[IC] Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-09, 12:34 AM (ISO 8601)

Fury. White hot anger runs through Alina when she sees her own face under that hair. How dare she? How dare she how dare she how dare she?! Alina rises to her feet on Shiva's back and does a flip over the top of Kazelia, landing perfectly on the crystal-winged pegasus' nose. She's light enough not to distress the animal. She's slight enough not to obscure Kazelia's vision too much. If she were not capable of at least this least of all of Princess Marina's feats, Alina would not be worthy of her crown.

Dragonfire burns hot on her head. She stands straight, heedless of the speed she's travelling at, with her arms folded imperiously over her chest. Her eyes glimmer with a dangerous light. That's when the rain of lasers begins. One color, then another, then another. Orange, blue, violet, green, indigo, and so on and so forth, each one missing the white horse or its rider by an inch. So carefully aimed (isn't it?), so precise (surely?). Every blast strikes the sand and leaves a little patch of colorful Illuminan glass in the dunes that marks the trail of this stupid girl and her stupid chase.

Alina is completely ignoring Shazari and all of her guards. They could be doing anything behind her for all she cares. If they launched 3 dozen arrows and they all found the back of Alina's head, she would not flinch right now until she was sure that her little sister was safe. Safe and loved. The tears run hot against her cheeks, but her posture is completely unshaken. And still she rains colorful threats around the rider, not having a clue who this is or what their reasons for being here are.

"Where is she?" Alina snaps. Her voice is like a fiery whip in the twilight air, all sharp and dangerous and lacking the compassion that some would say defines her, "Where is my sister? Tell me where Jessamine is!!"

She jumps again, feather light off of Shiva's nose and lands just as softly on the white horse's back behind the saddle without every uncrossing her arms. The crystals from her crown float about her shoulders and glow with dangerous intent.

"Tell me! Now!"

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-09, 12:46 AM (ISO 8601)

Adila!

An uniformed observer, like Princess Dandy, might look at this scene in shock that the Watch is about to do something so, well, heroic. Isn’t “don’t be a hero” Watch doctrine, after all? Isn’t going out to fight a giant snake pretty heroic in and of itself?

The trick is that you’re still going to approach this like the Watch. You’ve set up the Balefire Trebuchets to provide long-range supporting fire. You’ve armed several battalions with pikes, just in case you’re able to create an opening for them to exploit. And you’re going to meet the snake-husband in the Stab Zone (unofficial nickname) and keep him there for as long as you can.

And everyone else?

Everyone else is going to help evacuate the city.

Now let’s talk about your role in all this, Adila. The Annalist’s got a present just for you, while the Captain barks out orders in a voice with a wicked baritone in duet.

It’s a chest. Black, except where it’s decorated with gleaming purple crystals. The lid is usually chained down, and now that the chains have been loosened, the lid is trembling and groaning.

“That overgrown stone noodle isn’t getting into our city, Princess,” the Annalist says, and the weight of pride in your chest is probably almost enough to not feel a little worried by how that chest is drinking in the light.

“And the best way to break something that mad devil made back in the day,” she says, bringing forth an iron key from her key ring with a flourish, “is with something else she made.”

Click.

Inside, on a bed of void-black velvet, is a broken spur. A weapon so vicious and deadly that it takes you a long moment before you realize that it was made from a gable decoration from some primordial cottage roof.

...it looks a lot like a dragon’s horn, if dragons had horns like unicorns. And it has leather straps forming a harness, gleaming like new.

“Look to love,” she intones, reverently. “Always. Our Lady of Night charged us with our sacred duty, and so we shall carry it out.”

“Oooh,” Dandy breathes, leaning over the chest. “Isn’t that part of the Cottage Of Bones? Didn’t it try to take over Hyperborea once?”

“Once,” the Annalist says, with a hint of smugness. “Once.”

“You know you don’t need this, Adila,” Dandy says, hands clasped behind her back, still leaning over that terrible spur. “I don’t think. What’s the use in trading out poison ivy for poison oak?”

***

Alina!

“I! Hate this! Actually!”

The voice isn’t quite matched to the Alina in front of you. It’s almost Alina! But it’s a little more shrill, a little less composed and graceful, and a lot less able to handle pain. If this Alina had been stabbed by Oberon, she would have shrieked at him that he was a bully and then run off in hysterical caterwauls.

Maybe that’s even a little enviable. To feel entitled to voice your pain, to feel like you don’t deserve anything that happens to you. The Alina in front of you is definitely not a better person... but she is a louder and more assertive one.

...something’s wrong here. Something is nagging at the back of your head. She slumps off her horse, leaving you with the high ground and the prickle of danger on the back of your neck.

“I can’t believe you are so worked up over a stupid ruby! All I wanted was to give my Daddy a giant snake monster as a present, and you have to shoot me? I thought you princesses didn’t do that! You’re the worst person in the world and I hate you!!” It’s not exactly clear which of you she’s talking to. Like, Shazari actually shot her, but you also tried. And also, you’re closer.

Shazari calmly nocks another arrow. “Hand over the Heart,” she says, in serene tones. You’d almost imagine she wouldn’t shoot “Alina” in the foot the second she tried to refuse. Or the actual Alina, if you were to get in the way. The silk gloves are off, and we are playing as dirty and bloody as Hyperborean fighting ever really gets. Rhyza crests the dune behind her, horse worked to a lather, and double-takes seeing you and Kazelia already here.

“Go kiss a goat,” Ninian hisses, and stamps her foot. Shazari releases the bowstring. And, at this moment, you realize what was bothering you, Alina. You’re not surrounded by sand dunes. You’re surrounded by elegantly embroidered camouflage-cloaks in the Iluminan style.

The arrow is cleaved neatly in half.

Jessamine Cascade, the Black Princess of Ilumina, holds her position a moment, as the world holds its breath. Naginata extended, glass edge wickedly glittering in the dying luminescence of Shazari’s arrow. The glass beads cascading down her lavender hair from the platinum crown on her brow, hanging listlessly in the still air. The perfect kata, her form flawless. The emptiness of her face, without emotion, without expression.

Then a shadow passes over her face; or, it might be closer to say that something moves far beneath her face, as a leviathan beneath the sea. “...li...na?” And it hurts, doesn’t it, that she’s not looking at you?

“Yes,” Alina Cascade says, flawlessly. The petulance and nastiness are gone, and all that’s left is a hurt little princess, grateful to see her little sister here, here to save her from these bullies. She presses her hands to her phantom scar and smiles like a martyr. “It’s me, sunflower, Alina—“

(And, too late to be noticed, a violet-haired witch running towards her across the dunes, hiking up her light, gauzy rain-skirts, going: “My Lady, I wouldn’t—“)

The brutal and elegant snap kick to Ninian’s face sends her spinning on her heels twice before landing in a very Alina-like heap, face down on the sand, arrows still sticking out of her.

Jessamine turns, and the good news is that evidently she can feel something. The bad news is that it’s blind incandescent fury. She levels her naginata’s head at Shazari in dreadful silence, her eyes blazing, and a hundred glass spears come bursting up from the sand in answer to her unspoken command.

And here, just a little too far away to be helpful, comes the trumpeting of Shazari’s elephants in reply.

And here you are in the middle of it, Alina, with the opportunity to intervene before Jessamine attacks Shazari. The opportunity, but perhaps not the capability.

Spoiler: Princess Jessamine

Show

PRINCESS JESSAMINE CASCADE
Pierced by Yearning. Jessamine always charges in first and by herself whenever possible.
Blessed of Ilumina. Jessamine cannot be Kept Busy or damaged by magic or ranged attacks.
Relentless. To get in close or fight Jessamine in close combat, you must pay a price.

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-09, 03:04 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

“Oooh,” Dandy breathes, leaning over the chest. “Isn’t that part of the Cottage Of Bones? Didn’t it try to take over Hyperborea once?”

“Once,” the Annalist says, with a hint of smugness. “Once.”

“You know you don’t need this, Adila,” Dandy says, hands clasped behind her back, still leaning over that terrible spur. “I don’t think. What’s the use in trading out poison ivy for poison oak?”

Princess Adila could not have been more excited. Her doubts and misgivings vanished immediately - they were letting her wear war gear? Her? Adila? Getting to actually - her thoughts fluttered like a hummingbird tasting it's first lemon cake. She'd spent her whole life hearing stories about the war gear; about the relics in the Keep - speculating about what they did, where they came from, how the Watch ended up with them. It was one of the most popular games while bored and on patrol, sentry duty, even at the bar. Watchwomen swapped stories about the relics did, the last times they were used, the reasons why they were kept locked up...

The idea never really left anyone's minds because they were regularly trained and drilled in strange ways - fighting while wearing heavy chunks of metal loosely hanging from you, snapping to strange formations, sometimes even war songs. There was never context for these techniques but there was always the sense that they were useful for something, someday. And the ominousness that someday had come was not anywhere near as exciting as being let into the secrets of her tribe - at least for Adila.

She was part of the order of battle now, a knight to be outfitted with the arms and armour of her people. She was going to get the chance to be a real hero. She would be the one defending the city against a giant, clumsy monster for a change!

+Don't worry, Princess Dandy,+ Adila thought confidently as she bowed her head to the Annalist to let her pull the harness into place. +Like you said: to chop down a tree, I'll need an axe.+

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-09, 04:30 PM (ISO 8601)

It doesn't matter if she's capable of it or not. It doesn't matter what it costs her. It doesn't matter if she breaks. That's her little sister, and she's been hurt by Oberon. If Alina doesn't at least try, then he's already won.

She leaps from the horse and lands lightly in the sand. The Heart of Jedad is just over there, and if she were willing to let all of this just keep happening she could easily secure it and maybe save Jedad all by herself. She ignores it completely to run after Jessamine. She may not look as much like herself as Ninian does, but she does a much better job of acting like it. The sand shifts under her feet, but this is no obstacle to a Princess of Illumina. This is just river silt, but without the extra difficulty of the currents. Her steps are swift and sure and finally, for the first time since Helya held out her hand Alina looks a little bit like herself. Her crown glows. She pulls out a long, silken ribbon attached to a baton that flutters in reds, oranges, and yellows behind her while she runs. She's still the faster one. That's good. That's very good.

"Stop! Please stop, don't hurt her!"

Her voice is plaintive, but it's unclear who she's speaking to and who she's trying to protect. She raises her hand and traps Shazari behind a bubble of shimmering, prismatic light that's plenty large enough to be comfortable but also cuts her off from the fight entirely. It does precious little to deter Jessamine's charge, but in the tiny shift she makes to adjust what she's doing, that little moment where she reacts to the spell, Alina strikes. Her body pulses red for half a second, and her ribbon dances in front of her, where it wraps around the shaft of the glass naginata as if it's guided by magic. Alina pulls on it with everything she has, and while it isn't enough to yank the weapon free, it does turn her younger sister around to finally look at her instead. The two sisters see each other for the first time in years.

