Nao-Zai found nothing but empty leads and a quiet palace. He had spent a whole lot of hours combing through the staff of the Butterfly Palace, asking them about that night, three days ago, when the mysterious hauntings took place. The people the scholar talked about, the ones who heard the voices or saw the porcelain plates quiver and break, Nao-Zai came close to finding them as one would to a needle on a pile of needles.

First, he went to the kitchens, passing by a column of smoke from an open-pit fire boiling some sort of stew. The smell of chicken broth was enough to make Nao-Zai crave some. Perhaps, he'd get one should he escape to the towns during his day offs. When he stepped into the roofed room just beyond the fire, all the cooks froze. Knives never made it to their chopping boards, potatoes stopped being peeled, and mouths slowly hung open.

When Nao-Zai cleared his throat, they all flinched as one before turning back to their tasks. Who's supposed to be the head cook, a sturdy, middle-aged man, who wore a white apron over his slate blue robes, approached Nao-Zai and eyed him from head to toe. Braided beards seemed to have taken the palace fashion by storm, considering the cook looked a lot like the scholar in that regard. All similar traits, however, ended there. Instead of a friendly smile, the cook glared at him with an unamused frown.

"What do you want?" he grouched.

So, Nao-Zai repeated his goal for about a hundredth time. By the time he finished, the cook shook his head. "If that's all you came here for, I can't help ya," he said, waving his hand in the air—a clear, dismissive gesture. "I wasn't on duty that night and neither were my cooks."

Nao-Zai frowned. Was there another head cook in this palace? He kept that in mind as he ducked his head at the cook and made his way out of the kitchens As soon as he emerged from the short wall separating it from the gardens and the rest of the rooms in the Butterfly Palace, he spotted a gaggle of court ladies loitering in front of a narrow gate. What were they waiting for?

He decided to take his chance, so he approached the first court lady he could, the one standing at the edge of the crowd. That's how he became stuck with her for the past fifteen minutes while she struggled to get her words out.

"I was...um, by the kitchens that night. But um..." the court lady was saying, twiddling something with her fingers. Nao-Zai had noticed it to be a hair pin of some sort. Weren't only women from the noble families allowed to own accessories like that? Also, why couldn't the court lady look him in the eye? What's so interesting with the barren ground around them?

Nao-Zai nodded along. They had gotten past this point for the fourth time already. This woman couldn't have been more than fifteen, yet already working for a job she wouldn't ever leave until she was worn and old. He should cut her some slack. "Okay, you said you were by the kitchens," he said. "Did you go inside?"

The court lady raised her eyes up, towards the dark sky shrouded with carpets of deep periwinkle clouds. The light from the hundreds of lanterns hanging from protruding roof stilts and wooden posts gave her dark eyes some sort of a ominous glint. "N-not that I remember," she answered, twisting the hair pin to its other end. An unmistakable shape of a dragon head, complete with the scale-like carvings. "It was a long time ago."

Nao-Zai opened his mouth to ask another question. Before a word could fly out of his mouth, the narrow door burst open and out came the last person he expected to see today. His attention completely fell away from the court lady who ducked her head and rejoined the rest of her cohort. The only thing he cared about was the man striding away from the gate going towards...well, somewhere.

He turned to find the court lady he had been talking to but when he found no one in front of him, he forwent thanking her for her time. Instead, he peeled off the spot of the wall the court lady had dragged him into when he first attempted to talk to her, and followed after the person leaving the gate. A quick glance inside told Nao-Zai he came from somewhere private. His room, perhaps.

His footsteps quickened, keeping the brush of trees, bridges, moats, and a pavilion in his periphery. Still, his gaze landed on none other than Kai-Se. Wearing a simple, dark blue fenhai, Kai-Se began pacing as he typically would when thinking something thoroughly. Nao-Zai had learned how frantic the pacing could be during their travel back from Dansarun to Xuijae. Now, judging by how Kai-Se fluctuated three tiles at a time, he was thinking of something serious. Really serious.

Nao-Zai edged closer, not wanting to startle Kai-Se out of his reverie. Something was odd in the prince, though. Instead of the carefree smile he usually had on when he knew there were people watching, a frown decorated his face. It was so deep it could have carved trenches on his face. What could have happened for him to end up like this?

