Yuer jumped down the last few steps and disappeared among the sea of white-robes Kumatani on the right side of the hall. Ivak followed behind him.

The Tewekaga’s wrinkled face broke into a big, genuine smile at the sight of Yuer. He met him halfway as he warmly congratulated him, “Congratulation to you, my twice-blessed child. This is truly a joyous occasion for you.” He turned to Ivak, who had just joined them, “Congratulation to you too, Your Highness.”

Yuer bowed slightly to the elderly man, “I thank you, Your Holiness.”

Ivak followed suit, echoing his bonded-to-be’s sentiments, “My sincere gratitude, Your Holiness.”

The Tewekaga leaned closer to Yuer as if to pat him and whispered, “My Helisari guards have successfully managed to ‘advise’ your sire and consort mother to get some fresh air at the Eastern Inner Gardens.”

Yuer nodded, “I see. I thank you again, Your Holiness. Your honored self needn’t do such things.”

The elderly man shook his head, “They needed to leave. Even the Rezas didn’t oppose my Helisari dragging them out. Otherwise, they would have disturbed the rest of the Selection and made His Majesty lose face in front of everyone here.”

Yuer broached, “How is Tamine?”

The Tewekaga chuckled, “I don’t know from where you got such a peculiar and bright child. Although unblessed, he is truly worthy of being a Kumatani. In a matter of a day, he has already read through the four Divine Echo’s theory books his seniors gave him. He gulps knowledge like he gulps air. What a promising child, indeed.”

Yuer smiled, pleased that he hadn’t miscalculated, “Keep an eye on him Your Holiness, he might be worthy of apprenticeship one day.”

“Yes, indeed. The most eager students make the best apprentices.” seconded the elderly man.

Yuer glanced at Ivak, “Now, if you will excuse me, His Highness and I need to be somewhere else.”

“Yes, of course. We will meet again.”

“Of course, Your Holiness.”

As the bonded-to-be pair walked across the hall, the eyes of every Dasrari present followed them like hawks. Few of them came down to congratulate them but the majority remained in their seats as they whispered and indiscreetly cackled among themselves. The subject of their ridicule quite evident: The apparently ‘mentally-challenged’ Alikana-marked who knew nothing of the real world and got himself bonded to the most useless Reznali there ever was.

Yuer didn’t care to correct them. Instead he glanced at Ivak and was slightly taken aback at what he saw. Ivak’s shoulders were so stiff that Yuer feared they might snap. As the younger youth took in his bonded-to-be’s painfully tense body language, it dawned on him the true extent of Ivak’s discomfort at being among the Dasrari. Yuer recalled how in his past life the Dasrari often spoke ill of Ivak, stating that the Second Reznal openly disdained their ‘kind’. They regularly accused him of being haughty and self-important, thinking himself far better than them simply because he refused to mingle among them. Yuer realized it had everything with to do with Ivak’s upbringing and nothing to do with his so-called self-importance.

The black-haired was a Kersasi in every sense of the word. He grew up on simplicity, on candidness and open, frozen plains where wildness stretched for days. He didn’t know how to flatter and sugar-coat things. He was who he was, apologetically blunt, apologetically Kersasi. This one among the many reasons as to why his fate ended as tragically as it did during Yuer’s past life. The older youth didn’t know how to be suave. Diplomacy and political tact could both hit him right on the face and he would recognize neither. It was no surprise that he failed miserably at making political allies. All he apparently cared for was providing food for his people, riding, hunting and swordsmanship.

As they walked out of the hall, Yuer spoke first, “You really don’t like here in the palace, in the capital in general.”

Ivak rolled his shoulders and titled his head in Yuer’s direction, “I don’t. I don’t know why, it must be the air. It’s too stifling in Thurul.”

Yuer supplied with a smile, “Nothing quite like the Kersasi crisp open air, no? You miss it already, don’t you?”

Ivak chuckled, touching his hand to the bridge of his slightly crooked nose, seeming shy for moment. “Seems I have been found out already. I do miss home.” He then asked, his eyes on Yuer, “You wish to bond me. This means that a few days from now, you will have to leave with me for Kersa. How do you feel about that?”

