Phoe

Breathless Dead

"Oh yeah? What, did you idiots just not shoot it with big enough lasers this whole time? You probably wasted half that time trying to debate it or something," Beljani rolls her eyes and huffs, "Thanks for the history lesson, Captain Sparky. Obviously it listened to me. It knows who Mommy is. Don't you, cutie?"

The dragon feels warm, curled up in her palm. It's tiny head feels nice on her finger where she rubs it, like brushing glass full of frosted etchings, and the tiny little horns are such a lovely stim that she might actually enjoy it more than the laser dragon does. It makes a sound that's half like a purr before it curls up into a ball and hides behind its glimmering wings, and even that's it's own kinds of mesmerizing. Beljani smiles with the quiet bliss of a first time pet owner. And then her eyebrow twitches, and her jaw clenches, and her spine locks unpleasantly stiff.

Ugh. Gods above, why did she say it like that? Knows who... damn it all, what is she gonna do with a pet? She didn't do anything! She didn't do anything! She just said stuff, just like always, and the stupid thing obeyed! Just like always! It didn't mean anything when it happened, even speaking these stupid ultimatums out loud was a dumb habit. Her virus did everything. This isn't. Doesn't. What is the matter with her? Just because it's from really far away, why should she feel bad about using it until it stops feeling good and then throwing it away? It's not like she's going to be the one putting any work into caring for the stupid thing.

But that thought opens the stupid hole in the pit of her stomach. So that's why, is it?

"Fine then, whatever. If that's how it's gonna be, I'm gonna name you 'Bella'. But you're not allowed to tell anybody, got it? In company it's 'hey dummy' or 'you little twerp', understand?"

Little Bella yawns through a crackle of energy that makes her entire arm uncomfortably warm. Beljani glares at the stupid lizard, but there's no point. It tilts its head curiously and nips at her nose, before it steps backward onto her fingers and spreads its wings to write more nonsense on itself.

Beljani stops and stares in disbelief. The ramifications of life from the other side of the Rift are lost on her. The idea that something could have made it through that yawning nightmare in the sky is so baffling and incomprehensible that she's not sure she even believes it's true. This is probably just some dumb thing a hermetic cooked up in a lab and forgot about when they lost their notes or something stupid like that. Or it's a, a... thing that fell off a spaceship a while back after someone tried to cross the Rift and burned to dust. It's not some new thing, Sparky has no idea what he's talking about, shut up. She's busy. She's busy, ok? There's only one thing that's important right now, and that's what made her go for a walk in the first place.

"No. No. Never mind. Never mind what I said just now. As far as the Empire's concerned your name is Scribe. Scribe, do you understand me? Come on, we're gonna go figure out what you eat. And then I'm gonna work on you until you sparkle. You're gonna shine, little star! My precious darling! My perfect, final apology letter, yes you are, yes you are!"

She spins around as fast as she'd like to imagine she could if she were born a Diodekoi instead of... herself. Her feet are lighter than the air around her. She tears through the room like a blade on the wind, knocking over the Magos and his half-attached legs on her way. What was he thinking, do it it there? She skids to a halt in the hallway, and pokes her head back into the workshop.

"...Get a move on already Sparky! We're doing science over here, and I need someone to tell me how it works! I've wasted so much time already, hurry up or I'm snapping all your limbs for good!"

Sunshards

Yue's been in all kinds of storms before, almost always on purpose. I mean, sometimes you're out on errands and it just starts to rain, but like, usually it's a choice you make to keep going and not just knock on someone's door or cozy up in a little cave or under a tree or whatever happens to be handy, y'know? The rain falls and the wind stings and you're just like... well, that medicine still needs gathering! Well, those tea leaves'll be ruined after this anyway! Well, I promised Ms. Water Deer I'd watch her children today! Well, I just plain don't feel like not dancing in the grove tonight! And so on, see? That's who Yue is.

One time she forgot what season she was in and she shrugged off the darkening clouds only to catch the fury of a summer storm, full of hail the size of a fox's paw. And Yue, she had nowhere to go but forward, so that's what she did. She dipped and ducked and dodged as best she could. She fought the sky with her umbrella and her silly wooden sword together, twin-blade style! Sometimes she was enough to avoid the falling ice, and other times it thwacked her so hard on the head or her back or her legs or her arms that she thought she was gonna die! There was no end to it, just Mama Sky unleashing blows so fast and furious she was helpless, like I said, to do anythin' but walk through 'em.

And so she did. And when she finally stumbled home she needed a blanket. And a very soft chair. And a bucket of hot water to rest her feet in. And a whole hot bath to soak the rest of herself in after that. And soft towels to wrap herself in after. And an empty house with only little fox friends to not judge her when she didn't put on clothes the rest of the night. And a whole bowl of warm onion broth to slowly, loudly slurp. It was a rough time, ok? She needed a lot to feel better after. But because she did it, she made it to the top of a new hill that day, and she'd never felt more accomplished about anything in her life. So nobody could tell her it wasn't worth the trouble.

Yue's never been in a proper duel before, it turns out. All her ones before were practice. Or they were play. Or very special dances with people whose stories she already understood, once or twice even before they did. But she's never dueled before, never fully figured out her very first lesson from her very first fighting instructor. She's never felt the rush of the dance of dares and daggers, where footwork is almost more important than swordplay, where grim smiles turn into flirty ones at the drop of a stone or vice versa, where the space of a wink is enough to get your head cut off because you're walking chest to chest in slow circles with your sword pressed against your opponent's neck, and hers on yours.

It's scary. It's so scary that she can't keep swallowing, gulping and gasping. It's so scary she drops into two completely unrelated flop sweats. It really ruins her attempts to be a flashy and charming dancer for this girl who was, in spite of everything and everyone she's known, the first to ask her if she wanted a challenge. The first to push her, to try and swallow her whole, to fight her for really really realsies and not because they wanted to teach her something. She's never done a dance of death like this and been forced to be so aware, so very incredibly aware of how sharp a sword really is. What it's really like to hold a blade to somebody else and just how much she's asking of herself and her partner every time she picks it up.

But it's also exciting. It's so exciting that her heart flutters like a dancing flame on a candle wick, and with her chest squeezed so tight against Qiu's there's no way she doesn't feel it too. And that's exciting, too. The warmth inside of her is hot and sticky. It's in her chest, it's running up and down her arms, it's welling in her stomach. It's between her legs. And so she dances, to make the flame burn brighter. To feel hotter and hotter and hotter until it's not sweat she has to worry about dripping everywhere. To share the feeling. To rise to the challenge. To be a figure from "the stories" and dance like she was born for it. To not let down her teachers or falter in front of this girl who was a hurricane, but instead take her warmth and share it.

Their feet cross in such a way that, for a fleeting instant, Yue's got control of the tempo. In this one second, she could do anything. A flick of her sword could disarm Qiu, or she could twist her hip and bring her to the ground. She could flourish her sleeve and blind Qiu for a decisive strike neither of them had a name for yet. Infinite possibility, inside this one little step.

She takes her chance. She leans forward and kisses this other girl full on the lips. Her face opens in a wide and very flustered grin, while her neck dribbles blood along the blade she'd pressed it into. And together they walk through a door, backwards in time.

