That afternoon, she left her room, wandering around the shrine until she finally found Yoongi. He was lying in the garden, stretched out on his back, the warm sun beating down on him. She stood at the entrance to the garden, watching him with a small smile on her face. When he was sleeping he looked so peaceful. There was no frown on his face as he slept. She slowly approached him, hoping that she wouldn’t wake him.

She reached his side and looked down at him. His black hair was fanned out around his head, his ears twitching slightly. She longed to reach out and touch his ears, but decided against it. The last thing she wanted was for him to wake up with her fondling his ears. “Is there a reason you're staring at me?” he asked, his eyes remaining closed. She yelped and jumped back, his sudden question startling her. “Oh my god! I thought you were sleeping!” she exclaimed, her hand over her chest as she willed her heartbeat to return to normal.

He cracked open one eye to look at her. “You were blocking the sun.” he said sleepily as he sat up, squinting up at her, his hair messy from sleep. “Sorry.” She said, her heartbeat finally calming down. “Actually, that’s why I'm here.” She said quietly. “To block the sun?” he asked curiously, his brain still not fully awake. “No.” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m here to apologise.” Yoongi’s eyes snapped open at her words. “I want to apologise for this morning. I shouldn’t have gotten so frustrated. It’s not your fault that I’m no good at this kind of thing. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.” She said, her gaze locked on the grass below her.

Yoongi looked up at her and sighed gently. “I’m sorry too.” He said quietly. “I shouldn’t have gotten so angry either. I knew that you came here not knowing any of this stuff and I got angry at you. It wasn’t fair.” She looked at him, surprised to hear him apologising. “How about we start over?” she suggested, a smile on her face. Yoongi nodded as he stood up. “Only if you promise you won’t pull my ears this time.” he said with a small grin. She chuckled at his words and extended her hand, “Promise. Nice to meet you. My name’s Yubin. I’m reporting for spiritual energy training as of today.”

Yoongi took her hand and shook it. “My name’s Yoongi and from today onwards I will be your instructor.” They smiled at each other, a new feeling of understanding rising between them.

Over the following months, Yoongi worked with Yubin to develop her control of her powers. She was now able to access the well of power within her much faster than before. He had begun teaching her how to move objects with her power. The first few attempts had seen her launching the items across the garden, but with a lot of practice, and even more patience, she was now able to move several objects, for an extended period of time. Hobi and Jimin had also become involved in her training. They took charge of teaching her how to physically manifest her powers. She found this much easier as she had focus her energy into her hands, and being able to actually see the energy grow between her palms helped her control the flow better.

She had noticed that each of them had a different colour of energy. Jimin's energy was the same warm orange of his hair, she felt that it was a perfect match to his personality. Hobi’s was bright yellow, just like the sun, which she thought suited him perfectly. Yoongi’s energy was pearly white, like new fallen snow. Her energy was a lilac colour, which she thought was very pretty.

Sweat beaded on her forehead as she concentrated on the ball of energy forming between her palms. Hobi cheered her on from beside her while Jimin gave her advice. “Don’t build it too quickly.” He warned. She concentrated on her breathing, just like Yoongi had taught her as she willed the energy ball to retain its shape. The first time she had tried this exercise she had released too much energy at once, causing a shockwave to knock all three of them to the ground. She was anxious not to repeat that event.

“Good! Ok, now slowly pull back your energy.” Jimin said as she focused on pulling back her energy until the ball disappeared. She turned to face the two boys who cheered loudly and clapped even louder. “You’ve improved so much.” Hobi praised. Jimin nodded enthusiastically from beside him. She wiped away the sweat from her face with her sleeve. “Well it’s been at least three days since I broke something, I’ll take that as a victory.” She said making them all laugh.

“Ah, we better go prepare lunch. You should get some rest.” Jimin said. She shook her head. “I’m going to practice a little more.” She said as she widened her stance and slowed her breathing. Jimin and Hobi exchanged smiles before heading to the kitchen. Yoongi watched her from the roof of the shrine, a place he often went to sleep. He smiled down at her as she slowly formed a ball of energy between her hands, letting it grow to the size of a beach ball before holding it there.

“She’s definitely improved.” He said, a note of pride in his voice as he watched her manipulate the shape of her energy. She changed the energy into the shape of a bird, a slightly deformed bird, but considering that only a few months ago she’d never heard of spiritual energy, he couldn’t help but be impressed. She moved the energy upwards, Yoongi falling into her line of vision. She noticed the smile on his face and her concentration slipped.

The bird collapsed in on itself, in her panic she tried to hold the shape, instead releasing too much power, making the energy explode outwards. She was thrown backwards, crying out in pain as she landed on the ground. Yoongi was by her side in an instant. “Are you hurt?” he asked as he helped her to sit up. She coughed a few times, the air having been knocking from her lungs from her impact to the ground. “No, I’m ok.” She said as she wiped the dirt from her hands.

