[IC] Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

[Raz_Fox]

Kazelia!

You issue forth like the very tempest, and with the aid of Hornet clinging to your shoulders and Mace clinging to your tummy, you hurtle through the twisty maze of mirrored passages, through debris and razor-sharp turns. If not for the blessings of Argossa, you might have ended up crashing well before getting to the Engineering Lab.

But you are here! And there is a new problem: it is very dark in here. Hornet knows where most of her equipment is, even with it upturned on its side, and Mace has special goggles, but that’s still going to cause delays. And you really have no time to spare.

It’s up to you to figure out some way to help so that you don’t have to fit the rockets on the tower at the last second, Swiftlance. Good luck. All the pressure.

***

Adila!

Every ponderous best of the Roc’s wings, each one the length of the snake-husband laid end to end, threatens to send you spiraling off course. But you burn! Oh, you do burn!

Lightning burns around you, bolts thrown towards you with malign will. Overcome and pay a price, or take damage to your Sense and Grace as they scorch your head and wings.

And even should you power through the fury of this unholy storm... there is still the matter of the Roc. Entire stormclouds churn in the enormity of its eye.

Spoiler: The Roc

Show

Terror of Hyperborea - acting against the Roc is done with Despair.

Vast Wingbeats - if the Roc damages you, it sends you wherever it wants, either by sending you flying or by wrapping you in the winds.

Iron Collar - you may show the Roc kindness and mercy to gain a Bond with it. If attacked, erase all Bonds. If it reaches 3 Bonds, recruit as ally.

***

Alina!

There is a bloodcurdling shriek and a snapcrackling bang nearby, like— and bear with me here— like someone just made a very bad magic mistake.

Then there’s faint whimpering and it’s hard to tell whether it’s you or someone else who needs help out there. Rita’s ears are flat against her skull and her eyes are wide. But someone out there is hurt, Alina Cascade. And they need help.

Though... tell us about your little lights. How are they faring underneath the awful power and weight of the Roc, that destroyed such little magics as were the lights? How have they not shattered under its awful shadow?

[PhoeKun]

It's incorrect to say that this other whimpering voice broke Alina out of her fear. Her heart's still racing like she's sure she's about to die, in fact. She's wrapped so tightly around Rita that they might as well be one person, and every new sound from outside (they're getting louder again) makes her flinch or squeak with fresh terror. But in the end, it's just like it was in Feloria when she wanted more than anything to just give in. But she can't; there's something she needs to do. Someone who needs her attention.

"Rita..."

It's barely a whisper, but it's all she needs to say. She can feel the fingers pushing through her hair to gently massage the back of her head and soothe her. She can feel another hand take one of hers and squeeze it tight. It's hard for her to know which of them is shaking harder. She can see Rita's eyes shining brightly in the reflected light of her own. 'I won't leave you', those eyes say. Her kitty ears pressed flat against her brow hair say that she's every bit as scared right now as Alina is. But still, she's the one who gets to her feet first, and who tugs Alina up with her by the arm. Their lips meet briefly in the dark. Then, holding each other like the world would end immediately if they let go, they pick their way through the hallway now lit only by Alina's lights.

Those lights are badly flickering now, like candles in a storm. No magic is safe from the might of the Roc, and only the most adept witches can properly cast or maintain spells in its presence. Alina is... not that. She's not even close; once she gave up on the Academy for the throne her life became about so many specific things that all the vagaries of spellcraft are utterly beyond her now. There's simply no room in her head, and no time to make room. And yet, her wall is holding Oberon out of the tower, for at least this little while longer. They quiver and shake, and they are every bit as terrified as their master is, but they hold the line. They're being brave for their Alina. Therein lies the trick of Illuminan Magic: it is not entirely derived from the princess who casts it. The lights are alive, pure crystallizations of strong thoughts and feelings that one princess or another has forged and passed on, with their own feelings and wants and even simple thoughts. In much the same way the Roc does not snuff out a princess' life simply by existing in her presence, neither can it extinguish a Light of Illumina. No creature born of Hyperborea has the capacity for murder so strongly ingrained on it as that. But even so, this shouldn't be happening. The Roc's aura may not destroy the lantern's spark, but it certainly inhibits the magic that lets a princess shape it and make it a solid thing to be wielded and held. Her lights are being so brave and risking so much, and the reason for that is...

"Remember, my darling little Alina. The thing a light needs more than any other... is love."

She'd never really understood what her mother meant by that. She'd done everything in her power to love her lights as much as she could, and it never really felt like it made much of a difference. They were strong when she'd been strong, and they got weaker when she'd become weak. None of her grieving on their behalf had ever helped the survivors recover. It frustrated her. She wanted to be a good student for her mother, and she wanted to be strong so she could be a great queen some day, but the puzzle just never slide into place. She'd always felt like she'd failed her Mom, her lights, and everyone around her because of that. But now, as Alina looks down at her wrist entwined with Rita's and sees the crystals pressed together there, she smiles and for the first time understands. Her mother had been right all along.

"Hello?" she calls out into the hallway despite the quiver in her voice, "Who's there? If you're hurt, I can help you. Let us help you..."

She brushes Rita's fingers with her own, and takes one shaky step after another through the tilted hallway, cutting through the darkness everywhere she looks with soft green light.

[Thanqol]

Adila!

Every ponderous best of the Roc’s wings, each one the length of the snake-husband laid end to end, threatens to send you spiraling off course. But you burn! Oh, you do burn!

Lightning burns around you, bolts thrown towards you with malign will. Overcome and pay a price, or take damage to your Sense and Grace as they scorch your head and wings.

And even should you power through the fury of this unholy storm... there is still the matter of the Roc. Entire stormclouds churn in the enormity of its eye.

Spoiler: The Roc

Show

Terror of Hyperborea - acting against the Roc is done with Despair.

Vast Wingbeats - if the Roc damages you, it sends you wherever it wants, either by sending you flying or by wrapping you in the winds.

Iron Collar - you may show the Roc kindness and mercy to gain a Bond with it. If attacked, erase all Bonds. If it reaches 3 Bonds, recruit as ally.

Did the devil-magic from the house linger or was this power always inside her?

Princess Adila is about as fast as a dragon of her age should be and no more. She's a recreational and steady flier, and while she knows a few tricks and can make her way around strange weather conditions, this is another one of those things she's never properly trained for. With no role models, nothing to measure herself against, she had no idea of her limits right up until the moment she was called upon to dodge lightning.

The shocking part was that she could.

It quickly became clear that this was not flying as she previously understood it, and she had the clarity of mind to understand what was happening now. It was an act of destruction. She felt the moments themselves break, and as time and distance spiralled out of control she lunged after the one she wanted and caught it in her jaws - and reality raced to catch up. She wasn't so much flying as she was jumping - launching herself from one moment to the next, using time as a springboard.

The memory of the statue of the Time Dragon in that hidden and nameless place crosses her mind, but there is no space for it. It is all she can do to not be screaming. Fear, adrenaline, exhilaration, she can't tell which - all of her thoughts are dissolved into a cocktail of electrochemistry. She's doing something impossible here with every moment, something that already requires her to be more than herself to accomplish. Is this is what Princess Iron Star feels like?

[Overcome, ignoring despair because combat mode: 13. Marking Blessing of Speed as the price paid.]

[Anarion]

Kazelia had a moment of frustration. They were in, but was ever gizmo and gear in this place powered by magic? Did she risk an explosion simply by trying to switch something on in here with the power of the Roc? No, no surely not. Hornet and her mother were already starting to work in the dark, and they didn't seem at all perturbed that their rocket boosters might fail if used in the Roc's shadow. So then, did she have the time to try and find something instead of illuminating the room with her magic, or was it better to be speedy and work through the limitations set by the Roc?

She thought for a second or two, decided that touching anything in here that she wasn't supposed to had a higher chance of an explosion than using her own magic in trying circumstances and instead went for a light. Kazelia is an excellent witch, trained in magic across multiple worlds, holding a special sort of magic within her, and even versed in the sort of magic of ice and cold that fills her people from the void. Her two talents have for as long as she can remember been that combination of magic and warfare. Sure, Kaja could overpower anyone in a duel and Azora was perhaps (only perhaps) the more talented arcanist, but Kazelia was the one who combined those powers. She was always the one who put theory into consistent results and produced the most practical results without the collateral damage that her potentially more powerful sisters might have caused. That was no small reason why she got the elite strikeforce and not one of the others. You didn't put valuable troops with Azora or Kaja, you sent them off by themselves to create chaos.

[Rolling to overcome the Roc's magical effect: 6+5+1=12]

All that is to say, Kazelia has a very good inkling of what's happening with the Roc's magic here. This sort of shadow it's creating isn't a malicious effect, it's not that the Roc disrupts magic or is trying to create some kind of anti-magic effect. It's rather that the Roc is itself suffused with magic. One of the great mythical creatures that reflects a core part of the elemental nature of Hyperborea. Trying to enact magic outside of winds and storms within the Roc's shadow is ultimately similar to trying to light a match in a strong wind: the match has no time to grow and strengthen, it's immediately snuffed out. But, like lighting a match in the wind can be done if it's given proper shelter and kept protected, so too can other magic be worked in a limited sphere. Thus, Kazelia easily sets her light to fill the lab, creating a merry, dancing blue flame that she sets upon the ceiling, protected by its own special swirl of wind spinning about it in a little sphere. It's too high to get in the Goblin's way, but it fills the room with a cool blue light that makes it easy to see by.

[Raz_Fox]

Alina!

There’s bad magic to let get out of control. There’s very bad magic. And then there’s shapeshifting.

Ninian is curled up in a ball, looking mostly like you. Mostly. She’s striped like a tiger, her dress flaking and peeling away, and she has a long lizardlike tail. Her hands are paws clamped over her head, and the sounds coming out of her mouth are wet and inhuman.