Oh gosh. She's grown so tall! Her hair looks just perfect with those glass beads tied through it. She wears her Illuminan clothes like she was born for them, and every silk kissed inch of her body is as lovely as Alina imagined it would be, every night just before she went to sleep. But her face is... wrong. Beautiful, elegant, like a huntress', certainly. But there's a want of passion where instead everything is blank as glass. She's Jessamine Cascade! That face should be lit up with a smile that would bring the sun back up at night! Or it should be storming and furious, indignant and pouting, even twisted in despair because she'd gotten cut while practicing or realized there wouldn't be enough cake for all of the castle staff to have a piece too. But there's no sign of that girl. There's nothing. And if she can't cry, then Alina will do it for her. Tears just keep spilling out, rolling down her cheeks and dripping into the sands at her feet. But even still, she manages a Big Sister smile.

"Look at you, little river blossom. You've gotten so pretty..."

[Alina is Keeping Jessamine Busy, paying the price of her Wall spell (and more esoterically, the chance of Shazari's help) to engage in melee combat. 2d6-1 = 7. When her time is up, Alina will open herself up to retaliation, but in the meantime the other actors in this scene have a free hand]

**Anarion** · 2019-08-09, 07:38 PM (ISO 8601)

"Alina!" Kazelia kept Shiva steady as her friend backflipped right over her head and perched on the pegasus' nose, then flipped off and threw up a wall. There was so much happening. Shazari and her bow, half an army descending, the heart of Jedad, Ninian (who was blessedly unconscious for a moment at least. Unconscious was in fact Ninian's most endearing form), and the Witch. And it's the last that Kazelia is going for like an arrow.

Well, not like an arrow, it's not the lance leading here. It's the charging pegasus, the frigid hand, the ice that throws the witch off balance and prevents her from moving, and the charging hand grabbing her by her collar and lifting up and away from the sand dunes and into the sky.

[I'm keeping the witch busy by grabbing her and carrying her off into the air. 6+2+2=10.]

"Hi there, you look like you work for my dad. Care to tell me what's happening with my friend's little sister?"

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-09, 08:30 PM (ISO 8601)

Adila!

The Bronze!

Finer armor there never was, gleaming bronze-and-black, studded with tiny diamonds in the shapes of unknown constellations. The Forge-Mistress had labored for three years making a new set for you, and then it had been put into storage and you'd never been allowed to wear it. Until now. It fits like a dream. When you flex your forelegs, the bronze talons scythe out at the ready. When you roll your shoulders, the spikes move like waves all up and down your back. You are an invincible princess of the Watch, and on your head is the spur of the Cottage of Bones.

What's it like, Adila? When you spread your wings and soar over the dunes, resplendent in your bronze, invincible and cheered on by your fellow warriors in the bronze, as you charge across the dunes towards the snake-husband like the night sky spread above you? And what's it like having the fury of the Cottage of Bones, the last and most terrible home ever made by the Boundless Sage, strapped onto your forehead?

***

Kazelia!

"W-what little sister?" The witch tries playing dumb. You loosen your grip and let her fall.

Then you catch her at the bottom of the loop-de-loop you just pulled with Shiva.

"oh right that little sister," she says, suddenly much more interested in helping with your inquiries.

"Well," she says, hanging there like a bedraggled kitten, violet-dyed hair blowing in the breeze, "she got close enough to Oberon that she cut him. So he cut her. With Echidna, which is named Yearning."

...oh. Oh, dear.

That atrocious wonder-knife does not cut the body but rather the soul. On some farflung world it was used as a surgeon's tool to excise madness and lance depression, but your father is less careful and less kind with its edge. With it, he may sever the strings that connect body and soul, heart and hand, leaving only rage and despair. Somewhere in that body is Jessamine Cascade, and it might be correct to think of her as sleeping, and it might be correct to think of her as a prisoner of her own fury.

If there is a way to mend what has been done to her, I do not know it, and neither does the witch; but I cannot say that it is impossible, either.

Another way to think of her, perhaps, is as a weapon; and the witch is the hand that wields her for Ninian. For your father.

But did she strike out at Ninian because she recognized her as a Rider? Or because she recognized her as Alina?

***

Alina!

Jessamine pulls on the haft sharply, uses the tension to vault over her own weapon, scythes her glass boot with dizzying speed through the air where your head just was. She lands nimbly, twists her haft, tries to make you drop your weapon. If you let her use the naginata, you lose. If you let her sweep your legs out from under you, kick you in the head, or otherwise knock the wind out of you, you lose. So it's a game. Almost like you're back home, sparring in the training yard, trying to keep your footing as the rain makes the glass tiles ever-so-slick beneath you. Here, Jessamine should be joking about how ribbons are for dancers, Lina, you should use a real woman's weapon, as if she doesn't do all the spinny flourishes with her own weapon whenever she gets the chance.

She doesn't. She unleashes a dizzying barrage of kicks that you have to evade with grace and poise. She is silent but for the flaring of her nostrils, the soft grunt of exertion, a growl of frustration as you force her weapon's head down with a well-leveraged pull of your ribbons. You could do this all night, if you needed to. You were always the faster one, weren't you?

You end up circled around, leading her on a merry chase, impressed by her stamina, and you happen to catch a glance of what's happening behind you. Shazari, hammering on the barrier of light furiously, but still with poise. Glass spears leveled at that bubble, and if you dropped it, she'd be a prisoner of Ilumina for once, ha! And behind that--

Rhyza, pulled off her horse, an Illuminan slipper on her neck, a glass spear's tip held between her eyes as her sword is pried out of her hands.

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-09, 09:26 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Adila!

The Bronze!

Finer armor there never was, gleaming bronze-and-black, studded with tiny diamonds in the shapes of unknown constellations. The Forge-Mistress had labored for three years making a new set for you, and then it had been put into storage and you'd never been allowed to wear it. Until now. It fits like a dream. When you flex your forelegs, the bronze talons scythe out at the ready. When you roll your shoulders, the spikes move like waves all up and down your back. You are an invincible princess of the Watch, and on your head is the spur of the Cottage of Bones.

What's it like, Adila? When you spread your wings and soar over the dunes, resplendent in your bronze, invincible and cheered on by your fellow warriors in the bronze, as you charge across the dunes towards the snake-husband like the night sky spread above you? And what's it like having the fury of the Cottage of Bones, the last and most terrible home ever made by the Boundless Sage, strapped onto your forehead?

Adila is house!

She needs space for master. Space for guests. There is not enough space here; it is time for spring cleaning! Out, out onto the front lawn with all of this! Out go the habits, they take so much space! Out go the inhibitions, too many rules make a house uncomfortable! Out goes all this negativity, trashbags full of it! In comes dragonfire, lovely and warm and great for cooking! In comes music, filling the house without filling the space!

(Claws gouge divots in the ground and shatter cobblestones. The tail wags and swings like a pendulum, swift enough to knock a man down and bruise his ribs. Strange ghosts and thoughts and colours and images flare into being around her, the remnants of her hollowed-out mind)

Adila is spiral!

Her eye fixes in place and her body curls around it. Neck in an orbit, body as smooth and flowing as water, tail coiled, around and around layers deep. The eye is the fixed point that the world orbits around. Houses grow and pile atop each other! They're meant to stack up! One house is a pathetic, desolate little thing - more houses, a community of houses, a legion of houses! Houses on top of houses! Houses spiral to the sky and skull, each one filled with love!

(She flashes from place to place so swiftly. Not steady, controlled flight from carefully chosen obstacle free runways - distorted motions where the physical reality of her body has to skip a few steps to keep up with the swiftness of her unencumbered mind. Who has the time to calculate the exact trajectories and muscular motions to put a dragon in the air? Just take the pose and add momentum. Much simpler.)

Adila is dragon!

Discarded, distorted thoughts warp and shatter around her. No space for them! Only space for songs and for masters and more house! Dragonfire unfettered and untensed, burning alight in its dragon-shaped wrapping! See how other fire draws to it, realizing at long last that this was where the dragonfire went to hide? Is it not time for carnival? Is she not surrounded by those who cheer for her - cheer, CHEER, listen to the CHEERS, is this not a grand abode where every pretty princess would want to live? Could she not tempt them with empty spaces and pretty exteriors? Should she tempt them or just claim them? Is that not the true and proper interaction between princesses and dragonhouse? Shouldn't the house just carry them away and put them in the heart so that they can be beautiful and precious and fill the dragon with love? With families? Why stop? Why not collect? There was still so much space! So much empty space and beautiful princesses who didn't understand why they were apart and feuding when they should all be living together in the best house? They would be her masters and she would be their house and they would clean her and tend to her and fix her and repair her and never ever ever ever ever ever leave her. This was how houses and dragons should be.

Ha ha! Why were things complicated before! She was so glad she'd thrown out all of that rubbish! How could anyone not be charmed/caught/made her master? How could anyone not cheer? Wasn't she pretty in bronze? Wasn't she lovable with nothing to hold her back? "Ha ha ha ha!" the energy erupts from draconic lips along with fire, and along with song.

"Home at last!
Home comes fast!
Devilhome is here again, here again to praise your sin!
Nevermore shall princess roam, Devilhome is now your home!"

(Despite the madness, discipline. Not the cold, rigid, restrained discipline of a kind, compassionate dragon who was aware of her size and ability to hurt. It was mutable discipline, like a hummingbird trying to fly through a spider's web - impulses caught and channeled, bouncing about in its cage and its course, flexing against every edge of ingrained Watch habits but binding itself tighter and tighter into unity. The magic of the devils didn't touch, couldn't touch the instructions of the Operations Manual - the correct response to signal flags, the commanders whistles, the march of the banner. For all the energy that boiled up within her, Adila did not outrun her formation; she did not let her fire truly loose, she did not fail to respond to a single order. She swirled and spiraled and sung but the madness was not chaos. Even now it was sharp, organized, directed. She was the Watch Princess and words of war were carved upon her soul.)

Adila is Princess Warbonedevilhousedragon!

In her wake, telepathic illusions of the other princesses seeing her, cheering for her, living inside her walls. They will be so happy when they get to see the real Adila. They will be as happy as she is. This is who she was made to be. She can't wait to show Alina. She can't wait to show Kazelia. She can't ~~poison oak~~ wait to show Dandy.

She was free from herself.

