My defiance isn’t necessary. That I know, but I refuse to slacken. The fact that Taeyeon went ahead to apologise rips at my confidence. I know Taeyeon’s the one protecting me, as if I’m the official princess of the legend, but I feel the need to have an arm over her chest in the event of a brawl, I do.

“Better to lie low before the coronation.” she advises me carefully as I scrub her back, chin at her shoulder and left arm round her stomach. Steam rises around us and cloaks us completely in it. Just to show her how much I agree with her friendly advice, I bite into her shoulder blade. Really hard.

“Darn it, Mi Young.” She rocks back and I know she’s about to attack.

It’s a playful kind of match between us that occurs once in a while. It’s more exhilarating when we both have padded paws, nipping at each other’s necks. I have advantage all around, once I get rid of the vapour. She’s too fast. She brings the hot rocks below us up so much that they me backwards. Then she traps me in a small fortress of stone around me.

I speed up the body heat so I don’t boil myself.

“Behave?” she asks pleadingly. This twin sister has rendered her service to me absolutely. I know for a fact that she’ll preserve my life well. And she’s all I have.

“One week.” I concede. “I’ll stay in this terrible state for a week.”

“It’ll almost be full moon then.” She disapproves once more. “And this is a much more becoming state for you to be in.”

She’s going against herself for me, too. Both of us know the freedom we have when we get out of constricting human skin. I take advantage of her defocus and let air split the rocks around me. They sink into the water in slates. I embrace her quickly, not making any promises. She allows me to, and that always means she gives in.

Being in my sister’s arms always helps. When I was the one in mental shock finding that I had no older figure to hold onto as an abnormally fast-growing child, she let me sink my teeth into any part of her body I so fancied at the point of time. It’s fortunate we all heal fast. She got a poisoned dart in her finger for me when Tao decided he’d had enough of my whining when we were nine. In this way, because she thinks I am the princess, I’ve become it for the four of us.

I have dreams. I have dreams of my mother talking to me and telling me I need to walk away from affection. That I need to make sure that I obey the full moon lockdown. I’ve known about the lockdown longer than anyone else, and yet I don’t understand fully what it entails. I also cannot comprehend how I’ve murdered my mother from being born. I cannot discern the goodness of the prophecy. The Tree of Life has its control over all of us now. I have the inkling of a theory that there’s something larger we don’t know about yet.

Without knowing it I’ve bitten into her again. Except this time I’ve settled for her jaw.

“Mi Young!” she lets out a cry, but doesn’t toss me aside. I’ve dislocated her jaw. Now it hangs out in a rather ugly fashion. She leans down, cautious, popping it back in until she can move it again.

“Sorry.” I pat her shoulder.

“No point.” She grumbles. “Just behave until the coronation.”

But nothing from now on can get any better; life goes downhill at the zenith of peace.