Anarion

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

No. No and no and no. Giri's a mountain girl! She grew up in simple places. She ran off with one of the local shepherd's girls who had the prettiest brown hair that was soft like moss and rolled in the field at 16 and called it wondrously comfortable. They even parted amicably! Fun times, hope to see you again, knew it couldn't last and all.

Of course, she's been to the city, stayed in inns and slept in nice beds. But Giri is a traveling witch. She can't stay in one place for long and even in a noble's mansion she gets the guest bedroom and simple treatment. Enough coin to go about yes, but not near enough to lavish like one of the daughters of heaven upon her own pleasure barge!

And there's something about this. It's been a day of beautiful learning. Of safety and the jingling of her collar as Red Wolf moves her fingers about, and of taking what she wants and breaking all the taboos to get it. But this, too, is new and special. The poetry fills her ears and her mind in a way that all the physicality of earlier can't quite do on its own. It's like it carries her away. She imagines herself atop Mount Meru receiving a garland of flowers even as her mind lazily dwells on the metaphor. It's not hard to attribute conquest to Red Wolf, but to be the subject of it and compared even lightly to such grand things fills her with a giddiness all its own.

Her own mind races too as is her wont. The mountain was the symbol of strength and of endurance, the pink mountain flower holding the meaning of gentleness or kindness arising in a rugged place. A symbol of hidden beauty and unexpected kindness. It was also one of the symbols of the N'yari. Which is what led Giri to whisper "I could take you to the mountains. To the hidden trails and the valleys. The N'yari, at least the ones that aren't divine spirits in disguise, would accept you there with me. I've helped them too, wandering the Flower Kingdoms. They see you as a challenge you know, a romance not just a conquest."

She smiled and traced her own finger across the Red Wolf's shoulder and down the arm, slowly and gently, and lay on those comfortable sheets hoping the night would last forever.

Sunshards

"We could just let them crash the ship." Chen brushes a stray tail out of her face as she stands with Rose at the prow of the giant cruise ship they had commandeered for this purpose. She's got her hair tied back in a short ponytail, a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on her head just below her leopard ears, and a light blue Hawaiian shirt with little pineapples on it above her short skirt. Her tail flicks nervously behind her, and she puts a hand on Rose to hold herself up as she stares off the prow at the distant shoreline and tries not to look at any of the nearby foxes.

When she'd made the promise to Cyanis, she had figured cutie fox island was going to have thirty, maybe thirty five foxes. Something reasonable, maybe a few would have lots of tails, a few would be like Cyanis, they'd cram them all on a little yacht or something and be back across the water in an hour, then they could all scatter and grant wishes and the kingdoms would be a bit more chaotic and happier for it.

So, imagine her shock when Cyanis had said that the little yacht she'd initially brought in wasn't big enough and they'd need to ask at the port for a cruise ship. Imagine, if you will, the moment when Chen's fluffy new ears drooped in time with her tail and she just stood there for a moment and sighed deeply. But how could she say no as Cyanis wagged her two fluffy tails fast enough that it seemed like she might shoot into the air at any moment and wiggled her whole body with joy? She couldn't, and thus they found themselves on a proper cruise ship.

Now, when they'd arrived, the foxes had been cooperative. At least, they had all flooded onto the ship, which was kind of like being cooperative. They were smiling and crinkling their eyes and some of their were little flufferdoodles racing about and laughing while others were walking very cutely and beautifully in their fancy kimonos. But they one and all got onto the ship because it was new and exciting and of course they wanted this. They just couldn't keep their focus for more than ten seconds, so chaos had broken out the second the board ramp pulled in. Okay, actually, it had broken out when the second to last group had tried to kick out the boarding ramp from below the last group and then they'd all jumped for it and Rose had been buried in three foxes and seven tails among them while Chen tried to catch two tiny floofs at the same time without dropping anything or getting her clothes all chormped. We'll call that one a mixed success.

So now here they were and the ship was in chaos and there were problems. Chen sighed again.
"Okay seriously. Dear sweet Rosepetal, you actually know how to deal with this, right? Do we use Keron's playbook and try to force all the foxes in line? Do we just run around putting out fires and hope we make it back to shore in one piece? Or do we just relax, let them tie us up, and wait for the inevitable sunk ship?"

Sunshards

Chen smiled. No no no, Chen beamed. No no, that’s not it. Chen takes over for the setting sun and lights up the world.

This was a gift to her. A special sort of gift. It was sort of like the gift that Yue had given Qiu, but Qiu was in a dark place and so she didn’t believe she’d received it until she was done. Chen knows what she’s been given here, and it only took her one sequence from Hyra to lock in. This is the duel in its purest form, a chance to be completely free. Hyra’s offering something special here, mixing in a new style with her tricks, and Cyanis is laughing as she draws her katana with that special fox laugh, and Chen smiles because a little angel came down to earth and turned it briefly into heaven just for her.

Can you see it from your bound little perch, Yue? The way your dear friend’s face just lights up, the way that even up in the air and far away you can tell her eyes are shining and sparkling?

For a moment, the world hangs frozen. It’s like a droplet of water poised to fall from the tip of an icicle. Then Chen burst forth in a shower of sparkles glittering past the outstretched rays of the twilight sun and they were all dancing.

