“If we are to follow VinWei¹Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal)’s plan there is a lot you must learn. She believes that your hair and eye color won’t be a problem. However, it might be better to hide the fact that you’re not a girl.”

Snow scowled at that and tried to free his hands, but ZaiWin²Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). firmly held on to them.

“You mean I have to pretend I’m a girl?” he demanded, clearly aggrieved by the mere suggestion, and ZaiWin sighed. He had predicted as much.

“You won’t have to behave like a girl. You’ll simply have to hide the fact that you’re a boy.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Believe me. Anything is possible when we’re talking about VinWei,” ZaiWin replied with a pained expression on his face, but Snow still looked unconvinced, clearly trying hard to come to terms with that suggestion. “It won’t be forever. Just until we get through all the formal proceedings and are finally allowed to return to Nox.”

“What if they find out?”

“Let’s pray they don’t.”

Snow averted his gaze. He was clearly unhappy with the entire situation.

“Also. Do you remember what I’ve told on our way to End of the World?” ZaiWin asked and Snow glanced back at him, obviously unable to understand what he meant. “That I can never really be your Chosen One?”

Snow nodded.

“That still stands. But they will still make us take the binding vows.”

Snow blinked at that.

“Are these vows really that important?” Snow wondered. He just couldn’t understand how mere words could have such a weight.

“I really wouldn’t know. While the ceremony itself is normally a public event, the meanings and concrete consequences of its different stages are kept mostly secrete. So I guess only another Chosen One or Tien’Elhar³Literally tien (Heaven) + el (supreme) + har (girl child). The Heavenly Beings also known as Celestials in the common language. is probably able to answer that. However, one thing is certain. The binding vows somehow make it so that the bond is completely established. They must work as an energetic key, created to automatically establish some kind of energetic bridge between us. It told you before, right? When you knelt down in front of me you basically presented yourself as a Tien’Elhar and asked me to be your Chosen One. I guess the vows are the part where I accept your request and agree to joining our life forces together.”

“The old man … he also told me something like that. That the bond between a Tien’Elhar and a Chosen One is like an energetic bridge, connecting their daitai⁴Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or Holly Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power.. So … that’s how we’re linked, right?” Snow asked tentatively, afraid he might be saying something silly, but ZaiWin’s expression told him that he was taking him completely seriously.

“I guess so,” he replied, recalling what had just happened when Snow had instinctively tried to access his energy, while cleasing the dead forest. “But, even though the bridge is there, nothing crosses it unless we’re both willing to let that happen.”

Which caused a clear, annoying rift between them, ZaiWin realized. Because there was a bridge, all his instincts told him that it was his to cross whenever he wanted to. But that was hardly the case. He had to actually ‘ask for permission’, to be able to reach the other side. As things stood, the bridge was there, but they were both still clearly standing on opposite sides of it, earning to reach the other side but unable to do so.

“I’m only guessing, but the biding vow probably makes it so that energy is allowed to freely, and naturally, flow between us.” If that happened, energetically speaking, there wouldn’t be a difference between who was who anymore. They both would be one single energetic body, their life forces connected. Which was exactly what ZaiWin could never allow to happen, no matter how much his inner voice insisted that that was precisely what he needed to do.

Snow lowered his gaze, as if he’d heard his thoughts.

“So … if we can’t take these vows, then what …?”

“We’ll have to pretend a bit. In the presence of other people, you will have to behave like a truly bound Celestial.”

“But … like you said, won’t taking the vows make it real?”

“Not really. Not in my case, anyway. Because my name is not my name.”

Snow’s pale eyes widened at that.

ZaiWin unintentionally squeezed his hands again, an almost palpable tension taking over his body.

Snow had a lot of questions dancing in his head right now but, looking at him, it was clear he wouldn’t want to answer any of them. And so he asked the only question that was truly important at the moment.

“Won’t they know?”

ZaiWin averted his gaze, his jaw tense.

