Chen looks almost...disappointed as the light bursts around her and severs the red string from Cyanis, melting the maid costume off of Chen and leaving her in just her scarf and the silks from earlier. Those paying attention (read: Cyanis) can guess that the rumors about Chen were true after all. 

Suns, of all the idiotic...why would mommy Ysel call Yin? Okay, Chen [i]knew[/i] why she would. She was always like "if you have people, use them" and "if you're good enough, you can get other people to do things for you so you can do whatever you want" and so calling one of her vassal princesses in on a problem was [i]exactly[/i] on brand for her. But didn't she know how [i]annoying[/i] Yin was? And didn't she trust Chen to get the job done? At least Hestia had waited for Chen to call and ask for help. That had been hard, but Mom'd maybe be proud of Chen for doing that instead of getting in over her head. Ysel though, she didn't even bother asking or waiting. Chen knew Mommy Ysel would deny it too. Probably something like "sweetie, if you have overwhelming force, you use it, it's got nothing to do with trust" but that didn't make it sting any less that she didn't think Chen was up to the job. And that she didn't know how much this would upset her daughter! Like, come on mommy, pay attention to your own kid, seriously!

But now, here she was, and she knew, just knew that mommy Ysel was going to freak out if she turned this down. Here was all the power she needed on a silver platter. They'd easily be able to grab Yue between the two of them and get out to claim the prize from Qiu. And, were those Rose's glinting yellow eyes there behind Yin? So they'd get the prize of an ancient huntress too! They'd have to split the dance between them, but all glory would still go to the Hot Alliance at the end of the day and there would be every opportunity to get a leg up on Qiu in the process, maybe even more if Rose could be convinced to fight for them. If Chen refused, Ysel would probably refuse to let her go out alone on her next mission, maybe even set her an "honor guard" by which she'd mean babysitters to make sure she was behaving. Or worse, she'd send Chen to Yin to [i]apologize[/i] and make amends. She'd probably have to go play the prey in one of Yin's night hunts and let the princess lord it over her when she got captured. 

But even for all that they could gain, Chen didn't [i]want[/i] to kidnap Yue. She wanted to convince her to go to Qiu. This was supposed to be an opportunity and kidnapping her would be seriously gross. Qiu had already called down the furies on a simple village girl and Chen had been hoping to reach her first to spare her the worst of everyone coming after her. And sure, Yue's first entrance with that ghost armor or...something made it seem like she was up to this world of princess duels, but she'd immediately shown that she wasn't used to all this magic and politics stuff and it was just the cutest thing. Chen blushes at that, running back through the last few minutes and the way Yue had looked at her in her maid outfit and laughed and apologized. But the poor girl was shaking now! She was trying bravely to hold her sword out in front of her, the unsteadiness in her knees ruining an otherwise excellent stance. Chen had [i]just[/i] promised to protect Yue and the way she was looking at Yin now made it patently obvious she was terrified. Was Chen really supposed to complete her mission by dashing in with Yin providing her cover and just snatch this terrified village girl out from under the handmaiden she had just spent a fox wish on to save? Really?! 

Chen looked around her. That was almost certainly Rose lurking there in the darkness. The wolf now handmaiden that Yue had called Hyra looked grim and ready to strike at any moment. And Yue was...oof. If turning against all these people is what Chen was supposed to do, she wanted no part of it, damn the consequences! She'd make mommy Ysel understand.

Chen straightens, coming out of her ready stance and putting her crystal sword back in its sheath with a quick, fluid motion that says with finality that she has no intention of fighting anybody. "Yin, back off" she says, letting out a breath and most of her tension. "Seriously, just...let's not do this today, alright? Just like, look at Yue. I know she's the girl we're supposed to find for Qiu, but you're scaring her! We shouldn't do this to people, shard or no shard!" Chen makes an expansive gesture to all the "people" she's referencing who all look so scared, worried, or sad at Yin's appearance. She looks back at Yin and fixes her with a stare that's more than a little judging. 

"Listen, Yin, let's just, you know, call it for today and we can all talk after everyone has a chance to relax a little. Qiu's prophecy doesn't have an expiration date, right? So just...back off for now and you can give me a call later once everyone has a chance to get some breathing room, okay?"