time

Tennos body was so warm in winter that the snow around him melted as he walked to the kitchen. He regulated the temperature of his body to stand out less.

In winter, the palace looked very beautiful. The black with gold looked mysterious in the darkness, with glittering white snow covering the roofs and sticking to the walls. A gorgeous fantasy that he was allowed to witness!

But before he could reach the kitchen, the system gave him a signal. It didn't consist of words, it was an impulse. Following the impulse, he dodged to the side and landed head first in the snow.

Behind him, where he had stood, crashed a blade into the floor.

Tenno frowned, quickly stood up and looked around. From the shadow of a bare tree, a tall man appeared. He wore unusual, awe inspiring armor that shined silvern in the dim light. Only his mouth was exposed, and on his chest was the crest of the dragonkin, a dragon reflecting all kinds of colors.

That man casually pulled out the sword and rested it on his shoulder.

"Good reactions."

His voice was calm, cold and deep like a huge pond in the mountains. But in the next moment, he swung the huge blade in his hand again.

Again, Tenno dodged, releasing a rush of hot air to press the blade away from him. Fortunately for him, it worked. Unfortunately, it melted a lot of the snow around him.

"I'm Brook Ainsworth, the head of the guards. Yan Biao, an Ifrit, huh... I heard a lot about you. You're pretty good."

"I was lucky."

"No. Evading me, even when I'm not serious, is impossible for most, especially for a little one like you."

Ainsworth raised the sword, let it slash down with a howl as it cut through the air and smashed the ground.

Tenno had instinctively used an ability that reacted to everything that emitted heat. It was close to teleporting because his movements were so fast as he appeared right in front of the head guard.

"If you want to train me, do it on the training grounds. It's soon new year, the kitchen is busy. I don't have time for this."

His body went up in flames and appeared in front of the kitchen. His whole body tingled from the sensation. The system had helped him with the teleportation since he wasn't able to control his abilities in such detail at such a speed.

Back where Tenno had met the head guard, Ainsworth still stood, staring at the damage he had done. The snow in a radius of 30 meters had melted as the kid used his abilities. White steam was still rising up.

Ainsworth smiled coldly. This Ifrit really had potential. If he trained properly, even the king would have a hard time against him. But he didn't sense that kind of ambition. Not yet...

He took his sword, chuckled and disappeared back into the shadows.

"This will be interesting..."

Just like Tenno had said, the kitchen was incredibly busy. The new year was always celebrated with a huge banquet. Most of the princes would return, many Ministers would invite friends and the servants, guards and everyone else also wanted to party.

Tenno had fun just helping. But Ichigo, Mero and Bang Cheng wanted him to party with them. And where? In old man Fu's garden, next to Mori.

The Ifrit felt more like they were making him jealous, but didn't voice this opinion.

They partied, laughed, danced and talked until the adults were passed out drunk and old man Fu, who didn't like alcohol, and Tenno had to drag them inside.

Tenno sat by Mori and looked at the stars. Because there was less air pollution, one could almost see what colors some of the stars had.

It started snowing at an unknown time. He was tired and didn't feel like moving, so he just closed his eyes.

"Am I a bad friend...? Do I show you that I care for you...? I feel... like I'm not a good friend... In this new year, we should do more together. We will train together, okay...?"

The tree gave off a warm, calming energy. Tennos life energy reacted. He understood what Mori wanted to say.

"Ah, I'm glad you're excited. When we get older, we definitely have to go drinking with each other... Oh, you wanna explore the town? Yeah, me too. I wonder what it's like. Do they celebrate different things than the people in the palace?"

Small, white clouds drifted up to the sky.

"I really like how the lanterns looked... I just hope that there won't be any accidents. Do you think that, if we spent too much time in the palace, we'll forget what it's like outside? Cause I don't wanna forget... Ah, I'm so tired."

Suddenly, he heard the light crunching of snow. Someone was coming. They stopped next to him.

"No matter how warm your body is, you shouldn't sleep outside."

Tenno couldn't tell if this person was male or female. He could just barely see a pair of dark leather boots.

The person wrapped a quilt around Tenno and easily lifted him up.

His mind was still caught up in 'Male or female...?' but he really couldn't tell in this drowsy state.

The person began moving. They brought Tenno into old man Fu's house and placed him down on the couch in the living room.

He felt how they lightly touched the dreamcatcher on his left ear.

"Very beautiful."

They sat down on one of the chairs. The calming melody of a bawu sounded for a bit.

"If you hear this melody, you know that I'm near. But... it's not time yet."

A slight wind blew from somewhere, a rustling sound was heard. The wind caressed his cheek for only a second as a whisper sounded near his ear.

"Sweet dreams..."

He woke up. The bright sun shone through the shutters, reflecting of the snow. Lou attentively looked at him.

