Kouyou

Kouyou is revered throughout The Crystal Highlands of Armaria for their profoundly wise gaze, a look they most often use when trying to remember where they left their snacks. They joined Yuki’s trek into the frozen peaks not for glory, but because they heard the mountain echoes made one's snoring sound “majestically operatic.” While Yuki pores over maps and tracks monstrous footprints, Kouyou spends their time cataloging the funniest-shaped icicles and trying to teach mountain goats to harmonize. Their feather cape, they claim, is for “maximum thermal efficiency,” though Yuki has seen them use it as a bib more than once. Yesterday, Yuki pointed to a fearsome peak, speaking of the ancient power slumbering within. Kouyou just nodded, beard twitching. “Do you think,” they asked, “if we get high enough, we could poke a hole in the sky?” Yuki did not answer; they just kept walking.