Yu Liang had never been more proud of himself than he was when he saw Princess Shiyao demonstrate her newly acquired magic skills with precision and confidence. The foundation was already there, he supposed, but by and large his work was done on that front. All of the magic he could legally teach her had been taught and truthfully, he didn't know much more himself.

The history and culture lessons would have to continue, though he could tell that the more parallels she drew between Ranhara and Revenet, the faster she understood why things were the way they were. She understood that she would never be queen unless she married the man who would take the throne - Revenet did not allow a female heir to reign. The king must be of direct lineage to previous kings, thus a selection of concubines was necessary in the event that the queen did not or could not birth a son.

He hadn't missed how Shiyao had muttered under her breath about what the point of having a direct male line was if half of the kings were useless without their wives and the advisors around them. Spoiled, spineless brats, she had called them, who hadn't bothered learning how to govern well because they'd be king no matter what. It was a very difficult argument to counter, that much he acknowledged.

"And besides," she added, "King Min Yun wasn't of direct lineage, Queen Zhi Xiu was, though. So how come after they founded the nation, the tradition remained, even though they hadn't stuck to it?"

"Well, their son who took the throne, Yun Hao, he wasn't as loyal to his wife as King Yun was to Queen Zhi Xiu, and she to him. By all accounts, those two were very much in love with each other, but also held each other in high regard with mutual respect and trust. The fact that Queen Zhi Xiu fought so hard and sacrificed so much to take over Old Revenet only to essentially hand the fruits of all her efforts to her husband was proof of that. I suppose Yun Hao never found anyone he loved that much, he was far too fond of his freedom and decided to bring the tradition back under his reign."

"Ah, well that's a shame." she sighed. "I wish I could have my own King Yun one day."

Yu Liang smiled to himself as he sat behind the table at the head of the room, sipping his tea.

"I'm sure you'll find that person." he nodded.

"I don't think that I'm someone who should be adored." she replied, not seeing how her teacher frowned in concern.

"I won't hear any self-deprecation in this classroom." he scolded her, his tone harsh enough to make her flinch in surprise.

"Sorry, teacher."

The weather was cooling down as Shiyao exited Laoji Academy and Yixing had dutifully prepared her seaicead, her jacket, that he helped her put on to combat the cold. She had chosen a pink, purple, blue and white set of robes that day - the soft blending of the four tones across the dress had reminded her of clouds at dusk. The leine underneath was a soft periwinkle, not standing out against the rest of the colours and the seaicead matched.

That day, rather than go back to Kingfisher Residence, Shiyao decided upon the library. She wanted to read more about Queen Zhi Xiu's life and see if there was anything she could learn from her. The grand old building was a stone's throw away from the school, so it was surprising to find it devoid of life once they stepped inside.

"Yixing, where is everyone?" she whispered to her guard who had kindly leaned down to hear her.

"No one really comes here much, the students prefer to study in the library within the academy since it's closer to the teachers."

"What a waste."

With that, Yixing took up post at the entrance to allow the princess to browse freely.

The library was musty and desperately needed a clean, Shiyao mused as she carefully peered at each section, wondering where she might find a biography. The library opened up into a rounded area where there were a few tables and tall windows that ran from floor to ceiling with pretty decorations, and the rest of the sections were on the other side. A staircase to the left wound up to a balcony area that was blocked by heavy red velvet curtains, giving no clues whatsoever as to what lay beyond.

Despite the streams of light illuminating the dust floating through the air, Shiyao powered ahead into the back shelves. Some books were locked up in a glass case - perhaps they were old or contained dangerous secrets - whatever they were, they were definitely worth looking into. Her eyes trailed down the rows of books in the 'famous figures' section, scanning over every spine and finally spotting the collection with Queen Zhi Xiu's name on it. It was only after pulling out a few dusty books did something else catch her eye:

'Yves, The Summoner.'

A summoner?

What was that?

