Greetings~

I kinda realised that Sunday became the day where I update nowadays (Really unplanned but

i guess today's the only day where I can squeeze out a bit of time to do some writings)

A shorter chapter this time round (Hey! Last week's was super long!)

to work on some character and plot building.

Good things are worth waiting right? ^^ 

[-]

  The princess was waiting under the blossoms when the Ice Lord stepped through the gates. 

  Jiyong exhaled, his mind running back to Dara. There's still the issue of the Pyul Princess. How selfish is he to be holding onto her like this, giving her hope, allowing him to wait naively for him. It's this princess that is the reality he has to face. Or rather, its the responsibility of being a son of a country's leader the reality that he's in.

  But he doesn't want to let go of that unrealistic dream. The dream that reminds him of chaos and noisy damage and catastrophes, but also of comedy and warm 'cheer up's and soft, and a particular chirpy voice.
 

  "These cherry blossoms are very pretty, but they're not native." The princess said suddenly, her gaze fixed dreamily on the tree that had bloomed into shades of pink.

  "Yes, they're brought in." Jiyong replied her after a slight hesitation. The Pyuls must have a different way of life. The princess always sounds so bizzare and in her own world.

  The princess turned around, looking at Jiyong as if she's waiting for him to say something while Jiyong returned the same look. He didn't knew the princess until their first encounter, where they were told to get married. What is it that she wants to tell him for her to be here personally?

  They waited, and ten very awkward seconds past.

  "What is it that you summoned me for, Prince Kwon?" The princess asked politely, breaking the silence. 

  Jiyong frowned in confusion.

  "I haven't." He said.

  The princess raised her perfectly arched brow in doubt. 

  "Funny. I've received a message with the Dal's royal seal that seeks my appearance at your residence." The princess mused lightly. "Must've been a Kohiki." 

  "What?" 

  "A Kohiki. They're extremely playful dolphins that lives in Pyul. They love to play pranks on people." The princess explained casually. Jiyong blinked at her bizzareness, trying not to look offensive. What's the matter with these Pyul people?

  "And you can call me Kiko. Though I'm not particularly fond of the name. Well, goodbye for now." Princess Kiko smiled cheerily before leaving, not looking annoyed at the wasted trip. 

  In fact, Jiyong, who didn't respond to her greeting because he was still in a haze at her uncommon way of speech, silently noted how he rarely sees the princess show any signs of emotion on her face. He wondered why, but he reminded himself to be aware, she's still the royal heiress of a rivalling state after all. And in the enviroment he is brought up in, everyone has a motive. It's just up for time to reveal what the princess's one is. 

 

  Somewhere where the yard of the Ice Lord's manor is visible, a masked figure tore his eyes away from the scene in the distance and swiftly jumped down from the tiled roof and disappeared as the Princess's figure is seen leaving the residence. Unbeknownst to him, another figure had his fill of the scene, and quietly left.

  "The Princess had returned, master." A low voice sounded out in the garden full of porcelain. 

  The Crown Prince almost seems to pay no attention, absorbed in wiping each and every porcelain roses as he walked along in the greenhouse. His mother, Lady Kim, had demanded a garden full of these fine flowers to be built just for her admiration, and her son did just that. 

  "The princess mentioned about receiving a summon with a royal seal calling for her to the residence but the Ice Lord denied sending such an invitation." The masked swordsman said cautiously. "I'm just wondering if you, my master, had perhaps..."

  "I sent the summon." The Crown Prince said airily. "I wanted to know the progression of their relationship."

  "There's no signs of affection between the Ice Lord and the Princess, my master. She left as soon as he had no affairs for her. They spoke formally too." 

  The Crown Prince smiled. He wouldn't be surprised. Affection was not a word reserved for his younger half brother. He is sure that having feelings would send the latter up the path of destruction, and he knows that Jiyong knows it himself too. 

  He needs to find Jiyong's source of... affection. 

  "And Park Dara?"

