Keelan whimpered silently as his stomach roared in obvious anger. He turned his puppy-like eyes towards Valeriana, knowing she must've carried something with her. After all, he caught her preparing a few sandwiches in advance before their trip.

"Valeriana . . ."

The girl sighed. "Gosh, you're so much like my brother it's scary. Can you guys sniff out food everywhere?" She took something out from the backpack she had asked Brindon to carry for her and handed the wrapped peanut butter n' jelly to Keelan. "Here you go. Don't complain about it, okay? That's all I have."

Keelan's eyes lit up and he went for the food. "Thank you!"

Since everyone was present and the person Valeriana had wanted to see so much since a while ago was finally there, she eagerly skipped forward and walked alongside the second-ranker. Looking up at the benevolent lord, she gave him a big smile and started her consultation.

"Hey, Rowe," she heard the girl say. "I need to ask you something."

"Anything for you, Valeriana."

Keelan stared at the sandwich he had in his hands while partly listening to their conversation. It was wrapped in something soft and smooth which apparently wasn't edible. With an excited huff, he tore off the tissue and brought the food up to his nose. He sniffed it and was confronted by a strange scent.

Sure it did smell a bit strange on his part, but it also had some kind of alluring scent in it—somewhat nutty with a mix of something . . . different.

"I heard that most of the people who can hear the words of a Celestial Beast come from your home."

"That's true."

With his brows scrunched, he looked at the food weirdly.

"What's this?" He asked, examining it from all direction.

"Can I ask who are they? Do you know anything about them?" Valeriana curiously inquired, hopefully looking up at the second-ranker.

"Well, the number of people who can understand the words of Celestial Beasts have long since dwindled." Rowe answered thoughtfully. "They are now a rare sight, really. Even I'm somehow disappointed myself to admit it."

"Oh." She mumbled, feeling a pang of disappointment.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Um . . ." She fiddled with her end of her top. "I was kind of hoping I could ask you about them . . . I mean . . . maybe you even knew one of them and I was thinking maybe I can talk to them. You know . . . ask questions, maybe?"

"Why? If you don't mind my asking." He gazed at her, his eyes glinting with curiosity as he did.

Rowe absentmindedly tugged on the collar of his tunic, feeling somewhat uncomfortable wearing the clothes he was currently dressed in. He had gotten used to wearing a cotton shirt topped with a high-collared jacket. He missed the feeling of his cravat brushing against his chest.

It wasn't that bad wearing common clothes, but he missed being donned in the fine quality of the material that the prosperous life of a noble offered.

Meanwhile, Keelan continued to stare at the strange food he was given before finally deciding to bite into it. Food was food after all. And if Valeriana gave it, it was sure to taste great—although weird. He chewed on the sandwich roughly, squeezing out the strange taste that suddenly exploded on his tongue.

He paused.

There was a sharp and fruity tang that came with a salty and nutty taste. With slight hesitance, he started chewing. Something unbearably soft then brushed against the walls of his mouth along with small bits of peanuts clashing against his teeth.

It was . . . delicious!

Oh! The wonders of peanut butter n' jelly!

Valeriana continued to show her reluctance in telling the lord her intention while Keelan relished the sandwich she had given him. "Um . . . you see . . ."

"We discovered she can hear the words of a Celestial Beast." Zevlin blurted, looking impatient for their conversation to progress so he interjected.

Genevieve glared at Zevlin and elbowed him on the ribs.

"Hurts." The older of the two grunted, doubling over from the force behind Genevieve's offensive action.

Rowe, on the other hand, looked rather stunned after hearing the news. Nevertheless, after knowing that Valeriana bore a possibility of being one of his people, he smiled warmly and patted her shoulder. "I shall do my best on telling you everything I know."

Valeriana looked relieved from his answer and smiled. "Thank you!"

"To be quite honest, I wasn't expecting this." Rowe told her. "People with your ability are one of those who are revered for the strength of their soul. Our people, I suppose." He then smiled, laughing softly. "I can see it now."

