Aston had to show me the way again, this time to the prince’s room. Apparently, he would be having a lesson right now. I paused at a window and realized that it was only about mid-morning. Well, I had slept in the library and only for a bit. Yeah, I really need to establish some healthy routines.

“Shouldn’t I wait until his lesson is finished?”

“Almost his whole day is taken up with lessons, or cultivation,” Aston explained patiently. “The Prince is a diligent young man. And none of his tutors would object.”

“Okay, understood. I guess the Empress has high standards …” Unless the Empress just leaves it to teachers.

I frowned to myself. Calling her by her title felt weird since she was supposed to be my mother. Should I just call her Acura? No, that feels weird and … disrespectful. Hmm, okay. I’ll just use the Imperial Common word for ‘mother’.

Far too soon, we arrived at the door. I could sense several presences of mixed strength within. Before I could even take a deep breath, Aston knocked loudly, then opened the door without waiting for a response. He preceded me into the room and took position beside the doorway.

As I entered, I took in the scene. The room looked a lot like mine, with the same kind of furniture and decorations. The desk held a central position, and currently bore several textbooks and sheets of paper. Three soldiers or servants guarded the room, I wasn’t sure exactly, and a distinguished-looking older woman, probably in the fourth stage, sat at the desk with the boy.

When I entered, everyone rose to their feet or snapped to attention. Alaster half-bowed, and everyone else gave a deeper bow. The boy had light-brown hair and blue eyes that would make him a heartthrob in a few years. Actually, he was one of the lightest-skinned people I’d seen in the palace, besides myself.

I nodded at the room. After a moment of hesitation, I said, “Hello, Alaster.”

He didn’t try to hide his inspection of me, and frowned a bit. “So, they were right.”

What’s that about? I walked closer and glanced at the spectators. “Maybe we should talk privately.”

Alaster nodded and made a shooing motion at the adults. “Come on, I’m sure Elder Sister is more than enough to watch me.”

They bowed and shuffled out. Aston looked to me, and when I gave him a nod, he withdrew as well.

“You know about my soul journey, I suppose?”

The boy snorted. “Hard not to. Do you … do you really not remember anything?”

I wasn’t an expert in children, but I could tell he was trying to hide his feelings. It must be like losing his sister, I belatedly realized.

“Oh, I remember plenty of things,” I said and smiled as brightly as possible. “Lots of fun ideas from Earth, you’ll love them. And I do remember things from here, too. We wouldn’t be able to talk otherwise. I don’t have any explicit memories of you, but I think I still have the feelings.”

“Don’t treat me like a little kid, Nari.” He glared at me. “You’re not that much older. Actually, you probably don’t know that, but Mother only declared you an adult when you started your soul journey.”

I shrugged. “That’s good to know.” And apparently, I had a nickname.

Alaster sat down again, so I took a place on an armchair opposite from him.

He looked at me again and smirked. “Well, if that’s the price, I can wait. You really dampened my enthusiasm, you know. I hope I won’t come back with my brain full of holes.”

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I had to chuckle at that. “You’re a cheeky little bastard, aren’t you?”

After a moment, his smirk faded and he gave a real grin. “I try. I had a good role model.”

I returned his smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I am older, though. I’m twenty-two, you know.”

“No, you’re not. You only turned eighteen a few months ago. If you were twenty-two, your cultivation would be so low you couldn’t show your face in the palace.”

I leaned back and put my head on my hand, getting comfortable. “I don’t buy that. They told me it was high.”

“You haven’t quite reached the late part of the third stage, Nari,” Alaster declared. “That’s good, sure, but it’s not outstanding for a genius. Mother was almost at the peak of the third stage when she was your age.”

I shrugged. I already knew Mother was considered one of the top geniuses of the last few centuries, so that objectively wasn’t bad. It did still sting a little, but I tried not to show that. “And where are you at, you little know-it-all?”

“I’m almost at the third stage,” he stated proudly, then deflated a bit. “It’ll only take a few more months. But Teacher Ling says I have remarkable talent for the combat arts! And I’ll get my genius’ memory soon.”

“I’m sure you will,” I said, for once trying to sound sincerely reassuring. I still didn’t quite know what to think of the perfect memory for geniuses, but from the sound of it I’d get an interesting demonstration.

It really seemed like I got on well with little Alaster, which was nice. I’d far rather have a good relationship with my siblings than a rivalry, if nothing else because those could be deadly in cultivation stories. And my siblings would make for valuable allies. So long as they didn’t try to scheme for my position, which was another reason a close bond would be good.

“Have you seen little An yet?” he wanted to know. “She’s been asking about you. It’s probably a good thing she doesn’t really know what a soul journey is yet.”

“No, but I’ll visit her soon,” I promised. So, good relationship between the two of them, too.

Alaster seemed precocious, which didn’t surprise me considering his family and the quality of education he must be getting. I was a little more unsure about meeting an eight-year-old, but that was no excuse. And I felt curious, too.

“Just do it before you attempt a breakthrough. That could take a while, knowing you, and I don’t think she wants to see you in the healers’ wing.”

I shook my head. “You really are a cheeky little – “ I paused as something occurred to me. “Wait, actually, are we bastards?”

“I suppose so?” He scratched his cheek. “But we aren’t just normal nobility. This is the Leri clan and our Mother is Empress. It’s her prerogative to marry as many people as she wants, take as many concubines as she wants, and have as many children as she wants. No one cares with whom, unless it affects our strength.”

I guess that’s that. And the society can’t be sexually repressed if a twelve-year-old lectures me on this topic. Although I think he’s optimistic saying no one cares.

I hesitated for a bit, but Alaster was probably mature enough that I could talk about this. “Who is your father, or mine? I didn’t read anything about it.”

“There wouldn’t be anything to read.” He shrugged, frowning. “No one’s officially recorded, because Mother hasn’t said.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that normal?”

“Sure. No father is recorded for her, too. Although there are rumors.” He twirled a bit of hair around his finger. “I’m pretty sure Carston is ours. Though not Xiaodan’s.”

“Carston?”

“Yes. He was Mother’s closest consort for years. They loved each other, I heard.” He shrugged again, but I could see his grimace. “Not anymore, though. They had some falling out when I was little. He’s … left.”

I wanted to press more, but seeing how Alaster clearly didn’t like the topic, I decided to drop it. I could ask other people later. “Well, thanks for telling me. I assume you have private tutors?”

“Of course.”

And he clearly didn’t want to get back to his lessons just yet, and was using me as an excuse not to call them back in. But I didn’t mind.

For the next hour, we talked. About his lessons, his teachers, servants. About nobles and the palace, and about the culture. I regaled him with stories from Earth, both my own experiences and from novels or movies.

“You’re just making this up,” he accused me at one point. Then he switched to English. “I don’t care about the political situation, no one would just ignore that their world is dying.”

“Oh, if only you knew.” I shook my head.

We continued talking for a bit. His English was actually great, a little halting but he spoke without an accent. So Mother must have taught all of them her language. Interesting.

Finally, I sighed and glanced to the door. “I think your people are getting impatient. Time for me to let you get back to your lessons.”

“Oh, come on …,” he pouted.

I stood up and tried to ruffle his hair, but he rose in a flash and dodged. “It was good to meet you, Alaster.”

He looked at me for a moment and nodded. “When we’re in private, you call me Al.”

I smiled. “Of course, Al. See you around.”

Then I sent out a pulse of qi to let Aston know they could come back in, and started for the door. Before leaving, I turned and looked back one last time. Yes, this should work out nicely.