Yuer stopped walking. He leaned his head back as he breathed in the air around the Palace. He shut his eyes for a moment; a barrage of memories that belonged to another life, to another time crowded his mind. He eventually answered, eyelids still shut. “I think I’m due some time away from this place. My dear ‘parents’ are less than pleased with me. I reckon I will be disowned by tonight. Most of my matters I have already settled so far. So, yes. For now, I would like it if I was somewhere else, somewhere different and far away from here. Kersa fits the bill, doesn’t it?”

Yuer opened his eyes and turned to Ivak. He was surprised and yet not when he found Ivak’s eyes already on him. Their steel-colored depths stared at him with a look Yuer didn’t know how define: observing? Searching? Or dare Yuer say it, interested?

Why would he be?

Feeling somewhat self-conscious, Yuer shifted his gaze away.

“You really don’t like them. Your clan I mean, especially your sire. Your eyes become especially frosty whenever you speak of him or he is mentioned in some way.”

Instead of elaborating on his familial circumstances, Yuer countered. “You don’t like yours much either.”

Ivak chuckled bitterly, “I guess it would be one more thing we have in common, failing sires who either sell their blood or pretend they don’t exist at all.”

Yuer knew what Ivak was insinuating at besides their obviously terrible sires. He was hinting at the song the younger youth chose to sing today. Yuer however didn’t want to talk about that, those wounds were still too raw and talking about what was closely tied to his past life felt too personal to share with anyone.

Ivak must have noticed his reluctance to open up to him so he changed the flow of their conversation by saying, “It doesn’t matter if the Ayaseen clan disowns you, it will be their loss and my gain. It doesn’t matter if the whole world sneers at you for choosing me, I will take care of you. Kersa will always be a home to you if you wished one day to become so. You and I are about to be bonded by tonight, we had already sworn a Kersasi oath to each other.” He took Yuer’s hand into his own and gentle squeezed. Yuer could feel the many callouses decorating Ivak’s fingers and palm. “We are together now, a united front for better or worse, for poorer or richer.”

Ivak’s other hand touched a stray brown strand of Yuer’s hair. He tenderly played with its end for a moment then let go. He smirked at the younger youth as he said in a light and teasing voice, “We, the Kersasi, take bonding quite seriously. So I am obligated to warn you. You might have to remind me to back off every now and then.”

Oddly warmed by Ivak’s earnest attitude, Yuer encouraged him by asking, “Remind you to back off every now and then as for why?”

“My folk tend to be protective, hardheaded and somewhat possessive about those we consider our own, especially our bonded. So yes, at times, you will just have to put me in my place.”

Yuer caught his lip between his teeth, fighting the laugh that wanted to break through them. Eventually, he lost the battle and a chuckle came out of his mouth, pronouncing his twin dimples. After regaining somewhat of his composure, he said. “Alright, I could do that.”

Ivak winked at Yuer, his eyes gleaming with mirth. “Quite amused, aren’t we?”

“Yes, I am. I guess there are many things about the Kersasi I will have to get used to.”

Ivak nodded with a smile, “You will have time.”

A lull fell over their conversation, occasionally broken by the surrounding chatter of palace servants and the echoing music from the hall. The three Reznals had yet to choose their consorts from the remaining three candidates. Only the Reznals who had already chosen their consorts can excuse themselves and leave the hall. Yuer glanced at Ivak, “I guess it’s time I face the music, no?”

Ivak smiled, his tone sarcastic but with neither heat nor sting, “Or we could remain here, standing here outside the Reception Hall until we grow all gray and wrinkled and people would have drag out of here so they could bury us.”

Yuer rolled his eyes at him, mildly exasperated and yet not minding it. The Dasrari youth realized he rarely if ever did this, this act of rolling his eyes at people. The only times he found himself unconsciously doing it was around this particular Kersasi bonehead. Not that he had any genuine complaints about it.