"What...?" his voice was still hoarse and dull from sleeping, like dripping honey and caramel.

"Mero told me that you're still here in old man Fu's house, so chief Bang asked me to take care of you. After all, it's the first day of the new year!"

"The others...?"

"They all have a headache! I wonder why..."

"So they are awake?"

"Since a few minutes. I woke them!"

"Oh..."

"Did you have a nightmare? Having a nightmare on the first night of the new year is a bad omen."

"I didn't."

He rubbed his eyes and stood up. That person... The bawu belonged to them. Were they an androgyn being? But then they would need to be a demon or cursed... The fourth princess...? But she was loud and lively, that person had a strange silence to them, calm and gentle. They were even stranger than Sunset Cure.

On this day, he just went to his room. The people of the palace rested on this day. They were still wandering around, chatting, but not really working. The security of the palace didn't seem as tight as Tenno had originally thought...

When he entered his room, he found Ichigo, who was groaning after having drunk too much.

"Ah, you're back..."

"Does the palace have androgyn people?"

"Andro what?"

"People without gender or both."

"So neither male nor female?"

"Yes."

"Hm... We have a few... well, beings that are flowers, plants and so on... They have both genders, I think. At leasts it's really hard to tell what gender they are. But even old man Fu dosen't know much about them. You would have to talk with Nion Laguna, head gardener."

"Isn't he also the royal pharmacist?"

"Oh right... He's such a busy worker bee, better not disturb him. The king is said to always get a cold at the beginning of winter."

"Okay. It's not that important anyway."

He lied down on his bed and stared at his dreamcatcher. He rarely had nightmares, but after making the dreamcatcher, they disappeared completely.

When the middle of winter arrived, the coldest day of the year, they couldn't go outside because everything was frozen. They had to wait for fire mages to melt everything, which was apparently normal.

Tenno worried about Mori, so he visited him every day with Lou.

Speaking of her, she had began to always follow him. It was... not that pleasant for Tenno, so he escaped into the library.

"Hello there."

He looked up from his book.

"Princess Sunset."

She gave him a small smile. She wore a dark green dress with a golden hem from which gold strings were embroidered like smoke rising up. It had the same cut like the golden dress, but seemed warmer since it was made out of velvet.

Her hair had been made into a loose braided style, hold up by golden clips, with a few locks hanging into her face and onto her shoulders.

"You look very pretty."

"Thank you. What are you here for today?"

"These diaries..."

"Ah."

She sat down beside him.

"How do you like the palace so far?"

"It's pretty nice. The people are surprisingly kind..."

"Yeah, it's weird... But we have no intention of hurting anyone, so what do you expect."

"Aha?" he raised an eyebrow.

Sunset sighed. "I'm not allowed to tell you more. You need to belong to the innermost circle of the royals to have that authorization. And that will take a while."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to know that you have a chance. And more potential than others. So..."

"What?"

"So I hope that..."

"Sunset!"

"Oh, Faye..."

The third princess eyed Tenno.

"Father is looking for you."

"Why?"

Faye made a face that showed Sunset what she thought.

"Hah... Fine. But if it has anything to do with Elle..."

"It dosen't, really! If it had to do with fifth sister, the palace wouldn't be this calm!"

"Sorry. I have to go."

"It's alright. Like you said, we'll meet again."

The children smiled at each other, then the princesses left. He could still hear them talk tough.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him..."

"If I did like you said, I would die from loneliness. No thank you."

"But..."

"Beloved sister, please respect my decision."

"... Fine."

'Stay away from me...?'

Tenno frowned. Why would the princess say something like this? And Sunset really didn't sound like a child...

'System, what do I need to repair you?'

"Soul energy of host is insufficient. Body has to mature more before..."

'Okay, okay, I get it.'

He sighed.

After that, he often came to the library and met Sunset. Sometimes, his heart would pound like a drum, sometimes her presence would relax him and other times, it was just the best time he had on that day.

When spring came, Ainsworth began teaching Mori and Tenno together with a few other kids. Zora taught Tenno a few dishes, Nion helped Mori learn more about medicine and the kids developed greatly.

They passed the first year. Many of the kids left the western complex and joined the people of their department to improve more. Some were taken in by servants, guards and so on. Those people took on the role of the parents and guardians.

Mori was allowed to live with Mero in old man Fu's house, Tenno and Ichigo came to Bang Chengs apartment.

Neither Bang Cheng himself nor his apartment were low key. It was a ragbag of all kinds of things, mainly things that Tenno thought of as Chinese and Japanese. Was chief Bang a follower of Dao? But it might just as well be that he liked the aesthetic of those objects.

Tenno got his own room to decorate, and while doing so, he noticed that these apartments that were in the towers of the complex were quite modern and fancy. The people of the palace, no matter what social rank, really had it good.

So, in the apartment of Bang Cheng, a new part of Tennos life started.