She was free from her desire to be less than she was.

She was free to be more than she was.

**Anarion** · 2019-08-09, 09:50 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Kazelia!

"W-what little sister?" The witch tries playing dumb. You loosen your grip and let her fall.

Then you catch her at the bottom of the loop-de-loop you just pulled with Shiva.

"oh right that little sister," she says, suddenly much more interested in helping with your inquiries.

"Well," she says, hanging there like a bedraggled kitten, violet-dyed hair blowing in the breeze, "she got close enough to Oberon that she cut him. So he cut her. With Echidna, which is named Yearning."

...oh. Oh, dear.

That atrocious wonder-knife does not cut the body but rather the soul. On some farflung world it was used as a surgeon's tool to excise madness and lance depression, but your father is less careful and less kind with its edge. With it, he may sever the strings that connect body and soul, heart and hand, leaving only rage and despair. Somewhere in that body is Jessamine Cascade, and it might be correct to think of her as sleeping, and it might be correct to think of her as a prisoner of her own fury.

If there is a way to mend what has been done to her, I do not know it, and neither does the witch; but I cannot say that it is impossible, either.

Another way to think of her, perhaps, is as a weapon; and the witch is the hand that wields her for Ninian. For your father.

But did she strike out at Ninian because she recognized her as a Rider? Or because she recognized her as Alina?

"If she's nothing but rage now, how are you controlling her? Or directing her?"

Was she even here? Jessamine had been running ahead before, the witch had been...advising her perhaps? But they must have some way to direct her at the least, to keep her from ripping up their own camps constantly, some way to keep her passive perhaps?

Something else was still missing. Some piece of the puzzle. Helya had her heart start to freeze and stole the Heart of Jedad. Ninian put Helya up to that and her exclamation at the end had been, petulant really, like she didn't even understand the whole thing or who it was hurting. So why was this witch here, why was Jessamine here? Dragging around a berserker wasn't Ninian's style, and it didn't match up. What was Oberon's grand plan here? Why were any of these people here? Why wasn't Azora here? Well, she had a Witch to help answer these questions.

"Why are you here? Why did Oberon send you here?"

Steady Kazelia. Focus, channel your anger, stay away from the Jedadi who aren't going to understand this right, and keep the witch away from Jessamine until you know what to do. Oh void, how was she ever going to fix this?

[3+4=7 on look closely. I think I'm asking broadly a few things here.
First, just trying to figure out the missing piece in all this. What is going on here? What do my senses tell me?
Second, something about Jessamine and how she's working. Tell me about the Witch's connection and control over her. How could it help me? How could it hurt me?"
Third, let me tell you where I'm headed, where I'm looking. How to reattach the strands of a lost heart. What would happen if I came right Jessamine, using all the magic of my bloodline and gave her all the healing I've been holding, all the strength I posses, whatever it took to restore the bonds of her soul that Oberon cut?

I'll find out one of these answers the hard way.]

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-10, 12:22 PM (ISO 8601)

Fighting is a dance, Jess. You know that. You do! You know that, so...

Alina tries her best to make it fun. She smiles while she sways out of the way of Jessamine's kicks. She flourishes playfully with her ribbon whenever she uses it to pull the naginata out of the way. When Jessamine tries a leaping strike, Alina curves her back and gracefully rolls backwards onto her hands with her dancer's toes pointed delicately in the air until they land smoothly back in the sand behind her. While she dodges and counters, she calls out encouragement as if they really were just practicing like they used to. After every expert strike a "Very good Jess, just like that!" and each especially vicious blow earns admonishment: "More gently, Dewdrop. A Princess must always be beautiful, remember?"

She tries. She tries to make it like it was. She wishes it would rain. But of course, it doesn't. That would be asking for a miracle. And without that miracle, she can't see what affect she's having at all. Her sister's face is cold and lifeless. There's no spark of recognition or playful light in those beautiful eyes of hers. Nothing. There's nothing but a detached fury that doesn't belong there. Alina has to duck under a kick that's clearly trying to take her head off. She doesn't have her own glass boots or armor. Her ribbon is supposed to compliment her lights, but so much of her magic is tied up in maintaining the barrier around Shazari that she doesn't dare use it for anything. And even if that wasn't true, how could she turn weapons like that on her youngest sister?! Not a single blow has been struck by either side, and yet the duel has already been won.

One wrong move and everything is over. So it's a very bad idea for Alina to look away, but she can't help it. She catches Rhyza being pulled off of her horse out of the corner of her eye, and it's like someone dropped a rock into her stomach. What can she do? This is taking everything she has just to not die. But Rhyza will...

"Stop!" she shouts, turning her head away from the fight to glare at her countrymen, "Stop this at once! Let her go, that woman is blameless! This is not the way Illumina should--"

At the last second, she realizes her mistake. Her ribbon has gone slack; Jessamine's glass naginate whistles through the air with intent to slash her face to ribbons. Alina leans away from the blow and gives her ribbon a sharp, desperate tug and manages to just barely turn the blade so that the flat hits her cheek instead. Even then the force is enough to lift her off the ground and spin her through the air. Alina springs off of her left hand and pops back up onto her feet. She blinks away a tear, but more replace it. Even without a mirror, she knows she's already bruising. If that had hit... she trembles. She can't keep this up. It's too hard, it's too much. But there's no choice, is there? Big sisters aren't supposed to be selfish.

"...Jess?" Alina's voice is shaking, "Jess please, it's me! It's Alina! I'm sorry I didn't come find you, but I'm here now! You're in there somewhere... aren't you? Please. Please just..."

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-10, 06:15 PM (ISO 8601)

Dandy!

This is bad. This is “the goat gets out in the tomato pastures” bad. Maybe even “dog’s loose in the vineyard” bad. Adila’s barreling out into the city as heedless as a stud cavy in a pen full of sows, all heedless of what she’s knocking over.

This is downright creepy, the way the Watch are putting on these helmets and moving in sync. There’s the sort of synchronicity that folk get when they’ve known each other for ever and ever, but that’s what the Watch normally has. This is the sort where they seem outright compelled to line up proper. You wouldn’t put one of those bronze helmets on if it came with a free packet of White Hob’s Kiss seeds.

So you do what you do best. You rescue a horse and go out after her. There’s a knowing right in your gut, and your great-auntie is a mighty fine witch, so a little bit of that knowing got passed down along the way. And your knowing’s telling you that Adila’s gonna need you before the evening’s up, see if she don’t.

This is... complicated by the Devilhome Bell ringing, which means that the Devils are boiling up from underneath the streets to start Carnival celebrations. And wouldn’t you know it, but who’s that loping by your side but Iron Star Crushes the Strong, and her whole gang alongside her, all oversized jackets and wailing vuvuzelas.

“Nice party favor they rolled out for us,” Iron Star says, and then jumps over a rooftop and away.

The prospect of Iron Star and Adila interacting right now makes you urge your equine friend to run as hard as he can. Because the odds of something very bad happening are... high.

***

Kazelia!

“Look,” the witch moans, “I’m not in charge! I just read her bedtime stories and tell her whose fault this is!” Aha. A little too much there. If she’s been reminded, over and over again, that it’s not the Riders’ fault but the fault of her cowardly sister who ran away, or the fault of the princesses who wouldn’t help her— well, even though it’s not true, it’d sink in. And any Hyperborean princess would trust someone who read them bedtime stories. It’s simple logic.

“It’s not even a big deal,” she adds, trying to worm her way out of responsibility. “It’s just another one of Ninian’s foolish plans. Azora just had to tell her all about her plans to win the King’s approval by stealing the Heart of Jedad! It’s all Ninian’s idea, I’m just following orders, I didn’t have anything to do with it!”

...Azora doesn’t gloat about her plans. Especially plans which she intends to use to earn Father’s approval. Which means that either the witch is lying to save her own hide, or—

Or you’re still playing Find the Queen, and the secret is that all the cards are handmaidens. Azora’s picking your pocket while you try to pick a card.

Eska gloated about it, and she’s getting ambitious. It would be just like Azora to set up a scheme and let it run, just to make Eska chase after it. You’re not even the mark for this con, you just fell for it, too. Who knows where in all of Hyperborea Azora is right now?

Stupid, stupid politics and backstabbing! At least Hyperborean princesses don’t backstab each other and— wait, well, Helya’s probably an outlier. Of course no true Hyperborean princess would do something like this.

Okay, focus. If you did something... cute... you might be able to lull Jessamine into calmness again. Like reading her a bedtime story, or singing her a lullaby while stroking her hair, or cuddling with her and some stuffed pegasi. Except where would you get those at an hour like this?

And how would you even hold her still? Anyone foolish enough to even try would be punched. Or kicked. Or stabbed. You’d have to be very, very brave and kind to keep calm while being hurt by a mad princess.

As for that last...

Pouring the hungry void in your own blood into Jessamine, saturating her with that, letting it close the wounds in her very being...

How do you think Riders are made, anyway?

(this is not kazelia, it is a memory. this is not kazelia, it is a fear. this is not kazelia, it is a hope. do you not see? there is no such person—)

***

Alina!

The next swing is aimed for your neck.

The more you speak, the more you plead, the more energy seems to pour into Jessamine, and that energy is very interested in destroying you. It’s the worst sort of feedback loop! The more overwrought you get, the more you have to reach out to her. The more you try, the more vicious she becomes.

The haft of her weapon connects with your ribs, hard.

Behind her, you can see: elephants shying away from a solid block of Iluminan spears. More Iluminans doubling back to come to their princess’s aid, and not yours. The horizon lighting up with lasers.

You trip over Ninian.

That’s the most ridiculous part, isn’t it? Tripping because your heel catches on a princess disguised as you. She just has to ruin your life one more time.

The naginata comes screaming down towards your face.

With desperate strength, red flowing down your arms, you catch it just below the head, edge trembling a hair’s breath from your face, and wrench it out of her grasp, tossing it aside, buying yourself a moment of reprieve—

Which is why she plants her knee on your sternum like she’s driving a nail into wood, and uses her mailed fist, instead.

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-10, 07:56 PM (ISO 8601)

She's not like the others.

+A mental projection of Iron Star chases Adila, storming across the rooftops, shattering through the glass dome of the sky as she moves. She races the real Iron Star, neck and neck, expressions mirrored; here the dragon is winning, there Iron Star is, and now the moon is aloft and bleeding red as they ascend together into the sky, wrestling and kissing and striking each other with terrible blows and rending armour and clothes because they can't rend each others' flesh+

There's a void inside her head that she refuses to hear. All sorts of things could fit into that void! She could fit any number of lovely pretty houseguests, for example, and all of their friends and slaves and lovers and love. But she could also fit any amount of dragonfire, and dragonfire is the only houseguest she has right now. She feels so full! She could erupt and drown this entire land in life-giving volcanic silt and in so doing obey the great law that All Must Be Bountiful!

