On the other side of the thin wooden partition Estella sat bolt upright, making the voices from the men's side fade into indistinguishable consternation. "Wan Fu?" she demanded of Ayame, who blinked her eyes open and stared at Estella narrowly. "Wan Fu? After all I've done for that boy, his dream person is Wan Fu?"

Ayame sighed and slid out of the water and left the bath, leaving Estella alone. On the other side of the partition everything was quiet. "Wan Fu!" Estella said to herself, seizing a bottle of bath oil from the ledge. "I'll give you Wan Fu."

=====

"Uhuhuhuhuhhuhuhu~" wailed the pink-haired woman slumped dramatically over the bar.  "UhuhuhuhuHUUUUUUU~!"

Most of the other patrons had abruptly quitted the bar after the first five minutes of this. Anne, wringing her hands, bent over the ululating woman. "Excuse me, are you all right?"

"Uhuhuhuuhuhu bugger off huhuhuhuhuhu~"

Anne blinked and jerked herself straight upright in outrage. "Drag queen," she hissed under her breath. Estella flipped her off, and Anne stalked furiously into the back room, leaving Estella alone with the only man in the castle who would never leave the bar as long as there were free peanuts to be had.

"UhuhuhuHUHUHUHUUUUUUU~" Estella went back to wailing, after a quick glance over her shoulder at Wan Fu.

Now, Wan Fu prided himself on being able to eat through anything. Still, the noise was starting to put even the great Wan Fu off his food. When he was a child, his aunt had had a cringing yapping shivering snapping pom-dog for a pet. The pom-dog had hated everyone in the world except Wan Fu's aunt, and it had hated Wan Fu worst of all, positively quivering with anticipation every time something attached to Wan Fu had gotten close enough to be bitten. The sound that the woman at the bar was making put him in mind of the noise that pom-dog might have made if a horse had stepped on it and broken its spine.

"UHUHUHUHUHUHU," Estella said, giving up on the wailing part and yelling it over her shoulder at Wan Fu.

"Gods, woman or whatever you are," Wan Fu snapped, swallowing his last mouthful of peanuts and giving in. "Stop making that noise! What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, thank you for asking!" Estella cried, flinging herself off the barstool and onto the chair opposite Wan Fu. Wan Fu recoiled at the sudden motion--but was arrested at the sight of the second bowl of peanuts, which Estella had cleverly brought with her from the bar. "Great, kind sir, you see a beautiful young woman under a horrible curse!"

"No doubt," Wan Fu muttered, digging his fingers into the second bowl of peanuts and eyeing that face askance.

"My elder sister, a cruel and capricious woman, has stolen my youth and my beauty and forever chained me to her side!" Estella cried, burying her face in her crossed arms again and sparing Wan Fu the sight of her running mascara. "I am forced to do her bidding, even should it be demeaning and depraved!"

Wan Fu looked confused, thick brows drawing down. "Pornographic," Estella clarified after a glance at his face, and Wan Fu started to look interested despite himself.

"She's here at Budehuc even now, cleverly having used my stolen youth and beauty to disguise herself as my apprentice! I shudder to think what her evil plans for the rest of you may be, but I have no way to stop her! UHUHUHUHUHU..."

"Stop that," Wan Fu yelled over the din, putting both hands over his ears. "Your apprentice? You mean that little boy who's always hanging around staring at me?"

"Staring at you!" Estella cried dramatically, flinging her head up to stare at Wan Fu. "Then I may already be too late! Who knows what horrors she might have planned for you?"

The expression on Wan Fu's face wavered between interest and dismay. Estella reached forward and grabbed his hand, digging her painted nails into his wrist to keep him from pulling away. "There's a way to save yourself! Quickly, before it's too late, listen to me... the next time that you are alone you must grab her, and pin her to the floor--face down, mind you, or she might bewitch you with her eyes--and once she is subdued you must speak her true name! Then she will be forced to leave you alone!"

"Yeah?" Wan Fu's expression was getting on towards the 'dismay' end of the spectrum. "So... what's her true name, then?"

Estella glanced around, making sure they would not be overheard, then leaned forward over the table, giving Wan Fu the benefit of both leather-cupped barrels, so to speak. "Owha Tagoo Siam."

"Owha..." Wan Fu stopped.

"Tagoo," Estella prompted.

Wan Fu sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "Shuare," he said, tiredly.

"No, that's n..." Estella trailed off, then scowled. "You think you're so smart."