Shiyao pulled the book out, dropping it on top of the others with a low thud before turning to go back to the central area but a young man, who had appeared without a sound, was in her path. Something was telling her that she had seen those very elaborate green robes before, that head of wavy ash blonde hair and ocean blue eyes that stood out against his tanned skin. She had certainly seen this ridiculously handsome man before.

But where?

"Well, if it isn't my descendant." the man's voice was deep and very easy to listen to.

"Ah." her shoulders sank with realisation. "You're Lu."

"Indeed."

"Aren't you going to greet me properly?" she replied suddenly, her boldness surprising even herself.

"Hmmm... No, I don't think I will." he grinned and Shiyao couldn't tell whether he was mocking her or not. "If anything, you should be greeting me."

"I don't even know who you are."

"Fair enough." he shrugged, pushing off from the bookshelf he was leaning against. "I'm not unlike you, Shiyao."

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Shiyao?

He was calling her by her first name?

"Who are you to call my name so casually?" she demanded, heat rising in her cheeks as her anger grew.

"You're definitely a royal, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." he chuckled.

"Listen here-"

"No, shan't." he interjected. "Didn't they teach you any manners? My, my... What I was getting to was, you have visions, and that's something we have in common."

"Is that so?" she jerked her head to get some stray hairs out of her eyes. "What a coincidence. Please move aside so I can go and read."

"You're interested in summoning, it seems." he nodded towards the books.

"I don't even know what it is yet, because you won't step aside."

"Miss Shiyao has quite the temper, where was that when you were in Ranhara?"

"I don't-" she began, his words sinking in before she could finish. "How would you know?"

"Oh, I know a thing or two what goes on elsewhere." he smiled. "This place is quite suitable for receiving visions, if you ever feel like it."

"I've no use for them any longer."

"Well, something tells me after you dive into that book you'll be coming here more often."

"And why is that?"

Shiyao took a few unsteady steps back as Lu sauntered closer. He wasn't as tall as Jing Han or Yixing, but he was definitely well built, and while the princess was becoming well known for her beauty, his was ethereal, so much so it was making it difficult for her to look at him directly.

"Do you want me to show you what a summoner does?" he murmured, his face a mere couple of inches away from her own.

Even with her racing heart, her curiosity was much stronger than her shyness and so she found the courage to look up: "Yes."

"Very well."

She only felt his gentle hands on her face and his soft lips on hers for a second before everything went dark and, as with her own visions, blobs of light gradually made their way in to form imagery.

A young woman in a white dress with long flowing hair sat cross-legged in a tranquil looking hall, her necklace floating before her.

'I devote myself fully to you, please return my loyalty with your own and defend this place.'

It wasn't clear to whom the lady was speaking, but after a moment, a huge glyph appeared directly overhead, as high up as the ceiling was. Streaks of light burst from the glyph, creating a pretty pattern along the ground that gradually widened and before long, a strong wind picked up out of nowhere, sending papers flying everywhere, so much so that it was becoming hard to see. It wasn't unlike when she conducted the funeral service for the late king, but instead of the light going up, it was coming down.

Shiyao looked up once more, gasping as a large horn emerged through the glyph, the owner of which, an unbelievably huge horse-like creature, soon followed. The wings on its back allowed it to hurtle towards the ground at incredible speed, swooping to land and coming to a standstill in front of the woman, who slowly rose up and approached the animal, but kept herself small.

'The Witches are trying to overtake this land. Please protect us, please help us defend ourselves. We can't do it without your help.'

The creature couldn't speak, but it seemed like it understood, for the next time Shiyao blinked, a raging battlefield appeared before her eyes. The Reckoning Tree stood strong in the background and she ducked as the beast flew overhead, disturbing everything around with the turbulence it caused.

The Witches, despite their lesser magic ability, seemed to overwhelm the field - they commanded thousands of archer-less arrows and spears through the air, but weren't as accurate as the Demons who didn't need physical weapons to manipulate. Rather, it was their ability to defend that was giving time for some unusual looking soldiers towards the back to perform some strange incantation with their heads lolling back and arms raised in the air that, once they slammed their palms into the ground, resulted in the very earth shaking as dozens of bodies, both on and under the ground, rose up to fight on their behalf.