But there's space for something else, and the fire in her channeled mind parts like the desert before her. Nothing is right. Nothing is left. But she has the most important thing of all: an enemy.

Isn't having an enemy marvellous? Illumina and Jedad made their lives out of having an enemy. Someone you can feud with and hate and beat and hit as hard as you want knowing that they can take it and spit it back stronger? And - oh! Oh no! Her dragon heart is overflowing with sympathy, with compassion, with hurt! Was this what she was denying to Princess Iron Star all this time? With her control, with her reason, with her restraint? How could she have been so cruel? How could she have seen this beautiful demon princess suffering in a world with no enemies and done nothing?

+Memories, junk. The thunderclap of wings, lashing strikes of the tail, a dragon fighting with four sets of talons and all her teeth behind her back. A dragon, broken and bleeding on the ground, heart fluttering as she looked up at a disappointed sneer. Fire that stopped burning because there wasn't a compelling enough reason to keep it burning. Ruins. Wreckage. Days spent reconstructing houses in the aftermath, patient and dutiful and quiet and stable. None of that any more.+

She made eye contact with - not with Iron Star, but with the illusionary projection of her standing a foot to her left. She gave a savage grin. She understood. Then her gaze flowed right and settled on Princess Dandy - again, not Dandy herself, concerned and determined and bold in the face of a danger that threatened to give her land and title and domestic bliss, but the distorted fragment of telepathic wreckage that was smiling and clasping her hands together and whispering ~~poison oak~~ +You can do it, Adila, I believe in you!+ And she could do it! She could do anything if people believed in her!

"Hi-iiiiii-ronStar!" said Princess Adila, every word coming out sing-song and musical, a voice more practiced with hitting the complex notes of love songs than ordinary speech. "I am so-so-sorry I let you down! I have made space for you in my heart, I am ready for you to strike my skull and wipe your boots on my throat and I will make you ready for a life reclined within my arms. Have you met Princess Dandy? I hope to make her your roommate, so I hope you get along!"

**Anarion** · 2019-08-11, 08:26 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Kazelia!

“Look,” the witch moans, “I’m not in charge! I just read her bedtime stories and tell her whose fault this is!” Aha. A little too much there. If she’s been reminded, over and over again, that it’s not the Riders’ fault but the fault of her cowardly sister who ran away, or the fault of the princesses who wouldn’t help her— well, even though it’s not true, it’d sink in. And any Hyperborean princess would trust someone who read them bedtime stories. It’s simple logic.

“It’s not even a big deal,” she adds, trying to worm her way out of responsibility. “It’s just another one of Ninian’s foolish plans. Azora just had to tell her all about her plans to win the King’s approval by stealing the Heart of Jedad! It’s all Ninian’s idea, I’m just following orders, I didn’t have anything to do with it!”

The witch is not endearing herself, and Kazelia is done with her. I can't say this is one of Kazelia's proudest moments, more of the Rider spitefulness that bubbles up at times, but when the witch is done pleading, Kazelia just flings her off the Pegasus and away from the action into the desert. No pegasus catch this time. It's a sign of Kazelia's growth maybe that at the last moment she shapes a little slide out of ice to turn the landing into a roll across the desert instead of a hard impact. She'd be fine, eventually.

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

...Azora doesn’t gloat about her plans...

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! She'd lost Azora, lost Oberon's focus. There was no queen here to find. Void damn it! Eska had been the only lead to go on, but this was just a minor plan, nothing but Ninian causing chaos, something Azora had done to keep her own plans from sibling disruption. Void damn it, it didn't even matter now!

But that meant. Did she have it right? That meant there were only three pieces on the table here that were really a threat to Jedad. Ninian, Jessamine, and the heart (and it's accompanying giant snake). That meant, keep Ninian knocked out and capture her. Help Alina stop Jessamine, somehow, and then get the heart to...Shazari? Adila? The Watch captain? Uh...well, somebody get the heart to somebody to stop the snake.

Was that on the right track?
[What's one way I can stop the Overlord's plans in Jedad? Or am I still missing something to be able to ask that question?]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Okay, focus. If you did something... cute... you might be able to lull Jessamine into calmness again. Like reading her a bedtime story, or singing her a lullaby while stroking her hair, or cuddling with her and some stuffed pegasi. Except where would you get those at an hour like this?

And how would you even hold her still? Anyone foolish enough to even try would be punched. Or kicked. Or stabbed. You’d have to be very, very brave and kind to keep calm while being hurt by a mad princess.

As for that last...

Pouring the hungry void in your own blood into Jessamine, saturating her with that, letting it close the wounds in her very being...

How do you think Riders are made, anyway?

(this is not kazelia, it is a memory. this is not kazelia, it is a fear. this is not kazelia, it is a hope. do you not see? there is no such person—)

***
The Riders came to Hyperborea in a howl and gale. The distant song lost in the noise. It was a small world in the void, one great tree, one great snake. Oberon saw it and dreamed that it would be his, and he raced forward. His strongest witch scouted, and his swiftest daughter followed him to marvel. And then she saw a fight and a fire.

Asteria had joked, we'd better put out the campfires, they're a threat to national security, but she wasn't wrong. Once you saw the fire, you realized that it existed in every little piece of it.

That's the thing. Ourania was a beacon. Moving, shifting, matching and exceeding a failed old man and shining out beyond everything. A single star fallen to earth, a sun that could pierce the night. That's what Kazelia had seen. She had felt something then. It had taken time, years to worm its way into her heart, to let her hear the old song, but that had been the moment. Eyes full of stars saw a light that shouldn't exist, couldn't exist, and that light saw her in turn and reached her heart. It gave her something back that she'd lost. She didn't even know yet that she had it, but it was there. A girl danced beneath a distant tree in the sunlight and looked up at the blue sky.
***

That was it then. They needed to get Jessamine to Ourania, to forge in bonds of fire what had been cut by a blade of shadow. And that meant calming her down enough, bringing her back enough to be safe to travel, to be herself or a little while. Alina could do that if Kazelia gave her time and kept her safe. She could do it. She was strong enough for that, Kazelia had seen the set of her face. And in Alina Kazelia saw hope. She needed to believe in her.

So she tells Alina what the witch said. She sends the wind that she holds down there. It's not enough to stop Jessamine in her state, no magic can hold her back or pry the naginata from her grasp, but perhaps it can give Alina an instant of reprieve. And it can whisper in her ear that the witch reads the girl bedtime stories and calms her and that is perhaps what a sister needs to hear.

Now, if Kazelia was right, that meant that what she needed to do was keep the rest of the chaos of the world at bay. But let's see if the Overlord agrees with her way of stopping his plans first.

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-12, 12:54 AM (ISO 8601)

She doesn't mean to, but she flinches. Just before Jessamine's fist can smash Alina's face in, her Green forms a tiny shield along the path of the blow. Fist beats light easily, and when it shatters Alina can feel the crystals on her crown snap timidly in place again, shining sad light but lending no more aid than ambiance. It hurts so much. It hurts more than if she'd actually been punched; at least then she wouldn't feel guilty for denying her sister. This was all her fault. Bad Alina. Bad girl. You broke your promise. You broke her heart. This is your fault.

"Oh, Dewdrop. I'm so sorry..."

Instinct carries her back to her feet, gingerly stepping over Ninian's stupid unconscious doppelganger body on her way back up. She clutches at her side and makes a pathetic gasping sound as the air forces itself back out of her body. She has no hope. And she shouldn't have hope. Jessamine is lost and it's Alina's fault for running off and looking for help everywhere but where she was needed instead. She has no hope, and she doesn't deserve hope. She takes the deepest breath her body will let her, and sighs. Her arms fall to her sides, and she stares at Jessamine while she smoothly pops back up and rushes her again. Ok, it's ok. Come take out all of your anger, Jess. It's ok...

The dragonfire on her crown burns. The little lights may be cowed, the princess may have given up, but it refuses. That little spark of passion and competitiveness from Adila's heart pulses brightly and wraps its red light around Alina's arms. Fight, blast you! Fight and win! And when it forces her arms up and catches Jessamine's knockout blow in her open palm, that's when Kazelia's message comes blowing down in the wind. And it says help her! Help her, you silly girl! Fight! Help! Love! Hope.

Alina dives forward without another second of hesitation and tackles Jessamine to the ground. The sisters scrabble madly for position. First Alina winds up on top in a pin, and she gets kneed in the stomach again. They tumble end over end in the sands, with Jessamine silently raging and lashing out the entire time. Alina winds up underneath her sister, but in a flash and with absurd ease she flips her over her head and rolls to put her arms around her little sister. Arms that glow brightly while they hold her still. The feeling is triumph. The feeling is love. The feeling is hope. With one arm and both legs, Alina holds her sister still. With her other hand, she pulls her favorite blanket free from the magical space where she keeps things like this. It's a soft, well worn thing that smells like home. They all used to camp out under this during storms, her and Freesia and Jessamine, and listen to the sounds of rain while they each tried to tell the best stories. Of course, they're all too big for that anymore, but that doesn't mean Alina can't wrap Jessamine up in it all by herself. Around and around, she bundles her sister up as best she can, and pulls her close when she's finished. One arm wraps around her again to hold her still while Alina pulls her into her lap. Her free hand reaches up and runs through Jess's hair, smoothing out some of the tangles she's gotten rolling around fighting in the desert. Again and again. Soft strokes, soothing whispers, just like when they were small, safe, and home. Together.

"It's ok, Jessamine. It's ok," she softly croons, "I know it took me longer than you wanted, but I found you. I'm here, Big Sister is here. Lina's here. I've got you. I love you so much, little river blossom..."

[rolling to Overcome: 2d6= 7. Expending a use of gear to keep this from falling apart]

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-12, 04:47 AM (ISO 8601)

Adila!

Princess Iron Star Crushes the Strong is your nemesis. Your foe. Your cousin. Your guest.

She is criminal. Like all Devils, she wears a mask. Paper, flimsy, barely able to hide her true face all fangs and fur. What beautiful horns she has, like yours! What jingling chimes about her roof! What a great big jacket slung over her broad, supportive shoulders! What wonderful boxing-tape wrapped around her claws and shapely shins! And all around her cavort a motley of devils, a disaster of devils, her gang, her crew, long-limbed and black-furred and playing flutes and drums and bells and wheels and gongs and harmonicas and snake-trumpets, and each and every one of them—

They’re laughing. At you. Not with you! At you. They’re jeering and sticking out their tongues and playing “wah wah waaaaaaaah” on their instruments. But who cares about them, those petty little imps? They shall not be invited to your housewarming party! It is Iron Star you have eyes for, Iron Star alone!

