Guardians of their hearts
Yan Da and Yue Shen had finally reached the border of the Ice Kingdom. In order not to attract attention through the use of magic, they had covered the way on fast horses. At first they had talked a little, but as the distance from the Ice Palace grew, the Fire Princess had become silent. Yan Da noticed that the clouds were following her, and her guilty conscience towards Ying Kong Shi seemed to shape the forms above growing dark and thick. The rain wasn't long in coming. The spell demanded more magic from her again, although she was now much stronger than three days ago. When they finally set up their night camp under an overhanging rock that protected their small fire from unwanted looks, she turned her gaze inward. The Ice Crystal in her burned brightly. She felt that something was coming that she couldn't control. And it would happen soon. If she was unlucky, it would thwart her plans to take over the leadership of her clan. To get her worries out of her mind, she turned to Yue Shen. "Our rest shouldn't last too long. As soon as we are in the Mortal Kingdom, we can use a dislocation spell to shorten the way to the border of the Fire Kingdom. From there on I protect us with a camouflage spell. Although this is almost unnecessary, because at dawn the guards are usually very sleepy." "Aye", said the female assassin, and sat with crossed legs. "I take the night watch, so you can rest. Your strength will be required for the spells tomorrow." Yan Da nodded and lay down on her blanket by the fire. When she silently asked for it, a small spark skipped over onto her hand and turned into a spinning ball of light. She sent it away in the dark sky of the night. Yue Shen's gaze followed it till the spark was too far away to be seen anymore. "Is that a light for Ying Kong Shi?" she asked in a low voice. "Yes. He should know that we are fine ..." and that I miss him, she added in her mind. "Are you two in love?" Yue Shen asked without frills. "Yes. But it's not ... public." Yue Shen was surprised about the honest answer. In a hesitant voice she said: "Do I have permission to speak freely?" Yan Da nodded and looked at the woman with the dark aura that almost blended her figure with the night sky. "Ying Kong Shi can become a good king despite his past deeds. I'm sure of that. But he needs guidance. He's been unbalanced all his life, and was always prone to commit extreme acts for his brother. We all suffered as a result. Indeed, worry I feel that he cannot tell love from passion, any more than obsession from selfless devotion. Xian Xue taught us that any extreme act leads to an extreme counter-act. I worry that, one day, for love he will do something terrible again. Then who will be able to stop him, as strong as he is?" Yan Da Yan Da frowned, and a slight discomfort was mixed with genuine admiration for her travel companion. "At the moment I'm not sure if there is an answer to your question. I'm not even sure that I'm not just dreaming what we've got lately. I had to watch for so long how he only cared about his brother. It was only through his actions that he sometimes showed me he cared about me. He saved me countless times, even when I stood in his way in his plans for Ka Suo's welfare. But he never punished me for it, even though he could have just killed me. So I held on to the thought that it was his way of showing his love for me.
When I think about it, I wonder which of the two of us is crazier, him or me. Any other woman would have turned away from him because of her hurt feelings, but I would have died for him all along, even if there was no further evidence of his love. Maybe I am the one who has to wonder if I know the difference between obession and love." Yan Da saw that Yue Shen had turned away slightly. "Are you crying?" The Fire Princess asked in shock. Yue Shen shook her head, but then nodded with a sad smile. "Who am I to judge you. For my love for Huang Tuo, I would die too." And I've already done that ... she thought to herself. Yue Shen turned around in irritation when she heard Yan Da laughing softly. "How about we make another pact: Let us swear that we will remind each other at our moral compasses when we run the risk of taking extreme measures out of love? Let us swear to remind each other that we don't live only to love a man, but to do our jobs." Yue Shen started to join the laugh. "It can't hurt if we protect each other's hearts, just in case no one else does." With this promise, the night fell over their little camp, and Yan Da wondered why it suddenly seemed to her that she was making a new friend every day, after a life of loneliness.