The Lotus Of East Palace
Chapter 8 (Kaze)

I've been weird a long time. Even before Eri came and took me to the Wind Palace, the people around me already knew that I was weird. It's not that I can bring hurricanes, or storms, or destruction. Before anyone knew that I was a Wind Dragon, I had absolutely no idea that I could bring in winds and storms. But since long ago I can show the past.

I'm sure my parents knew the strangeness too. But the lack of knowledge among the common people like us, as well as the absence of belief in ancestors and the existence of Gods and Goddesses made my parents ignore my weirdness. So when I gave a glimpse of my past as a Wind Dragon to my parents, it was, my father would only think of himself as too drunk or my mother as too tired and what I showed them was nothing but an illusion.

So when Shuu asked me to show Lee Yeon-Hwa, the Orient girl who saved us from being thrown into Westeria prison, I stepped forward and stretched out my hand to touch her forehead. I made her see past events that could explain to her who we were and who we were looking for.

...****************...

Our palace is always crowded and full of joy. That day, like any other day, I wore my best dress made of morning dew and the autumn breeze. Every single strand of my silver hair shimmered under the light of dawn. I clasped the hand of my twin brother, Aquinier, who walked in rhythm with each step of my foot, opening the clear springs and rivers from the soles of his feet. Beside her, our beautiful sister Earithear in a dress filled with thousands of flowers and butterflies flew around her. In front of us was our King and Queen dancing to the music created by nature.

Our king cannot distract him from our Queen. That woman is a human. The daughter of the Goddess of Heaven who was born as a human. But none of him looked as ordinary as any other human.

The woman's hair was as red as dawn, her beautiful eyes always looked like flames—like our eyes. As he smiled, the sky brightened and the birds chirped. The red hue on his face made roses bloom. In each breath, bringing forth a gentle breeze of cool breeze brings happiness to the hearts of all.

Without us knowing it, more and more people were dancing around us. Aquinier was dancing with our sister Earithear. And two little princes came to me to ask me to dance. The older one had a face exactly like our Queen, with red hair but eyes as bright as the sun. His younger brother, the youngest, was similar to his father with snow-white skin, hair as black as the darkness of night and eyes similar to the embers of hellfire.

"You should dance with me first, Aerinear!" The youngest protested as I accepted her brother's invitation.

"But I was born first. It's appropriate that I dance with Aerinear before anyone." said her brother, clasping my hand tightly as if I was afraid I would fly away from her.

Irritated, little Nordlijk let me dance first with his brother. "alright... But if I grow up, you'll have to marry me, Aerinear. Promise it."

I laughed in response. "You're only six years old, Prince. If I have to wait for you to grow up, I'll hunt old."

"You're not going to age, Aerinear. You'll always be young and immortal like our father." Zuidlijk. "But I'll grow up first than Nordlijk. So marry me."

"I will not marry a prince, let alone a child like you. I'm just gonna marry a king."

"A King? Like our father?" Nordlijk asked, his eyes twinkling for an answer.

"really. Like your father. If you can grow up and become a great King like your father, I might consider that proposal." I smiled as I saw the two brothers frowning looking insecure while looking at their parents who were dancing from a distance. "Now, let's dance together."

...****************...

I took off my hand from Lee Yeon-Hwa's forehead. He still looked astonished, his pupils widened, his mouth agape. The normal reaction. In accordance with what I expected.

"What the fuck was that?" He asked, still not fully recovered from the influence of my unique talent. "Why did I see Princess Anastasia and King Xavier dancing in the Main Palace hall?"

Hearing that, the Orient blind man and old grandmother Westeria looked puzzled. The old grandmother then explained something to the blind man in Westernia. Something that the blind man had not seen.

Princess Anastasia. Is she our Queen in this life?

I know about King Xavier. We've seen his face painting in the mansion we're occupying in Noord. But we don't know anything about our Queen yet. Who he is in this life, where he is, and other things.

"The woman you saw earlier. You knew her?" I asked Yeon-Hwa.

He's nodding. "I don't know him very well, but you could say we were friends. She was Princess Anastasia of Schiereiland."

"Can you take us to see him?" Shuu asked then after all this time just silently watched.

Yeon-Hwa did not answer. He glanced at his grandmother and his father. They both shook their heads. But Yeon-Hwa looked back at us, she knew who we were, I told her everything.

"I can't." Answer in the mouth. Then, because he already knew who we were and what we could do, he answered in his mind that I thought Shuu had heard.

Shuu conveyed it to me through our telepathy, He will bring us to meet Princess Anastasia without anyone's knowledge. He will take us after making sure his preparations are perfect. Give him a few days to prepare everything.

...****************...

That night, we were allowed to stay at the home of Tania Welsh, the kindly old grandmother who understood absolutely nothing of what we said. It's not a problem. His friendly smile was enough to make us feel comfortable around him. Smiling is an international language that anyone can understand.

