“You're going to the observatory?”

Ara turned, spotting Prince Min standing some way down the hall.

“No, I'm going to the moon, Your Highness.” she replied.

“When you come back, come and find me.” Min smirked.

“For what?”

“I have a proposal for you.”

“Your Highness-”

“My name is Min.”

“Indeed it is, Your Highness.” Ara replied, noticing his smirk had become a grin. “The visions that come to me are the final word. Once I receive confirmation about who the next King will be, I will report directly to your father.”

Prince Min strode over to her, running a hand through his wavy, shiny black hair, his strong eyebrows and sharp eyes piercing hers as he towered over her. He folded his arms as he stood in his dark grey robes and leaned over.

“I fear you have misunderstood me, Ara. I don't mean that kind of proposal.”

“You have a wife.”

“So?”

Ara recalled the Queen's comments about interfering in royal relationships and excused herself, rolling her eyes and continued along the path she was walking, heading towards the carriage awaiting her.

“Ara!” Min called, trying his best not to walk too quickly behind her.

“Your Highness,” Ara began, suddenly whirling around on her heel, surprising the younger prince. “If you need me to explain in detail exactly why no proposal of any kind you have for me is worth proposing, then perhaps you need to rethink your suitability for the throne!”

Ara's blood immediately ran cold. What had she just said? Daring not to make eye contact with him, she stared at his boots. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Had she gone mad? Where on earth had she gotten the courage to speak like that to a member of the Royal Family? What was wrong with her? She would be lucky if Min didn't want her head for that, for the stories of his executions were not tall tales, but very, very real. The Prince stared down at Ara. Never in his life had anyone except Zhan spoken to him like that.

“I think you need to go, Ara.” he said finally.

“Your Highness.” Ara replied, and the prince watched as she backed away and almost ran towards the carriage that waited for her.

* * *

Ninety minutes later, Ara stood at the base of Mount Oma. She looked up to the sky and let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Look, would you just give me something, please? I can't keep everyone waiting.”

With that, she pulled her robes up and began the same old boring journey she had been making for as long as she could remember. In hindsight, it seemed irresponsible at best to send a young child alone up a mountain. No one had ever expressed concern that she might fall to her death on a windy day or get eaten up by a wild boar. Her stomach rumbled at the thought – how long it had been since she had eaten wild boar? Skipping breakfast was a mistake, that was for sure.

She stopped and stared at a small bush with fruit on it. Was it safe? She had been taught many things while growing up under the guidance of some quack shaman called Zayr, but nothing about wilderness survival. That old fart only taught her how to teach herself magic from books and nothing more. He was strict and a perfectionist and she wasn't at all sad when he died after choking on a walnut.

Better not risk dying on a mountainside choking on dodgy bush fruit, then.

Ara yawned as she reached the plateau, now wondering why Min was up at such an early hour. Though, knowing him, it was more likely that he hadn't yet gone to sleep. He didn't even live in the palace, not after getting married, but he and his brother had returned to see their father before he passed. It was considerate of them, but put more pressure on her having them both there. Ara took a moment to clear her head of any thoughts and strolled over to the observatory. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and calmed herself, taking hold of her necklace and waiting...

and waiting...

The sunlight gradually grew stronger and before long, the time had passed for any observations to be made.

“Really?” she complained, gazing up at the sky. “Nothing? At a time like this and you give me nothing?”

Ara hastily rose up, dusting her robes off and muttering under her breath about what a waste of time it was. Trudging back down the pathway, she felt more and more sleepy. She stretched her arms up above her head as she went, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Suddenly, a low but chilling growl rang through the air. Ara stopped in her tracks, scanning the area for any signs of an animal. With a few words and the wave of her hand, she cast a protection spell – she would barely be harmed should something come her way, but that didn't stop her nerves as she descended the mountain, the growl seeming to follow her.

Halfway down, she spotted the source: a beast of a puma stood high up on the path above her. A much fiercer growl came from it and in the time it took Ara to blink, it had pounced. Time seemed to slow down as Ara curled herself into a ball, arms over her head as she waited for its powerful jaws to clamp around her.