"See what?"

"Where you get that inner strength and that admirable courage." He said. "And those wise words. They are not just things your father had given you or something you learned in this life, but they came from the wisdom your soul innately possessed."

When Valeriana gave him a look of confusion, he chuckled.

"Soul is infinite." He began explaining. "Though the body dies, it simply weaves through the fabric of time and is reborn. The memory dies and life itself is lost with it, but the soul will retain the emotions it felt and wisdom it gained. The people of Aetheria, though unfortunately not that adept with the Power Controls, possess an ability that allows them to bond with their soul stronger than anyone else from the other continents. With this bond, they can sometimes delve into their past lives or other people's past lives—but it is only if the soul itself will speak to them if needed." He smiled.

"So what I have now is something because of my past life?"

"It completely depends." Rowe said. "Your childhood and how you were reared is also a great factor contributing to your current self. Sometimes, strong emotions and earthly desires cause that connection with your soul to be lost but not completely severed. But if you try to look deeper within yourself, you will discover things upon which you never realized were actually there."

"How do I do that?"

"It takes a lot of time depending on the person, really. It's not a matter easily discussed." He answered with the same gentle tone he often used. "What's most admirable among the people from Aetheria is the fact that their spirit is not easily broken. They make the greatest rulers, the wisest philosophers, and the most intelligent scholars."

"Wow. Does this affect lineage, though?" Valeriana inquired.

"Well, hardly so."

"I mean, if you're mother's like from Larkovia and your father's from Aetheria, does that affect your . . . um . . . well, you know." She shrugged.

Rowe understood without needing further explanation. He decided to satiate her curiosity and spoke, remaining as patient and calm as he always was.

"In Valemnia, blood hardly matters." He said. "They contribute a lot to a person's strength and the expanse of his or her ability, but even if you have a Larkovian mother or an Aetherian father, you can only inherit the racial distinction from only one of your parents. You can't have both bloods in your system."

"Is that so?"

Rowe nodded. "Even so, I find it odd. How did you end up in the human world?"

"I . . . don't know." She shrugged. "I've lived through a pretty normal childhood. I didn't sense anything strange about myself." Valeriana then paused before chuckling. "Besides the fact that I don't look much like my parents."

"Then you could've been adopted!" Keelan exclaimed all of a sudden, causing all eyes to turn to him. He bounced towards them childishly. "And maybe they just picked you off the streets—or! Maybe someone or your mother herself put you in front of their doorstep! Or maybe you accidentally fell through the Holy Gates and landed on Earth! Or—"

Tamara grabbed a rock from the floor and threw it at Keelan. "Idiot! Don't just suddenly speak up and butt into people's conversation!"

"But no one else is talking!" Keelan exclaimed. "You're all quiet! It would've been reasonable to keep to ourselves when we're talking to each other, but no! Admit it! You were all listening!"

"That's different to what I'm trying to say!" Tamara exclaimed.

"Calm down, you two!" Charles chided. "You're making my head ache!"

As the argument started between everyone, Corvan felt his annoyance intensifying. Suppressing a growl that nevertheless came, he shot his familiar a pointed look and yelled, "Avaro!"

The beast made no hesitance to open his mouth and a blue, glowing strip of light flew towards Keelan. Seeing this, Keelan yelped and helplessly tried to run away but it chased the boy and eventually wrapped itself around his head and bound his mouth close.

Valeriana curiously eyed the poor eleventh-ranker. "Avaro has, like, an endless supply of magical things inside his stomach, doesn't he?" She thoughtfully said.

"Not really."

Tamara sighed.

"If you speak, do it normally." Corvan said, not bothering to hide his irritation.

Keelan struggled to get the strip off of his mouth with futile effort. "Mmmmm!" He stomped his feet. "Mmmmmm!"

"Corvan, can you stop using Avaro's cool abilities for your own personal gain?" Valeriana frowned at the young lord before rolling her eyes. "You're tainting his awesomeness!"

Avaro seemed amused by her words. 'Thou flatterest me, Valeriana.'