And Iron Star...

She makes a dismissive little noise in her throat, and shrugs, and ignores your majestic declarations of kismesissitude. She sets the head of her great big studded iron bat on the ground and leans on the handle with her forearms.

“Carnival’s boring this year,” she says. Oh, no! Mild dismissal! The most vicious of all rejections! “Nobody’s out except the Watch. And you can’t party. Lawwomen.” She spits next to a gutter, blatantly violating civic law. “Hey, at least you brought something fun to beat on.”

“No,” says Dandy, making the hugest of mistakes. “You can’t,” she adds, doubling down.

“Nah,” Iron Star says as her crew cackles and howls and pinches at Dandy’s cheeks and hangs a “Kiss Me” sign on her back. “You mean I shouldn’t. Difference.”

And she tosses her bat a mile up into the sky, cracks her knuckles, and then jumps up after it, leaving a crater of cobblestones in her wake, and for the first time, the first time, Adila?

You can catch up to her.

I mean, sure, that’d mean leaving Dandy behind. But who cares about Dandy, right? She’s just cramping your style, and the devils will help her get in the Carnival mood.

And don’t you want to show Iron Star how strong and mighty and faster than her you are?

***

Kazelia!

The best way to foil Oberon, here and now, is to stop the snake-husband from being wounded or, Ourania forbid, worse. Your sisters could probably deal with him one way or another, if they really wanted to conquer Jedad, but it would force them to take time to scheme and maneuver themselves into place and wipe him from the board before they could commit to an invasion.

But if he’s sorely wounded here, or worse, then he would be unable to stand against your sisters, should they decide to add the riches of the Bazaar to your father’s crown.

And the best way to do that would be to put the Heart back where it belongs. Coax the snake-husband back home to sleep safe and sound once more.

But you already knew that, right? You’re the smart one.

So here’s an extra little tidbit for you: the battle below has become a rout. Turns out, having the Jedadi army arrive piecemeal against a compact, well-trained, angry and prepared militia? It’s not even a contest. The elephants are rampaging back towards the Bazaar, individual mercenaries are being pulled down and seized as prisoners, their magical treasures looted and turned against their comrades.

But it’s okay! It’s totally okay. Alina’s got everything under control, right?

***

Alina!

Oh, she struggles. She fights you tooth and nail! When you pull her close to you, she tries to reverse headbutt you. She is so furious and rabid that she is drooling, which no true princess of Ilumina would ever do except where Rope Vipers are involved. Truly, a crime against Ilumina has been committed this day.

But you hold her fast and hold her tight, and you run your fingers through her lavender curls, and slowly the rage and hideous fury leaves her. Her head sinks against you, all the strength gone from her, as tears drip slowly from her empty, doll-like eyes. A shudder passes through her, once, twice. Then she is still.

How could anyone do this to her? Make her a rabid dog, something only meant to attack and hurt, when she is so much more? Did Oberon even know her favorite color, or the way she got really intense and focused whenever she had a proper challenge, or the thoughtful little hum she made when she wanted to interrupt a conversation, or that she tied her hair back in a bun whenever she intended to get serious about cleaning? How could he try to drown all those things? How dare he make her nothing more than her weapon and the hand that held it?

Speaking of weapons and the hands that hold them, a ribbon flutters down over your arms, and then is pulled tight, as four spearheads level with your neck.

“You shameless Jedadi strumpet,” says the Iluminan woman in front of you. “I don’t know where you got those tacky replicas of our national treasures, but rest assured, we’re not amused.”

mmmm sure would be great if those lights were working, wouldn’t it?

“Release our princess and surrender at once,” she says, grimly. “Or else.”

“Or else what?” asks one of the women behind you. The ribbon is tugged tighter.

“Or else we’ll make her hop all the way back to camp,” the first woman says, “instead of graciously allowing her to walk.”

Also behind you, there is a furious and muffled series of grunts, as if a certain flame-haired mercenary is attempting to defend your honor and/or explain the situation despite having been disarmed and thoroughly subdued.

But hey at least Jessamine’s still super calm, that’s nice

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-12, 06:35 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

“Carnival’s boring this year,” she says. Oh, no! Mild dismissal! The most vicious of all rejections! “Nobody’s out except the Watch. And you can’t party. Lawwomen.” She spits next to a gutter, blatantly violating civic law. “Hey, at least you brought something fun to beat on.”

“No,” says Dandy, making the hugest of mistakes. “You can’t,” she adds, doubling down.

“Nah,” Iron Star says as her crew cackles and howls and pinches at Dandy’s cheeks and hangs a “Kiss Me” sign on her back. “You mean I shouldn’t. Difference.”

Oh no! Oh no, oh no, that is not how this should go at all! This is a terrible situation filled with meanness and heartache and people not being able to say what they feel and all sorts of terrible clutter would come out of a situation like that. Luckily that isn't what happened at all! If you are paying attention, like Adila is, to the figures just a bit to the left and to the right then you'll see that the actual situation is very different and anything bad that is happening is probably a hallucination caused by a mind that isn't used to positive thinking! Let me fix that terrible wrongness up for you!

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

“Carnival’s boring this year, except for you, the beautiful genius loci of the Bazaar,” she says, eyes wide as the complement slips out against her will. “Nobody’s out except the Watch which is good because I have always respected you in secret.” She winks! What could that mean?! “I would love to be your houseguest-prisoner-true love and I think your scales are very pretty, but I would +never say that +out loud++ because you are ++not good en#+#ough+

+You can do it Adila!+ says Dandy, making the hugest of mistakes. +I believe in you!+ she adds, doubling down.

“Yeah,” Iron Star says as her crew ~~goes home because I don't like them~~. "I am +leaving+ now and that is not ok so you should stop me+.”

She is lucky that she is such a strong house with such loving friends and everybody understands her and has very convenient access to public transportation. Who could not love her?

But Iron Star had made a very good point, and so had Dandy, extremely good points all around - she could do anything she set her mind to without making mistakes and it was extremely not ok that Iron Star was leaving when -when

And don’t you want to show Iron Star how strong and mighty and faster than her you are?

She did want this. She wanted this more than anything. She wanted this enough that she could see it clearly through the wreckage of the externally hosted rationalizations-in-progress that stumbled around her, blind and half-formed as she tried to misinterpret the world into a shape where she was a good dragon no matter how much dragon she chose to be. And if she was already good then she didn't need to worry about being good so she could finally cut loose and show everyone how lucky they were that she was so good.

But even that thought burned off and drifted away, evaporating without leaving ash like tissue paper. Really she just wanted to win. She wanted to win very, very badly. Not even the strange house energy was able to warp or alter the dead serious focus of that dragonfire in her heart and it was a little confused and worried by it; had this been there all along? Had all of that junk that had been on top of it, junk it had thrown out been important somehow? Probably not, it wouldn't make a mistake like that... but it was probably safer to leave a little bit of space around it. It was like a leaky rooftop - just a little imperfection that could be solved with a strategically placed bucket and it hardly brought down the property value at all.

Princess Adila took flight. She was finally rising to the bait.

**Anarion** · 2019-08-12, 05:38 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

But it’s okay! It’s totally okay. Alina’s got everything under control, right?

I think we both know that Alina has her hands full. Maybe if it were Adila, with her admonition that she can take care of herself and doesn't want people in her way, Kazelia would look at it different and think "oh Adila has this under control even if it doesn't look that way" (this also almost certainly how things are for Adila right this second, Kazelia is confident). But Alina doesn't have that now. She was off her game the whole ride over, totally focused on her sister as Kazelia now realizes, and not even paying attention to her guard from earlier and the ring of Illuminan soldiers.

Speaking of Illuminan soldiers, Kazelia would like to stop and point out her deja vu here. Not even the weird dancing under a tree visions deja vu either, just the fact that this same thing just happened in Askaia! Alina, are you taking notes? Your people may be in a bad spot, but turning around and serving Oberon is not going to make it better. No...you're a little busy being held up at spear point.

Oh, we can fix that though. You know why? Because Kazelia has a lance, a pegasus, and more than a little experience scattering Illuminan troops at this point. The spears and ribbon that were surrounding and holding you are all suddenly half their length as the light of the Jedadi sun bursts into a rainbow through Shiva's crystal wings and Kazelia sweeps left and right around herself. You would appreciate, though, that she is not wounding the Illuminans. Her spear strikes are precise and measured, trained to fight atop a pegasus, each swing cutting weapons and sending Illuminans sprawling or scrambling backwards, a few even manage to cut the straps of armor and leave the soldier falling away from her own crystal breastplate. With a strong kick, Shiva bounds from you into the center of them, where Rhyza is, and Kazelia pushes them away from your guard and former kidnapper, wielding her spear more like a staff to sweep the Illuminans off their feet and leave them slipping and sliding in the sands. She lays about her left and right, Shiva kicks and flaps and blows up gusts of sand that makes the soldiers cough and cover their eyes as the spear sweeps around for them. And like that, the small Illuminan force is broken and pushed away.

[Using Shiva's mounted combat to generate an advantage and go for the finish that drives the Illuminans off. 3+6+2=11.]

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-13, 02:00 AM (ISO 8601)

Alina doesn't look up at the Illuminan soldier who's insulting and threatening her. What would she even say, if she did? If her countrymen were so caught up in Jessamine's pain that none of them had figured out who she was by watching her fight or listening to her speak just because her hair was dyed and she was wearing a dancing girl's outfit, then it's not as if calmly telling her 'hi I'm your Princess-Promised, here to save my little sister from a sickness you don't want to believe she has' is going to be the thing that changes all that. She doesn't blame them, not at all. Illuminans were not born to quietly shuffle off to Feloria and hide there until their culture drained into the farmland forever. Hers were a proud people, nursing a deep kind of pain they have no experience with. Was she, who struggled every day to carry the weight of her loss, who hadn't been there to help them when they needed it, supposed to tell them how to cope?

...Yes, she was. She's their Princess, it is her job to do those things exactly. But even still, she chooses to tell them gently. By bringing Jessamine back to them. The real one, the strong one, the girl whose favorite color is the pale pink of sunrise over the mountaintops, who always rushed to do her exercises first even though she hated them because she wanted to be able to say she'd beaten her sisters at something, who always clicked her tongue before laughing at a joke she didn't want to find funny. The girl whose favorite food in all the world was Mirror Cake, because she loved the shine on the glaze and building little castles out of the different colored shards of sugar-glass that decorated the top, but would insist that Alina eat the cake itself once all the frosting had been eaten unless it was made with oranges. That girl. That sweet, silly girl who was also the bravest person Alina knew in all the wide world. She'd bring their Princess back, and then they would see. But until then, she has eyes only for her sister.

