Chen is flying full tilt, summing wind against the doors and then suddenly there's Ysel issuing commands like it's nothing. She pulls up suddenly, her momentum too great to stop, so she diverts upwards instead, shooting into the air and stopping herself, coming to rest with a wide puff of her dress and her sword above her in an impromptu but almost elegant defense.

Her frustrated grimace ruins the landing though. "I was coming here to save you, Mommy!" She pauses, tries to take a breath, tries to give herself some focus to an entire jumble of emotions all bubbling and boiling inside her. "I rushed here, leaving my new best friend to go face Qiu, and my new handmaiden somewhere in the city to make sure you were okay! And you were, [i]what[/i] sitting in your palace getting everyone lined up for my arrival?" 

Chen gestures with her sword at the assembled cavalry. "What are they going to do, exactly, huh mommy? Are you planning a [i]charge[/i] down the middle of the city against a demon circus? Are they going to go toe to toe with Yin's knights right up until she turns them all into...into opossums? When was the last time you even saw Qiu? She wants a duel, mommy! She's overthrowing your entire kingdom just to get a good duel! If you throw an army at her, she'll drop them in a...a giant sand pit!"

This was easier than any other reaction. Chen couldn't take it all in otherwise. She'd rushed to the palace, heedless of anything else to protect her family and she finds this? Her mother doesn't even say hello! She doesn't ask about her daughter at all. Her daughter who's been gone for months with no cell reception (she probably got a note from Keron, but still!) who she hadn't even seen for a while before that, who just crashed her way like a meteor from heaven through the city to get here. Not a single comment. No [i]I missed you[/i], no [i]wow, good job[/i], no [i]look how you've grown[/i], not even a moment to hug her and have some kind of actual reunion. How was she supposed to handle that, huh? Hi Chen, get in line, knew you'd be here, earn your shard now. It...it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that her mommy was like this, it wasn't fair to her or Hestia or...or even Ysel herself!

This was why she'd nearly had a meltdown the first time. Once Chen had started on the sword, once she'd shown some talent, Ysel and Hestia both simply had a place for her. She'd felt this way about Qiu too. There had been that moment of affection, but then when she was hurting, she just wanted a hug and Qiu wasn't able to do that. She had a role she wanted Chen to play, everybody had an idea for her. It was...it was what made Rose and Yue so special, wasn't it? How they actually saw her. How they thought about what she wanted and made her want to think about them. 

She wanted to slap Ysel and hug her. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief and scream all at once. She wanted to fly off and save her friends and she wanted to keep her family and her people safe all at the same time! The only thing she knew for sure she didn't want to do was get into the cavalry line, which was laughably stupid.