We then stayed at Tania Welsh's house for the next days while waiting for Yeon-Hwa to prepare for our departure to Schiereiland. During his stay there, we helped Yeon-Hwa's father in the garden. Our strength turned out to be quite useful for caring for the flower garden owned by Tania Welsh. The water from Shuu makes all the plants flourish, while my wind helps the seedlings spread. If we had been with our sister Earithear, if she had been alive, she would have been able to greatly assist the process of blossoming in this garden. The flowers will be sold to the city by Yeon-Hwa. While selling the flowers, Yeon-Hwa will prepare the licensing documents to leave Westeria for the three of us along with the vehicle we will be riding in later. Meanwhile, we are tasked to become two new adopted grandchildren of Tania Welsh who will distract them from the suspicious actions of Yeon-Hwa who later often go to the city.

Daniel Welsh, the blind man who is the father of Yeon-Hwa who—after arguing for quite a while with Shuu—we agreed he was from the Jung tribe, making us a snack every night. Lotus Cake! How much I miss this Orient cake! I can see Shuu agreeing with me without needing him to say. He devoured a plate full of Lotus cakes.

Aerinear, Aquinier, can you hear me?

I hurriedly opened my eyes and turned towards Shuu who also turned out not to be asleep. Shuu's eyes widened. He heard it too. And that's not the voice of any of us. That voice was both familiar and foreign to us. Strangers in this life, yet familiar in our past lives.

Can you hear us? The other voice asked. Again, that's not our voice. But I know whose voice it is. Even the voice of our King has not changed. His voice was able to thrill the souls of the dragons as if calling out to us.

My breath stopped because I almost cried. I miss their voices. It's been a long time since I've heard their voices. For a thousand years we were separated and never met even though we were repeatedly reborn. I tried to calm my breath before answering them.

We hear you, Your Majesty and His Majesty. My answer.

We've been looking for you guys for a long time. Shuu.

We did it, Xavier! They hear our voices! Our queen sounds very happy. His delight was contagious to us even though thousands of miles away we were apart. I could feel my lips forming a wide smile following the thump of our hearts and the tears of longing that somehow flowed down my cheeks.

Where are you guys now? Are you guys all right? Our king asked.

Shuu replied, We are fine. We are in Westeria at the moment. We met an Orient girl who kindly accommodated us in her house.

We'd like to see you guys. Add me. We plan on going to Schiereiland tomorrow with that Orient girl. He said he knows you, Your Majesty.

Just anna. Our Queen said.

Princess Anastasia Roselia Isabella de Gratina, if you will. Add our King.

Why did you mention my full name! Just anna. Xavier called me that too. What's your name?

I'm Shuu. Huang Shui Jun, but you can call me Shuu only.

I'm Kaze. Answer me briefly.

And we spent all night getting to know each other and chatting away longing after a thousand years of unaccounted for.

...****************...

Before dawn broke on the eastern horizon, before anyone woke up, Lee Yeon-Hwa, as promised, came to our room. His day. The day that we were going to Schiereiland after Yeon-Hwa managed to prepare all the preparations to leave Westeria. Since Shuu and I didn't sleep all night, we were ready when he came. We will sneak away to Schiereiland to meet Anna, our Queen of this life.

We boarded the horse-drawn carriage that was waiting for us at the foot of the hill. After arriving at the border gate later, we will get off the horse carriage and walk through the wild forests of the border region, then return to the horse carriage after entering the territory of Schiereiland for the journey to Schere, the capital of the city, capital city Schiereiland. But Shuu and I have another way that is easier and faster.

"Fly off? Kidding right?" Yeon-hwa laughs as we are inside a horse carriage that is endlessly shaking due to the uneventful road. I'm grateful I haven't eaten anything before I left, otherwise I might have vomited.

"We're serious." Shuu.

"No. You kidding. I won't be able to." Yeon-Hwa stubbornly crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You just need to get on my back." I said. "I promise I won't let you fall. Riding a Wind Dragon is an honor that can only be obtained once in a lifetime. Even if you reincarnate for a thousand times, you might never get back that chance."

I'm not exaggerating. Even the previous Orient emperors never had that honor. We were their Gods, then we became their protectors, and now we are their weapons, but we are not their mounts and will never be the mount of anyone but those whom we will. The Emperors never dreamed of riding us Dragons knowing that we were not mounts.

"I may fall from the sky and die before any of you realize!" His protest. "We're not going to fly. We will walk miles and miles, pitch our tents when we are tired, and then continue our journey by horse-drawn carriage to Schere. No change of plans."

I glanced towards Shuu. Hows it?

Shuu grinned at the jail and said,

Let's just take him. The choice was for you to take him flying through the sky or for him to swim with me in the oceans and rivers for hours, which I'm sure he wouldn't like. At least, we'll take him when he's asleep.

So as soon as we got off the horse-drawn carriage after a day's journey, after we were outside the gates of La Gran Puerta, the gate that guarded Westeria for many years, we followed Yeon-Hwa's plan to walk through the forest. When it was evening, I pretended to be exhausted and whined to set up a tent like a child who had been living in the Palace for too long and was spoiled. Yeon-Hwa, upset, sets up a tent for the three of us.

And after we made sure that Yeon-Hwa was slumbering enough from exhaustion, Shuu and I changed our forms to Wind Dragons and Water Dragons. Shuu first merges with river water. I caught up with her by flying in the sky while carrying the slumbering Yeon-Hwa with the help of the sleeping pills we put into her drink. I took him flying towards Schere in the dark of night.

...****************...