52 New Direction

As Nastasia woke her first thoughts weren't for the time of day, as the bed curtains were drawn and blocked out the light; nor were they for the whereabouts of Li Yu Rong as he wasn't by her side after she woke. Rather, as her mind shed the grogginess of sleep, her entire focus was placed upon her conversation with that voice the other night.

The name of the voice escaped her, but the message left behind stayed to tumble about her thoughts; though broken. The clearest point that stood out at the moment, though she hadn't noticed it at the time, were the feelings behind the voice's words.

Sadness.

Fear.

Desperation.

Hope.

Nastasia wanted to go home. She had wanted to find that man with the hope of being given a way toward that end. Now, however, this thought had been dashed. After the heartfelt entreaty of the voice, though she didn't recall all the details, the point of that man being the enemy stood out clearly.

With a new direction in mind, Nastasia's gaze focused away from inward thought. As she came back to herself and moved to leave the bed, it suddenly dawned on her that it was so dark she could barely see anything around her.

Moving the bed curtains aside, light from the morning sun flooded the in. Her clear sky blue eyes squinted at the sudden brightness. After a moment of adjusting, she noticed that the bed curtains had been changed from the near sheer blue material of before to a solid black that couldn't be seen through at all.

Touching the smooth material, she was once again made to realize that she wasn't as light a sleeper as she thought herself to be. Before, no matter how lightly she thought herself to be sleeping, Li Yu Rong always managed to sneak into bed with her. Now, he had managed to switch out the bed curtains without her being disturbed.

However, this couldn't be used as a proof to Li Yu Rong's skills of sneaking about. Though she was unaware, the Palace of the Four Gates was a bit special. For Li Yu Rong, or for those that he gave the permission to do so, the insides of the palace could be changed with a mere thought.

This palace, it was like it's own space, separate from both the Mortal and Spirit Realms.

This too she wasn't aware of.

As she looked at the curtains, Nastasia realized that Li Yu Rong had changed them due to what happened yesterday. He was trying to keep the area around the bed dark so that she would sleep longer. Although it wasn't necessary, as her reason for passing out had been the voice, the consideration warmed her heart.

Getting ready for Nastasia was a quick affair. After she reached the age of thirty-seven and became immersed in her research she had little care for her appearance. Tossing on whatever and throwing her hair up into a simple pony-tail had been the most she'd do for so long that the habit still stuck though she returned to her fifteen-year-old body.

The clothes of this world took a bit of time to put on. Especially to make it look neat and tidy. This type of dress wasn't something that could be thrown on haphazardly and not look a disaster. The short cropped top had to be held in place just right as she tied the sash over both it and the skirt to keep them up.

Being that she was in a hurry, Nastasia didn't bother with her long red hair and left it to flow about, unrestrained, down her shoulders. Checking over the light blue dress lined in pink trim, she was satisfied. Although it wasn't exactly neat, it was well enough that it didn't appear sloppy.

Although Li Yu Rong provided her with makeup, except for that one time during the banquette a month ago, she never wore it. So, after checking her appearance, she was already heading out the door. Finding Paoxiao the prime objective occupying her mind.

Fortunately, a search hadn't been necessary. The minute she left her room Paoxiao could be seen leaning against a tree across the way. He had been waiting for her.

Originally, he wanted to follow the two wolves she kept as they entered her room to wake her. The ones that had originally been under his command, but he didn't mind that they had now attached themselves to Nastasia. If it had been Li Yu Rong, that'd be a different story.

Before they could even get close to entering, Li Yu Rong had barred their way. He forbade them from entering. "Don't bother her rest, wait till she wakes on her own." After saying so, he walked off to who knows where.

Therefore both the wolves and he had forced themselves to wait patiently. That's why, when she finally emerged from her room, they quickly made their way over to her. The wolves were the first to get there, tails wagging so eagerly that they looked more like obedient puppies then fierce predators.

Nastasia was distracted by Paoxiao so she didn't notice them right away, but when she did, she was pleasantly surprised. The two, whom she named Fenrir and Loki after learning that they had no names, had been scarce these past few days.

Falling to her knees, not bothering about whether or not she'd dirty her dress, Nastasia accepted their affection. Wrapping an arm around each of their necks, she hugged them both as they licked her cheeks. Laughing a bit at the ticklishness of it, she let them go after one last pet to look up at Paoxiao.

After she stood up and dusted off her knees, Nastasia grinned. "I was going to look you, then you here." It was like the saying of "speak of the devil and he shall appear," or to think of the devil as is her case. She then asked."Did you buy the shop?"

Paoxiao reached into his robe and then handed over both the contract and deed. As he did that her eyes were drawn questionably to his clothes. He wasn't one to wear the same thing twice, at least not in the time that she had known him.

His golden eyes and orange streaked hair were also still under the guise of a dark-eyed, dark-haired young man. Thinking about it, she remembered he was like that too, when they traveled to the capital to attend the banquette held by the royal palace.

Taking that into consideration, she asked as she looked at the two papers he handed over. "You going to town again?"

At first, Paoxiao's brows drew down in confusion, but as soon as he realized he hadn't shed the appearance he wore when he went outside the Palace of the Four Gates he said. "I'm not. I got back rather late last night and didn't think about it." His mind had been too occupied with the matter of his and Li Yu Rong's conversation last night.

Nodding as she looked at the papers, she frowned at the name signed at the bottom of the contract. It was rather long and couldn't possibly be her name written in Chinese as she didn't think it was possible to write her name in Chinese.

Pointing toward the name signed on the contract, Nastasia asked. "What do this part say?"

Seeing the part she pointed to, Paoxiao made a strange face as he tried to make himself look normal as he said. "Little Ya Lin didn't know how to write your name, so she signed it as the one under the Spirit Master's care."

It was really hard to say this, although it wasn't entirely a lie. While Li Yu Rong was caring for her every need, as if he took on an orphaned child, a ward wasn't the status she had in other peoples eyes. She had been announced as a pet at the banquette, and while she didn't understand the word, nearly everyone had been made aware of her position at that time.

Paoxiao had wanted to enlighten her, but he had been forbidden. Unless she actively got the answer from someone outside the Palace of the Four Gates, she would sadly be left in the dark about this unfortunate title. As that thought popped up, he dwelled on it a bit longer.

If he could get someone from the outside, like little Ya Lin, to tell her the truth of the matter then he would finally have a way to break her blind trust in Li Yu Rong. Paoxiao didn't know what he was planning to do with Nastasia but, being that that red-eyed guy kept hiding so many things, he felt that it couldn't be anything good.

His sister always said: "If they weren't telling the truth, then they're up to no good."

While his sister's heart was a bit on the softer side, she was extremely strong and very quick witted. If she hadn't been taken, then the elders wouldn't be constantly hounding him to... ah but that really didn't matter. He would find her and everything would go back to being as it should be.

"I see." Being reminded of that cute, but helpful little girl, Nastasia had a sudden idea. Though little, that girl was incredibly smart and understood the rules of her town better than anyone she could get her hands on around here. "Where do that little Ya Lin live, you know?"

"I do," he answered after a second's hesitation. While he knew where she lived and had been led there multiple times by the one in question, he was directionally challenged and could only find it after a bit of wondering.

Happy, Nastasia said. "Good, we go then. Fenrir, Loki too. It good to stretch legs after stuck here so long." Excited by the invite the two wolves, one dark black and the other a shimmering silver, followed after her with quick wagging tails.

Paoxiao was dumbstruck. He couldn't help but think, 'isn't she going to ask Li Yu Rong first?' Even though he felt this way, he still followed after her, intending to lead the way as best as he could.