[IC] Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

[Thanqol]

Butterwood Forest, Feloria

Bells and chime she was blind. She was blind! Oh my god, this had been so stupid, she'd had her eyes stolen, she was going to -

Princess Adila's wildly turning head made out a smear of silver somewhere above her. What was that? Where were the stars? Where the planets? Where were the asteroids, the nebulae, where was all the clutter that filled distant space? There was no way that blurry distortion could be the moon, could it? There was no way those tiny little fragmentary pinpricks could be the stars!?

The trees were gone. The soft colours of Azora's songbirds and her blue skin. The only thing in the world that existed was the orange glow that soaked through the trees and illuminated them in blurry black shadows. Was this really how humans saw the world?

Vision returned in the vaguest sense; the suggestion of beauty, the blurred outline of her face cast in the flickering torchlight. She couldn't even see her eyes properly from here. But... but...

She didn't need to!

Because she could run over there! (You know... slowly. Princess Adila had recent personal experience with being covered in molasses and this was comparable - BUT NEVERMIND!)

She could get as close as she wanted to!

She could sweep Dandy off her feet okay wow that didn't pan out just segue that gracefully into an ordinary hug - an ordinary hug where you can squeeze as hard as you want and it didn't matter if she was blind because if she was this close it didn't matter -

It's me, Princess Dandy! she thought non-telepathically. I'm human!

Her mind and heart was overflowing with silent joy and her shoulders were shaking so hard it was like she was crying and oh clocks she actually was crying, either that or she was poisoned because it felt like her nose had turned into a faucet and if she'd thought her vision was bad before - and she was so happy! She was making sounds with her mouth and they were wet and gross and she was probably going to choke to death on them and! And! And!

And!

And!

And

and

No!

This was the happiest moment of her life! She was not going to spoil it even a little bit by thinking about how there wasn't anything here that could fight a rampaging dragon anymore.

She was going to focus on how good it felt to hug Dandy, and how it didn't even feel a little bit like she'd actually stabbed her in the back instead.

[PhoeKun]

If nothing else, Alina can take solace in knowing that Asteria has never set foot inside her closet. It's impressive, in a way, how much worse this is than being in that Illuminan bar in Jedad. But at least they had some idea what Alina's dresses look like, whereas it would come as a shock if Asteria has ever seen a proper dress in her life. Her understanding of Illuminan fashion begins and ends at "it's made of silk."

Every part of this is the worst part. When Jessamine touches her leg, it hurts. It hurts to be touched at all; her whole body is tender, stiff, and sore and there are no brave and beautiful girls who help her walk around the room and gently massage feeling back into her limbs this morning. It hurts to see her little sister like this. When she squeezes that soft paw before she's yanked to her feet and dragged to the other side of the tent, it hurts because she wants to touch Jess' actual hand, to feel that connection and try to offer comfort. And she can't. She's useless. It hurts just to look at that costume. It makes her mad to see it, just to think of it existing because she knows it'd cut Rita almost as much as it's cutting Jessamine.

The worst part is when they pull her to a chair on the other side of the room. Alina is meek and non-resisting, but it doesn't make the Riders any gentler on her. It hurts when they make her sit down. Sitting is very painful. But she pushes through it with the grace expected of a princess, and only winces twice. It hurts to hear Asteria say her dress is ruined. It's not. What kind of Illuminan outfit couldn't handle having water dumped on it? Her people go swimming dressed like this sometimes, on hot days where the storms sit teasingly over the mountains and--

It hurts when she's slapped. Don't you close your eyes, you little wretch! The worst part is hearing the tearing of the fabric. It hurts when she feels the shock of the morning air on her skin, and it hurts to be stripped bare like this still in front of her sister. Her sister who made this very dress that's now in tatters on the floor. It hurts when Asteria throws the towel over her body as if she can't stand to look at Alina's body. Excuse her for not being blue! It hurts when that towel is wrapped tighter around her body so that Asteria can get a better look at her body, and it hurts when it's pulled back off of her entirely because her stylist needs to see the fullness of her figure after all. Being judged like a pet at a show. Like a slave.

The worst part is the feeling of that brush in her hair. Feeling cold fingers running through it and teasing her soaking locks into all sorts of shapes and styles. Stop that! Stop it stop it! You're not her family! You're not her lover! You're not allowed to do this! You're not! But Alina is obedient, and holds her screams inside her heart. Her face is as diplomatically neutral as it's been all morning. Mercifully, the scissors don't come out. Less mercifully, her hair gets yanked into too-tight side-tie ponytail with cutesy white ribbons in the middle and at tip of it. It wouldn't be unfashionable on someone else, but it keeps her hair from curling as it dries and it makes her look even less like herself than she did when she was Rinley.

The worst part is the makeup. The deep purple lipstick and the heavy, heavy eyeliner that would be very flattering on a Rider's complexion, but do nothing for her own creamy skin. Asteria is very... aggressive with the shadow and the highlights around her eyes. All dark colors, blacks and blues and a tiny fleck of green at the corners of her eyes. She overaccents Alina's cheekbones until after all of it she looks like nothing so much as an evil queen. It's a mess. It's awful. The worst part is seeing how grossly happy Asteria is with her work. No, scratch that, the worst part is having a mirror held up in front of her face and having to compliment it. But she's a good girl; she does it with hardly any prompting.

The worst part is the dress. Oh, it's absolutely the dress. These are silks, cut and grown in the Illuminan style, but that's where it ends. They haven't gotten the final, most important wash that protects them from the rain and makes them strong enough to handle duels and rivers and trips into caverns full of glass, so the colors are much too bright. Not to mention Asteria's imagination is much too limited. She works almost completely in blue; a deep navy with some lighter sky colored accents here and there. And, ugh, the cut. This really is the worst part. It had been a lovely gown, once. Alina could see the outline of it. But Asteria took the wrong lessons from Illumina's diaphanous fashions and seems to have thought that showing skin through silk meant that Alina's people just loved flaunting their bodies. No, it should have motion and flow! Long, delicate sleeves and long skirts or flared pant legs that dance and ripple when you do! This, this is...

There were petal sleeves, once, that ran in layers all up and down the arms. But the shoulders have been cut away along with the top of the dress so that Alina's breasts (and her scar) are on over-prominent display. There's slashes through the middle of the powder blue sleeves so that they fall away near the elbow and join again at the wrists. The fabric might move as she does, but the way it sits on her makes it more prone to bunching and flopping than any sort of graceful trailing. The skirt is horrifyingly short and tight, coming to a stop maybe halfway down her thighs if she's lucky. It's cut in a pencil style, so there's no chance of it swishing when she walks or doing much of anything beyond embarrassing her if she needs to do anything especially acrobatic in the course of this awful mission. It hurts (a lot) when the corset gets cinched tight around her waist so that it forces her figure into what Asteria has decided is her most appealing shape. It's hard to breathe in, but it's tied tight around her back and locked in place, so it's only coming off with help. At least the deep maroon provides a much needed accent color against all of this blue.

And finally, the shoes. These are also the worst part. They're not her soft leather boots that are perfect for walking through a bubbling stream in, or her lacy dancing sandals or even that pair of flashy knee-high boots she used to wear when she felt adventurous, but instead a pair of gaudy golden things over shin socks (blue again) with massive heels that do lift her several extra inches off the ground but will be comfortable to wear for exactly never seconds. And that's it. That's the whole mess. Asteria moves to make her stand so she can see the whole thing in motion, and that's when Alina desperately grabs hold of her wrist.

"I've been good, right? You've seen it, right? Right?" There's an edge of panic in her voice while she steals glances at her sister, whose expression is impossible to read under her mask, "You know I'll do just like I was asked, right? I will, so please, please don't hurt Jessamine!"

There's the sneer, just like she expected. That 'who do you think you're talking to?' look in her eyes and the cruel promise that, the more Alina begs, the more Asteria would take it out on little Jessamine.

"Please!" she yelps, and now her voice is a desperate squeak, "You don't know how delicate she is! I'm begging you, don't make her sit out in the hot sun. Don't make her run laps, you'll traumatize her! And... a-and she's terrified of camp fires, so please please please don't make her tend to them. I'll do everything your father wants, so please!"

Alina stares into her tormentor's eyes for a full second, trying to find that little bit of the Rider Princess' heart that wasn't completely frozen over and cruel. And she doesn't see it anywhere. She breaks, just barely holding in her sobs so she doesn't ruin this excellent makeup while she hangs her head in defeat.

"...I'm sorry. I know, I don't get to ask you for favors. I'll be quiet. But... at least," she heaves a deep sigh that shows just how much she knows she'll regret saying this, "Thank you for treating her well so far. She... she loves cats so much. Did you know that? It was so kind of you. If you'd dressed her like a maid and forced her to clean and bake for you instead of letting her rest on that nice soft pillow, I... I wouldn't know what to do. I'd lose her all over again."

No, that's it. That's really it. She's said too much! She claps her hands over her mouth and hides her face before meekly starting her fashion walk so that nobody has to break out the whips. Sorry, Jessamine. The cruelty of Asteria Spite knows no limits: she'd probably do all of those things the moment Alina left camp.