The stone around her is scorched, spongy, and worn away. Raw magic explosions are no joke, as any witch worth her pointy hat could tell you.

Good. It’s what she deserves, right? She was probably going to try to turn into something really, really mean. Or to infiltrate the princesses upstairs, take someone’s shape, sow chaos.

But she’s sniffling and mewling and shaking so badly. She’s hurt, Alina. Even Rita can’t help but whisper, “oh...” in sympathy.

***

Adila!

You are impossible dragonstrength timebreak wondergirl. You are wedge yourself into devil crack and wiggle through and Iron Star help, yes, you ride with one of the Makers, you ride not Devilhouse but Devil herself, small wonder you can glitch through timespace. This what dragon made for. This destiny. This you.

Or, put more plainly... you are, out of all the dragons in the world, the one most aligned with your kind’s very purpose right now. Dragonkind was made for such a moment as this.

A surge of wind threatens to blow you away; you ride the moments to be after its wake. The Roc turns its head and screeches, and you dive through that thunderous sound and out the other side, aimed squarely at its breast.

Strike, Adila! For Hyperborea! For your own burning heart! As one with Iron Star, strike!!

***

Kazelia!

Mace and Hornet are working in perfect harmony. It’s incredible, actually. Mace knows her daughter so well, and Hornet trusts her mother implicitly. The only sounds in the workshop are hammering, welding, and the occasional grunt or trill accompanying a nod or a shake of the head. Both of them are scampering quick, Hornet often on all fours, Mace on six (given her extra mechanical limbs).

...wouldn’t it be nice to have something like this? A mother who knew you just like Mace knew Hornet, or Halcyon knew Alina? This is supposed to be a mother-daughter dance, but yours is...

so very far away. Maybe not even alive anymore. Your father destroyed that link, just like he destroys everything else.

Whoop, no time to dwell on that any longer! Mace and Hornet are high-fiving over the deceptively small rocket boosters, and the very large parachute and sturdy-looking cables that will stop you from slamming this entire tower into the ground at high speeds.

“Let’s begin installation,” Mace says with a slightly deranged grin. “I will handle the interior bolting and anchoring, and you and Hornet can secure the boosters at the appropriate coordinates.”

Hornet hops onto Shiva, right in front of where you’re supposed to sit, and holds onto Shiva’s reins. Shiva gives you a Look. A Please Don’t Let Her Steer look. But that’ll be faster than having her try to explain, right?

You can do this. You can fix it. You can save everybody—

Assuming that Adila manages to get the Roc to let go, of course. In a fight between the Roc’s grip strength and these handmade rocket boosters, the Roc almost certainly still wins.

[Thanqol]

Adila!

You are impossible dragonstrength timebreak wondergirl. You are wedge yourself into devil crack and wiggle through and Iron Star help, yes, you ride with one of the Makers, you ride not Devilhouse but Devil herself, small wonder you can glitch through timespace. This what dragon made for. This destiny. This you.

Or, put more plainly... you are, out of all the dragons in the world, the one most aligned with your kind’s very purpose right now. Dragonkind was made for such a moment as this.

A surge of wind threatens to blow you away; you ride the moments to be after its wake. The Roc turns its head and screeches, and you dive through that thunderous sound and out the other side, aimed squarely at its breast.

Strike, Adila! For Hyperborea! For your own burning heart! As one with Iron Star, strike!!

Adila has two sets of dreams. One set of dreams she has when she's awake, thinking about what she wants out of life. Peace and friendship and happiness and love and all of those wonderful things. But she always feels a little bit off when she uses the word 'dream' to describe her ambitions, because she has very different dreams when she sleeps.

When she sleeps she dreams of falling-jumping-flying. How to describe it? Forward momentum so vast that it sends the rest of your body into a spin for being the slightest bit off balance. Rushing forwards into the dark, scales polished to a shrine by the dust and sand in the air. Helplessly thrown forwards, impossible to stop, crashing through the sea-spray and rising waves. Falling so fast that down becomes west and she tumbles into the lightless setting sun. No words, or people, or emotions, or goals. Just the speed and force, so mighty she isn't sure if she's wielding it, riding it, or victim to it.

This is the first time in her life she's dreamed that dream while wide awake.

It's everything to her. It's what she is. She is. This is the part of herself she's ever been missing, the most self of herself, fire in motion, harmony with maker. All her life was underwritten by the promise she'd have this. Be this. Is this.

[Finish: 10]

[PhoeKun]

Alina's mother has been the defining force of this entire evening. Her absence loomed over Alina's entrance, her introduction, and her dancing. The threat of her future moved Alina's hand against Cassian even in full view of the people she wanted to recruit and the punishment of the wards that dragged her off to prison right after. The comfort of her memories helped Alina stand tall against Oberon and have guided her down this corridor to this exact spot. And now, as she stands there looking at Ninian's horrible, whimpering form, Alina feels her mother's pull on her heart more strongly than ever.

She does feel a tiny surge of vindictive pleasure, right as she realizes who she's looking at. Of course she does! Who wouldn't, after everything she'd seen and heard Ninian say and do? But it's only for a moment, and when it fades there's only pity left in its place. Alina slides down to her knees and, oh so very carefully, coaxes Ninian to rest her head on the beautiful samite on her lap. She softly strokes her enemy's forehead and hair, trying her best not to touch anything too sensitive, and makes soft shhing noises in place of conversation. She looks up at Rita, but there's no need to explain herself. Her girlfriend's face reflects her feelings right back at her. Alina opens her mouth, and she swears the voice that comes out is also her mother's.

"I know, I know. It hurts, doesn't it? But it's ok. You're ok, princess. Everything will be ok in just a little while..."

For her entire life, Alina had been trying to be like the people she admired most. She tried to be brave and strong (and tall) like Helya, tried to be a daring adventurer like Esmeralda, tried to be (thank goodness Adila wasn't here to figure out too much right now) clever and (seriously seriously seriously, nobody is allowed to know this) clear headed like Shazari (shut up shut up shut up). She went so many places, practiced so many skills, and did so many things just to be noticed by these people and feel a little more like them, because as a young child with a head full of her mother's stories she'd gotten it stuck somewhere up there that she could only make her mommy proud of her by taking all of the best things she could find in the world and becoming all of them at once.

It was never necessary. Sitting here, thinking that thought brings a weird, choked half giggle out of her that she smooths over with more whispers and gentle caresses of Ninian's cheek. After she'd come back from her time as a crystal, her eyes could have become any gem at all. It had been very hard to maintain any sense of self in that state, but even given that she's sure her eyes had been pure diamond as she walked through Feloria. They only changes to emeralds when her sister called her heart back. So really, it wasn't some core part of her time there that made her look like this now. She housed a Light inside her body. It could have been any of them, any at all. Or a new one, a Red or a Yellow or one of the mythical Blacks or who knows what else. But it was Green. It was Emeralds. Her secret favorite color that meant life and love and protection and healing before all other disciplines or desires. She was at her core her mother's daughter, and she could never have been anything else. Hands rest on her shoulders, and for a second she can't tell who's warmth she's feeling. She smiles.

"You don't deserve this," she whispers down to Ninian, "You're a talented and beautiful princess. You should let more people see the real you. You would have been such a hit at the Gala, if you'd really gone. Your sister loves you, Ninian. She still loves you, even now. Maybe let the rest of us love you, too. The way things are, the pain you're feeling, it's all because of pieces your father put in place, and the choices that you made as part of that. But it's ok, little princess. You don't have to hurt anymore. It doesn't have to stay this way. Come. Come back now and be yourself. Be your true self..."

All of Alina's lights snap back to her and Rita's arms, spent at last and having more important things to do than hold Oberon away from the tower. Her eyes shine with deep green light that fills the corridor in their soothing glow. It would be dangerous, to try it now. But Alina is her mother's daughter, exactly the person she wants to be. If the magic had to turn on her then so be it, but for love she'll take that risk and take away Ninian's pain.

[Ending my keep busy, damaging lights (the first of twice per scene that's allowed now) to heal Ninian. Tell me what I need to do to position myself for a Bond from this, even if it's the non-binding don't travel with us we're still technically enemies kind]

[Anarion]

Kazelia climbed onto Shiva's back and gave her Pegasus a reassuring rub, then leaned into Hornet, putting both hands on the goblins shoulders to keep her level and steady. "Go ahead" she said.

As the Pegasus took off, a little tentatively, Kazelia held Shiva tightly with her legs, but let Hornet direct the reins. It was dangerous in its own way, of course, and it was still very much the right thing to do. Getting Hornet and Queen Mace to the lab had been an effort in speed and power, Kazelia pushing Shiva and her own magic the best it could. But putting the rocket boosters on was about expert judgment, the sort that Hornet had. Kazelia didn't know where the boosters were supposed to go, nor the most efficient paths through the tower. Nobody wanted to stay out in that storm, not through the barrier provided by the lights, nor through the newly opened windows as Alina let her magic fade. So instead, Hornet navigated and Kazelia kept them steady. Darting out a sudden window or mysterious door (all of which seemed to know Hornet and open automatically) long enough to attach a booster as Hornet directed, only for Shiva to tuck her wings and duck back inside before any stray tendils of dark cloud could even notice where they were. Up, out, dive, in. Over and over in a mesmerizing pattern. Had they trailed a thread, it would have looked like nothing so much as a cross-stitch being woven over the tower, each point anchored on a rocket booster. Or perhaps, actually now that Kazelia looked, they were trailing a thread, securing the parachute at each point of the windows to be deployed when they reached the top. Well then.

