She'd like to know everybody's stories, please! She'd never in her wildest dreams guessed there'd be so many to hear! Was she really the only one who sat around... ok well no, but was her village really the only one in the whole entire world that was as sleepy as she thought it was? Goshies. 

There's a young swordsman kneeling by the side of the road sipping a cup of tea, and she'd like to ask him if it means anything that his hair is so long and silky. She'd also like to ask him if it means anything that he's carrying... what is that, six swords? But he, if you can believe it, asks for [i]her[/i] story. And after that she's already holding up her friends, traffic jam or no. So she never finds out. It probably would've been rude to ask, anyway. 

There's a woman sitting on the hood of a convertible with her legs tucked into her chest who somehow looks like she's drowning out here on the road to Ys, or she... already drowned, or just got back from drowning or, y'know, something kinda like that. She's got seaweed in her hair and damp, clumpy robes and a, like, 10,000 meter stare or something, 'cause wowzers. Goshies. And Yue'd really like to ask, among other things, if she's ok and would she like a blanket and [i]how is she dripping wet all the way out here?![/i] But she opens her mouth to start asking things and the woman starts up and, well actually? She doesn't say anything at all. But Yue feels the strangest pressure in the back of her head that she's gotta tell her story again, so she does and then she's out of time again. 

And, uh, lemme stop you here for a second, 'cause I'm sure you see where this is goin'. There's a lot of people on the road, and all of 'em have time to hear about Yue, or leastwise most of 'em do. But not a floofleheckin' one of 'em's got even half a minute to talk about themselves. This ain't their time, see? Maybe if Yue was a wandering historian things'd be different. This'd be a golden moment in the land of anthr... uh. Anthropomommy... um? Boring people history stuff. But she's not, is she? She's Yue, the wandering swordswoman. The Wolf of the Sky Castle. This is her story, her and her friends'. These lot're all, uh, whaddyacallem... camelos! Nice. Take [i]that[/i], literacy courses!

So let's skip the part where Yue walks away from everyone just a pinch disappointed. We don't got all day, so let's just go over a few of the sights and get back to bein' stuck, mmkay? Yeah.

She sees an angel with feathery wings that shine in the sun and metal skin that shines even brighter, arm wrestling a child dressed half in animal pelts and half in some high-fashion military uniform whatsit. The angel loses [i]four times[/i] before she loses her temper and kicks up a storm of dust so thick she's never seen again by anyone (who's in this story). She sees a priestess in the whole getup playing Wolf Go with a titanic white wolf in snazzy leather armor. It's hard to tell from a distance, but she looks like she's even better at the game than Cyanis! I mean, she's fully dressed and they must've been stuck here for who knows how long. But then again, the way that big ol' wolf is smirking (wait what how) at her... maybe not. 

A pretty girl with a guitar and purple highlights in her hair leans against the shady side of a rock and plays folk rock for anybody with time to stop and listen. A smaller, scarier, darker-dressed girl sneers at her and drowns her out with waves of heavy metal. A cosplayer in straight-out-of-anime schoolgirl clothes duels a leather-clad biker chick pool cue to naginata for the right to be named Sasha. A knight in full, heavy looking armor with a crippled left arm plays cards with an endless line of would-be challengers. Every one of them walks away handing something shiny and valuable looking to the woman with the ridiculous neck ruff standing behind her, who smells like she's made of cologne. 

Overhead and impossibly loud, a figure in black goes screaming by hooked up to some kind of Burrower tech and what I hope to gosh are homemade wings. An elven woman with hair dyed in every color of the rainbow and so many guns strapped to her person it makes the six-swords question from earlier seem quaint watched the black streak blow by, and laughs so hard she drops to the ground. Another woman (gosh there are a lot of women here, isn't that weird) hangs out the window of a car looking like she's about to lose a long fight with the hangover fairy. The tan driver smiles and gives her a little kiss on the back of the neck, for... luck.

There are heroes and villains and kisses and cuddles and a dozen things besides, and to make it past them all, Yue need to tell the story of how she, of all possible people, got here so many times that she loses her voice in the process. But even that sacrifice's got its blessings, because there's a detail in that story that's missing that she hadn't paid enough attention to before now. How could she have let this happened? She almost ruined the whole trip!

With a blush and a smile on her face, Yue sneaks up on Rose. She draws her sword with all the skill and poise these weeks of practice will let her have, and... taps it playfully against the side of the Conciliatory Ice-Star, uh, Flute. Upon her shoulder, and adorable and pretty princess forest fox yips like she's trying to take over for her mistress' missing voice. And if I say so myself she does an [i]amazing[/i] job of it.

Hey. Hey Rose. Rosie. Hey. Hey. Hey. Rose. Rose. Rosalyn. Can I call you Rosalyn? Can I... no. Ok. Hey. Hey. But, hey! We should duel. C'mon! Just for fun, just to learn, just to see! You're the only one, y'know? The only friend that Yue's got who she's never had a match with. We gotta fix it. We gotta fix it, Rosie! Rose~~! Whaddya say, Rose? With all these people watching? A thousand faces from a thousand stories are waiting to see what we new girls can do when we dance! C'mon! C'mon c'mon c'mon, you won't break her, it's ok! Not you! Not her! She promises, she's not being greedy! She promises, she doesn't need to win! She promises, which is to say she promised, you'd share your stories together! So c'mon! C'mon Rose! Rose! Yip! Arf arf yip!

A temporarily muted cutie swordswoman smiles with a look that's halfway between saying sorry and begging. Maybe she doesn't need a guardian. But she'd love a teacher, even if it's just for one lesson. And there's no better place to learn, than on a stopped-dead road with an audience beyond description. Y'know?