"You want me to [i]what?[/i] You're sure you, I mean, no I mean of course you are but... y-you [i]were[/i] listening when I told you what I did? Right?"

Yue shivers, even though it's warmer here than it has been anywhere she's seen since she got to the forest. This is what all of those stone pillars and crumbling bits of artwork have been leading her towards. This was the answer to the question of what could have possessed the people of the ancient world to have shaped such wonders. It was all for this, this spot, this place, this... monument. Is that the word? This goodbye, this thank you, this tearful song they sang so deeply it carved itself into the stone so that the world could sing it for them after they'd long passed on, too. 

And now the song was fading. Maybe the earth had grown tired of the tune, or maybe with enough time even it starts forget to the words and replaces them with something else. Whatever it can find, just to get to the good parts, like she does herself in front of Kat and her evening fires when she tries to recall the most beautiful parts of her sister. 

The thought forms a lump in her throat that won't go away no matter how much she sniffs and swallows. Yue looks around, but for once she can't see the intense beauty of the trees, or the wonder of the galas as they wander about the place, or even the warmth of having companions to share these things with, for once. Her mind is being pulled as if on its own red string along the river and back up the hills to the quiet little clearing where her lonely little home is, and from there to a time when it didn't feel half so lonely and not a quarter so little. Back when GranGran was still full of stories, and Mama and Papa knew everything there was to know about home cooking, and Sis made adventures feel like something that happened to you for an afternoon, that you could finish up and take them back with you in time for tea and cakes. 

Yue's grip tightens around the hilt of her sword. What's this? Something's changing. Something's changed. The weight feels almost comforting in her hand, the hardness of the wood like a friend squeezing back and telling her that everything would be alright. She turns her head away from the tomb and looks at Cyanis again, finally managing for once to find her eyes before any other parts of her drew the gaze to wandering. Oh. Oh gosh, her eyes are... beautiful. Not the color or the shape or the way she's painted them to draw out the corners and make herself look so mysterious and sexy, though all of those things are also nice. But it's, she's, there's a wonder there and a sparkle that just doesn't [i]happen[/i] in normal people's eyes. It's like she's thought of this great joke and she's just waiting for the right time to tell it, or like some of her or even all of her is made out of dreams, and hers is just through here in the warm darkness of this tomb. 

She sparkles so much it's impossible not to think she's here to fill this place with light. She'll be the one to teach the earth the words again so it can sing and everybody can remember what must be the incredible legend of the woman who stirred her people to sing it in the first place. And that's the promise of foxes, isn't it? That's the wonder that makes people come to them again and again and again with a heart full of wishes and eyes filled with dreams, no matter how many times the stories say the wily vixens betray or sell them out. Because somewhere in each of them there's a song and a heart that's as elegant and beautiful as the largest jewel in a Princess' war chest. 

It's not enough to stop the shivering. It's not enough to stop the queer and queasy feeling in her stomach, or the terrified pounding in her heart. But it is enough to make her smile. And when she looks down and sees Hyra staring straight through her soul, it's enough to make her do more than smile. She takes one hesitant, trembling step forward. That's the miracle purchased by fox dreams and wolf pride. One step toward adventure. One step toward the kind of danger she's never dared so much as stand still around, let alone move [i]closer[/i]. 

She doesn't dare ask anything stupid like, what a lower ghost is or how it's different than a higher soul. She doesn't question how Cyanis knows this sort of thing, at least not to her face. Probably it comes with the profession. Maybe they teach it at kitsune school or something. In any case if she gave it a voice it'd only keep her from casting her next miracle. Her head is swimming with so many different emotions she can't even tell which one of them is the one pulling her forward. Is this for Sis? For Cyanis? Is it for Kat, in some silly way? Is it for the brave heroine who's on the precipice of fading into the ground forever? 

Yue pauses. She gulps with terror that no amount of sword squeezing and fox magic can chase away. But when she looks at Hyra and sees those red wolf eyes watching her with, of all things, uncertainty, she feels her own fill with a hard glint like steel. This is foolishness, what's she's doing. No matter what happens, she's still Yue. Just... Yue. She could never be so special and perfect that she could dance with demons and lure them into a trap with nothing more than her courage and skill. She could never fly on her own, could never make anyone feel like [i]they[/i] were flying. Quite frankly she's got no idea what she's doing and no business trying to purge... um? Purify? Cleanse? What is she even doing to this ghost in the first place? What's the good ending even look like here? How's she even supposed to know? That's why she's the last person on earth who should be trying this. 

"N-no, you're right. I don't want that at all, I... think. I'm, I... I'm not sure what I can do, exactly, but. Um. I'll try."

She must be the least qualified adventurer in history. She's such a doofus she doesn't even know for sure how far in over her head she's getting. But she takes another step forward anyway. And then another one. Because if she doesn't? If she just gives up? Then Hyra's eyes are never going to look into hers again in that way that makes her spine melt and her body feel so warm and liquidy and good. Not ever again. And if [i]those[/i] eyes aren't worth a little moonlighting... well, she might as well be a mouse right about now, huh?