Who’s got time for stupid questions like that?! She’s going to stop her. She’s [i]got[/i] to stop her! [i]“Han! How could you?!” Poor Lotus flings herself into the arms of Sagacious Crane, sobbing great and terrible sobs. “Never in my worst nightmares could I imagine a person who might…and with a [i]musician[/i], no less! A bloo hoo hoooooooooooo!” “Poor dear. Poor, poor dear…” Crane strokes her hair, all while shooting Han the most judging of looks. “Go away!” She sniffs, drawing up all the strength left in her frail body to point a finger at the door. “Go away! I don’t ever want to see you again!”[/i] Enough talk. Enough dancing around. There’s an entire Han in your way, sister, and the only way you’ll get to Lotus is through her. She’s just got to dart to the right, to cut off her path to the baths, and then - no, wait, back to the left, the left! Don’t let her slip by the counter! No, no, back to the right, dammit, how does she move so fast in those stupid robes?! Left, right, fake to the left, right all along, and, she’s got to get tired of this eventually, right? She’s got to see how ridiculous she’s being. Right? Why’s the innkeeper shooting [i]her[/i] a dirty look?! Pei started this! She’s the one being an idiot, not her! Seriously, nobody’s gonna say anything? Nobody? She’s only got a few more steps. If Pei can twist her way around to the hallway, she’ll be gone. If everybody else’s gonna be useless, then she’ll just give her a little shove back- [i]“Han! How could you?!” Poor Lotus hurls herself to the ground beside Sagacious Crane, fallen in her injured dignity. “Assaulting your own sister who’s also a priestess! And then trying to fight everybody in the inn, no less! A bloo hoo hoooooooooooo!” “It’s true, ma’am!” Cried the innkeeper, one of twenty good citizens who had leapt to the defense of the priestess, physically restraining the rabid Highlander. “I saw the whole thing!” “Go away!” She sniffs, drawing up all the strength left in her frail body to point a finger at the door. “Go away! I don’t ever want to see you again!”[/i] How did she forget so much from one stupid barge ride? Was a few short days enough to make her this soft? Nobody here likes her. Hell, nobody here [i]cares[/i] about her. She’s a dirty, mangy Highlander who wandered too far from the mountains. The only people who’re happy to see her are the ones taking her money, and even they’re having second thoughts. Maybe later that night, lying awake, she’ll realize. She should’ve said something. Something better. Something wiser. This was the part where it was her cue, and she messed up her lines, and everyone knew she was wrong. But the only words that came to her now were of fire, of fang, of scale. A tongue she’d had to learn for herself. That if she only dared, she could make the world right again. She could do anything. [i]“Han! How could you?!” Poor Lotus collapses against the only standing wall of the inn, nearly fainting dead away. “I thought you were a hero! Not some dirty, rude, horrible [b]beast[/b], who tears apart innocent inns, and sets the rubble on fire, no less! A bloo hoo hoooooooooooo!” “Flee! Flee! The horrible Vermillion Beast of Lanterns is here!” Sagacious crane wails. “Easily worse than that wretched Zhaojun! I was wrong! So, so wrong!” “Go away!” She sniffs, drawing up all the strength left in her frail body to point a finger at where the door used to be. “Go away! I don’t ever want to see you again!”[/i] She does nothing. The essence pounds at the walls of her heart, power to rip the skies asunder and drink the ocean dry, and all she does is stall. One thought. One little wish, to throw her out, to shout her down, to tear that veil from her face and make her run embarrassed into the night, and the girl will be gone. And much more to follow. She stalls. She sticks her body between her sister and her charge, and forces down burning coals into the depths of her heart. There’s no plan. No thought. Only the unshakeable fact that she’s got to stop her. She’s [i]got[/i] to stop her. [i]“Han. How could you?” Poor Lotus pulls at her bound wrists with all her might, but no use. The workings of a priestess cannot be undone. Not even by those of divine blood. “You said you’d keep me safe. You swore you’d take me to the Two Hundred Gates Temple. You [b]swore[/b], no less.” The tears fall, and she is too heartbroken to give them voice. “That’s enough out of you.” Sagacious Crane tugs at the leash, and she has to hop awkwardly to keep from being pulled to the ground. “The Sapphire Mother looks poorly on imposters disrupting the Kingdoms. You’ll not cause any more mischief. Not now. Not ever.” “I’m going away.” She sniffs, drawing up all the strength left in her frail body to look her dead in the eye. “I’m going away. And I’m never going to see you again.”[/i] Please. She’s got to stop her.