She had put it off long enough.

Sonnie Wu's previous hedgespinning work had produced more defensive and utility items (and some fabulous outfits for coronation events). With so many dangers facing the freehold, however, she knew she was going to need more firepower.

So to speak.

Here she sat, in the heart of her own Hollow. With the Treehouse, the Beast no longer required the use of the Tavern. There was less chance she'd be interrupted here, too. Before her, displayed on the wooden floor, were a variety of items.

Primary was her old quarterstaff. The simple length of rattan wood had served her well for the last few years. Sonnie ran a loving hand over it, a little sad that she would be sacrificing it. With luck, it would become something more, and soon.

Then, there was the length of thorny vine, carefully harvested from the briars. The worn book on bojutsu. The printed images of Sun Wukong, wielding his trademark staff (some taken from classic Chinese art, others simply ripped from Devianart). On her smartphone, Sonnie had downloaded several videos, and now she set them to play on a loop.

The small screen started show training footage of staff fighting, martial artists demonstrating their spectacular skills with the ancient weapon. Other videos were clips from old kung fu flicks. The clonking sound of clashing wood began to fill the Hollow. With that, she started the hedgespinning.

Sonnie's fingers bled as she began winding the long vine around her staff. The thorns bit into the flesh of her hands, but she gritted her teeth and kept at it, making the wrapping as tight as possible. Her blood was also a part of this. Another sacrifice to the Wyrd, rubbed into the wooden shaft. The vine represented the strength of the Hedge, her blood a symbol of violence, for this would be a weapon of faerie power.

"Sun Wukong journeyed to the underwater kingdom of Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea. Wukong was in search of a mighty weapon, one that would match his great streangth and legendary skill," the Steepscrambler kept her voice steady and clear as she recited the centuries-old story. "The Monkey King tested every blade and cudgel in the royal armory, breaking many of them, but none met his standards!"

"It was then that the Dragon Queen, eager to be rid of the irreverent warrior, suggested to her husband, Let him have that old iron pillar! It only takes up space in our treasury! The Queen claimed that just a few days before, the pillar shed a heavenly light and was fated to come into Wukong's hands!" Sonnie chuckled as she imitated the Dragon Queen's spoiled voice, "Yu the Great once used this pillar to measure the great flood depths in ancient times!"

"The pillar was twenty feet high, as round as a barrel, and weighed eight tons! Ao Guang's wife assumed Wukong would never be able to lift it, much less wield it as a weapons. Yet, the immortal monkey was able to magically command the iron pillar to shrink down into the size of a quarterstaff! He could even reduce it further, to the size of a toothpick, and tuck it behind his ear!" The Monkey laughed, "He could even make it extend endlessly, reaching any distance!"

She grunted slightly as she tied off the vine, now secure to the staff. The Beast rose to her feet, and began to spin the vine-wrapped bo about herself, in a series of staff fighting katas. One-handed, two-handed, around and behind and overhead. She winced as bloody fingers gripped the weapon again and again. Faster and faster she spun it!

"Thus did Sun Wukong came to possess Ruyi Jingu Bang, the Compliant Golden Hooped Rod... or the As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel!"

Sonnie felt the Wyrd vibrate all around her, as the source of all fae power responded to her will and words. Fate was sealed into the length of wood in her hands. The videos had stopped. The book and pictures were gone, their essence pulled into the staff, along with the blood and vine.

She lowered her tired arms, and looked at the newly crafted hedgespun staff. The body was of smooth, laquered black wood, of a fae type she couldn't identify, and the ends were capped in gold. The caps had the faces of leering monkeys molded into the ends, and the shaft had long monkey tails carved into it, coiling their way down from each end, meeting in the middle. The carvings were as golden as the caps. The Claviger gave the weapon a few test swings, finding the balance to be even better than her original!

Grinning in excitement, she then engaged in the ultimate test. A flick of her wrist, and the six-foot staff shrunk down to a mere foot in length! It worked! She had modeled this fae weapon after then extendable metal staffs of the mortal world, and it's Mask would take that form! Easy enough to hide in a jacket or her bag! Another wrist gesture, and the staff returned to it's normal size!

Sonnie's Ruyi Jingu Bang could shrink just like the Monkey King's (albeit not to the same extent). Elated, the Beast danced around her Hollow with the magic staff.

"I am the Monkey Queen!"

She paused and looked at her thorn-slashed hands, "And the Monkey Queen needs band-aids! Owwie!"