Every night, every night
We’ll be forever
Every night, every night
Time ceases to be

Fly, twirl, press, step, laugh, caress!

Cyanis hasn’t finished brandishing her katana and laughing when Chen’s inside her guard and they dip together, sword guiding Cyanis’ helpless arm, one of her tails involuntarily twirling about Chen’s leg as the momentum carries them in a dance away from the rushing Hyra.

I dream of wishes
All I see are foxes
Come dance with me
I’ll set you all free

There’s a brush of fluff and a thrush as the lace of a maid skirt flows over a fox’s bare leg. A flail and a breathless hug as the rush of the sword blows past the fox’s cheek, so close she gasps as Chen pulls her in. She whispers “I promise to free them too” and there’s a giggle. They dip and a thrown shuriken passes overhead like a shooting star in the twilight, hot and furious. Then Chen pushes with no weight and Cyanis is falling, falling, falling like a fluffy shooting star all her own. Tails twirling in freefall until they touch the grass not far from the little shrine, the tree, and Yue.

Dancing alone
Just the Northern Wind
The swirling snow and ice
Finding our own Hyperborea

Hyra throws another shuriken and rushes behind it. Blades meet like lightning and there’s a flurry of strikes through the air as the two duelists clash and part. Blades whistle and sing as they compare technique: sight against speed and bluff against reaction time. They’re dancing through the air and a storm begins to swirl around them. Faster and faster until…

Dance together
Join hands within the wind
Our joy is just beginning
All new worlds to live

They’re flying past one another, swords catching and swirling in the storm above the temple. They strike like falcons on the dive. Swoop and dive, talons extended as they deflect with a loud clang. Armor flashes and apron skirts flap as they fly apart and up, gain altitude and dive again. They soar and they weave, and always there is the clash as talons meet and part. The partings become longer, the weaves more complex, the flights faster and faster until…

Laughing wildly I call
Chase me, come catch me
Come on, come on
You can’t run that fast on two legs!

Light flares from the sunshards and the two are running on the grass across the hilltop right past Yue, Qiu, and Cyanis, diverting around Rose, Kat, and the Pyre as they come up parallel. Hyra barks and bares her fangs and Chen growls and swishes her new fluffy gray and black tail behind her for balance! It becomes wolf vs. leopard as the two vie for an opening, racing back and forth across the hill! The wolf is stronger, but the leopard’s more agile and so they bound back and forth in long looping circles. They leap higher and higher until…

Fly with me
You don’t need wings
I hear you calling me
Don’t let the world hold you

There’s a flash and they’re back in the sky, wolf and leopard running in the wind. They clash in the sky like little deities of this new shrine, unbound by any laws of the world. Tooth and claw etched upon lighting and silhouetted by stormclouds.

This one passes beyond sight. Higher and higher in the clouds. Why shouldn’t it? When you’ve stopped caring about time, when the hearts of stars want to see your performance, it’s going to carry into the heavens and dance before the last light of the last sun on the horizon. They’re not wolf, nor cat, nor girl anymore but wearing forms exactly of their choosing, swords in hand, sparks flying with each blow as though the god of the forge were reworking the night sky.

There’s a magic there that Chen would paint if she could double herself and watch her own performance. It’s the same magic she keeps seeing, the way that the sun, the moon, and the light and the shadow all merge together to make such beautiful colors. The way those colors reflect off swords and armor, fur and fang, the most perfect reds and oranges, blues, and purples that she could ever imagine. She’s so completely immersed in it that she never wants to stop.

Hold the world instead
Hold love close
Make but one thing
And you make the world

For a time it seems like it might be that way. Chen would lose herself in the joy and Hyra in the performance. They could carve themselves into the stars as new constellations forever. But there are people waiting for them down below. And besides that, it is the nature of duels to end.

In the end, it is not Hyra sitting atop a sunshard as they descend to earth, but little Chen, sword in one hand resting over her lap. As she descends, she’s busy smoothing down the fluff of her maid skirts, which are now being sent every which way as her extra fluffy snow leopard’s tail flicks from side to side experimentally.

Hyra rests beside Chen, exhausted and panting, but not sent hurtling back down to the hilltop. Her armor still gleams in the moonlight and her hair, now loose and scattered, somehow looks even more gorgeous.

In the end, the difference was that Chen had promised after the sky castle that she wouldn’t hold back anymore, that she wouldn’t insult her opponents by hesitating. So she refused to give up and a lifetime of training for this thing she loved had let her hold out past Hyra’s endurance.

As they come to the hilltop, Chen has a special glance for Qiu, equal parts pride and embarrassment. This duel had been planned for her originally. It hadn’t been needed, but Chen wanted her to know that she was ready for that too. That she had been ready if Qiu and Yue hadn’t already worked things out. Even after having her whole body thrown by her foe’s mouth, she had come back and she wanted to fight Qiu when the time was right. It wouldn’t be like that again. It never should have been, and she was embarrassed that it had.

When her feet finally touch starlit grass, she runs first to Rose to show her what happened, what’s she’s done with a new shard! But of course, she finds her with the Pyre utterly lost. She humphs and straightens up her dress before licking her fingers and pinching out the candle.

