Queen Liena, Queen Wu and some sidekick.

Two months after the battle with Spirit Hall. Nouding Academy. Na'er.

"Wow!" – a cute little girl ran up to the counter and pressed her little palm over the wooden railing. Her sparkling gaze locked onto sweets. – "Look, brother, it should be sweet! It is not a carrot, but still great I bet!"

The girl has a long single braided hairstyle and vivacious personality, that livened the mood around. They came with a group of other children to have a breather after classes and lose themselves in some fun. But along them existed two not ordinary students who were very hard to approach. First was a kid with deep dark blue hair and tranquil disposition. He was normally very polite and exuded unnatural for his age calmness. Only when he looked at the braided girl, he can let a slight smile appear at the corner of his eyes.

Still, despite his good and gentle personality, no boys dared to come close because they knew how fearsome this person can be, albeit a wielder of bluesilver grass as a spirit.

Another person is one of the duo Queens of their academy. She looked older, like someone with the age of twelve years but it was because of her cultivation level and cold and aloof persona. Still, the girl was as beautiful as a fairy and this gave rise to some unfortunate souls that were smitten flat and wailed with broken hearts.

The only two people she interacted with were that calm kid Tang San and rabbit girl Xiao Wu. The latter became the second Queen of their academy, but everyone knew – only because that fearsome Queen Liena had no intention to compete. Still, the pair just had a talk and became as close as actual sisters right there and then.

"Na'e…" - some boy with slightly more courage and not from Nouding academy struck a conversation when others told him her name. He wanted to play a closeness chip, directly calling her with very intimate naming. But people in the know shook their heads.

'We will bring some flower every year this day to your grave, naive smitten dude. Rest in peace.'

"How did you try to call me just then?" – well, that was expected. Normally Queen Liena is cold and aloof, but everyone knew she was warm inside, thus they respected her, not only feared. However, there is one taboo thing no one can do, even their second queen, Queen Wu. And that is to call her Na'er.

No one knew why, but Queen Liena will become deadly and cold if done so. There has to be some story. Well, even Tang San, hearing Xiao Wu once calling her that and trying to do the same out of the blue, got some beating under dumbfounded gazes of the crowd. Queen Liena was lenient because of the persuasion of Queen Wu back then.

"In this world, there is only one person who can call me like that." – she said in an adamant tone back then.

And right now, that boy in love, no, more like a boy in heat, wanted to strike a conversation. Na'er had her own fan club already. It was mostly comprised of boys, but there were some girls too. And all of them were snickering at the boy with gloating looks in the eyes.

Well, nothing goes unexpectedly. Their aloof Queen Liena was as brutal… cough… as elegant as ever while performing bloody trashing on an innocent soul… cough… cough… justified self-defense against a perverted assailant.

Poor boy never stood a chance.

"Sigh… sister Liena, you are too heavy-handed." – if Tang San never dared to call her Na'er, he still could talk to her normally like a friend.

"I allow no one to call me Na'er!" – she said stubbornly.

"Yes, yes, no one can call sister Liena like that!" – joked a voice from the side and a girl with a sweet smile jumped embracing a beauty. – "I wonder who is the lucky guy seizing our Queen Liena's heart." – she teased her with no reserve, but Na'er didn't grow angry at all, on the contrary, her face revealed a mesmerizing smile.

"You are mischievous again, Little Wu! Watch me tickle you to tears!" – that was who they really were. Albeit Queen Wu was bossy and strict, only becoming the little girl in front of Tang San and Liena and the latter always aloof and with brief words, among themselves girls acted like normal kids with jokes and lots of smiles.

Another reason they became so close instantly was that both were spirit beasts in human form. And of course, because Na'er didn't give as much as a breeze of air for Xiao Wu's claim on Tang San. She regarded this matter as nonexistent in her field of vision, saying directly that she was already taken.

The crowd around them watched how two campus Queens smiled and played without a care in the world and sighed in self-pity.

"Say, sister Liena, this person you were referring to. Is he your father or brother?"

"Neither. He is someone similar to Tang San to you." – Na'er shook her head and directed a distant dreamy look to the horizon. – "We met when I was begging for food on the street. Back then he already was someone really dazzling and strong, despite being our age. He is an orphan too, as far as I know. We never talked about this in detail, but he is a person with a goal, and a very hardworking one. He taught me many things and he surely will never look down on Tang San." – Na'er was a smart girl and she understood Xiao Wu very well by now, after more than a month of interactions. And she knew what to say to make her well pre-positioned towards Aiden.

"Really?" – she smiled and shot a glance at Tang San who was listening from the side while feigning ignorance and lack of interest. Only she knew that he wanted a friend who can share his ideas and what is more – be as capable as him.

"Mhm… he used to say – there is no trash martial spirit, only trash masters." – Tang San eyes light up. It is the same phrase that gave him the inspiration that his teacher told him! – "Also, Aiden seems to be a scholar of sorts…"

"Aiden?" – it was the first time that Xiao Wu heard his name from her and she as a fellow spirit beast could tell deep-rooted emotions from Na'er when she uttered his name.

