Ara stood before the observatory, which was situated half way up Oma Mountain, a large range at the north-eastern side of Ranhara. The observatory was actually the ruins of a small temple made entirely of marble, originally constructed to serve as Lu's home. Ara often wondered how her ancestor survived living up such a mountain, but she imagined a lot had changed over the last seven hundred years. Ara pushed her long, black ponytail back over her shoulder, adjusting her deep burgundy silk robes and hooded cape. Her large amber eyes scanned the area to ensure there was no other presence before she strode across the small plateau and up onto what was left of the observatory. Gracefully, she sat down, her robes pooling around her neatly, and took a deep breath in, closing her eyes and gently grasping her necklace.

A connection could only be made once twilight came – a period of only twenty to thirty minutes. A calmness overcame Ara as she sat, and a glimmer of light appeared in her consciousness after a moment.

Blobs of darkness that swirled around slowly formed into clear, sharp shapes. The Lan Temple, the largest temple in the country, appeared in front of her. Except, instead of constellations decorating the stained glass windows at the front, it was instead a mother holding a child. A drop of red fell from the sky and splashed onto the ground. More drops fell, becoming heavier and heavier until the entire ground flooded red. A blinding light changed the scene and the obscured face of a young man flashed for a fraction of a second. Blue. White. Long hair. Another flash showed only the scene of plains – tall grass swaying gently in the wind and a tree that was almost entirely split in half, yet still standing.

“Yaoyao!”

Ara flinched at the sudden voice, the images in her consciousness wavering, blurring and eventually melting away. Opening her eyes, she blinked a few times, the morning light shining too brightly. Letting go of her necklace and gazing towards the sky, she took note of the position of the stars before rising up once more and walking back the route she came, her boots crunching over the gravel as she made her way down. The messages were not normally so abstract and rarely did she ever hear voices. Still, there was nothing directly concerning the family, so the observation proved useless. Well, sometimes that was just the way it was. The stars had not changed, things were as normal and that was not something to be disappointed by.

Interesting things rarely happened in Ranhara. It was an isolated nation, as many nations were in their realm. People rarely travelled or mixed with other groups unless they happened to be of the same group. Two nations in the realm were entirely populated by Witches. Others were home to Demons, Vampires, Werewolves and so on. The Kingdom of Revenet belonged to the Demons, The Republic of Maine to the Werewolves and Indan to the Vampires. Some nations had managed to live in peace with combinations of different groups having been developed from refugee groups forced out of their homelands during war. So many wars had taken place over the centuries that it was impressive that nations had managed to remain closed off and maintain a majority grouping.

“Your Holiness!”

Ara looked up to see a royal guard standing before her, slightly out of breath.

“What's the matter?”

“The King requests you return to the palace as soon as possible.”

One hour later, Ara alighted the carriage and rushed inside the palace, lifting her robe so as not to trip. As she reached the King's bedroom, she quickly curtseyed and strode over to where he lay.

“Your Highness.”

“Ara...” the old man trailed, his voice hoarse, sweat forming on his brow that the nurse quickly wiped away. “You know I do not have much time left here.”

“Your Highness-”

“The Crown Prince... I have yet to name one, Ara.”

“Who do you wish to be your successor?”

“I want you to use the observatory to see who will be the rightful heir. That is the only right way.”

“Your Highness!”

“They are my sons... my dear Bea is not interested in the throne. Those two boys will fight between themselves for it if they think that I am to name the successor.”

“Should it not be the eldest son?”

“The Crown Prince is the one who is most worthy, Ara. They respect you and they respect the universe, even Min. If the announcement comes from you, they will accept it without contest.”

Ara simply nodded.

“I have not yet seen anything regarding this.”

“They can wait until then, I won't be going that quickly. But if I do go before then, my dear wife can rule alone until the throne is overtaken. She won't want to, but she is strong and wise, she will be okay.”

“I understand.”

“You may go, child.”

“Rest well, Your Highness.”

With that, Ara stood up, turned away and left the room. Making a quick departure from the King's Quarters, she walked briskly across the courtyard, diverging from her usual path and headed towards the herb garden. Patrolling soldiers greeted her as she rushed past them and through the gates of the garden. Passionflower, she needed a passionflower. Anxiety filled her veins as she remembered that it was all the way in the back near the sunflowers. She pulled her robes up and broke into a light jog as she went, too agitated to take her time.

Ara's hand gripped the side of a small stone bridge over the stream that ran though the garden, her knuckles white as her other hand went to her throat, a lump having risen. She was so close to what she needed. Her nostrils flared and her brow furrowed as she hunched over, her mouth watered as she took deep breaths, trying her very best to make the sickening lump go away. She didn't want the responsibility of naming the next ruler, why couldn't the King just do it himself before he died? Why was everything always left down to her? Why could he never make big and important decisions for himself?

Useless.

* * *

A bell rang and a middle aged man looked up to see Ara come barging through the door looking pale and irritable as she thrust a bunch of passionflowers at him.

“Your Holiness?”

“Tea.”

