[b]Solarel[/b]

“Ah, this is so rare.”

The lance has found the heart of the Makhaira and for a moment, time is frozen. You have won the match, and Akai has lost the match. There’s no more movement. Nowhere to go. The Makhaira is and always was much larger than the Kathresis. So the finishing blow leaves you held together, connected by the lance, slowly drifting through space. 

“I know our raiders often choose power in their designs, but before you gave me this sword, I was almost never the stronger fighter in my matches. And after, I had so few challengers. I felt invincible. I thought…I thought I felt what it was to be you, Sol.” 

Her hands loosen, she lets the sword go. It floats with you, slowly and lazily rotating over its center of gravity to point towards the Arena below you. 

“But I was completely wrong. Utterly. I never knew how hard it was until now. Watching you fight, watching how good you made this look. You made the lance look good too, you made me look good. I knew that, I knew the compliment. But I…I never realized. It was so much more than acknowledgment, or even respect. It was the kind of love that made me the center of your world, at least for a while. I don’t deserve it, Sol, but I’ll make up for it.”

And then, the Makhaira puts its hand upon the Kathresis, chest to chest. Gently, softly, barely able to muster even the force for that movement. A sentimental gesture, yes. But also, it’s a place where the watching cameras have very few angles.

So right in front of your face, you see the signs flash rapidly: [i]The Aeteline is coming here, as are both the current and former empress for the finals[/i]. She signs it with a movement that indicates laughter, a private joke just for the two of you. She’s in. 

Then, the Makhaira is well and truly out of energy and it slumps, the Kathresis doing all the work suddenly to hold you both in place. 

***

[b]Mirror[/b]

“You’ve given me half your riddle. I think.” She sounds excited. “I mean, I can tell you keep trying not to let the fighting get too intense. And I think you could have finished me off if you weren’t trying to avoid that. But now you’re making me an offer and telling me all about Solarel and about l-love and, I mean, gosh.” 

She blushes, you know she is blushing, it is the most obvious and sincere audio blush in the history of blushing cat-girls, second perhaps to the intense longing sort of blush that little Dolly seems to have mastered effortlessly. 

“But anyway, I think the offer you’re making me is real, and it’s, I’ll get back to it but I figured if you’re going to all that trouble when you could definitely beat me, you must be under some rule not to take any risks at all. Like you’re trying not to get even a scratch on that amazing mecha of yours that you’re saving for Solarel. I got it, right? Right?”

(She waits for confirmation, but then goes right on). But I mean, like I said earlier, I’m kind of the simple one, the muscle. I believe in Hybrasil, and the Huntresses and all that. But it doesn’t feel right for me to try and drag you into that. I’m sorry I keep comparing you to my friend, she’s just like you in a way. Like you both have these strong feelings and when you talk it’s like the whole world is moving around you and there are things you want so badly that everything else gets out of your way. It’s like catnip.”

She hasn’t started another move as she’s been talking, just kept her distance. She flies in now, but then she goes down on one knee, her spear placed lovingly on the ground before her, head bowed. 

“And…I don’t think you’ve fallen into as much blasphemy as you seem to think. Hybrasil doesn’t prohibit knights just because the lodges don’t have the title. So I think I want to see where this goes, and I’m not betraying anybody by doing it.”

She might be naive, but she’s sincere. What will you do with your new squire?

***

[b]Jade and Dolly[/b]

Ada strains, but the cords hold. She understands what’s happening. Each bit of spear damage is a place where her armor isn’t as strong, where the ions can seep in and make her body tingle and go numb. But still she strains.

She’s strong, such a strong person. Someone who isn’t allowed not to be strong. Who doesn’t allow herself not to be strong. Too many responsibilities ride on her being strong and so that is how she has defined herself. She is a matriarch. In another life, she might be a queen. The one who laughs loudest, eats most heartily, and shows her people what they can aspire to be. 

But you’re fast, and you’re skilled. You know the weaves and the knots, and you have her held. You’re close, and the electricity between you is a shared spark. It’s just, it can’t last. She doesn’t follow your religion and she doesn’t believe in Jade as a goddess. Nor is she willing to indulge in the way that dear sweet Angela is willing to indulge. Angela likes the game, but that’s not how Ada Smith works. So, she’s going to break it, she’s going to snap just enough of her bonds to get her hold, then press you tight, so tight, and win her victory. 

Unless…Dolly, you can see the shape of it, even though Jade can’t. You have an older sister, so you know how these things are sometimes. You can’t demand that an older sister bows and begs to you. But you can beg her, you can plead and ask, and through sincerity and vulnerability, you can move her. That’s what Ada needs right now. She needs a soft touch, an admission that Jade isn’t as confident as she sounds. A sign of real, honest sincerity that she’s going to try for the Snow Geese and that she understands how hard that is and isn’t just making empty, ignorant promises. 

Offer her that, and her heart will relent, just enough that you can take the match. 

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

“Isabelle Lozano? By all the stars! I thought you were off in the arena. What are you doing here of all places?”

The high nasal voice announces Rosalinda as though she had her own bannermen with matching trumpets. She’s not here with the whole entourage though, she seems to be off doing her own dress-fitting along with a couple of her ladies in waiting. Something smaller and more private. 

Actually, if you care to get a leg up on her, the fact she’s here probably means that something happened that put her behind. Elena and her family would have already had their fittings and dresses made a month ago on TC Prime and be well en route to the gala now, attending in the entourage of the great Teresio and Antonius families. No, Rosalinda is here because she forgot or was held up on some other business and now she needs a dress just as fast as you do and it’s easier to get it done en route. In fact, you’ll probably be traveling back together in the same ship convoy, you could even spend the time on the shuttles together!

When you finally do turn, you can see that she’s added to the pink hair. Now she’s got herself stylized with one side of her head cut really short, pixie style, while the other side has a medium-length section that comes down over her neck and ear and almost over one eye in front. Instead of just pink, she has a thin purple stripe about two-thirds of the way across it, running from the part to right around where her temple is. There’s pink on each side of the purple. It must have taken several hours to get the styling done like this. 

“Well nevermind that. If we’re here, we should be matching dress buddies, right? We’ll both make a bigger splash if we coordinate! I think the new Serpaws designs are all the rage!” She models the tight dress she’s wearing, which as soon as she thrusts a hip, parts completely to show the fully revealed hip. On her other side, the shoulder that lines up with the close-cut hair is bare, giving the whole thing a sort of toga-style look. “I’m planning to have them do some kind of embroidery on it around half the chest and up the shoulder. Maybe a tree, I hear floral themes are in and I rather like the idea of something that grows strong, you know? Says good things about the family and all that. Plus the aesthetic balance is good, it puts the weight on my shoulders and upper chest, where it should be.” She laughs, feigns a slight blush. 

Of course, unspoken here is that if you did match her dress she’d be able to tell everyone that she was the one who talked you into the design and it would reflect well on her influence on an up-and-comer. And a pilot to boot. So you’d be giving her quite a lot if you did that. Almira would tell you not to make a single concession, but consider what you actually think of her. This is a big enough deal for Rosalina that doing something for her here, even though it’s not the style you were imagining, could earn her actual, sincere friendship if you’re not deceiving her in the process.