-"Why did you stop making Bear Cookies later?"
After finishing the account of Maiquan's sigh, Yu Xunge finally asked the question.
Maple Sugar sat at the top of the Cat's Ideal's mast, gazing into the distance along the River of Time. The wind blurred her voice. "Just think of it as me sobering up."
An answer that was hardly an answer.
Yu Xunge was about to return to the Captain's Quarters to keep writing when Maple Sugar's voice stopped her.
"My turn to ask you a question."
"Go ahead."
"Tell me, if Maiquan were still here now, would Bear Mud agree to let me bake more Autumn Bears into cookies?"
From what Yu Xunge knew of Maple Sugar, she definitely wasn't asking for peace of mind, much less to mock him from on high-for instance, by asking whether Bear Mud would regret not having let her make more cookies back then.
This was a question of whether to compromise with reality and kneel before fate.
For every race other than the Autumn Bears, becoming little cookies was merely a way out. But for the Autumn Bears, agreeing to let Maple Sugar turn more Autumn Bears into cookies... was no different from kneeling before their enemy.
And given Bear Mud's position and how much he valued the Autumn Bears, he would agree.
He would swallow all his blood and tears and agree to the plan.
"Thank goodness..."
Yu Xunge looked up in surprise at the figure high above her. That "thank goodness" had come from Maple Sugar.
Thank goodness for what? That she wouldn't have to see the Autumn Bears compromise, or that she wouldn't have to face such a heartbreaking moment? Maple Sugar would probably rather see Bear Mud charge at her in tears, intent on killing her, than see