-12-
The youths drives back to Shang Tu on the their motortrikes until they reach the long flight of stairs leading to the Shang Tu Palace, it was where they first fought the group of scarves who had attacked them which resulted in the events that landed them in their current situation, it was a reminder that displeased them and made Milla guilty for pulling her friends into such danger. They park the vehicles besides the base of the stairway. As they climb up the long stairway, Milla helps Norah up by wrapping her arms around the injured panda as Chan carries an unconscious Spade on his back. Kai was walking a few feet behind the rest of his peers, troubled, he never felt this way before and he hated it. What annoyed the husky more was the situation he got himself into, he honestly don't remember why he followed Milla in the first place at this point. Did I follow this stupid girl to prove a point, because I don't think I succeeded. Perhaps it was pity, frankly she doesn't seem to enjoy her fame, it doesn't matter, she should've expected this crap by now.
When the party finally reach the palace, Milla was the first to enter, "I'll have to explain everything to the Royal Magister, at least why they should trust you, as for everything else, you'll have to help me with that… sorry…" she explains in a dry tone, the seemingly assuring smile Milla expresses didn't make the others feel reassured at all, in contrary it only made them more anxious.
Kai continues to think to himself, seeing Norah and Spade in their pathetic state sickens him, Norah likely could be healed with a health bath, however even with Spade's physical injuries healed, he would likely remain in comatose, even then he wasn't entirely sure if it would fully heal Spade's injury. The husky then thought about rather the Royal Magister would trust them or not. Chan likely would be alright, however Norah and himself were mercenaries, not exactly law abiding citizen, but criminals, outcasts or rouges, normally the canine wouldn't be as sympathetic towards someone, I suppose Norah would be forgiven fairly easily given her aristocratic connections, for whatever reason she left her family, I'm sure that's what's going to save her ass… normally I wouldn't care rather she gets locked up or not, however she's an ally and frankly after this, she at least deserves it…
I actually blame Milla for this bull s***, she's the one that dragged us into this, we didn't need to be involved with whatever crap happened between her and the Red Scarves.
Kai reaches into his pocket and his heart drops, the microchip that he promised to return to Milla was missing!
Meanwhile Chan decides to lay Spade across the stone floor, which angers Norah, so she carefully kneels down and had the unconscious cavy lay his head on her lap as she holds on to his head, she knew she couldn't really heal him with her energy crystals in their current state however touching his head pleased her. Chan was curios about Norah's motherly attitude towards Spade, however whenever he would ask, she usually would respond defensively.
After about an hour of waiting, the youths sees Milla with a large, masculine giant panda, wearing heavy armor and equipped with a massive shield.
"General Gong I presume…" Kai infers in a rather disrespectful tone, which results in Milla exchanging an angry expression.
"So your Kai Xin, Milla told me about how condescending you can be, you should be grateful the Royal Magister was kind enough to let you into his palace, given your… former association with the Red Scarves." Gong spoke in a calm tone, his voice was deep which didn't surprise the husky at all, he only responds with a grin which only annoyed his peers and made the panda general chuckle, however the general's tone changed, noticing the familiar cavy who laid in front of him, "Milla have also told us about the situation with Spade, we'll take him to the infirmary, as for you kids, you're going straight to the throne room."
A couple of guards carefully carries Spade's unconscious body into the palace, with General Gong and the party following behind them, the palace halls had blue marble floors with sky blue decor pillars which Norah jokingly compares to the Suigang Palace's, this gives the panda girl an undesired feeling of nostalgia, however her main reason for the unsettling nostalgia was because of what she was expecting at the throne room.
The youths all enter the throne room, standing by the balcony which overlooked the city was a tall man, wearing a cloak which had an assortment of different shades of blue and yellow, with blue gloves and a helmet of a similar hue which had obscured his face only revealing his purple eyes; This was the Royal Magister, no one truly knew his identity, therefore whatever was under those robes were unknown to the common person.
Next to him was a woman who had a striking resemblance to Norah, she wore a black long sleeve shirt, magenta midriffed light armor and cuffs with white out lines, a magenta skirt and black boots; wielding a icey blue stave with a WATER energy crystal at the tip with what appears to be two horns pointing towards the energy crystal. The woman was a panda who had beige fur, purple eyes, black blue-ish hair and was much older than Norah, this was the head palace guard Neera Li, former priestess of the Shuigang Palace.
As the youths line up in front of the Royal Magister, they bow and make their respective greetings, Norah's however was very awkward and hesitant, not only was her voice still not working properly but the moment she laid her eyes on Neera, she recognizes her immediately and tries her best to keep her eyes away, however the Magister quickly notices the young panda girl's posture and expression, he quickly deduces that the young panda girl felt uncomfortable with the older panda.
