[b]Kazelia![/b] The elven sage groans and whimpers and generally acts like a great big baby, just because your chill winds are wrapped around his body, chafing him painfully. As you press and push and threaten, you notice his eyes flickering over to one wall. Jackpot. Then you’re grinding his face against the wall, stone against skin, playing “thaw or freeze” with him. Thaw means farther away, freeze means you’re getting closer, naturally. When he finally sobs “frozen! frozen!” you let your winds drop him and claw at the wall until it yields its prize. “Well done, Kazelia,” Azora says, gliding over to you. She doesn’t touch the ground if she doesn’t have to; that’s the one spell she’s only shared with Father. Imagine how wonderful it would be to fly under your own power! One day, you’ll convince her to share it with you. One day. “I was wondering when you’d figure it out,” she adds, smugly. Had she really figured it out before you had? You never can tell, with her. She always claims to know what she’s doing, and she loves to play with and test her inferiors, you included. It’s... entirely possible, and not worth challenging. She reaches into the hollow hidden within the wall and unearths the sage’s hidden prize... What was it? *** [b]Alina![/b] “I can handle it,” your mother says. Which is not the same as saying it’s not too painful. Which is not the same as refusing treatment. It’s a way to reassure you, but... she’s the one who needs to be reassured now, isn’t she? Which isn’t how a queen is “supposed” to be. The role of a queen is to be strong for her kingdom, to care for them like a mother, and to guide her princesses into full bloom. (There are, naturally, exceptions to the ideal: warrior-queens who took to the field alongside their princesses, for example. And Wicked Queen Eupheria, who... okay, maybe she’s not the best example right now.) That’s the role your mother’s played all your life: encouraging you, being strong for you, offering advice and praise. But right now, what she needs more than anything is reassurance that you will be strong so that she will not have to. That she raised you right and you grew into yourself on this quest, that you won’t need her to follow behind at a safe distance like she did on your very first quest against the Naughty Jackdaws of the East. It’s not unknown for a queen to abdicate, you know. Sometimes, a queen just wants to have a quiet retirement in Feloria or Askaia while her successor revitalizes the land. The Konkon have turned this into an art, with queens being encouraged to step down by their rivals constantly. But you never thought of it being a thing that your mother might ever do. Maybe she won’t. Maybe when you come back, she’ll be strong and hale and laughing again. That cold in her bones will have thawed with Oberon’s defeat, and you can return to being a carefree adventurer and princess, dashing all across Hyperborea with your dearest friend! But you have had that scar for so long. And for all you know, you’ll have it for the rest of your life. Maybe it won’t ever really go away, for all that you’ll find ways to mitigate it. Or maybe... Do you even want to go back to being a princess, Alina? Does the thought of your mother stepping down and yielding the crown fill you with fear or determination? What is the next step for Princess Alina Cascade? Other than insisting that you know what it feels like and that you can help, without drawing her attention to your eyes any more than you have to. And rescuing Adila and Dandy, of course, that part goes without saying. *** [b]Adila![/b] Oh, yes, how could you forget what it was like, to be like this? Crossing the city was an epic adventure! The rooftops of the Bazaar were a mysterious realm of rickety bridges and deep chasms full of danger and intrigue, the streets and markets huge and chaotic and all too happy to sweep you along, and the alleyways full of cats. So, so full of cats. How could you forget chasing Nine-Tom Lily down the Via Piazza? How could you forget being interrogated on the roofs of the docks by Big Kitten Teresa, trying to keep your cool with her claws tickling under your chin? How could you forget hiding under the incense wagon with your tail curled up, claws digging into the wood to keep yourself from falling onto the cobblestones below as you were brought into the presence of Rita von Catabas? How did that case end, anyhow? Did you manage to catch her and ransom her at such high price, or did she nimbly evade you, give you a scratch or two, and run away with a wicked little laugh? Or did you talk her into surrendering peacefully while being lowered into a vat of incense meant to leave you a drooling, blissed-out mess lost in your own dreams? Or were you found in the incense vat later, sleeping peacefully on top of an illusionary hoard of impounded contraband?