[b]Chen and Rose![/b]

[i]Once, atop the highest cloud in Heaven sat an Empress. She beheld a world in perfect order, all things administered with love and kindness, a system of beauty and grace stretching ever downwards. But as her eyes fell so did she perceive the limits of her kindness' reach. Beyond her grasp were those stepped in misery, and in their misery they cursed her. 

The Empress saw the fault in the world and she swallowed it. This fault is mine. This suffering is my fault. This universe is my failing. And so, she took her first step down from the highest cloud, saying: "I will be happy when I have fixed this, and not before."[/i]

"Of course you would," said the Scales of Meaning, tilting her head so that the scales on her horns shifted slightly. "You are administered by fear. I have power and you do not, and so you are negotiating from an unequal position. It is quite simple," the Scales put her hand on the Pyre's head, smiling sadly. "You are simply saying what you think we want to hear."

And the Pyre raised her hand, and her will was a hurricane.

With two of her great Demons undone it might have seemed like the Pyre was fading, but she is not. She is in the utmost of her strength for all the lesser demons are but emanations. The true danger is this: [i]Insecurity[/i]. The Insecurity that demands everything be weighed, measured, and found wanting. The fault in the soul that renders one's self hateful, a cold that is shield against any warmth that might be offered. From insecurity grows anger, hopelessness, fear and guilt. 

It drives you to your knees, willing or not.

"Everything has value," said the Scales of Meaning. "And everything is a transaction. Every heart can be weighed and every sin can be quantified. Everyone is found wanting. The gods are blind, the Buddha is silent, and the Wheel spins out of control. The monetary value for two maids of your pedigree can be placed at $18.6kv for use of bioengineering resources and personality type psimapping. Your offer is a negotiating tactic to obscure your true financial value."

What would make the Pyre hire two maids instead of continuing the assault? 

You'd need to find something more valuable than money. 

[b]Yue![/b]

Princess Qiu wordlessly hands you a tupperware container in return. Inside is two slices of banana bread and a little butter packet with a magic glyph on the wrapping that heats the bread through when you tear it. It's surprisingly good - not magically Princesserily good, but the kind of good that comes when you make an old favourite recipe and don't push the envelope super hard. If a peanut butter and trout eclair is what you make when you're feeling bold enough to face a Threeshard Princess, banana bread and butter is what you make when you're nervous about disappointing a heroine from the Terraced Lake.

"Princess Yin," said Qiu, "is planning on conquering the world."

She keeps a very neutral face as she bites into the Forbidden Eclair, and surreptitiously takes a drink of water afterwards.

"She's got everything required to make it happen," said Qiu. "The army, the skill, the vision, the drive. She's got a line on some sort of ancient evil power. Even now her knights are infiltrating Pasalkhen to steal my Shards. She's going to be unstoppable. One big move here and she'll be the most powerful of all. She'll unleash monsters all across the land, and people will flock to her Knights as the only thing that can save them from the beasts."

Qiu took another bite at the edge of the eclair without thinking about it. No face this time, hardly even noticed she'd done it.

"And when that happens..." said Qiu, "... when that happens, only then will I have an opportunity to be a hero. Will I have a rival, a threat, someone to strive against. Yes, she's wicked, and cruel, and her heart is ugly, but she's the only person who can do this. Who wants to do this. Who will betray me in the way I need to be betrayed, who will fight me in the way I need to be fought. I don't like her, can't trust her, but maybe I can get what I need out of her by playing along."

Qiu finished the eclair, and in a very princessly fashion resisted the temptation to lick her fingers, and instead turned to a napkin. She briefly looks in the eclair box to see if there's a second one in that flavour.

"I can't be allowed to win here," said Qiu quietly. "[i]I can't[/i], because if I win it's over. I'm too good at the game and the plateau's in sight and it's so lonely up there. If I win here all that's left is consolidation until I get bored and retire and I'm not ready for that. There's still so much I haven't done. Still so much I need to say. So is it really so wrong to take my hands off the keyboard for a moment if that's what it takes to make it a game again?"