All the while, she spoke with Hornet as they worked. "I have a sister that likes gadgets the way you do. Her name is Eska. She joked that she wanted to take over Hobling Keep a while ago when I saw her. I'm not sure she was joking actually. But she used to make all these little scarab robots that would scout around for her, and fly about doing magical things. I think she actually liked them, even when my father made her so cold, she still liked the little robots. I bet you and she would get along. I mean, I hope you wouldn't get along too well, I don't want you making devices that are designed to blow up princesses and conquer castles. But if we could get her away from father and you could both just invent nice things, I think you'd get along really well. She likes to talk a lot, and I've noticed that you're kind of quiet and like listening, but I bet if you did speak to her she'd really listen to you, too. She always liked smart people."

Kazelia interrupted her banter to reach down and help secure one of the boosters as they zip across the wall midway up the tower, then Shiva gives a single flap and they shoot like a missile back inside as Hornet somehow closes a blast door behind them. Hornet hadn't said anything, but she made a little hand sign that she was listening and nodded before looking forward again to direct Shiva. The Pegasus snorted, but Hornet was trying her best to be gentle and Shiva to be accommodating.

"I had a squadmate too. Her name was Jazira. I helped train her, but her inventiveness was all her own. She used to get us to infuse things with our rider magic, ice and cold and stuff. Sometimes the magic of the void. You might have seen those arrows that some of the Riders use that tie people up, but Jazira was at a way higher level. She could make a little bomb, no bigger than your hand, but if you threw it hard it would do the shadow ropes on everyone in a thirty foot radius! You could tie up a whole squad that way. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if we ever did untie all of those Illuminans. Maybe some of them are still tied up in shadow ropes in the castle prison cells being fed by the guards. But well, anyway, Jazira was really good at making little things that could pack a lot of magic. Adila told me you do that sometimes, make small devices just with the stuff you carry with you and then it can make a huge explosion. That would be really cool in warfare, but I bet Adila didn't like it in the Bazaar because there's so much stuff there and an explosion would end up destroying a lot of it and probably make all the merchants and shoppers really upset. These rocket boosters that you made with your mom seem like they'll work really well though, we're moving really fast but they attach so easily. Maybe we can make something together at some point."

Kazelia's just bantering as they fly, letting the words flow out of her. Hornet is very receptive, it calms Kazelia and Shiva, maybe it calms Hornet as well. But either way they've passed through nearly the whole tower, and they finish up by putting the last clip of the parachute on the tip top of the tower along with a little package that Kazelia presumes carries the chute itself, to be deployed later before the tower crashes.

She looks to Hornet as she brings Shiva to a rest at the landing of an interior staircase. "Okay that was everything we took out of the lab. What next?"

[Raz_Fox]

Helya!

The greatest treasure of Rowan is a shield. Outsiders might think it’s your horses, or some sort of weapon, but ever since you were a child you’ve known that the Gleaming Shield of Mellora is the greatest of your people’s treasures. Shapechanger, Swordturner, Featherlight, Heartsaver: these are but a few of its names.

It seems heavier now. But it has turned more swords tonight than it has in years, and those keening, wailing blades not of this earth.

Or maybe you’re just tired. That’s a possibility, too. You’ve had maybe three hours of sleep in as many days, trying desperately to find some way to win. You always win. But the Riders have come in force, and you have less than two dozen of your resistance fighters left beside you.

Less than two dozen, and Tashanna.

She must be just as exhausted as you, but she refuses to give any sign; she is going around the room right now, offering the last of her water, offering sashes for makeshift bandages, telling everyone in her melodious voice that the Riders haven’t beaten you yet.

You wish you had her confidence. That your heart was not throbbing in cold, aching pain. That you could promise her that she would be safe. That you wouldn’t let the Riders touch her. Hurt her.

One more time. One more sortie. Try to buy a little more time. Bloody their noses that much more. Hart’s Hope may fall today, for the first time in its history... but you will not let it be said the Princess of the Rowani surrendered like a bloodless lamb.

You heft the Gleaming Shield, its crystal inlays drinking in the low light of the mead hall. You catch Tashanna’s warm green eyes, and nod; she draws her long saber and nods in turn. The Riders have already come to fear the war dances of Jedad. You are so, so proud of her.

Tamser and Eofwyn swing the doors open, forcing the Riders hammering on it with that accursed battering ram. There is an insurge, wailing swords raised high, and it immediately runs into the immovable fact of your shield. Once again, you must teach them the hard lesson that you should not wave around swords in tight spaces while being pushed from both sides. There are shrieks and yowls of pain as you force them back, and then honest Rowani steel meets their unwholesome metal. Tashanna moves like a whirlwind on your left, and your shieldmaidens hold your right, and you? You crush swords beneath your shield. Sometimes you crush more than that, leaving Rider swordswomen limping back cursing and clutching wounded hands.

But there are too many. No matter how many shadow arrows you bat away, there are always more arcing down onto you. No matter how many swords break, they bring more to bear. Your insurgency is intolerable to them, and for this...

...you know well enough what torments await you in the hands of Oberon. What torments await everyone who dares defy him. What he will do to Tashanna. It is that thought that makes you lift the Gleaming Shield again and again.

And then the rain begins. Freezing cold, lashing against you, and from how difficult it makes the sortie, you assume at first it’s some new Rider witchcraft. But while they don’t seem to mind the cold, they are as hampered as you (moreso, to be honest) by wet clothing and the sudden loss of sight. The only light comes from the blades of the Riders and the shield you bear, and even those are almost extinguished completely by the torrent.

Then you feel the pressure change. You reach out blindly and catch Tashanna’s arm, pulling her close with only a light stab in response before she realizes it’s you. There’s no time to speak, to explain. The Gleaming Shield expands into a sharp-bottomed tower shield, which you wedge into the stones beneath your feet. You brace yourself.

The rain turns sideways and becomes a wave which breaks over you all. There are screams, and then nothing but the sound of water, breaking, surging, trying to pull you off your feet, trying to pull you apart. You burn everything that is left within you, and refuse to move.

One eternity later, roughly a minute and a half after it began, the water relents, the rain ceasing completely. Where there was an army, there is now an empty space all about you. Your shieldmaidens, your foes: both washed away into walls, pillars, or out into the valley beyond Hart’s Hope.

Something immensely vast follows, and you feel more than see the crushing of the Gate of Harts, already forced open by Rider work. No way out now for any of you.

And in the horrid silence, your heart and hers filling your whole world...

You see the fires descending, illuminating (if only through shadows) a tower coming down from the sky. An entire tower.

“...we need to go,” Tashanna says, breaking the silence, her clammy fingers wrapping around your hand. In the faint, faint light, you see that the gate and wall has been crushed completely by some immeasurably huge iron ring, as if someone had tried to put a collar around Argossa.

What on Hyperborea is going on?

***

Adila!

Victory. Strange victory, certainly; watching the Roc melt into rain, come completely undone before it hits the ground far below, is almost disappointing. There’s no distant, satisfying thud of it hitting the ground.

Oberon changes shape once again; now he is a quick little falcon, soaring away, as the tower drops down out of the sky, far and away from the Iluminan border.

Iron Star lets out a spine-tingling war whoop, one hand possessively on your crest. How fast your heart must beat!

You are Adila of the Watch, greatest dragon alive.

***

Alina!

Ninian, in her truest of true forms, is small. The size of Rita, when Rita is a girl. She is small and shivery and big-eyed, the littlest of little sisters. Her hair is lank and her face is plain and it does not take a genius to figure out why she spends so much of her time pretending to be other people.

I do not know how many other Riders have ever seen her like this. But you do, Alina, as your lights surge to life again, as you feel the Roc’s mystic weight dissolve. You see her and you hold her close.

“You princesses are so stupid,” she sniffles, nuzzling up to you like a scared little kitten. “Don’t you understand we’re at war?”

***

Kazelia!

That... is not good.

Adila just very much wrecked the Roc until every bit of it melted away into rain. At a guess, you’d say that the Roc isn’t actually dead, merely discorporate, but that the effect on Hyperborean weather patterns will be... substantial, until it knits itself back together. Or maybe until Ourania can weave its feathers out of clouds again.

The stirrer of storms, the father of Storm Birds, the very embodiment of the Hyperborean sky and chief of the winds... is gone, for a time. And the sound of Iron Star’s victory is louder and more fearful than any thunderbolt.

“That’s not good,” Hornet whispers, looking at— where did she get that scanner? “But at least the rockets are working!”

At least the rockets are working. That’s a good way to sum up this evening, isn’t it?

And that’s when Kyouko and Esmeralda tackle you simultaneously, tossing Hornet into the air with a yelp. Now that the immediate danger has passed, it’s time to once and for all figure out who’s the better kidnapper.

[Anarion]

Kazelia is not particularly concerned with her current physical situation. Suffice to say that as the tower makes its descent, she smoothly rolls off Shiva, pulling both Kyouko and Esmeralda with her to spare the Pegasus and Hornet any collateral damage.

Her focus is on Adila though and the disappearing Roc. “What in the world was that?” She shouts into the wind. It carries straight to Adila. Kyouko and Esmeralda are probably a bit confused. “The Roc melted into rain! The weather is going to go crazy, storms won’t know where to go!”

She leans back and relaxes into the grip of the two competing princesses (Hyperborea kidnappings were really quite fun) and lets her mind wander for a minute. The Riders had done something like this once before. She remembers now. Bits and pieces, but they’re available to her instead of being odd visions popping into her head.

Yes, it had been after they left that original hall. When she and her sisters were still young. They’d tried to tame the great Wendigo and control the winter storms. She couldn’t remember why just now. Had it been to spread Oberon’s cold, or a vain attempt to contain it? Either way, it hadn’t worked. The Wendigo had broken free, angered that they had disrespected it, and flooded their kingdom with ice and snow so high that walls began to buckle. They had left soon after, Oberon always left when he grew bored of his frozen worlds, and he had no desire at the time to pit himself against an aspect of nature that simply mirrored his powers.