But no such thing happened.

Instead, the creature screeched and there was a loud thud. Slowly, Ara unfurled herself and looked over in shock to see the beast dead on the ground, a large sword skewered through its neck. Where the hell had that come from?

“Miss! Miss! Are you okay?”

To her left, Ara spotted a young and handsome man with long black hair wearing white and blue robes come careering down the mountain. Without a word, she nodded her head and accepted the hand the young man offered her to help her to her feet. He smiled a genuine, pure smile and Ara felt a flutter in her stomach. She averted her gaze. It wasn't the time to be flustered. How dare he come along with that smile.

And that face.

Ara stole another look, one hand grasping her elbow.

“Forgive the violence, miss. I was merely passing through and noticed I wasn't alone on this mountain. Once I heard the puma, I thought it was best to catch up.”

Ara cleared her throat and stood more confidently. “I did cast a protection spell the second I heard that thing growl. I can take care of myself.”

“I'm sure you can. I mean no disrespect, but after seeing a large cat lunge at someone it would be safer to assume there was no such protection.”

Ara blinked a few times.

She couldn't exactly argue with that reasoning.

“That was quite impressive.” she admitted.

The man smiled again and strolled past her, putting one foot on the animal before pulling his sword back out, wiping it off and sheathing it. The pair walked together down the mountain in total silence until Ara couldn't fight her curiosity any longer:

“I've been coming to this mountain every week for as long as I can remember and never did I see another soul here. Who are you?”

“My name is Jun.” he replied.

“Jun.” Ara repeated.

“May I know your name?”

Ara gave him an incredulous look and let out a laugh in disbelief. How could he possibly not know who she was? Who else went to that mountain every damn week? It sure as heck wasn't a hiking trail. Everyone knew who she was, how could he not know The Witch Ara? Did he live under the mountain or something? Maybe he lived on it and never travelled to the city, that would his explain his long hair, but not his immaculate clothes and appearance.

“Oh!” Jun exclaimed, his eyes lighting up, “Wait, you're The Witch Ara, right? What an honour it is to meet you, Your Holiness!”

Yes, yes, that was the correct response.

“Forgive me, Your Holiness, I have only ever seen paintings and drawings of you, so I didn't recognise you right away. I live on the other side of the mountain and came here to hunt today. We don't get much interaction with the rest of the country since we're such a rural area. Forgive my ignorance.”

“It's fine, it would be unreasonable to expect everyone to recognise me.” she said nonchalantly, not seeing the grin on Jun's face as he watched her walk ahead.

How endearing she was.

“May I escort you to wherever you're going?” he asked politely.

“You may.”

“The palace is rather far from here, isn't it?”

“It is, a ninety minute journey by horse and carriage. There it is, just over there.” she said, pointing to the guard who awaited her.

“Then I will leave you here.” Jun replied, stopping in his tracks.

Ara turned to him, her eyebrows raised a bit. They were still some distance away from the carriage. Didn't he just say he would escort her?

“It was nice to meet you, Jun. Take care of yourself and thank you very much for your help today.”

“I'm happy to help Your Holiness in any way I can.” Jun gave a shallow bow and righted himself, a wide grin on his lips.

* * *

Some time later, after Ara had reported back to the King, she found herself relaxing in a steaming hot bath in her private bathroom. Rose petals floated around on the surface of the fragrant water, some of them sticking to her hair as she leaned back and rested her neck on the tiled edge. The King wasn't disappointed with her, but she felt pressure – either real or imagined – to provide answers as soon as possible. Muffled voices caught her ear and she turned her head towards the source of the noise, rolling her eyes as Prince Min confidently strode in, several ladies-in-waiting following him and trying to convince him to leave.

“Ara! I've come to discuss the proposal. May I join you?” he asked.

“Absolutely not.” Ara replied, sighing as the prince began to disrobe anyway.