“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” ZenTar¹Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) asked and VinWei²Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) rested her head on one hand.

“Hmm, I would never have guessed that he had it in him, to act like that.”

ZaiWin³Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). chuckled.

“You haven’t seen half of it, yet.”

“He clearly dislikes that girl,” VinWei pointed out as if she’d just discovered some new curious, interesting fact, and ZaiWin’s smile only widened.

“And you find that amusing?” ZenTar retorted critically. “Here we are, discussing how to make him into a believable Celestial. Have you ever heard of a Tien’Elhar⁴Literally tien (Heaven) + el (supreme) + har (girl child). The Heavenly Beings also known as Celestials in the common language. disliking someone? Frowning at them as if they wish they could kill them?”

VinWei looked pensive and ZenTar sighed, since ZaiWin didn’t look the least bit concerned.

“Now you think this is amusing. But what will you do when he glares like that at one of the El’Gin⁵Literally el (supreme) + gin (gold). Name given to the male children of the Emperor. Could be translated into prince in the common language.?”

VinWei sighed.

“I guess you have a point. I’ll make sure to talk to him about that.”

“You should start with this grinning idiot, over here!” ZenTar grunted and ZaiWin shrugged, unconcerned.

“I know you don’t want to hear this. I don’t want to hear this either. But ZenTar is right,” VinWei declared, which immediately left an angry frown on ZenTar’s forehead even though she’d just agreed with him. “We can’t forget that yours is a very delicate situation. Without a complete bond both your states of mind can be easily disrupted. I told you about this before, remember?”

ZaiWin took a deep breath and decided it was wiser to simply give in.

“I know. Don’t worry. I’m more or less starting to understand what’s … disruptive about this.”

VinWei looked intrigued, but one glance at ZaiWin's face immediately told her that he wasn’t going to share that piece of information with them.

With a sigh of resignation, she straightened her back and clasped her hands together over the stone table.

“And? What did you want to tell us, that you didn’t want him to hear?”

ZaiWin’s entire demeanor went immediately tense.

“That’s the only reason why you would happily send him on his way like that.”

ZaiWin looked from her to ZenTar, who had obviously reached the same conclusion and was waiting for his reply with an angry scowl on his face, and sighed.

“I did talk to Snow and explained our plan to him. I also tried to make him see that this is the only way we can both overcome this situation. As to be expected, he didn’t like at all, that he’ll have to pass by a girl. But he did agree to do his best and collaborate with us.”

“It’s not like he has to pass by a girl. He just has to hide the fact that he is a boy. No one is going to actually check on that. Once we show them enough proof that he is a Tien’Elhar the possibility that he isn’t a girl won’t even cross their minds.”

ZaiWin nodded.

“I understand what you’re saying. But I also understand why he feels this way. And that’s mostly my fault. Since I met him in that Fortress we’ve been telling him that he is this special being, but also that he is a defective one. Before he met us he had never even heard the word Celestial. He had no idea of what a Celestial is, much less that he is one of them. We were the ones that filled in the blanks and, I must admit, we were anything but kind or understanding in the way we did so. Snow may not speak much, but he is not an idiot. So he quickly understood that we saw him as someone different, even special, but that, at the same time, there was something very wrong about him. And that we considered that those 'wrong parts' were enough to make us want to kill him.”

VinWei immediately tensed up at that, a displease frown taking over her face, But ZaiWin pretended he hadn’t noticed her displeased, condemning expression.

“So he is kind of sensitive about things concerning his hair color, or his sex. At the same time, since he is actually very stubborn, although he would never dare say so, he feels that people should just suck it up and that he shouldn't have to hide who he is, just because others think that he was supposed to look like something else. When we tell him that he has to dress like a girl we’re inevitably denying who he is. And so he immediately gets defensive. It took some convincing until he agreed to do it.”

VinWei sighed and nodded.

“Well, I guess some stubbornness and impulsiveness are to be expected. He is at that age, after all.”

“The heck it is!” ZenTar quickly disagreed. “He is a freaking Celestial! He is supposed to blankly agree with whatever we tell him to do!”

VinWei blinked, startled by those harsh words, and ended up lowering her gaze, leaving an exasperated sigh on ZenTar lips.