Kazelia has never seen anyone like Adila though. It didn’t seem possible, perhaps the dragon was herself some kind of aspect of the world of Hyperborea? But if so, she’d just attacked a peer all out. Kazelia mulled on it, awaiting an answer and for the princesses to finish their tug of war before they pulled one of her arms out of its socket.

[PhoeKun]

"Yes snowflake, we're at war. And I understand that better than you do."

Alina smiles down at Ninian, all softness and warmth and traditionally princessy sunshine. She lets the tiny Rider snuggle against her all she wants, cradling that plain face and stroking that limp hair with even more affection and sympathy than she had for the crippled and magically devastated version that had been here just a few moments ago. She could be caring for her own little sister, or perhaps a dear friend of many years, if not for her eyes. Those shine so fiercely and with such intensity that it might even make her look scary. But it passes in a moment, and then all she is again is that soft, big sister type figure so many people fall into expecting her to be.

"You can't win wars with big armies of soldiers with screaming swords and scary exploding orb thingies. You can't win them with raw power or treachery. What would you be holding at the end of things? Broken pieces, frozen hearts, dust, and very little else. Your father tries to steal everything, when we would freely share it if he could only learn to ask. So who is being foolish, snowflake? I don't fight the way I do because I'm weak and stupid, I'm doing it so that I can save everything about my home that makes it beautiful and worth sharing. I'm fighting to help save everybody in Hyperborea, and that includes you and your family. I promised my High Queen. And I promised your sister."

She tucks her fingers under Ninian's chin and tilts her head just enough to make sure they can look each other in the eyes, and then holds perfectly still. She's not keeping a prisoner, or trying to take one. To change a tiger's stripes, you have to let it walk into your arms.

"You have it in you to be strong like that too. You don't have to make your father's mistakes for him anymore. There's a sweetness inside you, and if you would only let it out then you'd never need to hide behind someone else's face again."

[Thanqol]

Sometimes the Clockmasters debate what the meaning of life is, and Adila has always been persuaded by the argument that the question is itself a non sequitur. Absent the discovery of an invisible pantheon of all powerful cthonic deities who created Hyperborea for their entertainment there can be no generalized answer for the meaning of life. But right now she can see the meaning of her life.

For a moment there she had touched on something that cut deeper than anything she knew mentally; a knowledge of spirit and body. For the first time in her life she'd expressed herself fully, a total manifestation of her own desires and choices - she'd fought alongside Iron Star, to defend her friends, on her own initiative without being hemmed in by orders or discipline or restraint. She'd wrung every bit of strength out of her shivering wings and overcome an impossible foe all while dressed in fire and beauty. Her thundering heart blotted out any wreckage of thoughts from re-forming, her mind still pulsing along the raw electrical lines of instinct, breath struggling to catch. She couldn't see past or future, only the symphony of being totally in tune with a side of her she'd never, ever let shine before. Of being in tune with Princess Iron Star and how their hearts beat fully in tune. She'd submerged herself in the Devil's will totally, an intimate entanglement of violence and discharged a tension that had been building from the first time she'd seen Iron Star and her heart had skipped it's first beat.

Whatever else happened she knew she'd be different after this. That wasn't the kind of experience one could forget or bury - not entirely. She could see the shape of the rest of her mind over there in the distance - the sensible, restrained, compassionate self she'd worn still long. As her high began to fade it started to come back into focus, like repairing a sandcastle destroyed by a tidal wave. She started to think about things like consequences, mistakes, collateral damage. Her heart gradually returned to a normal pace and she began to see the world again.

But the inner debate had changed permanently. No more would it ever be 'do I dare be myself?' That question was settled. She now knew she needed this, that denying it to herself had almost destroyed her - she just needed to figure out how she could have it without burning everything else down.

[Raz_Fox]

Helya!

Your sure-footed horse, Silvermane, is nervous under you as you approach the fallen tower. It is unlit, clearly of goblin make, and the first delirious thought is that the Crystal Gala was so distraught you and Tashanna had missed it that it came to you.

Then the princesses start stumbling out and you realize that’s not exactly what happened, but it’s close enough. You spur your horse and come into the space lit by the twinkling lights of Alina Cascade, one of the bravest princesses you know.

“Welcome to Rowan,” you say, with an exhausted flourish. “I’m afraid our hospitality is... lacking, due to uninvited guests.”

“It’s those terrible Riders, isn’t it?” You blink, shocked. Are... was that actually someone agreeing with you about the Riders? Without having been invaded first?

“I’m afraid so,” Tashanna says, dismounting with perfect grace. Gosh. She’s acting like she wasn’t just facing down capture, torment and certain doom for three days straight. Even her hair frazzles beautifully. “Rowan has been, by and large, overwhelmed already. We brave few are holding out where we can.”

“Rowan,” the Siren Queen muses, “would make for a fine staging ground for a confederation of Princesses. Ilumina must be freed.”

And that’s when the chant begins. Ilumina must be freed! Ilumina must be freed!

Ilumina must be freed!

***

Adila!

When you land, you notice that the ground is soaking wet, but also, that droplets of water are slowly rolling along the ground. Headed out towards Ilumina and home.

One water droplet, for a moment, grows a misty beak and attempts to crack you in half. And it might even have worked, if not for the fact that it was the size of an ant, and also made of water and mist. Then it falls apart and keeps rolling.

You have made an Enemy, Adila of the Watch. In days to come, the Roc may remember you, and return for a rematch.

“Nice job,” Iron Star huffs. Then she rolls her shoulders and hops off of you. Like it’s nothing, what you just did. How you let her ride on your shoulders. How you both just rocked the Roc’s world and evaded Oberon throwing actual lightning bolts. “See you around,” she says, and, wait, hold on, she’s leaving? Just like that??

***

Alina!

“Alina, darling!” You have been swept up into the arms of Tashanna! Oh gosh hello this is a lot of ex right in front of— Tashanna doesn’t know you’re dating Rita. “I just knew you’d be the one who came and saved us,” she says, brushing one frizzled curl out from her face. Has she... has she actually been fighting Riders? And winning?? Gosh! Helya must have been helping her train, though it might be a bit galling to realize she managed to make Tashanna able to hold a sword the right way when even you couldn’t.

“Please,” Tashanna says, “introduce me to your friend!” Ninian is doing her best to hide behind Rita, still (stuck?) in her true form, trying very hard not to be noticed at all.

***

Kazelia!

You are being marched down the stairs. Kyouko has tied your right wrist to her left, and Esmeralda has cuffed her right to your left. This is how they have settled the tug-of-war.

And then there is a sudden weight as Hornet bounces up onto your shoulders, riding you like her mighty steed. “I will need to increase the moral fortifications and fine tune the courage modulators on my Impeccable Witch Watchwoman,” she says, as a greeting. “They clearly are underperforming in comparison.” This is how she makes compliments.

“I will simply have to write back to Eska and tell her all about how I want our project to more closely emulate your classical virtues!”

You what Hornet.

[Thanqol]

Adila!

When you land, you notice that the ground is soaking wet, but also, that droplets of water are slowly rolling along the ground. Headed out towards Ilumina and home.

One water droplet, for a moment, grows a misty beak and attempts to crack you in half. And it might even have worked, if not for the fact that it was the size of an ant, and also made of water and mist. Then it falls apart and keeps rolling.

You have made an Enemy, Adila of the Watch. In days to come, the Roc may remember you, and return for a rematch.

“Nice job,” Iron Star huffs. Then she rolls her shoulders and hops off of you. Like it’s nothing, what you just did. How you let her ride on your shoulders. How you both just rocked the Roc’s world and evaded Oberon throwing actual lightning bolts. “See you around,” she says, and, wait, hold on, she’s leaving? Just like that??

Despite having just flew through a thunderstorm, this is the first moment Princess Adila feels the shock of cold water. +Wha-+ the thought clunks. +But-+ she can't do language! She's the opposite of words now! She is all fly and strong and soulful stares and maybe even ready for kisses. Not 'nice job, see ya'!

She slumps into a dazed sit, fires of her dress burning low, raindrops gnawing hatefully at her tail, and stares with the exhausted hurt confusion of a puppy who can't find the strength to chase the ball one more time.

[Anarion]

You what Hornet.

"You what Hornet?! Why didn't you say anything while I was talking about Eska? She's very, very evil right now, and she'll definitely use any information she gets from you to try and hurt us! Or, worse, she'll send you something that looks useful and it will turn out to give her an override switch on your robots. She told me that she wanted to attack Hobling Keep! You can't work with her. You definitely can't trust her!"

Kazelia would be gesturing furiously if her arms were not taken up with two embattled princesses. Ugh, she would be enjoying this so much more if she weren't having visions of a horde of Kazelia bots suddenly changing eye color and attacking all her friends!

[PhoeKun]

Oh gosh. Oh rivers, oh wow, this is awkward. Er, that is, not to give off the wrong impression! It's wonderful that Tashii's doing so well! And it's nice to finally see someone again and not have them be mad at her. You know, for once. But still! This is... y-you know, her ex. And she's being really huggy. In front of her for-real actual girlfriend, who is definitely pouting right now. And Ninian who is... there, but ideally for this reunion would have found some other place to be. To say nothing about Tashanna's own fiancée, who by the way happens to be Alina's first and probably most passionate crush, and who is very definitely watching this go down with an extremely inscrutable look on her face.

Alina squeaks. But, you know what? Tashanna is really good at hugging, and Alina is not going to waste how this feels. She leans into the embrace and just enjoys this warmth, this softness, this joy, and hugs back for all she's worth.

