Yunho ate a hurried breakfast after a brief (well, rather long actually) meeting with Nia.  The old librarian seemed to want to stuff as much of Filarin’s history and law into him as she could in as short amount of time as she could.  It was almost like she saw it as a personal challenge to see how much Yunho could learn in a day. 

While Yunho practically inhaled fruit and bread (the only breakfast he could be sure he could finish before Kari came in for breakfast), Yazin informed him that it was time to be tested for his magic potential.  He was told to meet the High Wizard in the study that was attached to their suite as soon as he finished eating.  As Yazin left the dining room, Yunho sat in silence for a moment.  There was a good possibility that Kari would be coming for testing at the same time, and he had spent a great deal of effort avoiding her the day before.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her; it was more like he wanted to see her too much, and he didn’t like the fact that they were forced to marry.  What about her choice?  What if she didn’t want to be married to Yunho?  Before they came to Filarin, back in the obstacle course, it was obvious that she had had a crush on Junsu.  Wouldn’t it bother her now to be married to someone so closely related to Junsu, all the while knowing that she would never see Junsu again?  And there was the matter of conceiving an heir.  Yunho didn’t want Kari to feel pressured into sleeping with him just because the people here decided that they had to have an heir right away.  It wasn’t right to force people to sleep together just to have political stability.  So, Yunho had decided to stay away from Kari as much as possible.  Maybe, she wouldn’t feel so pressured if she didn’t see him.  But, all that effort would be for naught if they were forced to be together. 

He sighed.  There was nothing he could do to stop it, so he might as well go get tested.  If he was quick enough, maybe he could leave before Kari arrived.  Yunho jumped up and very nearly ran to the study, letting the servants clean the remains of his breakfast.  Yazin was waiting for him and motioned for him to sit in one of the comfortable chairs surrounding the one table/desk in the room. 

“Alright, Majesty.  You have heard much about magic since you were brought here, but you know very little about it.  If you pass this testing, you will begin the training of the Tesa Huunim.  Then, you will learn much more than you ever thought possible about magic.  I will begin testing you for your potential, now.  You may feel a tingling sensation or you may not.  If you feel nothing, do not take that as an indication of your potential.  I, myself, felt nothing at my testing and I had one of the strongest potentials ever seen.  Do you have any questions before we begin?”

“Just one.  What exactly is involved in this testing?”

“Nothing on your part, Majesty.  I will simply be sending magic into you.  You just have to breath and wait.”

Yunho nodded, a little apprehensive.  He still didn’t know if he really wanted this magic stuff or not. 

Yazin placed a hand on Yunho’s forehead and told him to be very still.  Yunho waited for something to happen, some sensation that would tell him Yazin was doing something, but he felt nothing.  Was that supposed to happen?  He knew what Yazin had said, but was he really not supposed to feel anything at all?  After what felt like an eternity, Yazin took his hand away and sat down across from Yunho.  He had a very disturbed look on his face.  What did that mean?

“Yazin?  Is everything alright?”

“Huh…yes, Majesty.  I am simply a little perturbed by this.  They said you would be strong, but this…?”  He trailed off.  In the three days Yunho had been awake in Filarin, he had never seen Yazin like this.  All of his outer composure had been stripped away leaving a very obviously frightened man in its place.  It scared Yunho to see this.  In Yunho’s mind, Yazin had always been unflappable.  He never considered that the man could be frightened or unnerved in any way. 

“Majesty, forgive me.  I have never seen someone other than the Elanari with as much magical potential as you.  In fact, before today, I would have said it was impossible for someone without Elanari blood to be this powerful.  Do you have Elanari blood, Majesty?”

“Uhh…not that I know of.  I’d never even heard of the Elanari until I got here.”

“That is very strange.”

“Yazin?”

“Yes, Majesty?”  He seemed to have regained some of his composure.

“What did you mean when you said that they told you I’d be strong?  Who’s they?  And how did they know I would have such a great potential?”

“Nothing, Majesty.  I misspoke.  No one has told my anything about you other than your name.  Please, forget I mentioned it.”

For some reason, Yunho didn’t entirely feel comfortable with that explanation. 

“Now, Majesty.  There is the matter of your training.  Your potential, however great, is useless without training to help you control it.  Training will begin this afternoon.  Please come back to the study directly after your lunch.”  With that, he bowed and walked swiftly out of the room. 

Well, this was just great.  He was being lied to by the High Wizard, he had some amazing magical potential that he had to learn to control, and, on top of all that, he still had his duties as king to deal with.  That’s all without even mentioning Kari.  He didn’t know what he was going to do about Kari.  He liked her, really liked her.  Even if he didn’t like her, he still wouldn’t want to force her to do anything with him that she didn’t want to.  It only made it harder for him because he liked her.  He kept thinking about things he knew he shouldn’t, all because he was attracted to her.  But, marriage wasn’t all about attraction.  It was a commitment to actively love and respect one another and continually grow with each other.  A good marriage was something you had to work at, not just hope that ual attraction would carry you through.  If they slept together now, before really getting to know one another and making that commitment to each other, it would put a huge mistake.  One that he was not willing to make; even if his body and mind were pushing hard to get him to.  If they really were to be stuck together in marriage, he wanted to start things off on the right foot.  And for now, that meant staying away from Kari and the temptations he felt like he couldn’t handle.

