“Mum!”

Yuriko protested as soon as she processed what Sadeen said. Chills ran down her spine and she clenched her fists in anger. She almost shot to her feet but Mum’s hands on her shoulders pressed her down to remain seated.

“Shhh,” Mum whispered as she kissed the top of Yuriko’s head. “Let me finish.”

Yuriko felt a wave of peace and serenity coming from Mum’s voice. It washed over her Anima, wriggling inside and affecting her. At least until she pushed back against it.

It was as if she was pushing against a wall, a thousand paces high and weighing several thousand MiJin, to prevent it from falling. Utterly useless. The wall fell over her, crushing resistance, but of course, there was no pain. She felt her emotions calm, but there was a seed, an ember, of anger and annoyance banked beneath the ashes.

“It’s alright, my baby,” Sadeen said soothingly, brushing her fingers down Yuriko’s hair. “He’ll only be your first.”

“I don’t even know him,” Yuriko grumbled.

Sadeen’s tinkling laugh brushed against her ears, sending a flush up her neck. “At least he’s nearly your age. Back then, the 28th was several decades older than I.”

“An older prince? But…aren’t you and Da…?”

“Not always.” Sadeen sighed, more than a bit of emotion pouring out. “We don’t really have a choice, my dear.” And here, bitterness filled her Mum’s voice. A hardened thread holding up the world. “We don’t have a choice…”

The repeated whisper was harder than jadeite.

“Ah, but little Yuri, my little heartbreaker,” Mum giggled. “You’ve no idea how many you’ve broken and trampled on over the past weeks, haven’t you? Most of their parents grumbled and complained to me. Well, all the better to hone their Wills, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” Yuriko muttered. “But I don’t want to be married yet!”

“Ah, it’s only an engagement. Both of you will need to be either eighteen years old or both at the Knight level. You still have three years to wrap him thoroughly around your fingers so that he won’t mind you doing whatever you want to.” Mum giggled.

“I still don’t want this,” Yuriko whined.

“Oh, baby.” Mum sighed, then she leaned close to Yuriko’s ear and said, in a whisper so slight that if not for her Anima, she might not have heard or understood. Even then, she didn’t know if Mum really wanted to say it. “You can always run. Like I did.”

In the silence, Mum finished unbuttoning Yuriko’s gown. She slipped out of it and both of them entered the bathroom for a warm bath.

As they soaked in the water, her mum sighed.

“You’re more like Virgil really. You’ve grown even taller. I’m not sure how to feel about my baby growing so big. Well, mostly.”

“Maru and Kato are taller than you,” Yuriko pointed out languidly as she luxuriated in the heat.

After Mum’s revelations, she really should have been more keyed up, but her Mien forced away her worries. She’d probably feel worse in the morning, even if only because she knew her emotions were being tampered with.

“That’s true,” Sadeen sighed. “Tomorrow I will leave Realmheart.”

“Eh? Where’re you going?” Yuriko asked.

“Well, the Progenitor found where your father is. It’s time to bring him back.”

“Truly?” Yuriko pounced and hugged her Mum, while Sadeen chuckled.

“It might take a few Seasons and I don't think I can get him to come here. But maybe with you in Aerule, Virgil will consent.”

“Or I could just go to Rumiga.”

“There’s that. But I don't think you'd be allowed to. You’re not a Knight yet, my dear. And your fiance will probably wish to spend time with you.”

“I don’t wanna.”

She could feel her Mum roll her eyes. They took a few more minutes relaxing, then Mum summoned the attendants and both of them readied for bed. Tonight, Mum snuggled up next to her, and in the morning, she was gone.

And as she expected, she felt much worse without Mum’s soothing touch. It was only to be expected, after all. Who wanted to have their spouse decided for them? She didn’t even know the 29th prince.

As for what Mum said…about escaping. Did she meet Da while she ran from the 28th? That was likely. And the bigger question was, would she do the same? Given that the alternative was to stay in Realmheart and get married in three years…er, no thank you. If she just waited, it would be unlikely that she’d ever see Da and her brothers again for more than a couple of weeks every year like Mum does. So, no. She would not be waiting around and she wouldn’t get married just yet.

What that left was to reach Actualisation and leave Realmheart. She could just take an Arkship out, of course, but that would mean she’d be stuck without recourse if she got caught. She would have limited options on how she could travel. She’d have to cross planes, go through Chaos channels or Tidelands. The Empire’s shipping lanes were well known and documented, and there were fortress waypoints. If she used the Arkships, it would be easy to track her down.

Yes, she would have to leave. It had been a nice nine weeks in the lap of luxury, but it honestly wasn’t good for her. She’d become lazier and more indulgent. Er, she might have put on a bit of weight too, although that might have been because she grew taller. There was a lack of challenge as well.

Shatran with Finan was fun though, and quite challenging, but that was only one thing. The instructors were either her equal in prowess or much weaker, so she couldn’t really enjoy sparring with them. Also…spars now lacked an intrinsic quality that dampened whatever enjoyment she got from it. She…she wanted to fight with her life on the line?

Oh, Ancestors! Did she become a battle maniac?

Too late for that worry, my dear.

Argh.

Well, it was true. While she wouldn’t seek to fight just because she was bored, she knew that she wouldn’t shun it either.

Right. So she was leaving. But she couldn’t do it without becoming Actualised. Where would she go? Rumiga was the obvious choice but for that reason, was a bad one. Or at least, it would be if Rumiga wasn’t a frontier plane. The Empire controlled a fifth of it, at most. And there was wilderness enough to get lost in if she wanted to.