"Tashii!! Oh thank goodness, I've been so worried! Ever since we left Jedad I've been thinking about you and Helya and wondering if you were ok, and then I heard about what was happening here and I just got so-- but you're ok. You've been fighting, and... Oh, I'm so proud of you! Thank goodness you're both still safe..."

And that's the moment she feels a pair of hands wrap around her and possessively drag her back several steps. Alina squeaks as she finds herself wrapped in in a whole lot of Rita, and flashes the smile equivalent of a shrug before reaching to hold Rita and placate her a little. And there they stand, in their matching (if rather beat up at this point) dresses and their complimenting hairstyles, not saying anything about what that means because nobody should need them to. Alina's emerald eyes twinkle happily, and a wave of fresh healing magic washes over Helya and Tashanna. She glances back at Ninian, now peeking over the shoulders of her two-princess wall of perfect safety.

"Oh, this is... one of Kazelia's sisters," Alina says with the utmost caution knowing full well what Ninian did in Jedad but having herself chosen the path of mercy despite having more reason than most to hate this Rider in particular, "She had a very rough and awful time at the Gala, but I really do think she's ready to take her first step toward being a better person. I'll... I'll let her introduce herself properly, once she's ready. This all might be a bit much at once for her."

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

I could tell you that Iron Star isn’t thinking about you at all. That if she was, she’d treat you like a member of her devil gang, a hanger-on that she feels quite a bit of affection for. That her mind is focused on her little sister, and how someone needs to stop her, and how close Hyperborea came to disaster because of devil-strength, once again. She’s guilty and full of adrenaline and the only way she can vent all that is by leaping away into the night sky.

But none of that matters, right? That’s all interiority. What matters is that she bounds away and leaves you alone, in a ruined dress, adrenaline spent, feeling like you just spread your arms for a hug and got pushed out of the way.

The princesses, in Alina’s lights, are happy and laughing and you are out here. In the dark. Not invited into the light by anybody. Nobody’s coming over to thank you for beating up the Roc.

How epic is your sulk going to be?

***

Kazelia!

“Eska told me I shouldn’t trust you,” Hornet says, and is it your imagination that her thighs clench around your neck?

“...but I think I can,” she says. Yes. Definitely just your imagination. “You are a very good lab assistant, Princess Kazelia!”

She slaps a sticker on your forehead that says “#1 Lab Assistant.” It’s shaped like a dragon, weirdly enough.

“I will have to redesign our bot’s systems... would you like to help me out, Lab Assistant?”

And that... that is when you see Ninian. Just herself. Not even her Cool Self where she’s all willowy and graceful and has lots of exciting braids. Just her, the way she hasn’t been since you both were small... maybe. Unless you only got to see her like this after Father was angry with her.

***

Alina!

Rita is rubbing her cheek against yours and purring like a territorial firecracker, which makes Tashanna laugh, her smile oh-so-barely visible through her veil. “Oh! I beg your pardon, most clever Princess of the Isle of Askaia. I didn’t mean to monopolize your date.” She’s so smooth! And she knows the right way to address Rita, from the way that the purring subsides to “low rumble.”

Ninian steps forward, looks Tashanna up and down, and then darts back behind you. She’s definitely not going to introduce herself first to Tashanna, whose kingdom she tried her best to wreck.

And that’s when you see Adila, all hunched over and miserable, her dress barely a smoulder, out beyond the light. She’s only visible as dark shadow on darker shadow, and you can almost feel the radiation of her sadness as a negative space in your heart.

[Thanqol]

How epic is your sulk going to be?

Extremely.

Princess Adila is, deep down, a very sulky dragon. Her response to failure of any kind isn't to double down, try harder, get better - it's to withdraw into a mopey cocoon. Sometimes she even digs herself into the sand so just the tip of her nose is above ground and the Watch needs to send out patrols with pointy sticks to jab random sand dunes to find her. Perhaps it's some sort of deep dragon instinct that tells her the proper way to deal with failure is to hide and sit very still for a hundred years, after which point everyone involved will be gone and you can pretend it never happened. Perhaps she's just a drama dragon, cursed to live in a reality without Linkin Park.

And sulking really is the right word for what's going on with her. This isn't the true, deep, profound sadness of suffering or loss - you'd know those emotions clearly if she broadcast them. This is an exaggerated slump for effect. She's actually hurting quite a bit, but the flipside of her poorly disciplined telepathy is that you can also see clearly exactly how much she's hurting. She's very much trying to emote a shattered heart but the actual feeling is a still deep but much more mundane disappointment, mostly in herself. She thinks it is very serious! This is extremely serious to her! But its seriousness is based on a lack of real knowledge of suffering.

In a way it's comforting to see such an ordinary type of moping, Princess Alina. This is a feeling that any Princess might feel on any ordinary Hyperborea mission. There's not the icy touch of Oberon anywhere about Adila, this is nothing compared to the desolation when she came in out from that storm. This is just a Princess who messed up and got stood up and maybe sort of understands why deep down but would prefer to wallow in misery than admit it. It'll have to be dealt with at some point, but despite appearances to the contrary, this isn't the end of the world.

[Anarion]

Emotions. First response is how dare Eska talk about me like that! A cutting insult would surely put her in place indirectly. It would also, unfortunately, help nothing and probably make Kazelia look bad. Also Alina would never insult people that way and she was still Kazelia's primary model for Hyperborean princess behavior (that model was now updated with "but also it's okay have fun like Kyouko and Esmeralda").

Second response is why yes, I am the best lab assistant, science is cool, the most important thing in the world is that the next batch of stickers is shaped like me! There may be some preening here happening unconsciously, insofar as one can preen while both arms are handcuffed to another princess and a third is riding you like a pony.

Third response is Oh my god Ninian! and fourth response is What the heck is going on with Adila broadcasting all that sulking?! both of which are in competition for taking in the world and trying to respond to the immediate princesses around Kazelia.

Where she ultimately lands is a "Yes, I'd be happy to-wuh?!" when the combination of Adila sadness and seeing Ninian standing there hits her all at once. She's not sure what to do either. Ninian is...there, but she'd never take that form around other people, not willingly. Had she been attacked? She didn't seem to be a prisoner, probably, but then again the way people took prisoners in Hyperborea made it pretty hard to tell sometimes if somebody was a prisoner or a girlfriend so she couldn't be completely sure.

Maybe any of the myriad princesses in the entourage notice Kazelia's nonplussed response because she's really not sure what's going on here.

[PhoeKun]

Alina's laughter echoes happily across the field. If she stopped to think about it, she might realize there was actually a lot wrong with her perfect moment right now. Her family is still not together, and she doesn't even know where Freesia could be in the first place. She has to hope that Jessamine hasn't gotten bored or frustrated and run off to do something incredibly brave and bold and especially stupid while big sis tried playing politics again ("Again, Lina! When has this part ever worked for you?"). Also, secretly? Her legs have maybe ten minutes left of stand left in them; standing up to Oberon and the Roc at the same time while still finding time for all the big healing princessy heart-to-heart stuff is beyond exhausting.

But right now she's not thinking about that stuff at all. Instead she's sharing a moment with some of her favorite people (and Ninian). She's rubbing her cheek against Rita's with soft affection, because you can't grow up with an Askaian princess for a best friend and not know all about these sorts of gestures and how you're supposed to respond to them. And also? There's no way she's going to lose in a smooth-off with Tashanna when the heart of her own girlfriend is on the line.

"You should have seen us dancing, Tashii. Completely stole the Gala... before the tower started flying, anyway. I've finally found my perfect partner! And what's more? I think we're finally ready to fight back! It's going to be the biggest team-up in the history of Hyperborea! You've been fighting so bravely, but you won't have to do it on your own anymore. We're going to..."

She breaks off into a soft smile. There's so much going on at once. What's the rush?

"We're going to talk about it later. We brought the whole Crystal Gala right to you! Don't waste any more time on me, go mingle! Eat! Rest! And then take that lovely fiancée of yours and dance. There's been so little time for rest lately, but no one deserves to more than you two. So have fun for me, ok? And you, little starling," she turns and looks at Ninian with so much warmth it probably surprises them both, "Need to go talk to your sister! You have so much to catch each other up on that I'm not even sure we have time for it all. Trust me snowflake, she'll be thrilled to see your face."

With the perfect grace of a Cascade, Alina disentangles herself one by one from every social thread tying her to the spot with the lone exception of Rita, who is still very much in clingy possessive cat mode and in any case is half of the weight keeping Alina on her feet at this point. So it's as a pair that they slip a little bit deeper into the night to sit next to the world's poutiest dragon in that very slow and careful way that's as much not to let on how little's left in her tank as it is not to spook Adila. And they sit there, alternately radiating tired happiness and sulky rejection at each other for a quiet minute before Alina finally opens her mouth.

"I don't think she was very good for you, anyway."

[Thanqol]

With the perfect grace of a Cascade, Alina disentangles herself one by one from every social thread tying her to the spot with the lone exception of Rita, who is still very much in clingy possessive cat mode and in any case is half of the weight keeping Alina on her feet at this point. So it's as a pair that they slip a little bit deeper into the night to sit next to the world's poutiest dragon in that very slow and careful way that's as much not to let on how little's left in her tank as it is not to spook Adila. And they sit there, alternately radiating tired happiness and sulky rejection at each other for a quiet minute before Alina finally opens her mouth.

"I don't think she was very good for you, anyway."

It's a hell of a spot you put Princess Adila in with that, Alina Cascade. Part of her wants to defend Princess Iron Star and talk about how cool she is, motivated by the tangled mix of attraction and not wanting to have been wrong. Part of her wants to agree and go into a sooky, bitter, heartbroken rant. Part of her is doing dress rehearsals for every single person who is going to tell her I-told-you-so. Part of her just wants to know what she has to do to fix this - what she did wrong in the first place, where her plan fell apart. She hasn't even fully accepted the idea that Iron Star is just gone, let alone having to deal with someone talking about the whole situation in past tense, let alone as a positive.