“Who said you could take a break, maid Petal?” Chen’s finger is under Rose’s chin, lifting up those eyes to look at Chen’s new fluffy speckled triangle ears as she towers above the prostrated Rosepetal. Chen is shaking her head affectionately, that smile on her face that she can never manage to keep off when she’s having fun. “Your job was to distract an army and, obviously, to protect your mistress and instead I find you napping! You’ve been terribly naughty, Petal. I’ll expect you to make it up to me later.” Chen picks up the candle and slips it into a pocket of her apron. “I imagine this might be useful for that too~” she says, offering her most convincing kitty smile. “Now apologize properly to your Lady as well.” And here Chen curtseys to the Pyre of Meaning and bows her head. “Apologies for the inconvenience my lady.” If she weren’t grinning so hard and with such a feral grin in all of this, everyone watching might even believe her prim and proper act.

Last of all, Chen pads her way over to where Yue is tied up by the tree, near Qiu and where Cyanis so gracefully landed when she was pulled out of the sky. “I know you put them all up to this” Chen says to the tied up girl. “Not to mention whatever happened between you and Qiu first. And uh, whatever you all did to Yin.” Chen flicks her tail appreciatively…probably at least. She’s still working on figuring out the tail, but she flicks it and she means it to be appreciative, plus she accompanies it with a smile to show what she’s getting at.

She stares for a moment, and then bends down and gives Yue the biggest little hugs she’s ever gotten! “This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. I don’t know how to repay you, Yue, but by every right you have claim over that sunshard there, if you want it. Even though I’m having a lot of fun with it so far.” Chen flicks her new fluffy snow leopard’s tail in front of her for emphasis, brushing it past Yue’s face so she can feel how soft it is.

“Oh, there is one little matter though.” Here Chen’s wearing the same face she usually has for teasing Rose, though she’s taking a bit more of a chance with Yue. “There was something about sending a fox army to assault my handmaiden and threatening to conquer Ys, I think? So, I’m not sure if I can untie you just yet. No, I think we’ll have to march you back into the city just like that first. Don’t you think?”

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

The funny thing about a collar is how freeing it can be. All this pressure Giri had been placing on herself and now it's outside of her. Red Wolf has pronounced her punishment and it's a fair one all things considered. More than fair really, though Giri hasn't yet been challenged by having service to the Dominion pit against her beliefs. So far, Red Wolf has been cunning and careful.

Here, it's like a weight has been lifted off Giri's shoulder and moved to her collar, to her captor. That's a good weight, a pleasant weight. She lifts a finger and jingles the bell experimentally. It's tinkling sound is bright and cheery. It's nice. She smiles openly and freely if Cathak Agata is happening to look. She might not be though, not with her hair pulling and her breath on Giri's neck so warm and thick.

It's funny though, the way that freedom feels. She's starting to feel a bit recovered, a bit more energetic than she has since the series of portals to hell. She stretches her shoulders, a slow, thoughtful lift up and release. Giri's a big woman, and Red Wolf can feel herself rise an inch as those shoulders flex. In Giri's eyes there's a feral gleam all her own.

Only then does she answer. "You seem to be the only here, Agata." Of course that was intentional. It's practically over the top and cliche to leave off the title like that. It's like holding up a big sign making her choice and also a bit of a test. Does she tense atop Giri? Does she grow angry? How sincere was her offer?

To Giriel's delight, the Red Wolf does not go stiff and cold at her name bereft of its titles. And so Giri rolls over, flipping her host to the floor with the inevitability of an avalanche and turning all her bulk upon her. Giri is warm too, but differently from Agata. Giri's is the warmth of strength and substance, of being able to envelope someone in an embrace that covers all of them. She takes in Agata now, burying that heroic face in her chest, her sturdy arms fully surrounding Red Wolf's shoulders as they squeeze with an urgency that sends a shudder running through both women. Then Giri's hands begin working down her host's back, pressing and massaging, searching for the right spots to make even the Red Wolf moan with pleasure.

All the while, Giri's collar jingles merrily, each shift of her arms and her chest sending it bouncing anew, lest anyone forget who's the master here. Of course, Red Wolf could move any time she pleases, but she offered to fulfill the role of the attendant and Giri has so much want built up in her. Enough that she can no longer wait, enough that when her burden of guilt was pulled from her she leapt at the chance, enough that for a moment the two women are one. The whole world is the touch and the smell of each other as Giri pulls Red Wolf's lips to her own and kisses her urgently, deeply, passionately. She breathes in the Red Wolf and presses herself into her, tongue and teeth and breath, pressing until she can feel a tiny dribble of blood from Agata's lip.

Only then does she release for breath, still holding the Red Wolf tightly beneath her, satisfied with herself for the first time since the hells.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

If you'd taken Giri out to tea (or perhaps a lot of sake) and asked her how she imagined this going, it was not this. She certainly had not imagined answering for her wrongs and the wrongs of her profession tied up with a scion of the dominion held close to her. But even if you'd posed this exact scenario, what she'd have told you over drinks was that she wanted to be strong, stoic, willing to accept what fate had dealt her and face her fate with dignity and grace.

