[b]Zhaojun![/b]

No disguises. Not here. That was a mistake, and one that might be sending hot pink thrills up your spine, the giddy feeling of being in freefall and needing to twist so that you land on your feet.

The Green Sun is one of the most perilous princes of the Demon City to call upon, for his gravity is so great that it draws in those who call upon him, and how light your feet were in yielding, even with a wrapped-up witch in your arms.

The Green Sun is the heart of the Broken King, and in its heart is another heart, a palace of brass and glass and mirror-polished stone. And in the heart of this palace, this core with its crushing gravity from which no one may escape without his leave, is the workshop of the Green Sun. He is here. He has stepped away from his work in order to address you, by the laws that Heaven set in place over him and his kind.

His hair is the ruddy red of a copper bowl. His eyes are the flickering green of his light. He is wearing only an apron around his waist, and his shapely golden muscles gleam in the light of the forges. He could crack a mountain if he wanted to; he could weave spells about the two of you to doom you to bitter love forever and ever; he hates you and everything that you stand for. You are a brat, a child, papering your bedroom with posters of revolutionaries, while he continues to thanklessly embody true royalty.

And royalty never lashes out without provocation.

And the Green Sun is nothing if he is not the prince in exile.

And so you are safe and surrounded by terrible peril on all sides, Zhaojun.

[b]”I do not have time to tell you what I know,”[/b] he breathes, and his breath is hotter than Scarlet’s fury. He stands in perfect poise, one hand holding his hammer behind his back, the perfect counterbalance. [b]”[i]You[/i] do not have time to listen to what I know,”[/b] he continues, and the mockery is only implicit. [b]”You must learn to be more specific.”[/b]

“How may I blackmail Iupeter?” Peregrine blurts out, her eyes shining.

[b]”If I knew, would I not already have done so?”[/b] His smile reveals nothing. He’s just trying to tilt you, Zhaojun. There’s no way he actually could have followed through on that implication. Right? [b]”Your efforts would be better suited to an exchange of favors. You deliver her an agent of one of her sisters, a secret for only the three of you to keep, and she gives you a secret— of equal worth, one supposes.”[/b]

Peregrine glances at you out of the corner of her eyes, and not subtly. The Green Sun patiently awaits your own question, Zhaojun. It would not do to keep him waiting.

***

[b]Petony-[i]phraya![/i][/b]

This is some real fertilizer, is what it is.

The kid was really getting at it! Diving in, knocking a highland bumpkin out of bounds (she definitely needs to be bigger in the version you’ll tell later, of course) and getting an entire town fired up to win those swords! And then one of those meddling witches comes in and says there’s fairies involved? What a load. Like you wouldn’t notice one of them meddling.

So here you are, the five of you, taking up a big table in the teahouse: you (with your retinue taking up positions at nearby tables), the kid (confused, and who can blame her), the bumpkin (who looks like she’s left her wits back home), the witch (definitely up to something), and the bumbling priestess trying to set up anti-fairy wards feverishly (somehow even cuter the more she fumbles the salt and squeaks, maybe you should make a move~).

“So do you mind explaining again, witch? I just want to make sure I understand what you’re going on about.” The more she talks, the more you’ll be able to see through her tricks. “While you’re at it: mountain girl, do you drink tea?” Sun only knows what sort of drinks mountain peasants turn to for comfort…

***

[b]Piripiri![/b]

This was a bad idea for the one simple reason that, as soon as Azazuka stepped to the restroom to make herself look presentable again, a knight and her entire retinue came crashing into the place, along with: a squire(?), the squire’s girlfriend(?), and the witch.

You’ve gone straight from being in the middle of something to being on the outskirts of something interesting and potentially valuable: how do you play this?