—

17:30-18:00 December 21st

—

Mai smiled brightly as she looked at the ring on her finger. She couldn’t wait to show it to Yue when they got back to the academy. She held Huy’s arm with a smile as a follower of Vermillion bird finished adjusting his bright red clothes so they wouldn’t burn if he used his wings.

Huy was a bit embarrassed as he noticed Mai staring at him with a pleased look and looked away with slightly red cheeks. He tried to focus on the matter at hand, the meeting of the 4 beasts.

He was curious about if Yue would disguise herself or hide her face in some way. He thought that Yue probably didn’t want Mai to find out this way. He didn’t remember mentioning that family members could come to the meeting so he was a bit worried that Yue might be shocked if he saw Mai.

‘She’ll probably hide her face regardless…’ Huy thought and put on a feathery golden mask. The followers of the other beasts weren’t supposed to see the faces of the others out of respect to the beast they served so Black Tortoise had suggested that they wear masks as they entered the meeting so the servants wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally looking at their faces for the few minutes they would be in the same room.

“Are you going to expose your wings?” Mai asked with an excited look.

“When all of us are gathered and the followers leave I will.” Huy said and held Mai’s hand, “Shall we go now?”

Mai smiled and nodded in response and Huy raised his hand up to the space in front of him and a golden portal appeared in front of them. They looked at it for a second before walking in together.

—

“The new year might bring trouble so think carefully about your wishes for when I return,” Aylin said to all of her servants as she adjusted a golden bracelet that was on her claw-like hands.

She and Lunara both wore black and white dresses while her husband, Erol, wore mostly white. Aylin wore more jewelry than the two of them and was given a long gray coat so she could cover her hands for the sake of the servants.

“That rule about not looking at the other Beasts is pretty inconvenient.” Lunara murmured, “It’s usually not such a big deal.”

“Vermillion Bird and Azure Dragon are returning so the elders won’t let the other followers make any mistakes that might offend them,” Erol said and adjusted Aylin’s coat as it slipped off her shoulders.

“It’s no use trying to change that, even Elena doesn’t bother.” Aylin sighed and put on her black and white mask before locking arms with her husband.

“Let’s go.”

—

“You’ll meet them some other time, Kolya,” Elena said and stroked Nikolai’s hair as he whined about not being able to go to the meeting.

Nikolai was pouting but he nodded and hugged Elena before returning to sit beside Natasha. Natasha and Alexei were in the living room just keeping Elena company as she finished getting her hair done and waited for Viktor and Andrei who would be going with her.

Viktor had a smile on his face as he walked down to the living room in a pure white suit with a black tie and silver jewelry. His earrings were silver cuffs shaped like snakes and he wore a few silver rings along with a silver watch fob and a few other accents of silver.

“You seem happy.” Elena laughed as she watched Viktor, “Are you excited to rub your victory in Lunara’s face?”

That wasn’t why Viktor was excited but he just nodded and made his face look a little calmer as Andrei entered the room in similar clothes. He didn’t want Andrei to ask questions so he just stayed quiet.

“We should get going,” Andrei said as he looked at his pocket watch and saw that Elena was done getting ready.

“Not yet, let’s wait some more.” Elena giggled.

“Is it fashionably late if it’s on purpose?” Natasha laughed and everyone else laughed as well.

—-

Yue was ready to go but it wasn’t exactly the time Huy had told him so he just stood around waiting for a while. He was dressed in mostly black Taoist robes with the white collar of his undergarment peeking through and the turquoise lapels of his second garment peaking through the crosses of his black top garment. He wore an open turquoise overcoat over the other garments which were more tightly fitting. The turquoise layers of his clothes had dragon embroidery in either darker shades of turquoise or in gold and he had lots of gold jewelry.

He had chosen the hairstyle that Jinghua did on him when asking about his sword and his sword had the tassel that could absorb negative energy on it. He had been planning to wear the waist pendant as well but his clothes were already heavy and he doubted that he’d get attacked by negative energy anyway.

His mask was gold with some turquoise accents, he wore but felt awkward as he did. It was weird to not hide his eyes and to hide his face instead.

‘What will I tell Huy...about this…?’ Yue wondered, he was very clearly dressed in male clothes and even his feminine face couldn’t convince someone that he wasn’t male.

‘...If I tell him the truth he might think badly of me for spending so much time with Mai…’ Yue frowned and sat down to think for a bit as the elders looked at him, concerned by his frown.

“Is something the matter, My lord?” Jinghua asked.

“...No I’m just thinking,” Yue responded and crossed his legs after checking the time and seeing that he still had to wait.

