Y'know what's funny? For most of her life, Yue assumed she was afraid of heights. It was just, well, trips to the top of the waterfall were so scary! And any time she had to climb a ladder she got a sense of vertigo, like her stomach as a knot and a hawk at the same time and was twist-swooping down into her legs and blurrgh arrrgh flegh. So, like, yeah. What else was she supposed to think?

But when she was flying with Hyra, she was was so amazed to be up there, seeing what birds see that she just sort of... forgot to be scared. At first she thought it was because Hyra was holding her, and those wonderful, beautiful arms were making her feel too safe for the rest of it to catch back up with her brain. But then the demons came and she was [i]definitely[/i] scared to be up there floating all by herself, and with so much... everything going on she couldn't tell her heart from her butt, if y'know what I mean. 

And even that'd been her home, right? Those were [i]her[/i] trees, her river, her house off in the wayyyyy distance, her grass, her flowers, even her demons, sorta kinda maybe. They say starting the journey is the hardest part, but at this point she's gotta wonder if they haven't heard about continuing it. So many paths look like the way home if you squint at 'em hard enough, and when your legs are aching and your stomach's empty and the longer you think about it the more you realize you're about to run out of good tea and, goshies, when was the last time you even got to run around gathering leaves? Yeah, the longer you think about it the more those roads home look mighty tempting. Every choice you make to keep on keeping on is a tiny little sliver of iron will those sillies with the fancy pens keep forgetting to write about. And maybe in the meantime you try to master a flight spell to keep yourself feeling like you belong, and you don't stop to think about how scary you're supposed to think that is?

But now she knows. Now she [i]knows[/i]. It wasn't heights that scared her, how could it be? She's being carried HOW far up? Tangled up in a net? Being carried by a dragon? And she's not even shaking! Well, maybe a little bitty shiver, but that's on account of how much colder the air gets up here. She's just, it's so, everything is, is... wow! Wowies!

This is so much farther than she ever dreamed of going. Sometimes she worries she's repeating that thought a lot, but then all that stuff about bitty little slivers happens and she takes another step and, sheesh wouldn't you know it that's a new personal record all over again. These are not her trees, her river. Those [i]certainly[/i] aren't her sunshards. Her eyes turn to liquid with wonder and delight as she gazes far below her the the grand... no, ruins wasn't the right word, was it? Signposts? Monuments! These beautiful shells of pure art and love that call back to a time when, they say, a Princess declared there were too many suns. 

And the cliff face! She never knew that rocks could be so red! Oh gosh, Rose! Rosie! What plant is that down there? What... ohhhh, a Firebird! For true? Yue wriggles into the net for the first time all journey, trying to wave at the marvelous creature. Oh, hello there! Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by, friend! Love your coat, would you mind treating us to a little song? Oh, you're busy? Haha, that's ok! Safe journeys and pleasant wings, friend! Byyyyeeeee!

She never thought she'd see half of what she's seen just this afternoon. And if flying and being up all high and stuff was what brought it all in front of her, then how on earth could it be so bad? 

And... and that's another thing, ok? That's another thing! This whole time, her whole dang life she looked up at the sky and thought it couldn't belong to her. She'd been kinda slacking off on her practice for just that very reason. Well, plus she's been a bit busy, but now? Even though she can't really bring her hands together properly, she's moving them like this. Then like this. Then like this. Finishing like this.

And it's 'cause of what's going on above her. Power turning into fire turning into speed. Turning into flight, yeah? Yeah! Yue glances up at Jessic and smiles with the deepest sense of wonder she's felt the whole trip so far every time she does it, 'cause... 'cause... she knows that power. Shut up, she does! She's got maybe more in common with this dragon than a single person in her little hometown! Even Sis, just maybe! She's got more in common with a dragon than any person she's ever met. 

'Cause that up there? That's work. Effort. That's practice, for something so completely normal and obvious that nobody would ever guess you needed to do it. And that's... that's her! That's her too! What's Yue ever been good at in her life? Nothin', 'cept what she put all the work her body could handle into. And all've that was always such silly, petty things that nobody ever really gave her credit for it. But sometimes she sees Jessic shift her tail or a muscle twitches and sends a ripple through her powerful body and Yue and her two good friends go bumping and giggling into each other, and...

Oh gosh! Oh goshies and goshlings! Do it again, please! Make a mistake! And then keep going! You're [i]incredible[/i] Ms. Dragon! You make flight look like hard work! You make it look so, so tricky! You make it look like years and years went into this, and years and years'll come after to finish getting it right! You make it look so pretty! So real! 

'Cause if a dragon has to work so hard to ride the winds the stories all say she was born to? Then it's ok for Yue, Silly Stupid Yue Just Yue The Sun Farmer to have to try so hard at everything, too. It feels like, like, it feels like a journey with an end? Something she can achieve, y'know? So just watch her! Watch her, Rosie! Watch her, uh... o-oh, maybe Chen won't be watching much of anything right now. But she'll tell you later, ok? She's gonna do it! Why couldn't she be like a dragon, too?

Just a little, bitty bit?