Sakura opens her eyes and finds herself soaking in a familiar scent. It doesn't take her long to recognize that this is the scent of the Princess. She moves her head and arms a bit and feels extremely nice being wrapped in warm and soft fabric. Ahead, a thin ray of light shines through the curtain, indicating that it is already late in the morning (if it is still morning at all). After a long sleep, Sakura feels the need to urinate. She quickly turns to her side and gets up, and groans when she finds her whole body is aching and sore with a small headache.

As if out of instinct, Sakura put on her boots and walks straight to the latrine. While releasing, she hears groups of people chatting from afar.

Sakura has always been aware that she hears better than most people, probably because of her large dumbo ears. But it feels a bit strange that this time she can hear the content of the chats clearly. They are talking about gambles, wives and children, today's weather, and the attack yesterday.

The attack yesterday...

The memory of being attacked by the wolf suddenly flashes back in Sakura's mind, causing her a panic attack, and almost fell into the pit. She quickly cleans herself and heads to the royal team. Jaeyeon and Eunbi see her from afar and wave to her, other people follow suit.

On the way, Sakura suddenly feels very hungry when she smell what they are eating. Plain rice porridge with pickled vegetables and eggs.

"Good morning, Saku-chan!" Eunbi looks very happy upon seeing Sakura and moves her body away from Jaeyeon to make space for the child.

With her condition, it has been quite a long walk for Sakura from the wagon to the latrine and to the picnic mat, her knees give way when she tries to sit down between Eunbi and Jaeyeon.

"How are you, boy?" Jaeyeon quickly gathers Sakura into his unhurt arm while moving further away from Eunbi.

Even the dogs move to support Sakura's back with their bodies.

"He must be exhausted," Chaewon comments and smiles at Sakura.

The fondness of the royals and the knights make Sakura uneasy. Her last memory was that she made a mistake and was bitten by a wolf, and she has also transgressed by sleeping on the Princess's bed – why should she even deserve more kindness?

"I think we should tell Saku what had happened yesterday after he passed out." As if she can read the child's mind, Chaewon suggests when Nako hands Sakura a bowl of porridge.

"Fine, let me do that when you eat, alright?" Eunbi quickly decided she should reserve the power of telling Sakura's story.

When Eunbi repeats the story, she observes Sakura closely. To her surprise, Sakura seems to have no prior knowledge of her own force and she looks stunned and devastated.

"Boy, don't be like that! You are a hero, accept it!" Hongki tries to comfort the seemingly disturbed child.

Sakura lowers her head and lays her half-eaten bowl down. She looks pale and stays silent.

"What happened, kid? Look at me." Jaeyeon commands while exchanging a look with Eunbi.

"I'm sorry to make you get hurt, sir," Sakura raises her head obediently. Tears are pooling in her eyes.

"He is fine. Can you tell me what has gone wrong?" Eunbi asks gently.

Sakura doesn't answer but she starts to sob uncontrollably after uttering something like "I didn't know...but now I know".

Jaeyeon exchanges another look with Eunbi and Eunbi nods subtly.

"Kid, do you mean the death of the wolf reminds you of the incident that happened in the Northeastern Prairie?" Jaeyeon asks in a comforting tone.

Sakura looks shocked and released at the same time. She nods, "I...I...really...killed him."

Everyone stops breathing to hear Sakura's confession. But she stops after a few words.

"Saku-chan," Eunbi says calmly, "do you mean you didn't know you have killed somebody before?"

Sakura looks confused, "yes, Your Highness. I was told that I've killed someone...but...but I...I could not recall killing anyone – now I know I did."

Eunbi continues, "what makes you think you did?"

Sakura wipes her tears with her sleeves, "because you told me I killed the wolf...if I can kill the wolf like that, I might have killed...the man like that too."

"What do you mean 'you told me'? Don't you know you own that force?"

Sakura shakes her head vigorously while her face twisted in agony.

"Then why do you believe that you have killed the wolf if you don't know anything about your force?"

Sakura lowers her head, "because I believe in you, Your Highness."

Eunbi feels touched. At the very moment, she is totally convinced that Sakura is not lying.

"Saku-chan, let me tell me something about my observations on your force – in case you still have the memory how you threw me up in the air?"