A skull-piercing screech resonated through the air and Shiyao forced herself to watch as thousands of beams of light or some kind of force of energy rained down upon the Witches, destabilizing and blinding them, causing their weapons to drop to the ground.

"NOW!" a female voice bellowed and Shiyao whipped round.

A young woman in crimson robes with countless layers, her hair and hands covered in gold, bravely stood atop a hill with her arm outstretched. She and a hundred other soldiers worked together reciting a short incantation before directing their palms towards the ground and slowly upwards. The Witches, on the other side, half of whom had collected themselves enough to get to their feet didn't realise what the Demons had done until they resumed commanding their arrows, only to find themselves being shot instead.

Shiyao's mind raced as those on the Witches side who hadn't yet been struck by their own weapons sounded the alarm, screaming that the Demons were using some kind of mirroring magic and to hold fire.

The huge horse circled above as the Witches stilled, looking around with their eyes wide and their bodies braced.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Lu's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin. "It's okay, they can't see or hear us. That being is called Sinai, a Celestial Guardian."

"I thought they were just myths!"

At that moment, screams and cries erupted from the field as thousands of beams of light cascaded down upon them.

"They're the ones who show us the visions we have." he explained. "They don't just come out of thin air."

"How did that woman-"

"Yves."

"How did Yves summon a Celestial Guardian to fight for them?"

The pair ducked down behind a large rock as Sinai zoomed past once more, their hair flying around in the strong wind it created.

"I'll leave you on a cliffhanger." he smirked. "You can read the book to find that out."

With that, darkness encroached on every corner of Shiyao's vision until it went dark completely. She couldn't hear the screams of soldiers any longer, nor could she feel the wind on her skin, only the slow thuds of her beating heart and the heady sensation of a pair of soft lips moving against hers. A gentle scratch of fingernails against her scalp sent a tingle all through her body and a small whine caught in her throat, her lips parting just enough to allow him in.

The thud of three books cascading to the floor didn't register with either of them, for every touch, every slide of the tongue against the other held them captive in their own little world.

It was so lovely.

"His Highness, Crown Prince Jing Han has arrived!"

Shiyao let out a low gasp as Lu pulled away, right hand still lingering on her cheek where he gently brushed her shiny lips with his thumb, leaning down to steal one more kiss before stepping back completely, giving her a warm smile that she was too dazed to return.

"Yaoyao! You're here." Jing Han called, telling her to right herself when she bowed in greeting. "Lu, long time no see!"

"You, too."

Shiyao dropped down to collect the books she realised were no longer in her hands, taking her time to stack them neatly while she tried to process what just happened. Lu had just kissed her out of nowhere... was it just to show her a vision? How did he even do that? How was it possible to share something like that? It was almost like they were in a dream.

Her eyes landed on the book about Yves.

"Yaoyao, you okay?" Jing Han's voice traveled through the shelves and upon looking up she realised Lu had already disappeared.

"I'm fine, Your Highness!" she called back.

For some reason, she didn't want Jing Han to know that she was reading about summoning. It felt so... private. Deciding to leave it for later, she quietly set the book on the filthy bottom shelf where she was crouched, grabbed the other two and stood up.

"It's time for dinner, I was just on my way to eat when I saw your guard outside."

"Is that so?" she replied, finally emerging from the dusty shelves into somewhat cleaner air where Jing Han leaned against a table waiting for her.

"Here, let me." he smiled, the corners of his mouth pulling up into that feline grin that she loved as he took the books from her, holding them in one large hand without any trouble, the other extended towards her. "Let's go."

Jing Han didn't miss how she glanced out the window, how her fingers curled into her palm. It was still light outside. The thought that perhaps she wasn't ready yet flew through his mind, but just as he turned his palm to usher her out instead, she grabbed it.

"Let's go."