When Nao-Zai got near the tile Kai-Se was bound to step on, the prince suddenly veered sideways, bumping into Nao-Zai's shoulder. It set the prince back a few steps. Instead of looking up and seeing it was someone he knew, Kai-Se ducked his head even lower and muttered, "My apologies. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Then, he moved aside and began walking back to where he came from. Before he could even think about it, Nao-Zai's arm shot out, his fingers closing around the prince's wrist. It stopped Kai-Se in his tracks. When he began squirming, Nao-Zai thought for a second he had disrespected the wrong prince, that this one was just someone who looked like Kai-Se. That fear was soon stilled when the prince slowly raised his eyes from Nao-Zai's grip to his arm before settling on his face.

Yeah. It was Kai-Se, alright.

The prince stared at him, then, eyes never quite focusing on one spot for too long. A flash of recognition glinted in his eyes, setting some hope in Nao-Zai's gut that maybe—just maybe—Kai-Se still remembered him. "Kai-Se," he said. Did he call the prince's name when he grabbed his hand? Maybe. This was all purely by instinct.

"Nao-Zai," came the prince's reply. Hushed and weak, like he didn't eat anything for the whole day.

"Hi," Nao-Zai said, feeling more and more stupid as seconds passed by between them. Then, he realized he still had Kai-Se's hand in his grip so he let go and tucked his hands behind him. To keep them from lunging at people the second time or to appear like he had gotten accustomed to the practices here in the Imperial palace, he didn't know. "How have you been?"

Instead of being surprised or confused as to why a Yomauran soldier like Nao-Zai was suddenly in Dangrao, Kai-Se jerked his chin towards the vague direction of a pavilion they passed by earlier. "Let's walk," the prince said. A sliver of the bright smile he had once worn returned to his face.

Soon, they strode past the lake at a much slower pace. "It's beautiful out here, no?" Kai-Se said, craning his neck towards a grove situated at the opposite side of the moat they were nearing. "I've always wanted to show you this spot. It's one of my favorites."

Nao-Zai bobbed his head, keeping up with Kai-Se's slow steps. Was the prince enjoying the view or was he just that tired? Just what was this assignment the Emperor assigned him to? "It really is breath-taking," he said, looking to his left to see a flock of white, long-necked birds waddling in the middle of the moat. They weren't swans. Weren't cranes, either. What were those?

"Water Terns," Kai-Se supplied, no doubt inferring Nao-Zai's unasked question from the direction of his gaze. "They come here during the night. To do something with the water, I guess? Eat the algae? I honestly have no idea."

Nao-Zai glanced at the prince who had stopped at the curve of the bridge. The pavilion was still a long way to go, its roof barely poking through the line of pink canopies muted to a light gray color by the lack of sunlight. Why was Kai-Se stopping here?

"How have you been, Nao-Zai?" the prince asked, staring into the rippling water under the bridge. In the dark of the night, with his blue fenhai, he almost looked like he was fading into the background. "It's been a couple of months."

A small chuckle shook Nao-Zai's shoulders. He threw all rationality aside and joined Kai-Se in leaning against the bridge's balustrade. The wooden planks beneath their feet creaked and whined but should it drop them into the water, Nao-Zai would have taken it in stride. "Yeah, it has," he replied. "Life in the fortress was more or less normal after I got back. And now...I'm in a new place yet again."

Kai-Se raised a hand to his face and let his cheek rest against it. Still, he never took his eyes off Nao-Zai. "Blame my father for that," he said.

"I just don't know why I was the only one who was mentioned in the missive," Nao-Zai blew a breath, staring back at Kai-Se.

For as long as it took them traveling from Dansarun to Dangrao, both of them could now stomach looking at each other without dissolving into a puddle of laughter or averting their eyes in awkwardness. The first few days together were a complete disaster, though.

Nao-Zai inclined his head to one side. "It just seems strange, even more so as I think about it," he said. "The Emperor had picked me, when he could have chosen Zhi-Xen. That woman is a different breed of a warrior."

"Oh? A woman?" Kai-Se's tone shifted to a teasing one. "You two go a long way back?"

Nao-Zai rolled his shoulders. "You could say that, yeah," he said. Then, the other meaning of what Kai-Se meant slammed into his mind. Heat burst into his cheeks as he whipped to the prince and shook his head. "Not that way, if that's what you're referring to."

Kai-Se's smile widened. "What way am I referring to?"

Nao-Zai finally looked away, not being able to handle Kai-Se's triumphant grin anymore. "We're more like...rivals," he said. "Been that way since we enlisted."

The memories of the woman everyone considered his rival flashed in his mind. Zhi-Xen enlisted at the same time as him, belonged to the same cohort as him, and trained under the same master as him. Every step of the way, Zhi-Xen was always with him. Until they graduated training and were assigned to different platoons, Nao-Zai would still hear her name spoken with awe and begrudging respect. Not a lot of women remained in the army but Zhi-Xen managed. In fact, she became better than almost all of the men in Yomaura. Save for one.

