The road to Ys lights up in the twilight. Everybody’s got a light: the harsh LEDs of the Burrows, the warm flickering light of a lantern, sunstones in jars, and best of all, the light you only get spilling out of a food truck.

It’s to an okonomiyaki truck that Rose comes, accompanied by little Yue on her leash, and she’s so patient, isn’t she? She walks so slowly so that she doesn’t outpace Yue’s tiny, careful, jingling hops, feet together, fluffy pigtails and even fluffier tail bouncing as she practices her walkies. Well, her hoppies. Besides, it’s not just a cute show for everyone as they pass by in the gossamer light of twilight; it’s good footwork and coordination practice for swordfighting. And besides that, Yue’s got the perfect beanpole body for hopping without bouncing all over the place, like some dancing girls we could name.

So when Rose approaches the food truck, she waits for Yue to catch up and come into the light, so that the chef who’s flipping the patties on her grill with a couple of battered old spatulas, the honorable sidearms of the fry cook, can see how sparkly her eyelids are, how cute the flimsy little veil is going up and down with each hop, and how big the silly bell on her collar is. It’s so big, and round, and shiny, and even if she wasn’t on a leash, there’s no way that she could try to sneak off with stealthy hops wearing a bell like that!

Rose curtsies like she was born to do it, flowing like a wave. Then she playfully tugs on Yue’s leash, and the shepherdess… well, she tries her best, but with her hands all tied up behind her like that, it’s more of an adorable squat and butt wiggle, tail wagging behind her. Rose’s smile is a gentle reassurance that, yes, Yue did good. What a good girl.

“Octopus, please,” Rose says, and the cook (who has big, pudgy, cute arms) sprinkles a bunch of tentacles in the batter and slaps it on the grill, and then looks to Yue with a playful expectance. And Yue, pink, wide-eyed, mumbles into her gag. Rose helpfully steps in to translate: “She wants scritchies. She’s been a very good girl today.”

And the cook flips over a few patties so that she’s got the time to spare, turns the heat to low, and then comes back around to lean over the counter and get her short nails under Yue’s chin. “Good girl,” she says, and her voice is so husky it could pull a bobsled, her accent dredged right out of the mud of the Hante river. “You her owner?”

“This handmaiden,” Rose preens, “is merely bringing a queenly gift from Princess Chen of the Northern Wind, heir to the Crown of Ys, first among sword savants and saints, to the honored wolf-maiden, Hyra, who performed the princess a great service in the Sky Castle of Princess Jessic. This is one of the finest jewels the princess could offer.” Oh, Yue, between the dramatic praise talks and the fingers on the top of your head, you’re over the rainbow, aren’t you? Eyes fluttering and tail wagging and just melting into those ropes.

Now, we could talk about the presentation. About how intense Hyra looks for a moment, seeing her girlfriend all tied up like that, before she sees the wolf ears and the tail; how Rose does this low, low grovel, hands stretched out in front of her and butt up in the air, and treats Hyra like she’s a Countess; how Hyra scoops Yue up in her arms and orders Rose to leave in a growl that runs right through both dancing girls, and how Rose gets Very Controlled in her movements as she walks off.

How Hyra takes her time unwrapping her gift in the backseat of her car; how she makes that bell [i]jingle[/i]; how she reassures Yue that nobody’s going to see them as long as Yue holds still, even while she gets down on the floorboards and unties Yue’s legs for spreading. How Hyra makes her pretty precious puppy howl, even though she’s the only one to hear.

But we both know that Yue’s going to treasure the moment she spends with Rose, sitting on the back step of a covered wagon, watching the sunset, as Rose helps Yue take a breather. A bottle of water recycled from an old wine bottle, with a bit of Khen cork that Rose has to pop open; her gag lying damp in her lap and her veil lowered so that she can lean forward and take adorably big bites out of the okonomiyaki, held up to her face on a fork; getting to snuggle up next to Rose and feel safe and cozy and just as pretty as a princess’s girlfriend. And it’s that moment that fills her up and makes her so warm and excited and supported that when she’s presented to Hyra, she’s even able to do her best attempt at sultry, batting her eyes like Rose would even through an industrial-sized blush and excited tail wags.

Because they’re friends now, and friends look out for each other. And you know what, Yue?

Rose is lucky to have a friend like you.