“You two! You’re so damned accustomed to how different he is that you’ve started to lose sight of those same differences! He is not some teenage boy going through a rebellious phase! He is not a lost child in need of care and protection! He is not even Human!” ZenTar added, turning his angry gaze towards ZaiWin.

“He is a Tien’Elhar, remember? A heavenly being! He is not someone we can freely talk to or touch! And if we’re really going through with this, we better start thinking about that!”

They were silent for a moment, and VinWei ended up sighing.

“You’re right. Snow is so … simple and reachable, that it’s easy to lose all that from sight.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know any better, not because he is like the rest of us. If he’d been raised by the Temple like the other Tien’Elhar he’d be just like them. And we’d be kneeling at his feet every time we want to speak with him,” ZenTar declared and ZaiWin couldn’t help shivering at that repulsive thought. He really wanted to believe that ZenTar was wrong, and that Snow would always be Snow, no matter where he might be.

VinWei sighed again and turned her attention to him.

“So you told him about the tests?” she carefully asked and the tension from before immediately took over ZaiWin’s body again.

“I did. He was very disturbed about the blood test. But I assured him that we had a way to falsify it.”

VinWin nodded.

“That is one thing we really must hide from everyone. We want him to be a cute, appealing Tien’Elhar. But we don’t want to make him into a rare gem that everyone will covet. Blood like his is truly rare. And I’m sure that, if they knew about it, they would do everything in their power to keep him in the Palace forever.”

ZaiWin clenched his fists at the mere thought of that. He’d rather kill them all, than allow Snow to be condemned to a life of serving those despicable royals. Even more so, since he knew how much Snow hated other people using his blood.

“About the purity test …?” VinWei went on, her voice sounding almost scared, and the cold stare she immediately received sent a dark shiver down her spine. That obviously hadn't gone so well.

“I asked him about that too,” ZaiWin replied with such a firm tone that it actually surprised her.

She had thought that he’d be too embarrassed to ask the boy about that. Or, at the very least, that he’d be unwilling to share his findings with them. But ZaiWin looked surprisingly firm, a clear sign that not only he had talked to the boy about it, he had also reached his own conclusions.

“He spent ten years of his life locked inside that bedroom. You didn’t see it. But ZenTar and I, we were actually there. It was smaller than this cave and the only window had been boarded-up. He spent ten years in that place, lying on his back, tied to a bed. Because his daitai⁶Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or Holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power. are easily activated when he’s in pain, they kept him drugged and, just to play it safe, they kept a qinrien⁷Literally quin (sound) + rien (bind). The name of a biding collar that forces its wearer to remain silent. It can be set to different levels of sound from not speaking at all to not shouting or screaming. It can only be taken off by the one holding its ring key. around his neck.”

VinWei’s complexion became grayish at his description.

“When we found him, he was only skin and bones. He was completely naked and his back was a thick mass of blood. They had stuck him inside some kind of torture box in hopes of killing him, hoping it would ruin his back to the point that no one would be able to identify what he is. He had bruises all over his body. He had been burned with a branding iron, and he had been cut and bled to the point where he was so weak that he couldn’t even stand. Even though he is a Celestial, which means he heals faster than normal people, it took him almost an entire week until he was able to freely move around again.”

Even ZenTar looked tense and disturbed by ZaiWin's account of what had happened.

“And although we did care for his injuries, fed him and clothed him, we didn’t treat him much better than his previous jailers. It took me ten days to take that damn thing from around his neck. And you know what was the first thing he did? He asked me to put it back.”

VinWei’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“By then he had already more or understood what the qinrien does. And he wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone, should his daitai react on their own. Which means he was not only ready but expecting to be put through some more torture,” ZaiWin replied to her silent question and took a deep breath.

“Although we obviously didn’t physically abuse him, I still poured all my hatred and disgust over this frightened, injured kid. I blamed and hated him for our present situation, as if he had ever had any choice in it. When I had been the one making all the choices. Choosing to accept the El’Dur⁸Literally el (supreme) + dur (ruler). Name given to the Emperor.’s command. Choosing to impulsively set foot on that wall. Choosing to open that damned box.

