Celestial was sitting in her room staring at the wall, actually memorizing the patterns and the designs. She sighed, trying to think of a plan. What would she do to get out of the damned place? She knew she was in a lot of trouble. Celestial looked around at her room, from the back was her bed. At the head of the bed was a sculpture of Genbu, a turtle that looked like there were snakes coming out of its body. The covers of her bed had little green and black flowers curving and snaking around each other. The sheet's color was a mossy green. Little black and olive green flowers covered her pillow's cases, like the design of her covers. Her canopy was a see through silvery black, which was pulled back over the head of her bed. The walls were different kinds of greens with little black designs that Celestial had been memorizing. She had a dresser set against her left wall that was made out of bamboo. A mirror had been built into the dresser. Around the mirror were sculptures of flowers and the different characters of Genbu. Celestial had a large window with a windowsill that had a seat in which she could sit and look at the scenery. Celestial went over to the seat and looked at the pillows that lay there. There were more colors in these pillows than her whole room. Celestial sat down and pulled back the thick curtains to see the view. She gasped at the hills and mountains. The land was hilly and very green. She looked up into the sky and she could see all of the stars, shining and glimmering, trying so hard to outshine each other. But all too soon (Even though an hour had passed when she first sat there), clouds started to fill the sky. Soon enough, little whit snowflakes started to slowly drift down and blanket Hokkan with snow. Celestial marveled at the beauty of Hokkan, almost forgetting that she was captured, wanting the peace that she felt at that moment to last forever.
Celestial looked out of the window as long as she dared, and closed the window, so not to catch a cold. When there was a knock at the door she remembered where she was and that she was a captive to the foreign palace. A long silence came after the knocking. "Come-- come in." Celestial said at last. A maid came in and said, "His highness requests you to join him for diner, and you are to wear this." The maid was holding a dress that was the colors of Hokkan. Celestial looked at the dress disgusted.
"Well, you can tell his highness that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request."
"I beg your pardon your eminence?" The girl asked her voice quivering.
"Tell him no'." Celestial said, forgetting that the girl probably had never heard those words before, that she was probably very poorly educated.
"Your eminence, please, I'm afraid to speak back to his highness." The girl was half crying at this point. Her nose was red and she was crying into her sleeves. Celestial raised her eyebrow wanting so much to say well suck it up and go tell him that I really don't want to dine with him.' But she really didn't have the heart to say it to her. The girl looked about ten and very scared.
"Fine, tell him that I will be there as soon as possible." Celestial said, totally annoyed. The girl looked happier after that, she thanked Celestial many times. The girl also asked her if she needed to help dress her. Celestial just politely said no'. And Celestial almost kicked the girl out of her room. After the little maid was out Celestial looked up into the ceiling and said, "Please take me now." Celestial, then, started to get dressed.
Karura escorted Celestial when she was finally done getting dressed. The whole dress was a different ethnic dress than she was used to in Peking. "What took you so long?" Karura asked with a sigh.
"This dress." Celestial muttered, plucking at it just to make the moment more dramatic. Karura had a smile on his lips with an eyebrow up. She knew he was amused. And for some reason, Celestial felt more relaxed. This Karura person didn't seem so bad. Wait a moment!' Celestial thought as a red flag shot up inside her head. Hello! Celestial, he is a general for the Hokkan army! Dummy, he is the one that captured you!' The two walked into the dining room. Karura walked towards the emperor and bowed. Celestial just stood at the door. Someone closed it, but she didn't care. She just stared at the person sitting at the head of the table. Celestial's amethyst eyes were ice-cold. They were piercing, as she stared into the emperor's eyes. He shivered as her eyes locked onto his. He looked away. The emperor gestured to a seat across from him. Celestial sat down rigidly. Karura could sense the tension. He also saw the deathly look in the Priestess's eyes. That was a look meant to kill. If eyes could kill, the emperor would certainly be dead. And at that moment, the emperor realized that nothing would or could make this girl be their priestess. He also knew that he did not want her as an enemy. "Why don't we start off with acquainting ourselves." The emperor said coldly. Celestial, who had not been looking at the emperor, slowly turned her head to meet his gaze. She said, "I'm a priestess you're a termite, who is biting on a rock and not getting very far. There we're acquainted." Her voice exceeded his coldness towards her.
"That was harsh." The emperor said smoothly. " But you will soon learn, that your friends won't come for you. Right now, they're dead."
"How in hell would a termite like you know the likes of that?" Celestial asked icily.