[Talking Sense with Grace: 2d6+2= 8. Alina lies her butt off, but the sacred magic of Hyperborea insists she owes Asteria some sort of favor, to be cashed in whenever]

[Anarion]

“The question, however,” Diana muses to herself, as you work together to take down dead limbs from the trees, “remains as to whether Ourania allows this corruption, has not seen it, or... is unable to mend it. Your thoughts, Kazelia?”

"I think Ourania knows about it. And that she could mend it. But she chooses to allow it because of the risks" Kazelia says, feeding some twigs into the fire, which picks up a little moar life as she does.

"It's like...consider that this is Ourania's power normally." Kazelia gestures to the fire with her magic, and it sparks up as with many little winds blowing at it, creating little lines of flame curving and flowing outwards from the main fire through the area they've cleared

Spoiler: Ourania normal

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"Ourania sits at the center and power radiates from her. There's nothing in Ourania normally that disrupts it. The Devils of Devilhome could if they wanted, so I've heard, but they generally don't. With Oberon taking over Illumina though, and with the way Oberon drains power and radiates his own cold, there's a new source of power." Kazelia uses her magic to swirl some of the ash over one of the fiery lines, about where Illumina sits.

Spoiler: Illumina corrupted

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"As Oberon and my sisters spread their control over different sources of power in Hyperborea, their influence grows. Here, this leyline probably means my father visited Feloria recently, maybe that he's even still here now." She shudders at the thought, and stirs up more ash, moving from Illumina over to Feloria.

Spoiler: Feloria leyline corruption

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"The longer father remains here or grows his influence, the more leylines he might change and corrupt. Now, this doesn't answer the question about Ourania though. Why hasn't she intervened to protect the leylines? Or simply restored them as soon as Oberon moves on? He can't be everywhere at once after all. She certainly could do so with the power she holds. Kazelia gestures to the fire, which burns right over the Felorian ash.

Spoiler: Ourania fixing things

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"But what I'd theorize is that her power is great, greater even than Father's, but not infinite. If she focuses all her attention on one place, it means she's not focused on some other place, and Oberon could go there and spread his influence, as could some of my sisters, Azora especially." She stirs the ash and shifts the flame, showing the new Felorian corruption overtaken by fire, but the ash from Illumina spread all over.

Spoiler: Oberon taking advantage of an opening

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"I think, rather than try and keep up with Oberon's movements, using her power to constantly fix things, Ourania is relying on us. If we fix this leyline, as we're doing, it doesn't drain Ourania, but rather strengthens her. What I hope, along with my friends, is to travel Hyperborea and do things like this. And like this on a bigger scale. To break Oberon's powers, defeat his minions, and seize from him the sources of power that he holds. If we do that, then Ourania will have more than enough power to expel him from Hyperborea." Kazelia gestures to the fire, which spreads to completely obscure the ash covering the old lines, sending out and spreading new tendrils of flame. She walks over and feeds it some new sticks by hand and over a moment or two the fire simply becomes a larger fire, more able to warm them and help restore this little leyline.

Spoiler: Everybody helping, yay!

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"Well, that's my best guess anyway. I might have some of the details wrong, but I think that's what my father does. And has done to every world he's visited. This one needs to be different."

[Raz_Fox]

Dandy!

Well, huh. First time for everything, you suppose. You’d heard the stories, of course, about dryads what were outside of deep, dryad-haunted Axonia. Stands to reason that, if you’d finally meet one, it’d be when you were trying to save your kingdom from the worst disaster since the beetle blight.

She’s very clingy, like vines around a trunk, and making a lot of melodious noises. The sort of thing you might mistake for words, at a distance, to lure ya off the path. Not that this dryad’s like to do that, of course.

“You’re welcome,” you say, patting the dryad’s head. “And you can keep the shawl!” That... was probably the right thing to say? Sure, she’s crying, but it looks to be a happy ol’ cry, like she’s overwhelmed to see ya.

Now, the real question was whether she intended to let you go anytime soon. You’re starting to have second thoughts about rushing off to go collecting such as is good for treating burns, and third thoughts quietly asking why you went rushing off in the first place, adding up to a hankering to be back with Adila and Rita.

***

Alina!

”Hey, Jessamine,” you said, opening the door hurriedly. “Have you seen my history textbook? I—“

Jessamine spun around in a bouncing of frills and lace, and the two of you stared at each other for a moment, as the color rose in her cheeks and you drank in just how cute she looked in the outfit of one of the castle maids. She’d been posing in front of the mirror! Doing little curtseys! Awww!

“Don’t worry,” you say, shutting the door behind you. “I won’t tell anybody, Jess. I mean, Miss Jessi. You look wonderful...”

Jessamine yanks furiously on her chain, grunting and shaking her head and doing her part to back you up. Because the story here, of course, is that dumb, useless Alina blurts out all the things that would really upset Jessamine.

And Asteria falls for it, hook, line and sinker. She laughs like the worst sort of noblewoman, all “ohohohoho.”

“Brat,” she sneers, “I lend you my best clothes, I make you look like a queen, I do all I can to help you on your mission, and you turn around and try to tell me how to treat my pets? I’ll make her the camp maid if I please, and if you want her back, you’d better hurry up and get that witch.”

And you realize— oh. She means it. She won’t do a bait-and-switch where you do her dirty work and then she ties you back up and makes you and Jessamine her maids forever and ever. She’ll be mean and nasty to Jess, and then she’ll hold up her end of the bargain if you hold up yours. And... you can’t not connect there, at least. With the knowledge that Asteria would never betray you.

“Now, we are going to be on our way. You had better go find Daddy’s witch.”

“Oh,” she adds, snapping her fingers. “One more thing.” Your lights are brought forward! Oh, thank goodn—

They took Green.

In Green’s place sits a sickly green emerald, tinged with teal. The light that plays inside it looks almost, for a moment, like an eye. Watching you.

If you accept your lights, give Oberon another Bond on you. If you refuse Asteria’s generous gift, mark your lights off your sheet.

***

Rita!

Your ears perk up.

You’re curled up under a rose bush in your kitty form, where you collapsed last night when you couldn’t go any further, upset at everything. Upset at the Riders for kidnapping your best friend. Upset at Alina for going and jumping into danger without you. Upset at yourself, for not being right there by her side, for not being captured with her, and for not being strong enough to search for her all night long. What if they were hurting her? What if she needed her bestie? What if you’d never see her again? What if you could never talk to her about... feelings?

It was... tough to get to sleep.

And here comes a Rider blundering through the woods in golden heels, in the worst disguise you’ve ever seen. Seriously! Alina would never look like that! Just goes to show, even their shapeshifters are the worst. You wiggle your butt and twitch your tail in anticipation as she saunters by in those ridiculous heels!

You sneak up behind the Rider, transform into a girl in a quiet shower of sparkles, and draw your dagger. Then, in a blur, you pounce, knocking her to the ground and planting a knee on her back.

“You’re going to tell me what you did with Alina right now, Rider,” you hiss, your tail lashing furiously, your knife at her throat. “Change back! If you try to convince me, oooh, I’m Alina, I dress like this and I’m not a Rider spy, I’ll... I’ll... I’ll be really mad!! Alina would never dress like this, you nasty jerk!”

Oh no, no, no no no don’t cry, don’t start crying in front of the Rider spy, don’t do it, Rita

“T-tell me where she is, right now! She’s m-my best friend, and, and I am going to save her! So change back! Right now! You don’t deserve to look as pretty as she does...!!”

Don’t cry: MISSION FAILED

***

Kazelia!

The standing stone’s purple light begins to grow brighter and clearer. Dawn is here, and the sunlight, and everything seems a little better. Even the nothingness stuck inside you is... gentler.

“That’s a very convincing theory,” Diana says, and then extends her hand to you. Theodora gasps! What an honor!

“Please. You have to come with me,” she continues. “Together, we might be able to convince the Headmistress to end her neutrality and pledge the resources of HU against Oberon, against this power that would devour everything we hold dear.”

Like... logically, yes, that is the most important thing here. You can probably handle the dragon later, right? She’s looking expectantly at you, hand still outstretched. This is the difference between being her friend and being... an ally, one supposes.

She’s putting herself out there. You owe it to her to back her up. That’s just the way these things work!

[Thanqol]

Dandy!

Well, huh. First time for everything, you suppose. You’d heard the stories, of course, about dryads what were outside of deep, dryad-haunted Axonia. Stands to reason that, if you’d finally meet one, it’d be when you were trying to save your kingdom from the worst disaster since the beetle blight.

She’s very clingy, like vines around a trunk, and making a lot of melodious noises. The sort of thing you might mistake for words, at a distance, to lure ya off the path. Not that this dryad’s like to do that, of course.

“You’re welcome,” you say, patting the dryad’s head. “And you can keep the shawl!” That... was probably the right thing to say? Sure, she’s crying, but it looks to be a happy ol’ cry, like she’s overwhelmed to see ya.

Now, the real question was whether she intended to let you go anytime soon. You’re starting to have second thoughts about rushing off to go collecting such as is good for treating burns, and third thoughts quietly asking why you went rushing off in the first place, adding up to a hankering to be back with Adila and Rita.

Okay, Princess Adila. Get a grip on yourself. The one thing you do not need to do right now is fall into your own head. You can fix this just like a real Princess. All you need to do is defeat one dragon all on your own and then things will be all right. It'll be a bit difficult, but you can do it! And if you do it before Dandy or Kazelia find out about what you did then they'll realize it was all for the best! I believe in you, me!