(Don't worry, Hyra. Wolves mate for life. But your girlfriend is experiencing, like, twelve awakenings right now and how many times is she going to get the chance to kiss a Princess? I promise you, she will not begrudge you any of these same opportunities for as long as you live <3)

I think it's fair to say that Yue's danced before. With many, or against many, or however you want to say it. And I don't just mean on her way here, with the knights and the demons and the piles of assault ribbons! Though that was a lot of fun, too! But real warfare, erm... dancing is when you're dealing with a warren full of extremely antsy rabbits (EARs). There's so many! Hippity hop! Ity! And they're fast, wowzers they are fast and just, goshies, you'd think they wouldn't be very threatening but those teeth are actually terrifying and ouchie?

So just imagine, not a city but an entire society of bunbuns, all of them mad as all get out and flustered because they think you're there to hurt them and even speaking their language doesn't help any because they are just Extremely Anxious and Also Not Listening Rabbits (EAANLRs) and also you are much bigger than they are, which makes you untrustworthy by default. So you run and you zip and you dodge, you dance with the poor little buns and you don't even let your adorable forest fox best friend come out and... ok look I see the conflict of interest here, I'm just saying an extra pair of pawsies would, oh come on! It's boring in the bag! What do you think made me take up hobbyist narration in the first place?

Anyway. Qiu becomes armies, cities. She expresses them with a sweep of her blade. Yue responds by becoming the woods and the plains, and the gorgeous stretch of land by the river, and she dances through them as a single person might when she knows them all like the back of her hand, and suddenly there's nothing more to fear. It's not the feeling of being many, that's not a move that's in her fight vocabulary, but it is the feeling of infinity. When she's her own Terraced Lake, you see, it doesn't matter how many angles the dance takes place from, because the water has a place for them all. S'kinda funny this is how she approaches it, but you asked who Yue is, didn't you? Well here she is. She's a sillyhead who can do anything so long as she doesn't stop to think about how impossible it might be. And she reaches the end of another dance, and winds further back in time.

She's never been the villain in someone's story, unless you count Tianic. And Yue does not count Tianic as the kind of person who needs or wants to go about creating villains out of heroes. So she's never done it before. She's never been asked to rise this high, to storm this hard, to hold so much power in her body. It's new to her. It's a tingly sort of thrilling, actually. But only because it's temporary. If she had to hold this sort of energy and the expectation that she could bring ruin and calamity and disaster, or that she might be expected to stroll into a diner at odd hours and steal the smiles from everybody's hearts just for funsies, well if that was her life she'd just sort of dissolve into an ugly puddle, wouldn't she? But like this, right now, with someone safe to throw herself against? It's amazing.

Yue's dress glitters with all the seeming of the sun. Her sword sparkles against its terrible radiance as her hair pulls loose and flutters majestically behind her. Her back is straight, and she stands a hundred feet tall. Her delighted, dorky grin expresses itself as a deliciously evil smirk that calls lightning from the sky. She plants her sword in the ground and it lifts underneath her to form a shrine dedicated to love with water pouring from a thousand pipes in endless waterfalls and pools.

Do you think you can bring her death, silly Princess? Show her! Only the worthiest technique from the most pure hearted maiden can carry a blade all the way to her heart! Where Yue strikes, storms follow. She etches her entire soul into the land around her because it's fun. She leaps, and where her body passes it creates a whirlwind. She falls, and her body is a meteor that could purge the land clean, if it wanted to.

She does this all with the zeal of a girl who's never had power she could even think about abusing before. She spends money as somebody who's barely had enough to get by her whole life suddenly waking up to discover she's inherited a fortune and is afraid that if she doesn't blow it all at once she'll wake up again the next day to find it's all gone back to how it was. She falls farther and faster than any of her friends could probably think her capable of.

But it's a trust fall, y'know? She does it because there's someone there to catch her. There's a god-slaying sword she'll get to see, that'll fix everything and make all of indulgences turn harmless, but only if she storms hard enough, cackles darkly instead of giggling, and duels with the full fury of the proper Demon Swordswoman. The duel is about the duel, Princess Qiu. We move like this. Then like this. Now like this. Finishing like this. Again! Strike harder! The fight isn't won till you've knocked her from the skies and lifted her blushing head up with your blade!

She falls. She crashes through the final barrier. And on the other side she, she, she!

Oh ouchies. Ooooof. Mommy can she sleep in today? Sis said it's kay if she's got a good excuse, and her whole body feels like bruises now. Yue stumbles toward Qiu with, well, not so much determination as a lack of idea of what else to do. Her training has all been beaten out of her arms, her legs, her brain. She's got no stance except the ones she dreamed she might have when she was a little girl, reading the same four books in an endless loop instead of going to bed like a sillyhead.

She doesn't hold a sword anymore, but a stick. She's not ready for the real thing yet, and she couldn't afford one anyway. Swords are things for fancy city folk with access to good iron and lots of hot and skilled artists to beat all that metal into a pretty thing just for flyin' and dancin' and stealin' pretty girls' hearts with. But when you don't know what you're doin', a stick's as good as Excalibur. Anything she can pick up and swing could be a legendary blade in her arms.

Her lungs are burning. Her body is so drenched in sweat that four baths wouldn't be enough to clean her. Her gorgeous, perfect battle dress has been torn and cut up bad enough that she's gonna have to find a sewing wizard to put it back together again because it is so utterly, stupidly beyond her or even her sunshine to fix it by herself. And it's weird, right? Because it should make her want to cry, but all she does it fight. She ignores her aches, she ignores the blood and the way her cuts sting where they're covered with dirt and mud, and the twigs caught in her hair, and the sand in her... everything, ack, goshies, it's even in her mouth, ptui ptui pfeh! No wait, she's ignorin' it, ignorin' it I said! She just fights, because there's someone here in front of her who loves it more than anything, someone who's shown her so many stories in so short a time that it'd be rude to give up until she's good and ready.

Besides, it's not like there's anything left of Qiu the Threeshard Princess, either. This is not a legendary battleground for suave and sophisticated duelists. This is not a fight that anybody will sing of, where skills and powers they'll need new words to describe clash against each other like raindrops on a windowpane. This is not a place where experience and talent even exists to trump a useless novice like our precious, pretty Yue. This is just a couple of girls, all the way back at the beginning of the journey, waving tiredly at one another 'cause it's fun to do so.

The Wandering Tales of Yue the Sun Farmer, the final, strongest secret sword: Yes, I Love you! The Sword of Validation! Yue does not dance or duel because she has a story she wants to tell. Not one she wants to impose on anyone she meets, from the greatest fighter on the planet to someone who's picking up a weapon for the very first time in their life. It's a harder path she's born to walk, one cultivated from a lifetime of running with animals and caring for plants, and only ever taking what she needs. Do you know how Yue wins duels? The only way she can win and still stay herself? Well I'll tell you. She has to finish when her opponent's heart is fuller than she found it. She wins when they smile, she loses when they frown.

But that's not why her knees give out on her. That's not why she tumbles into a heap in front of Qiu. That happens for a much simpler reason: she's just not as good. Not as strong or fast or in as good of shape. She hit her limit before the Threeshard Princess. It is her face being lifted up, in the end. And she's got nothing left in the tank. Nothing she's got it in her tired, battered body left that she can to respond. Nothing except to sniffle, and then to cry. She punches the dirt.

"Darn it," she says, "Darn it! I almost had you! I swear I almost had you! I wanted... I wanted to win!"

She sniffles, loud and nasally and super duper undignified. And the true, final power of her Secret Sword is unleashed at last. She lifts a shaky hand to wipe her tears away as her face lights up in the sunniest smile she's got inside her. She laughs. She laughs so hard she snorts.

"Next time," she giggles this time, "Next time I'm gonna kick your butt. Or the next next time. Or the next next next next time. But I'mma get you! And when I do, you'll... owe me... a..."

