‘I should WHAT?!’ I spat

‘Sir, you can’t do that!’ Mr Choi interfered 

‘She’s only sixteen!’ Key added

‘And she’s only a Scholar!’ Mom joined

The emperor held up his hand for silence. ‘I am aware of these things. Do you think I’d just decide this without thinking through it properly? Do you doubt my power?’ He asked raising his voice. 

Mr. Choi, Key and my parents looked down to their plates, lowering their heads in shame. 

What’s his power? 

He’s a mastermind. Well, that’s what everyone calls it. He can think of various plans in less than a minute and see which ones would be successful, risky, dangerous and safe. That’s also why he’s the head of the military.

Oh… well that’s practical. 

Yes and also why he does all of the deciding in the country and not the senate. 

‘But you can’t expect her to just sneak into Sanan, into the palace most of all and assassinate the emperor. That’s, that’s suicide!’ Key almost shouted. 

‘I am aware that this is very dangerous, Key,--’

‘It’s not just dangerous, she could loose her life! And then what? She’s probably the most powerful Specialist I’ve ever seen if she had full control of her power. If she goes she could loose control and we all know what happens then.’ He went on

‘Key. Listen. She will not be leaving tonight or any night soon. In fact she will still be trained until I decide she is ready. Another thing, she will not be going alone. I am fully aware that she is too young and inexperienced to do something like this on her own. She doesn’t know Amnender and their powers, unlike others here. Got that?’ The emperor said strictly. Key’s furious grimace didn’t leave but he nodded and looked away. 

‘Who would be going with her?’ Dad aksed

‘I would ask you, Amitris to go with her along with Kai and Eli.’ 

‘But they are nothing but children!’ Mom gasped

‘Amitris, you know I can not ask Key, Yesung and you go along with her. I need them here and on the field to fight. I’m sending you instead of your husband since she’ll be needing your power more than his. Also because I know it would be more helpful for her if one of you went with her.’

Mom nodded and looked at me. I gave her the best smile I could muster up and she smiled back. 

‘I’ve called for Eli already and he’ll arrive sometime tonight. In the mean time, I’d suggest for everyone to save up on energy and rest tonight. Tomorrow will be a very tiring day.’ 

The emperor stood up and left the room, leaving us all in silence. 

‘Here is your room.’ The maid said in her soft voice as she opened the door to a room wit three beds. ‘There are some spare clothes in the closet, unfortunately they are Lanero clothes so they are a bit different than what you are used to.’ She bowed and left.

Hoon, Kai and I looked around and then at each other. 

‘Well this is a turn of events.’ Kai said after a while. Hoon chuckled and I smiled.

I walked over to the closet and opened it. I pulled out the first folded clothing piece and unfolded it. They were baggy pants in a grey greenish color. I let it fall to the floor and picked out the next piece. It was some kind of baggy thing. 

‘I think that’s a top.’ Hoon said eying it strangely. Kai took the next one out.

‘Oh’ He exclaimed when it turned out to be a long skirt. ‘I guess this is for you.’ He said handing it to me. It was once again in a strange grey greenish color.

We ended up checking out all the clothes and put piles together of who got what. I ended up getting the skirt, a shirt which I still had to figure out how to wear and a jacket that was rather long as well as some leather like shoes that were black. They actually looked really cool. 

We spread out the blankets and laid down. 

‘I wonder what to tomorrow is going to be like.’ Kai said into the dark room. 

Me too.

‘We’ll be moving the camp towards the boarder. I guess it won’t be too pretty.’ Hoon said

‘I guess. I wonder what the wars here are like.’ Kai answered. ‘What do you think, Ren?’ 

‘I… don’t know. I don’t know what anything is going to be like. I don’t know what is going to be waiting for me, how I am going to continue my training, how we’ll invade the palace, how I’m going to live through all this.’ 

I felt Kai’s hand touch my arm under the covers - did I mention we were all under the same cover and all next  to each other? (Hoon, Kai, me) - and he felt his way down to my hand.
He held it tightly in his warm hand. I felt shivers go up my spine but they weren’t cold shivers. They were warm shivers like when you step into a hot shower when you’re cold or when you sit outside in the warm sun when you were in the cold shade before. 

‘We’re here for you.’ Hoon whispered since talking would be too loud for our ears. There was silence again. 

We laid there, silent, thinking, maybe sleeping. 

My hand was still in Kai’s. I didn’t even think about taking it away. 

I though about Mia, Brynn and Miyoung. I wonder what they were doing. Maybe they were enjoying their Christmas vacation with their families. Maybe they were back at school. I didn’t know how fast time passes here. I took a deep breath to calm myself. 

What will it be like, training here? Will I get a different teacher? Will it be more difficult? Will I be trained in different things like martial arts or weapons? What if Mom would die on the mission? Or Eli? Or Kai? What if Soohyun, or Luhan dies in battle? Or XiuMin? Or Key? What if the Amnender’s all already know what we’re doing? What if they have spies? 

I felt my throat clogging up. It was hard to swallow and there were tears at the back of my eyes threatening to escape.

Next to me, Kai shifted and turned to me, he sighed and stopped moving. I guess he’s asleep as is Rubin. 

After maybe a minute, Kai shifted again, this time closer to me and his arm fell over me, like he was half hugging me. And I spoke too soon since he pulled me close to him like a teddy bear. 

It was hard to not smell his scent and feel the warmth radiating from his body that made the inside of me feel all light and fuzzy. And subconsciously, I moved closer to him, snuggling into his chest, letting his warmth wrap around me and move me into a deep sleep.

Yessss!!! UPDATED!!! I was actually prestty bored today and didn't feel like painting and I had huge Kai feels today for some reason so I decided to write another chapter :)

I hope you all like it and THANK YOU for reading!!! 
Also I hope all of you who live at the East coast in the US and Canada are all doing ok!!!