Eunbi pauses. Sakura drops her jaw in panic.

Eunbi shakes her head in a smile and continues, "Your force, which I have no idea where it comes from, will be ignited automatically when you feel your life is being threatened – to protect you, I suppose. But it can also be devastating to you as well as to your victim – firstly, you have no control over it; secondly, it exhausted your astral energy after one blow and you pass out, which leaves you in an extremely vulnerable situation – not to mention you don't even know that you have used the force at all."

Sakura falls silent. The memory of waking up being locked in a cage, being accused as a murderer, and nearly beaten to death is still vivid and painful.

"I'm sorry..." Sakura murmurs finally. "I thought you...you were up there to attack me."

Eunbi startles for a second and bursts into laughter, "Oh Heaven, no!”

"Look, Saku-chan," Jaeyeon put his arm around Sakura's shoulder, "we have talked to the horse dealers. They bribed a person that told them you killed the chief horse breeder, but there was no proof. No one knows how he died. His family didn't report the case to the authority, they wouldn't even admit it to outsiders. The whole incident is still a mystery."

"And you don't even have to apologize for the old man's death." Eunbi follows Jaeyeon, "his family is a traitor to this country, they train and provide Heavenly Horse for the Cistumons. If this is true, the whole family should be arrested and executed."

Sakura cannot believe her ears.

"To conclude, we don't have a case about what you did in the Northeastern Prairie." Eunbi raises her chin a bit, "Unless we have proof of treason of the horse breeder family, all the investigation will stop. Just remember, Saku, killing a traitor is a heroic act. You will never be seen as a criminal. On the other hand, you killed the wolf and saved the Princess and other people, which we all have seen with our own eyes. I will recommend you and Jaeyeon, also Hongki, and his team to my father to confer titles of honor for your bravery."

Eunbi then looks at Chaewon, "and unnie for saving Saku's life.

Chaewon just answers cooly, "I will prepare for the documents after we get back to the palace."

Everyone applause.

The dramatic turn dumbfounds Sakura, she has no idea about "titles of honor," but she finally smiles and ate up anything left in Nako's pot.

***

by the additional protection squads, the expedition team recommences their journey.

Sakura feels a bit frustrated as Eunbi insisted she should ride on the carriage with Chaewon until they reach the hills.

Sakura has never sat side by side with Chaewon, she feels awkward and scared (who isn't scared of Kim Chaewon?). Sensing the child's nervousness, Chaewon decided to initiate some small talks.

"Saku-chan, do you remember you have asked a question about mages on the first day?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sakura answers carefully. "I asked if mages can fly."

Chaewon chuckles, "you asked if mages can fly, then why do we still have to travel on wheels and horseback."

Sakura blinks and hesitates to respond.

"You don't have to feel embarrassed. Only wise people ask questions. To be honest, I don't have an easy answer, I can just say, not all mages are the same, there are many kinds of mages, within one kind many levels. Great Yoonjung, the one we are going to visit, can master all kinds of magic on the highest level on our Earth, and she even created a new school of magic. Great Yoonjung is a skywalker, which means she can 'fly', in your vocabulary. We call that teleport. Great Yoonjung could travel between time and among realms and dimensions, that's how she took me away from 12 Dimension Earth. But not all mages can perform teleport, Eunbi can't, and I don't have enough power to carry another person using teleport."

Sakura's jaw drops with the realization, and the curious baby is surly not to give up the opportunity to continue asking.

"Why did Great Yoonjung take you away from 12 Dimension Earth?"

Chaewon turns her head to look at Sakura. She stops for a moment before she speaks, "I was born on an Earth which doesn't believe in magic. We were given all sorts of bad names and being locked up as 'lab animals'. Unfortunately, I was a child prodigy that could communicate with nature – not with animals as you do, but I could communicate with Earth's energies. I was perceived as insanity and I was put under heavy scrutinization in a mental hospital since I was around your age. They perform numerous experiments on me and sometimes put me under electric shock to 'drive the devil out of me' – they don't believe in magic but they believe in Devil, isn't that ironic?"

