Princess Kamiko

Sevir looked around, listening as far out as he could. The birds were louder than before, but they weren’t close. The mini-hurricane and the mewling cat were gone. Headmaster Wama’s footsteps were far out in front of him as the man walked off with a fainted highborn in his arms. He paused and pulled out the orb he had been clutching all this while. Far off, two women were whispering, coming from the headmaster's direction. He could hear them talking but could not make out the words.

Sevir looked around again. The clear crystal surface reflected the green canopy above him. Once the footsteps faded even to his ears, and the gossipping whispers were not moving at a fast pace, he concentrated on the warmth of his hand like holding a warm cup of coffee.

Little by little, his fingers glowed like cinders. A fire erupted from under his skin and engulfed the orb. But the cinder-like glow did not stop. The pattern climbed up his wrist, up his veins. His blood felt warm, almost bubbling. It had never happened before. Sevir jerked his hand instinctively. The fire touched a falling leaf, and ash touched the ground. Surprised, he stopped and looked at the cinder-like pattern that reached his elbow as if it had a mind of its own.

Sevir closed his fist; the orb swallowed up all the fire from him. He concentrated on his fist and willed the fire to back down. It did. As little by little it had come, it went back. The fiery pattern of his vein turned black before it cooled down enough to resemble warm red skin.

He looked around again, listening to Headmaster Wama talk to someone, far enough for the words to be just whispers. He lifted the orb to his eye, “RuIng?”

“Not right now. Keep the orb close. I will find you when I am alone.” Sevir didn’t see anything, but RuIng’s words poured out of the orb’s darkness, and then it was back to the usual reflection of the green canopy. The women were still gossiping, their murmurs loud and incoherent, but they weren’t using words. They were making whispering sounds, coming towards him fast.

Sevir looked up. He clutched the orb harder, preparing to do whatever it took to keep the ball from being discovered. Sure enough, there were two women between the trees, walking over, still talking, but their eyes rested on him with a small smile. They were coming to him, for him.

When their eyes met, the women dropped the pretense of conversation. There were two of them in stark contrasts. The petite of the two had a severe expression, with no warmth in her smile, while the big stocky woman had a beautiful warm smile.

“Headmaster Wama said you couldn’t control it. It doesn’t look like it,” said the one on the right with a tall and wide build.

“Who are you?” Sevir asked. Headmaster Wama’s footsteps were gone, and the cat had started mewling again.

“This is Princess Kamiko,” the stocky one pointed to her companion. The short, petite sharp-eyed woman was a princess. Since he wasn’t familiar with the name, he stood still, unsure what to do. Did he have to bow?

“You don’t recognize us because we are new here,” said Princess Kamiko’s companion. Sevir still had no idea what to do. It felt a little too late to bow now that the conversation continued.

“Do you want something?” He asked instead.

“To cooperate.”

“Apologies. I prefer being alone.” Sevir spoke carefully and turned away, ready to hurry now, looking at another path through the trees. He heard a faint rustle of clothes followed by a cracked voice.

“I can tell you more about your mother’s beast.” The princess spoke up urgently. Sevir could tell her throat was dry from nervousness. He turned around. she looked steady and passive agressive but her cracked voice gave her away.

“What do you want?” he asked the princess, trying not to sound urgent.

“As we said, to cooperate.” The other woman kept answering for the royal highborn, so he turned to her.

“For what?”

“For starters, I want to know everything you know about what happened at the lake, about the highborn.” Sevir realized that the woman must have seen the Headmaster Wama carrying the white-haired guy. He looked at the women carefully. In their own sense, both were beautiful. He didn’t have to think far to guess their interest in the white-haired highborn. However, he didn't have time to fan the fancy of some princess and her crush. He needed to get back urgently and confirm with RuIng their were both safe and sound. He looked about and closed his eyes for a moment.

“How do I know I can trust your information? How do you know you can trust mine?” Headmaster Wama had clearly talked to some about his fire and progress which was surprising but those words to reach highborn ears meant that either Headmaster Wama had hypocritically fed them the information while keeping him away. He shook himself internally. RuIng trusted Headmaster Wama. The man must have been protecting RuIng by being a shield. If so, why didn't they tell these things to headmaster Wama instead of offering it to him. A thousand questions were running through his mind. He wanted to ask. However, he didn't utter a word. The intentions of these woman might be as simple as inquiring after a man they liked but the people they were connected to weren't so simple.

The women looked at each other, at a loss for his question, discussing their options with eyes. The princess turned to him, arms folded and eyes narrowed. She asked, “What do you want us to do?”

“Don’t tell anyone about the fire control, not even Headmaster Wama.” Sevir's request actually had no weight, he just wanted to see if the middle party was reliable. Moreover he didn't want any gossip spreading around. The women nodded their heads readily, no more at a higher ground. Sevir looked between the two. The smaller one leaned into the bigger one, angled forward, a protective stance.

He tried not to smile as he asked, “why do you want to know about that highborn?”

The stocky woman narrowed her eyes, and the princess eyed the big woman for an answer, “That’s a personal matter.”

He didn’t have to ask further, looking at the taller woman’s red-tinted temples and shaky eyes. He nodded started walking again. With his back to the woman, h trained his ears on their movement and erubbed the crystal under the cloak. Sevir needed to talk to Hongli before talking to these women. He could only hope that RuIng wasn’t in any trouble.

“Don’t you want to know about your mother?” the small woman's deep voice mixed with puzzling tone was far from the upright mannerisms of the stocky woman. He rolled his eyes and kept walking. He wanted to know, but he doubted anyone his age could tell him more he had learned from RuIng.

“She was a friend of our father’s before she moved to the south. Then she came back to the East after leaving the south.”

The stocky woman’s words paused Sevir. His heart rose and he gritted his teeth. He wasn't ready to have information flung at him but he couldn't tell them that. He asked, “Who else was with her?”

“Her husband. Another pair.”

“Apart from her, who else had a fire ability?” He changed the question.

“None of them.”

Sevir’s heart faltered, and he hurried off, unwilling to listen to more. Reluctant to ask for more. A lot had happened today, and he needed to talk to RuIng before he did anything or spoke to anyone.

He had reached far enough for the women’s breath to die away in the forest sounds.

“Do you think he knows anything about Qinglong?” the heavy voice asked. They were waiting for him to be far out of hearing range too.

“I doubt it. He didn’t seem interested in politics and didn’t recognize you.” The petite woman replied and confirmed his suspicions, but he didn’t stop to listen more.