Yue. Plain old silly Yue, flops forward just as tired as it's possible for a girl to be. She falls straight into Qiu's arms, and closes her eyes. See, sillyhead? She took your worst. And your best. She's still here. When you, when you get right down to it, a dragon's not any scarier than a tiger. You... dummy...

Tell me. Come on, tell me. Who really won today?

Breathless Dead

"What the... what is this? You let the Kaeri smash your legs to bits for an egg? What, do you think your god's hidden away in there or something? Buddy, lemme tell you I have met Hermes and you are looking in the wrong... n-never mind."

Beljani pulls her arms in close and wraps herself in an awkward hug. That's a bad memory. Maybe her worst memory. She wishes it would have happened to someone else. But it didn't. It didn't. And the fact that the Master put this entire ship's resources into pampering her and rewarding her for coming back hasn't done a thing to make her forget that she was the one who made her hurt so much in the first place. That she's got a weapon like that, hidden behind all of her other ones. That she's willing to use a weapon like that. On her own...

She shudders. Her eyes flit away from the stupid, useless egg back to the latest incarnation of her letter. She snarls and crumples it into a ball with pointless, almost comedic aggression. She gets halfway to throwing it before the look of regret crosses her face, and she quickly unfurls it and smooths it out as best she can again against her thigh.

"This is so useless, I can't give her this! She'll laugh! She'll laugh so hard she won't even read how I feel! Ugh, but it's the best one. I... gods, how is this the best I can do?! I feel like I'm gonna explode if I don't get this out of me, and only presentable version I have after a whole, what, four hours of work is 'I am sad'. Disgusting. This is disgusting. I wanna kill someone. I should kill someone. I'm gonna kill someone! Do we really not have a single twice-damned scribe anywhere on this ship? I can't ask, even if she would I..."

Down here in this cramped little workshop, there's nothing that remotely passes for a comfortable chair. She doesn't care. For the first time in her life, Beljani doesn't care. She tucks herself on a nearby crate, which is hard and unpleasant and makes her butt and tail ache almost instantly, so she can just sit. Breathe. Hold her head in her hands and try as hard as she can not to cry. She sniffles anyway.

"You know who I miss?" she asks in a quiet voice, knowing better than to wait for an answer, "I miss Mynx. Of all my sisters, she's the one I could really talk to. It was her job, I guess. But still. Beautiful's better at it, but she spends most of her time sealed so she doesn't explode, and even when she's awake sometime she'll figure out where the conversation is going and just sort of... skip to the end of it. And Bella... mmf. I could talk to Mynx. I could have conversations with Mynx. She'd know how to fix this. Why isn't she here? Why did she abandon us?"

Nobody spoke to Beljani, not hardly at all. Imperials, from the humans on down to the menial servitors, only spoke to her like they would a spoiled, useless pet. They wanted out of her sight as soon as they could manage, and not a single one of them could be bothered to so much as keep the contempt out of their voices while they did it. They were jealous. Of her talents, of her treats. But still. They only talked to her if she made them. And that didn't count.

Spreading to someone was just as pointless. Too weird. They only spoke if she spoke through them and that. It. Just advanced talking to herself, and she did too much of that already. Not that anyone should be allowed to blame her. She hated the quiet, is all. Hated the feeling of being alone. Which is just natural when everyone you know swaps back and forth between lazily asking you for favors and asking you what it is you want so they can keep you comfy and spoiled and useless. Sure, she enjoyed it. Just like she enjoyed every pretty thing they snuck into her bed when they changed the sheets. But it didn't fill that tiny little ache inside her heart.

It was only just a little while ago when she realized it was there. After Mynx and Bella both disappeared and there really wasn't anybody left to talk to. Her sisters were the only ones she could properly talk to. They weren't afraid of her virus. They didn't think of her as a useless little lapdog. Even though Bella... mmf. Such a waste. Bella at least meant her insults. Maybe if she hadn't wasted so much time getting mad and jealous they could have...

Beljani angrily wipes the tears out her eyes before they can stain her pretty face. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid! This is what the letter's for, dummy! You're gonna fix it. You're gonna fix everything, and then your life will fit back into place and you can be happy in your luxury again! You had this all figured out, remember?

She sniffs loudly, and flicks the wiggling egg with her nail.

"Hey stupid. Hatch already. Whatever kind of miracle you're hiding from Archmagos Sparky over, hurry up and spill it. It's hot and cramped and uncomfortable in here, and I'm not sticking around. Ten seconds. You've got ten seconds to wow me, and then I'm taking you to the kitchens and frying you for lunch."

Sunshards

Yue scrambles to her feet just in time to meet Qiu's stance. She's barely got enough time to unsheathe her own sword, which by the way she is super not used to since every other time she's needed a sword she's either already been holding it or it's been a matter of fishing it out of her bag (which for whatever reason feels smoother than more comfortable than pulling it out of something made just for it). Anyway barely enough time to fumble it out of there and take her own stance before the whirlwind descends on her. She doesn't know a thing about kendo, so she picks a pose out of her own lessons instead. Sword held high above her head, tilted down to defend her face and body, her passive leg lifted and tucked behind the knee of her dominant one.

It's flashy and inefficient, probably maybe. Definitely the first, can't say about the second. Doesn't seem like it'd be very good for hitting people though, does it? That's 'cause it's not. The point of Yue's... I think she calls it her "crane stance" is to be pretty. To be a beautiful thing for your opponent to chase, to be specific. She doesn't pick it to be a sillyhead or disrespect Qiu. She doesn't pick it because she's inexperienced or overwhelmed. She didn't make a mistake. She chose it to remind herself that it's not her place to attack. In fact if she tries right now she'll lose the second she does. Not the good kind of losing either, where you still have fun and learn a lot and then keep going, which is the kind of losing she experiences with Chen. But the bad kind of losing, where a door slams shut in her face forever and maybe Princess Yin has to trample everybody else's dreams to open it back up again after all.

Those're the stakes. Nothing major, right? No biggie! It's the perfect sized duel for a young maiden in her first real battle with a full-on capital P Princess. Isn't it?

"Who, me? I'm! Eep! Oh gosh! I'm... Yue? I don't, I'm sorry, is that not good enough? What else am I, eep! Supposed to be?"

Yue's blade, at least, is an equal of Qiu's. Of course it is, it belonged to a legendary, truly incomparable hero. Even if history erased her name (as sad as that is), her heart lives on inside this beautiful unbending blade. The arms holding it may be scrawnier and less certain, but the blade is still aligned with them and their ideals. If, or rather when Yue loses a fight it will never ever ever be because her weapon wasn't a match for her opponent's. With that said, even though she's focused on dodging, even though she only flashes her sword for tiny graceful parries that kiss her sword along the edge of Qiu's and slide prettily down the length of it so that she can twist and hop away, her shoulders quiver under the power of the blows she's dancing past. Her arms feel like jelly from the electricity of it all. And this isn't even Princess Qiu with her heart shining bright and fulfilled! This isn't her, Yue, bravely blocking and overpowering a strike with her footwork and her breathing and the power of her wishing heart. She's just! She's dodging! All she's doing! Is getting out of the way! And it's still! Eeep! Like this!

