, wiping her mouth with her sleeve before dropping the veil back into place. "I am too."
Kat looked at her with incredulity. She opened her mouth, spread her hands, and gave the expression of someone who had been pushed well past the limits of what could be passed off as a foxgirl lie.
"What?" said Cyanis. "It was in the butt. It doesn't count if it's in the butt."
"Um!!!" squeaked Kat.
"That's fox law probably," said Cyanis.
"It's probably not!!!" said Kat.
"Anyway, I'll have you know I did a stint in the Sky Castle," Cyanis said, fishing her sunglasses out of the tail fluff where they'd gotten stuck. "I learned a thing or two about hypnotizing dragons while I was there. Important foxgirl skill! You've just got to convince them that you're valuable, powerful and theirs you can get them in the right headspace, and then a charm collar will lock them into that mood. She was eating out of my hands," said Cyanis smugly, "because I was serving her grapes. Speaking of, did you peel all those grapes like I said?"
"Yeah..." said Kat. It had given her something to take her mind off the sound of... Berserker's construction efforts outside as she fortified the shrine.
"And did you get that big palm leaf fan? Because man, it's [i]hot [/i]in there -"
"That isn't necessary!" said Kat, clenching her fists in embarrassment.
"Suit yourself," said Cyanis, laying out a cushion and gingerly sitting down. "But I need a while to rest. So it's your turn to distract the prisoner!"
"What!?" squeaked Kat.
"Archer's still fucked up so we can't go anywhere until he heals," said Cyanis. "Berserker's all in on castle building. So we're stuck here with a bored and hypnotized dragoness who can physically overpower us the second she gets her wits about her. So - we keep her entertained. You don't have to do exotic dancing but you do have to figure out [i]some [/i]way to seduce her into quiescence."
"... maybe she'll like watching speedrunning with me?" said Kat.

*

[b]Baroness Fallweaver![/b]

It was a popular misconception that Baronesses were, themselves, violent people. This came of the fact that they tended to be at the centre of whatever princess battle was happening, glowing and radiant. The truth was that Baronesses were always at the centre of great battles because they were what was being fought [i]over[/i].

Fallweaver herself had the oblivious eroticism of someone completely unaware of their own beauty. Her jeans were torn at the knees and thighs because she spent a lot of time kneeling down to look at new mushrooms and couldn't be bothered replacing them; the holes showed off the tanned, firm legs of a career hiker. Her shirt held her chest tightly; it had shrunk in the wash, skull and pentagram logo straining against her chest and biceps. Her black and orange hair was framed perfectly by the bright white lab coat, making her seem like an otherworldly angel, surrounded by a halo of ever-falling autumn leaves.

She was a witch and scientist both, her black cat familiar wearing an adorable utility belt filled with glowing chemical vials. She traced the growth of mushrooms according to mathematical curves before choosing the best ones to enhance as arcane lynchpins. Her goal was to expand her sphere of influence and terraform Qiu's kingdom into a beautiful autumnal maze, drawing out the Threeshard Princess to a battle on Jezara's terms. She was the centre of the art and the bait for a trap, safe under the distant but watchful eye of her Lioness. All she had to do was put up enough of a fight that she didn't get immediately captured.