Anwei smiled at Kaya, her eyes wide and glowing as bright as the pearls in her own hair. "You look gorgeous, like - oh, like a mythic water-spirit or something. You should definitely have some pictures taken!"

She stood behind Kaya on tip-toe, so that her braids radiated around the blue wave of hair, and declared, "Look, it's sunrise over the ocean!"

She stepped back, not wanting to risk her hair toppling at that critical moment. "Everything that can be done is over-done, there. Hairstyles higher and higher, face and body paint you changed every hour, jewelry you wore or that floated around you or that you set under your skin, clothes like wearing an entire closet at once (that were still shockingly immodest). But it was too much competition for me, and not enough just having fun."