Chaewon scoffs but Sakura's eyes twinkle. It seems that she has finally heard a story that is close to what she has experienced. She leans in, tone getting anxious, "they chained me and locked me up in a cage and wanted to drive the devil out too! Originally, they planned to beat me to death, but somehow I didn't die."

Chaewon tries her best to maintain her coolness but she knows the sudden wheeze from her chest has betrayed her.

"Did you wish that you were dead when they beat you?" She asks softly.

"Yes, ma'am. I don't understand why I couldn't die. They should have just cut my throat."

Chaewon nods, "I understand. I felt the same way when I was in the mental hospital. My parents never visit me after dumping me there, and I prayed every night that I would die when they eclectic shock me or drug me the next time."

Sakura looks intensively at Chaewon with her big doe eyes, so intense that Chaewon can feel the child's heart – the image of a pure crystal floating on a blue flame arises at the back of her third eye. She also feels a delicate connection growing between her and the child.

"How did Great Yoonjung find you?" Now more at ease, Sakura continues with her questions.

"She was traveling around the universes. That sinister planet was so notorious that the master wanted to go and have a look. She found me by my energy and took me away."

"By teleport?"

"Yes, my dear."

Sakura grins at the word "my dear". It sounds so much like her mama. Although Lady Chaewon is strict and hard to serve, she has a tender heart despite her cool outlook. She thinks she begins to like her.

"There are a few things which won't hurt to know before you see the grandmaster. I don't know what kind of bedtime stories you have heard about mages, but Great Yoonjung is different from traditional mages because she doesn't only take care of the macro universe, like joining hand with other mages to change the energies of a certain planet to save billions of lives, she also takes care of communities on the micro-level. She has set up a magic university in Southern Tokkiz – we will visit when we get there, to train young mages to put their magical power to practical use. It is called the Yoonjung Method. Mages learn to borrow and exchange energies with nature so that we can allocate nature's energy to improve people's lives. We don't turn people or animals into stone but we build buildings and flat roads with stone so that people can live and travel safely. We have excellent plumbing and bathroom system to promote health and hygiene. People can enjoy illumination at night, hot spring water in winter, and cool ventilation in summer. We also use use magic in healing and provide immunizations to prevent certain sickness*, like what the Princess is doing. For this reason, mages must have the purest mind and an altruistic heart to possess such huge power."

"What if mages become bad people?" Sakura asks.

Chaewon chuckles, "If for whatever reason mages' minds changed, become corrupted and use magic for selfish reasons, they cannot escape Heaven's judgment even they can hide it from human. They may lose their power and become a commoner."

Sakura looks sad, "will they have any chance to repent and correct?"

"I suppose yes?" Chaewon smiles at the child's kindness, "unless people decided to abandon the law of nature, like in 12 Dimension Earth. People believe that they can control nature by what they called development – which is indeed another kind of black magic. People exploited natural resources and turned them into useless products, lethal weapons, and eventually waste. Their Earth was so polluted that people can no longer breathe without a mask and drink directly without a filter. Food was also loaded with toxic substances that developed many strange diseases in humans, and even animals. But those people never repent and correct, instead, they thought that is what civilization means."

Sakura grins innocently and murmurs, "I wish I can become a mage that can benefit animals and humans alike."

Chaewon stares at the child – what is he? She suddenly feels she can't wait to meet her master to have the answer.

***

The senior mage and the child had an informative and enjoyable chat until after crossing the last river and prepare to climb the last hills. Sakura starts to look destress and stopped asking questions.

The team and the guard stopped for a simple lunch when Hongki rearranges the riding plan. Not wanting to overstretch the horses, any extra weight will be taken away from the wagon. Everyone will ride his or her own horse while Nako will ride with Chaewon.

"Hills in the South are nothing compared to those in the Northeast," Hongki tells Sakura before they start, "they have lower altitude and much easier to cross. Our destination will be in sight before the sun sets."

That doesn't ease Sakura's uneasiness.

"What is it, kid?" Jaeyeon notices it when he helps Sakura mounting Ugly again. "Do you feel wolves again?"

"I don't know what is it," Sakura confesses, "I think I heard some strange noise."

Jaeyeon asks everyone to keep quiet but he can hear nothing.

Sakura sniffs and continues, "and I smell something unusual in the air too."