And with that, a glowing silver light began to radiate from Princess Adila. It coiled into a ball and danced and arced around her head, gathering and strengthening and filling with a radiance she hadn't seen from it before. She had an Illuminan light. She had a heart full of courage. She had a lifetime of training. What was one dragon? She'd already gotten rid of one, ha ha! She stepped back from the hug with Dandy, shawl just barely providing decency, and gave a bright smile as the light settled above her head like a jewel in an invisible crown.

And then she turned and began to race into the forest, little lanternlight guiding her way. One dragon! And then she could let all these words out and tell her friends about this - as a hero! Nothing could stop her now!

~two minutes later~

oh my god why was the ground made out of knives her feet hurt so much how did people live

[PhoeKun]

"This is your best outfit? This? No wonder you're like that."

...Is exactly what Alina doesn't say, because she has a functioning self preservation instinct. But oh, she's thinking it. She clenches her teeth and lets the moment pass. For Jess. Be calm for Jess. Be--

...The worst part is seeing that impostor sitting on her crown like it belongs. Watching. Leering. What had they done with Green?! That gentle light, that soft light, her little healer... not again. Not again. She can't lose another one, she just can't. She glares at Asteria hard enough to set her on fire (would that she was so lucky), not daring to open her mouth for any reason. If she says anything, it'll only make things worse. If she says something, she might cry.

She doesn't cry. But when she storms out of the camp, she does it without any of her lights.

***

Stupid Asteria. Stupid mission. Stupid heels! Who would ever want to wear these? Ok sure, it's nice being a little taller for a change, but these are gaudy and uncomfortable and so not her! What idiot sends Alina Cascade out to accomplish something and then makes her look as little like herself as they can? Actually, scratch that. She knows exactly what idiot, and her name is--

OOF!

Suddenly she's tackled out of nowhere and goes tumbling, tumbling, tumbling across the ground with a yelp of pain and surprise. Then there's pressure on her stomach and a knife at her throat and oh this hurts so much and oh no it's Rita. And she's crying!

"Owowowowowowowowow ow! Please, please miss! You're hurt--owwww-- hurting me! I'm not a Rider! I'm not! I'm a, a" shoot ok think fast Alina, "I'm just a glassblower! I don't wanna be dressed like this either! I don't! But they told me they'd let my family go if I did what they said! Oh, please let me go, miss, I don't have the princess!"

Alina stares up into her friend's eyes with real fear reflected in her own. The pain's real too. Oh, Rita. You have no idea how badly Alina wants to hug you right now. She wants to tell you everything, it's killing her not to. But she can't, or she'll ruin everything.

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

It’s super hard to get into miserable trouble in Feloria. It’s such a nice place, really! You got cold? A quick bit of finagling and you’ve got a grass skirt. You got lost? There are berries everywhere, and streams, and... wow, this is a beautiful place. The kind of place that a big, blundering dragon would totally break!

Because when a place like this breaks, the wildlife ends up displaced. You realize this only once you stumble right into a large group of refugees.

There are maybe thirty of them, maybe as many as fifty. They are huge, coming right up to your shoulder. They have long, white tusks, some boasting four or six.

You are surrounded, to your dismay, by wild pigs. Some of them are burnt, and some are rooting disconsolately around in the bushes, and all of them have noticed you.

Did you know that pigs are true omnivores, Adila?

***

Alina!

The knife is removed, but Rita’s still on top of you with her knee in a difficult spot. “Okay,” she says. “It’s okay. I just need you to tell me everything about where the Riders are now, and where they’re keeping the real Princess Alina. Can you do that for me?” Her voice is calm. Uh-oh levels of calm. Tail-twitching levels of calm. Losing you has upset her a lot.

[PhoeKun]

"The, uh, the Riders? K-keeping Alina? Um. I mean, that is... I really don't think that's such a good idea!"

Now see, this is why Queen Halcyon spent so much time telling Alina how important it was never to lie to the people who were important to you. Growing up, Alina always thought it was one of those more general sort of lessons about how love and friendship were worth to much to risk hurting for any reason, which seemed correct enough, but now she sees it's really that sometimes when you're trying to protect your best friend and possible quantum smooch buddy's feelings (and even more importantly, her physical well being) you might wind up saying something stupid to her and then instead of getting her help you've got her bony little knee in your eeeuuurrph-- ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Why does everything have to hurt so much today? Weren't the spankings enough?

"There's a good reason I can't! No you don't understand you're not going to be able to! She's not even! Rita, please!"

Ok ok ok, don't cry don't cry, if you cry you are going to mess up all of this makeup because there's no way Asteria is smart enough to use the good, waterproof stuff even though she literally lives on a mountain of it and she is just the worst and somehow she's going to find out about it instantly and then things are going to get even worse so just... hold it together, ok? It's time to drop the act. Just tell her the truth; you definitely know enough to be able to convince her eventually and this is the only way to keep Rita from doing something stupid that might get her or Jess hurt.

"We really need to talk for a minute, ok? J-just let me sit up and I'll explain the whole situation to you. I promise. I wanna help you, but I...Rita, please. I'm just sitting up, ok? I'm just-- oof -- I'm not trying to hurt you. I really, actually am Al--"

This is, of course, the precise moment Alina discovers that those awful stupid sleeves were hiding throwing knives as they come tumbling out and glittering threateningly and almost a bit impishly on the ground. Like, a lot of throwing knives. An impossible amount of throwing knives, actually. How could this even? She'd thought it was uncomfortable but she put it down to how sore she was and just... what? How? And also, Asteeeeerrrrriiiaaaa!

[Anarion]

She’s putting herself out there. You owe it to her to back her up. That’s just the way these things work!

"Yes, I'll come" Kazelia says, taking her hand gingerly. She knows her hand will be bit icy, so she tries to ease into that surprise as much as possible. But she's committing, she'll go now, visit the academy, talk with the Witches, try and earn an ally. Committed, let's do it!

You might be saying to yourself: but Kazelia, there's a scary dragon and Alina is kidnapped, you need to rescue your friends right now, what in the void is wrong with you?!. And you are correct, Kazelia is feeling those emotions. But, she is also feeling like there are a lot of problems right now and something happened during the night that pulled her here, now. And she's tired, her arm hurts, her vision still isn't seeing the world quite right. The leyline was broken and she didn't feel like she could just race off last night and leave it in that state, especially alone and while meeting another witch who's not an evil spiteful blizzard princess!

So, yes, there's a lot going on and Kazelia is absolutely 100% going to tell the Hecatians that her friends are in trouble and there's a big contingent of Riders, and a dragon! (A non-Adila dragon, for clarity. Adila is, of course, perfectly fine right now and anybody that meets a dragon that looks like her has nothing to be worried about at all.) But Kazelia is also tired, needs some help and healing, and feels like this is a real chance to make the world better and do what their little team has set out to do. They need more than just friends, they need allies committed to the cause, people who will work together to stop Oberon, to seize his power sources from him, and to ultimately retake Illumina and cast him out.

So, she says yes without hesitation and she's darn well going to do her best to make the world better than she found it.

[Thanqol]

Adila!

It’s super hard to get into miserable trouble in Feloria. It’s such a nice place, really! You got cold? A quick bit of finagling and you’ve got a grass skirt. You got lost? There are berries everywhere, and streams, and... wow, this is a beautiful place. The kind of place that a big, blundering dragon would totally break!

Because when a place like this breaks, the wildlife ends up displaced. You realize this only once you stumble right into a large group of refugees.

There are maybe thirty of them, maybe as many as fifty. They are huge, coming right up to your shoulder. They have long, white tusks, some boasting four or six.

You are surrounded, to your dismay, by wild pigs. Some of them are burnt, and some are rooting disconsolately around in the bushes, and all of them have noticed you.

Did you know that pigs are true omnivores, Adila?

Haha, oh wow, these guys looked much less cute from this angle, huh?

Also haha oh wow she was a bit of a mess huh. Turns out that this thick hair was good for things other than looking pretty - it was also good at tying knots, grabbing branches, and collecting leaves and twigs. Wouldn't it be great making sure that this stays clean every day haha. She bends over to take some deep breaths and smiles at the pigs, thinking calming thoughts at them. Well sure they were pretty big but it wasn't like anyone had ever been hurt by pigs, right? They were farm animals. Felorian farm animals. They were probably just lost haha... ha.

Oh, awesome idea! How about opening this up with her first ever act of human-sized heroism! She'd help these pigs find their way back home, you know, charmingly. If she was a dragon they'd probably all just be scared of her and run away but as a person she could totally persuade these guys that they should follow her back to town! She cleared her throat, coughed, banged her chest with one fist (ow). "Friendly farm critters!" said Princess Adila in an unpracticed and slightly scratchy voice. "Don't worry, I'll show you the way home!"

Camel drivers used sticks to drive their animals, right? She picked up a wooden stick and walked towards one of the pigs with a big smile and the brilliant plan of hitting it.

[Raz_Fox]

Alina!

There are ways to make a princess talk, when she’s fallen into your clutches. Ways to force the truth out of anybody. Torture. Rita is so determined to save you that, ironically, she is about to punish you horribly.