Which makes the deep blush coursing its way through Giri's whole body all the more difficult to bear. She can speak but she has no words as Red Wolf drapes herself over Giri's body. The weight of her and the warmth, gosh it's so much! Red Wolf is far more than mortal and the blood of the dragons coursing through her makes Giri's heart flutter. It's heat and touch, pressure along her back and shoulders, almost like a stone massage. Her muscles loosen and the sound that escapes her mouth is a sign of pleasure.

It almost hurts. In her head there is pain and apology, and more than a little indignation, but her body wants only to relax into the ropes and the grip, for Red Wolf to dig those talons of hers deeper under Giri's chin and stroke the neck just shy of drawing blood. She wants Red Wolf to hold her whole head and bury it between her thighs. She wants it all, and she can't even move or see.

"I'm sorry" she says and through her pleasure it barely sounds like she means it, but she does. Perhaps Red Wolf is so experienced in such matters of physical pleasure that she knows what it sounds like when someone sincerely means what they're saying yet sounds silly because of the pressures their body is putting on them. Or perhaps she expects the impossible out of Giri and wants dignified respect even as she drunkenly wraps herself about her captive. If so, she will be disappointed.

Through her sighs and her cuddles, Giri does eventually manage to get out a few sentences though. "It was the only way I could think of for a spell to get such a big group out of the hells. I didn't want to hurt Piripiri but it was the only way I know. I wasn't strong enough to do better, please tell her I'm sorry." And then a moment later, after she's had a chance to just breathe and can speak again, "I finished your first request. The spirits are calm, and Peregrine, the witch who was doing that spell, she's busy elsewhere now."

That's as much as she has to offer. Even getting that much out through the teasing has her panting, and it's obvious she's at war with herself not to simply moan and beg Red Wolf for more. She wants more. She wants it bad. If Red Wolf would just massage her back and work one of those hands further down and down she'd lose all thought entirely.

And here's the thing: she's letting Red Wolf know it, her body responding to every touch and pressure with sharp breaths and moans she can't hold back. That hand works its way so carefully along her back, first lightly, then harder, pressing on the muscles and pushing against the knots. Giri lets out a low moan of pleasure and leans in as much as the ropes will allow her. That hand keeps moving down, down over the lower back and to the butt squeezing her cheeks tightly and then lower still as Giri lets go of all words and relaxes into the Red Wolf's ministrations.

[Giri is rolling to entice the Red Wolf. 4+2+2-2=6. A miss.]

Sunshards

At an izakaya, serving pancakes

Let’s get one thing straight. Chen absolutely expected the Pyre to have a little fun with her Rosepetal while she was cooking. That was part of leaving her! Part of the maid experience. Chen was the skilled maid who was directing the experience, Rose was the bimbo maid who was there to be teased and silly even when she was unexpectedly competent. So Chen ducking out of the scene to cook the pancakes wasn’t just abandoning Rose to the Pyre’s machinations, it was an invitation! That was the fun of it all!

Even so, Chen had to stop as she exited the kitchen with her plate heaping full of chocolate chip pancakes, whip creamed bottle tucked into her skirt to draw the smiley faces. She has to stifle a laugh and a blush, and she can’t stifle the grin. Uh oh Rose, the Pyre had gotten straight to the cuffs and now you were locked up oh so tight! Tighter than Chen had been when you’d wrapped her hands in the old world caution tape and trussed her up on a stick! Don’t think she’s forgotten! In fact, her first thought is that she’s going to have to get you back for that trussing while you’re like this and put you up on a pole for people to play with. Oh oh, or maybe over a fire pit as though you’re going to be a sacrifice to the nearest deity. In fact, she would bet that the nearby deity would come down just to tease you, oh yes that will be great! Just add that one to the idea bin that occupies a small corner of her brain.

But Chen has pancakes to serve and smiley faces to draw! So, she slides out of the kitchen, her feet in their heels perkily clicking as she crosses the floor to you both. She sets down the plates oh so gently, and pulls out the can of whipped cream with a flourish to properly shake it. She smiles, and a little blush enters her cheeks as she looks at her Rosepetal over the Pyre’s lap, but she stays strong and makes her follow through on the flourish by putting the cherry down daintily to complete the pancake presentation.

Only then, only after things are served and she’s curtseyed properly to her mistress, does she calmly suggest “Mistress, if it please you, I can take my co-maid off your hands while you eat.” Because it will obviously please the Pyre, she’s already sliding Rosepetal off the Pyre’s lap and onto the plush lime green cushions of the booth seating on one side of the table. She’s not taking the cuffs apart though, not yet. Instead, she takes her own seat as the Pyre begins on the pancakes.