Alina kisses the top of Jessamine's head while she gently wipes away the drool from around her mouth. There you go, Jess. Nice and pretty again. She brushes away the tears with the same sort of careful softness, and hugs her close.

"Hush little starling, rest your tired wings
Lie down on your bed of lilies and leaves
I'll keep you safe and dry and warm tonight
So that tomorrow you can sing

Hush little starling, let the rain wash things clean
Pitter pat, tippy tap, go the sounds while you sleep
You are loved and you're adored tonight
And tomorrow, I promise, you'll sing

Under Starlight
Under Sunlight
I'll give my gifts to you
Under Starlight
Under Sunlight
I'll share my love with you"

Her voice cracks early on, but this is a song she's heard and sung so many times before she could never mess it up. As she sings on, her voice floats over the dunes so that, soft and gentle as it is, not a soul around could miss it. The playful, shifting tune that is the song of Illumina. Filling children's heads with wonder and love as it carries them like the bends of a river. And this voice, this voice that was meant to sing this song and no others: if anyone can hear this and doubt her love, then they are Oberon's slave to their core.

"Roses and rubies and strawberries too
A sunset, a sunstone, a goldfish or two
A citrine, dearest Jessamine, all shining with dew
And all of this, all of it only for you

Emeralds and mint leaves, refreshing and cool
Deep lakes and sapphires, the same color blue
Violets and amethyst to keep your heart true
And all of this, all of it only for you

Under Starlight
Under Sunlight
I'll give my gifts to you
Under Starlight
Under Sunlight
I'll share my love with you

So hush little starling, rest your tired wings
Lie down on your bed of lilies and leaves
I'll keep you safe and dry and warm tonight
So that tomorrow you can sing

Hush little starling, let the rain wash things clean
Pitter pat, tippy tap, go the sounds while you sleep
You are loved and you're adored tonight
And tomorrow, I promise, you'll sing"

Around her, there are the sounds of conflict. Alina has no idea who started it, who's winning, or what she wants to happen. If she's been hurt in the middle of all of this, she hasn't even realized it yet. You can say it's her fault if the Bazaar gets destroyed. You can blame her if the Snake Husband is swept from the board, she won't even disagree. It's just that, she loves her sister. It's just that, that Alina Cascade can't sacrifice someone even if it would let her do something very good for the world. Maybe, hopefully, there will come a time when that's the very thing that will wind up doing the most good for the world. But for now? For today? Come back to her, Jessamine. Be mad and be hateful if you need to but please. Please. Your big sister needs you to be the rest of you, too.

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-13, 07:47 AM (ISO 8601)

Private Trotter!

May I call you Trotter? Or would that be too specific?

You see, in a sense, you’re part of the Watch right now, and the Watch is Adila. Not the Adila who’s soaring in the sky, no, not that one. The Adila who’s reaching forward through the centuries to put her hands on your hands and help you instinctively ready your pike. The Adila who is a whisper reminding you to look to love. The Adila who would rather see the snake-husband pierced in a hundred places than allow her Bazaar and her Clock to be touched.

I am not speaking in metaphor.

Over your head, you know without seeing that the trebuchets are firing. Their wailing payloads arc towards the snake-husband, who effortlessly blasts two into rubble that rains down upon the Watch assembled. A third breaks on his neck, and perhaps loosens a few scales, causes him to reel.

That’s when the princesses fall on him.

Princess Iron Star brings her bat down on one of his eyes with the force of a falling star, and it cracks underneath the blow; he blasts her away with an uncontrolled laser blast, a dozen different beams shooting off in different directions, and no sooner does she hit the ground than she pops back up and flings herself at the snake-husband again.

As for Adila— well, I’ll let her describe how she outdoes Iron Star.

“Forward,” the Captain yells, sword held over her head, and as one you yell and charge, ready as one woman to use a hundred different pairs of hands to pierce his stone scales.

Your city. Your city! Your love!

In this moment, the difference between you and Adila, Our Lady of the Night, is not so much a difference of kind as a difference of degree. And that...

That should be much scarier than it is.

***

Kazelia!

Like a thunderstorm, like the first of your father’s lancers, you fall upon the Iluminans. You turn the center of their strength into a full rout, and their frantic, fearful flight is certain to turn the advance into confusion.

Between you and me, most of them might be convinced that they’re under attack by a whole wing of pegasus riders. After all, how could any one woman be so terrifying? No, you have to be an entire strike force here to bring them to ruin. That’s the only explanation that makes sense.

You’ve even got an adoring audience. Well, probably adoring. Rhzya’s totally swooning over you, in the “I’d be down to make out while sharing tips about lances” sort of way, while Shazari... she’s got her arms crossed, she’s eyeing the situation, she’s doing some real judging here.

She makes an impatient gesture at the trough in the sand where Ninian’s lying, where the Heart of Jedad undoubtedly lies. But first, well...

***

Alina!

Usually, the sun charts a reliable course across the Hyperborean sky. Can you imagine the chaos if the sun popped up whenever she pleased? The farmers in Feloria would go on strike, and the goblins would have to change all their clocks, and nobody would know how long they were supposed to go to sleep.

But sometimes... every once in a while... the sun knows that she’s supposed to show up. She knows what’s up! She’s friends with Ourania, after all.

And so the sea lights up, and fire crests on the horizon, and dawn burns. Dawn, one of the most potent moments in the Hyperborean day, only matched by noon. And, impossibly, there is a swirl of crystal blossoms on the wind, and the smell of flowers in full bloom.

Jessamine closes her eyes and, without thought, acting upon the deepest impulses of her wounded soul, wiggles her way into your shoulder and rests her head there, and lets out a shivering, cold little breath which condenses in the air.

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-13, 06:47 PM (ISO 8601)

It may not have come with any rain, but this is still her miracle. So much more than just a freak storm might have been, this is her miracle: a moment so potent and so specific it could only have come from the wish inside her heart. She could feel Ourania in the air all around her, the proof at last that her faith was well founded and the High Queen had a heart for Illumina and its princesses. Alina gasps to see it. The smell of the blossoms fills her heart with hope she wouldn't dare to feel alone. This is it. Her chance, her miracle. And she knows without hearing a word that this is all there is. Eventually this moment would end, and when it did it wouldn't come again. Not for any amount of begging or pleading or loving in all the wide world. It was up to Alina then, not to waste it.

Alina lets her head rest against Jessamine's, keeping her arm wrapped tight around the younger girl's body. Her eyes are so watery she can barely see her own miracle. She's so sniffly it's hard to talk right anymore. For her, this moment is nothing but colors and softness and the subtle but fulfilling sense that everything would end up ok. She gives Jessamine's shoulder the lightest of squeezes and points to the horizon with her free hand, even though her sister's eyes are closed.

"Look Jess, it's your sunrise. Can you see it? That soft, pretty pink is just for you. It's so beautiful, Jess. It's almost as beautiful as you..."

Her voice is trembling and full of awe, and it's the voice of love. It's a big sister putting years worth of missed feelings into this single moment. It's time to wake up, Dewdrop. Come back inside your heart.

[Alina is sacrificing her bond with Ourania to create Advantage. Finishing Jess with Wisdom: 2d6+2 = 10. The threat ends, and Alina gains a bond with her sister]

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-13, 07:41 PM (ISO 8601)

A lance had been driven into Adila's soul. All her memories, resolutions, wants and fears were carved in apart. The core of her being had been exposed in the wound and the core was fire.

It came unrestrained and unreasonable, pouring through the gaps in her heart and setting fire to the broken memories and psychic distortions trailing behind her. Her heart beat - for the first time in as long as she could remember her breath was truly up, her muscles truly striving, and fire fully circulating through her body. Strength she had never dared to wield. Conviction she had never dared know. A sense of self that was contained and complete; the unfettered mind of a dragon that knew what it was. No bucket could contain dragonfire. No rooftop could resist the storm that had awakened inside her.

The Cottage of Bones realized it had made a mistake. Houses were right to fear fire. It had cut through all the safeties the dragon had constructed around her heart and it turned out that those were there to keep it safe as well. To then set it loose in battle?

A dragon at war does not strive as an apex predator might. She does not bring down her prey with superior strength and speed and viciousness. She does not fight as a human warrior might. She does not rely on skill and expertise and courage. She fights like the alignments of the worlds and planets. She fights with inevitability, with unfathomable power, with an aura of majesty that makes all other things seem tiny in comparison. Here she lashes by in a whirlwind of speed and talons, reaching out to strike the neck. Here she warps and distorts through the shattering lights of the serpent's eyes, demanding the Cottage's power and receiving it as its rightful due. Here the fire finally erupts from her mouth in a column of silver that never seems to end - she swings and spirals, raking the Husband with the brilliant light that has burned everything Adila and will burn everything around Adila.

The house burns and its occupant is an animal. It has served its purpose in this. It has been cowed and brought to heel. As would Princess Iron Star.

Yet still the Princess responds to the flags, to the whistles. Still she fights as part of an army and a tool of her betters. Those chains run even deeper. As much as the dragonfire wished to turn the full extent of its wrath upon Princess Iron Star and humble her as it was humbling the madness that boiled through her still, the flags and the unity and the hidden hands still shaped her and they were things far more practiced in the management of dragons.

But soon. Soon she would see if Princess Iron Star knew the danger she had provoked.

**Anarion** · 2019-08-13, 08:57 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

She makes an impatient gesture at the trough in the sand where Ninian’s lying, where the Heart of Jedad undoubtedly lies. But first, well...

Jessamine closes her eyes and, without thought, acting upon the deepest impulses of her wounded soul, wiggles her way into your shoulder and rests her head there, and lets out a shivering, cold little breath which condenses in the air.

Kazelia looks to Alina and Jessamine first, and they are together and not being harmed in the glow of a dawn that had snuck up on everyone. The sunlight brought a smile to Kazelia's face. This was what she fought for. It was a wistful smile because she also wondered if she could ever have the sort of affection that someone like Alina had. It was hard for her to feel that way compared to things like fun or thrills, or duty and obligation. Genuine affection was...hard. It was just hard.

