[b]Adila![/b]

The words are whispered back into your fur. How funny that it takes a nightmare like this to bring them out of you. And speaking of nightmares, that... that [i]thing[/i] is coming closer.

It’s somehow digging through the air, and its drill is studded with little bits of night and falling stars that chew through what is, only for a groaning engine to reconstitute reality behind it. The sight of a tunnel in the air is viscerally upsetting. It literally Should Not Be.

The machine comes to a whining, grinding stop level with you. It’s a goblin device, all burnished copper and flashing runestones and venting steam.

A door dilates with a hiss in the side, and Princess Hornet pokes her head out. She stares at you for a long moment through your work goggles. You stare at her. She stares at you.

“Do you need help?” It’s an actual question. Like, any other princess would be asking it teasingly, to tweak your nose. Hornet very literally doesn’t know if you need help or if she’d just be messing up your plans.

Luckily, you have Helya with you, and she thinks fast.

“Hornet,” she says, swinging herself from side to side, building up momentum, “Catch.”

You and Dandy are flung into the interior of the drill, which... is bigger than it should be. Like, wow. You shouldn’t be able to stand up, but the ceiling’s high and vaulted, and there’s a tea corner with wicker chairs and an array of untouched teas, and dials and buttons and levers everywhere, and pictures. A lot of pictures.

They’re drawn by hand, and oddly impressionistic. The sweep and curve of your neck, making you look like a desert wind caught in flight. Dandy, looking almost like a mushroom, mostly hair and robes. A goblin queen who’s all smile, her eyes unseen. Helya, sharp lines all over her suggesting muscle.

Helya is negotiating with Hornet, asking her to go back and pick up the others, and asking her if this thing is proofed against “changes in reality” given its strange properties. But you’re stuck looking at the pictures of you, and a sticker pressed up against one in particular, which is almost shamefully tucked behind a long sketch of Deep Hollow: “my friend,” in a golden star.

Aren’t dogs good at being friends?

***

[b]Azora Howl![/b]

One challenge remains before you! There’s an irate four-headed dragon, and a bunch of manticore gardeners, and they’re all going to try to stop you!

Stomp them down. Show off. Claim those golden apples.

***

[b]Rita![/b]

You drop lightly to the ground with a whisper of silk. Never underestimate the flexibility and cleverness of a Jedadi dancer.

Your adversary is there, atop that broom. She has the beautiful cat princess with her, your noble mistress who drives your heart to strange passions.

While the dragon is distracted, dance through the danger! Get an apple before the witch can secure you more readily! This is the last song, and you can’t give up now!

And be sure to blow your noble mistress a kiss and show her that it is in her honor, all for love of her, that you dare!