Chen tuts. “Petal, goodness, I can’t leave you for a moment can I?” She puts a hand over Rose’s mouth, shushing even her moans and pressing her gag in more firmly. “No no, I come back and you’re all tangled up!” Chen smiles as she brushes a hand over Rose’s wrists. Her touch is gentle, not enough to pull them apart, but more than enough to make the skin prickle and the sensation rush through Rose’s body. Then she runs that hand down the legs, over the bare skin and the high socks and down to the ankles, feeling those tensed muscles held together by the cuffs. The soft rustle of fabric fills the space between the two and nestles in Rose’s ears as Chen enjoys the feeling of touching her over these lovely clothes. For a moment that the light rustle of a hand running over the fabric and nearby the clink of the Pyre’s silverware are the only sounds. Chen lets it linger before she speaks, “maybe I should leave you like this, hm? Suggest that the Pyre command you to follow us without separating your legs or hands. That would remind you how to be a good girl, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it be fun to be desperately trying to keep up and falling all over yourself hopelessly?” She grins. Does she mean it Rose? The Pyre isn’t going to be eating forever and Chen seems to be quite enjoying her freedom running that hand up and down your thighs and along the inside of your belly. She’s thinking about whether she ought to feed you first, the servants’ meal while the Pyre enjoys a drink, but she ultimately decides better of it. There is work to do after all and she doesn’t have time to do all that work with your gag. “Well, my silly handmaiden, lucky for you today that there’s still an order of knights that we need to clean up. So I guess I’ll have to free you. But we’re making up for lost time later and you’re absolutely forbidden from taking those cuffs off until I say so.” Thus at last Chen grins and slowly, gently, pulls your wrists apart and then your legs, making no effort to avoid leaning her small but ample chest right into you while she’s doing it.

Fireworks over Ys

The little group leaves the Izakaya and heads towards the walls. It’s not far, they were nearly there already from their route catching demons before they reached the Izakaya. They do need to deal with the knights and Yin. Chen’s plan had been to simply roll that into the maid routine, part of the city cleanup, so to speak. She was going to high heel drop kick Yin when she saw her because oh boy did that Princess have it coming. Chen assumed that her Mommy’s forces would have already thundered down the main causeway while she had been busy and then fanned out along the walls, so they would have a fairly easy time. Or if they hadn’t they would be soon. Mommy Ysel did have a knack for timing if nothing else, and she might be waiting until the sunset just to make sure that the light gleamed off the soldiers in their regalia properly. It had to be set up so the minstrels and bards described them as the spirits of legend come down to Ys in their gleaming ranks, the twilight air blurring them with the heavens. Something like that at any rate. Maybe Chen was just feeling dreamy with how everything was going.

Her musing is interrupted by the sudden whistle boom of fireworks overhead. A whole series of them suddenly go off in sequence, red and white one after another in the shapes of starbursts and flowers in the sky. But Yin’s colors were black and white, her stark radiance night and day thing. Red and white were Hyra’s colors which meant…it’s then that Chen sees her. Wordlessly she taps Rose and points, gesturing upwards to the sky past the walls. There she was, hovering over a little hill with a shrine and a fountain from which a small waterfall pours down the hillside. A less enraptured Chen would have found the scene odd because she was sure such a hill shrine had never been there before in all the years she’d spent in Ys. But the sight is mesmerizing and Chen has no attention for such observations. The sunshard illuminates Hyra with an ethereal light, merging with the deep blues of the sunset to make her look transcendent, as though she were infused with all of reality, spotlit from within.

Chen simply stares for a moment, trying to commit the sight into her memory, to burn the ghostly image of Hyra above that hilltop into her brain. She is going to paint this, from the war topknot in lunar white to the deepest blues of the steel merging with the sky behind. Oh, oh if only she had all her painting things now she’d pull them out immediately, at least mix colors until she got the hues just right before going up there. She could keep the pigments, bottle them up for later. But she hasn’t been carrying her paints and her brushes since all that time ago when she left them with Qiu, and besides she couldn’t have kept them on her anyway when changing into a maid dress.

“Come mistress, we should go see about the commotion, I’m sure there’s quite a story up there.” Chen offers the Pyre another curtsy, and gestures for Rose to follow as well (Rose, of course, does not receive a formal address since she is the lower-ranked maid at this point, but Chen does give her another warm smile and a gentle tug). Then Chen draws her sword and begins a lazy flight up toward the hill, trying to see what there is to see without outpacing Rose or the Pyre as they work their way up.

A hill shrine held by an army

As Chen gets a look at the hilltop, the first thing she sees is the cast of characters all spread out. Yue is tied up and gagged, placed against a little pine tree near the shrine entrance and looking full damsel in distress. Yin is at the base of the shrine, unbound but begging for mercy and bowing before her new master high above. And near her, lying on the open ground, is Qiu who is also tied and gagged. She’s got her tail up with the tip coming out past the top of the ropes. That tail is twitching as she’s squirming against the bonds in a way that says I’ve got this under control but also involves some very active rolling about. Above them is Hyra, with her moonlight armor, her gorgeous new hairstyle, and her flashing sword, as lightning bolts cut through the sky to backlight her. Last, in front of them all, holding the hilltop and looking as fierce as Chen has ever seen her (ignore the breadcrumbs around her mouth), the illustrious Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits. Chen gives that fox one look, meeps out loud and races back down from her flight to hide herself in a hug with Rose!

Now, she might also be smiling and giggling a little, and this might actually be an excuse to give Rose a big squeezy hug in the process. But what’s important is that Chen understands that the hilltop is being held by a very powerful army and that anyone who underestimated Kat was in for the chormping of a lifetime!