Eventually, Yuer realized he couldn’t delay this any longer and moved his feet, continuing in his way toward the Eastern Inner Gardens. Ivak followed closely at his side. His big and tall frame was not as intimidating as it ought to be, especially when it was accompanied by a naturally solemn face such as that of Ivak’s. Instead of making him uneasy, Ivak’s close proximity offered Yuer an odd sense security, as if he had someone on his side who wouldn’t hesitate to stand between him and anyone who wished to harm him. This was a new feeling for Yuer. He was often used to Sakina’s protectiveness toward him but this felt different, similar in a way yet not quite the same.

Naer and Akra were tacked at a corner further deep into the gardens. As soon as Yuer and Ivak arrived at where the Ayaseen Dasi and Dasiri were, Naer lunged at Yuer intending to hit him. The Dasrari youth readied his Earth Echo but before he could do anything and before Naer’s slap could even connect with his cheek, Ivak swiftly moved. He blocked the Ayaseen Dasi’s arm with a tight, painful-looking grip.

The black-haired Reznal viciously sneered at his supposed sire-in-law; his silver eyes the coldest and hardest Yuer had ever seen them since he met the older youth. Ivak fiercely hissed through clenched jaws, “What in the Nrai do you think you are doing? Who do think you are to raise a hand to my bonded? Are you tired of living, Dasrari?”

Naer, lost in his anger, roared at Ivak, “This is between and my son, stay out of it Reznali!”

Ivak’s voice dropped dangerously low as he pointed demanded, “Or what? What would you do? Hit me too? Well, go ahead then. Do your worst.”

Akra, who had yet to say a word, appeared to have suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. A Dasrari openly threatening and assaulting a Reznali could lead to all sorts of unwanted complications. Even if said Reznali happened to be unfavored by the Rezas, the justice system will always be on their side due to the pure virtue of their bloodline.

“Ivak.”

At Yuer’s call, Ivak turned his head. Yuer met his enraged silver eyes and shook his head. The Second Reznal gave Naer a warning glare before releasing him.

Yuer turned to Naer, “There is no need to disgrace yourself any further. Today, I’m going to go back to the Ayaseen residence to pack my belongings. After I leave, do what you wish with the courtyard. Also, if you wish to strike my name from the clan family records, feel free to do so. I care not.”

Naer glowered darkly at Yuer, struggling to contain his visible desire to strangle him. Before he could speak or do anything, Yuer simply turned around and began to walk away. A moment later, the youth suddenly halted and turned back as if he had forgotten to say something.

Naer huffed and puffed in his rage, ready to shred his youngest son to pieces if given the chance. He however didn’t expect the piece of hardened earth that smacked him right on his lower abdomen, making him almost vomit a mouthful of blood. His blood-shot eyes glared at Yuer. The younger youth didn’t seem to care that his Earth Echo almost costed his sire a kidney or two. Instead he met those furious eyes unwaveringly and simply said, “Next time you threaten to assault my Reznali bonded, it will be your face.”

He turned to the stunned Akra, “Your robes and your gold are in the candidates section in the Reception Hall. You ought to go get them back.” Yuer nailed her with an ice-cold gaze that no longer bothered to hide his disdain toward this woman. “I apologize about the robes. You see, I appear to have accidently torn them.” Then with an especially sharp and condescending voice, he added belatedly, “I am afraid they cannot be fixed, consort mother.”

There was nothing warm about that address and Akra seemed to have finally realized something. Yuer knew, he knew about everything: her deliberate choice of the robes, the tacky jewelry, the connotation of the tassel crown and all that unnecessary dance training.

The boy knew. He knew.

Yuer however was nowhere near done with her, “Do you remember the tea cup you drank from yesterday at my outer chamber? That was my mother’s but then you already knew. Hence why you drank from it. Would like to know what I wanted to do to you at that moment, consort mother?”

Whenever Yuer looked at Akra before, her well-maintained face was always perfectly calm and composed. Her dark eyes often seemed endlessly deep to him, almost untouchable. Her frame was always firm yet graceful, just like that of a Madin tree; it almost made Yuer believe nothing could ever shake this woman.