‘I’ll just use my real reason…’ If people think Azure Dragon is male they won’t suspect that a girl could be Azure Dragon’...that works surprisingly well..’

He waited a few more minutes and then saw that it was finally time and went to where he was going to set up the portal and looked over to the two followers who were carrying the temple’s offerings for the main temple of the 4 beasts. He would need to let them go through the portal to enter the temple and leave the offerings and quickly send them back.

—

Mai stuck close to Huy but looked around the main temple curiously, she and Huy were the first ones there.

Inside of a large room were 4 thrones in a circle, each throne had the beast they represented carved into it. In the center, there was a place for the offerings the followers brought. And the walls behind each throne had a mural of the symbol’s beast form and specific areas for the portals to appear.

Huy waited for his followers to put down their offerings and go back through the portal before he closed the portal and started walking toward his throne. The thrones were absurdly large so he wasn’t worried about Mai not having a place to sit. At first, he didn’t realize just how huge they were and worried that Mai would have to stand.

Huy and Mai heard footsteps as they went to sit at the throne and turned to see Azure Dragon’s followers rushing in with their offerings and quickly leaving.

“QingLong…” Huy murmured as he saw the golden light of the portal disappear from behind Azure Dragon’s throne.

Yue appeared from behind the throne and was going to bow as a greeting and smile a bit but then he noticed Mai. And Mai noticed him and they stared at each other in shock for a moment. Yue quickly whipped his head around after bowing and sat down on his throne and looked away.

‘She didn’t notice right?’ Yue tried to peek toward them again discreetly but Mai and Huy were both staring at him. Huy was probably just confused about him being dressed as a man but Mai’s gaze was unmoving.

“Yu—” Mai started, making Yue flinch and look away again.

She was cut off by the sound of footsteps, more followers quickly entered and left, they had tiger embroidered on their clothes.

“Hello there...I intended to be first but you all seem to have been faster.” Aylin chuckled as she went and sat down at her throne.

Yue stood and bowed to her as a greeting, hoping Mai would be distracted and wouldn’t mention anything about him.

“Black Tortoise might be a little late, but she’s the eldest so we can’t scold her for it.” Aylin said and laughed.

It was relatively quiet as Mai smiled politely for a while before sitting beside Huy on his throne and continuing to stare at Yue.

‘That streak in your hair, and those eyes...You’re definitely Yue aren’t you?!’ Mai exclaimed through telepathy and gave Yue a very pointed look.

Yue didn’t respond and panicked silently, he was so confused about why people other than the 4 were even there. Wasn’t it supposed to be just the 4 beasts? Why was Mai there? And why were there people with White Tiger too? Did everyone except him know that other people could come with them?

It wasn’t like he had anyone to invite even if he did know but he could at least be more cautious if he knew that Mai was coming. He would’ve dressed like a woman if he knew Mai was coming, even if he had to reveal that he was Azure Dragon it was easier than revealing that he was male. He now has to worry about Mai being disgusted by all the time she’s spent with him while thinking he was a girl.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you were Azure Dragon if you knew that Anh was Vermilion bird?!’

Yue turned to look at her with a shocked look, that pretty much just confirmed Mai’s words. He was shocked that Mai was only angry about that? Did she think that he was just in disguise? Was he saved?

‘... I don’t exactly like to just tell everyone… and I didn’t know that you knew about Huy…’ Yue murmured through telepathy, he knew exactly how to go through this, he was going to use the excuse he had prepared for Huy on Mai.

‘...Well, you could have just assumed that I knew about Anh being Vermilion bird… and you could’ve just told me that you were a man too.’ Mai said and finally calmed down.

If Yue had been holding something in his hand he would’ve dropped it and if he had been drinking something, he would have spit it out.

The portal to the Black Tortoise temple opened after Mai spoke to him through telepathy and the followers came and left quickly.

“Well, Happy New Years Eve everyone, it’s nice to finally meet some of you,” Elena said with a smile as she entered and sat down on her throne, she hadn’t even bothered to wear a mask, she knew she’d be the last one to enter the temple.

Yue looked at Elena with a starstruck expression. Elena was very beautiful, in an almost unsettlingly familiar way. Yue wondered why she looked so familiar and as he felt like he was getting close to the answer two people appeared from behind the thrones and steeped where he could see them.

Yue was ready to cough up blood just from the sight of Viktor and Mai almost stood up as she saw him.

‘You’re here too?!’ Mai asked through telepathy and didn’t even get a response.

Viktor smiled as he stared at Yue. He sort of expected Yue to wear women’s clothes so now as he saw Yue in men’s clothes he felt like he was falling in love all over again.

‘How have you managed to make me fall for you three times already…?’

