It was late evening before it was finally cool enough to hang around outside. The sun had set, Sacramento was cloak in a dying light. You could barely even see the smoke from all the wildfires. Ah, California in summer.

Sonnie Wu sat on the ledge of the roof of her apartment building. Several stories below, cars and pedestrians went to and fro along the streets of the city's Chinatown (such as it was). She had an open soda can and a bag of M&Ms beside her. Her dog, Fugly, was curled up and napping behind her.

The Beast watched the people scurrying about below her as her thoughts ran rampant. The past couple of weeks had been.... interesting.

Two major battles, she had participated in. One against a pack of Briarwolves. Another against Iron Meg and her cronies.

Both were lethal encounters. While she had been victorious in both fights, the freehold had come very close to losing people each time. Seraphina and Anatole. Both had survived, but barely.

Sera, more than Anatole, worried her. She had nothing against the Dwarf, but the Nix was her friend and her Queen. As Claviger, Sera's safety was Sonnie's responsibility. A Briarwolf had nearly caused her to fail in her duty, clawing the Emerald Sovereign to shreds. Thankfully, Spring Court magic had saved Sera's life and restored her to full health.

Sonnie reminded herself to get Doctor Titania a cake or something.

For all the terror and bloodshed that battle brought, there was something else that the Monkey was feeling.

Excitement.

Fighting was a rush! The adrenaline, the pounding heartbeat, the focus on a razor's edge. Sonnie liked fighting. It was fun! She got a thrill out of the risk and the physical exertion.

She didn't want to hurt people, though. There was no anger or vengeance in her. No bloodlust. Leave that attitude to the Summer Court or more predatory Beasts. No, for Sonnie, combat was an art form. A dance she knew the steps to by instinct. Skills she had honed through endless hours of training and practice were put to the test and found worthy.

The Steepscrambler was proud of her accomplishments. The world was better off without those Briarwolves, and Iron Meg. She'd helped to do some good.

However, she needed to get better. Sonnie was good, but she wasn't great. Not yet. More training was needed. Stronger magic. She had to improve, not just for her own sense of strength, but to better protect those she cared about.

The Spring Courtier picked up her Diet Coke can and down the remnants.

"Back to the dojo tomorrow, eh, Fugly?" she smirked and looked over her shoulder at her dog. The pooch perked an ear, but otherwise didn't move. "Ah, sorry, Keep napping." Sonnie chuckled and crumpled the empty can before tossing it.

Only to remember a second too late she was on the roof and she had just thrown the can towards the street, five stories below.

"Oops..." Grabbing her bag of candy, the Beast scampered back from the ledge, hopefully before anyone saw her. Coughing out of sight, she wondered if the can would miss.

"What the fuck!?" came a unknown and distant voice far below.

Cringing, Sonnie grabbed her dog and slunk back indoors.