“They won’t. There has never been a case like mine. Besides, they’re too confident that their word is law. It will never even cross their minds that something they have decreed isn’t truly valid.”

Snow nodded in understanding and squeezed ZaiWin's hands back, instinctively trying to comfort him a bit.

“We must, however, keep this little detail a secret from VinWei,” he added, making Snow look inquisitively at him. “There’s a lot about me that she doesn’t know. And that, for her own safety, is better that she never learns.”

A lot Snow didn’t know either, Snow knew. And that, by his tone, ZaiWin wasn’t going to tell him.

“There’s also another … problem. You will be tested.”

Snow felt his entire body go immediately ice-cold, his heart almost stopping inside his chest.

“According to VinWei’s plan, you will be tested in the Temple of Wei⁵Literally wei (crystal / precious stone). Wei is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. by three Jundai’El⁶Literally jun (work / worker) + dai (light) + el (supreme). Or Supreme Workers of Light. Name given to the elder /higher priests and priestesses of the Temple, hmm, elder priests like her,” ZaiWin went on, translating the term for his benefit. “Since you were not delivered to the Temple as a baby, they will test you to make sure you’re really a Celestial. It’s a common procedure. Normally it would be no more than a formality, since one only has to look at them to know that they are Celestial. But in your case, most likely, things won’t be that simple.”

“What … will they do …?” Snow asked in a voice even smaller than his usual whispers, and ZaiWin gently caressed his ice-cold hands, trying to reassure you.

“They will ask you to show them your back.”

Snow was immediately alarmed by the first point on what promised to be a long list.

“I thought you said I shouldn’t show it to anyone!”

“And that’s still true. But, in this case, it’s unavoidable. The wing-like design of your markings is one of the things that states that you are who you are.”

“But you said that … some of my daitai were like … the ones on those things!”

“They won’t know what they’re looking at. Not even ZenTar⁷Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind), who fought the feimao⁸Literally fei (raging / furious) + mao (beast / monster). Raving beasts that appear in unbalanced, ungoverned lands. They possess destructive markings that in turn corrupt the land even further. Hard to explain in just 2 lines -_-; Anyway. Bad, vicious things that need to be killed., or VinWei who is close to an expert in Tien’Elhar matters, could identify them. Neither one of them spent enough time in the company of the feimao to carefully observe their markings. Much less a bunch of self-righteous old Jundai of the Temple.”

Snow lowered his head. He hated that he had daitai like that on his back. He was also very afraid of them, the screams of the innocent people who had fallen victim to his red array still too present in his mind.

“They will also ask you to use your daitai. Simple things. Seeing how easily you’re able to control them, I'm sure you won’t have a problem performing any of that. And then they will test your blood.”

Snow’s head immediately shot up at that, pure terror taking over his pale eyes, his heart beating so fast he almost felt sick.

Anything but that!

“It will be fine,” ZaiWin assured him. “They will not cut you. Tien’Elhar are highly regarded, practically worshiped as heavenly, sacred beings. No one would ever dare to openly inflict any kind of pain on them, much less injure them. Also, doing such a thing is considered as serious as a crime of high treason, and it's punishable by death. So, of course, they cannot go ahead and simply cut you. They will expect you to do it yourself. But the blood you will give them won’t be yours.”

The pale eyes still looking at him went from terrified to confused.

“It’s a little trick that I’ll teach you. Anyway, we cannot let them know that your blood has healing properties. Once in the Palace, that would only make things even harder for us. Half of them would want you dead because you can easily heal anyone they try to kill. The other half would want to stock flasks of your blood, in case they were victims of an assassination attempt.”

Snow nodded vehemently. He completely agreed. He couldn’t care less about the horrible things ZaiWin had just described in a matter-of-fact tone. As long as no one learned about his blood's special characteristics, he could at least breathe a bit more easily.

Silvareiel

It would seem ZaiWin finally decided to have a serious conversation with Snow. Deceiving all these people won't be easy. ?