—

Viktor’s disdain for mountains hadn’t faded throughout the years but he didn’t mind the climb up to the Black Temple. It was probably because he was guaranteed a reward of food and a blanket afterward but it was the only time the mountains were bearable.

He was going through the treasury with Elena as she looked for a magic item, it was his first time ever inside the treasury and Elena had to use some of her mana in him so he could enter and look around.

“See anything you want? You’re a good boy so you can have anything you’d like.” Elena smiled and pinched Viktor’s cheek.

“...What is this?” Viktor asked and pointed to a small decorative mirror near the center of the treasury.

"Ah, you can't take that. It belongs to me as the eldest of the 4 beasts." Elena murmured and took the mirror off its stand and showed it to Viktor.

"What does it do?" Viktor asked.

"It can show you what the 4 beasts are doing, I haven't used it much... I don't want to see Aylin doing something inappropriate." Elena explained and laughed. She tapped the mirror and the image of her and Viktor looking into the mirror appeared.

"What about the other two?" Viktor asked, "Aren't Azure Dragon and Vermillion Bird around my age?"

"Vermillion Bird is around 16 or 17..." Elena murmured, she took the mirror from Viktors hand and looked at it herself before deciding if she could show it to Viktor.

The mirror just showed an adolescent boy cultivating so she just handed the mirror to Viktor.

"Oh, He does cultivation like Mr. Zhao..." Viktor murmured.

"Azure Dragon probably does too, he probably started when he was much younger than you." Elena murmured, "He's only 10 or 11 at the moment."

She changed the mirror to show Azure Dragon and Viktor was immediately mesmerized. The mirror showed a boy picking flowers and herbs with a young woman. They were talking but the mirror didn't relay their conversation. The boy would pick herbs and with a bright smile and wide blue-green eyes, he would rush back to the young woman and put the herbs in her basket. Viktor looked down at the mirror and then up at Elena and then back down.

"His eyes are like yours are when you're partially transformed or when you're fighting..." Viktor murmured, "But he's not doing either of those things..."

"His eyes are probably like Aylin's hands, they're always like that," Elena explained, a bit amused by Viktor's staring.

"Oh...They're pretty." Viktor mumbled with red cheeks.

'Ah...Is my son bent?'

--

Mai's face was clearly very shocked and everyone noticed it. Yue's awkward expression and Huy's confusion were also very clear

"Is something the matter?" Aylin asked, she sat beside Lunara on her throne while her husband stood behind her.

"Oh... Aren't you in Viktor's class?" Andrei asked and looked at Mai, he remembered seeing her in London.

Mai quickly nodded, "I didn't think I'd see him here of all places...".

'Hah...Yue already essentially revealed everything to me already but I'm still going to punch you.' Mai said to Viktor through telepathy. Viktor looked at her with a bit of shock, Yue seriously admitted it?

Yue looked between the two of them and agonized over what they could be telling each other since Viktor looked shocked. Did Viktor not actually know? Did Mai just tell him?

Elena looked from Viktor to Mai and then to Yue. She was connecting the dots and she was pleased with the conclusion she had come to. At first, she had thought that Viktor only liked his 'lady friend' because 'she' had blue-green eyes like Azure Dragon, his first love, but now as he looked at the nervous way Azure Dragon stared at Viktor and Mai she knew that wasn't the case.

"...Well. We should get started. You can all remove your masks if you'd like, they might interfere with your partial transformation." Elena announced and smiled, she was looking directly at Yue though. Knowing that Yue was Azure Dragon made her really curious, a child between the offspring of Black Tortoise and Azure Dragon, what kind of power could that child hold.

'Not only that but a child with the Ivanov's mana affinity...It's almost scary to think of.'

Elena and Aylin transformed quickly. Elena took off her coat and her arms were black up to her elbows and scute-like markings appeared on them. The markings also appeared on her neck a little and around her eyes. Her eyes had black rings around the gold of her iris. Her pupils became slitted like Yue's.

Aylin also took off her coat. Black marks like a tiger appeared on her face and her hair actually turned white, her eyes became slitted and had a gold ring around them.

Huy and Yue transformed next. Huy's hair turned red and bright red wings appeared from his back, Mai was a bit amazed as she watched him. She had seen Huy's wings and his full transformation but not this semi-transformation. She stared at him with red cheeks for a bit before turning to see Yue's transformation.

Yue's hair turned turquoise except for the white streak in his hair that stayed the same color. Two horns that went from white to a light turquoise color appeared on his head and scales appeared near his wrists. His fingernails turned turquoise as well. Scales actually appeared near his eyes but they weren't visible because of his mask. His eyes were the same color they turned when he met Huy in Paris.