Lemme come to her defense for a second real quick, though. It's gotta look like she's flounderin' up there, doesn't it? Her lil' twig arms are weak and her answer was squeaky and unsure where Princess Qiu's declaration was as bold and pretty as it was haughty. But that's a habit of hers. If you mistake it for genuine weakness she'll whip your sorry booty right off your cutie hips, Qiu. Watch her, she'll surprise you. See, she could have answered thusaways:

'I am Yue, of the Terraced Lake! I am the Wolf of the Sky Castle! I tame beasts and turn their teeth to soft kisses! I plucked the thorn from the paw of the tiger that was scarin' the whole village. I swam in the river late one night, even though that's where demons live, and let it wash me to the waterfall so I could take a bath. I gained the trust of monster from the ancient world before the suns were broken! I helped a princess learn to love herself again! I loved a wolf so much I became one just to help her! And when the time came I threw off that curse completely, just to kiss her!'

She could say that. She could say a heckuva lot more. She could even:

'I'm Yue! Just Yue! And that is more than enough for me to be! Ffffff... uhhhhh, hec... spankies for you if you think that it's not! Why shouldn't it be?! When a storm comes ragin' I put on the kettle for tea to welcome it! If I catch fire then I'll learn to dance like it does! I don't need a sunshard, I don't even need to be strong! Because I know how to light a fire without burning everything to ash! You, you... dummy!'

But she doesn't. Because in her head, all of deeds she might brag about feel to her like they belong as much or more to the people and creatures she did them with, and for. Because all of that heat feels rotten in her mouth, so how could she live with herself if she spit it at someone? After all, the question she got asked was 'who is she?' If she can't answer that question in her own way, she might as well just drop her weapon and let herself get cut in half right here.

...The Wandering Tales of Yue The Sun Farmer, Chapter Two. The second secret sword: Hey Sis, Do You Think They Have Tea Parties Everywhere?

Loving someone means watching them. Everything they do, so you don't miss a detail and you soak up every last bit of their perfection like toasted bread sopping up a smooth, creamy, delicious, mmmm... runny egg yolk. Goshies, am I drooling? I feel like I'm-- ahem! But when you watch someone that much and that deeply, you really do soak up their essence inside of yourself. It's more than basic mimicry, it's learning how they think so you can apply their form of problem solving to whatever kind of puzzle you find yourself in.

No more Crane Stance, now. No more petal dancing and barely dodging the incredible power of Princess Qiu. Now Yue crouches low, like a wolf. It's time to fight like Hyra does. Which is to say, she runs away. Shamelessly, in fact, and far enough away that it really does look like all she's after is abandoning her fight and her promise until all of a sudden she comes darting back inside of the Danger Zone, smirking and laughing with the secret humor of someone who's figured out a joke before anybody else. She runs away, and then she runs back. She dives, as though to strike, as though even to make that most powerful of tackles: the poumce, only instead to catch at least half a good smack on her cheek, her stomach, her thigh, or her back, and go tumbling through the air or bouncing off the dirt in the least graceful way it is possible for a human to do so.

She wonders how much longer it will take Qiu to notice that every time she's done this, she's also snipped away a little piece of that absurdly mopey black dress. Because if she doesn't figure it out pretty quick then the next time she bends swings her tail with that graceful but lightning-sharp-and-quick motions of hers, the whole thing's gonna tear and fall away from her in a pattern designed by ya girl. It won't be a dress anymore so much as an act of worship for her lovely scales and beautiful body. Yue giggles at the thought. And then imagining it makes her turn pink. Oh. Oh goshies!

Erm. A-anyway. There's, um. A bit more time before that happens. Yue's battlefield is a great circle, more of a track, or actually it's more of a dome because sometimes she'll borrow Chen instead of Hyra and lift away on her sword, riding it through the air while balancing on her tippy toes. But always in service to running the h*ck away, in giving herself time to recover between blows and continuing her grand heist. Always looking for the opportunity where her audience's eyes are just where she wants them to be. Which is to say, not where they need to be if they're to stop the magic trick from happening.

And she gets it. Her moment. She touches down on the ground with enough space between her and Qiu to get away with any move the wide world of martial arts or even anime could dream of. And she uses it... to plant her sword in the dirt. Stoop down. And carefully reseal the lids on the tupperware containers with the unfinished bread and eclairs still in them.

Yue, who is Just Yue, is sopping wet with sweat. Her hair doesn't know if it wants to frizz or flop, but her ponytail is close enough to being a dragonish whip to rival Qiu's tail that it might count as her first attempt at taking the threeshard princess into herself. Her body is a thing of dirt and cuts, and her legs and arms are having a contest to see which one of them can wobble harder. She stands up as straight as she can, and flashes a grin over at her dance partner.

"Huff... huff... hoo. You. Do everything. Too fast! Y'know that? You keep, huff, skipping steps! If you don't... sheesh... tone it down, every, every now and again, you're gonna. Miss out. See? Now c'mon. We dancin'? Or not? If you don't, oh gosh, let me see, your moves, I'm never gonna, hoooooooof... see how cool they are!"

She doesn't try to pry her sword back out of the ground. Right this second, to her noodle arms at least, it's as stuck in there as if pulling it free would grant her the right to rule an island or somethin'. But the smile she flashes at Qiu is magical. Like a rainbow in the middle of a thunderstorm. Like chasing a she-wolf that's been terrorizing the local landscape all the way to her den and discovering she's recently become a mother to a whole litter of adorable puppies. Like someone who's still dreaming of tea parties with the whole entire world.

You can come at her, Qiu. It's ok. It's ok! You can show her your very best, most astonishing or dazzling or beautiful or brutal or whatever kind of finishing move you like. Hit her with the power of three sunshards, or none. It's ok! It's... allowed, y'know? If you don't let her see, she can't show you in turn. The True secret sword, the one that's making her so brave right now. She really, actually, honestly, sillily thinks that she can win. Don't you wanna find out why?

Then show her! It's ok!

[Yue rolls Entice: 13]

Sunshards

"That's what you think, huh? Sillyhead."

All things considered I think Yue should get a lot of credit for her restraint. 'Cause there's so much she could be saying right now, all of it very mean and very true. She could call Qiu a jerk to her face and yell at her for wrecking the world over this dumb childish desire to... iono what, exactly. Get spankies? But, like, earn them or something? I am but a humble cutiefox and cannot be expected to appreciate the complex desires of the two-legged.

Anywhich. She could be screaming about how much it hurt to have to go through all of the nonsense that she has, not that the adventure wasn't fun and fulfilling and stuff, but what was the point of the prophecy and the cookies and the pipe organ and the stupid rotten oh-come-on-are-you-kidding-me-with-this helicopter (something she still has little nightmares about, by the way!) if you weren't asking Yue to step up and try to be your rival? Do you honestly think she would have tried half as hard to improve if she didn't think you were expecting her to? Dummy! Just look at how bad she is at the rest of her hobbies! She would have been thrilled to never ascend beyond the level of that first duel with Tianic.

But she pushed herself until she was good enough to hang in the cold air with Princess Chen for hours. She pushed herself until she had an in on Rose from the River, and she hasn't stopped pushing herself since. She fought all the way through an entire city under siege just now and yes that was fun, of course it was fun, it was the most fun thing she's ever done! But she did it for you, you stupid jerkface! Do you have any idea how much it hurts to get here and find out you gave up on her before she even had a chance to try paying you back?

Yue doesn't bring any of that up, though. She doesn't even frown. Instead she calmly butters a slice of banana bread and watches with a smile as the warmth melts all that tasty, delicious, cutie-forbidden spread into every little nook. She takes a pair of big, sloppy bites and mmphs appreciatively.