"I blatantly told that kid that I wanted him dead and that I would do whatever it took to get rid of him. And yet he never turned against me. He never tried to hurt me or anyone else. He just accepted all that as if it were inevitable, the same way he had been accepting the way other people treated him his entire life.

“So, you see, even though I have changed my mind about his place in my life, I’m still trying to convince him that my intentions are true. Because let’s face it. Who would ever believe that someone who was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of you, would suddenly have a change of heart and want you by their side? He clearly doesn’t trust me, and I can’t blame him for that.

“On the other hand, he clearly understands that we’re in this together, and so he makes an effort to put up with me.

"Even though it was clearly something he did not want to talk about, Snow still tried his best to answer my questions, when I asked about any sexual experiences he might have had. And it’s not like I was asking about how many lovers he had. We’re talking about a drugged child, tied to a bed for ten years. He was only six, when he was taken to Wei.

“I’ve seen him completely wrapped in bloody bandages, his entire back covered in injuries to the point where he had to lay on his stomach for three whole days. I never saw him shed a single tear, not even when the healer came to cleanse his wounds. And yet I made him cry to exhaustion just by asking a couple of questions. I probably wouldn’t have hurt him as badly if I had simply beat him up, like others did.”

ZaiWin took a deep breath and forced himself to relax his hands, since he’d been squeezing them so hard that his muscles had started to ache.

“He doesn’t remember much. Most probably because of the drugs. And it’s true I could have insisted more, and maybe he might have been able to recall more details. But it just came to the point where … I couldn’t. More than couldn’t, I didn’t want to. I still don’t want to. And I clearly understand what this means, and that everything will be lost if he fails that damn test. But I still don’t care.”

“Nox⁹Literally nox (night). Nox is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. ZaiWin uses it because he is the Governor of Nox.!” ZenTar reprimanded him with an angry frown, and ZaiWin turned to face him.

“Let’s face it, Zen. We knew from the start that the probability of getting me out of this mess alive was minimal, to say the least. It became even smaller the moment I decided to go and get him back. This is all a very big gamble we’re taking. We may very well not even reach Wei. And even if he passes the tests, we’ll have to enter the Palace, next. I seriously can’t tell which odds are best. If Snow passing his test, or if I getting murdered in my sleep. This is something I’ve carefully thought through and about which I’ve reached a decision. My only concern right now is the two of you. If Snow doesn’t pass the test they’ll probably go after you as well.”

ZenTar crossed his arms and looked away, clearly angry and frustrated.

“No matter what happens, they will always come after me anyways. That has been settled right from the start,” he grumbled and ZaiWin smiled bitterly at that. He’d known it to be so, for a long time now.

VinWei sighed.

“I’ll probably be okay. After all, I’m only a Jundai¹⁰Literally jun (work / worker) + dai (light). Or Workers of Light, or in service of the Light. Name given to the priests and priestesses of the Temple. fulfilling her obligation of registering a lost Tien’Elhar. Besides, this is Wei we’re talking about. I doubt anyone would dare point the finger at me and accuse me of conspiring to deceive the Temple.”

ZaiWin nodded, his tense shoulders visible relaxing.

“As long as you don’t get dragged into this as well.”

VinWei gave him a reassuring smile and stretched an arm to pat his hand over the table.

“Don’t worry about me. There are a thousand excuses I can come up with to justify my involvement in this. And with father standing at my back no will dare question any of them,” she added with a malicious wink, and ZaiWin couldn’t help grin at that.

“So I really hope we can drop this matter,” ZaiWin declared, back to his serious expression, looking from her to ZenTar. “I don’t want any of you questioning him about this any further.”

“Of course. Don’t worry,” VinWei immediately nodded, patting his hand again. “If he can’t remember there’s no point in asking anyway. It would only make him feel unnecessarily uncomfortable.”

That was putting it mildly, they all knew.

ZenTar, on the other hand, didn’t say another word.

“Win!!” This time the shouting could be heard even before Storm ran into the room, gasping for air. “Win! You have to come! There’s something wrong with the damn brat!”

ZaiWin was on his feet before she could even finish speaking, and then he wasn’t there anymore.