Re'Kha sat in the cycle rickshaw, recalling her memories of the first time she saw Burmat Re'Shi. The first time she saw him was when she was around 6 years old. Re'Kha hadn't visited any other cities since childhood, but it wasn't as if she hadn't met people that were from different cities.

In fact, she had met a lot of individuals hailing from different parts of the country. Everything was thanks to the existence of the Bura Fort. The Bura Fort was one of the two southernmost forts in their country.

There were two states in the south of their country, and a fort existed for each that defended their southern border. For their state of Burlong, it was the Bura Fort. Bordering them to the south was the Treka, a race that had sworn vengeance against them.

So, wars frequency sparked between them. A place with a lot of war needed a lot of people. And, to fuel that, people from all parts of their city and beyond headed to the Bura Fort.

The Bura Fort was established as a massive defensive line against the Treka. Therefore, it needed a lot of resources to sustain itself. It was where the settlements under each city existed for. Each settlement had its own food production unit that sent a determined sum to the Bura Fort every season.

Thanks to the Aeki, there were no worries of the food ever getting spoiled. So, a shortage of food was always the least of their concern. Moreover, the same went for a source of water. There existed the water season, replenishing the groundwater levels every year.

And, through an Aeki that stored water, they used it as a well, getting a stable water supply of purified water.

When people were enlisted to the Bura Fort, they travelled from all parts of the country to it and stopped at Burkurel City. As Burkurel City was the last city in the south, situated closest to Bura Fort, most of the enlisted people stayed there first before heading to Bura Fort.

Moreover, whenever people from the Bura Fort needed to rest and relax, they visited Burkurel City. It was because of this that flowing traffic was the highest in Burkurel City. As part of the Re Clan that governed it, Re'Kha had a lot of chances to meet people of power and influence.

After all, her mother was one of the five heads that controlled the Burkurel Re Clan. And, as her child with the greatest talent, Re'Kha was able to meet with a lot of people in power. On one such occasion was her meeting with Burmat Re'Shi.

Burmat Re'Shi was currently 21 years of age, two years older than her. He was pretty smart and had a great presence of mind. Though when he was young, he was naïve and innocent. His mental maturity made it seem he was younger than his age.

So, when they met, they became good friends. Upon seeing that, whenever his father had to return to Bura Fort, he would leave Burmat Re'Shi in the Burkurel Re Clan. After all, no one would dare scheme against him here. The people of the Burkurel Re Clan both feared and revered the Burmat Re Clan, the strongest of all the Re Clans.

If it was back in the Burmat Re Clan, his father was afraid someone might scheme against him. It hadn't been a concern until the mother of Burmat Re'Shi died under the hands of a Sha. Even though he remarried, it was due to political reasons. So, most of the time, he left Burmat Re'Shi in the family of Re'Kha.

As both of their fathers were good friends and had shared numerous life and death instances with each other, developing significant trust, upon seeing their children shared a good relationship, they decided to engage the two.

Their engagement was something everyone in the Burkurel Re Clan envied upon. After all, Burmat Re'Shi was the direct successor to the Burmat Re Clan. Thanks to his talents when he awakened as a Harmoniser, he basically had no rivals to his succession.

In comparison, the status of Re'Kha was inferior. After all, she wasn't in direct line of succession to the Burkurel Re Clan. Every Clan had five divisions in them: the four directions and the central division.

The central division was the main family, and successors only emerged from this. There were four other families, forming each of the other directions. They were named differently in every Clan. For example, in the Burkurel Re Clan, each family was named according to lakes.

So, when Re'Kha introduced herself, she would say she was the daughter of the Burkurel Re Clan's West Lake's Head. Their family status wasn't permanent. After all, the strongest family became the main family, while the remaining four were the branch families.

When Re'Kha exhibited her talent in the field of water at a young age, her mother became ambitious. Moreover, when she heard the news of how Burfuna Re'Rak, the father of Re'Kha got Re'Kha engaged to Burmat Re'Shi, she felt it was perfect.

After all, with an engagement to the Burmat Re Clan, the status of their family elevated further, becoming equal to the main family in the Burkurel Re Clan. As the main family too possessed a successor with the same talent as her, there was a lot of friction between the two families.

It later progressed to such an extent her Clansmen plotted to kill Re'Kha, and almost succeeded if not for the timely intervention of her master. And, it seemed Burmat Re'Shi too had suffered from a similar situation.

People with talent were usually pulled into the politics of the powerful in an effort to string them. Along the way, they either died or became the pawns of someone. Only in the rare cases where they capitalised on their talents and grew powerful would they become free from such schemes.

"Hah," Re'Kha shook her head, erasing all the complicated thoughts in her head as she alighted from the cycle rickshaw and paid the driver. She looked at the plaque on the restaurant, reading the words, "Ripple Lake Restaurant."

Re'Kha activated her Wind Qi perception and enveloped the entire restaurant in it, soon spotting a familiar figure as she beamed with happiness.