[b]Stacks Crew![/b]

There is - I have been told - a jagged lake within the Stacks, and deep within the lake lies the Invincible Flame Armor that Heron the Hero once wore, before, you know. The Catastrophe Of Which We Shall Not Speak. And that in a band around the lake, there is a zone where the water is the right kind of hot, and there the successions of Handmaidens that Heron has had have built a shrine.

The bath is a holy place, at least to Heron of the Many Romances, Heron who said each bathhouse was a Collectible place, though the items she carried away from them were always different each time. And it is here - if anywhere - that Eclair Espoir, worn out utterly, must rest.

Must have warm compresses applied to her back. Must have healing potions mixed into her tea. Must rest, despite the world demanding that a hero step up to save it once again, despite the weight of need that threatens to thrust the Violet Flash into the role of Heron - because there is one small, demanding woman who would snap in half if the world did not stop here. And Eclair Espoir would fold herself into eight pieces if that happened.

So here you must be. Who else is here, I wonder?

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[b]Outside Crew![/b]

The huntswomen of the Serigalamu ride goblins. This is known! The strange creatures of dream, wrestled into tameness, each mount unique in its own way. They hang handcrafted saddles upon their backs, and place their lunches beneath the saddle, and hang blankets and yurts and ropes wherever purchase can be found.

There's typically a ring in the horn on the front of the saddle, and that's for the sluzhanka, Hazel. The rope around your wrists loops through the ring, keeping you prim and proper and squished between horn and rider. Khan Mikela's mount is a golden leopard, spotted with rosettes, with the long neck and head of a serpent, which might bring to mind one of the princesses still vying for your hand.

Off in the distance, there are thunderstorms. The stars overhead hang low near the edges of the horizon, as if attempting to get a closer look at my world. The air is charged with little lightnings. These are not good omens, let me be clear.

"So, little hero," Mikela says to Yuki (who has been granted the honor of riding one of the smaller goblin-beasts, though this [i]did[/i] involve wrestling it into submission). "Do you have a plan for standing up against the Khatun herself? She's the next ruler of all Thellamie, unless I beat her and take her crown and her victory - and even I wouldn't give good odds on that. The maids? Off the board. The goddess? Somehow, off the board. From what you've said, you've cleared the Rot Star, too. So how the hell are we going to win this, hero?"

It's an actual question. She believes that you, the hero who defeated the Mirror Star, will have some ace up your sleeve that will bring her victory and make [i]her[/i] ruler of all Thellamie with a cute deerboy as a consort.