  "Still no data on her background. The Ice Lord had returned to the residence to meet the princess alone. The Park girl did not seem to be there either." 

  Prince Taeil exhaled heavily, shaking his head. Keen to hide her from him huh. 

  "The crowning must proceed by the next full moon. I need Jiyong to be out of the fire city the final stage of my crowning can be completed." He said quietly. 

  The crowning is a ceremony that Crown Princes go through in order to be stated as the official, undisputed heir of the throne. But before any of that can take place, they are obliged to serve their term guarding the boarder city to showcase their military leadership.

  "Looks like we have to.. speed things up a little." The crown prince sighed, applying too much force on one particular bloom, which cracked and fell to the ground, shattering into specks of glass powder and dust. 

  Dara rolled over and her eyes fluttered open. The warm sunlight that she fell asleep with had turned to an vivid orange glow. Hmm, had Jiyong grew a moustache while she was out of it? Dara wondered, rubbing her eyes. 

  Her vision focused into view and was met with an unfamiliar face. Dara let out a scream and scrambled away from the stranger. Hold on, that's Jiyong's subordinate!

  The capable right hand warrior of the Ice Lord shouted in shock in response to the weird girl's sudden shriek. The rumour of the Ice Lord's eccentric "new muse" had been running around the army ever since they saved her from drowning in that river. He still remembers how she insisted that she is a person from the past, and wonders why the usual cold and emotionless Ice Lord would get close to someone as unpredictable and odd as her. 

  "Don't be mistaken, miss!" The flustered soldier explained hurriedly. "The Ice Lord has some urgent matter to attend to and he had instructed me to watch over you and not wake you up." 

  "Oh." Dara exhaled. Another false alarm, she thought groggily as she yawned and stretched her arms, flailing them around. The soldier stared, his mouth slightly hanging open.

  What on earth is she?

  Dara wondered on the way back about how Jiyong's colleague (or that's at least what she thinks he is, since they seem to hold the same job, which is, sword wielding), whose name is Sangchul (like the cabbage) had always walked behind him no matter how slowly she seems to be treading. She had suggested he could walk along her, but he looked aghast at the idea. Dara shrugged at the rejection, thinking how she would never adjust to these people's oddity no matter she long she had been here. 
 

  She turned along the corner, and bumped into Soo Hyuk, who had his hands tucked in his pockets, walking with a fast pace, almost toppling her over. 

  "Oh?" Soo Hyuk looks surprised, blinking rapidly as he pulled his hands out of his pockets. Dara thought she saw a flash of something that resembled a black coloured mask like the ones Jiyong always wore in Soo Hyuk's pocket.

  "Were you looking for me?" Dara asked cheerily, straining to glance at where her tall friend came from.

  Soo Hyuk threw a look behind him, confused, then realised that the Kwon's residence where Dara stayed wasn't far from here. 

  "Oh, yeah, but it's nothing important. I've got to run, I started working for the historian so I need to get started." Soo Hyuk called back as he continued on his way in a small hurry. Dara wonders how late he must be, again, as usual.

  "Start sticking to one job!" Dara yelled after him, shaking her head at his departing back view.
 

  Soo Hyuk waved at her nagging without turning back for a glance until he reaches the alley by the marketplace. That was close, but thankfully it was gullible Dara that he ran into. That girl literally believes everything people tell her. He also smiles a little in exasperation at the thought.

  Steadying his breath, Soo Hyuk pulled out a small piece of paper with the words 'Pyul Princess and the Ice Lord' scribbled messily on it, before putting two fingers between his lips, blowing a loud whistle that that is easily drowned by the bustle in the marketplace. 

  A sparrow swoop down into Soo Hyuk's shoulder. With fumbling fingers, Soo Hyuk stuffed the note into a small container tied on the sparrow's leg before sending it off, and watched it disappear beyond the horizons before making his way slowly to the old historian's.

  And so the sparrow soared in the blue, hidden by the cloudy sky, and flew across the river separating the boarders.