Xie Yi-jun

1286 years after The Long Night

Hêi'àn Palace

Yi-jun wanted to die.

As dramatic as a little six year old can be, he was even more so! After having sat in his seat like a good boy for over three hours, yawning and tapping his fingers as his instructor prattled on about things he didn't care about, the prince was beginning to wonder if his mother's anger over a skipped class would be better or worse than his current suffering...

I'm going to light a fire to these books pretty soon, so she better stop talking!

His nurse and tutor was strict, but nowhere near as strict as the Queen and unfortunately for her, she had a fairly poor back and couldn't chase the Prince around when he wanted to make an escape.

Xie Yi-jun waited until he couldn't stand it anymore. Until his brain and body were screaming at him to just be anywhere else!

Mama doesn't even come to these classes so how important can they be? It's not like sword fighting or horse racing or anything actually fun!!

As soundlessly as possible while his tutor had her back turned, the little Prince slipped away... the second he got out of earshot he booked it for the stairs and then was running as fast as his short legs would allow him-

If I can make it past the guards at the gate I could spend the whole rest of the afternoon in the stables!!

He was certainly going fast enough that he figured he might just be a blur in the air and no one could see him...

Lungs aching, heart beating fast in his ears, Yi-jun realised with a gulp that he was heading right for where the hallway turned sharply to the right, and that he was going to smack straight into the stone if he couldn't slow down!

There wasn't much he could do now that he had this momentum going, and the Prince couldn't think fast enough to try to skidd to a halt, so he braced his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes, practically launching off to the side on his heels as he narrowly avoided crashing into the wall.

"Ahhh!"

The sound wasn't him, and Xie Yi-jun had to blink several times before he realised that he had actually turned and ran straight into a human person!!

It's a guard! Mama will be so furious-

"Nyyeh!"

Scrambling on his hands and knees and trying to get up, Yi-jun was suddenly being plucked off his feet again by the boy, who wasn't wearing official palace attire, only a horrified frown as he held Yi-jun up by the scruff of his collar.

"What the hell are you?!"

The Prince was bright red from running as he kicked and screamed to be let go of, but the boy, who from Yi-jun's perspective looked like he could be a whole adult, glared at him sternly with cool green eyes...

"Oof-"

Yi-jun cackled as one of his knees collided perfectly with the boy's chest and he was dropped. Before he could continue through the halls on his tirade, the little boy froze in terror as he heard several voices coming from just around the corner.

"No! How should I know where he went?! He just disappears!"

"...well, he's an idiot-"

Yi-jun panicked, glancing around for somewhere to hide as the hallway was long and he would be caught immediately if he ran. Suddenly, as his eyes fixed on the boy he'd crashed into, he blinked when he noticed the same expression on the stranger's face.

Green eyes wide, the boy also looked afraid. Yi-jun wondered why, when his mother was not the Queen and wouldn't lock him in his rooms for weeks when he ran away...

Suddenly, the boy's fearful gaze met his and Yi-jun silenced a shout as he was abruptly being grabbed and yanked behind a nearby thirty foot tapestry.

"Shhh! Shut up-"

This was hissed into his ear as they both flattened themselves against the freezing stone wall and closed their eyes in the suffocating darkness...

Xie Yi-jun made himself as small as possible, sucking in a big breath of air and not moving even a muscle as he heard the footsteps draw so close, they passed right by his own feet!

His heartbeat and the loud angry voices of the two in the hallway were all he could focus on, and maybe also the boy's breath against his cheek as the stranger fought to stay silent...

Why is he hiding me?! If we get caught, he might be killed-

Xie Yi-jun swallowed all these questions, only finally breathing when the footsteps and voices had faded far away into the distance.

At last, he heard rustling beside him and then the stranger began to peek out from the tapestry. Yi-jun followed suit, though he didn't share the boy's wide toothy grin when they finally made it out and collapsed in a nervous heap on the floor.

"Hah!"

Yi-jun went to cover the boy's mouth which only made him laugh louder...

"Shut up!"

