[i]Your Rose[/i]

The words arc like lightning through Chen. Hers. Her Rose. She blushes as the thought rushes through her. Rose agreed, they were girlfriends, she hadn't made a mistake! She had thought pretty hard, she thought she was right, but all the time in her mind there had been that niggling little fear that maybe she had made a mistake and this would all fall apart even as she'd imagined herself the hero. Part of her wanted to just collapse into a puddle and drape herself all about this new look Rose until the two of them were so bundled together you could barely tell whose limbs went where.

A thousand scenarios flashed quickly through Chen's mind, each more exciting than the last. She blushed and despite herself she wiggled a little under Rose's gaze as she imagined what they could do. As Yue might say, oh gosh, goshies!

But! But but but, she's got to pull off the daring rescue first, then she can carry off her girlfriend to...somewhere in the sky castle probably, where they can have some privacy and ask a million questions and hug and...and oh gosh. Oh gosh. Was she going to carry Rose in this state? And then tie her up and and...eep! Focus!

Well, she would focus, but before Chen can properly issue any sort of challenge to Countess Keron, the entire audience is taken with the spectacle upon the field. Chen offers a silent prayer of thanks to Yue and this incredibly beautiful duel for allowing her to collect herself and...hells was that painter on the field painting mandalas? 

For a moment, Chen's attention was entirely on the duel. This was incredible. Yue had been running about as a wolf, but she'd turned back into a girl (uh...what?) and she'd pulled her opponent out of her stance and asked her to show off something incredible. This was...this was it. A little piece of what Jessic had been talking about. She'd said: [i]If you don't love your opponent, at least a little bit, it's not a duel, it's just a fight. And fights are ugly[/i]. Chen understood a little piece of that advice better in this moment. If she'd been fighting this squire Tianic, she could have simply moved faster than Tianic seemed able to move her big sword. Chen could see that duel in her mind's eye. She'd step forward, feint, then Tianic would swing and Chen would take one more step and lean a little forward and the sword would miss her, placing her inside Tianic's guard. Her own blade would make one decisive cut and stop short of doing any harm, and the duel would be called in her favor. But, what would that even accomplish? At best, someone in the audience would be a technical aficionado and would appreciate the lesson in efficiency, but most people wouldn't even have the time to get excited. And Tianic would have been crushed, embarrassed to have even entered. It wouldn't make Chen look good, it would just make her a bully. 

Instead, Yue had embraced this. She'd pushed Tianic to show off her own style and what they were seeing was an incredible and fleeting beauty from an inspired creator. It didn't matter if it was fast or slow, it mattered that it was beautiful, that Tianic's heart was singing to everyone assembled as she painted swirling mandalas with her sword. And it mattered that Yue was dancing with her, inspiring and being inspired, playing and leaping and sparkling like so much radiance that Tianic couldn't help but play off her. The whirling, intricate duel was a wolf mandala that could only be made here, like this, and it never would have existed at all if they hadn't worked together to bring it out. 

Chen is crying as the duel comes to its end. Not a lot, in fact she doesn't even notice until a little drop of salty water catches on the edge of her lips and touches her tongue. But she is crying because she's just seen something breathtaking, something that had no right to ever have existed yet did it anyway. She wants to preserve it forever as she saw it, she's never been more inspired to paint something than this moment, not by any sunset or waterfall gorgeous though they were. 

But that too, is not for this moment. And so, as the sword leaves the chin, and Yue and Tianic have their heart to heart, and Yue finds herself a little more milk tea fluffy than just her hair, the attention turns back to Chen, who's standing, so close to Rose, to Keron. People around them are noticing that. There's something else about to happen. 

Chen turns to Keron. First she sniffles and wipes her eyes. Then, for once unperturbed by showing her feelings, she holds her own sword out formally. "Countess Keron, I challenge you for the freedom of your captive, Rose from the River"