The priestess makes a blade of her sash. The noble ladies of the Flower Kingdoms make blades of their umbrellas. The Gods of Heaven make blades of their foes.

And isn't this the true nature of divinity? Taking a maiden and making her into your foe, your slave? How many tormented souls have screamed at the injustice of Heaven and risen up against those who had lost Heaven's mandate? It is time for a triumph of lesser cravings. The mud hungers for an embrace! Zhaojun gives it a priestess, sprawled again to have the sweetness of her legs and breasts stolen behind the crudest of veils. Her shoe hungers for the reversal of the laws that consign it to the lowest of garments. She grants its wish as it steals a lightning kiss from the Crane's lips. This is what it is to incite a heart. To deny, and to make them wish they had the strength to deny in turn. 

She denies each strike, each kick, each desperate swing. She denies even the rain from brushing her mask, for her umbrella is still held as steadily as a teacup despite each swirling step and twist and flow. What is love if it is not unequal?

"A stone in the corner of the board is useless, little priestess," said Zhaojun. "It controls no territory. It influences Heaven not. The periphery has no value. Did they tell you otherwise? Did they tell you Heaven's eyes wandered this far? Heaven's eyes wander [i]not[/i]. A realm this far from true civilization, true virtue, true skill is the administrative province of the weakest and the most corrupt. Do you think a true priestess would have required my aid to stand against these pathetic beasts? I am offended," she curls her finger under Crane's chin, "almost too offended for words."

"But," she said, straightening in a smooth motion that sent Crane onto her back, "Even the periphery has a center. And you, again, are far from it. Do you think a true priestess would not have claimed power and not yielded her lands to foreign conquerors of a dozen different flags? The true power in these lands lies not with the natives. It lies with those who have come to conquer them. So if I am to achieve my mission it is they I must negotiate with, not you. I do not know yet what this Rakshasa will have to offer me but she, at least, will be a valuable stone."