Mimicking the boy's angry words from earlier, Yi-jun blinked when he realised he was being stared at. Those green eyes narrowed and then widened almost comically.

Pushing him away, the stranger stammered-

"Hang on a second. You, you're that little kid! The Prince or whatever... what are you doing down here, you're what? Four years old?!"

Xie Yi-jun glared furiously, enough to make the stranger swallow in fear.

"I'm six and a half! My name is Xie Yi-jun, who the hell are you?"

The little prince patted himself on the back at all the smart-sounding words he'd picked up already from the boy, now realising that he must only be a few years his senior...

"Ah," the boy laughed. "I'm Su Lan-"

Then he gestured down the hall, "Those clowns were my parents."

The Prince blinked...

"Did you run away from your tutor too?"

Su Lan, giggled loudly but Yi-jun just let him, finding his blatant sense of freedom and ease something the young Prince was immensely jealous of.

"Tutor?! Gods no! Just didn't feel like attending another showy conference. They're so boring, all those old people!"

Su Lan leaned in then and whispered to the wide-eyed Prince; "My father's on the Royal Advisory, but I think all they do is advise each other on the latest gossip while they stuff their faces-"

For some reason this made Yi-jun laugh, which was a sound he was very not used to hearing, especially having other people hear, so when Su Lan grinned the young Prince smiled too.

"Hey!" The older boy said as he flung his auburn hair away from his face.

"You're probably being shown what they're teaching us in Battle School, right?"

Yi-jun perked up even more. This was his favorite topic in the world, though his instructor would call it an artform, not a class-

The Prince nodded gleefully, "Mmhmm! Blades and agility for now, mother says I need to wait until I'm older to learn archery..."

Su Lan chuckled, "No doubt they've got you out there working on stuff that us First Ringers have no clue about-"

When Yi-jun looked confused, Su Lan smiled and nodded.

"The First Ring? That's me and the rest of the nine through twelve year olds. Second Ring is thirteen through fifteen. Third Ring; sixteen and up. Boy,if I make it to the Third Ring with all my limbs still intact it will be a miracle!"

Yi-jun was halfway through another laugh when he was suddenly being yanked up by Su Lan again, but this time the boy sat him down on his feet and then petted the Prince's hair sweetly. Yi-jun blushed...

"I'll see you out there on the training field one of these days, okay A'Jun?"

He nodded, and then the hairs on the back of his neck rose up suddenly, Su Lan also tensing as screams and shouts once again filled the air from the long hallway.

"You ungrateful little brat, get back here!"

It was Su Lan's mother! Yi-jun knew that the punishment would not be so severe in comparison to what his was going to be, but he still didn't want to be caught...

Watching the large woman making her way towards them, fist raised, Xie Yi-jun was preparing to dash off again when Su Lan suddenly grabbed his arm and pushed him-

"Go! Go on, don't stick around to see this A'Jun. If I survive I'll see you again-"

Yi-jun didn't want to go for some reason, now knowing that Su Lan would not be running with him. But the look on the boy's face was all smiles and the Prince didn't have it in him to resist.

As he stumbled quickly away back towards the stairs and back towards the room of torture, he faintly heard Su Lan arguing with his mother and he caught these scattered phrases-

"-too complicated to be his friend!"

"But-"

"No! Haven't you heard a word of what your father's been saying, son?! This is a divided state, you must not make things worse for us now."

Then Yi-jun heard Su Lan's strong voice say;

"But he's a good kid."

Then Yi-jun heard a slap and his mother screaming; "And you are not, now come here-"

All the way up the staircase the Prince replayed those words in his head. He heard them again and again. He even mumbled them to himself.

A good kid... am I a good kid?

Mama must not think so. I know she loves me but, if I were a good kid, she probably wouldn't get so angry-

Yi-jun ended up smiling anyway.

It's okay. Someone thinks that of me. So it must be true. A good kid. I'm a good kid...

And tomorrow after class, I'll go and see Su Lan on the practice field and we can laugh and run together, just like today.

And, even if his mother doesn't think he's a good kid, and even if my Mama doesn't think I am either, it's okay. We can think that way about each other instead.