Another year, another event in Wintermute, another way to earn Lore. That's half the reason Mizu can be found in the dragon cavern in a mountain in Wintermute. The other reason trails her as she checks out the trees: Kai, her horse. Mizu rode her all the way, and both of them enjoyed it. Her cheeks still flush red from the cold, and snow melts and drips off Kai. They haven't been here long, haven't socialized much. After all, Mizu has to check out the forest.

The trees are so peculiar, so they will make particular swords. Mizu doesn't know which will wind up in which sword, but she knows they'll find some use. So she spends some Lore on an axe she didn't bring with her and cuts branches and some small trees down. It draws the attention of a dragon, Mizu ready to fight if necessary, who only lectures her about her unusual decision and approach to the decision trees and points out how her actions change other trees. It's… a way of talking that makes little sense to Mizu. She tolerates it, makes some appropriate noises, and feels her spoon. The Lore increases, and she continues to chop the wood into sizes she can carry back to her cabin.

The trees make their decisions, and she makes hers.

Though Mizu has little interest in learning mathematics, the racing of dragons above her head catches her attention and eventually leads her over toward an odd pair of dragons. She stays near the back of the crowd as they explain gathering various kinds of math. Mizu sees little connection to turning into a dragon to race across the sky, and they give no talk of consequences or costs or requirements for the honor. She stays in the area and watches group after group turn into dragons and race across. Some of them return, breathless and excited. No one mentions anything bad happening.

After half an hour or so, with Kai entrusted to the care of a summation spirit, Mizu steps up for a turn. She turns to the Star Child next to her and smirks. "I bet I can beat you across the sky."

If their forms are any indication, Mizu's slender blue shape with sharp wings looks fast. Her claws look deadly, and she feels ice within her chest. It churns cold and ready. She barely waits for the whistle before she shoots off and up and up.

"The trials are the fox spirit's wonts and wishes, the price of whatever people wish out of this place," Mizu answers, "Right or wrong matters little about what is unchangeable. As the elements remain themselves, the fox spirit will be true to itself."

She snorts at the declaration of the trials' necessity. They are a price, nothing more. Yet if the fox spirit or some other spirit wants to know their preferences, to use against them or to take them into account… that too is the price of remaining in Folkmore. Vergil, Kai, and a myriad of memories come to mind when Mizu thinks of Folkmore. She knows more than she did when she came. She could leave, but there is more to learn, and—

There is more to do while she learns it. So be it this trial. "As you wish," she waves to motion them ahead. Strangers appear before her, and Mizu does not know what they care. She turns to her partner. "Any preference?"

Let them speak first.

Mizu stands on the shore of Japan, a familiar fortress across the water. A voice booms in the sky, and whatever the ethics are meant to be, Mizu recognizes where she is: Fowler's castle. She's been here before, and the weather is exactly the same. The lantern. Her breath is cold in the night sky. The fox spirit wants her to run this memory again? So be it. She'll do better.

Except, she's not alone. Mizu frowns at the person next to her. They are the part she's less certain of. Is she expected to keep them alive? Can they keep themselves alive? She eyes them over in assessment. "Can you swim?"