She also wanted to see her brothers and her friends, so no matter what, Rumiga was where she was going. Afterwards, well, she would see.

Huh. It’s been more than fifty days and there was still no reply from any of the letters she sent. Another cause for concern. Was the barbarian threat still going strong?

‘I’ll send another letter to Maru,’ she decided.

For now, she needed to meditate and figure out what she was missing.

The days flowed like water down the stream. Most of her classes had concluded, and there were only the examinations left, which she got through well enough.

One afternoon, while she was in the training room working on her Four Phases, Reinhardt came to call, handing her a single purple rose spun out of woven glass.

“It’s beautiful,” Yuriko said, admiring how the light shone through the tinted glass. If she held it up in the air, it created a purple silhouette on the ground.

“As are you.” He grinned at the obvious flattery even as Yuriko rolled her eyes. “What’s troubling you, though? You’re quieter than usual.”

“Well,” Yuriko sighed, “it seems I’ve been betrothed without being consulted or informed until it was already done.”

Reinhardt shrugs. “I can’t say much about that. My own engagement happened when I was around eight.”

“Oh.” Yuriko frowned. “That must have been dreadful.”

“Not really.” Reinhardt laughed. “It was just something that must be done, you know. Duty. I was the third prince of Isger, and my only worth to the kingdom was to cement political alliances.” He rolled his shoulders and grunted, “Now that my cousin won the coup, my engagement is not even worth the paper it was written on. Less, since they used gold-tinged ink.” He finished with a laugh.

In his own way, Yuriko felt that Reinhardt tried to comfort her. “I see. But, uhm, I suppose you should stop courting.”

He smirked. “No, I don’t think so. You know, I found your clan to be scandalously polyandrous, but that seems to work in my favour now. Hah hah, Lady Miya mentioned how unions work for you Mishalas, and I think you only need to give the, er, imperial prince an heir then you’d be free.”

Yuriko coloured. She knew how that worked, of course, thanks to numerous sex education classes all the first years took. Still, it wasn’t something she considered in the near future. Also, she wasn’t sure if that would be the case with the 29th either.

On a different afternoon, Yuriko sat across from Finan while they played Shatran. Her game was abysmal that day, with her being too distracted that she was defeated in less than thirty moves. She sighed and reset the board while the boy hummed in thought.

“You’re worried about the engagement?”

“Does everyone know?”

“Well, M…the Empress made the announcement in front of the court.”

“It’s more that I don’t know the imperial prince.” She grumbled.

“Huh, well,” Finan coughed. “The Empress’ children are normally a selfish lot. But I can’t really blame them. Born under great privilege but destined for mediocrity.” He sighed.

“What do you mean?”

Finan didn’t answer for a while, focusing instead on his opening gambits.

“Well, only a few, three I think, of the Pia’Vasi ever amounted to anything, and one of them died a traitor. The Empress’ bloodline is incredibly precious, but not for its power. After all, why would the Empire need an heir if its ruler is immortal.” There was just a slight bitter undertone to his words.

“Why then?” Yuriko asked.

Finan just shook his head and focused on the game so Yuriko dropped the subject.

Those were merely diversions though and when she grew too tired of pondering what would allow her to gather a thousand lumens in her control. She’s had several false starts already, and when she explored the ideas, they eventually wound up in a dead-end.

One of those was simply dumping her Animus into her exterior Anima. The lumens degraded over the course of minutes though, so she couldn’t just keep pumping her reserve there and hope it builds up to the proper amount. She could try it in the Tidelands, she supposed, where the number of lumens she recovered just by breathing would be increased.

Her next thought was to encase the lumens in a shell to isolate it from the ambient Chaos, but even with being able to divide her focus ten ways, it wasn’t enough. And besides, it was deeply uncomfortable to force her attention into something for hours at a time. Maybe if she kept it up she’ll get used to it enough that it would be a background thing? Kind of like training herself to hold her stomach in, her back straight and her shoulders square for proper posture.

But with posture, it was a matter of gaining muscle memory, and with Radiant Refinement having worked to better her body, it was a trivial task. How about Radiant Refinement for the Anima? She had a feeling that wouldn’t work though.

Well, that wasn’t the way. It took too much focus and if she fell asleep or got distracted, she’d lose control. Eight hundred lumens of Animus simultaneously denaturing wasn’t a pleasant experience.

A memory tickled the back of her mind. Perhaps it was Damien providing a clue. Why didn’t he just go out and say it, she didn’t know. And he was completely tight-lipped about the reasons too. But there was that memory of a dream.

Damien sitting cross-legged on a mattress. Two exhausted, but happy courtesans behind him, the scent of their proclivities hung in the air. His Anima spread out, Animus dancing in the air, forming runescript lines…

Runescript lines.

What were the runescript words for storage? She thought the ones she saw in the Workshop were familiar! Damien used them. He stored Animus into runescript woven into his Anima!

That night, she began her work. The first lines weren’t so good and only managed to hold twenty lumens. But she only needed to extend the work! Ah, no, no, if she made it like that, she’d have to keep her Anima flared. Make it close to her skin, make it more delicate and smaller. Twenty lumens. Fifty. A hundred.

The runescript lines were thin enough that she only needed to keep her Anima a tiny fraction of an inch above her skin to contain it. Seven hundred. Seven fifty.

Eight hundred.

As soon as the last lumen to give her a thousand was in her Anima, the world rippled around her. The next moment, she was in the dreamscape. A hazy space where there was no up and down and everything was covered in fog.

Gold threads spun around her, spinning out of her. It joined even more threads coming out of the fog and clumped into three bundles. The world rippled, and the next moment, three figures floated in front of her.

Three of her.