Listen. Listen. []List[/i]en. If there is a single thing to know about Yue, then you already know it. You've watched her journey outside her tiny little world of teapots and waterfalls and warm glass full of sunshine for home remedies and therapy, all the way around the world. Over hills and under bridges where she was brave enough to make camp by a river of all things. On foot and in cars where she had to learn how to drive a stick shift in less than ten minutes so she could escape from an angry helicopter. Flitting through hearts until she finally found the one she fit all the way inside, and got turned into a wolf for her efforts. Wandering the whole entire world until she found herself living in a (surprisingly nice!) prison cell in a castle floating in the sky! 

So if there's anything important lurking underneath all those goofy smiles and all that fluff, you've found it. You're not a dummy. And now me I'm biased, but I happen to think there's a whole lotta stuff about lil' Yue that's worth knowing. Like how toast with sweet berry jam and a salted, runny egg on top (like a little golden crown!!) is basically her fifth favorite breakfast food, even though she only tried it for the first time like four days ago. Or how she's got this knack for always knowin' whether or not you're about to... b-but never mind any of that right now. There's one thing [i]you're[/i] thinkin' of, 'cause you're a smartypants, aren't'cha? Yes you are, yes you... ahem! 'Scuse me. 

Nah, you're right. Ya girl [i]l o v e s[/i] stories. Breathes 'em. Her whole entire life 'fore this was constant wall to wall reading and watching and listening and dreaming up her own while she sat out in a glade somewhere waiting for sunlight to gather. Invitin' her to be part've the tellin's like asking a fox if she'd like an ear massage. Well goshies, I dunno! What d'you think?

That's why she doesn't get sucked in. And it's why she doesn't spin up some new yarn about... I dunno, a wolf that runs like the wind and pierces the Invincible Fortress with clever tricks and a trickster's determination or something. Tianic's worked really hard on all her everything and it'd be rude to blow that up just 'cause she doesn't wanna lose to it. Not that she does. Yue's stuffed to the tips of her cutieful ears with desire to pull this off and go trotting back to Hyra with a mouth full of victory. It's just, y'know, Tianic's a lot prettier when she smiles. So she's gotta do whatever it takes to make sure this whole thing ends with that pretty smile lighting up the whole arena. And it'd take a swordswoman with a lot more experience than Yue's got to manage that [i]and[/i] win for sure, wouldn't it?

W-well, that ok! It's ok, right? You can lose a game and still win it, so long as you have fun. Right? That's right, right? That's not some secret loser's code that's gonna earn her double-jail and spankies from Keron or anything, is it? 'Cause she's still watching and all, so, um. E-eep? N-no! No of course it's right! Course it is! How's anyone gonna say you lost if you did everything you set out to do in the first place? E-except, y'know, win. But wait, the duel's not about winning. The duel is about the... goshies. Man wow, philosophy's harder than I thought! 

...Hokay, right! Whatcha got, Tianic? What makes you happy, what makes your little heart sing? Yue can see what you've been taught and how badly you wanna make your mentor proud, but how do [i]you[/i] wanna win a duel? Yue is a blur. An adorable whirlwind of fur, claw, tooth, and sword that never seems to tire out or slow down because she's fueled by that seemingly boundless well of energy called It's Really Fun To Run Around. First she comes from the right! Then the left! Then the right and [i]then[/i] the left! From behind! Here she comes, woof woof woof! She moves with the sort of effortless grace that only an animal at play can really manage, swift and beautiful but silly at the same time in a way that'd immediately plop her on her butt if she tried to think about it at all in her normal body. But every one of her attacks are parried, and she's so good about it that only she can tell it's because she slows down just the tiniest bit before each slash to make sure Tianic's feet are planted properly before it comes. Just an extra hop here or a slide there, planting her own paws for a "power slash" even though that's not really something Wolf Holding a Sword Style is very good at. That's all. You'd have to be better at this than either of them are to catch it. 

Does she smile? Is she grinning yet? Can Yue squeeze a little giggle out of her like this? She stops attacking altogether and shifts her focus to prowling just outside Tianic's range, instead. When she shifts, Yue shifts. When she rests, Yue rests, with her tail wagging delightedly behind her. When she strikes, Yue parries and slips just outside the space where all that weight and sure-footedness could get the best of her. Come, let's play! Let's play, Tianic, let's play! Have you ever met a wolf before? Do you wanna touch her fur? What if she jumps like this? And like this? What if now, every time she dodges, she leaps and rains her own strike down (though feather light) from above? Has anyone ever told you about the Terraced Lake, Tianic? Have they? D'you know what a waterfall's like? D'you wanna? D'you think a fortress could fight one? Oop, there's a smile! Good girl!

Finally, she sees her chance. It's not an opening, exactly. Or at least, it's not an opening any person could slip inside of in a normal duel. It's not an opening born entirely out of Yue's transformation either, as if Tianic had just screwed up because her expectations about how to fight a wolf were still kinda wrong. No, she didn't make any mistake at all, unless you counted grinning a mistake. Which you shouldn't, unless you're a real jerk like Princess Yin. Yue flies in for a fresh attack, but! Here's the super sneaky part: when she feels her wooden sword get blocked for the three dozenth time, she opens up her mouth! Silly girl! Her weapon drops free and her tongue flops out like a sillyhead, and suddenly freed from the expectations of sword-to-sword contact, she wriggles under Tianic's guard! Up she goes, onto her hindpaws! Pap pap! She drops her front paws on the squire's shoulders. Hiya! Wanna be friends? Please please, pretty please? She gives her first duel-buddy a series of wet, sloppy, happy licks all over her cheeks.

If Yue's got a quality anybody could admire, it's the size of her heart. If there's a person wandering the world today who's more equipped to love every opponent she meets... well, just sayin', [i]I[/i] ain't met her, y'know? But if there's a quality that all the pretty duelist types should like, or even be scared about, it's the thing that let her seize this quiet little moment. Our Yue's a dreamer, that she is. She's a sponge, with no formal education but a love of darn near everything she sees. So she's got a lot of teachers. Good ones. More'n you ever will. 

The Wandering Tales of Yue The Sun Farmer, Chapter One! The first secret sword: Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits You Put That Back Right Now! 

Chormp! Yue's jaws clamp down on Tianic's sword. Yoink! A sleeky, lupine body drops back down on all fours and steals the blade away. Zoom! She's off like a shot, (carefully) carrying the giant blade at the middle so she can balance it like a big stick while she bounds away with perfect form. The only part she misses is the foxen laughter, but we can blame her curse for that just this once, can't we? She runs with the pure joy of someone who is Good At Run, and when she pulls too far away from Tianic she stops and plops down on her butt to sit politely and wag her tail, , tilting her head all silly and just very slightly mocking-like while she waits for the other girl to catch up. But not catch her, no no! You've gotta [i]earn[/i] that! Zip zip zoomies! Together they run around the length of the arena two... no three... four times! Four times round and about before Yue finally gets cornered roundabouts where she dropped her own sword in the first place. 

Yue stops, and sits. Looking Tianic straight in the eye, she drops the heavy blade to the ground. She bends down and pushes it forward with her nose, and wags her tail for all she's worth. Well, Ms. Fortress? What kind of story are you trying to tell? Where's your mentor end, and you begin? How can we finish this with a smile?

[Entice: 6, 4, +2 = [b]12[/b]. Yue takes a string. Pick an option from the list]