This maneuver has many names: the Elephant and the Mouse, the Corp and the Startup, the Mother and the Girlfriend. Each is, in their own way, the same: a powerful, fearsome force of nature brought down, defeated, by something small and weak. So it is with Rose from the River and Chen, the former finding herself sprawled in the grass, the latter petulant and teasing and possessed of many secret and powerful kisses.

Yes, even though Rose from the River has played with Chen, has made her sing (oh-so-muffled) and has been shown off in front of her, those sorts of kisses are still new and frightening and wonderful. For a moment, this beautiful handmaiden looks up at Chen with the fear of someone who is walking out over the abyss; the fear of someone who doesn’t know where this is going.

But Chen can feel it, can’t she? The powerful thump-a-thump of Rose’s ancient heart, beating so excited, a reassuring counterpoint to that look of helpless awe. And then— ah, there! The once-fierce warrior turns her head and burns with the fire of [i]being cared for[/i].

“I was enjoying the view,” Rose from the River says, almost managing to assert herself in the face of the princess who, by the stars and the shattered suns, cares about her. (Would it be such a bad thing to make the Way wait for her for a few decades? Yes, it would; she must be free, must be its tool, must be an instrument of the common good of everything. But universal eudaimonia seems to fade in the light of Chen, here, hot and vital and full of desire for [i]her.[/i]) “How could I not stare? Beauty [i]demands[/i] attention: the sunset on the mountains, the breaking of the waves on the shore, the dance of Princess Chen.” And all three are part of this world that she is so, so lucky to be in.

“…you are dangerous, you know,” Rose from the River adds, changing the subject— but only after she has leaned forward and stolen a kiss from Chen. (A traitor’s kiss, a burning sin, so sweet and precious.) “All of you princesses are. You represent the temptation to temporal power and the indulgence of personal aesthetics above the common good, empowered by the Sunshards themselves. Why do you think I have to defeat Princess Qiu and scatter her shards?”

Two hands explore Chen’s lower back, pull her closer, firm and teasing and saying: [i]Princess Chen, I need you. Stay with me.[/i] But what Rose from the River says is: “I am a Pilgrim of the Way, [i]princess.[/i] I have duties. A fox to see to prison. A universal good to pursue. Do you think I am weak enough to stay just because of a beautiful, clever, brave girl? Do you think I am that easily beguiled?”

But you can feel her underneath you, Chen. You know what she wants you to answer. She wants you to take the responsibility of being strong and helpful and unassailable away from her. She wants to trust you like Jessic trusts Keron; she wants to be a girlfriend rather than a great and terrible monster who can only do good in the world through the monastic life. And if she makes that choice herself, she will think herself selfish and terrible and unworthy of you, and so she is silently pleading with you to tell her that she is weak, easily seduced, and [i]an ordinary girl,[/i] one who needs a princess to look after her and keep her safe.

Rose from the River is spending a String on you, Chen. If you immediately do something to claim Rose from the River as yours and validate her desire to be a handmaiden, take an XP and [i]Entice[/i] her hard.

Of course, you don’t have to. You can choose to be offended by the fact that Rose from the River is looking for an excuse to choose you, rather than making a grand proclamation of how much more you mean to her. You can be hurt, even, that after all you went through at the Sky Castle, that she’s still struggling with how much she wants you but feels she can’t just [i]decide[/i] to be with you, that turning her back on the Way out of caprice would be a failure state for her as a person.

But she could be yours. All yours. All you have to do is accept what she’s telling you with her body, to play along with the stories she tells herself in order to make sense of herself as a person, to lean into the Monastic Erotica genre and tell the blushing, helpless monk that she is doomed to be a simple handmaiden for the princess she’s falling so, so hard for. Just do that and she’s [i]yours,[/i] Chen.

You could even make her let Cyanis go, just to rub in how you’re making her choose you [i]and[/i] to reward a good girl for helping Hyra, and it would turn Rose from the River on [i]so hard.[/i] While we’re sharing.