Yoongi sighed, a small smile on his lips. “You really need to work on your concentration.” He said as he poked her forehead. She slapped his hand away, “Shut up.” she mumbled. He stood up and pulled her to her feet.

“How pathetic.”

Yoongi and Yubin looked around at the sound of a loud, female voice. Yoongi instinctively moved in front of her. Yubin frowned at his sudden protective action. She looked around him to see a woman standing at the entrance to the garden. She was wearing tight denim shorts that showed off her long legs, and a white blouse that was ed far too much for Yubin’s taste. “Who is she?” Yubin whispered to Yoongi.

“Yoona, what are you doing here?” Yoongi asked, his tone bored, but Yubin could see the tenseness in his body. She smiled at Yoongi as she approached the pair. “What do you mean? I’m here to see you of course.” She said, flashing him a smile. Yubin bristled at her tone, she didn’t know why, but the thought of her coming all the way to the shrine to see Yoongi made her blood boil. “I didn’t expect you to have a new mistress.” She said as she looked around Yoongi to look over Yubin.

She scoffed as she took in Yubin’s sweatpants and t-shirt. “She doesn’t look like much. Doesn’t look like her abilities are either. What kind of priestess can’t even make a simple shape with their energy?” Yubin felt the now familiar swell of her powers as her anger rose. Yoongi reached back and grabbed her wrist, “Don’t.” he warned quietly without looking back. She bit her tongue, her hands fisted as she tried to keep her anger in check. Yoona chuckled at their exchange. “Be a good little girl and listen to Yoongi. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”

Yubin moved out from behind Yoongi, his grip on her wrist stopping her from marching forward and punching the dolled up priestess in front of her. “Says who?” she spat. “Yubin.” Yoongi warned as he pulled her back a step. Yoona laughed at the obvious anger on Yubin's face. “Quite the temper you’ve got there, little girl.” She taunted as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. She turned back to Yoongi, her eyes smouldering. “Why are you wasting your time serving this little girl? Wouldn’t you be much happier with me?” she said. Yoongi kept his gaze level.

“You know it would be so easy to transfer your contract over to me.” Yoona purred. “Think about how much better it would be for you to be with me instead of that silly little girl that can’t even control her abilities.” Yubin felt dread course through her, she didn’t know that Yoongi’s contract with her family could be transferred to another. She looked around to Yoongi who remained stony faced. “As I have told you many times Yoona. I am quite happy here at this shrine.”

Yubin grinned, showing her smug smile to Yoona, who didn’t appear phased. “I’m sure you’ll change your mind after spending some time with that little girl. You’ll be dying to spend your time with a real priestess.” She said, throwing Yubin a dirty glance. Yubin felt her anger rise, and just as had happened with Yoongi on more than one occasion, the herb basket flew up and hit Yoona on the back of the head. Yubin let out a laugh while Yoongi looked shocked, and Yoona looked furious.

“How dare you!” she screeched as she wiped the herbs off of her clothes and hair. “Take the hint, you're not welcome here. Leave.” Yubin said as the basket rose once again, hitting Yoona once again. Yoona cursed loudly as a ball of pink energy formed in her hand, “You’ll pay for that.” She threw the energy in Yubin’s direction, but before Yubin could defend herself, Yoongi stood in front on her once again. Destroying the energy ball with a simple flick of his wrist. “I cannot allow you to hurt my mistress, Yoona.” He said, his tone showing his anger.

Yoona glared at Yoongi before turning to Yubin. “A duel then. An official one, how about it?” she challenged.

“No.”

“Fine.”

Yoongi turned to face Yubin, his expression a mix of anger and shock. “No.” he repeated. He turned back to Yoona. “She refuses.” He said sternly. Yoona only smiled. “It’s too late. She’s already accepted the challenge. She can’t go back on her word.” She said, her tone already gloating. Yoongi mumbled a string of curses under his breath. “So how do we do this?” Yubin asked, bringing her hands up in front of her, as if preparing for a fist fight.

Yoona laughed at her action. “You poor thing.” She said with a grin as she shook her head. “I’ll give you until the next full moon. Then I’ll come for you. You better be ready.” She said before turning back to Yoongi. “See you at the next full moon.” She said with a wink before she disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke. Yoongi turned to Yubin, his expression livid. “What have you done?” he shouted. “You can barely control your power, let alone fight with it!”

“I need to fight with my powers?” she asked, dread starting to make its way through her body as the events of the past few minutes slowly started to catch up with her. Yoongi looked at her like she had just grown a second head. “You have no idea what you’ve just agreed to. A fight between priestesses involves only the two of them. That means that Hobi, Jimin and I cannot interfere or you lose by forfeit. The winner is able to ask anything from the loser. Anything.”

Yubin’s jaw dropped. “What kind of stupid rule is that?” She said as her panic began to rise. “One that you would have known if you had just kept your mouth shut and let me deal with her! Instead you have to fight her on the next full moon!” Yoongi ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “So… when is the next full moon?” she asked, her voice weak with embarrassment at the massive mess she had just caused.

“In ten days’ time…”