Corvan replied to the fifth-ranker without even paying attention to Avaro. "I see no problem with that. He's my familiar." He said.

"Hmph." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Arrogant bastard."

"Say that again and you'll end up like those two." He threatened.

She sighed, wanting to retort in defiance to Corvan. She didn't want to end up like Keelan though. The way he struggled . . . it was no doubt, hard to pull off. She couldn't even see it budging at all! It clung like second skin.

"What is that thing anyway?"

"It's molten fire." Zevlin said. "It represents Corvan's will and strength. Impossible to get off really. Mostly useful for binding people needed to take captive."

"They're also useful for shutting people up when needed." Corvan interjected.

"You use your familiar's abilities in the most twisted ways, Lord Corvan." Lord Lienhard chuckled.

'This one cannot agree more.'

Valeriana felt tired. The day started to take a toll on her, so she breathed heavily. "Are we there yet?"

"Not for a few more minutes."

"Great." She unhappily remarked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I'm really tired."

"Tired?" Corvan scoffed and looked ahead of him without even sparing the girl a glance. "You did nothing but ride Avaro and you feel tired?"

"Well, I'm sorry I don't have the kind of stamina you do!" She countered, her irritation showing on her face. She did look weary and worn, with specks of dirt staining her clothes, skin and especially her face. "If you don't remember, you're the reason why I fell so many times! If you can't see, I'm all covered in cuts and bruises and I landed on dirt several times!"

"No." He shot back. "That was because of your own foolishness. And you call yourself the fifth-ranker when you cannot keep up with a simple chase? How utterly disgraceful."

"There they go again." Aneeka fought the urge to bang her head against a tree. "Really."

"You're such an—" Valeriana began.

"Arrogant asshole." Genevieve finished for the girl.

"You're just an—" Corvan began.

"Incompetent witch." Zevlin muttered.

Corvan and Valeriana looked simultaneously at the twins who just completed their sentences for them and spoke in unison.

"It's arrogant bastard!"

"It's annoying wench!"

The twins then exchanged glances before talking in chorus themselves. "What's the difference?" They asked at the same time.

"A lot!" Valeriana and Corvan argued.

"It's the same!" The twins retorted.

"It's not!" The other two replied before they started to tear into each other's throats once again.

"You're copying me again!"

There were seething, growling, yelling and so on and so forth that it was even noisier than before.

"You know . . ." Tamara nudged Charles. "That's just creepy. Not to mention weird."

Charles fixed his glasses and nodded in agreement. "I completely agree with you for once."

"But . . . Corvan's been more open to his emotions lately, don't you think? Ever since Valeriana came?" Tamara consciously lowered her voice to prevent herself from being heard by the others other than the man she was talking to.

"Yes. We're actually discovering a part of him that seemed to have not matured from a child." The fourth-ranker replied. "A shocking revelation, but somewhat reasonable."

"I know." The third-ranker chuckled in reply. "When it involves Valeriana, Corvan acts differently. We all tried to get him to open up, but he never acted that way to any of us but her. I certainly hope that the time will come when he'll . . . well . . ." She shrugged.

"It will." Charles stated. "I have faith."

Tamara stared curiously at the guy, her eyes gleaming with pure amusement. As expected, she began laughing. She hit Charles a couple of times in the arm before regaining her composure and saying, "You sure do act out of character sometimes, you know."

Charles grimaced and slapped the girl's hand away. "I'm not out of character." He said. "It's a part of my personality."

"And you're proud."

"Do you have any problem with it?"

The voices of Valeriana and Corvan's bickering faded in the background as Charles and Tamara themselves had their words as sharp as the weapons they wielded clashing against each other once more. Their exchange of retorts filled the night with a joyful but ear-shattering banter that mingled with the other sounds in a deafening manner.

"Hey, you guys." Aneeka started.

"What?!" They all growled at her.

She cringed at the tone of their voice. "I think we're here."

They looked ahead and saw glittering lights from afar.

Lord Lienhard laughed. "Kids."