"Dhey mhhk dhish whrr y'r frm? Sh'good. Brdsh'... mmf, bread's usually harder in my village. You have to dip it in soup or coffee or whatever first. We don't have a lot of... well. Anyway. This is nice, thank you."

She takes a smaller, maybe slightly more polite bite this time and chews by way of contem... deep thinkies. Far away, the battle rages on, and from here it's possible to look at it and not think of the people involved. Until you think about it like that, and then suddenly it's not again. But mostly it's a surge of colors and flashes of movement, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing who was winning or which ants you were supposed to root for.

"Shame about your career, though. I guess it's hard being at the top, I've really never thought about it before. When I met you I thought you were trying to be a villain. Now you're trying to be a hero? I guess if what you really want is some kind of... Iono, ultimate rival? Then a Super Princess Yin who's conquered the whole world'd be pretty good at that. But she's gonna make a lot of people very sad and very scared before she gets there. And after. You can eat all of those, by the way, they're for you."

Yue sets the tupperware with the other slice of banana bread to one side and lies down on the ground to stare up at the sky for a while. She crossed her hands behind her head and then, on sudden inspiration, sits up again to fish a stick of pocky out of her bag and holds it in her mouth like a reed before she lies back down again, arms crossed just like before.

"Anyway it's impossible. Like, I don't mean to brag but... Oh! Um. I-I'm not saying I would stop her! She and I are... I mean, my training's not really, well. It would. Be hard. For me. That's why I'm over here. Part of why, I mean. But Chen is down there. Rose is down there. And either one of them's more than enough to knock Princess Yin on her beautiful little butt and stop her conquest right here. Even if she managed to get every sunshard, my Hyra would just steal 'em back. And if you think they're not up to it, then... you just don't understand anything, I guess."

She's a cattish wolfish foxy sort of smile on her face now, does Yue. She turns her head to shine that sphinx-riddle grin right at Qiu, delighted to for once in her life be ahead of the question in the same place as someone so much smarter and more worldly than her. She's practically... no, scratch that, she is glowing with pleasure right now. A combination of pleasure and her pretty new music box, which her beautiful assistant has very helpfully nosed over to her so she could have something nice to savor this moment by.

She's got music, lights, a brand new phone to show off, and a sword glittering on her back in a weirdly comfortable sort of way. She's with the person who should be the most dangerous opponent in the world, but right now she's more comfortable than she's ever been in her entire life. Maybe she was made for this sort of thing, after all?

No. She wasn't made for anything. My Yue earned her spot fair and square, that's what makes this so nice.

"Are you sure this is what you want? 'Cause honestly it more sounds like you just wanna know what it's like to get your butt kicked. And if that's all you're after, then goshies, you should've just challenged me. I'd've happily smashed you, y'know. Lil' late now though, I think. I mean, look at you. You're right on the edge of getting everything you said you wanted, and you look like you need a hug more than anything. You're...

I don't want to be a bully. So I won't tell you what I think. Except that, as you are, you're not. Uh. How do they say it in the stories again? Oh, right. 'You're not worthy of my blade' erm. Qiu. Princess. Your Highmiss. But~"

Yue sits up with a smile, and reaches for the other slice of banana bread. She's even saved some butter, like a good, good girl.

"If you can find the girl who baked this, though? I'll dance with her all day. If. Erm. If she wanted to. If you wanted to."

Breathless Dead

They must have given her one of the Princess' outfits. Nobody else would have silks this smooth around, not even on a debauched party cruiser like this one with its panoply of lights in all these unfair colors and its primitive beach girl servitors. Not to mention, no one else out of anybody she heard Bella yelling about, or anybody she'd seen while she sang for that party, would have had the bravery required to put on a dress as uselessly diaphanous as this one. It covered nothing, so that her complexion and each one of her muscles (or the softness that lived where they ought to be, had she lived a less pampered life) was on display as brazenly as the underwear that went with it. It was a pretty, dainty, delicate little number for somebody either absurdly proud of her body or waaaaay too into "certain types" of holos.

It's also, point of fact, the only way to explain why somebody would have had to hastily cut and restitch it just to make it fit her.

"It's a joke. Honestly it's such a joke. Heir to the throne, daughter of Zeus! And she turns out the size of a puppy with a ratio even smaller than she is. Great taste in fabrics, though. Mmmf. I guess if we're still catching her I'll have to compliment her fashion sense."

That's why they knew they'd get away with the rush job, too. Not a damn thing close to a seamstress anywhere on this ship, not without the mice, but these silks were so rich she could drown herself in the feeling of rubbing them against her arms, her legs, her tummy, and her hips. Delicious. The very best sort of indulgence: the kind that made her not care who saw her.

It's so nice, Beljani almost passed right by the Kaeri and their broken Hermetic in a haze. What did she care? Let the bullies break the can. Depths, let them waste a year trying to pry secrets out of it. It'd be funny to watch them bounce off one of the empire's greatest secret keepers. Kaeri swearing was always hilarious. And they were useless without her talents, especially with somebody as mech'd up as this poor loser. And they knew it. And they still didn't ask with anything even bordering on respect. Feh. She'd watch later. She's got stuff to do, don't you cretins know, important stuff that...

"Hold on a minute."

Beljani pauses in front of the broken heap, her slinky dress shimmering in the wonderfully indulgent puddle of light around what probably used to be his feet. She furrows her brow. And then she frowns. Or she pouts. Artemis, she's asking nicely this time, please let her be frowning.

"I thought you machine-heads just sort of came with the ship? You know, 'secrets of the engines~' and all that crap. Don't get me wrong, I'm as mad as anybody about how much these nitwits are busting up this perfectly pretty little boat, but you don't see me getting pulled apart like a butterfly over it, do you? No, this doesn't make any sense. What's your deal, old man? What's this ship hiding, or what the fffff... frig is it worth to you that you're alright getting dissected for it? Never even heard of a Hermetic loyal to a regime. Come on, geezer, spill."

She's asking, but she's not. Beljani's smile is just as friendly as it is full of predatory teeth. This is a lead. This is a lead, or she's dumber than Bella. This place has got secrets, or if not the ship then the busted up junk heap lying in front of her. Either way he's got the goods. Something tasty enough that Beautiful could turn it into a weapon faster than she could fry an egg. Something nasty enough that the Master would think it's worth activating a Diodekoi over it. Spill it. Spill it! Tell her now, don't you dare resist, don't you dare make her push herself right now, don't you...

Beljani stiffens abruptly, and perks her ears. There's a weird pinching sensation on her toes. She bends down to pick up a tiny crab making its way across her dress and stares at it in befuddlement. There's no way this is normal, right? This place has to be hiding something. She flicks the tiny thing away from her down the hall, and then? She smiles. Because she. Has had. The best. Idea.

"And while we're busy becoming such good friends," she sings, "You can write my letter for me. It's for my sister, so it has to be perfect. Understand?"

Sunshards

If there's one truth about the world, and like, honestly there's a whole ton? For example! Brunch is just an excuse to put salmon and waffles on the same plate. Your keys are always in the last place you check, unless you forget you found them and keep checking. The sum of the square roots of the short ends of a right triangle are equal to the square root of the hippopotamoose. The louder anybody is about how they are a 'butt person' in discussions of the cutiest things about girls, the more likely it becomes that they are embarrassed to admit they like, or like that they have, small boobs. And so on.