Though, it must be admitted, horribly by Hyperborean standards. This is Konkon levels of wickedness she is stooping to, not Riderish levels.

You have ended up tied to a tree, your back against the wood, your shoes sitting neatly next to you as Rita mercilessly runs her nails up and down the soles of your feet, firmly held in place by Askaian ribbons. As is customary, she’s been softening you up for ten minutes already, driving you crazy before asking any questions.

“Now,” she says, as you helplessly thrash your head from side to side, “we can do this all day.” oh ourania oh oh nooooo “Or you can tell me where the Riders have Alina and what I can do to save her.”

She scoots up onto your lap, her tail running along those oh-so-sensitive soles, and pulls down your gag. She rests her nails along your sides, not even moving them. Yet.

“So. What’s it going to be, spy?” Her adorable face is so close to you. Her eyes are full of determination and resolve to save the you she thinks is in peril. Her nails are in very, very sensitive spots, running the faintest little circles. The urge to just kiss her and seal your fate is so tempting.

Your options include:

A) insist you’re Alina, you really, really are! Probably still the most mature option, but... it’s going to take time to convince her. And a lot of that time is going to be you shrieking helplessly and illegibly as your cute childhood bestie tickles the living daylights out of you.

B) tell her everything she wants to hear, and then... probably get taken along as her prisoner? Not ideal, either. But there’s a lot less tickling in that future.

C) use your dragonfire to bust out of the ropes and... oh, right.

D) kiss her, just do it, lean forward and convince her you’re the real Alina with your love, there’s no way this will backfire on you and she’ll assume you’re a seductress trying to manipulate her into setting you free

***

Adila!

The good news is that you finally found a spot where the pigs wouldn’t keep chasing you! Thank Ourania, that was close.

The bad news is that you have just spent the past half-hour screaming and running away from a bunch of furious pigs who don’t like being hit with sticks.

The worse news is that, during that chase sequence, you managed to:

• Skin your knees
• Hide out in poison ivy
• run over sharp little rocks that didn’t bother the pigs’ hooves at all
• accidentally knock down a bees’ nest and found yourself forced to deal with the new and exciting sensations of being stung

And the worst news? The absolute worst bit?

The pigs are just sitting and watching, contentedly, as you sink into the quicksand. If they had hands, you get the strong sense they’d be waving goodbye.

And... wait! Could it be? An overhanging vine? This might be your only chance at escape, and there’s no way it’ll turn out to actually be a Felorian hypno-python, one of the few offshoots of the grand Axonian hypno-python!

Go ahead and roll to Overcome.

***

Kazelia!

There are secret paths through the woods of Feloria. If you were a little less out of it today, you’d probably have some really cool theories on how they exist, but only if you know the right way to approach them! They’ve got little tiles sunk into the forest floor, and lanterns hanging from the branches which form a ceiling overhead, and lots of strange and luminous mosses and lichens.

“We should be safe from the dragon traveling this way,” Diana says, but—

You feel a trickle of warning down your spine. An intimation that this road is not safe. But when you make up your mind to speak up, you feel it again: traveling by land is not safe. You’re going to be in trouble whether you walk down this path or in the open, and you’re going to be in trouble from your sisters.

After all, what kind of heroine gets to take the easy road through anything?

So what’s it going to be? Take your chances on the secret road, or take your chances out in the open?

[Thanqol]

Adila!

The good news is that you finally found a spot where the pigs wouldn’t keep chasing you! Thank Ourania, that was close.

The bad news is that you have just spent the past half-hour screaming and running away from a bunch of furious pigs who don’t like being hit with sticks.

The worse news is that, during that chase sequence, you managed to:

• Skin your knees
• Hide out in poison ivy
• run over sharp little rocks that didn’t bother the pigs’ hooves at all
• accidentally knock down a bees’ nest and found yourself forced to deal with the new and exciting sensations of being stung

And the worst news? The absolute worst bit?

The pigs are just sitting and watching, contentedly, as you sink into the quicksand. If they had hands, you get the strong sense they’d be waving goodbye.

And... wait! Could it be? An overhanging vine? This might be your only chance at escape, and there’s no way it’ll turn out to actually be a Felorian hypno-python, one of the few offshoots of the grand Axonian hypno-python!

Go ahead and roll to Overcome.

haha oh wow farming is hard

Quicksand didn't have a lot to recommend it but at least it gave her a chance to catch her breath and scratch at this "DUMB ITCHY SKIN, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?! No wonder Princess Alina gets sick and tied up all the time! Waugh!"

Hey, bright side! You got to say that out loud with your mouth! Awesome! It'll be a little bit more awesome when you don't have a bee sting on your tongue but you'll work on that for next time haha. Also the ability to breathe fire would have been kind of convenient right now but a princess goes to war with the shawl she borrowed from her best friend and not the shawl she wants!

"Anyway!" she said, relishing her ability to sassily monologue at smug pigs without undercutting herself with the full Adila Insecurity Experience. "You think that you've seen the last of me? Well you haven't! I am a graceful princess now and you - you, sirs," she really drew out that irrrrrr sound there, "will be shown. Ha ha, daring escape!"

She leapt up to get a firm grip on the perfectly safe non hypnotic domesticated Felorian tree branch.

[Overcome: 8]

[Anarion]

Kazelia considers that feeling of warning she has and holds up a hand to Diana and Theodora. "My sisters are...nearby I think" she says to the two witches. "If we take these roads, we might be followed or accosted as we're traveling. Though that's probably true either way." Kazelia tries to look around, see if there's anything in the forest of Feloria that doesn't feel like it belongs. Looks to Diana to see what she appears to be thinking about. "Is there some way that the Riders could follow us if we take the safe route? Would it be better to meet them there or in the open?" She asks.

[Look closely: 5, 2, 2 +0=4. 1 question, the hard way.
-What will happen if I take the secret paths?]

[PhoeKun]

Hahahaha oh haha no haha this! Is! The! Worst! hahaha

Here's a secret, though: this is actually the best. Or, no (heehee) let's try one more time. It's... cleansing. Alina is tied to a tree and wiggling helplessly, and is blushing so hard she think she might die from it, if she doesn't run out of breath from all the giggling first. But it's (ahaha) actually just (eeehaha) so nice to (haaa) switch from the horror of Oberon's wrongness to (ehehe) something so completely Hyperborean. It's like, i-it's... oh gosh Rita please! Rita! Riittaaaa~

"No, I, swear, I'm, really, Alina! I'm, sorry! For, tricking yooouuu! But, I'm, ahahaha oh no."

It goes on like this. It goes on like this until Alina can't even speak words in her own defense anymore. But she sticks to her story, because it's the truth and she's learned her lesson about hiding that from Rita. But also because she kind of doesn't want this to stop? Again, no, please nobody ever do this to her again, but it's actually so nice having Rita being the one doing it. Because it's her best friend, and she's so determined to save 'the real Alina' that she's using every dirty trick she knows to force the camp's location out of her and take off on a daring rescue she has no hope of pulling off.

Oh, you sweet girl. You silly girl. You... you... Alina's cheeks go freshly pink when she sees how close they are. Rita's not a-- well she's... th-that is, she's a friend! She's Alina's best friend! But she's so... it's so... it's like seeing Summerveil again. Or no, it's not, but it's just like that time. They lept into danger together, they saved Askaia together, and then they... and then they...

Alina can't help it. She leans in and she kisses Rita on the lips. This time, there's no water coughed up in her face, so that's nice. But it's still not a good and proper kiss, because she's still laughing herself to death and it absolutely ruins everything. But one thing it doesn't manage to be is the kiss of an evil seductress, so that's nice. Rita, you're the best. Rita, you're the sweetest. Rita, she's never going to leave you behind again. Rita,

"Can, I, explain, hee, now, you fuzzy-eared, nitwit? Or do you, still, only take, apologies, in catnip?"

That's right, Alina's got stories. Dozens of them. Hundreds, even. More stories than she had knives up her sleeves. More than they possibly had time to torture out of her, in hyper specific details that are sure to leave Rita blushing (and adorable). She'll tell them all, if Rita's got the time and the patience, and maybe the inclination, to hear her out. Or we could just try kissing again. That would be ok right now, too.

[Talk Sense with Wisdom: 13]

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

Haha! They will always remember this as the day they almost caught Princess Adila II. You haul yourself up onto the vine, glancing up to see—

+you are safe now. you are in no danger.+

“...I am safe now. I am in no danger.”

Everything’s so warm.

+everything is going to be fine.+

“Everything is going to be... fine.”

And soft.

+breathe in. breathe out. good girl.+

“I’m a good girl.”

You’re such a good girl.

+you want a cup of tea.+

“I... want a... cup of tea?”

...you want a cup of tea?

+your pumpkins are growing so large. the dogs are staying away from your tomatoes.+

“I... I don’t have tomatoes??”

Huh???

+wait. you don’t have tomatoes in your garden? at this time of year? I’m appalled, young lady. they’re a healthy staple of the diet.+

“They’re a healthy staple of... hang on!”

You blink, and the world comes back into focus. You’re hanging on to a great big green snake who looks rather put out and who has pretty technicolor eyes you could stare into forev... gah!!