"Maybe it's Ugly. She has carried the body of the big wolf last night."

Nevertheless, Jaeyeon orders the dogs to be released from their cages to lead the way as they have far better noses than humans.

The team begins to move slowly up the hill.

"Stops!" Before the team reaches the hilltop, Sakura suddenly cries. She rides to the top but finds that both dogs and horses in the front are in a calm state, the avant-guard looks in his telescope again and sees nothing unusual.

A gust blows across the weeds and a strong smell of wolves attacks Sakura's nose. She yells in a tone that no one has ever heard from the softy child, "Come out!"

All the guards and taskforce members immediately take out their swords or mount their crossbows.

Then, an unbelievable scene appears before everybody's eyes. Heads of wolves of different sizes and colors stick out behind the weeds one by one. Rather than intimidating, their curious expressions look like puppies. The taskforce count briefly and there are around 50 wolves spreading across the downhill slope.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?" Sakura yells fiercely.

"You are asking the same question, ..." two big wolves, one in pure black and one in pure white fur, followed by dozens of Alpha wolves, walk slowly out from different sides of the slope and sit down right before Sakura.

"We come from different packs who inhabited around the area, we are here to thank you for saving our colony, ..." the black Alpha female says and lies down along with the white Alpha male in a weird position as if they are bowing. After they rise, they howl in a sound that is no-comprehensible to Sakura, all the other wolves follow suit, bowing and howling like an orchestra.

Sakura feels her hair raised. It is exactly the sound that the dead wolf has howled.

"..., we are sorry that we have suspected you and have been skeptical to you.” Says the Alpha male.

"What do you mean?” Sakura feels puzzled.

“..., we've met before. We asked you to follow us and help us. But anyway, you saved us, and we are thankful for it." The female says.

"We've met? You mean in my dream?" Sakura's jaw drops and cannot believe what she heard.

"Yes, the dream – it was not a dream. We came to alert you, but we were under the constrain of black magic and didn't express ourselves clearly and we are sorry for that," the female continues. "To make it brief, our habitat was invaded and occupied by the Dark Lord of Wolves a few decades ago, they confined us to a land where food is not enough, many packs didn't survive. According to our folklore, the Prince of Wolves will save us from captivation one day, but we have been waiting for years, and packs kept on disappearing. But suddenly, we got the intuition that the time has come, our savior will be traveling through the forest this year. However, if we know, that means the Dark Lord also knows. So he tried to kill you before you kill him. We only dare to show our faces after he died."

Sakura freezes. She finally understands what is '...', and she immediately relates it to the sudden elevation of her hearing and smelling abilities. Yet, she has absolutely no idea what is happening, and she feels lucky to be the only one who can communicate with animals here.

Sakura stays silent for a while. She turns her head and sees the full team has stopped behind her, still holding their weapons. Her feelings become complicated, and she hesitates to ask more. Finally, she says, "I am a loyal servant to Princess Eunbi and the Tokkiz Kingdom. Can you promise you will never attack us or steal our livestock and horses and protect us for the rest of the trip?"

The Alpha male stands up, "my Prince, we will obey your command. We promise we will not take anything from the Magic Vally and we will protect you and your Princess by all means until our last breath." He howls again and the wolves leave in different directions in packs.

After all the wolves are gone, the team puts back their weapons and cheers. Everyone congratulates the boy as if he is a hero.

"You must tell us what has happened after we reach the Southern Castle," Eunbi rides to Sakura's side and gives her a small perk on the forehead. Sakura's cheek instantly turns bright red like an apple. Jaeyeon laughs at the sight and pinches her cheeks lightly.

From where they stand, they can see the spectacular view of the Magic Valley. It is a vast plain sparsely inhabited, bathing in the afternoon sun. At the end of the valley stands a colorful castle with colorful row houses resting at its feet. Sakura was so pre-occupied by the wolves and only notices the scenery now and she cannot withhold her admiration for nature.

"Boy, it is the Province Magic South, an experimental town of magic," Hongki turns back and points ahead but Sakura is immersed in the beauty before her eyes. Instead, he meets with Chaewon's eyes which happen to be looking at him at the same time, he quickly turns back and urges the team to move.

* inspired by this webpage