[b]Rose![/b]

This one takes her a minute. Like, a big ol' minute. Really hope you didn't fire that one off as you slipped out the door. And then I hope you brought, like, a puzzle or something. Something to read? Iono what you're into honestly, I just don't want you to be bored. Maybe you just wanna watch Yue? That's kinda fun when she gets like this, y'know? 

Here, lemme paint you a picture. See, she can definitely tell there's weight to your little poem, right. Some kinda... some kinda [i]meaning[/i] behind it. It's not the done thing to burst into fancy verses 'bout beauty and time where she comes from. You more, like... well no I guess Sis had a lot of songs like that, 'cept they were mostly 'bout drinkin', and the moon, and drinkin' under the moon. Anyway most folks start up with more silly songs, love songs, walkin' to the market songs and what have you. Most of Yue's don't even have words! Not a hot audience for words when you're singing to birds and wolves and foxes and what have you. 

So yeah, she's... vexed? That sounds like the kinda word you'd like. Good and proper vexed. She's got this look on her face, see, like she can tell there's a trap here and she's determined to out think it. She folds her arms across her little chest and she nods a whole bunch, as if that makes her look smart or something, and you can hear her 'hmmmmmm'ing as she digests the whole thing. And then? It sinks in. You can tell because her arms suddenly drop. And then? Oh. It sinks in. You can tell because her eyes go big as dinner plates. And [i]then?[/i] Ohhhhhh goshies, it just sunk in!

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-yo-you..."

Yue's a blushing, squeaking, rolling-around-on-the-bed mess. Hope you've got another minute before you've got anything else that needs doin'. At least this time you don't need a book to keep you occupied, I'd bet. Finally she goes floppin' over and covers her face with a hand and her embarrassment with a laugh that gets maybe a quarter of the way to gettin' the job done. 

"...City folk're too much. Where do you come up with-- gosh! I'm not! I mean I! I mean [i]you're![/i]"

She laughs, and shakes her head. 

"You've changed, Rose. I think, anyway. You went and got all... soft. And big. And, goshies yeah, pretty too. I don't think a 'monster from the deep'" and here she drops her voice several octaves for her very bestful bestest spooky radio play voice before instantly switching back to normal, "coulda done it. I know last time I called you a city girl you denied it, but you're definitely one now. You talk like 'em, think like 'em, move like 'em, and you're sweet and wonderful like 'em, too. Y'know, Sis was so taken with the whole idea that she just up and, [i]vwoooop![/i] Adventured herself right down to the fanciest part of the Terraced Lake a few years back. Never heard a word've regret about it, like... ever. Man I miss her. Oh well!

So, just, to me, it's, well. S'about the best compliment I know how to give. And I think it's about time you took it, y'know?"

***

[b]Chen![/b]

You get the giggles, both of you. You get the tea. You get the honey. You get little cakes made with cardamom that fall apart in your mouths (and your tea, why did you dunk them???). You get a chance to breathe. You get a shower. Then Yue gets a shower. I don't know that either of you are quite at platonic-bathing-without-towels levels of closeness quite yet. A hot springs? Sure! Not a problem! But a shower's a bit... oh, sorry. Sorry! Moving on!!

Lesse, uh... you get stretches. You get the lectures about the importance of rest and letting all those lessons sink in with sleep and a new day and a new bowl of rice'n'fish and blah blah blah. And then when that's done you get to sneak in another three rounds of practice because it's so much fun, actually. You get all of that, together. You, Double Super Princess Chen of the Northern Wind and the Southern Sandy Stuffs, are now Yue's best friend. Congratulations! I really hope you're honored, that position's been filled for over a year, and the cutie you took it from is [s]plotting her revenge[/s] happier than you could imagine. 

But now it's over. Now it's time to let Yue grow on her own again, unless you were hopin' to turn her into another, taller, sillier you. Which you're not, I know, 'cause you've done a lotta learnin' and growin' in your own time here. Metaphorically speaking about the growin' part. Obviously. You little shortie short short. You miniature croquembouche. You tiny little... no, I will [i]not[/i] explain how I know what that is. Turn your phone back on. Gosh.

Anyway. Now it's over. Now Yue's smiling with a distant little look on her face that makes you think she's got the world on her mind, and she's wiping down her practice sword like it's the last time she's ever gonna hold it. Which, she's probably right. The crack Keron gave that thing has basically taken over the blade with all the nonsense you two've put the poor thing through. She's graduating to a real one whether she's ready or not. You tell me, in your professional opinion. 

"Oh... this is so hard. No one ever tells you how... well, no. I guess they do. I guess that's why trainin' montages are a thing and, still. Still, I... still. I didn't think I'd. Um. I guess I never really thought at all, 'cause..."

