[b]Fengye![/b]

You sit on the shape of a horse, and it settles in an eerie calm as you scream. One of your hands finds an ear, fluffier than you might expect, and perfect for scritchies. Finally, it turns and begins a slow trot towards the ruined, moss-veiled castle.

The only problem? Well, other than the fact that you’ll run out of breath eventually and need to figure out some way of keeping the noise ongoing? Well…

***

[b]Kalaya![/b]

You know what’s really good for stealth missions? Just [i]stupidly[/i] good? Screaming. Screaming is amazing for stealth. That’s why the most famous thieves are known for howling “IGNORE ME” as they make their way into the treasure-vaults of queens. Fengye is a genius.

Nothing jumps out at you, but you’d better have some sort of second plan, because if you try to walk through that broken, empty gate, you’re walking right into the wakeful jaws of whatever evil lurks within. Just like Fengye is doing right now.

Do you help her take the reins and then try to find some hidden way inside (that will also fit a ghost horse)? Or do you let her approach the gate, or even run up to take point and meet whatever awaits you there with steel?

***

[b]Han![/b]

You make it up with almost everybody, and the almost isn’t even really your fault. It’s not Azazuka’s fault, either, let’s be clear: it’s the snake that headbutted the tree right when you were at your most unbalanced. If it hadn’t sent a reverberation up, shaking the branches, all three of you would be sitting pretty.

But Azazuka is jarred backwards, and slips right off your arm as you fumble her, and down she goes screaming—

Onto the backs of snakes. It’s half-comical for a moment, as if she were a boat floating on the waves of their backs. But then they start to slither [i]over[/i] her, while she curls up and (rather unadvisedly) screams. It’s mostly a fear scream. (If you saved her, it might become just an adrenaline scream and giddy, confused laughter.)

***

[b]Piripiri![/b]

No, actually, because your student is in danger, because this dumb musclebound country girl dropped her. Umbrella or no umbrella, it is your duty to defend the innocent.

No, actually, here’s a question for you: when you dive for her, what gives your Hymairean training away to the keen eyes of the Stag Knight?

***

[b]Giriel![/b]

A Tipplebacked Hammerhead rears up, almost level with your face. This one’s spirit-touched, a child of the earth; some of the scales around its broad snout are stone. And the Tippleback has a very dangerous reaction to being startled by a human close up: it slams its head into whatever startled it after rearing up for height. It’s like being kicked by a horse.

You have just enough time to think that before Uusha dives down, grabs it by the throat, and lifts it bodily off the ground before heaving it into the rest of the Hunt with a low, [i]animalistic[/i] grunt. It splashes. Not in a gory way, but in a “snakes flying everywhere” way.

She glances at you, and for a moment you see her eyes in the depths of her helmet, and then she looks away with— Uusha! Is that embarrassment? “Good work,” she growls, and spins her long spear, a stick good for warding off serpents.

She’s got your back, and you’ve got a String on her (on her! actually! wow!).