[b]Daily Affirmation of the Way <3:[/b] 

A student once walked by a river and found enlightenment. He stood there for a long time, enraptured in cosmic bliss, until his master came by and gave him an apple. Immediately his stomach rumbled and he fell back into samsara.

"Why did you give me this apple?" said the student angrily. "I was perfectly in tune with the universe, and you ruined it!"

"It seems like you were in tune with a poor universe," said the master.

[b]Chen![/b]

Today you have learned a valuable lesson from a wise mistress regarding the relativity of concepts. A master might demonstrate incredible skill in swordplay and nonetheless criticism herself for a slip that only she can perceive. Likewise, a fox might look at a temple abandoned to the forest for a hundred years and flushed with an open trash pipe to the Underground and say that it was a tiny bit of dirt. Perhaps kitsune society is a strange and relative culture worthy of devoted study.

Perhaps you might have learned a second, deeper lesson about the ability of foxes to misrepresent a universally recognized objective truth - but were you to voice such a thought it would be blasted by the tearful eyes of a heartbroken fox who was betrayed by someone she considered a friend. How could you, Chen? What evil lurks in the hearts of princesses to allow them to get away with such wickedness??

Either way you're up to your ankles in muck armed with naught but a mop and a dress that seems innocent enough at first but tends to reveal rather too much of your thighs when you bend over to pick something up.

Cyanis is supervising your work from a nearby sunbeam, a task that's so exhausting and selfless that the Wheel of Karma itself insisted that she balance the scales by eating some delicious green tea ice cream, lest the injustice shatter the cycle of reincarnation. You were called over to spoon it into her mouth on a few occasions when lifting it was too much for her poor, delicate arms. She has, thus far, declined to share any with you, but she [i]has[/i] given you some encouraging pats on the behind with her fluffy tails. So selfless!

But that was a while ago and Cyanis is now napping and you are trudging through sludge when suddenly a great flow of water gushes down the corridor, sweeping you from your feet. When it is past the worst of the muck is gone and Cyanis has moved all the way to the edge of her sunbeam to see if you are all right - and then immediately suggest that if it is the case you have somehow managed to flood her one and only home then, while she is understanding and forgiving for what was no doubt a genuine accident, it would still be honourable to stay her slave until the debt was paid -

But then, from the shadows of the tunnel, emerges a warrior princess of legend, flanked by a magnificent silver wolf.

[b]Yue![/b]

Right now, in this moment, you're not just Yue. The way Cyanis and her, ah, new maid(?) are looking at you? This is the way that the people in the vision looked at the Demon Swordswoman. [i]Awe[/i]. 

You're not sure if it's the dress or the kiss that is making you so radiant right now. 

"Yue?" said Cyanis, tails waving uncertainly as she looked down at you, lying flat at the top of the stairs so just her face and elbows were visible. "Are you, um. Possessed by the ghost of an unstoppable demon swordswoman, perhaps? Because if you are, don't worry, I have my personal maid, Princess Chen, working to clean this tomb and bring honour to your memory, so you don't have any quarrels with me!"

Hyra gave what was, to your more sensitive ears, a playful growl, but it was one that made Cyanis' ears lie flat across her head and made her duck her head so just her eyes were visible.

(Did she say [i]Princess[/i]...?)

[b]Rose![/b]

There are chains and there are [i]chains[/i] - and these are distinctly the non-italicised version.

Ah, Yin! What happened to these knights? Where is Hyra? She might have been, if not your equal, at least your best student - and one who would have been frightening indeed to see leading this pack of knights. Instead it is Carlyle here and, oh, there must have been some staff turnover if [i]he[/i] wound up as the right hand of the Princess. You ask and see a flash of openly grumpy anger on Yin's face and that's answer enough.

You can't run a kingdom on heartbreak alone. It makes you too sensitive to betrayal. Yin has been doing poorly without you, it seems.

Does that soften your heart at all, Thorn Pilgrim? Does standing in the fullness of your power even while wearing Yin's brittle collar give rise to pity or compassion? Does seeing how lost she is, nursing hurt until it ferments to anger, spark some form of mercy in your heart?

Or does it spark mischief, trickery, thievery, and general brattiness?