Now. Now the bill comes due. Now she's hugging you, Chen. Now she's crying, Chen. Not deep, terrible sobs, but the soft sniffles of the chronically overwhelmed. You're better than she is. You'll always [i]be[/i] better than she is. And Yue's finally good enough to realize it. 

"Ahhhhh, it's not fair. It's not! D'you know how easy my life used to be?! Got somethin' nibbling on your crops? Hiya! Foxes doin' too many fox crimes in the neighborhood? Don't even gotta ask! I was the best sun farmer for at [i]least[/i] three mountains in any direction, go back and ask anyone! And now I'm, and now it's, I wasn't even... I only went with Hyra that night 'cause I was scared, y-y'know? An' I, and... I thought. Snnffffff. I thought I'd get to see a story. See somethin' amazin'. 

No one ever told me it was [i]my[/i] story. You'd think cleanin' out a shrine and sending off the ghost of a legendary warrior'd be the tricky bit! You'd think... you'd... I just. Everyone I know now's so good at everythin'. And it's all so hard. And, and it's fun, it is! But I... I just wish. I. I wish there was somethin' I was good at again. Lotta me wants to go home. Lotta... why's Keron think I'm so special, anyway? Why's Qiu? Why're..?"

Yue dries her eyes on her sleeve, and sniffles her last. Now. Now you're friends.

***

[b]Hyra![/b]

You really couldn't ask for a better audience than Yue. It's only her current form that stops her from gasping perfectly at each little twist and turn in the conversation. The reveals! The counter reveals! The drama! Two perfectly matched opponents engaged in a game of wits only they are smart enough to play! Wow wow wow wowies!

But she's, as you've noticed, a wolf. A woof woof, if you will. I'm honestly not sure how that makes you feel, but for right this second don't worry about it yeah? I only put so much attention on it because... well, wolves can't, y'know, gasp. So just in case you were worried about the wheezing barks that keep slipping out of her, that's just her trying her best. Ok? Ok. 

How many layers deep does the plan go? How many threads can Keron cut through without blinking? Who's got the edge here?? And, and why does this make her feel so much better about all the stuff that's gone on since she's reached the floating castle? In fact, why does yeeeheeeheee[i]heeeep[/i] spear spear spear spearspear oh hey! She's free!

She blinks, as her first act of freedom. Her second act of freedom is to stand up, and her third is to stretch and shake all of the sleepies out of her big, fluffy body. It almost doesn't annoy her how natural it all feels to do it now. Almost. But girls will be girls, except when they are wolves. And then, they will be girl wolves. 

The most joyous howl in recorded history rings out across the room. No more leashes, no more masters, no more Secret Double Jail, Yue! Is! Free! And with freedom comes zoomies. 

It's the first lesson she learned when her love took your curse from you, do you remember? This is how she learned that she could be graceful and pretty, be sought after and admired. It's how you finally got her to see that she could be fast and strong and good, and it's what's pushed her this entire time you've been separated. Did you know she's been practicing at... basically everything? Every day? For, well, goshies it's been weeks now, hasn't it? She's been working so hard, Hyra. For herself, but also for you.

So I hope you can spare an eyeball from the impending hullabaloo to catch the moment where she goes zooming through everything like she's been shot out of a wolf cannon. I hope you have time to appreciate how smooth her body moves now and how easily she gathers her gravity underneath her so she can launch herself forward again and again and again without slipping or breaking stride. I hope you can admire the grace in her turns and the quality of her target selection. It'd mean an awful lot if it makes you smile, y'see.

She goes sailing straight into the bound and gagged Cyanis straight away, further adding to the chaos of the moment with a series of indignant, muffled squeaks. It's not that this is a rescue per se, or at least not because Yue's been fooled by your bluff. Unless she has! In which case well played, Hyra of the Wolves! She'll feel like a right sillyhead later, but provided she's got vocal chords at the time she'll also giggle about it. Also like a sillyhead. But right now it's just that Cyanis is her friend who showed up all of those days to teach her Wolf Go and keep her company when she was so bored she thought she'd die just from that. Cutie foxes deserve cutie jail, but sometimes don't they also deserve the chance to taste cutie freedom? This exercise is left for the reader to decide, yip yip arf.

Yue can't mount a full on rescue, but she can run. She can't fight with a sword the way most of her friends can (especially with no sword to chormp), but she can run. She can run like wind becoming lightning, under leg and over every place a body needs to stand to get a good swing off. She can run to so many places that it starts to feel like there's more than one wolf zipping all over the place, and she can help in every little way she can.

But she can't, and she won't, take this moment from you. Because the best thing about Yue, as we've mentioned, is that she's a sweetiemuffin. A sweetiemuffin who loves stories more than anybody in the whole world. So like we've said so many times, and like you've seen, she knows when somebody's having A Moment. And 'cause it's you? She's happier to be close enough to watch it happen then she's ever been before. Go, Hyra of the Wolves! Your girlfriend believes in you!