She kind of just wants to grab all of that confused hurt, roll it up into a ball, and throw it at the closest person just to vent. But that'd also be like admitting that there isn't hope and this isn't a temporary setback. So instead of lashing out she just deflates like a balloon, folding her wings, coiling her tail around herself, lying down and putting her head next to Alina. All bundled up like that she's surprisingly small.

It wasn't the wrong thing to say, though. It hovers in her mind as the only thought she can't immediately undermine or second guess, and you can feel her thoughts constantly drift back to it.

[Raz_Fox]

Kazelia!

At least Ninian hasn’t turned into a snake and bitten you yet. Or turned into wind and blown your skirt up. Or turned into an ice ogre and given you a noogie. Or turned into you and done an unflattering impression of “Pegzalia the Pegasus Princess,” complete with being fluent in neighing.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s a good thing that you can’t use your hands right now. Otherwise you might be tempted to shake her until she apologized.

But, no, here she is, small and meek and looking up at you, her eyes full of wheeling stars, her hair lank and dull, her mottled blue skin like a dew-strung cobweb.

“So does that eye thing just happen when a princess is nice to you?” she asks, cringing. “Is it going to happen to me now?” Which is a great way to start apologizing, Ninian, good job.

[Anarion]

"..."

Deep breath Kazelia. You've got lots of support. Like, literal and psychological here, all the support. This is fine. It's not like Alina managed to befriend your most annoying sister on purpose. I mean, sure, Asteria would be more dangerous here, and Eska would definitely be more of a jerk, but somehow nobody could beat Ninian for pure annoyance. Even the fact that she wasn't competent enough to be as dangerous as the others somehow made her more annoying. But this is fine.

Really, it's weird too. "Nin, why do you look like that? You never look like that?" Okay whoops, that was out loud and extremely insulting, pull it back, save it, save it! "I mean, you look good though. And uh, I think you'll still have your same eyes, mine are from visiting Argossa as a spirit after Dad tried to kill me, so it's probably not a thing that will just change for you unless some crazy stuff happens. I mean, if you want to change them we can probably figure that out too, maybe some kind of spiritual ritual with the leylines in combination with my songs might..."

And there it is, getting lost in weird theory and ignoring her after you insulted her. Great job, Kazelia, really solid socializing, you rock at this, no really, that's not sarcastic at all. "What I mean is, it's good to see you, Nin. I'm glad you're here with us."

[PhoeKun]

A common problem among friends is that, when they see each other wallowing in some sort of negative emotion, they rush to overfix it and wind up paving over all the good stuff they started with. Alina Cascade is, among a lot of other things granted, a wise enough princess to know when not to poke the moping dragon. She sits quietly, without adding any new thoughts to the churning mixture of them already in the air, and waits for Adila to express one of them on purpose.

She sits there quietly, watching her friend look small and vulnerable and confused, and after another quiet minute under the light of her lantern without a proper word passing between them, Alina reaches out and rests her hand on Adila. Not on her head, of course. That'd just be crass. No, on the back of her neck; just a gentle pressure that holds there quietly and doesn't fade. Against the scales of a dragon, her fingers probably feel quite cool. She smiles.

"I wish I'd gotten to see your dress when you lit it. You probably stole every eye in the dance hall. But don't you go thinking I'm going to just sit here and let you take my crown away from me forever. Next year... next year we're not going to need to do all of this fighting, and then I'll wipe you off the dance floor. I'll spend a whole six months just on design. No adventuring at all!" She pauses for a second, and makes a weird face, "...Not a lot of adventuring. Not as much. I'll... bring a notebook, and OOF!"

It was this exact moment that the highly dignified Princess Rita von Catabas of Askaia chose to sit herself quite forcefully on Alina's lap and bury her face in her girlfriend's neck. She doesn't turn into a cat at any point during this, so her whole weight is pressing down on Alina and for a moment it's actually quite distressing until she gets settled in.

"Somebody's a clingy kitten tonight. What's the matter? I'm not--"

"Don't say it, Lina! Don't say you're not going anywhere! Don't say you won't disappear! You always disappear! You almost did it tonight! You always do this! You just spread yourself thinner and thinner, running around helping people or stealing treasures and I... I need you too, ok? I just want you to rest and stay with me and go to a nice restaurant so we can eat fish together! You know, with the rainbow salt? But you never sit still and I..."

Alina winces. She tilts her head up to stare at the sky, one hand still holding firm on Adila's neck, while her free arm now busies itself with softly stroke Rita's back.

"Yeah," she says heavily, "You're right. I'm sorry."

[Raz_Fox]

Dandy!

Well, this will teach you to be late ever again.

It's not your fault. You're not blaming yourself, of course not. You are centering yourself and your energy flows, and accepting Hyperborea as it has chosen to present itself to you today. It's just... really difficult to ignore the fact that you would have been here in time if it wasn't for Rider attacks. And that there wouldn't be anything here that needed to be fixed, no injuries to be mended, no shattered crystals and ruined streets and defenses torn apart, if it weren't for the Riders. Well, even that's inaccurate. Lay blame where it's needed.

You're helping with a triage station, the nucleus of a wild goblin dance, offering opinions and suggestions and advice every time you turn. Yes, slotting in some Jedadi fire crystals would be a short-term solution to that disrupted power web. Here, have more aloe and clingweed for poultices. That crystal's not salvageable, it needs to be cleaned and then shattered into decorative shards, and you'll either need to grow a new crystal here or ship one in from... Axonia, at a guess, and, oh, hang on, you need bittercaps? Hang on, fungi's difficult, but just a moment...

And that's where Princess Iron Star Crushes the Strong finds you, looking like she rolled through a boutique's clearance racks and-- no, no, Dandy. Breathe. Don't be judgmental, just because she's big and doesn't know how to properly apply her strength and is usually accompanied by a bunch of rowdy, disrespectful devils, and... breathe, Dandy, focus your circulation on your center. You have to keep your balance in the midst of chaos.

"Where is she?"

"We haven't tracked the tower yet," you say, a little crisply, accepting an offered pen and writing down your thoughts on how to deal with the untempered crystal fallout in Ring 3 Section 5 Subsection B. "In the Engineer's Grand Bunker, they're working on calculating the landing point based on the trajectory--"

"It's in Rowan. Where's my sister?"

"She went that way," you say, pointing at the trail of destruction. It should have been easy enough, you think, and then you catch yourself. Princess Black Serpent Shuns Heaven's Light did zig and zag quite a bit while on her way out. Almost like she was having fun knocking towers over, cracking open walls, and sending the whole of Hobling Keep haywire, no matter whether it worked on magic, crystals, clockwork, or even hamster wheels. The Keep could keep you out forever, if the goblins wanted, but... well, the defenses weren't exactly designed for someone on the inside working their way methodically outwards. Especially without their Queen. "What do you mean, it's in Rowan?"

Iron Star makes a terrible noise in her mouth, disgusted, and moves to walk away. And that's when the goblin constables divebomb her. Which doesn't stop her at all, admittedly, because she's big and strong and impossibly implacable. But it does mean that she's stuck removing them, one by one, off her body, and that gives the mounted unit time to activate the MechaScarab.

You... really should get involved. But... you also... have work to do...

And it's really nice watching her being sprayed with Fight Suppressant Foam.

You are centering yourself and your energy flows, and it's really working. There's even a little smile on your face as you get back to work, even though your workstation has a lot of ambient noise coming from down the street. But meditation really helps with focusing the mind, you know?

***

Azora Howl!

When your father enters your chambers, he barely spares a glance at the Hyperborean tomes piled up on every available surface, or the notes piled up on top of them, or the arcane books of seeking out knowledge. You have delved deep, deeper than any scholar on this wretchedly vibrant world, and still-- still the secrets of Adila I elude you. Still her paranoia and base cunning defeat your conjurations, your divinations, your attempts to simply rip the name of Eupheria's final resting place out of the world itself. It has forced you to consider... alternative paths. Each one, unfortunately, leading to dead ends. Or, worse, one of Adila's Trapped Catacombs, full of nasty little wards and secret passages, each one leading to an empty chamber and the words THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR etched into the crumbling stone.

But you were not the only one to enter them before. And she is running out of dark corners from which to hide the Caduceus from you.

"It is time to finish this," he says, and he cannot or will not hide his anger. He is wearing the iron war-crown he took from a far-distant world, its cold frame hugging his cheekbones, its crooked blades grasping at the incense-choked air. Your hands tremble on the page. What you have has to be enough. "Go and bring me the Caduceus. Do not restrain yourself. Burn it out, if you have to. Do not fear the high queen. I will keep her eyes on me."

"As you will, father," you say, with a hurried curtsy. "Morgina and I--"

"Morgina will be here," he says, and there will be no changing his mind. You adjust accordingly. "The stupid little queens of my world have finally woken up and realized that their age is over." He picks up a ceremonial athame, and you wince as he casually twists the metal into a crumpled, spiraling knot. "So they will bring their princesses and attempt to attack us. And the Iluminans will not be enough. They are weak, but... stubborn, even in the face of their own destruction. They will dare to hope. To try to overthrow us. And I will never let the Cascades have this kingdom again."

You put two and two together, and smile. Oh. Yes. Yes. Your father has finally decided to allow the baptism of Ilumina.

"I will open a gate before I leave," you say, delight dancing in the cold waste of your eyes. "I know Morgina will not fail us."

