The feeling is like coming up for air after being trapped in a rushing river. Equal parts exultation and relief flood through Chen and a pressure lifts from her chest that she hadn't known was there. She breathes, holds her breathe for a moment, and lets it out long and slowly as she settles. 

It isn't that Chen of the Northern Wind had some master strategy in mind showing up with a painting and working ten moves ahead of her opponent. Quite the opposite, she still aches for that dance, for the warmth of that body, so fleeting where Qiu had guided her hands. It's just that her mothers had taught her about sunshards since she was old enough to walk. Their precious little Chen, daughter of grand Ys and Sourcefall was always going to be getting somebody's sunshard, after all. So she had played as soon as she could walk with mothers who reshaped the world to their whim and taught their daughter to wander their workings. A sunshard is a river of thought, an extension of the wielder's will, and it works just like a real river. Try to swim against the current and you end up nowhere. Swim straight on and you'll go too fast, lose control and find yourself trapped in hidden whirlpools and pulled under. But swim to the side and you kept control, let the current guide you as you made for a bank. So she had moved by heart and instinct trained from a lifetime: lacking her own sunshard to wield, Chen had made herself an important part of Qiu's story. With a moment to think as Qiu accomodated her, she could even start to see the shape of it, and it made her curious.

She glanced where Qiu was glancing and smiled. "Oh that's wonderful, I can't wait to see your work! And I'm sure the posters will give me everything I need to find her." Now Chen was smiling more than a little, imagining Qiu painting the wanted poster herself, though she had probably used magic or simply had it made. She relaxes into Qiu's motions, letting the other princess guide her or push her to go as she sees fit while Chen lets her mind wander. Or perhaps now she's even being a little teasing. "Oh, but poor Yue just Yue! The most valuable thing in all your realms with her face all over every town! She must be mobbed by every handmaiden and aspiring little princess this side of the lake! If she's really this valuable (and however did you find that out?) I think you ought to give [i]her[/i] a dance to make up for the trouble she's going to have in getting to you, Princess Qiu."

It won't be lost on Qiu that this is the first time Chen has dared address the princess by name in this conversation, a sign of familiarity and comfort even with the Princess title. Perhaps too much comfort. Qiu might be thinking of ways to make Chen regret her boldness once she returns with Yue. Still, she's had an idea floated to her all of a sudden. Has she even thought about the sort of reception she plans to give Yue? It struck Chen that Qiu had called her "the most valuable [i]thing[/i]" as though she were up for comparison against an antique sword or even a sunshard, and she wanted to know what the princess had to say about her plans once she had this new handmaiden. She's not sure yet if she'll get an answer or a joke though, and she's still letting Qiu guide where she goes. One push and she'll be off on her hunt, the moment Qiu wants her to leave. But not a moment before.