+well if you aren’t going to be cooperative you can go right back in the quicksand, young lady+

Hold on a minute!! Why is Feloria just one disaster after another today? Why can’t you catch a break? This isn’t fa— aaaagh he’s trying to shake you off now

***

Kazelia!

There’s the sound of a cough, harsh and sibilant, down the road. It’s so distant, it’s only barely heard. A blue light streaks towards you at high speed, and it’s only in the last half-a-second that you realize it’s a shaft of blue fire.

Then it blows you off your feet and spins you head-over-heels into a tree trunk, your robes on fire.

Damage your choice of Blood or Courage.

Diana conjures up a shield and attempts to hold it fast, while Theodora coaxes the branches down to support it, but more darts of blue fire streak down at such horrific speed, you’re not surprised to see the shield cracking.

They can’t hold her off much longer. What do you do to save the day, Kazelia? Think!

***

Alina!

So you lay it out, once you’re untied. It’s the height of the morning, and you’re sitting in the green grass, underneath the apple tree, holding hands. The world is emeralds and gold and warmth. Oberon... he seems so much a dream that leaving him out of your explanation seems harmless. He can’t be anywhere around! All your aches and pains and exhaustion seem muted.

You finish your explanation, lean in for another giddy, hungry kiss... and Rita pulls away before you can leave more rich purple smears on her face.

“Why’d you lie to me?” She sounds so hurt. So vulnerable. Like she’d never expect you to lie. Not about something like this. “We could have gone and rescued Jessamine by now. And... why didn’t you trust me? There’s no way they could find out you told me.” And, she doesn’t add, nothing bad can happen as long as we’re together.

She doesn’t—

She wasn’t there. She didn’t see him.

Oberon is the missing piece. The truth you held back. You know trying to skirt around that fear, that name, it’ll just make her push more... or pull away more.

You can be honest!

Or you can lie about why you lied. She’ll never find out. Totally.

[Thanqol]

She was so warm. And comfortable. And tangled. And there were so many muscles around her. And scales? Is this how scales feel to humans? She'd thought they would be... rough, and scratchy, but they were so smooth and solid and they pressed everywhere and every time she shifted it was like... oh, uh, she was blushing. Oh gosh there was a lot of snake here, wasn't there? She... she thought she needed to take her earlier comment back. Was this why Princess Alina got tied up so often?

Then - what? What!? "What, no!" Princess Adila said, gripping onto the swiftly moving coils and, uh, trying not to blush harder. She looked down and saw a dark pit of sand and pork. "Don't you dare!" she yelled. "You tangle me right back up this instant!" Her heart had been filled with so much pride in the size of her pumpkins and was that what it was like when she thought at other people? "Don't you dare drop me! I have tomatoes - reaaaaaaalllyyyyyyy!" her voice raised into a shriek as suddenly the support went out from under her back and she was hanging upside down by her feet that were still tangled into the snake.

Oh clocks and spit she was being thrown out of the most comfortable place in the world into the worst place in the world this wasn't fair

[Anarion]

They can’t hold her off much longer. What do you do to save the day, Kazelia? Think!

Kazelia tries to pull out her spear. At her best, she'd cut the blast straight down its center dissipating its force and leap to Diana's aid. That's the image she has in mind. But her shoulder aches, she's tired, she's not reacting as quickly as she normally would, and so she's too slow by a hair's breadth. Instead of deflecting the blast, it hits her full on mid spear motion.

[Rolled to overcome, but I got 2+3+1=6. So that didn't work out so well. I'll damage my blood, and my guess is that Kazelia's signature spear is going to go flying away here because she didn't have a good grip on it when she got hit.]

[PhoeKun]

"Hey Lina, let's get married!"

"Wha wha wha wh-what?" stammered a nine year old Alina Cascade as she dropped her spoon into her soup bowl with a sploosh and a clatter and a generally large mess.

Rita smiled her little kitten smile; the really silly one where her lips curled up and she barely showed any teeth that she used whenever she was trying to disarm or talk Alina into some new scheme. The one that Alina always fell for because she was a sucker for cute things, especially cats. How else would these two have become bestest friends? Apart from the shared love of adventure, pillow fights, fishing, dancing, pretty dresses, ribbons, sunshine, rainbows, and pony rides, they really were nothing alike (Rita hated swimming, you see). She reached over and started stirring Alina's soup.

"Well yeah, see, we're gonna be brides someday, right Lina?"

"Uhuh..."

"And you don't wanna mess it up, right?"

"Rita you goof, when do I ever mess anything up?"

"Um... let's see, how about this morning when you tried to do a double back flip getting out of bed and your horsey pajamas got caught on the corner?"

"Wha, buh... th-that doesn't count, it was just practice!"

"And so's this! So that when we grow up and do it for real we'll be the best brides Hyperborea's ever seen. Even Ourania will be all, 'wow, I'd better go to that party, look how pretty they are!'"

And then the pair of them collapsed into fits of giggles. But naturally you can't have a conversation like this at the dinner table without getting Alina's entire family involved. Practice must be done properly, after all! Otherwise, these two silly girls would just be playing, and then how would they draw Ourania's eye with their for-real wedding(s?)? They spent the entire next day with Queen Halcyon in her special room with the huge stained glass murals of all of Illumina's prettiest princesses while she made them the most beautiful white dresses and taught them how to stitch and sew, because a proper Illuminan bride always designed her own dress herself. She did all the complicated parts herself, the flowing sleeves and the long train for her daughter and the playfully ruffled skirt for Rita, plus all the gauzy silken chest bits that were just the prettiest thing either girl had ever seen, but she had them adding the pearls and the embroidery on their own. Alina went a little overboard on colorful crystal bits, and Rita's attempt at heraldry was a little more of a happy sun than it was anything for-serious, but they had the time of their lives, and Halcyon could not have named two prettier girls if she'd been inclined to try (which she was not).

Jessamine was still learning how to bake at that point, but she insisted on being in charge of the cake anyway. She added lots of Askaian spices, so it would taste like Rita's home, and then the palace maids helped her make sure the frosting was pretty enough for a wedding, covered in little edible cats and ribbons and topped with candy glass shards, because Jessamine refused to call any cake pretty enough unless it had some on it. They held the "ceremony" in the castle's Rainbow Hall, with its deep pools churned by the largest waterfall in the whole palace that sprayed mist up into the enchanted windows that always shone with daylight no matter how dark or rainy it was outside, so that the room would always be blessed with a full and perfect rainbow. Alina and her sisters weren't born in this room, but lots and lots of other Illuminan Princesses were, which made it a very, very special place indeed.

Freesia, dressed in priestess' robes and with her deep blue hair tied into a much too elaborate braid for her to have done it herself, conducted the ceremony. First, she laid out the teacups for Rita and Alina to share with each other, the big one, the medium one, and the really really small one, and made them drink each one all down even though neither girl was very thirsty. Then, with perfect diction bordering on the obsessive, she guided these two bffs through all of the sacred vows. To love each other. To hold each other close. To be a light for each other in darkness and to be a shield against the bad things in life. To always, always tell the truth and trust each other to care more than to be upset. Then she gathered up some of the foamy water from the pool behind her and splashed it on Alina's head. Freesia rolled her eyes when she saw Rita flinching as she reached for the water to do it again.

"Mommy, shes not doin' it right! Make her do it right or it's not gonna count!"

In the end, she had to get a spray bottle to spritz a little mist on the catgirl's head instead, and she was extremely mad about it. But in the end, that was that and all was well, and the wedding gave way to the cake cutting. And the cake cutting gave way to the feeding of the bride, which gave way to Rita smashing Alina's face into her piece, and before you knew it Alina had upended the entire rest of the cake onto her best friend, and then both of them were wrestling and rolling across the floor in the midst of the fiercest tickle fight Illumina has ever seen until their dresses were soaked and tearing and quite honestly more frosting than stitching. But it was fine, Alina thought from her perch atop Rita's stomach, because she'd never had so much fun in her life. And she smiled, because this was her best friend in the whole wide world. And always would be.

***

Her eyes hadn't changed at all. Not one bit. Except that now they were full of hurt instead of wonder. Alina opens her mouth to try and fix things, but closes it again before any words can come out. She hangs her head. No. No more lies. Not even by omission. She promised, and even if that time didn't really count she still...

"Because," she starts, trying and failing to keep the trembling out of her voice, "I was scared you would hate me! I'm so scared, Rita. I'm so ashamed! I... I want to go back and rescue Jess right now, I do! But I... but I can't. I c-can't because..."

She hesitates. She can't say this out loud. If she says it out loud then he's real again and here with her in this beautiful moment and her heart's going to shatter all over again. She can't take it. She used to, used to be so brave! The kind of person who would never have run from home when it needed her. She would have saved her mother and her sisters and kicked an awful man like him in the face rather than let him do any of the things he's done in the window she left him! Now she's, now she's, now she's running off into the woods without her lights to guide her because she's scared of what he's done to them. Now she's lying to her precious, special friend because his name is scary. How could Alina Cascade have turned out like this? She shouldn't cry. She can't afford to cry. But she does.

