When Tomo returned to the library he noticed Ming Jia Ying's face was beet red and carrying a scowl as Ku Wei barely contained his snickering. It was obvious that the mischievous prince had gotten the better of the young girl. Tomo couldn't help but think, -Maybe I shouldn't have made that bet with Charlatte. They are just children after all.-

Ku Wei noticed Tomo's return, jumped to his feet, and gave a deep bow, “Greetings master, welcome back. How did your conversation with the Emperor go?”

Fidgeting in her chair, Ming Jia Ying gave Tomo a quick glance before her flush turned an even darker shade of crimson. It seemed the girl had a surprisingly accurate idea of how the 'conversation' had gone while the prince remained blissfully unaware.

“There is no need for such formalities here Wei. This isn't your father's court.” Tomo took a seat at the table and motioned for Ku Wei to do the same. “I'm not your master. I am your teacher. I will give instruction and advice, but your decisions are your own. I'm here to guide, not control. A good teacher can learn a great deal from his pupils, so we are more akin to colleagues.”

“Should I call you grandfather then? Or perhaps great grandfather?” Ku Wei was bright and well versed in the history of the empire. During the last three days he had pieced together what his father had meant by calling Tomo 'Patriarch'. Emperor Ku Pa was known as a disciple of the The Academic and The Contender. After Ming Jia Ying confirmed that Tomo was The Academic, Ku Wei was convinced that the woman posing as Ku Pa was The Contender. From the way they spoke about this 'Little Wei' it was clear that he was more than a disciple, as such Ku Wei wagered that the Ku Clan was in fact their decedents.

“Very clever,” Tomo ruffled Ku Wei's hair. “I think grandfather will do, if that's what you prefer. We'd be here all day if you were to list the appropriate number of greats before hand,” Tomo chuckled. “Now, allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Ezra Waitomo. The story that my wife, Charlatte Cooper, and I traveled here from beyond the stars is a bit of an oversimplification. You can't see them, but there exists multiple copies of your world, Pangu, each with their own history. Some similar, some vastly different. This library is a space I carved out, just outside Pangu's reality, which is why you were able to view the palace throne room earlier without actually being there.”

Tomo waved his hand and the walls of the library became translucent. Near where the door was located a pillar loomed large, running parallel to the wall. It looked like it was close enough to reach out and touch. Through the opposite wall Ku Wei and Ming Jia Ying could see an uncountable number of similar pillars in the distance. Tomo waited patiently for them to finish examining the space.

As Ming Jia Ying returned to the table she asked, “So Gaia, the world you and The Contender came from, is one of those pillars?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Tomo just nodded, then smiled, “Those are such silly nicknames. Those came about because the people had trouble saying Waitomo and Cooper. Even our teacher struggled, the best he could do after a hundred years was Wei Tomo and Ku Pa. When our son was born we asked our teacher to name him and he combined our names into Ku Wei.” Tomo sighed and turned to face Ku Wei, “That was our Little Wei. As you know, the Emperor is present for all births in the main branch family. Charlatte told me that when you were born you reminded her so much of our boy she couldn't help but utter his name. Your father thought the Emperor was naming you, thus that became your name. I must admit, you do bare a striking resemblance.”

Ku Wei could feel the love contained in Tomo's gaze, but knew it wasn't meant for him. He allowed Tomo a moment to reminisce before voicing his concerns, “Before we went to the palace you talked about dismantling the Gaian Empire, but are you really planning to go to war against your wife? And you gave gifts to Ku Xue and... Ku Shen. Why?”

Tomo was glad to hear that some of the venom with which Ku Wei said Ku Shen's name had softened into profound disappointment. He presented Ming Jia Ying and Ku Wei with their own pages. “As I told the princes, these can access my wealth of knowledge,” Tomo motioned to the books lining the walls as he answered, “But what I didn't tell them is that they can also be used for other things.”

As Tomo spoke the pages before his disciples began to fill themselves in. Ku Wei stared at the page in shock and Ming Jia Ying asked, “Is this Ku Shen's?”

Tomo showed a devious smile, “It's a list of all the information Shen has accessed over the last three days. With this information it should be much easier to figure out what he's planning. I will leave the decision of how best to use this knowledge to you Wei, but, be warned, subtlety is key. Once Shen becomes aware the page is compromised he will abandon it or worse, use it to feed you false information.”

“How am I supposed to use this if I'm not at the palace?” Ku Wei mused.

“That brings me to another of the page's functions, you can send messages to anyone else who has a page. For example, you could use it to tip off Xue to Shen's plans,” as Tomo finished speaking the smile on his face reached his ears. Ku Wei and Ming Jia Ying realized that their new teacher has a sinister streak to him.

Ming Jia Ying stared at her page wistfully, “I wish I could contact my family and make sure they're alright.”

“All in good time,” Tomo spoke reassuringly, “I left a couple more pages with Wen. She'll deliver them to Zemin and he in turn can deliver one to your family. They should have arrived in the capitol long before he visits.”

“Hmmm... Ku Qin Zemin.” Hearing Ku Wei say his name made Ming Jia Ying's ears perk up. Ku Wei continued to scour the page before him as he murmured, “This could work, this could work, but...” Ku Wei's eyes left the page and caught Ming Jia Ying off guard as he looked at her pleadingly, “Cousin, I need your help.”

The overly familiar address made Ming Jia Ying want to decline out of spite, but she was too curious about what he had planned for Ku Qin Zemin. She sighed, “Fine, I'll help. What do you need?”

“Here, look at this,” Ku Wei pointed at the page in his hand and Ming Jia Ying moved closer to see what he was talking about.

Across the table from them, Tomo's devious smile returned as he watched his disciples leverage their new found knowledge. Schrodinger hopped into Tomo's lap and he gently massaged behind his ears with practiced motions. Together the man and cat quietly observed as the two youngsters carefully crafted poor Ku Shen's second lesson.