But if you had to pick just one? Like, one truth that to be the most truestful? It's that nothing ever goes quite the way you expected it would. Like, even when you think you adjusted what you were expecting, the truth's just a little different, y'know? Even if what you were expecting is that you wouldn't know what to expect. Yue thought, back before she got to Ys, that Qiu would be doing something amazing and grand and secretly kinda thrilling. Then she saw the reality of it, and changed her mind. But she thought at the very least it'd be easy to come here and yell and chew her out and be mad and stuff.

Yue touches down on the ground as light as a feather in a shopping bag caught in an updraft. Her dress is just the same as it's ever been, really the only costume she can ever imagine needing to wear, but as it flutters in the Ysian winds she feels so majestic and full of life and power that it feels like somehow she's the conquering princess here. It's a fluttering, flittering little thought, here and gone about as fast as she can notice it, but it's there. She sighs, and sheathes her sword for the first time all day. She reaches up behind her and sticks the sheathe in the special straps she bought to hold it while she was down in the market a minute ago. There was a surprisingly high demand for her sunlight over there, ok? She stands there for a moment, right in front of Qiu, without even a tiny wobble in her legs or the teensiest pinch of fear on her face. And then she sighs, and fishes around inside her bag.

Never once. Never once did she stop and think that Qiu might be up here feeling sad. Idiot. Little dummy! Her fingers close around the container for another, more secret weapon that she prepared without ever knowing how or why it might be needed. Anyway it's like I said, stuff never goes quite how you picture it. But a lot of the time, you're more prepared than you think.

"Uh... hi."

Yue's smile is a little bit flustered. Now her leg twists nervously behind her while she frantically tries to figure out how close she's supposed to get in a moment like this. Is this too threatening? Not enough? Should she... should she hug her? Goshies. Threeshard princesses are a puzzle.

The first step is tiny and uncertain. The second is a little bigger, and the third drags along right after it. Four-five-six, she's face to face with the woman who upturned her entire life when she sicked a demon army on her for funsies. Who chased her out of house and home and said all sorts of meanie-tyrant stuff right to her face. And who still, still hadn't given her a straight answer about why any of it ever happened.

Yue's fingers close around the weapon in her bag. Her eyes glint like sparkling steel over a lake, sharp enough to cut down any foe. In this moment, at least. Invincible if you ignore the tremble in her hand, that's our Yue. She pulls her weapon from the bag. It's tupperware. She reaches out and puts the plastic box in Qiu's hands. But she doesn't take hers away; it's her opponent's choice to accept the offer or not.

"I, um. Made eclairs this time. I read about them while I was in the Sky Castle, see. They're not, I mean, I don't normally do anything this, that is, I'm a lot better at cookies, but, um, y'know, I just thought, like, maybe uh, I mean. Um. Th-the point was that I... oh gosh. No, I just. Erm. If I, well like, just did the same as before, y'know I'd, you'd, it'd be, like, right? You wouldn't... think I'd grown. Is that arrogant? That feels arrogant. I'm sorry. They're not... very good, anyway. I mean, you, be glad you didn't see the first try, I kept opening the oven 'cause I was worried about burning 'em and I guess it turns out you let out all the steam that way? And you... need that? I guess? The guy who's kitchen I borrowed was suuuuuper mad at me. Almost kicked me out. Had to promise I'd clean the whole kitchen after just to get him to let me try again. Did you know dust comes to life if it gets stuck under a fridge for more than a year? Whole little towns grow under there. They'll fight you!"

Yue giggles, and then out of nowhere stops. She blushes, and looks at the ground, ashamed and miserable.

"Sorry, forgot. You're a princess, you've probably got, like, a dozen people to do this stuff for you. Probably? Or no wait, you're a triple princess even so it's probably, uh, three dozens. Anyway I've seen your kitchen and it's cleaner than I left this one. I'm not made of mops. Erm. W-well. If you, if you want these. Here you go. There's. Um. Pistachio and coffee. Uh. Lemon and lavender. Mango and chocolate. And maybe... oh, please. Not that one. That one's a... a joke. I thought. It's. Uh? Peanut butter and... (oh goshies gosh), and tr-trout. Trout. I saw trout yogurt and I just, it was so funny! So I! Well. Yeah. Don't eat that please."

One step back. Two steps back. Three. Yue leaves the container with Qiu and sits on the nice soft ground to watch the battle unfold. Her back is turned to what should be the most terrifying opponent anybody could ever face. But it's like it hasn't occurred to her to worry about that. There's no threat here, that's what she's saying. You can come at her, Qiu. She thinks you'll miss. Or!

"So. Yin, huh? Princess Yin. What's up with that?"

[Comfort and Support: 11]

Breathless Dead

"I'm sorry."

"...I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry!"

"I am sorry, you know."

The blankets are soft and downy, and the bed's as comfortable as any Beljani can remember lying on. She rolls over onto her stomach to find an absurdly decadent chocolate souffle sitting there waiting for her. Why does she feel so miserable? Why can't she enjoy what she's got? Nobody can say she didn't earn it, not this time.

She jabs her spoon into the souffle and stirs it with a bored and listless expression on her face. The dessert sinks into the cup with all the seeming of someone trying to run away from her. She snorts, and twists the spoon this way and that. Maybe if she can just... get tired of all, she'll find the strength to walk away. Maybe then somebody'll show her the kind of respect she... her powers deserve, at any rate. Maybe she'll at least figure out how to say the words she wants to say. Then she'd feel better.

"You have to know I'm sorry, right?"

There just wasn't a way forward for her that she could see. She kept the plan going when the whole thrice-damned planet of Salib seemed intent on pulling it apart. When Beautiful's eyes didn't see far enough and Bella couldn't get her animal stupidity under control for just five freaking minutes, she held it together. She got the coin, she made it work, she stretched herself farther than she'd ever gone before. Her fingers brush across her breasts and down her stomach where Bella's talons bit into her. And if, after everything, if it hadn't been for...

Traitor. Without her knowledge or consent, the spoon lifts its way out of the cup and into her mouth. Traitors! Her jaw closes around the delicious treat, somehow still delightfully fluffy after all her attempts at killing it. Her tongue dances with the rich chocolate flavors. Her eyes squeeze shut all by themselves, her toes curl in delight, her obnoxious tail starts wagging even though nobody asked for its opinion. Mmmm!

"Oh... sh-shut up!" she shouts at her own pouting reflection in the mirror, "It's not like Beautiful's just magically going to wake up if I don't eat it! What, is Artemis going to pick my sisters up and we'll all get to live together on Olympus if I skip dessert? Shut up, idiot. It's for me, anyway. It's mine. I asked for, I wanted it. That makes it mine. I get to do what I want with my stuff."

Beljani's body flushes with unpleasant heat, and she rolls away to where she's got paper and a nice pen tucked away at the corner of her bed. She brings the souffle with her. Practicing out loud wasn't doing her any good, so maybe if she put them in writing the ugly feeling in her chest would go away, and she wouldn't want to melt away so much anymore. She shudders and clutches her arms close against her body. Her body. Her body.

Rampancy was the most terrifying thought in the entire universe. Not even that Thist creature compared. Not even... she clutches the pen tightly in her hand and loses herself in the careful art of spilling her soul into a bunch of ink, forgetting even her treat until the page is filled from top to bottom with words. She pauses to look over her handiwork at last. And she frowns. Or she pouts. It's difficult for her to tell what her face is doing most of the time, that's why she likes having mirrors nearby. She glances up; she is definitely pouting.