"H-h-he's... he's here, Rita. Here in Feloria. And he, and he, and, and he... touched me and I thought I was gonna die just from that! I... you haven't seen him! What he's like! And I never ever want you to! He's worse than ten thousand Rocs, worse than that swamp he turned Summerveil into, worse than... I can't. I don't have a choice. I don't want to, I don't want, I, I can't save Jess. He'll beat me, again. He'll break me. Again. And m-maybe this time he won't leave anything left. Or what if he does it to Jess or Mom instead? Or Freesia, or you, or... or any of the others! The way that he hurts people... it's so much worse than you can imagine. I have to. I have to do what he says! I have to give him Diana or I'll never see anyone I love again!

I... I hate myself so much, Rita. So much. I just didn't want you to hate me too."

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

Tsk, tsk. If Dandy were here, she’d be sure to warn you about the dangers of the hypno-python. How you never want to end up hanging upside down, with all the blood rushing to your head, in a position where the python could swing your head and his in time, like the pendulum of a clock. How you never give the hypno-python a second chance to put you under his spell. How you absolutely, positively go hiking with a buddy system, because he can’t hypnotize two people at once.

How you have to stay strong and not agree with him, or you’ll just slip deeper and deeper into a trance.

+you’re safe. you’re wanted.+ The coils wrap comfortingly around you, pulling you up to your hips in strong bands of muscle. You rock back and forth, arms dangling over your head, drowning in those beautiful eyes. +I would never let you go. you’ll stay with me. forever and ever. doesn’t that make you happy? you’re happy. you’re calm. you’re safe. you’re a good girl. you’re a good girl. good girls relax and listen to me.+

And the dragonfire at your very heart rebels. It says: I will not go out. It says: I am an ember but I cannot be extinguished. It says: wake up, Adila! You’re stronger than this!

Oh. Would you look at that. You’re headfirst inside a hypno-python, slowly being worked deeper into his throat, coils banding tight as iron all around you. You have no idea how long you’ve been under his spell, you just know that if you don’t do something now, your grand adventure will end as soon as it began.

Luckily you have... most of your arms free, good luck!

***

+Hey, Kazelia.+

The shield explodes.

Everything’s dizzy and upside-down and on fire. So much fire. The bone-deep fear is clawing its way out of your hindbrain, especially because so much of what’s in front of you is Dragon.

You could almost mistake her for Adila. Almost. Her scales are jet black, her eyes full of dying stars, and jagged horns have burst through her scales, curling back over her neck and on either side of her muzzle. The way she moves, all sleek and careful and predatory, all Eska, and wasn’t Adila sweet to not move in a way that reminded you of your status on the food chain?

But it is still hard to shake the feeling that it is... in some way, Adila. Perhaps because you are a witch. Perhaps because you recognize the ways in which one must scrape and steal form without your father to shape you back out of the void. Perhaps because you have known a grand total of one (1) dragon in Hyperborea, and so she serves as a natural comparison.

+Go on.+ Eska’s head sways from side to side, almost hypnotically. +Try to send me back again.+ She opens her jaws and you see the blue fire there, guttering what seems like miles away, but you know. Move, and it will be on you faster than you can blink.

(Once there was a very foolish Rider who tried to steal from a dragon! But she didn’t do her recon prep...)

Everything’s crackling and smoking in blue. Theodora lies limp and motionless several yards away. Diana struggles to keep her head up off the ground, to even breathe, her body pinned down by one huge black claw.

+Send me back to the not-place. Send me back to Mother. Send me back to claw my way home all broken and undone. I want you to try.+

You will call forth the magic and she will breathe fire on you, no, she will spit fire onto you, hack it up with pinpoint accuracy, and you will burn, Kazelia, burn.

Or you can beg. Or run away. Or try to bargain. Or take up your lance and do battle. But do not think Eska will have mercy on you this time. Not after what you did.

***

Alina!

The fear has barely left your mouth— the fear that Rita will hate you, that she’ll sneer and say that you should have been stronger, that a princess is honest no matter what, that she’ll get up and walk away and leave you all alone— when Rita wraps her arms around you, hands on the back of your head, pulling you in close.

“I am never going to hate you, dummy,” she says. “Never ever ever.” She’s shivering, you realize. She’s afraid. She’s afraid of Oberon, seeing only his shadow cast over you. But she won’t admit it. “Let’s go find everybody else. We’re stronger together, right? And Kazelia’s so smart, she’ll know how to trick her dad, and, and Adila will be strong and brave and knock down all the Riders, and Dandy will give Oberon a lecture about how he’s letting all his negative energy pollute his chi. Let’s rescue Jessamine together.”

Oh, Rita. Weren’t you listening? If you fail again, if you’re captured by him again... if he decides he doesn’t need you after all...

You’ll never see your family again. Never ever. He’ll freeze you alive, or give you to one of his daughters as a present, or throw you in a dungeon, and you’ll never, never see Jessamine or Freesia or... or Halcyon. Ever again.

“And,” she adds, trying to sound brave, “just in case he’s watching you, we’d better find Diana, too. She’ll be a vital part of sneaking into the camp!”

[Thanqol]

Adila!

Tsk, tsk. If Dandy were here, she’d be sure to warn you about the dangers of the hypno-python. How you never want to end up hanging upside down, with all the blood rushing to your head, in a position where the python could swing your head and his in time, like the pendulum of a clock. How you never give the hypno-python a second chance to put you under his spell. How you absolutely, positively go hiking with a buddy system, because he can’t hypnotize two people at once.

How you have to stay strong and not agree with him, or you’ll just slip deeper and deeper into a trance.

+you’re safe. you’re wanted.+ The coils wrap comfortingly around you, pulling you up to your hips in strong bands of muscle. You rock back and forth, arms dangling over your head, drowning in those beautiful eyes. +I would never let you go. you’ll stay with me. forever and ever. doesn’t that make you happy? you’re happy. you’re calm. you’re safe. you’re a good girl. you’re a good girl. good girls relax and listen to me.+

And the dragonfire at your very heart rebels. It says: I will not go out. It says: I am an ember but I cannot be extinguished. It says: wake up, Adila! You’re stronger than this!

Oh. Would you look at that. You’re headfirst inside a hypno-python, slowly being worked deeper into his throat, coils banding tight as iron all around you. You have no idea how long you’ve been under his spell, you just know that if you don’t do something now, your grand adventure will end as soon as it began.

Luckily you have... most of your arms free, good luck!

Adila opened her mouth to yell in panic and oh god she got snake saliva in there oh no so gross. She was not into this part, ostrich, banana, martini, safe word, help! Stop thinking about how you would do a much better job at this than this guy with your tail, Adila, this is not the time or the place.

Okay. Okay. Just because he's invincible and extremely strong does not mean that a princess is defenseless! I mean, I get my butt kicked by princesses all the time. What would Alina do? Well, I could put a laser directly down his throat but that would not achieve the goal of making things less gross, Alina would probably just squirm cutely and wait to be rescued. Okay, there was that time I caught Princess Konkon and was holding her until backup arrived and she started tickling me with her feet and tail, that was extremely embarrassing, maybe I can pull that off?

Princess Konkon had at the time actually come pretty close to failure - but then she'd managed to hook her toes into the spot behind Adila's ear crests and that had ended her. She had to risk that snakes were sensitive in the same spot. She struggled her ankles free of the snakes' coils and swung them around, twisting her whole body into a curve, so she could get her toes behind the snakes' ears. And then she tickled like her life depended upon it.

[Overcome! 11!]

[Anarion]

So much! It's Eska, but...she's a dragon. And she's a dragon like Adila. Too much like Adila. Like something happened to Adila!

Raw emotions war inside Kazelia. Fear of the vast dragon before her, a creature of nightmares and fire in a way Adila herself had never been. Fear for Diana, held in the claw, who needed rescuing. Rage at Eska. Always Eska who hurt without thought or regard for anything but how she could get under someone's skin. Anxiety that if Eska were lost now, it would hurt Adila too, or Diana if a magical impact were too large (though she'd managed the trick with Eska carrying Alina over her shoulder the last time, so she thought she could aim her magic pretty well, but somehow hurting Adila meant that still wasn't on the table here).

"Hey Eska, long time no see." She tries to get her sister's attention. It's just Eska, the air isn't filled with Rider Pegasi accompanying her, she's come on her own, flexing whatever dark magic got her this power, made her like Adila. "I hope you're not mad about the way I destroyed your body and banished you to the great darkness beyond the world" Kazelia says snidely, sprinting into the trees. She hopes that if Eska chases her, she'll leave Diana and the two of them can help or escape.

As she enters the dark forest, she uses her magic to throw her voice behind one of the other trees, slipping left and throwing her voice right. "You probably like it out there, right? Nobody to annoy you!" That's right Eska, get mad, aim wrong, leave Diana alone, then maybe Kazelia can double back.

Unfortunately, it looks like Kazelia forgot about how good Adila's vision is, and it seems like Eska may have never lost sight of her in the first place.
[Keep busy: 2+2+2=6]

[PhoeKun]

Alina leans into that embrace like she's going to forget how to breathe if she doesn't, which right now might actually be true. Thank Ourania that Rita exists. Thank you thank you thank you... everything is warm and wet and, surprisingly, her makeup is just fine. Relatively speaking. It's still the way Asteria left it, at any rate. Thank goodness, thank goodness. It's actually shameful how much Alina lets herself indulge in this small moment of friendship and bonding, but then again, what pride does she have left to protect right now? If her mother and sisters weren't in danger right now, she'd never want to leave this moment or these arms. Just snuggle in here and wait for the end of everything, that sounds nice.

