What... was [i]that?[/i]

It sang like a whole chorus all by itself! So soulful and mourning and... and old! Princess Qiu danced like a dragon up there, like she was caught on the wind and lived inside of it, and that frenzied dance on all those buttons and pedals made a whole wall sing for her! Did she, did, did she capture a whole bunch of wind spirits and trap them in those tubes?! Or even, um, e-e-even ghosts??

'Cause the music is so pretty and impressive, but it's also loud and scary, but even that can't quite hide that it's kind of... sad? Like, the happy notes sound like sad notes, and the sad notes sound like tears turned into music, and how could anything make a noise like that unless it was old enough to have seen the world when it was brand-and-shiny new? 

No, she's being silly. Silly Yue! This is just like the time she found that cave when she was little and thought the wind was made of demons. But, but still. But... [i]still.[/i] It had to be very very super old, if this music wall thingy could make noises like that. And it must be very hard to play it, too, 'cause Princess Qiu... [i]the[/i] Princess Qiu, by the way! The one everybody's supposably been working for this entire time, who threw that very lovely parade through all the villages of the Terraced Lake when she took it over, the one absolutely everybody who was anybody (including the people who were nobody at all!) talked about like she was some sort of super-monster that all the regular monsters told campfire stories about to scare each other... [i]that[/i] Princess Qiu, looked like she...

She made it look very hard. She made it look like playing was a thing that took her years and years to learn, she made it look like that might not even be enough. She made it look like every note took sweat and effort and it'd never, ever, never-ever be easy for her even with the power of three or six or however many sunshards she was supposed to have. But, even then, the other thing she did was make it look... fun? Or, um, what's the word? Like it was something that Yue could do herself if she got lessons and had just a little bit of determination to not quit right away.

It almost makes it seem like anybody could be a Princess if they really wanted to. Yue's jaw hangs very obviously and impolitely open in awe. Princess Qiu must be the most powerful creature in the world if she can manage that bit of magic. Yue startles when she hears the first sharp slapping noises reach her ears, and when she looks down, is surprised to see that she is clapping her plain and boring heart out.

"Oh wow! That was, I mean you were, um, I mean! Gosh! Goshies! How did you [i]do[/i] that? Can you do it again? Can you t-- eep! N-no I mean!"

Yue, you dummy, you're in the presence of royalty! Sopping wet, jumped out of the bath just for you, looking so cute and snuggly in her bathrobe [i]royalty![/i] Where are you looking, you silly girl? Where are you putting your eyes? No, not there! Oh gosh not there either! No just, do the, just turn your head to the, oh no no no, now you look disinterested! Just... isn't there something you're supposed to do in moments like these? She turns and looks at Hyra, who huffs loudly and makes the wolfish equivalent of a shrug.

Is she supposed to bow? She's supposed to bow, right? Or, or um, the other thing, the... kneeling? Dogeza? Is there a dance or a special gesture or a... oh ok she's waving, she's waving now, that's a thing she's doing welp too late to take it back you wave and you watch and you smile like you mean it, Yue Just Yue The Sun Farmer!

"R-right! I mean, um, hi! Hiya! I'm Yue, pleased to meetcha! Erm, uh, i-i-t's an honor to make... n-no, meet your... oh gosh. Y-you're very, um, very pretty and... er, n-no I meant, I'm sorry to interrupt! I love your robe! I love your... uh, your thingy! With the music?"

Yue is retreating. Slowly and tactically, one tiny little baby step backwards at a time so that nobody will notice until she's already over the next hill. She buries her face in her hands and whimpers, 'cause it's hot all of a sudden and she's being [i]such[/i] an idiot and she hasn't even said any of the stuff she came here to say! How she's supposed to do this when everything's all backwards spinny yip yip? Yip Yip? N-no Kat, get down from there! You don't belong on... ohhhhhh gosh she's gone to introduce herself.

This isn't how this was supposed to happen! There was supposed to be, like, servants or something? And she'd sit in a prettily decorated room being served tea? Waiting to be called? And Chen would tell her what she was supposed to do with her body to say hi and then she [i]would[/i] and she'd get asked what was going on and she'd say what was going on and she'd be [i]so respectful[/i] to the powerful and beautiful super-princess and then there'd be nodding and more nodding and hmm-I-see-I'm-sorry-to-hear-thatting and yes-I-know-I'm-sorry-to-say-it-too-but-maybe-next-time-don't-sick-a-bunch-of-muscled-oiled-up-demons-on-me-and-just-send-a-letter-like-a-normal-personing and then she'd get throne in jail or let go or given a hug or something somewhere in between the three of those things she's not sure she ran out of paper when she was drawing the plan.

It was such a simple plan! But she can't remember the barest of barely bare steps right now. All she can do is squeeze the hilt of her wooden sword (which she's still barely put down except to practice the magic spell) and swallow much too loudly while she tries to conjure something like dignity and not embarrass the original owner of her dress into dying all over again. Or worse, swooping down from her happy place in the heavens to pluck her into the sky and lecture her until Yue's ears turned blue. 

She swallows. If there's one thing she knows for sure, it's that it's rude to let Chen do all of the explaining. Yue came here against Rosie's advice just to say it all herself. She can't get swept up in first impressions, and her mind hasn't changed, as much as she's trying to convince herself that it has. It's true; she doesn't want to be anybody's handmaiden. There's so much more to see and do before she's ready to call herself anything but plain ol' Yue. She lifts her silly wooden blade to the sky in a grand and sweeping gesture that makes her dress feel cool and soothing against her goosepimpled skin as she does it, because this is what she needs to do to make herself brave enough to cut to the heart of things and tell a Princess 'no'. To her face, even!

"I, um... I came here to say..." she falters, and lets the sword drop to her side. She sighs, "I'm sorry, may I please come inside and use your kitchen? I don't have any cookies. In my head I was supposed to do all this over cookies. Do you have time to wait?"