Fen watched the other with an inquisitive tilt of her head, listening wisely to the sage advice Bao seemed to have given her.

Listen to her body. Don’t hide away her strengths.

Fen could do that.

The Princess smiled, nodding along to the other woman’s words. Perhaps it was a perspective that the Princess had never considered. Her whole life was designed around expectation and tradition, and while they each had their time and place, what of Fen’s other strengths? The ones she kept hidden beneath her flesh and tucked into the shadows so that others could not see?

Maybe it was time to let those other sides of her out.

Her attention returned toward Bao as she pulled herself away from the train of her thoughts and focused on the present moment. Her tail seemed to sway in the wind, a wag accompanied along the white-furred woman’s words. Then let us race! She said excitedly.

Fen instantly mimicked what she had seen Bao do before, stretch her legs out as she readied her body, her mind, for their race. And with a playful glint harboring in her emerald stare, Fen smiled: On your mark then.