So Chen snuggles into Rose and looks up at her with the biggest saucer eyes. “Oh Petal. Hyra’s defeated all the other princesses and seized a sunshard and and and she’s got a fierce and terrible army holding the hilltop. The most fierce. Only you can distract them and make an opening for me to duel Hyra for the safety of Ys and freedom for Yue and Qiu! Pleeease!”

On the matter of wolf princesses with very hot armor

Now, let’s be clear here. Does Chen think that Hyra could have taken Yin and stolen her shard? Absolutely. In fact, if you thought about what happened at the Sky Castle, it probably wasn’t even hard. Yin might be the single easiest Princess to distract in all the nine kingdoms. So count that as one problem solved. Chen is only a teensy bit disappointed that this is not an appropriate situation for a maid drop kick.

But Chen does not believe for a second that Hyra would ever hurt Yue and she’s pretty darn skeptical that either of them could get Qiu into that spot if Qiu didn’t want to be in it. Not to mention that there’s no way that Kat would be guarding the hilltop if Yue were in real danger.

But! But but but! It was clear that a duel was required! Hyra didn’t get all dressed up like that just to pose for a photoshoot! And whoever had masterminded this little stunt (Yue, it was obviously Yue, Yue did it) wanted to see a proper duel with all her heart. Which meant that Chen, all dressed in her maid outfit with her sword gleaming in her hand, was going to need to go for Hyra one on one while Rose distracted Kat.

Gosh, had Chen ever told Yue this particular fantasy? Yue had seen her in the maid outfit working for Cyanis of course. That’s how they’d met, Chen blushing for all she was worth while offering Yue her sword in the face of a whole countryside racing after Qiu’s bounty. But the duel as a maid part? Chen hadn’t even really been anticipating that, she was so confident in Yue that getting to Qiu had been the very last thing to do on her list for today and nobody else had been all that likely to offer a proper duel. But maybe Yue had simply understood it from all their training together, and the precise way Chen moved in that little maid dress cleaning that simple shrine months ago. Yue had seen Chen’s heart and realized that Chen wanted a showdown like this to get her first shard more than anything.

The Pyre of Inspiration, of course, was going to get a front row seat to the action. And sure, that did mean that if it all went wrong then Hyra might seize three sunshards all for herself and become the new and terrible wolf princess overlord of the nine kingdoms. But really, that didn’t sound too bad either. Not that Chen was about to let it happen. She had a duel to fight! R-right after Rose distracted the army standing in the way!

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giriel's heart skips a beat when the scribe begins speaking. And then when Piripiri brings her hand forward, it simply sinks to her feet. There's no shot of adrenaline, no burst of defensiveness. She simply slumps. She'd known of the possibility of course, and Piripiri had been nursing her wound, it wouldn't have been hard to notice. But she had hoped that...that she'd be believed. That after all this, after all she'd done, the way Red Wolf had celebrated her, she had hoped for the benefit of the doubt, had even been confident in it. Drunk and relaxed and willing to simply share what she knew.

But no. She had committed sacrilege for dark magic, and though it had won their freedom, that was how it was going to be. Perhaps she ought to run. Or to fight and make a show of herself. But that too seemed pointless. Cathak Agata, the Red Wolf had them all in her jaws and a small army at her beck and call. For all her strength and learning, Giri was not a fighter, she had barely even begun to study the sort of magic that would let her be a fighter, and it seemed a damn fool's errand to try it now. Besides that, she wouldn't give the damn scribe the satisfaction of watching her struggle. Twice now, twice she'd been in the presence of this heavenly spirit and all that had happened was all her affairs thrown into disarray. She would not, not, not let it happen a third time.

So she simply let the guards approach her. She deserved her punishment, deserved to suffer for what she'd done. She should never have trusted that she'd be believed, that when it actually came to something hard to swallow that anyone would trust her skills, her learning, or her experience. No, she was an idiot for believing in Red Wolf that way. She'd known it too, and been lulled anyway. She was...

...a jolt went through her at Red Wolf's words. She shouldn't. Shouldn't trust. Shouldn't believe. It was a fool's errand. But, she wanted to so badly. She wanted to trust Red Wolf, wanted to be close to her. Her thighs and her chest ached to be close to her, to curl in upon her and rest her head upon those strong shoulders and snuggle close. She wanted it desperately and so she believed when she shouldn't.

When the guards approached, she let them bind and gag her. As a witch, the binding is significantly more thorough than it might be for a regular prisoner. The guards pull her arms behind her and tie them with Agata's well-made silk ropes. First hands closed around each other and then tied around the wrists tight enough that she can't pull her hands apart to prevent any sort of magical signs and gestures. Then again just above the elbows so that she can't move her arms away from her body nor her hands up from her butt. The cloth gag they stuff into her mouth so she cannot speak any spells and then bind it with one of Agata's red silk scarves behind her head so she cannot speak beyond a moan and can utter no spells. And finally there is the blindfold, this too of red silk wrapped twice about her eyes so she cannot see through it to remark upon her confines or be able to call upon the local gods that might reside with her.

Her trust, then, is to not only accept the inevitable but to relax into this. Had she known that she was following the best teachings of Piripiri, perhaps the two would have felt greater sympathy. But regardless, there is nothing more for her. Robbed of two senses, she is led by the guards not unkindly. One pulls her direction by a rope and the second stands by her side so that she doesn't trip as they escort her from the hall to be even more at the Red Wolf's mercy than she already was.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

"She saved all of us in hell" Giri purrs, lounging at Red Wolf's side.

