I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. My eyes open a bit wider than usual without me telling them to, and I can feel my jaw start to clench in that way it always does just before I wind up gasping. Which, of course, I do right after. I must be pinker than a rose finch right now; I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life. 

"I! Well, I! Um! S-s... Sorry. I d-didn't, didn't know!"

It's true, y'know. I had no idea about masks in duels. And it's not that it's embarrassing to not know something, but like, now that she's said it this feels like the sorta thing I shoulda been able to put together on my own without being told first. Wasn't that just the way Yin's knights worked? Sure it was a suit of armor and not a [i]mask[/i] but... yeah. Take off the costume, and then the fight changes instead of ending. I'm so silly. I'm just a big... sillyhead!

I feel Princess Kikil's arm tense up and her gladius, and when she swings to push me away from her I lean into the energy and let her toss me clear across the room with the prettiest flip I can manage, by way of making up for my blunder. Just a little bit, at least. I dunno why I'm so flustered by the idea of disappointing this girl. I just met her, even if she [i]is[/i] a princess. But I, y'know, I just do. Disappointing her feels like a knife in my stomach would. I guess it's 'cause she went to all this effort for me, so we could do this dance together. And here I am screwing it up for both of us. Gosh, how would I have felt if I noticed Chen was taking it easy on me? 

Straight away all I want to do is jump in and fix my mistake. All I've gotta do is rush back into her zone and knock away that mask! Then I'll learn who she is and see her smile! And I'll smile back and no matter what face I see I promise I'll act the most surprised anybody's ever seen. She's right. 'Course she's right. You have to earn people's ultimate moves. And I can do this! I, I [i]could[/i] do this. I proved it once already. But now her guard's back up. Now that gun's trained on me with a pro's steady aim and I'm out of tables to boot. Her zone's enormous, and I'm reduced to tumbling. Backwards, even. 

Ah. That's always my problem, isn't it? My form is solid. My technique's sharp. My instincts are plenty decent, I guess, and I'm quick enough to catch Kat at bath time. I've got an ultimate technique, same as her. As good as Qiu's, please and thank you very much. Lemme have this. But I don't have what I need the most. That's why I always lose. That's why I hurt Princess Kikil's feelings just now. That's why I'm starting to tremble like a leaf in the autumn breeze. I'm about to disappoint her. I'm about to show her that I'm not wonderful at all, once you get right down to it. 

I don't have a finishing move. 

I get to this part of a fight and I just, like, run out of ideas. Y'know? Even now my brain is just flailing around trying to come up with something cool enough to fit. A straight thrust? Who's gonna wanna get hit by [i]that?[/i] Qiu had a bajillion of these but I'll be darned if I can remember any of 'em. All I really remember about that part of that duel is scrambling like mad to not get turned into a pancake. Kinda the same as now, actually. 

But I guess it doesn't matter. Kikil's not leaving openings for anything like a finishing move. She blasts the room with shot after shot from her gun and it's all I can do to keep pace with cartwheels and rolls and the occasional flip kick, which I hate doing because I always lose track of where I am in the air and I look like a dork flailing about to find my balance before I eat it and fall on my butt. Which would be the end of me [i]and[/i] make me wish it was at the same time. But I make the effort anyway. For her. 

Even though I'm sure I haven't been hit by any of these lasers, I'm taking all the damage anyway. The way she shoots, and what she's shooting, all that really matters is that I'm here. And that I dream. And I do dream of wolves. Silver wolves with piercing red eyes and hearts full of flashy tricks, miracles, and love. 

I dream of hawks soaring through the clouds. I dream of endless fields of flowers. I dream of the wide desert and the impossible City of Cities stacked up to the skies at the end of it. I dream of balloons and I dream of waterfalls pouring in layers and layers and layers down the grandest and most beautiful shrine in the entire world. I mean, I guess she [i]did[/i] ask. And before I know it, my entire adventure is in the room with us. Attacking me. 

Wolves circle me and nip at my ankles. They run between my legs to bowl me over. Birds scream in my ears and divebomb my head to drive me down onto my knees, or even my stomach where I'll be easy food for the wolves. Waterfalls crash down on my head and sweep me away into clumsy duels with the ghost of a ghost, like I'm learning how to hold a sword for the first time all over again. 

At first, I fight it all. I swing sword after sword at the animals attacking me to scare them away. I step outside the proper patterns of the duel, and I slash the waterfalls with fear and silly aggression as if I could muscle through them. But I'm not strong enough or fast enough or skilled enough to do any of that. I get bit, and clawed, and battered, knocked around. I think the room must be filled with the sound of my 'eeps' and 'oofs'. But every time, I take my feet. I try again. 'Cause that's my thing, right? The one good thing you can definitely say about me: I get up again. 

It takes a good minute for me to realize I might have figured out my finishing move after all. Gosh I hope this works. I don't think I can handle another health bar if it takes me much more than this. I pop back onto my feet and flash what I hope is a brave smile and what I'm sure is a very toothy one. Sword by sword, I flourish and I pose. A little show with no point to it, except that I hope it makes Princess Kikil smile back at me. When I knock off that mask, I mean. That thing is a master class in hiding your identity, she could be sticking her tongue out at me this entire fight and I'd have [i]no idea[/i]. Goshies, I really... I want to see her. I wanna know who she is! I feel my heart flutter all excited when I think about it!