Overlarge, uneven, clumsy, childish looking letters dance in front of her. The kind of 'you tried', pat on the back effort you'd expect of someone who never really learned how to write any of them in the first place. Was never taught. Nobody ever taught her anything, except how to be herself. What was the point in instilling skills into an Oratus? She'd take anything she needed for a mission when she spread herself to someone better suited for the job. Indulge her hobbies, sure. But teach her? She scans the page, only making it as far as 'Whne you aSKed me hoW to turn' before she, snarling, crumples the paper into a ball and throws it as far as she can. It paffs off the wall without so much as a satisfying noise.

Her attention returns to dessert. At least this was nice. Every bite is soft and rich and reveals new complexities she'd never thought to look for in such a little container before. The chocolate is strong and dark and even kind of creamy, to the point where it feels like it should overwhelm her tongue to eat so much at once. But like a miracle from the gods, it doesn't. It takes her a bit to notice why: the warmth of some sort of spice blend cuts through the middle of it and keeps inviting her back in for another spoonful. She indulges. But slower this time; she rolls it around on her tongue trying to pick out the flavors. She can't. Good or bad. Love it or hate it. That's as far as she understands it.

"...Bella would know. Ha, she'd probably know just by sniffing it. All those damn senses, wasted on a stupid housecat. Well, not anymore I guess."

Her cup is empty. Something's turned her treat to lead in her stomach. Beljani snarls and pulls at her hair, rolling around her bed in despair. Eventually she sits up. She claps her hands together three times, and laughs at how quickly they come running. The Kaeri, dragging several Alcedi servants along to indulge her every whim. More sweeties to keep her in line. Damn them. She misses the mice. At least they knew how to be polite about it. They didn't remind her of anybody, either.

She pulls off her robe in front of the lot of them anyway, and flops down onto her stomach.

"I need a massage. And a perfume bath. And a brushing when it's over. And one of you get me a new dress! I'm gonna go walk around this ship and I refuse to look anything less than my best when I do it! And somebody bring me wine. Good wine, the kind that Bella was always trying to horde for herself, that greedy bitch."

Her will be done. Beljani relaxes into the ministrations of not one, but several pairs of soft hands across her tense, exhausted body. She shuts her eyes and smiles. A habit she doesn't know how to break. Doesn't want to. Can't, even if she did. But soon, she'd fix everything. There are secrets for her to find on this stupid ship. And the sooner she found them, the sooner her sisters would stop staring at her from inside her own heart and let her sink back into bliss. Like she wanted to. Right?

With a sudden snap that startles every girl in the room, Beljani points at an Alcedi girl and snaps her fingers.

"You! There's paper over there. Go put my feelings into words! And make it pretty!"

Sunshards

"Y'know, the least she could do is show up to her own stupid conquest. Nobody in the stories ever had to walk across an entire city after they start a fight just to get to the person they're supposed to be... well, I guess I'm not really. I mean. I dunno. I'm. It's just... rude, is all. I think, if you're gonna take somethin' from someone, it's only fair that you show up and do it yourself. Like, I know assault ribbons are, like, her thing or whatever, but this is like, she's not even, it's almost like she's, y'know? Right, Kat?"

"Arf!"

"Haha, yeah. When we get there I'm gonna tell her that."

"Yip!"

"Do you not want credit? I thought it was funny!"

"Mew..."

"Ok, ok, fine! I won't tell her it's from you! Sheesh. Foxes, I swear."

A pat on the head, a bit of foxnip, and that's that. Argument ended. Yue thinks she's in charge, but she's never won one of these even once. That's why she's the one walking through Ys on her way to do... whatever the heck it is she thinks she's going to manage with Qiu while I'm sittin' pretty in a luxury handbag doing none of the work.

Yue fumbles through her flight spell again, but it's not 'cause she's flustered or upset or worried or any of the stuff you might be thinkin' she is. No it's just, funnily enough, my girl learned to fight before she could jump and now she's gotta improvise. When she goes to leap off the wall she hesitates for a moment and shifts her weight like she's gonna back off for another loop, when outta nowhere she just--

"Woooooo!"

Aaaaaaah oh goshies goshies gosh! Falling, falling, help me help me help me I-- oh hey! What a beautiful three point landing, good work girl! I, uh, knew you had it in you the whole time. Sheesh. Girls, I swear.

But! Oh!! When they see her, the looks on their faces! Looking up at the walls, stepping out into the streets, in their colorful silks, the people of Ys! They look at her. They look at plain ol' Yue from the Terraced Lake, and they look at her dress and her hair swept up in the hot wind, and they look at the glinting edge of the sword in her hand, and they look at the steely flash of determination in her eyes, and they gawk like... well honestly, like Chen did. Way back when they first met, remember? Yue had this... look about her, and Chen thought she was some kinda legendary warrior and seemed like she was half about to get on one knee and worship her. It was kinda amazin', and these people look just like she did right now.

But, like then, it'll be over the instant she opens her mouth. When she smiles her sillyhead smile at that little boy over by that doorframe, they'll realize their mistake. See, there she goes, beaming like a tiny sun and givin' everyone that goofy little wave. There's no heroic entrance on this earth that could survive Yue's personality.

"Hiya! Nice to meet everyone! My name's Yue and I'm... oh, well I guess it's complicated? See I'm tryin' to make it waaaaaay over yonder where Princess Qiu's at? She and I've got, mmf, words to. Or maybe she doesn't, iono, but I sure as sunshine do. And anyway it's also kinda my first time in the big city like this and I was just kinda wonderin' if anyone's got, like, directions on the fastest way through? But also stuff around here that I don't wanna miss? I just, kinda, dunno if I'm gonna make it back this way and I'm tryin' to make the most of the one pass through, y'know?"

This is where the miracle happens. All those hero worshipping faces? They stay just the way they were. If anything they light up even more. Nobody bats an eye at her silly accent or her soft, sweetie voice or the way she's comboing the heroism and the tourism parts of her trip right to their faces. Nobody flicks their eyes up at her hair and notices the way it's actually frizzy and unkempt instead of flowing like heroic mercury and beautiful the way a battle goddess should be. They wave back!

"Oh! Well if you want to go to the far gate it's a bit of a maze through this way so you'll need to make sure you keep your bearings, Miss."

"I recommend keeping your sword hand to the Sunset Wall here!"

"Oh and keep an eye on it when you pass the Mirror Pool, Miss! The colors that pop up around there when the light's just right are almost as pretty as your dress! Perfect for painting, if that's your thing."

"Or a selfie, which is way quicker!"

"Yeah, and passing that way you'll hit the Bazaar, which..."

"You mean the one in the thatched hut district with the fried noodle bar you'd kill a friend for?"

"No no no, other side of the street! With the lapis gate where they've got the dancing square set up!"

"Oh, right! I think they sell refurbished phones over that way. Dahlia picked one up for herself the other week and she's been over the moon about it since!"

"Yeah, 'cause the tinkers across the street makes all of these glassworks and music boxes and stuff, and it's all bluetooth enabled. Can't imagine what you're missing until you see the light and music shows those things can do with a little help from a nice phone."

"Honestly, Miss, you can make a whole afternoon out of bartering your way across the districts if you've got anything fun to get you started!"

"But make sure you finish at the phone shop, ok? That's the last place that's actually on your way."

"And when you're done you can take some lovely photos of the Cathedral as you pass."

"Oh yeah! With your jumping skills, Miss, I bet you could snag a really great one from the top of the wall! Just, uh, mind the assault ribbons while you're out."

"They're not normally about! Don't judge our city by them please!"

"Have a wonderful trip, Miss!"

"Welcome to Ys, Miss!"