Giri is caught between many things right now. Caught up in Red Wolf's aura, yes, but also there was a question that Red Wolf just asked the room, one that Giri knows the answer to with a clarity unmatched by anyone else present save Fengye herself. Why shouldn't she rush to please her host with her information? And on to that there is a worry nagging at her mind about this little scribe and the divine spirit that is with her. She doesn't know how that works, hasn't pieced it together yet, her mind feels like it's moving through molasses right now. But isn't that even more reason to share this information? To leave it to a hero of the dragon-blooded who is surely experienced in such matters. There's also the fact that Giri is already on her third glass of sake and there are fewer barriers between thought and word than there might normally be.

"I don't know how it happened, but she's host sometimes to a divine spirit of the heavens, partial to Venus if the local gods of Turtlehead are to be believed." Giri takes another sip of her sake and plows forward.

"I still don't know her name, but I'm certain of it. I watched in the hells as this woman bound the General of the Broken King and reduced her to that maid wandering about over there." Giri chuckles and sips her drink again. Her demeanor is far less serious than it ought to be for revealing such dire news as that serving girl is actually an aspect of the broken king stripped of her power, but then again Giri has professional interest in the matter and she saw how thorough the ritual was. Her worries at least were minimal for the time being, even if she ought to be afraid of things going wrong down the line.

"I can't tell you why a heavenly spirit has deigned to grace us with her presence through this vessel" she says, her formality dripping with a hint of mockery given her past experiences with the spirit to date. "And as far as I can tell she has no agenda but to appear and work marvels regardless of whatever else is happening." Giri looks at Red Wolf, the smile on her face a mixture of was I a good girl and a relaxed warmth from the food, drink, and presence of the dragon-blooded. She, at least, had decided a while ago that this simply was what it was and had put it with the problems to be sorted in the future along with the Rakshasa, finding Ven, and figuring out how to keep Han together with her little girlfriend.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Life was meant to be lived. This was the lesson of the flower kingdoms. Everywhere, everyone and everything sought to revel in life. The rains fell vastly and the flowers sucked in the waters and ached towards the sun. The people congregated in the warmth of inns and homes, of good food and better drink amid the steam. In the mountains, the N’yari basked in their own strength and ever sought for challenge and dominance. The knights fought for fame and an ever growing retinue. And the witches too sought knowledge and were not afraid to practice their art. That was the lesson of the flower kingdoms. Life was for living.

So Giriel Bruinstead, who was large and hungry, and full of life yet, started to recover. First with rest and massage and soft cushions for muscles that had experienced days of walking and constant strain as she had put her whole self into maintaining the spell, had willed each and every body out of hell to their ultimate salvation. Her mind and her thoughts were simply not prepared to race ahead of such exhaustion and so first was to ease out that tension and breathe. To rest, to relax, and to let the magic of time do its work and restore her to life.

Then there was the matter of food and the banquet. Seated as she was by Cathak Agata, she felt that she ought to wait on her host, but the Red Wolf lived up to her name in many ways and seemed to have no hesitation at their meal (especially so when it pleased her guests for her to have such freedom) and so Giri in her turn chose to enjoy the banquet. There was fine sake in abundance, and peppered meat grilled with sweet, sticky rice. And from the rivers salted fish eggs with flavor that seemed to burst in her mouth and deserved to be savored one tiny bite at a time.

Nor let it be said that Giri was an ungrateful guest, for with each service and each delicacy, she thanked her host graciously, hands together, and offered a bow before she ate. Abundance was never to be taken for granted, no matter how common it seemed and Agata was being a gracious host indeed.

There was still a little fear gnawing at the back of Giriel’s mind. Many things, many people were out of place and she ought to worry about them. But sitting so close to Red Wolf, it was difficult indeed to remember why exactly she ought to be worried about them. And more pressingly was Agata herself, who seemed always somehow larger than life even at her rest. She always was the center of things. And Giri wanted her, wanted to feel her, touch her warmth, have her wrap her all up with those strong arms and stronger legs. Yes, Giri was hungry, and bold, and though she did not violate decorum, she sat as close as was permitted to her hostess, and even as she ate and drank, her eyes were not shy as she met the Red Wolf’s gaze and did not look away.

Sunshards

"Of course, mistress." Chen curtsies in her rags and immediately hops off the dais. "This way, mistress, if you please, we'll all need to change and I um...know a good place."

She does of course, Chen knows the city well and has been through the streets many a time despite Ysel's strict training regimen. It was the very nature of being a growing teen in a city of wonders that one had to partake of them, and it would not be the first time that Chen had gone to seek maid costuming in Ys, though it would be the most open she'd ever been about it. But nothing to be done there, she blushed and she led because that was how a proper servant had to be for someone new in town. She couldn't possibly let her mistress wander about by herself. Or her dear sweet girlfriend and helpless handmaiden. No, that's why she first offers her hand to the Pyre of Meaning to help her down properly and then to Rose in turn, who's still a little stunned.