The Akra in front of him right now had her seemingly bottomless eyes open wide. Her breaths were ragged and harsh. Her hands trembled at her sides. Her legs looked frozen into place.

Yuer continued, his voice growing sharper and darker the further he spoke. “That single cup meant more to me than the entire Ayaseen clan and I broke it. I had to break it because you just had to get your filth, spit and venom all over it. I broke it into tiny million pieces and as I looked them scattered all over the floor, all I wanted to do was gather them up and stuff them in your mouth, have them bleed you dry from the inside so you can never talk again.”

Yuer stepped closer to her, Akra retreat further. She lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. She crouched into a crawl, trying to drag herself further away from him. Yuer stepped on her robes and pressed his weight upon it, keeping her in place. “You think I don’t know what you, that scum” He pointed at his sire, “and the Ayaseen elders did to my mother? You think I don’t know that all of you drove her to her death? Tricked her and stole her fortune?”

Akra clawed at the ground, her quivering lips spilled one word of denial after another, “No! It was not me! NO! I had nothing to do with that. It was all your sire’s fault! Yes, he was the one who tricked her, it wasn’t me!”

Yuer smirked sardonically. He crouched and clasped Akra’s trembling chin in an eerily gentle hold. He softly whispered to her, “I wonder what will happen to your dear Kharis once I run the Ayaseen clan to the ground. What will he inherit then? A ruined clan and his parents’ shame. It would be quite fitting, don’t you think?”

A burst of rage must have seized the Ayaseen Dasiri because for a moment, she appeared to have forgotten her fear. Like a cornered mother Nak’e, she hissed at him with all the venom she had, “Don’t you fucking dare touch my son!”

Naer must have heard it too because he rushed toward Yuer. With a clenched hand around his bruised abdomen, he screamed at the youth, “What do you think you are doing?! Yuer Ayaseen, have you lost your mind?! That is your consort mother you are having at your knees! Does fliality no longer mean a thing to you?”

Yuer coldly replied, “To the pair of you. No, it doesn’t. I’m sure my mother whom you killed would be of the same mind if she was here.”

Naer turned as white as snow. His eyes and his mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned astonishment, and although he was staring straight at Yuer, he appeared as if he was looking at his son for the very first time.

Yuer didn’t hold back, “Say Naer, what do you think the Shakoura would do to you if they realize you who, under the suggestion of the Malhada, had been sniffing around their territory? What do you think they would do to your beloved Dasiri here, to your dear Kharis and to your cherished elders if they found out you had a hand in the disappearance of one of their members?” Yuer added in a chilling tone that didn’t bother to conceal his ill-intention, “I could always tip them off in the right direction and in a matter of days, there will be no more Ayaseen clan to speak of in Sema.”

The youth let go of Akra’s chin and stepped back, “But then, you will never know when I might do it. Do you? I think you ought to stew for a little bit, just to get a feel what real terror feels like.”

Naer came out of his stumped stupor. He appeared to register the thinly-veiled meaning in Yuer’s words. He stuttered, “W—what do you want?”

Yuer smirked sharply, his sweet-looking dimples at odd contrast with his unkind expression, “Stay away from the Malhada if you wish to live longer. If one word of this gets to his ears or anyone else’s for that matter. The Shakoura will have your name by today.”

Yuer then turned, about to leave. Naer, visibly shaken, rushed to shout at his retreating back, “If I do as you say, you will leave us alone, right? You will leave your brother out of this?”

Yuer neither responded nor looked back; he simply left the desolate edge of the Eastern Inner Gardens without uttering another word. Too bad Naer couldn’t see the ominous grin on his face.

Ivak, who had remained quiet for most of the exchanges between son and ‘parents’, turned to the unsettled Naer and the still kneeling Akra. With silver eyes as sharp as steel, Ivak warned them, “You both have hurt him enough. From this moment onward, he is no longer of your blood. He is Kersasi now and you shall hurt him no more.”

The Second Reznal then turned and left, not bothering to spare the bonded pair another glance. His thick dark-fur cloak dragged behind his departing figure, making his form seem all the more towering and menacing even as it retreated.