"Make it quick." You curtsy once more, and then grab the closest books to hand, secreting them away inside your cloak, along with the report you have concerning the whereabouts of the one Iluminan you are now certain knows the secret resting place of Eupheria's tomb: King Isolde Waverly. You step close and accept from him, with a bow, the treasure he offers you, cold as nothing else is cold, sharp as nothing else is sharp, a knife to cut through the work of devilkind.

The Slaugh was not the only communion you had with your stepmother, after all.

***

The Sunless!

The knock comes quick on the door; yes, that is the right rhythm, but you still lean back into the shadows, drawing your short sword and your wand. Rook Reedley, your absolute cutie-pie of a boyfriend, is the one who answers the door, and who is it but darling Mari Undertow who comes huffing into the room. She barely waits for Rook to close the door and set the locks before blurting out the news.

"Alina's in Rowan!"

"What?" You come out of the light, sheathing the sword but not your wand. You've had enough close calls with Ninian before to know that nobody can be trusted once they leave your sight. Not completely.

"She dropped a goblin siege tower out of the sky onto the Riders! She was riding a dragon and leading a real confederacy of princesses! We heard it from the Riders themselves when they switched out slaves at Glittergleam." She lets out a shaky little squeal, and dances from foot to foot. "She's gonna come back and save us all!"

The news hits you right in the stomach. You should be ecstatic. You really should be. You haven't figured out a way to crack open Castle Thessia this entire time. Once Iluminans go in, they don't come back out. Alina's arrival, with as many princesses as she can bring, that might be enough to knock down the front gate and kick every Rider between you and and the dungeons in the face. But...

But it's gonna be rainbow-crowned Light-prodigy girlfriend-magnet Alina who saves the day again.

"That's wonderful," you manage to say, smiling for Mari. "Rook's gonna take you home, okay?"

And it's only once she leaves that you let yourself look up at the ice-crowned towers of Castle Thessia through the skylight in the kitchen, knuckles white on the edge of the sink. You look up, against Rider law, and don't look away.

"I'm going to save you, Mommy," you say. "I promised."

End of EPISODE 4: Princess Gala!
Tune in next week for EPISODE 5: Princess Heist!
And don't miss the bonus web-exclusive short connecting the two: Confederacy!

[Raz_Fox]

PRINCESS-CHAMPIONS OF HYPERBOREA
WEBISODE 3: Confederacy!

Castle Artos!

The noble ram-knights of Artos will not let any wicked creature within the bounds of the castle, and it is for this reason that it has been chosen as the gathering-place for the Princess Confederacy. That, and the fact that several other fine gathering-places are rather troublesome at the moment, between Hobling Keep being half-demolished during the calamity at the Crystal Gala, Rowan being overrun by revolution against the influence of the Riders, and the Bazaar being a controversial place to plan the invasion of Ilumina from, so Castle Artos it has to be! Despite her somewhat shameful showing during the Crystal Gala, Princess Gale of Alvonia is a fine hostess. Much like Rita, she possesses magic to take human form, but most other Alvonians you see throughout the castle are wonderfully fluffy, soft sheeps, balancing whatever they need to hold on their backs. Trays float from room to room on fleeces, and so do boxes, folders full of information, and pillows.

But this is where the princesses of Hyperborea are preparing to go to war. They might be outnumbered a hundred to one, against enemies who don't play by the rules, and they might be rubbing up against old feuds and arguments, but that just means three things: firstly, that Jessamine Cascade has been elected the Princess Belligerent of this Confederacy, in charge of charting your stratagems and explaining how Riders fight; secondly, that you will all have to use your powers like you have never used them before, to non-lethally and honorably defeat foes who will not, in a pinch, extend you the same courtesy without thinking; thirdly, that the Watch has been invited to provide further military support and tactical advice. After all, full-scale Hyperborean war is something they've been preparing for all this time.

Your time is yours, what little of it you have before Jessamine briefs you on your role in the liberation of Ilumina.

[Thanqol]

Alina!

One of the secrets earned from walking the path of the big sister is to know when a sulk has gone on too long.

You'd expect Princess Adila, of all people, to pay attention during during the strategy meetings. But she's not! Even when she's present she's caught up in her own thoughts, and when prompted for plans you get nonsense like +I'll just take all those Riders out by myself,+ without further commentary. This is the moment when a slightly paranoid over-planning Watchdragon would be genuinely helpful but she's not into it at all. She's spending all of her focus on brooding and it really has gone on too long at this point.

You've tracked her down to a basement where she's built herself a little fort out of water barrels and is lurking amidst them, shapeless under her cloak and boxy armour.

*

Once upon a time, Princess Adila tried to avoid Princess Dandy. She had crashed into a wall when flying and one of her baby teeth had half come out - still attached by a thread. She'd been so embarrassed and freaked out that she'd hidden away because she didn't want anyone to see. Princess Dandy had tracked her down, crawled into her secret den, wrestled her down, and gently but firmly wriggled the tooth until it came all the way out while telling her stories about the Tooth Selkie. Afterwards she'd given her frozen strawberry dessert to the watery-eyed dragon hatchling.

Ever since then Adila had kind of had it in her mind that trying to avoid Princess Dandy was both impossible and undesirable. No matter how vulnerable she felt - sick, injured, scale scabies, or even just the general funk that she got in whenever she had any sort of defeat - she always knew that she could trust Dandy. Not 'trust Dandy to be nice' - that didn't apply to anyone who had helped pull a tooth. But she could trust her to do what was necessary, no matter how scary that necessary thing was.

So instead of avoiding her like she was avoiding everyone else, Princess Adila asked her out to a picnic.

After all, she had a duty to repay Princess Dandy for the care basket she had been sent on Argossa. She'd put a lot of planning into getting the food and route right. Even asking her to a picnic in the countryside rather than a nice, safe restaurant was a concession - Adila still was not remotely comfortable with being outside a city, even less so with walking around on grassy hills and forests rather than flying over them. Her experience with Feloria had very firmly left her with the impression that the green outdoors were insanely dangerous and perilous places full of poison and snakes and pigs and death so she was very careful to let Dandy take the lead on the route rather than confidently assuming what she knew what she was doing.

There was definitely a new respect and humility in her attitude that hadn't been there the last time they'd talked. She'd grown a lot.

[Anarion]

Adila!

Kyouko takes Kazelia by the hand and leads her over to a thicket in the gardens of Castle Artos. It's not especially secret, and a sheep retainer comes by to offer them both a drink balanced on a tray on its fluffy back, but it is just hidden from the main path to the front of the castle. Several fox retainers gather in the area behind Kyouko, doing some last minute stitching on a large pale yellow morning gown printed with chrysanthemums.

"There are two keys to a proper Hyperborean kidnapping" Kyouko says, waggling a finger at Kazelia. "The first is speed, and the second is fabric quality!" She cackles with delight. "We will be demonstrating on Adila. First because you must never let the members of your group become complacent. And second because she is clearly in need of a good cheering up!" Kyouko cackles once again and Kazelia gives her a look that is simultaneously confusion that this would cheer someone up and a lightbulb going off that this would cheer someone up. It's one of those little things that makes a lot of Hyperborea start to make more sense.

When Adila completes her scouting of the area and lands to come inside, Kyouko strikes. Several fox attendants rush out of the bush with the dresses, and a second set prepares with a series of silk ropes. They give Adila a bow, formally, and when she returns it, the set with the dress clamber onto her back and immediately begin attaching various loops and clasps and wrapping a silk belt about the dragon. The foxes with ropes follow in a flash and the second that each bit of the dress is secured, Adila is wrapped about with the ropes, preventing her from flapping her wings or clawing any of it off. Their working speed is quite impressive and you might get the impression that the fox team has drilled this exact scenario several times.

"Kyahahahaha!" shouts Kyouko, emerging from the bushes and gesturing rapidly for Kazelia to follow her. "Now you are ensnared, Adila of the Watch! You shall be the prisoner of princesses Kyouko and Kazelia this day, and we shall not take no for answer. Kyahaha!"

Kazelia tries to shrug and writes down a few notes on a new notepad that she seems to have acquired for today's lesson.

****
Alina!

"That thing with the light weasel, that was really good" Kazelia says, as she comes over to talk to you, Alina. She's picked a quiet time, but maybe you can tell us what you'd be up to here in the castle of the sheep people when you'd look approachable.

"Honestly, everything at the gala. You looked stunning, you stood up to Oberon, you figured out his plan and found an inspired way to resist his allies and figure out their plans, and then we united the princess alliance. It was just, just brilliant."

Kazelia looks down at her own feet, tries to look back up at you and meet your eyes. "I said some things at Argossa and I just, I want to apologize. I know we're all fighting together, each of us in our own way. I think, I look at you sometimes like you're the model princess that everyone in Hyperborea should aspire to be, Alina. And...and I'm sorry if I asked for too much and put too much pressure on you." Kazelia looks away again, like she's worried that maybe that still didn't land right. It's really hard to say what she's feeling and she's scared that it won't come across right but she's trying her best anyway.


****
Jessamine?!

Kazelia enters quietly. It's almost quiet enough that you'd turn to stab her out of what some people would call paranoia if it weren't entirely proportionate defensive behavior. Fortunately for Kazelia, however, she makes a point of knocking on the door before actually entering any further into the room, so instead you turn around looking like you'd go for a crystal knife throw and then stop when you see who it is.