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Kari chewed her food slowly, not wanting to finish breakfast and have to face the day alone.  If Yunho was going to avoid her today, she’d let him.  She wasn’t going to look for him or ask after him or anything like that.  If he wanted to be alone, that was his deal.  He probably hated the idea of being stuck with someone like her, anyway.  Sure, she was pretty, but she had never been his ideal type.  It was really no wonder why he was avoiding her.  She would avoid her too, if she were in his shoes. 

“Majesty.  Reina of the Tesa Huunim is here to see you.”

Oh joy, the healer was coming to make good on her threat.  This was going to be a great day.

“Send her in.”  The servant bowed and opened the door to let the old hag (that was Kari’s new nickname was for her) into Kari’s dining chamber.

“Eating a good breakfast I see.  That’s a good way to start the day.”

Did she have to be so patronizing all the time? 

“Come here, child, and let me give you a quick look-over.”

“But, I’m not done, yet.”

Reina’s only reply was to raise an eyebrow and give Kari a look that made her jump out of her chair, breakfast or no breakfast. 

“Very good, child.”  She paused for a moment and Kari felt the telltale tingle that signaled when someone was using magic on her.  “I see you still haven’t convinced your husband that you’re a woman, yet.  You really should get to work on that.”  With a brief smile, Reina walked around Kari and sat down at the table.  “You don’t mind if I join you, do you child?  I haven’t eaten, yet, and I still have a lot to do today.  Got to keep my strength up.”

Kari swallowed a comment about what the old hag could do about her ‘strength’ and shook her head.  She sat down and was about to start eating again when the old hag took the fork right out of her hand. 

“I think you’ve had enough for one morning.  You have to keep your figure in check if you hope to get His Majesty into bed.”

Kari flushed with anger and embarrassment.  There was nothing wrong with her figure!  Sure, she wasn’t the skinniest girl around, but that was because she had curves.  Guys liked curves!  So, her shape had nothing to do with why she and Yunho weren’t sleeping together.  Yunho was a gentleman, and he – wait.  Why was she arguing this in her head?  She wasn’t going to say it to the old hag, and she already knew all of her own arguments.  So, what was the point? 

Reina sighed and set her own fork down.  “I suppose I should tell you.  Yazin is looking for you.  It’s time to check on your magical potential.  Of course, I already know your potential and I told him so, but he wants to check for himself.  I guess he didn’t believe me.”

“Where is he?”

“In your study.  Since you’ve finished breakfast and you’re all dressed for the day, you should go see him.”  She motioned towards the door as if to shoo Kari out so she could finish her breakfast in peace.  Kari mentally rolled her eyes and obeyed.  She might as well go get her magic testing over with.  Maybe it would be just as painless as her other visitor this morning. 

“Ah, you’ve arrived, Majesty.  Please come in and sit.  I will test you for your magical potential, now.  Please, don’t be alarmed if you don’t feel anything.”  Yazin put his hand against her forehead as soon as she sat.  She felt a far greater tingling sensation than when Reina had probed her.  Why was that? 

The tingles stopped after a moment and Yazin withdrew his hand. 

“Please, prepare for your first lesson this afternoon in the study.”  He walked out of the room, leaving behind a very confused Kari.  What was that all about?  He never told her what her potential was.  How was she supposed to know? 

At that moment, Mair walked into the study and curtsied. 

“Majesty, you have a meeting with the head librarian in a few minutes.  Would you like me to you to her?”

Kari sighed.  Well, it wasn’t like her day could get much worse.  She was, of course, wrong.  After three hours of history (which she actually enjoyed) she had lunch (alone, again) and was hustled into her dressing room to change for her magic lesson.  They actually wanted her to wear those horrid sheer robes she had seen yesterday in the library.  Of course, she knew they were the traditional training robes of Tesa Huunim initiates, but that didn’t mean she wanted to wear them.  There was no way in heck she was going to walk out of this room wearing anything see-through. 

So, of course, she arrived at the study ready for her first lesson in magic, dressed only in those sheer robes.  At least there were no servants around.  She thought she would die of embarrassment if anyone saw her in those robes.  But, she had to go in.  The doors to the study were closed and she couldn’t hear anything when she put her ear against the door.  Maybe, no one was in there and the lesson had been cancelled.  No, she couldn’t hope for that.  That would be too good to be true. 

She took a deep breath and, stealing herself against the eyes of whoever her teacher was going to be, opened the door to find Yunho (in the same sheer robes she was wearing) sitting at the desk looking at her.  Her eyes widened and she felt her face heat up as Yunho seemed to notice who he was staring at and averted his eyes.  Oh great.  That was just what their relationship needed:  more awkwardness. 

Yunho cleared his throat and turned his head so that he couldn’t see her, even out of the corner of his eyes.

“You should sit down.  Our teacher will be here any minute, now.”

Kari stayed where she was, frozen, until she realized that the door behind her was still open and she was leaving her backside uncovered for whoever might walk by.  She closed the door quickly and sat next to Yunho (it was the only other chair in the room and she didn’t want to make it more awkward by moving it).  They were sitting close enough that she could feel whenever he shifted.  She closed her eyes.  As the silence stretched on, the awkward atmosphere in the room grew thicker and thicker.  Kari was almost relieved when the door opened and their teacher walked in, until she saw who it was.  Reina walked over to the chalkboard (yes, there was a chalkboard) and stared at the both of them. 

“Now.  It’s time for your first lesson in magic.  I hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves up to this point, because your lives here in Filarin are about to get a lot more complicated.”