'Oh, our Na'er is already stolen for good.'

"Ah…" - she gasped in surprise and slightly reddened face. – "I never told you his name, right?"

Both shook their heads while committing the name.

"Mm, sis, but why he left you alone?"

"He didn't!" – Na'er shouted, jolting both Tang San and Xiao Wu. – "He didn't." - she repeated in a whisper while tears found their way in her mesmerizing eyes. She then breathed and brought the duo to a remote restaurant where they sat in the corner and ordered some food. Na'er had a tremendous amount of wealth that Aiden gave her. She could be considered not the wealthiest among students, but the entire city. – "Back then we were traveling with the caravan and originally thought to come to Nuoding City together. He wanted to meet your teacher, Tang San. Yu Xiaogang was a name he told me and said to find him. But on the route, we were attacked."

"Bandits? Wait, is he okay?" – Xiao Wu took her slightly trembling hand.

'Don't tell me she is devoted to someone who already died… that would be so sad!'

"Not bandits…" - she gritted her pearl white teeth in rage and spat out. – "Spirit Hall! They wanted to seize him or kill him because of his talent! But he is fine. We got separated, and he gave me a chance to escape here while distracting assailants."

"This…" - Tang San and Xiao Wu looked at each other and saw sorrow in each other eyes.

"Don't look like that." – Na'er waved her hand with a light heart. – "It's not that I believe that he is fine, I know it."

With that, she pulled out a little crystal on a simple looking silver chain. None of the duo knew that Na'er had such an elegant necklace.

"That… it looks unique in a way." – Tang San observed a piece of jewelry with his purple gaze and couldn't hide the surprise on his face, because not only it contained a substantial amount of spirit energy, it also converged it with strict pattern and movement laws he can't even start to comprehend.

"But of course! Aiden created it for both of us. He has a complimentary one of the pair. I don't know exactly where he is, but I know the direction and that he is very far away. And he is fine, not injured at all and nothing bad in the emotional term happened to him either. He knows about me the same way, so even if we are not together, we are still connected to each other." – she explained. Otherwise, let alone her, she believed Aiden would have long ago appeared here with worry on his face. And she was right. This necklace is precisely the reason Aiden can go around doing things and not worry excessively about Na'er.

"Amazing!" – Xiao Wu exclaimed and seeing the interested look on Tang San's face she wanted to borrow it but then let go of the thought. Sister Liena will never let them do it. She can see the way her elegant hands clutched it. Like she was holding the most precious thing in this world, and with that source of her confidence.

Xiao Wu can't even imagine what will happen if sister Liena lost it or Tang San ruined the crystal in his attempts to figure it out. Naturally, Tang San himself didn't have a single inclination of borrowing the necklace. He was way more mature and understood where his abilities and limitations lay.

"He is there." – she pointed in direction of a wall. – "And very far away."

"Hm…" - Tang San roughly followed her finger. – "This direction. The only noteworthy place and the closest to us is Imperial capital."

"Hehe, maybe he went to find some girl?" – Xiao Wu wanted to tease her recently found sister Liena, but Tang San knew better than do it. He shook his head and remained silent.

"What? Dare he? Impossible! Even if there is a girl, she will never take my place. But… but��� if they go through many things for years and he didn't come back all the time will he forget me?" – she suddenly felt very insecure because of the girl with perky buttocks and huge breasts, she was a natural seductress and more beautiful than Na'er and she can cook very well and was stronger, gentler, more elegant with a prominent background. In short, she portrayed in her mind a natural nemesis of any actual living woman. Perfect to the extreme. And then panicked.

"This… I need to go now or she will snatch him away!"

It dumbfounded the duo. Are you kidding? How would you know?

"Er… sis Liena, I was just joking with you…"

"But it is a possibility, right? Aiden is so handsome and smart and strong and caring and…" - she continued to tell his every quality and the more she said the more panicky she became and the more fear she felt. She suddenly realized how painful it is to be separated from him. She felt a vague longing prior to this because necklace gave her an illusion of them being connected through space and him always lingering somewhere near, but now it was different. – "No, I don't care, I'm going. Are you with me?"

"This… sis Liena…" - Xiao Wu had complicated feelings. As a spirit beast, she craved adventure and wanted to see more. But Tang San… she liked him a lot and didn't want to leave his side.

"Actually, there is no need to be so agitated." – Tang San thought for a bit and said. – "We can talk to master and see if there is a way to organize some kind of learning expedition of the sort to broaden our horizons. I think a quick trip to the capital is a good thing. The only serious issue is money, actually."

"Money? Not an issue!" – Na'er chipped like a little bird with a face full of excitement and nervousness. – "I can sponsor it! Aiden left me plenty of money!"

If Aiden knew that his hard-earned money was used to pursue his very persona, he would have a very interesting face, to say the least.

"Okay, let's go right now!" – Na'er shoot up from her seat like a cannonball and got noisy. Xiao Wu and Tang San were helpless as much as they were speechless. It turns out their Queen Liena known for her aloofness and quietness can have these days too. Then she remembered her promise and sulked again on the chair while saying – "Wait! Forget it, not going anywhere."