Nao-Zai.

He had never fought her, at least not seriously. Most of their clashes were measured spars, with clear rules and principles they follow. Sometimes Zhi-Xen won, but there were times Nao-Zai had, as well. Since then, people started calling them the Rivals of Yomaura, mostly because no one could really claim the top spot for longer than the next sparring session.

Did he feel any attraction to her? Of course not. Sure, she might be a catch for some boys and men, but Nao-Zai simply thought of her as a fellow soldier. An equal, in terms of skill and wit, but nonetheless, a comrade in war and in peace.

Kai-Se, bless his mischievous heart, didn't pry. Nao-Zai was eager to change the topic, so he launched to the next question he had in mind. "What's the big assignment the Emperor assigned you to?" he asked.

He didn't add his reasoning on asking that question, though. It was clear Kai-Se had been struggling. It showed on his skin, which seemed to be several shades paler, even with the darkness. It showed on the dark circles under his eyes or in the faint, sunken crevices building in his cheeks. The way he leaned on the bridge's balustrade didn't look so casual to Nao-Zai now that he's really looking Kai-Se looked like he was hanging onto it to avoid falling down.

Was the Emperor the cause of this drastic change in Kai-Se's appearance? If so, what could this assignment be?

"How was Shencai?" Kai-Se said—a clear avoidance of what Nao-Zai had asked him. Why did everyone feel inclined to ignore all his questions today?

Nao-Zai jerked his chin at the prince. "Shouldn't you know about that?"

Kai-Se frowned. "My father took it upon himself to attend to anything relating to Shencai and Dansarun," he said. "I'm as out of the loop as you are."

"Not quite as you, Your Grace," Nao-Zai grinned. "I have been exchanging correspondence with Gang Sen and the others."

Kai-Se raised an eyebrow. Then, he closed his eyes, clearly hiding a grimace from showing in his face. Was he alright? When he opened them again, Nao-Zai noticed an unfocused haze in his pupils. There's so much storm in them. "Really? You've been keeping in touch?" he smiled. "What are you, some long-distance lovers?"

Nao-Zai snorted. Over time, he had learned Kai-Se was fond of making jokes to make him feel flustered. Well, now, he caught himself before he could react to the other extreme. Instead, he casually turned to Kai-Se with a lazy grin. "Why, jealous?" he asked.

"What if I am?" Kai-Se fired back. His tone oscillated from being serious to joking in such a short while. Was he...

Nao-Zai rolled his eyes. "As if you are," he said. "Why do you assume everyone I interact with is a lover?"

Kai-Se tilted his head which still rested against his palm. "It's nice to see you squirm and try to defend yourself," he said. "Besides, you probably have some pretty lady back in Izeryeo, I gather?"

"No, I don't," came Nao-Zai's quick but honest answer.

Kai-Se stilled for a second. Then he laughed—a sweet lyric against the silence of the night in the Imperial Palace. "You'll find one," he said, like he knew what he was talking about. "Soon. Maybe. Someday. I don't know."

"You sure you're okay?" Nao-Zai moved to examine Kai-Se more closely but the prince had never been so quick to step back. Just then, a shiver sprang from Kai-Se, shaking his shoulders and sending him leaning against the bridge's balustrade harder. "Kai-Se?"

The mention of his name seemed to have snapped him back to reality. He pushed off the balustrade and strode past Nao-Zai. One of the wide-end of his sleeves flew to the lower half of his face. "I should go," the prince muttered without looking back. His steps hadn't been quick so Nao-Zai had been able to keep up. Before he could take a look at what Kai-Se seemed to be hiding with his sleeve, the prince spoke again. "I'm fine, Nao-Zai. Really. Stop worrying. It'll make you older."

Before Nao-Zai could utter anything, Kai-Se stepped away from him and continued down the bridge. But, before the prince could go any farther, he glanced at Nao-Zai over his shoulder. "And for the record, I think you deserve to be here. Not that Zhi-Xen lady," Kai-Se said with a hint of amusement in his tone. His sleeve never strayed from the lower half of his face, though. "It's nice talking with you and I hope you enjoy your time here. Good night, Nao-Zai."

With that, the prince strode away, trailing after the path back to the narrow door leading to his rooms. It was only by the time the prince's form had rounded a corner and disappeared from his view had Nao-Zai found himself muttering, "Good night, Kai-Se."

By then, his words had reached no ears, joining the silence as the soft breeze blowing through the lake carried them away.