But she didn't have time to dwell on such things. Shazari was looking very cross and pointing at the heart of Jedad, which frankly was smaller than Kazelia had been expecting and after the way Shazari's handmaidens had treated her at the Watch Citadel she half felt like making some sort of crack to Shazari about enjoying her new bubble home and hoping she would show some better hospitality there or something like that. But...but there are things to do, the Bazaar needed saving and Shazari was...frustratlingly, right.

So, Kazelia dismounts Shiva, grabs the heart from near Ninian's still unconscious body (Alina and that guard from earlier could handle her if she woke up in that state anyway), and then carries it over to Shazari, where she gestures for the princess to step back and Kazelia cuts a human-sized door into the rainbow bubble for Shazari to get out. "Your heart, princess" she says, presenting it to Shazari with mostly real seriousness and maybe a little bit of mock seriousness. "How do we return it without getting shot by lasers?"

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-14, 07:31 PM (ISO 8601)

Snake-Husband!

You are hurting.

You have been hurting since the moment you woke up. You can feel the absence of Valissa’s love all throughout your body. Every one of your scales, heavy enough to flatten a princess, feels like it’s on fire. Your throats are tight and your eyes are releasing all your emotional anguish in the form of majestic and powerful laser blasts.

You were loved, and now you are not, because someone took the love your princess gave you. You need to be loved. You can’t go back to the dark. You can’t go back. You can’t go back. You will find the person who selfishly stole your love and you will blow them up with your eye-lasers and then you will take her Heart in your mouth and do your very best not to swallow it when you take it back home.

A need like that, it has a way of drowning everything else out. But, um, it’s getting a lot harder, because the pain of everything else is starting to mingle with the pain of being lost, rejected, unloved again. You can’t see out of three of your eyes right now, and the desert is swimming and manifold all around you. You feel bare patches where your scales have come loose all up and down your body, exposing the smooth black stone of your muscles. One of your fangs has fallen out of your mouth entirely, and someone has driven it right back into your left neck. The primordial magic that animates you is beginning to falter and fluctuate. Where is Valissa? She would know what to do.

...you miss her so much.

Being around the Heart is like being with her again.

And it’s not here.

The scales on your back melt into slurry under brilliant argent fire. The runes your mother carved there are washed away into the sands. Feeble little two-legs are poking hot and vicious pins into your exposed stonework. You writhe and lash out, and you feel them being flung away with grim satisfaction. But it’s not enough. Screeching fireballs wash over you again and again. It’s too much.

You are hurting.

And you release that pain in a furious howl, and lunge forwards. All these petty little things (your left skull fractures under a heavy-swung bat) will not (a horn gouges deep, and the pain makes you want to curl up in a tight coil) cannot (a pin cuts so deep that one side of your body is going numb) stop you.

They will not stop you.

They will not stop you.

You are going to be loved again.

***

Adila!

Finish him.

***

Jessamine!

You wake up.

You’re exhausted. Your limbs are heavy and sore, like when you first got really into training with the naginata and didn’t give yourself proper downtime and cooldown post-practice, and ended up unable to get out of bed by day three. Your cheeks are sticky, and your eyes are throbbing, and you’re wrapped up in a sandy blanket. And you’re being held.

You’re being held by Alina.

“You came back.” You have... confused, blurry memories. You should be really upset with Alina. She wasn’t there for... something. Does it matter? She’s here right now. “I had the worst dreams...”

But those don’t matter, either.

You lean into her, and let her hold you, and watch the sun paint the sky the pink of cherry blossoms. Stone-tree petals fall into your hair, and you feel warm, and loved, and you’re crying for some reason? That’s dumb. Crying in front of Alina is super dumb. But you can’t wipe them away because you’re all bundled up in a blanket.

And even though you really should, you can’t seem to find the desire to tell her to let go already. You want her to hold you tight and never, ever let go.

***

Kazelia!

A howl resonates across the desert. It almost drowns out the beautiful sunset, and the fact that— looking at her now— Shazari is gorgeous. Like, Cassian would insist on painting her portrait gorgeous. It’s a little distracting, but also— she’s a little unapproachable? A little set-apart.

She takes the Heart from you without so much as a thank you, and whistles. A strong-shouldered black stallion gallops up, and she vaults up on his back without even looking.

“This is my responsibility,” she says, and you get the sense that everything ends up being her responsibility around here. “Secure the thief, and you will have my thanks.”

“Don’t trust the Iluminans,” she adds, and then— without so much as spurring her heels— the black stallion rears, neighs majestically, and then tears off back towards the Bazaar.

Speaking of securing the thief, there’s a Rope Viper wriggling down into the sand now, three golden arrows sticking out from between her scales.

**Anarion** · 2019-08-14, 07:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Kazelia sticks her spear into the snake with very little fanfare. It's a magic piercing spear, it can go through the sand and stop inside the snake. It's a snake, so being pierced in one part of its body won't kill it, but pulling the spear through it certainly will, so Ninian is going to need to stop moving. Also it probably hurts a very great deal and she might want to turn into something bigger that is not being pierced so deeply.

"Ninian, you're going to need stop moving now." Kazelia glances at Alina and Jessamine. Probably best not to banish another sister to the deep outside realms in an explosion of dark magic. "If you move, I'm going to have to knock you back out and you won't enjoy it. So stay where you are and instead, tell me about the last time you spoke with Azora."

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-14, 08:33 PM (ISO 8601)

Alina throws her arms around her sister and hugs her as tight as she can. She wants to be hugged back, to feel her back patted, to hold and be held, but there's a blanket in the way and she's not patient enough to do anything about it and what does it matter anyway? She's crying harder than she's ever cried before, but that doesn't matter either because they are the happiest tears of her life. Oh, listen to her voice! Look at her eyes, her face! Oh, Jess, oh river blossom, oh, oh, oh! She's never going to leave again. She's never going to let go again. If Ourania descended on these petals in all her glory and told Alina she could have the entire world for herself if she'd just stop hugging Jessamine, she'd only squeeze harder.

Shazari is gone. Alina doesn't care. There's a horrible noise in the air. Alina doesn't care. Kazelia is being cruel. Alina doesn't care. Her little dewdrop is back with her and that means there is nothing she could have done differently. Her heart is so full of love and relief and sweet, happy tears that there's absolutely no room in it right now for anything else. Oh thank Ourania, thank Adila and Kazelia, thank... find someone and thank them, please. Her arms are getting tired, but she only holds on tighter.

"I wasn't too late. I wasn't too late... I thought you were gone, Jess. I thought I'd lost you..."

On top of Alina's head, her crown gleams with a pride to match the dawn. Her light mixes in with the pink of the dawn, and the only shame in any of this is that the Illuminans who'd come here with Jessamine weren't around to see it. Surely their hearts would have turned to puddles on the spot.

"I came back," she agrees after a moment, when the tears finally start settling and all that's left is the peace and calm of release that bubbles over into joy, "I promised, didn't I? I'll never, ever leave you, Dewdrop. Never again."

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-14, 09:29 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Adila!

Finish him.

The Snake Husband had a very big heart. That was the worst thing that could happen to something so large and mighty. The dragonhouse knew this because it used to have a big heart too and what a burden that had been! It had slowed her down, kept her pinned to the ground, forced her into a position where she was bad at everything rather than perfect at everything. It had lost her fights, lost her standing, lost her love - love that she'd foolishly tried to earn rather than just take. The dragonhouse knew better now.

She was going to take all of it.

She was aware of the pain flashing through the Snake Husband's mind and heart; she connected to it with her mind as she connected to him with her flame. She was aware of the extent of the weakness boiling through him. She was aware of the hurt he was feeling. She was aware that what she had initially identified as a rival, overpowering, was actually a prey-creature. He may be reptilian but he was not a dragon and he was not capable of a dragon's cruelty. If she had known this earlier, if she'd been able to see the truth of this through her own anchor-heart, she would not have been afraid at all.

+"You don't deserve love"+ said the dragonhouse.

+"I am better than you. I am faster than you. I am more beautiful than you. I will claim the Heart and I shall add it to my treasures, and even that shall not be enough for me. I shall claim all the princesses and make them my guests. I shall fold up the kingdoms of Hyperborea and make them comfortable inside me, as Ouroboros once did. I will even claim the broken, bleeding love that weeps from your eyes in laser-tears and make it my own. I shall take it all into me and return none of it. That shall be my treasure horde. That is my right as dragon and house. I deserve it. You do not."+

The dragon feels wind strike at her back, anguish and hurt and weakness. That was her heart trying to speak to her, raging against her, crying in sympathy with the Snake Husband and trying to tell him that it wasn't true and he was beautiful and things could be all right again and that she'd show him the way just like Princess Valissa once did and this could still end happily. The part of her that was neither dragon nor house, the part of her that was a mere princess now trapped in two incorrect bodies rather than one.

And... it was not nothing. It pressed itself against her in the silver light it had learned to express itself in, and for a moment the dragonhouse felt uncomfortable. Should she not look to love?

Ah, but wasn't there a deeper love to look to? A love fixed in time and darkness? A love deep and cold, like underwater rivers, that no light could reach or escape? Was not the love of Adila, the love for Adila, enough to crush such a weak princess' heart?

Wasn't it enough to crush a mere Snake Husband?

+"You will" alwa-"never be loved."+

[12]

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-15, 12:05 AM (ISO 8601)

Kazelia!

Ninian turns into herself. Not even her idealized self, all tall and dark and snarky. Her little waifish self. She actually... she actually looks like she’d fit in the Iluminan royal family, if they had dark hair and starry eyes. And she is sobbing. Just great big blubbery tears. And she hates that she’s crying in front of you and Alina and Jessamine and that’s just making everything worse.

“Please, Kaze,” she manages. “Y-you’re hurting me... I promise, I, I’ll go and I won’t come back, I just wanted to scare you away and, and I’m sorry, I just... I wanted... all I wanted was to give Dad a gift...”

That might be true. But that doesn’t mean she’s right. She’s a spoiled little brat. She’s wicked and cruel and she almost certainly didn’t do that just so she wouldn’t have to fight you. Almost certainly.

Don’t you want to twist that lance a little? Remind her that you won’t go easy on her just because she’s crying? That you’re not going to forgive her? That she’s bad?

Go ahead. It’s all right.

***

Alina!

“Never again?” Jessamine’s brow furrows, as she tries to work through your words. Again? What... did you do...?

In a moment, she might remember. And then it’s anybody’s game what conclusions she’ll jump to.

***

Adila!

The snake-husband thrashes wildly, but it is the thrashing of a dying thing, unable to lift his heads from where they have fallen, just a arm’s length away from the walls of the Bazaar. The lasers in his eyes are sputtering fitfully, and a great cheer goes up as one voice from the Watch. Your comrades are hugging each other, cheering their housedragonprincess on, and you can feel their love filling you up, each and every one of your rooms. Isn’t that magnificent?

