-16-
The limousine arrives at the Shang Mu City Hall, it was about eight o'clock in the evening.
Ming Zu guides the four youths to the dining hall which consists of brown, beige and cream walls, red pillars with golden trims and a statue of a dragon made from bronze with gemstone eyes. The floor was made with marble and a large crimson rug was at the center of the room, the dining table resting on top of the rug had a total of 21 chairs.
As the youths enters the room they see Mayor Zao of Shang Mu, King Dail of Shuigang and another individual; Mayor Zao was a red panda with a napoleon complex who wore a red and yellow garment with a yellow cloak and black shoes however the most prominent part of his attire was his red hat which was almost the same height as himself, he was certainly older than his wife, likely around the ages of twenty-seven or twenty-eight; King Dail was also a panda, he had beige fur and black hair, he wore a green and yellow garment with a long yellow sash and black shoes of his own, he was younger as to be expected, he was about twenty-three years old.
"Hey sweetie, guess who I found!" Ming announces, referring to her husband.
Zao looks behind himself and sees the basset hound, "Who's the girl?"
"This is Milla Basset."
The mayor slowly examines the hound until he finally recognizes her, "I-I knew that!" he proclaims, "She's just older."
"I think that's usually how life works." Dail retorts.
"Don't talk back to me, I told you she's just older… that's why I didn't recognize her at first."
"Other than the new clothes and slightly longer hair she doesn't look very different."
"Well you can't expect me to remember everyone I've seen!"
"Seriously, she help saved our planet! How exactly are you an elected official again?"
"What is that suppose to mean?!"
"It means you're an idiot and I don't understand how the likes of you is ruling a kingdom to begin with."
"Why you little brat!" Zao becomes aggressive, "You dare insult the greatest ruler of all of Avalice?!" [+5 Pride]
"You're as self-absorbed as you are incompetent it seems, last time I check you almost cause a world war."
"Because you stole the Kingdom Stone!"
"You stole it first, also I was brainwashed."
"Excuses!"
"Enough!" The third individual interrupts the argument with a commanding tone causing Ming and Milla to leap in surprise with the other youths impressed by the man's authority, "In case you two have forgotten, we are here on official business, so please let go of you foolish rivalry and why not welcome our humble guests."
Both pandas submits, however they cross each other with hostile stares.
The third individual was a bobcat who looked similar to Jie, except he was older and wore a white garment with golden outlines, "It's a pleasure to meet you Milla Basset, my name is Tuanjie Jilu, you already know my brother: Jie Jilu." Tuanjie welcomes the basset hound and the other youths.
"Thank you, so you're Jie's brother, he told me you would be here." Milla responds.
"Who exactly are the other three?" Zao demands.
"I'm sorry, these are some friends I met during my journey: Kai, Norah, and Chan."
"Well that's not entirely true, I just met her about a half hour ago." Chan explains with much courtesy, "However I'm quite honored to be in the presence of our world leaders."
"I like this guy!" Zao claims.
"I actually knew Milla before she came to Qin, let's just say something personal happened three years ago." Norah reflects, "Of course then I met her again about a few weeks ago."
"Pleasure to meet all of you, if you are friends to Milla then you are friends of mine." Dail welcomes in an informal tone, his voice was soft yet somewhat desolate.
Kai remains silent, Tuanjie retorts with a nostalgic smile which moves the husky in a negative fashion.
Dail and Zao immediately notices the husky's red scarf wrapped around his left arm, they respond with cautious expressions which the canine ignores with a cool demeanor, the bobcat's expression however continues to worry him.
"I should explain who I am to you all, I'm the diplomatic representative of the Araiansu." Tuanjie explains.
Kai's expression became petrified the moment the term 'Araiansu' was coined, If he's really from the Araiansu…
Then does that mean he knows who I really am?
Milla notices the husky's frozen expression, this was the first time the basset hound have seen any extreme emotion from the monotonic canine, "Kai are you alright?" she politely asks.
Kai gestures with a large gulp, "N-nothing, also why should you care, last time I check you and Norah alienated me." Kai retorts, maintaining his monotonic voice.
"Kai, I'm sorry about that, I guess you were serious when you said that you didn't join to make friends. Look at the bright side you won't have to deal with us when we get to Shang Tu." Milla reasons.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know, the Red Scarves' base is at Shang Tu." the hound whispers into the husky's ear so that no one would hear her.
Kai remained silent.
"Well you all can have your dinner, I'll be relaxing at our room Zao." Ming announces, "Or maybe have a nice swim in my pool, who knows!"
"Whatever you want my dear." Zao reassures his wife, he then turns his focus back towards the basset hound who politely sat on a chair, "So, Milla what exactly were you doing in Qin?"
Milla notices the red panda referring to her, she makes a faint sigh as she prepares to explain everything to the prominent figures sitting in front of her, "Well… it was originally a personal journey, I was trying to look for my long lost parents." the comment catches both the husky and panda girl off guard, they had no idea of Milla's original intentions, for once Kai felt mildly sympathetic towards the hound, she never told us about her parents…
Psh, why should I care?
The group explained everything that had happened in the Qin empire: Jin sending Milla and Kai to Zhōngyāng; the group's arrest and sentence to the Zhōngyāng Arena; Serpentine's appearance at Zhōngyāng and Dōng mén; Kongzhi's conspiracy and Empress Yasmine's call for reform and desire for diplomacy.