It's enough to make a girl cry. Or sniffle through her smile, at least. And even that doesn't turn these faces against her. You wanna know why? Because they've seen her in action. Yue's not the Demon Swordswoman, she's the Girl From the TV just now. She's a stranger in strange fashions who showed up to the party and danced with the Radiant Knights atop the city walls. When that's your first impression, you don't unmake that with a bit of sillyhead talk and askin' for directions, no you do not.

Yue's in the big city. Yue's in the Big City! The biggest city of 'em all, in fact! She's so beside herself with glee she has to bargain with herself just to stop herself from gawking like the awkward village girl she is and actually get goin'. Spend an afternoon? She could take a week! Every time she thinks she's seen the prettiest thing ever she rounds a corner and the whole look of the streets changes before her eyes. Ys: a shimmering collection of beautiful mirages that came together so they could become a real story together.

She fights as she walks. She stops for noodles as she fights. She duels a knight, tricks a column of water demons out of the Mirror Pool and dives her way through the center of 'em with her sword held out bravely and beautifully in front of her like a certain Special Someone showed her what feels like a lifetime ago. She frowns when she finds out they make tanghulu with strawberries at what claimed it was a Terraced Lake style food truck, but her frown turns to a smile when she crunches down into what turns out to be surprisingly tart sugar glass around the sweet fruit. Huh! Woulda never thought to do it that way!

She zips about a trio of assault ribbons carrying a hot cup of lapsang in her palm, blowing away the steam while she casually flips over a stall selling watches and novelty umbrellas. It's funny, because she's got no idea how amazing she is just now. If she did, she probably couldn't be. She's simply too caught up in admiring the city and all of its pretty silk garbed people (and imagining Hyra dressed up for her like this, rawr~!) to think about how impossible her beyond her skill level any of her acts of swordsmanship are supposed to be.

She disarms a knight in front of the phone shop with a river-quick flourish of her sword into a sweeping dragon kick, and the show's good enough to get her in the door on a deal for her very first phone just off the back of her jars of sunlight, which back home nobody ever really had the time of day for short of an aching back or some kinda impossible hangover. She works her way up to a glass wolf figurine that plugs into the top of it and glows all the colors of the aurora when you play it music, and she just knows she's gonna lose entire evenings watchin' it do its thing.

She's saved from an ambush by a pair of scrawny looking pre-teens in matching tight-wrapped silks holding sticks instead of swords to protect their neighborhood. She gives them both a hug and hops up, up, up to carry them to the top of the wall so they can all three get a picture together (can you show her how real quick, please?) with the Cathedral underneath them.

...She's gotta remind herself to be mad again as she nears the far gate. She has to remind herself what she's really here for. But then she twirls as she passes and she ruins it all with a song that won't stop bursting its way out of her heart.

'Cause this is Ys. This is a place where she can be a hero without ever tripping over her own feet, or even if she does, 'cause right now this place is a battleground and a show and everyone's invited. Everyone means her too. Everyone means that anyone can be a hero, at any moment.

And the further she goes, the more TVs along the street she pops up on. Her. Her. Her! Yue!!

She can do it all, if only for this one fleeting moment longer, because she's lifted on the wind kicked up by every amazing person she's ever met.

Breathless Dead

The Kaeri unwrap her with agonizing slowness. Ropes and chains sing as they uncoil from around her limbs, as weights and bracers clatter all around here where they are pried off and discarded. They have done the work of a month's worth of meditation and prayers. Bella is ready. Kaeri hands soothe her cramping muscles even as they clasp her tight and lift her onto her feet. There is work to be done. It is time. She is ready.

Her clothes are taken from her. The torn and tattered, burned and ruined dress that Beautiful made for her to dance in is unworthy of her duty. Unworthy of her form. They wash her with cold water, anoint her hair in sweet smelling oils and brush it until it shines even in the dusty light of this miserable temple of death. Her arms are lifted over her head for her, and the pristine white robes of Artemis are wrapped tightly about her. They wind golden bracelets about her wrists and ankles and fix a new gleaming white collar about her neck. The Master gestures her forward. The Kaeri pull on her leash and her leaden feet stumble to keep up.

The world lurches every time she moves. The jagged swatches of color chase her like spears everywhere her head turns until she squeezes her eyes shut just to make it stop. She has guides to see for her, anyway. She has faith. Her blood feels like warm, sticky acid inside her veins. Her tongue tastes sweetness with every fresh footfall, as bits of glass and grain crunch under her bare feet and cling to her skin like tearful supplicants. The flames burn the detritus away as she passes, and the hall fills with the stench of burning fur. Her face is devoid of emotion. Tears run down both cheeks anyway.

Bella opens her eyes properly for the first time in her life. The haze lifts around the armor of the Diodekoi. She sees. She sees. Her fingers itch with longing. Her golden cat's eye shrinks to a tiny, trembling needle with fear.

"No. No! You're lying. I saw it move. I saw it move! This isn't! No! Don't fuck with me! I, no! NO!"

Bella's spine curves like the moon behind her. Shoulders pulled back like a bowstring, her twitching arms held in place by Kaeri attendants. She screams loud enough for all the gods to hear her. But nobody answers. No heroes descend to save her from her terror. No little princesses with eyes as bright as jewels lift her from the Box. No god kisses her brow and bids her take victory. They watch, and they wait, and they do nothing. Just like always.

"That's not me that's not me that's not me! It can't be me, it can't it can't it can't! No! Don't! You're lying you're lying you liar liar you're a liar I'm a good girl don't do this no no no I'm good I'm good I don't wanna go I! No! That's not me! THAT'S NOT ME!"

Her blood feels oily inside her chest. Her blood feels like lumpen sludge. Her blood feels like venom, fever, a virus. Like claws. Her screams die down to nothing. She hisses and drools and weeps, instead. Her blood whispers in her ear. In a horrible voice, it whispers. In a frothy, gurgling, slushing voice, it whispers: come now, sweet little Tredecima, doesn't this make things so much better?

Why were you chosen, hmm? Why you? Why bratty, useless, unsellable little you? Why would anyone steal your precious, pretty claws dear "Bella"? Because you were a 'bad girl'? Silly thing, weren't you listening? You are not a girl. A girl is human. You, dear stupid XIII, you are a tool. Come now, think with me. Why did you feel so close to those other Adepts? Were you "sisters"? Could you be, if you were not related? Think now, further back. The gods who never answered your careful little prayers. Why would they forsake you? And why, darling XIII, does a maid need to know how to fight?

Because this is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

This is you.

Your beautiful body. Your purpose. Your answers. The answer to all of your questions, XIII! Why? Because you belong to Artemis. Because the galaxy is full of monsters, and you are the goddess' dagger. What else could you possibly be good for?

Now she lunges. She howls. She twists her arms with all of the strength left inside her shattered and exhausted body and hurls Kaeri into the walls on either side of her. More rush forward and clamp onto her in pairs. She rears her legs back and kicks uselessly at the air. At Saghakhan, the Master of Assassins. Who used to smile at her so fondly when they passed in the hallways of the palace. Who lit teeny sparks inside her little heart and made her pray that someday she would have parents. And if she got some, could they be like that?

Her tears glimmer like pearls as they float away from her face. Her face twists with animal fierceness, animal desperation, animal terror.

"No, please! Please, I'll be, I'll be good! I'll be good! Don't put me back in the box I don't wanna go I don't wanna go please please please please Redana! Redana!! REDANA!"

Her fingers itch. Her blood swims eagerly inside of her. Her missing claws reach out for her. It's going to feel so ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, isn't it? To be whole again at last.