Mai was amazed and so was Viktor who stared at Yue until Andrei got visibly suspicious of him.

Huy removed his mask and so did Aylin which left Yue as the only one who hadn't removed his mask yet. He sighed as he tried to think about whether he would remove his mask or not.

'...He already probably knows...' Yue thought to himself and removed his mask. He didn't know how to feel as everyone watched him remove his mask. He could feel Elena staring at him and felt self-conscious but then he saw Andrei was looking at him with a confused look and just felt worried about what he'd think of him.

"My name is Aylin Kaplan. This is my Daughter Lunara and my Husband Erol." Aylin said and smiled.

"I'm Huy Pham... And this is..."

Yue felt completely defeated, there was no point in hiding his name from these people, especially not now that Mai and Viktor were here.

"My Fiancee, Mai."

"I'm sorry what." Yue accidentally blurted out.

Viktor was also pretty surprised and Mai just grinned and showed Yue the ring.

'I was going to tell you all about it at the Academy.' Mai said through telepathy.

Everyone congratulated them.

'I told you we were next. Now that Viktor knows your big secrets go get engaged already.' Mai said through telepathy and thanked everyone for their congratulations.

'...Me being a man is probably a deal-breaker for him.'

'Why has he been smiling at you since he saw you then?' Mai asked.

Yue noticed that everyone was waiting for him to introduce himself. He hesitated before introducing himself, "I am Yue."

The meeting lasted until midnight and it was mostly just Elena and Aylin explaining how the temple needs the energy of the 4 beasts or their personal temples will struggle to function. The temples would've broken down and they would've had to multi-task and constantly hear the prayers sent toward them if they hadn't come this year.

Yue felt awkward, Mai had been trying to assure him that Viktor didn't stop liking him just because he found out he was a boy but he just couldn't let himself believe that. Perhaps it was because things didn't go the way he wanted them to but he was frustrated. He wanted to be able to tell Mai and Viktor when he was ready when he had dealt with all of the things and people that were after him that could hurt them. Viktor didn't walk over to him after the meeting which only made him feel like he was right.

"Will you all like to come to dinner with us?" Elena and Aylin asked, walking up to Yue, Mai, and Huy. Elena was standing in front of Yue in particular with a smile.

"There is a large dining room here, we just need to put our masks on so Elena's followers can come with the food," Aylin explained, " We usually do this to celebrate the new year."

"O-Okay..." Yue murmured and put his mask back on.

The followers quickly came from a portal that Elena made, they walked down a hallway to the right of Elena's throne, and Yue was going to follow them but Elena grabbed his arm.

"That hallway is for the followers to come and go, this one," She pointed to a hallway on the left, "Is for us."

"So they don't get in trouble for seeing our faces," Elena added.

"Vitenka. Andryusha. Stay there so you can close the portal." Elena said and turned t them with a smirk. Viktor was a bit crestfallen while Andrei was just confused.

Yue felt weird as he walked beside Elena. He was scared that she would call him disgusting or that she would tell him to stay away from Viktor.

"How is Fei Xiang?" Elena asked and smiled.

"How do you...?"

"He told me around 10 years ago that he was taking care of Azure Dragon,"

"Oh...So you know each other... Master is probably doing fine...I'm attending the Academy so I wouldn't know.." Yue mumbled.

"I see... And in the academy, you go by Yue Xia, the young mistress of the Xia family. You probably confused Viktor a lot." Elena laughed.

Yue felt embarrassed, was he going to be scolded for deceiving Viktor?

"He probably wouldn't treat you badly because he seems to like you a lot, but good luck. He's quite the handful." Elena laughed and turned around and saw that Viktor had closed the portal and was now walking with Andrei to try and catch up with them.

Yue turned and saw him and wanted to keep walking but Viktor called out to him through telepathy.

"Yue wait for me."

Yue hesitated but he did stop to wait for Viktor in the end. Everyone else walked into the dining room, even Andrei who was dragged by Elena. Just Yue and Viktor were standing in silence in the hall.

"I'm sorry," Yue said before Viktor could even open his mouth.

"...What are you apologizing for...?" Viktor murmured, furrowing his brow.

'I'm sorry for making you think I was a girl. You must be disgusted I'm sorry." Yue mumbled, he was making himself want to cry.

Viktor frowned and pulled Yue so they were a bit farther from the entrance to the dining room. He pecked Yue's lips and smiled, wiping the tears that had been threatening to fall from Yue's eyes.

'Why would I be disgusted...My insight told me you were a boy long before today... All this time I've just been waiting for you to tell me so I could tell you all about how I don't like women." Viktor chuckled.