"Neera, I think it's best you leave us." the Royal Magister proclaims, noticing Neera's equally as anxious expression, an emotion he rarely saw from her, in fact it was almost off character.
"Yes, your majesty." Neera agrees.
"Uh…" General Gong starts before the Magister interrupts.
"You can accompany her." Magister assures.
The general simply bows and follows Neera to the infirmary, Kai who was the first to speak, giving out a loud deliberate cough, "It's an honor to meet you in person, however from what you've heard from either Milla or Gong, we didn't exactly came from the most desired of situations." he explains but in a stoic and apathetic fashion, he was rude and his tone annoyed the other youths, they were certain the Royal Magister would throw them in prison now. In the contrary the man simply remains calm.
"Indeed, I have already heard about your ordeal with the Red Scarves, however further detail would be appreciated. Why did you initially came here? What exactly happened with you and the Red Scarves?"
Norah, who was certain that the monotonic husky would surely have them killed, took over, shoving Kai to the side, "I apologize for my ally's tone and behavior, however to answer your first question, when we were in the Qin Empire we had uncovered a plot against the Empress and soon after unraveling said conspiracy, Empress Yazmine had sent us specifically to discuss an alliance with the three kingdoms. Our first destination was Shang Mu because we have heard that both King Dail and Mayor Zao was there for diplomatic reasons and so we took the opportunity, we were however surprised about Tuanjie's appearance and by then Chan had joined our group." she explains although broad, her explanation was to the point and vocabulary was formal, her behavior surprises the Royal Magister.
"Interesting, I'm assuming you wouldn't be here if Dail and Zao hadn't agreed, though it pleases me to see someone who we thought to be our enemy or at least our rival have had a change of heart. Perhaps I'm being too bias when I call the Qin Empire a former enemy though."
"It's understandable."
"Tell me, who are you exactly? Milla Basset had described you as a rogue who had abandoned your family when you were only ten years of age."
"I'd rather not talk about it, I think I'd rather have one of my friends explain the rest for me. Also may I ask to visit the infirmary to look over Spade"
"Very Well." the Royal Magister says, however he knew the real reason why the panda girl wanted to go to the infirmary, I can only hope that she would forgive her mother, it's not my place to interfere.
After Norah slowly walks her way to the infirmary, the other youths explains what happened in the Red Scarves' hideout, however like they promised, they kept the location of the hideout a secret. They explained how the Red Scarves was being manipulated by one of their own leaders, Jai, and the atrocities he had committed towards his own allies and subordinates. When the youths mention Jai's name it triggered a concerned expression from the Royal Magister, or at least, that's what everyone would assume.
"Tell me, do you intend to participate in the Annual Avalice Martial Arts Tournament?" Magister asks, quickly changing the topic.
"We don't know…" Milla admits, neither of her friends had a clearer answer.
"If you do… be careful, you have our support. If there's one thing I truly understand about Jai, is that he is a clever but cold man who will not hesitate to do anything in his power to achieve his goals, whatever they may be."
This wasn't new to them, it's the reason for their hesitation to participate, however at the same time they were worried about what Jai was capable of, they wasn't sure if they could compete with him.
"However do not be discouraged, you may stay here as long as you please, I'll be awaiting your decision."
The youths simply nod as the Royal Magister dismisses them, they decide to accompany Norah.
Norah was at the infirmary, the nurse quickly notices her injuries and offers help, how could the panda girl refuse. She sat on a bed where she had a good view of Spade, who only wore his pants with bandages wrapped around his stomach to cover where Jai had impaled him. I guess we both ran away, talk about a coincidence…
Is what Jai said about you, true…
like I know you can't hear me, let alone read my mind…
The young panda girl simply sits on her bed, the nurses have done a reasonable job at patching up her most severe injuries, the nurse had also kindly offered her some new clothes, though Norah refused to wear them, at least until she took her health bath. When the panda first entered the infirmary she noticed Neera Li and General Gong speaking to one another, she couldn't hear them however she could tell from Neera's expression that she was saddened and agitated while Gong tried to comfort her, in his own awkward way. The nurse explained that Gong's antics usually would cheer Neera up however this time was different.
"Is that Red Scarf important to her or something?" the nurse would ask.
"Well he was a prince of Shuigang…" Norah explains.
"Oh, so he's King Dail's brother."
The nurse's comment made Norah angry, "Don't you have other people to treat" she kindly asks, trying her best to control her anger.
"Well, this isn't a hospital after all, not alot happens here, the last time someone came here in aid was that dragon girl. Times of peace don't exactly bring alot of injured soldiers or anything."