"Well! You see!" I stomp my foot and crouch down a bit to start running, "When it started, I got kidnapped by a wolf!"

I am bounding through a field of flowers, silvers wolves leaping and baying at my sides. They twist around me, but playfully. We are a pack. Hyra, and me. Two's a pack when you're in love, ok? We howl together, and the birds scatter to the sky. I hold my saber, and thrust it straight at Kikil. At the space between us, I mean. There's so much distance between her and I, how could I possibly finish things right at the beginning? Silly. Water surges all around me, and my beautiful wolf and I float up all the way to the ceiling. 

"She saved me from the river demons, but her princess was so mad! I was supposed to be a prize, you see! The most valuable one in the entire Terraced Lake! Can you believe that? I couldn't!" 

We come crashing back down to the floor, and I let myself land hard. I go sprawling and skidding and sliding, head over butt over feet, until I land at the hem of the dress of the Demon Swordswoman. I flip my saber over in my wrist, and present it to her. A dagger and a rapier will have to do for me for this. And so we dance. Like this! And like this! Then like this! Finishing like this! Again!

"I thought she was so beautiful. So I just had to watch her, y'know? What do I know about ghosts anyway? All I could think to do that could make her feel as special as she deserved was to learn as much as I could. I've been trying ever since to absorb all she had to teach me. And, I think?"

Step step step, twirl parry slash! I hold the point of my sword above the bust of the dress, no higher than that silly, where the chin should be, and with a flick of my dagger I disarm the ghost. I lean in to kiss her, then with a smile I leap overtop of her, sheath my weapons, and catch my saber in my off hand. I even manage it after just one quick bobble. A personal best!

"I think I'm finally starting to do her proud! And then! And then! And then? And after that we! Oh, but there's so much to tell."

I run through my dreams, not fighting them anymore. I've got my story to tell, I have to explain it all to Kikil so she'll see. I may not be wonderful or special on my own, but my story is the kind of miracle that could light up the sky if somebody taught it how to. I retrace every step, up over hills and down into valleys and through river after river without even worrying about the demons that live there. I dance with Rose and Chen and even Cyanis, who all flicker like specters a little less real than the rest of it. It's 'cause they've all got important places to be right now, new stories to tell. I don't mind. I'll catch them all up on this later. 

In my dream, I meet Princess Qiu for the first time. I'm so close now. I talk with her. I bake her cookies with her own oven. I gasp in shock, and eat the first one by myself. Wowies, these are spicier than I remember! But I'm almost there. The moment I've been waiting for. I stomp out of the room, and that's when the spectral helicopter rises out of the floor. 

I grin. My whole body is sweating and... bein' real with you, there's nothing more I'd love than to stop and ask for a nice, long bath. My hair is so sticky you have no idea. But I promised, the second I cut my way in to wherever the heck this is... or well. When Princess Kikil introduced herself to me with her grand army of machines, [i]that's[/i] when the promise started. That even if it got hard, and even if my heart started to waver and doubt myself again, I wouldn't drop the ball this time. I promised I'd show her everything I am, if she'd do the same for me. And that means! This time? Excuse my language but gosh [i]darn[/i] it I'm going to win! 

I don't run screaming from the helicopter. I've got plans for it, y'see. It fires volley after volley of ghost-missiles at me, but this time I've got stuff I didn't have before. This time I've got a jetpack, and this amazing two-handed sword! I fly up to a missile and land on top of it just before it explodes, tucking my sword under my feet so the blast sends me sky high instead of, like, probably killing me? And I'm laughing the whole time, 'cause this is so ridiculous and scary that if I do anything else I'm gonna start crying like a frightened child instead. flip between volleys, riding them higher and higher. My voice surprises me with how clear and strong it sounds.

"My darling little Kat has a name for all of this! She calls this, The Wandering Tales of Yue the Sun Farmer! Here I go!"

I fall. It's kinda funny, now that I think about it. All this effort and nonsense, and in the end all I could come up with is a variation on the same thing I tried on Tianic in my very first for-realsies duel. I don't even add a spin to it or anything, I'm just moving faster than I was then and I'm not a wolf this time. But simple suits me best, I think. I do the rest 'cause it's fun. If you wanna see me takin stuff serious? Then I'm the girl who wakes up before dawn 'cause it's the only way to make the trip in time to harvest silver needle when it reaches its peak. I'm just a girl, y'know? I learned how to bottle sunshine, and then all I could think to use it for was a bunch of home remedies. 

And that's who comes crashing down on top of Princess Kikil. Yue, just... still after everything I've been through, still just Yue. But Yue, or maybe her Wandering Tales at least, is enough to strike her big scary mask dead on. I hear the crack. I feel the impact rattle through my bones. And that's when I realize I didn't stop to consider the landing at all. I smash into the floor hard enough that all the pads and protective bits on my outfit shatter into pieces on the spot. I have to dig my sword into the ground with a scream and a frantic flail to keep my head from smashing face first and joining all that stuff. 

I feel woozy just the same. Gonna need.... hoooooo goshies. Yeah. A minute before I can stand again. Maybe more before I can fight. But I make the effort to turn and face her. I don't want to miss the moment when it happens. I want to see her. I have to know if she's smiling.