" I sent soldiers after them, to make sure that they wouldn't even dare try to rescue their priestess."
"You're bluffing. You have no idea if they're dead or not. You're just making a very bad attempt of trying to scare me, and no, for your information, I was not the least scared. Now if this is all you wanted to do, which is have a very unintelligent conversation and acquainting, then please I'm going to excuse myself. And no, I did not ask you if I could be excuse, yes I did excuse myself." Celestial scooted back her chair and walked towards the door. She tried to open it. The door didn't budge. Celestial heard a chuckle from behind her, then a voice saying, "That's a lot of big talk for such a small person." Celestial's back was still turned to the emperor. Suddenly Celestial punched the door. The door fell along with some debris. Celestial flicked her hair away from her face, and said, with her back still turned to the emperor, "You may need someone to fix the door for you." And with that, Celestial walked away. Leaving the emperor and Karura shocked. The emperor left, with some escorts. Karura walked after Celestial after he had bowed and apologized.
"Well, I guess Celestial's still fit and as athletic as she used to be before she was sucked into the book." Yue said, not the least surprised to read that the lovely young priestess from the other world just broke down the door.' Etsuko just looked at Yue, and said, " I think she was a little mad."
"Oh yeah, maybe just a little." Yue said sarcastically. And they both smiled at themselves.
"Oh, look!" Etsuko pointed. The book said that Koukyuu was using her special celestial powers to see where Celestial was.
"She's in the east wing at the palace. In the third room nearest to those mountains over there." Etsuko said at last.
"That took you awhile. What happened?" Shiho asked.
"There is a wall of powerful magic surrounding the palace. I think that it's wind that is surrounding the palace. I don't know how we're going to get through the barrier. I don't think it will let us sneak through."
"Damn it!" Shiho muttered.
Karura smiled at himself. Someone had been probing past his barrier. He knew it mustve been one of the Tenkyoku warriors, because no one else could have or would have been strong enough. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you get past, past all of the guards until you meet me." Karura muttered softly to himself.
Celestial had felt the magic being used. And she knew that the emperor had been bluffing, because that magic must've been Koukyuu's, but wait, wasn't her magic only dream seeing? Celestial had to ask Koukyuu that later. Celestial seriously hoped that those two had a plan, because she knew that the palace security was tough. Celestial looked out of her large window and sighed. The wind was whirling and whipping the snow, which was falling swiftly and steadily. Slowly Celestial's eyes began to droop, as she slowly closed her eyes. Celestial hadn't realized how tired she had been until then.
In Celestial's dream there was a man who was surrounded by a silvery aura, it wasn't Shiho or Koukyuu, though. This man was just a shadow; she couldn't make out his face. But he was enveloped in a silvery aura, like Koukyuu and Shiho. The man yelled a command, and a fierce wind started to blow, but she didn't feel anything. Celestial looked around, there were soldiers being torn apart by the wind, blood soaked into the white snow, as limbs and other body parts flew in every direction. The once white snow slowly became a crimson red, as the snow soaked up the blood that had been spilled. Celestial saw the men screaming, but she couldn't hear anything.
Koukyuu and Shiho had rode past the entrance of Hokkan. They had fooled the guards by pretending that they had a very important letter for the emperor. At the moment, the palace stood in front of them. Shiho could feel the wall of wind surrounding the building. Suddenly, the wall vanished. And A road that was outlined by wind showed them a route to get into the palace without anyone noticing. Koukyuu and Shiho looked at each other, not daring to speak. They quietly dismounted their horses; Shiho didn't want to bind them there to the spot less they needed to escape. With Shiho in the lead and Koukyuu following, the two quietly followed the wind path. The path led them right to Celestial's room.
"Knock, knock!" Celestial sat straight up, she was soaked in sweat, what had the dream been about? Celestial looked at the door, slowly she went to open it. Shiho and Koukyuu stood on the other side of the door. Koukyuu put a finger to her lips, beckoning for Celestial's silence. Celestial nodded, forgetting instantly about her dream. All too soon, she heard a rustle, and some commands being called out. Damn it' Shiho thought! "I found them!" A soldier yelled when they were trying to escape. But suddenly a wall of wind was put up. Celestial looked around but couldn't see anyone. Not wanting to lose any time, Shiho pulled Celestial, and with Koukyuu following, they ran towards the main entrance to the palace. Shiho blasted the doors open with his magic. Celestial, Shiho and Koukyuu froze at what they saw ahead of them. Celestial's eyes grew wider, with freight. Koukyuu clamped her mouth shut. Shiho just looked pale.