"So, princess belligerent is like a general, right?" Kazelia says. "That means you'll need some help dealing with my sisters and my people. I'd like to offer that help. It's been a few years, but I would be pretty surprised if they've changed up their tactics too much. Only Asteria really thinks about that sort of thing and she's been away for most of the time. You'll probably get a layout that's a lot of Illuminan troops to hold the line, who will be surprisingly sturdy despite not really having their hearts in the fight, and then the Riders will act as shock troopers, flankers, and magical support. They're awful at staying in one place though. If Kaja is there, she'll fight alone and be stronger than a whole battalion, if Eska is there expect traps and something explosive from far away, and if Cassian beats us back, expect a bit more organization than normal, he's good at getting everyone lined up properly. I don't think any of the others would fight in a battle. Asteria would try to take a small strike force out, like she did in Feloria, she likes having troops but not being in a huge fight with big armies because it makes her feel too insignificant. Morgina and Azora are too dangerous for their own army, they'd be alone and probably separate. Plus, Morgina likes terrorizing people, so she's much more likely to stay behind and go after the strike force that infiltrates the castle.

We're going to need that strike force, by the way, maybe two of them. Father will have some sort of fail-safe to spite everyone if we start winning a pitched battle and we'll need to disable that. If you also want a strike force to throw the gates open or capture the throne room while the army is busy, that will be the second one."

Kazelia stops talking and looks at you. Seems like she's...hopeful? Like she wants some acknowledgment that she's helping. She seems really sincere.

[PhoeKun]

Adila!

Well, credit where it's due: you definitely found a good hiding place this time. You can tell because by the time Alina finally appears on the steps leading down to your little fort she is looking extremely put out. She's pretty obviously been looking for you for hours. She's also carrying a comically large bowl of soup on a floating tray of orange light, which is probably heating it as much as it is holding it, because the bowl is still steaming, like, a lot. A lot a lot.

She's wearing the dress Ourania gifted her again, and from the look of things decided it would be a natural hair day so her crown is just shining brightly from atop a floofy bed of lavender curls shaking themselves out past her shoulders. There's a dangerous look in her eyes, but as you watch her descend into the water barrel fortifications one deliberate and imperious step at a time, she's also never looked more like a Princess of Illumina. Or for that matter, more like a big sister. You can see pretty clearly now why it is that Jessamine is always so deferential around her even when she's an uncontrollable whirlwind everywhere else. Or, at least, you can see that if you're paying any sort of attention. I don't want to put words in your brain.

She takes the time to weave through the fortifications properly, not lifting herself up over them or jumping past any of it even though it'd be a lot faster to do this pretty much any other way. Then she hits the final rampart, realizes there's no 'door', and makes an extremely irritated hmmph before lifting a barrel with one hand and very gingerly placing it in top of another. She stands in front of you without comment, towering over your sulky frame for the first and definitely last time in her life. Then she sets the bowl of soup down on the floor right in front of you.

"You're sick," she says. It's not a question, "Eat. You'll be no good to the reclamation efforts like this, you poor thing."

She takes a step back. And she stands there, watching you intensely. Waiting for the response.

***
Kazelia!

Alina holds up an arm with a long, purple silk sleeve flopping (gracefully... somehow) over it. She reaches up and pulls the excess fabric down to reveal she was actually holding up one finger. Then she relaxes her body and slides fully under the steamy waters of Castle Artos' community bath area. It's a bit... natural for her tastes, not to mention a bit warm. Of course, keeping all that wool glistening and lovely takes a very different process than caring for Illuminan skin, so she's not about to start complaining. But come on? What possible other place were you going to find Alina Cascade than the designated 'come here and get wet' area?

She stays under the surface for over a minute, which if we're being honest is a breach of the sacred trust of the 'one minute please' finger, but if there's a court in Hyperborea that would convict her right now I'm not sure I've heard of it. In any case it's actually kind of mesmerizing to watch her down there. It's a bath and not a spring so it's hardly all that deep, but she manages to lie at the very bottom with this placid little smile on her face while the microcurrents tug her hair lazily first up, then down, then up be left, and so on. All the while, not so much as a bubble escapes from her to disturb the surface. And when she finally breaches it's with this dramatic little hair toss that throws glistening droplets in an arc in front of and behind her, and you just know that's a trick she picked up from Princess Nemie. They used to be friends, did you know that? Illumina always got on famously with the other water kingdoms.

"Not at all," she says as if she hadn't just made you wait forever on a pointless indulgence, "What you did during the attack was much more impressive, and much more important. You kept a whole ball's worth of princesses calm and stayed in control throughout everything. I heard about it from Queen Felicia. You even kept Hornet on track and that's... there's not that many people who can do that. I know I can't; she and I are, um... incompatible. It's not her fault, really. It's just, you know, well anyway it doesn't matter! You did it! I'm so proud of you, Kazelia."

And she beams. She sits up a little and the water makes a go at tugging down the waist of her oversized pajama bottoms. This whole outfit is about a size too big for her; she very clearly borrowed it so she had something clean to bathe in. She could have done it the way everybody else does, and arguably even should have, but then if she did that would she really be Alina Cascade. Water drips off of her back into the bath and she heaves a contented sigh as if nothing could be wrong in the world, and in that moment she seems absolutely perfect.

"Anyway don't worry about it. About before, I mean. I'm used to having people expect a lot from me, and... honestly? I needed the push."

***

Alina slips quietly inside the... what was this sort of room called again? The arena-ish thing where knights and especially knightly princesses did all sorts of wildly romantic and impressive things to show how incredibly buff and marriageable they are. They don't have rooms like this in Castle Thessia because Illumina has other ways to show off talent and besides her people have always quietly preferred to do all of their fun things outdoors and, whoops haha that's too much thinking about home for one afternoon! Though really she's going to need to do that a lot soon and she should really prepare herself for...

Well anyway, this whatever-it-is room is a lot emptier than it would normally be what with all the scattered prep and strategy meetings, but it is currently party to an absolutely towering and also kind of terrifying ram knight, and also Princess Helya, who is very predictably busy wrestling said knight without armor and with her bare hands. She's also winning. She's Helya: she always wins! That was one of the things that made her seem so attractive to Alina in the first place. Well, that and just how... nice and earthy she smells and the way she's always been so tall and strong and how when she finally lets someone in close to her she's got this perfect arms to just sink into and... and...

OK HAHA CHANGE OF SUBJECT REAL FAST ALINA, YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND NOW REMEMBER? AND ALSO? SHE'S ENGAGED!

Alina hops up onto a low wall by the edge of the ring and perches herself there, elbows on thighs and head in hands with a happy little smile on her lips that she hopes will hide how much she was blushing on the way in here. Her emerald eyes sparkle with delight as she watches her first and to-date most potent crush do the sorts of things that made Alina fall head-over-heels with her in the first place. She doesn't make a sound to disturb the match. It's better this way, she thinks. Tashanna is better for Helya than she would be. Rita is much, much better for her than either of them would be. It's so perfect that she has to pause her thoughts and wonder how much of the way things worked out was actually guided by Ourania's warm and honestly maybe overly playful hands. What a thought.

And then finally, Alina's time for quiet and silly contemplation is over. The match is ended, Helya has noticed she's here. And she's... staring, in that extremely intense way that only she and her mother can really quite pull off. Alina swallows nervously, and clears her throat.

"H-how... how are you feeling?" she warbles.

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

Alvonia is comprised of three primary colors: the vivid greens of the hills, the sharp blue of the cloudless skies, and the fluffy white of the sheeps. It seems almost a travesty to lay down a checkered blanket and plop a big black dragon onto the landscape. Thankfully, Dandy is just as sharply defined against those colors in her nice overalls and purple-checkered shirt.

And here you are, the two of you, in some of the most pastoral scenery in all of Hyperborea. (Feloria is more about cultivation and beautiful crystal-studded woods, not miles and miles of grassy, gentle hillsides.) Dandy has dominated the conversation, which is to say, she has insisted on teaching you lots of Felorian walking songs. There’s a lot of “fe-da-rol-da-lay” and “hup hey” and then sneaking in something very, very suggestive about things to do on a May morning with the princess of your heart, but worded in such a way that by the time you’ve puzzled out what it means you’re already lost in the chorus again. And it’s such a Dandy thing that it’s hard to tell whether she’s even doing it on purpose or she just enjoys singing while she walks.

But now you’re here, and she’s sitting criss-cross and looking up at you from the shade of her great big sunhat, waiting for you to present the picnic lunch. She’s letting you, which means you’ve got to do it. That’s how lunch with Dandy works, after all.

***

Kazelia!

“What I’m getting from that,” Jessamine says, sitting back down in her wool-smothered chair, “is that we need to scout out who’s up against us. What are your counter-scouting strategies?”

She’s got her hair up in a messy bun, and a scarf tied over her forehead, looking like she’s about to get to some housework, rather than planning an invasion. Her notes, half-visible on a ram-horn desk, are in cramped, spidery shorthand, and have arrows arcing between comments to connect thoughts.

She actually... might remind you of yourself, come to think of it. She’s focused and crisply intent on figuring out the optimal strategy for having a confederacy of princesses take on an army and win. And, intriguingly, she has books with titles like “The Forgotten War” and “Tales of the Shadow War” on her desk. It looks like she’s even doing her research.

***

Alina!

For a moment, Helya doesn’t answer. She just looks at you like she’s studying your face, committing it to memory, her ice-chip eyes running along your warm cheeks, tracing your jaw, which might be unconsciously lifting up as if her firm, steady fingers were under it, your lips parting with a breathy little sigh as she—

“Fine,” she says, breaking the spell. Her face is neutral, almost carefully so, and as usual her eyes give away nothing. No wonder she was so easily able to trick everyone but Adila back then. “How are you?”

There’s more packed behind that question, but it’s difficult to unpack at this stage. Maybe it’s a test? Or a warning of some sort? Maybe if you say you’re doing well she’ll challenge you to wrestle. Or if you complain she’ll be convinced you’re weak. Or maybe she is worried about you? Or maybe she is about to accuse you of being useless and not pulling your weight. It’s so hard to tell!

But whatever Helya means to do, she’ll do it because she’s convinced it’s what she needs to do. That’s what brought her into Oberon’s service in the first place, after all.