And in the midst of this, oh, up comes riding the Heart of Jedad, connected to a princess! And here’s another princess, all rumpled and disheveled and upset! And here’s a third princess, howling her victory from on top of the snake-husband. What luck! To have your treasure and your princesses brought to you!

Claim them.

**Thanqol** · 2019-08-15, 12:28 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Adila!

The snake-husband thrashes wildly, but it is the thrashing of a dying thing, unable to lift his heads from where they have fallen, just a arm’s length away from the walls of the Bazaar. The lasers in his eyes are sputtering fitfully, and a great cheer goes up as one voice from the Watch. Your comrades are hugging each other, cheering their housedragonprincess on, and you can feel their love filling you up, each and every one of your rooms. Isn’t that magnificent?

And in the midst of this, oh, up comes riding the Heart of Jedad, connected to a princess! And here’s another princess, all rumpled and disheveled and upset! And here’s a third princess, howling her victory from on top of the snake-husband. What luck! To have your treasure and your princesses brought to you!

Claim them.

There is nothing contradictory when it comes to striking Princess Iron Star in the back of the head with a tail like a thunderbolt as she is distracted with her victory cry. There is no fear that drives the surprise attack nor sense of dishonour; all irrelevant things to a dragonhouse. Her superiority is manifest. Victory is certain in any direction. A sudden ambush to knock the devil princess out while she is distracted is a matter of convenience more than anything. Besides, a display of dominance and ruthlessness will send the right message to the others.

+"Princess-guests!"+ says-thinks the dragonhouse with the reverberation of the possessed. She sweeps closer, distorting the space between her and her new occupants almost instantly, dragging Iron Star behind her by the tail. +"I am" so sorry "glad that you are here. I will allow you to fasten the Heart to my armour, and tend to my wounds and weariness, and to speak words of kindness and obedience and mastery."+ She flexed her wings out to either side with the ominous indulgence of a conqueror.

**PhoeKun** · 2019-08-15, 01:00 AM (ISO 8601)

The arms around Jessamine tense up, ever so slightly. She doesn't let go, but there is guilt here, oh yes there is. Years worth of guilt and lonely nights compressed into a single twitch of the muscles, but a clever girl like Jessamine Cascade will surely notice it. Don't hate her, Jess. Don't. Don't. She said you could, but she hoped so deeply...

"Mom said to run," Alina's careful not to look away at all when she speaks, but she wants to more than anything. Her heart is raw and vulnerable and it is trembling to give voice to the awful hurt she's carried around since Illumina fell without her around to protect it, "And then I... I got lost for a while, Jess."

As if that defends it. As if any amount of pain, the icy stab through her chest that hadn't even physically healed yet was any excuse for not being there when her sister needed her. As if the burning cold that crept through her entire body to feel him so close meant anything when they could have done this together. As if it wasn't the right thing to do to fall fighting for love. Do you think the idea didn't occur to her? She knew exactly where Jessamine would go, and she ran the other direction anyway.

It's not just that her hair is dyed. It's not just she's not dressed as herself. It's not even just the lights missing from her crown, though those are all things nobody would fail to notice who knew her. But it's more than that. Alina looks tired. She looks afraid. These aren't things she's supposed to look. Alina Cascade is diminished. She's supposed to be strong. She's supposed to be funny! She's supposed to always know what to say! And she didn't have the decency to grow up to be taller. Does it matter? Does it matter at all that she came back? That she threw away every chance at doing the smart thing today so that she could be here and lay herself on the line to rescue her sister from the wounds of Oberon? Does it matter that even now, her heart is beating, overflowing with love and hope that things can still be better? Does it matter? At all?

"I've looked everywhere for you. For so long. But everywhere I went, all I found was the wind. No one would tell me anything. But I found you! I finally found you and I..."

How does she say it? How does she explain what's been happening. She's never spoken aloud what happened, what she saw at Summervale. And now she needs to. To say that and a dozen other things besides. How does she say any of it, Jess? Tell her, please.

**Anarion** · 2019-08-15, 03:02 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Don’t you want to twist that lance a little? Remind her that you won’t go easy on her just because she’s crying? That you’re not going to forgive her? That she’s bad?

Go ahead. It’s all right.

No. With the care that she's been putting in to be better? No. With Alina and this new princess kneeling right there and no pressing threats. No. With Ninian crying and sobbing she doesn't want to twist the lance at all. She also isn't going to remove it though.

"Ninian, you don't get to hurt people and then just go and hope you never see them again." Kazelia sighs. That had been how it worked. What a hypocrite. She'd done just that to Ninian herself, push her or scare her and then she'd fly off and everybody knew she'd go to her room and cry, especially after Eska had hidden some kind of speaker in one of the stuffed bears. Asteria did it even more often, even tying her up in energy whips so she couldn't leave because Ninian was small and vulnerable and could be hurt.

So yes, Kazelia had no right to judge, she was a hypocrite. But sometimes being a hypocrite was what happened when you tried to do better. Still, she didn't need to hurt her sister. She had other things. Kazelia pulls out one of her pouches. She hadn't used her wizard's things in a while, it had been all lances, big magic, and whispered words on the wind. Which were still her best tricks, but there were smaller ones too. In this case, she takes a piece of nevermeltice and places it gently on Ninian's forehead, then speaks a few words that sound like the pale wind that blows through the shadow of nothing. It's not pleasant. But, it causes the ice to sink into Ninian. "I'm fixing your form, sister. If you try to change, the ice will freeze you up. Azora could probably remove it, maybe one of the mages here. But for the moment, I'm giving you to the Jedadi and they get to decide how to punish you. That's how we handle it when we hurt people from now on."

[I'm using a Useful wizardly effect to put a magical binding on Ninian so she can be moved around. If that's legit, Kazelia will take the spear out of her.]

Originally Posted by PhoeKun

"I've looked everywhere for you. For so long. But everywhere I went, all I found was the wind. No one would tell me anything. But I found you! I finally found you and I..."

"Why?"

It's one word. You're not even sure it's addressed to you, Alina. Kazelia was busy lecturing Ninian, not to mention casting some scary shadow magic and maybe stabbing her own sibling. So she's obviously busy and her meeting with a sister is not exactly the tear-filled reunion you're experiencing. But you're also right there and it's hard for Kazelia not to overhear you. And...and you've spent all that time looking for a sibling, you've fallen apart over a family member in a way that you didn't in the great void outside the world itself. And here's Kazelia stabbing her sister and casting dark magic on her. She doesn't get it. Just...at all, she doesn't understand how this is the thing that's totally broken you up and how even with your sister magically restored by the light of Ourania's own sun you're still barely holding it together.

I'm not sure you can really hear all of that in the tone of a single word. But hear at least that Kazelia deeply, fundamentally doesn't understand what she's seeing and couldn't stop herself from giving voice to it.

**Raz_Fox** · 2019-08-15, 09:39 PM (ISO 8601)

Adila!

"Of course," Dandy says, stepping in front of Shazari with the urgency of somebody who knows that if she don't get a word in edgewise, everything's going to come crashing down around her ears. "You are an amazing house-dragon-princess, Adila, and I'm very..." It chokes her up to have to say it right next to the poor snake-husband. "I'm so very proud of you," she manages. "Here, lemme see that ouchie you got there, that's right..."

You do not have ouchies! You have glorious battle wounds! But you allow her to look at the abrasion on your neck where--

And that's when she throws Felorian Sneezing Powder right up in your face. Right up in those big ol' dragony nostrils of yours. Because there's nothing like helplessly sneezing and pawing at your watering eyes to give her an opportunity to unbuckle that harness. "Help me," she orders Shazari, and to Shazari's credit she ducks right under a flailing forelimb and has three buckles undone before you can say "knife!"

As one, the Watch contracts, converges, pulls tight around you, but they're nowhere near close enough to stop Dandy from hauling the whole thing off your head like it's the saddle on a bucking colt, and then throwing it into three Watch soldiers and knocking them over like bowling pins.

"Come on, Adila," Dandy says, tugging urgently at your horn. "We don't have time for you to feel sorry yet. I'm not about to get arrested for unpossessing an officer."

***

Kazelia!

"You haven't changed at all," Ninian says tearfully. And it's not true, but it probably still stings. The spear makes a little popping sound as it comes cleanly out of the wound, and Ninian presses both her hands over it. "You're still the meanest of us."

And with that, she turns her head away and curls up in a little ball, bereft of even a comforting stuffed griffin to complain to about what a jerk her big sister is.

"Nice job, Rider," comes a sultry voice from behind you. There's a firm hand on your shoulder, and you turn to see Rhyza smiling at you. "Don't worry," she adds, "I get it. You're the rebel. You have to play mean or they'll never figure out you're being serious." She picks up Ninian by the scruff of her neck, ignoring her squeaks of displeasure. "Thank Ourania everything worked out, though-- and we've got you to thank."

You might not ever hear that from Shazari, but at least Rhyza's got your back.

***

Alina!

"Of course you ran."

Jessamine works herself out of the blanket and stands up, and she still manages to look imposing in that black armor. She clenches her hand into a tight fist, and she can't stop herself from shaking a little.

"Of course my big sister ran away when Mom needed us most. That's why I went back! I couldn't leave her behind, Lina!" She can't even look at your face. "And I don't know how you could. You're..."

She manages, by degrees, to hold back words that can't be unsaid. She holds her head high instead.

"...at least you're here now," she says, and almost manages to make it not sound bitter. Like she's not still blaming you for not being there by her side when she fought Oberon, when she broke through his guard, when she threw everything she had into trying to defeat the tempest that you called down upon your kingdom. Like her only thought when he held her by the throat, before he tossed her through a window, was how much she wanted you to save her. How much she wanted to be saved.

She turns, and looks at you with conflicted eyes. She knows how much she owes you for saving her now, and hates herself for still being angry at you. She wants to knock you down into the sand and blame you for what happened to your mother. She wants to punch herself for being ungracious and foolish. She wants to be held by your mother, and even though it's your fault that she can't be held, she wants to be held by you. Looking at you, it makes her want to explode with contradictory and violent passions.

She looks away so that she doesn't break. And she catches Rhyza, looking at you. She looks back at you. Back at Rhyza. Back at you. Back at Rhyza, who is sheepishly trying to act like she's only paying attention to Ninian now. Back at you, trying not to look at Rhyza.

"...really, Alina??" That's something she can hold onto. She can work through her resentments later, because right now, she has to drag her sister, and exasperation is a much better thing to be feeling right now. Hold onto that, Jessamine. "Really?"

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