Xiao-ping walked through the library until he found a boot that was tucked in the corner and perfectly hidden away from view, he sat in the corner and flipped through the book until he found the page he was on. He sat back pulling a pillow to him before he begun reading, enjoying the silence that went along with it. Here in this boot no one would be able to see him and even if someone knew of the boot most of the people in the temple often opted to sit in the middle of front of the library.

His eyes roamed over the page and he soon found himself smiling at the pages, it was the story of a young pirate that sailed all over the world and took what he wanted from where ever he wanted with no one to stop him and anyone who did often met a swift end. Xiao knew it was silly for him to be ready a story such as this but he found it interesting and it brought him a form of relaxation that he enjoyed slipping into after a day filled with classes taught by his rigid private teacher.

And something about the books that he enjoyed most were when they described the people, they were never found with long pointed fur covered ears like his mothers, or round ones, or long wiry tails that would whip back and forth in anger. Instead when they were described the people looked like him, soft pale skin, sometimes their skin was tan from all the time they spent in the sun, they had eyes like his often, blue, green or brown and sometimes if they had magic in their veins it would be silver or gold.

They never had a shred of fur, scales or feathers on their skin, their hair was just like his, often flowing long and in simple colors like black, brown and blonde if the person was old their hair would be white or grey. They couldn't run extremely fast or vanish from someone's view if they needed to be hidden. But they were strong and excelled in combat that they used to destroy their enemies, both the men and women had this trait sometimes even a child.

He could sit here for hours and imagine himself in the same situation, traveling to far of places and fighting for treasure or remaining in the village he had grown up in and defending it from evil beings that fought to destroy it. He could imagine himself attending these great schools and fighting for the top spot to end up in the position of his dreams. Or right now with this tail he could be a pirate who traveled many a sea just to feel the rush in his veins and enjoy the rush of breeze on his skin.

He smiled to himself as he read along the story, the boy had grown and was now a man, over his travels he had only fell in love once and after he had gained all the treasure he wanted and experienced all the adventure he could want and more he returned to where he had found his love. He found that the woman of his dreams had waited on him as she had promised and within a few days they held a simple white wedding, several months later they were blessed with their first child and they lived happily ever after.

He had no idea how long he had sat reading before he heard Boa's voice as she called for him, he got up from his seat taking the book with him and headed over to where she was still sitting at the desk with a different book on her lap. He looked at her questioningly and she pointed to the door where one of the maidens of the temple was waiting on him he headed over to her and she smiled up at him "your mother summons you to her office."

He nodded and moved to return the book before following her out of the wing and into the main hall, they walked until they were standing under his mother's office and the floor begun to raise. He gave no reaction to it except to place his hands behind his back, the maiden bowed her head and whispered a congratulations, just before an opening in the floor of his mother's office opened and the floor moved to take that open space.

He stepped off of it and watched as it went back down taking the maiden with it after she had bowed to the priestess, when he looked at his mother she smiled at him. "You were laying down somewhere Xiao-ping." he gave her a questioning look and she giggled "I know because the back of your hair is flattened, so where have you been this whole time, I'm just asking because the temple is a bit too quiet is all."

He walked over to where his mother was sitting, moving to her side and got on his knee, she returned his smile and started running her fingers through his hair "I was in the library reading a book that was filled with many old stories that spoke of people like me." He stated and his mothers hand stopped for a second before it continued and he rose up to watch her with a curious gaze. She put the smile back on her face and he arched a brow at her.

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"So what was some of these stories about?" she asked as she pointed to the chair across from her as a gesture for him to sit. Xiao gave his mother one questioning look before getting up and going to the chair. He dropped down in it and started to tell her about the stories, one was of a new mother who was with child and found herself in the middle of a war. She had to fight to protect her womb from people who were trying to kill her.

His mother laughed when he told her that the woman hefted up a giant double edged sword and tossed it at a giant ogre, knocking his head clean off. He started to tell her about the other stories and she laughed along with him even throwing her head back as she held her stomach in laughter. After all of that they slipped into a comfortable silence as his mother finished off on the last of her work, quickly flipping through each page and sighing at an unbelievable speed.

When she was finally finished, she piled all the papers into one stack and hefted them up dropping them into the bottom draw of her desk before locking it. She tidied up her desk and then they both got up and left her office "okay so I need to make a few quick stops and then we must venture out into the market place so you and I can get a new set of robes, because unfortunately our tailor is home sick, so we must go to the store."

Xiao nodded and then proceeded to follow her as she made her way to the temple. She stopped to leave some notes for some of the temple maidens to study, then she went to the blessing pool and carried out an hour long ceremony to bless new born twin boys. Then she stopped to speak to a few people that were visiting the temple for whatever reason and Xiao was wondering why she didn't just call him from the library when she was actually ready to return to the chamber. He could've picked out and read at least halfway through a new book by now.

The priestess was talking to one of the people and glanced back to see and irritated look on his face as he stared off into space. She quickened the pace of the conversation and then excused herself taking Xiao's arm in hers before heading for the chambers. "I'm so sorry, but I didn't think all of that would take up much time, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again okay?" she asked looking to him and received a simple nod but was happy because she saw the irritated look recede from his face.

They made their way into the chambers and Xiao followed his mother to her room, he watched as she went to her closet and quickly flipped through her clothes before pulling out a long white cloak that had a mask attached to it. She quickly pulled it on and threw the hood and mask up so her hair and face was covered along with her ears that had dropped down so she could hide it in the cloak. They went to Xiao's room and pulled out a similar cloak except that it was a dark ocean blue.

She checked that she had her money pouch on her before they headed towards an exit for the chambers that instead of leading to the temple lead straight out into the town. Xioa closed in the door behind him and nodded to the guard that was there before they headed on their way. The Priestess locked her elbow in with Xiao's and then headed down the path, they didn't make any extra stops but went straight for the market section and into the tailors building.

They were a few other women standing around the shop with their children who were all going to be taking part in the coming of age ceremony that night. They went and took a seat and waited for the shop to be cleared out before going up to the counter, the Priestess looked around before throwing her hood off her head and removing her mask, causing the man to immediately bow to her. "What can I do for you today your grace?"

The Priestess signaled for the man to raise his head before smiling at him. " A week ago an order for twenty rolls of gold ling, twelve rolls of gold luo, twelve rolls of gold duan, twelve of black duan and twelve rolls of blue luo had came in, have they arrived as yet?" The man was quick to nod and step aside so he could raise up the counter for them to pass, he lowered it back when they were through and went through a door that lead to the back of the building.

He opened up one last door that lead into a large room that had shelf's running along the wall with boxes stacked on each, he climbed up a ladder going to one of the higher shelves. He pulled off a very large box off the top shelf and balanced it on his head before sliding down the ladder. The Priestess watched with interest as he carried the box and placed it on a table and picked up a steel tool and hammer to pop it open.

He smiled and pulled out the different types of silk for her to see and listed out everything that was in the box, she smiled when it was her exact order. "Okay now that you see everything is here my grace what would you liked to make and for when do you need it?"

She smiled at him "I need you to make a three layered gold robe for me for the ceremony and also use the gold and other two colors of silk to make another three layered robe for my son." The man's eyes widened and he looked down at the things before looking back at the Priestess "I will be happy to, it will be a tight squeeze but they should arrive at the temple an half an hour before the ceremony, is that okay?" the Priestess nodded and the man returned her gesture as he pulled out his measuring tape.