But Rita's shivering. She gets it. On some level, she must understand what it is she's saying. Alina's wearing her fear right there on her dumb, garbage knife-sleeves, so how could she not? Rita wasn't used to having to be the braver one. Alina reaches up behind her and gently massages the top of Rita's head with her fingers. It's the kind of thing you only get to do with an Askaian cat when you're very close to them, but if anybody's got that kind of relationship, it's... well.

"...Just in case." she says, trying to force the shaking out of her voice. Be brave, Alina. Be brave for your sisters and your mother and your best friend.

Reluctantly, she pulls away and starts tucking those throwing knives back into the little pouches they were apparently nesting in. This is stupid, but she doesn't have any other weapons right now. She likewise puts those horrid shoes back on, because Feloria is just about the last place in the world she'd want to walk around barefoot in. Just imagine the day someone would be having right now if they tried that. She winces, thinking about it. Ok. Well. Ready as she's going to get.

"Hey, um," she says more calmly than she feels, "Thank you. For... just thank you. And, um? Could you please promise me? That if it comes to it, you'll do what you need to save Jessamine? If it's down to her and me, I..."

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

The hypno-python spasms, upchucks you right out of his mouth, and falls out of the tree, splat, right into the quicksand. There is quite a bit of appreciative oinking from below.

You find yourself dangling over the quicksand, clinging with all your strength to an actual branch, slimy and dizzy and itchy and thirsty and saying goodbye to that fun adrenaline high.

Today has kinda sucked.

And that’s when you hear the circus music wafting out through the trees. Lilting and cheerful and promising a good time to everybody with its glass instruments and bells and whistles.

...I mean, where else are you going to go, right?

What are your opinions on the circus, Adila? What sorts of shows performed regularly in the Bazaar? And, be honest: what are your opinions on clowns?

***

Kazelia!

Your plan works perfectly, right up to the point where Eska suddenly tries to bite your head off.

I mean, it’s pretty successful, right? You got her away from Diana, that’s good. She’s probably booking it down the secret road with Theodora right now! But you’ve blundered out into the normal woods again, and oh, also, Eska has popped up with jaws open wide, slavering and intending to maul you a little bit.

So you stop her.

You swing your lance up into a block, relying on pure soldier’s instinct, and it saves your life! But Eska brings the power of her jaws down anyway, right on your lance’s haft, and it breaks. Cleanly. Into three pieces.

And that break snaps the world around you. Eska howls and claws at her snout, having spit out the offending piece in her jaws. You have just enough time to grab it and put a little space between you and her, but you’re still in a pickle. Eska is hunting you, your lance (pride of your entire flight!) is broken and dull, and you can’t find the secret paths again.

And then you emerge, blinking, onto a narrow forest road, where you are promptly hit by a stagecoach.

“Oh no!” Dandy pulls the stagecoach to a stop and hurriedly gets down to where you have bounced, several yards down. “Kazelia! Oh cold snap, are you okay?”

***

Alina!

The anger hits you like a punch to the face. If it were transcribed, it would sound something like

+AFFAGAGHAHSGFGAHBAGGHSJJSHGHJJJHHH+

One long inarticulate howl of fury. The kind that makes little princesses want to curl up in a ball and hide just in case someone starts trying to stomp them in the face. It is the visceral anger of someone who has been hurt and is responding by trying to deck you in the face because you’re the closest person and they have to hurt somebody.

The great golden wyrm comes crashing through the trees, tearing them up by the roots and flinging them off towards the horizon, or snapping them in half and stopping to stamp on them, dragging her stomach and throwing herself forward and generally, horribly, acting like little baby Jessamine throwing a tantrum over not wanting to go to bed in a body that could crush you like a bug on accident.

Her huge, molten eyes look without seeing towards you, and then you see them focus sharply, almost vibrating out of her skull with the effort.

+HSJAUQGAHAHGyou+

The tree is incinerated instantly. Rita lies on top of you, whimpering, holding you so tight that she’ll end up killing you if you don’t move you and her. Because the dragon isn’t stopping at burning a tree and you can see her raising a huge claw to flatten you both like pancakes.

[Thanqol]

A wildwoman staggered listlessly into town.

So it turned out that saliva kind of crystallized when it dried? Like, even though it wasn't wet there was still a layer of invisible gunk all over the upper half of her body that made her smell bad and had matted her once-pretty hair into a tangled, hideous birdsnest. Her eyes were watering because she had smelled a flower that had turned out to be horrible poison, just like everything else. Like the bees! Bees were poison! What was that about!? And leaves! She'd just walked through some leaves and they had been poison and now her skin was burning! How did anyone live in this jungle hellscape!? Maybe the dragon had the right idea burning it down into a nice nonvenomous desert! No... no that was mean. And pointless. Because sand was just as bad as poison! Bells and chime, it was everywhere! How was it sticking to her like this!? Was human skin made of glue!?

She tried not to think about what was going on with her feet. She tried not to think about the price they had paid to get her away from the pigs a second time. She really, really tried not to think about the fact that she had to cross a cow pasture on the way over to the town. One of the advantages of being a human was supposed to be that people wouldn't uneasily back away any more but she wasn't getting that. "What more do you want, people!" she let out in exasperation when parents started to pull their children away from her.

She took a deep breath. Put her hands on her hips, puffed her chest out to give herself confidence. Right. Enough of that, Adila. This was your wish. This is your dream. This is, in fact, the happiest day of your life, and it'll all be worth it when you beat up that dragon and prove what a great princess you are without causing any collateral damage. You've got this!

What are your opinions on the circus, Adila? What sorts of shows performed regularly in the Bazaar? And, be honest: what are your opinions on clowns?

Adila is an aficionado of the arts. The greatest circuses, most elite acrobats, and the most beautiful operatic singers come the world over to perform in the Bazaar. Illuminan lightspinners would perform dazzling feats, ascending ethereal staircases of light and duelling in the heavens, Jedadi firedancers would seem to rip open the gates of hell without the fire so much as touching them... The circus was a place for the most graceful, magnificent demonstrations of human talent. Clowns were poets, acrobats, and philosophers - inspired souls who knew instinctively how to accentuate any performance with the perfect application of comedy.

And now she was a human all that was finally within her reach!

Right, Adila! This is your next opportunity to be a perfect Princess! You're going to go into there, just like Alina would! You're going to be kind to children, you're going to perform miracles with light that nobody has ever seen before, you're going to dance and take everybody's breath away! Everything you've always dreamed of! When you do that then the couple of bumps and scrapes from earlier will seem like nothing! And then after that you'll defeat the dragon! Nothing is in your way!

[Anarion]

“Oh no!” Dandy pulls the stagecoach to a stop and hurriedly gets down to where you have bounced, several yards down. “Kazelia! Oh cold snap, are you okay?”

Was that a new nickname for her? Was the first thought as Kazelia goes tumbling from the impact, falling into a trained roll and skidding to a dusty stop along the road. Everything hurts, especially her shoulder which looks entirely too far into unreality and Kazelia would like nothing more than to pull her cloak about her and go to sleep for a nice long while. She can't though, she is running from Dreska...Eskagon? Well she's running and it's a big deal.

To her credit, she does have battlefield training and the presence of mind to speak calmly in a crisis, even through pain. "Help me up! We need to run!" is the first thing. Directions for what to do, trying to move toward the stage coach as quickly as possible. "My sister is here, she's turned into a dragon. I think it's connected to Adila somehow. We need to get out of here and buy some time!" Then information while she's moving and a repeat of what needs doing. Rider military training kicking in when everything feels awful. It's the best she's got, and it's a struggle to get it out with her current state. She clutches her third of a spear. It could be mended, it might still cut, but it was no weapon to fight a dragon, and this was no dragon to fight.

A smile plays at the corner of her mouth though. She had seen Eska come at her without Diana or Theodora in tow. And she had helped them escape. That was good. Maybe they'd come back for her later. Getting to Hecatia seemed by far the safest place here.

[PhoeKun]

...Oh, right. Dragon. Wait, dragon? Here? Now?!? Oh stars and little lights, how unlucky could a girl get? Wherever the others were right now, Alina was positive none of them were having a worse day than her.

There's very few things that are scarier for a princess in Hyperborea than an angry dragon. The stories all agreed that if anything was ever going to beat you up and carry you off to dress you up in silly costumes, it would be a dragon. Which is why Adila was such a breath of fresh air: she was genuinely so-- ALINA CASCADE WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DAYDREAM! Run, girl! Run or be barbecue! Oh rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, why are you not running?

Alina does what any dignified girl would do in her situation: she screams her little head off. No part of her scans her foe for weaknesses, patterns, or familiarities: if she's lucky something will click for her later. Much later. Ideally around dinner time when she's trying to sweet talk Diana Kingfisher and there have been zero angry dragons around her for at least six hours. It doesn't even occur to her that she doesn't have her lights right now, except insomuch as a grappling hook would be kind of nice right now. She just screams, and struggles to her feet under the weight of one (1) terrified, clingy best friend, who she shifts as best she can into the aptly named princess-carry, so named because -- no no, stop that, story time is later. Running is happening.