"Hmph, I guess…"
"You know miss Li, when she first came here to the palace, after announcing she had defected from Shuigang, she would always help out. She would help out on the daily routines in the palace and after the whole Brevon incident, by the Royal Magister's orders, she helped out those in need, she even would have to cooperate with some scarves at that time, of course that was only for a very short time."
Huh, that still doesn't change the fact that she's an awful mother…
"I can tell you're not really interested, it's alright… at your age I'd probably wouldn't care too much about politics and chores either. Well have a good afternoon… even though it's still only morning."
This sucks, this really sucks, not like I wanted to see my mother again… life sucks sometimes…
Norah sighs, she wasn't in the best mood, then she notices Neera Li walking towards her, "What do you want…" she asks, obviously displeased with the priestess' presence.
"I just want to know if you're alright" Neera explains.
"You… caring about me? I'm sorry but I don't believe you…"
"So you're still angry about what happened three years ago…"
Norah doesn't respond.
"Can you at least explain to me what happened to you?" Neera insists.
"That's none of your business, besides I have a question for you…"
"Is that so, I just wanted to see if your alright I'm your mo-"
"Tell me the truth, why did Spade abandon the royal family?" Norah demands.
Neera was surprised by her daughter's question, it took her a moment before she sighs, it seems reluctance and condescendence ran in the family, however it seems when both family members express these feeling towards each other it only result in conflict. "He ran away because he wasn't of pure royal blood, he was merely Dail's half-brother, a half-prince."
This explanation angers Norah, "So that's what you think of him?! A half-prince disgrace who became criminal?!" she infers.
"Of course not!"
"Stop trying to sound like you actually cared, you never cared."
"What made you think that?!"
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't turn out like the perfect aristocratic girl you wanted!" Norah mocks in a sarcastic tone, subconsciously changing the topic.
"N-norra…" Neera's bravado was gone.
"You got nothing left to say? Huh, Mom?"
Neera simply remains silent, and decides to leave her daughter to herself, "I just want to say that the reason I was so strict then was because I've always cared…" she softly explains before leaving.
Milla, Kai and Chan enters the infirmary and met with an upset Norah, "What's wrong?" Milla asks.
"Nothing."
"That's a lie." Kai protests, "Why don't you explain to us who you really are for starters."
Norah remains silent, Milla steps in her defense, "Leave her alone!" she cries.
"Then maybe you know her full name?"
"Uh…wait, what? What does that have to do with anything?!"
"Can't answer, huh?"
"I mean, she…"
"It's curious how despite being your closest friend, you don't even know her surname." Chan muses, the conversation was making Norah uneasy.
"Milla Basset, Kai Xin, Chan Fokkusu, but Norah is the only one who haven't said her full name…" Kai insists.
"Fine!" Norah starts however her voice stops, she didn't want to be ostracized over something as minor as her name, either way the words came out, "Norah Li"
"Just as I thought, it all makes sense now."
"Interesting, of all the people to be related to… Neera Li" Chan continues.
"I guess that makes two girls that got us in the chopping block…"
"Wait… what?! Are you blaming both of us for this?!" Norah protests.
"That's exactly what I'm saying, though I suppose I can't entirely blame you, your relation with the Shuigang royal family was only a coincidence in this case, this is really all of Milla's fault!" Kai points directly at the hound, who is shocked at the husky's accusation.
Although a sudden surge of fear runs through Milla, that is quickly replaced with anger, "How is this my fault?!"
"I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't need to join this group."
"Then why did you join in the first place?!" Milla argues, "If you really didn't care why don't you just leave?!"
"Everybody calm down!" Chan counters.
"Let him leave, see if I care." Norah retorts.
"Fine by me." Kai agrees, he simply walks out of the infirmary and asks the nurse which way to the exit.
"After everything we did for him, the ungrateful-"
"This is your fault too!" Milla interrupts, "Why didn't tell me?! I thought we were friends!"
"Does it matter! At least we're alive!"
"Yeah, but because of you we've lost our friend!"
"You're blaming me for that?! Damnit Milla, sometimes… sometime you can be a naive bitch! JUST GROW UP!"
Norah caught herself, she glances at Milla's teary eyes which shifted to tears of anger, she knew she had went too far, Chan remains solemnly silent.
"M-Milla… I-I didn't mean to…" Norah tries to reach her hand towards her friend.
"URGH, Shut up!" Milla scolds slapping Norah's hand away, "Just leave me alone!" she demands as she ran towards the palace exit, leaving both the panda and fox behind.
Norah simply remains still for a moment, before covering her face underneath her arms, she soon began to cry herself.