The doctor peered over as he prepared the tea, adjusting his thick, round, black glasses on his nose. Ara was sprawled out over the counter, her long black ponytail spilling over the other side, her face squashed ungraciously against the cold marble. He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.

“Your Holiness, the tea is ready.”

“Thank you!” she gasped, sitting up, grabbing the steaming ceramic cup and blowing on it harshly before taking a sip, her free hand resting on her stomach.

“Okay, what's going on?” the doctor asked, putting one hand on his waist, the other resting his weight on the counter. “You pregnant? You should've come to me if you ran out of pills.”

“It's not that.”

“Are you sure? Count Lee isn't that terrible in bed.”

Ara's large eyes stared at him from over the cup.

“Not that I'd know.” he continued, flicking imaginary hair out of his face and running his hand down the back of his shiny bald head. “Anyway, pray tell, Your Holiness, you can't be running around here looking like that. People will think the entire world is coming to an end.”

“It was just a strange observation.” she lied.

The doctor raised an eyebrow.

“Look, it's going to be your first experience with losing a loved one.” he said. “Nothing can prepare you for that until it happens.”

Ara averted her gaze. Losing the King wasn't what was making her anxious, it was the overwhelming responsibility of having to name the next one. She was supposed to use her visions to name the next ruler, but what if they never came to her?

The King's death was already finalised.

It was a waiting game now.

“But you seriously need to keep yourself calm. People know you're meeting with His Highness. Moreover, you won't get to grieve, because this isn't about you. You're going to have to be there for everyone else.”

“I know.”

“So grieve now, kid. It'll be less shocking when it happens.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your Holiness.” the doctor corrected himself before grabbing a clean cloth to wipe down the counter before turning back to her with a huff. “I'm old enough to be your father and yet here I am getting sass from you. What is this realm coming to?”

“Here.” she mumbled, handing her cup back to the doctor to be refilled.

“You look better now.” he commented, shaking his head. “Why haven't you found yourself a man yet? The female form may not be my taste but even I can see you're beautiful, Your Holiness.”

“It's either not in my destiny or it's not something I get any visions about.”

The doctor laughed. “You've got about one year more until you're officially a spinster at the ripe old age of twenty-six. So, only casual encounters for this witch?”

“You probably don't know this, but being not just a witch, but the witch means not only are my magical powers stronger than others, but I'm also stronger than normal people. I'm really really strong, I almost sent Count Lee through the window by accident one night. Anyway, my point is that it'll be hard finding a man who is okay with their wife being stronger than them.”

“Then pretend not to be? Either way, good luck. Drink up.” the doctor laughed, sitting down opposite Ara with his own cup of tea.

As the sun was lowering in the sky, Ara made her way back towards the main building to retire in her room. The tea and chat with the doctor had calmed her nerves. He was always someone she could talk to, he was good at comforting others as well as healing them. She felt sorry for him, too. He had to pretend that he was just not interested in relationships and that the only thing he cared about was his work. Admitting that he liked men would've put an end to his career. Hopefully Ranhara had moved far along enough that it wouldn't put an end to his life, too. His secret was safe with her - and Count Lee, apparently. She laughed at the thought of Countess Lee finding out about that. If she got water thrown over her, she shuddered to think what she would do to the poor-

“Shut up, Zhan!”

Ara snapped out of her thoughts, raising an eyebrow at the sudden outburst. That sounded like Prince Min's voice. After a quick scan of the area, she realised the boys were inside the dining room, the door still slightly ajar.

“Father won't declare a new king!” Zhan shot back.

“Then we have a fair fight to see who is the rightful heir to the throne!” Min said. “How can he not choose between us?”

“Because he's waiting until the last second! He will die soon and mother doesn't want to rule alone for long.”

“You watch your mouth! You dare speak of father like that? He will hold on longer.”

“I mean no disrespect, but his health is taking a turn for the worse, Min.” Zhan sighed. “In any case, there's no reason why it won't be me. I'm the eldest of us three, it makes sense for me to be the one who takes over.”

“I'm the one who's been directly involved in every stage of affairs of my region!” Min argued back. “What do you know about running a country? You leave everything up to your civil servants!”

“Is that why the execution rates in your region are the highest in the country? You're that good at running the place?”

“You're weak willed!”

“Shut up!”

The door burst open as ametal vase was thrown at it, hitting the corridor floor tiles with a loud clang.

“Now look at what you've done!” Min growled, marching outside and grabbing the brass vase, turning back to face his brother and spotting Ara leaning against the door, her arms folded.

“What do you mean what I've done? I didn't break anything. What're you looking at?” Zhan asked, stepping out and following his brother's gaze. “Ara!”

Slowly, she stood upright and greeted them properly, silent judgement all over her expression as both of the princes faces grew increasingly red once they realised she had heard everything.

“Good evening, Your Highnesses.” she said, pointedly looking at each brother before promptly leaving their presence.

“Zhan started it!” Min yelled after her.

“I did not!”

“Shut up, Zhan. Ara, don't tell our father!”

“Please don't tell him!”