[b]Chen and Rose![/b]

Insecurity is a a stone giant, unmoved, upon an eastwards hill. Each day as the sun arises, it groans and says - [i]"you shine only out of pity. You were not here while I was in the dark, and now you come with guilty heart upon me? What joy may I get from this already-dying thing?"[/i] And then it says fie and gnaws the mountain and looks not over its shoulder at the marvels of the sunset. [i]"No,"[/i] it says, [i]"that is not for me. More pity. Soon the sun shall tire of all this and shall arise no more. Just you watch, this very day was the last."[/i]

But the sun and the east wind are allies; as the gates of dawn open the east wind gallops out ahead. Day after day it hits the giant, some stronger, some weaker, but one day - strong enough. And on that hurricane day the giant will topple over backwards and lie facing westwards. And there, at last, will he see the beauty of the sun's farewell.

And, at last, the giant's eyes will fill with tears. The message was there for him every day but he never had the strength or will to turn his head to see. This certain oath of resurrection, sworn in cloudblood: this gift that had been laid out every day for a neck too frozen to turn. And, at last, the giant admits that this is true. That this can be forever.

And with an ancient breath, the Scales of Meaning reports herself to the Fiscal Judiciary Committee, for she at last can no longer balance the accounts, and dissolves away onto the wind.

And the Pyre of Inspiration blinks awake for the first time in a long, long time.

[b]Yue![/b]

"You?" said Princess Qiu. The words were arrogant, but the voice was curious - sounding out the shape of each one. "You think you can challenge me? You think you can stand before me? I don't think you understand who I am."

She stood up in a moment, bouncing on the tips of her heels, tail waving to balance. "This is my life, my reason, my core, my everything. I have fought the world's champions and won. I burn through maidens magnesium bright; my thoughts are storms; my focus unshakeable. Those who dance with me catch fire and melt away. I need no shards for I have the might of the sun within me. And who," at last she draws her blade, holding it out straight with even stance, kendo style. "Are you?"

It not a rhetorical question. It's serious, sincere, heartfelt. She wants to know. She wants to know in a way beyond asking. She wants to know in a way beyond knowing. The blade shifts in her hands and she moves to strike - a technique that is a whirl. A question in a storm of steel: who are you? Are you for real? Do you actually want this? Do you want this from me? With me? Can you keep up? Will you keep up? 

Will you teach me something new?