How are you doing, sweet Rosepetal? For Chen this is a perfect combination of her own fantasies and Keron's training. But have you reverted to a silly ditz or are you managing a modicum of cute elegance from all that time in the Sky Castle? You probably trip and nearly fall right onto the Pyre of Meaning and Chen has to dig you both out, but be sure to tell us all about it!

Meanwhile lets get to the costumes. Ys is a city of wonders! It's full of all sorts of places, new and old all mixed together in a big hodgepodge, so of course you're going to find a tailor's shop with automated sewing machines and lace embroidery being done by hand all together. That's what puts the love into it!

Chen picks out for herself a short-sleeved maid dress with layers of wide poofy skirts. First there's the white underskirt and white leggings going down to her shiny high heels (the tallet she's looked to date, coming up nearly to match the Pyre's chest!). Then atop that she's got the main maid dress in its classic black with lots of ruffles going down her thighs to just above the knees and flaring out because of the underskirt. Then atop that she's got her white ruffled apron with lace edging that's only a few inches shorter than the black skirt and has some stitching to give it body. It gives the impression that her skirt is constantly billowing up because of the layers of fabric and she has to gather and smooth it down constantly, and it makes her look wide and fluffy. Above that she's got the dress gathering in around the waist and coming up over the breasts and shoulders but leaving her upper chest bare-skinned. There's a layer of frilly white lace going across the top of the breasts to join with the puffy lace shoulders of her apron which flare up on both sides both going to her black short sleeves which cut off well above the elbow. To complement, she wears a lace choker with a black ribbon holding it in place around her neck and of course a proper white headpiece with ruffled folds in her hair. And because she's a Princess, her one affectation is to set a single diamond in her headpiece, adding just a little sparkle. Lastly, after a moment's thought, she gets a set of dark gray kitty ears like the snow leopards she's been imagining and adds that to the ensemble as well. It's not quite the same as a sunshard, but it gets the effect across.

For sweet Rosepetal, well, Chen lets her pick out her own clothes because a good maid should be able to dress herself, but when they get in, she insists on adding a diaphanous white silk scarf over the top of the Pyre's handkerchief, tying it about Rose's face and behind her neck just so, tight enough to give her a nice feeling of constant pressure but not so much that it hurts. And through the translucent material you can still make out the purple of the Pyre's handkerchief stuffed into her mouth behind it. Chen gives her a pat and tells her sweet little Rosepetal to go and pick out the rest of her outfit now that she's properly shut up by her Princess.

Only then, when they're done does Chen pose for the Pyre, offering a proper curtsy and then a cute nyan with her hands up together by her neck making little pawsies with her fingers. Then she pulls Rosepetal into a pose (the silly thing!) and they both twirl together and giggle, or as much as Petal can manage through her gags.

But that's not all, they can't be done just because they got dressed, oh no no no. There's still a battle going on in the city and the Pyre asked them to help repair things. A good maid always carries out her mistress' will! And a better maid does it before her mistress even fully comprehends it. Which is why once dressed, Chen turns to the Pyre (who by the by ought to have picked out her own outfit, a proper servant hardly left her mistress wanting for dress!). "This way please, mistress. We must hasten!" and somehow she's still got her sword slung across her back, no harm done to the dress as she smoothes it out almost to the knees and then guides them outwards. There was a whole hoard of demons here after all and they need to be properly rounded up.

Chen darts expertly in and among the shops, stalls, street vendors, and bustling crowds. Now that the Pyre isn't in her procession they're amidst the crowd and the whole thing has become rather a spectacle of Ys for the day, no less awesome for its small scale than the vast beasts that had been fighting in the street just prior. After all, how often does a vast beast turn into a regular-sized demon with two elite maids waiting on her and rounding up all her various demon servants? Oh and they are everywhere. Chen has to bend down with all her thick skirts and pull them out from under carts and reach up on her little tippy toes to grab some that are trying to crawl up the rain gutters and the advertising banners. And poor sweet Rosepetal just keeps falling into them everywhere she goes, isn't that right?

But then there's still one last thing (and many more things still after that, but one last thing for now). After they've made their way down the street and back towards the gates, it's imperative, in fact utterly mission critical that they stop at a small izakaya and Chen duck into the back (poor Rosepetal, left to entertain the Pyre all by yourself, you'll have to manage for a few minutes) where she informs the owner that she'll need to assist with the cooking.

Now, Chen is not a baker on the same tier as Yue when it comes to amazing flavors and weird fish-eclairs. But she does know how to make pancakes and she did purchase some lovely chocolate chips in one of the shops while pulling out a strange little demon who kept talking about chefs made of some kind of metal. And so she's going to quickly and carefully take over the Izakaya kitchen and make a batch of the most lovely chocolate chip pancakes with cinnamon and just a hint of nutmeg. And of course, they're providing maid service here, so there needs to be a full and proper treat with this. That is why Chen serves them and draws a happy smiling face with the whipped cream, and then daintily places a cherry nose and, with a smile on her face to match the pancakes, presents the whole stack to the Pyre. "For your strength mistress" she adds, holding a deep curtsey once she's no longer holding the platter.

Because, well, she had to. She had to, and now they could get to all the radiant knights and princess Yin with no regrets!