Dail ponders on what he just heard regarding Serpentine, So Serpentine is still slithering around on this planet and he's still loyal to Brevon even when with that virus dormant. The panda king reverts his attention towards the youths, "So the empress of Qin wishes to make an alliance or at least a diplomatic agreement with Shang Mu, Shang Tu and Shuigang?"
Milla, Kai and Norah nods their heads in unison,
"If I do choose to make this alliance with the Qin Empire, what will I get in return?" Zao questions.
"Well, you already have good trade relations with Dōng mén, imagine what would happen if all of the empire's cities was under your economic influence." Norah reasons, she successfully catches the red panda's attention.
"Keep talking."
Everyone knew what Norah was attempting to do, the panda girl truly knew who she was bargaining with and knew very well of Zao's greed and desires which made him easy to manipulate.
Norah continues, "Other than the capital city of Zhōngyāng; one of the Qin Empire's cities, Běifēng, is known for it's large deposits of rich minerals, valuable gems and rare metals!"
Zao's eyes lit up, "Is that so? Well how can I deny such a request?!" [+5 Profit]
"Well good to hear!" Milla says cheerfully, "Dail?"
"Of course I'm going to say yes." Dail proclaims.
"I'm assuming you guys will be heading over to Shang Tu to speak with the Royal Magister, am I right?" Chan deducts after hearing every last detail, he starts to lean against his chair in a obscurely nonchalant fashion as he makes a faint smile, "I will like to accompany you on your quest!"
"No." Kai and Norah immediately responds in unison, however Milla ignores both the husky and panda girl.
"Sure, you can join us Chan." Milla responds, "We need all the help we can get!"
Norah exits the dining room in frustration, "May I be excused." Dail asks in response.
"Go ahead, I honestly don't care what you do." Zao explains, "JUST DON'T TAKE OR TOUCH ANYTHING!"
Tuanjie began to speak, "So Milla, I take it you had some training with both Jie and Jin"
"Yeah, it was hard at first but I pretty much can use my sword with ease now." Milla explains.
"They're great warriors and teachers, I remember when they were just learning themselves!" Tuanjie chuckles.
"So what is the Araiansu?"
"You don't know what the Araiansu is?" Chan acknowledges, "'Araiansu' translates to 'Alliance'."
"Alliance of what?"
Tuanjie explains, "An alliance of five clans; these clans, although they have their own leaders, governments and customs, are considered too small to represent the Avalician population, so in response the Araiansu was founded to represent the Móshù shī, the Shàobīng, the Qílín, the Nà jiā and the Yěmāo clans."
"Wow, and you're suppose to represent all of them?! Which clan are you from?"
"I'm from the Yěmāo."
Kai remains silent like always, the husky's consistent silence worries both Milla and Chan, the husky continues to think to himself, Anyone could tell he's from the Yěmāo, just like how I know Vix is from the Móshù shī…
Meanwhile Norah was leaning against a balustrade as she observe the beautiful view of the busy streets and glowing lights of Shang Mu, Dail walks towards the panda girl and stands next to her, "So how long have you really known Milla Basset?" he asks politely in a soft nostalgic tone.
"Eight years." Norah responds in a similar tone.
"Hmph, well then I guess it's a small world… So you're mage, like your mother?"
"Like?!"
"Hey, I've known you since you were born, while father would go on official business your mother would watch over me and my brother, I'm grateful for that."
"What did happen to your brother?"
"You won't like the answer to that question." The male panda makes a large sigh, "He's now with the Red Scarves."
Norah was both shocked and horrified at the thought, she knew that Dail's brother had left the royal family but would have never imagined him to become associated with the Red Scarves.
"Honestly, you think you can talk some sense into him these days… then you really have been missing out. He've became more distant everyday since he became a Red Scarf, even more after what happened to me two years ago."
"You don't think he've forgotten about me."
"He may have changed but he has proven that he still have a heart, surely he would recognize you, he was always closer to you than me even though we share the same blood."
"My mother?"
"You'll see her at Shang Tu."
"Shang Tu?!"
"You can blame me, well… not entirely… but it was still me…"
Norah understood what Dail meant.
"Also, Mayor Zao arranged rooms for you four to sleep in."
"Alright, I'm going to bed now. Good night."
"Good night to you too, Nora"
At the roof tops, a group of hooded figures were spying over the group of youths.
"So, that bratty dog is back… and she brought some new allies, one of them is our own" The leader of the squadron acknowledges.
"According to our sources she defeated Serpentine back at the Qin Empire, she also appears to have learned some new tricks." one cloaked person explains, a male.
"Her companions consist of a siberian husky named Kai, who's one of our own; a panda named Norah, who's a mercenary; finally a fox named Chan, who's an entertainer." another cloaked person continues, a female.
"They're scheduled to head over to Shang Tu to speak with the Royal Magister."
"What should we do?"
"Let's inform Jai, if they're heading over to Shang Tu then there's no need to intervene now." The leader commands.
The cloaked figures immediately exits the rooftops however the leader remains for a couple more minutes, closely observing Norah, That panda girl seems familiar, who is she and why does she know my brother?