Goodness, does she book it! Her feet may be rocking horrible death spikes that hurt just to look at, and she may be lacking dragonfire infused strength right now (gosh, that'd be handy right now, wouldn't it?), but her gait has lost none of her deer-like leap. Did you know a girl could run so fast in heels? And this with hardly any practice! For her next trick, she'll aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh gonna die gonna die gonna die mommy help me start kicking her way up the trees and try to get herself good and lost in the foliage before it's incinerated. As cover it's about as good as kindling, but dragon eyes are sharp as knives, so something physically in the way was better for her than, say, a magically induced darkness spell. Up, away, hop hop hop! She chances the ground again for more speed and runs until she can't anymore. And after that? Without looking back, she runs some more.

She never drops Rita. Never so much as jostles her. It's only now, some mystery amount of time later that feels like eternity but was probably less than five minutes, that she delicately falls onto her knees (barely avoiding scraping up her... erm, nice new skirt) and gasps for air.

"Is... it... gone?" she huffs

Actually, here's a better question: where the heck is she right now?

[Get Away! 2d6+2 = 11. Alina reaches "away" quietly, drawing no attention, and brings her bff along for the ride]

[Raz_Fox]

Adila!

“He’s behind you!!”

“What?” Alina says, her hands fluttering to her pale face, flapping helplessly. “He’s here?” She looks to her right, as the children yell that, no, Oberon’s tiptoeing on her left. She looks to the left, and Oberon sneakily tiptoes to her right.

“I can’t believe you’d prank me like that,” she chides the children, as Oberon picks up his club and warms up with some practice swings. “A princess always tells the truth. And you all want to be perfect princesses when you grow up, don’t you?” Alina serenely pulls out a balloon, blows it up, and twists it into the shape of a flower, even as Oberon looms over her. Oberon swings, the children shriek... and Alina bends down to hand the balloon flower to one of the children. Oberon spins around in circles as the kids cackle gleefully, eventually falling flat on his face. wahh-wahh-waaaaaahh, goes the trombone.

Alina skips happily off stage right, singing about marigolds and dandelions, and Oberon pulls himself up and shakes his fist at the children, who boo and hiss and stick their tongues out at him. “You’d better not help her next time,” he says, pouting. “I want her lights, and I always get what I want!” He stomps off, his platform boots clacking meanly.

Next up on the stage of the Carnival of Rushing Waters is the ringmaster, looking fine in a long silk coat the color of autumn leaves, and a tall hat garlanded in river lilies. “Up next,” she says, grandly, “all the way from the bottom of the world, we have Mighty Mountain Michelle!”

Michelle comes out and flexes her muscles, wearing a paper mask and shabby black clothing and fishnets. Those aren’t the impressive thing, though. The impressive thing is the sight of her thighs. Your little heart might just flutter a little, Adila.

“Now, who dares arm-wrestle a Devil? How about...” The ringmaster looks over the crowd, and then points at... you!

I mean, it’s not hard, given the glowing silver arrows pointing at you. This is gonna be your big shot! Your debut! Your....... wow her arms are big up close. Why are thoughts of being picked up coming to mind?

Go ahead! Overcome this challenge! Be the best princess ever!

***

Kazelia!

So, here’s the problem: Eska’s taken to the skies, where she has a huge advantage, having wings that you do not, and also horrifically precise exploding blue fireballs that make a small sonic boom every time they hit a target. You do have something of an advantage in that you have tree cover, but you’re stuck on a thin track and Dandy can only coax branches into the way so many times. Plus, you’re getting covered in burning splinters and shrapnel.

Down in the coach proper, Cleo is screaming for answers about what’s going on up there.

Go ahead and do your very best to try to Get Away! If you’re very, very lucky, you might even not be bringing a dragon to the next sleepy little village you come to!

***

Alina!

You’re overlooking a sleepy little hamlet out in the Felorian countryside. If you listen carefully, you can hear... Iluminan circus music? Oh, you could almost laugh! Out of the terrible destruction and almost getting killed and nearly wetting yourself out of sheer terror, and into a bright, happy circus!

Rita is cat. Cat is easier to carry. Cat is less likely to drag you down to your death. Cat has hooked all her claws in your dress and is delicately trying to get untangled. Cat is hyperventilating.

“Everybody in Feloria needs to evacuate,” she pants, wide-eyed and squeaky with terror. “Nobody’s safe.”

That dragon needs to be stopped. And— oh thank goodness, you can see Adila swooping off in the distance. That’s Adila, right? Her fire looks a little weird, but it’s totally Adila.

Everyone’s gonna get back together! You can rejoin your friends and tell them nothing about your secret mission from Oberon!

Everything will be fine. Probably.

[Anarion]

So, here’s the problem: Eska’s taken to the skies, where she has a huge advantage, having wings that you do not, and also horrifically precise exploding blue fireballs that make a small sonic boom every time they hit a target. You do have something of an advantage in that you have tree cover, but you’re stuck on a thin track and Dandy can only coax branches into the way so many times. Plus, you’re getting covered in burning splinters and shrapnel.

Down in the coach proper, Cleo is screaming for answers about what’s going on up there.

Go ahead and do your very best to try to Get Away! If you’re very, very lucky, you might even not be bringing a dragon to the next sleepy little village you come to!

Kazelia has always been a person with a lot of ways to go in and not a lot of ways to get out. She strikes lightning fast, she commits with fury and magic. Her solution to getting away has always been "there's nobody left to fight" and her powers are at their best when she's using them offensively. When things are going poorly, her plan B is to pick her engages more carefully and look for advantages. But if she needs to really run away, well that's not in the playbook and she does it poorly. It's the time that all the Rider things seem to get in the way. Leaving a trail of cold to be tracked, moving off balance, unintentionally making slick surfaces.

Even here, where there's a coach and mounts, Kazelia just doesn't know what to do. Should she try to make the road slicker? Or would that just throw the coach off during a turn? Throw up ice to block the dragon breath? What if the ice shards that are sent flying cut the ropes or jam the wheels? Conjure a wind to push Eska away from them? But then what if that plus her weight at the top tips the coach over?

She's got to try something though, some way to make some distance. But, whatever it is, she chooses wrong.
[Grace with despair. 4, 2, 2 -1=3.]

[PhoeKun]

"How can this be happening?" Alina half wheezes, half sobs.

She already knows the answer, of course. It's happening because Oberon is the kind of evil nobody in Hyperborea is prepared for, the kind it's never had to deal with. He makes plans, and then he smashes over his own plans with other, bigger plans so that nobody's even sure how much of this even is planned, then dance over the ashes and claim victory. What's going to be left for him to have when he's finished breaking everything? Ourania will never marry him. She... she just can't.

But what can she do? She just has to hope that finding Diana will be enough to make all of this go away. She could practice knife tossing for the rest of her life and not be a threat to an angry, grown up dragon. Rita was right: she needs her friends. Her heart leaps when she looks in the sky and sees Adila, and then it suddenly shrinks into her chest and beats fresh panic into her blood. But why? What could be wrong over there?

"You're right. We have to warn people. We have to... do something. L-let's try and find the others. Maybe they'll have a plan. I think they're over this way..."

This is so far above her it's going to swallow her deeper than ten dragons tied together. It doesn't matter if her heart is screaming caution, she needs Adila's strength. She needs Kazelia's lance, Dandy's forthrightness and calming energy. That'll settle Rita down enough to get her going too, and then Alina can... stand in the back and supervise? She swallows her fear and heads toward the place she thought she saw her friend on much too wobbly legs. Be brave, Alina. Be brave.

[Thanqol]

Adila!

Michelle comes out and flexes her muscles, wearing a paper mask and shabby black clothing and fishnets. Those aren’t the impressive thing, though. The impressive thing is the sight of her thighs. Your little heart might just flutter a little, Adila.

“Now, who dares arm-wrestle a Devil? How about...” The ringmaster looks over the crowd, and then points at... you!

I mean, it’s not hard, given the glowing silver arrows pointing at you. This is gonna be your big shot! Your debut! Your....... wow her arms are big up close. Why are thoughts of being picked up coming to mind?

Go ahead! Overcome this challenge! Be the best princess ever!

Princess Adila is one hundred percent confident. She has done a lot of arm wrestling in her time and she knows the trick: the trick is to stop them from trying the trick with the wrist so that they don't hurt themselves when they lose, the poor dears. But this time she's going to wow she's actually kind of big up close but uh... don't be fooled! It's not like this is a real devil! And it's not even like it's a real devil princess! This is just an ordinary, non-princess person who happens to be tall and buff and bells and chime she is turning into Alina.

Focus, Adila. You've got this.

All she needs to do is - oh. Oh, this hand is solid. Working. And immobile. Maybe with a little - no that didn't work. Haha! Of course! She didn't need to hold back any more, she could go all out! ... O-okay, uhm, what if she tried the trick with the wrist? Oh clocks she shouldn't have done that, ow her wrist. You c-can't give up now though Adila! You've got a dragon to defeat next and this farm girl was nothing... in... comparison!

Ordinarily using two hands was a disqualifying move in an arm wrestle. So, for that matter, was standing up and putting the whole weight of your body directly into the push. Standing up slowly and lifting your opponent above the ground with one hand while waving to the crowd with the other was considered technically legal but disrespectful, but the crowd seemed to let it slide.