Zen got himself situated right at the edge of the water. He had something extremely important to get done as soon as possible, so his entire focus was already turned toward pulling energy from the flower. Unfortunately, he was taken by surprise by how much power Qi had actually managed to put into the little item, because when he tried to extract a small amount to send out his sensing ability to check the surrounding area, he unintentionally tripled his power, making a wave of pressure equal to a slight change in actual gravity, instantly spread throughout the entire palace grounds and pavilions.

He quickly tried to reign it in, but he was struggling to simply get ahold of the energy bursting through him from the flower. It was almost humorous how much he'd underestimated both the flower's ability to hold spiritual energy, and his master's ability to seal it inside of something.

Good afternoon, Zen.

Zen's eyes shot open, expecting to see the owner of the voice he'd just heard in his ear amongst all of the jumbled nonsense that was coming in from his ability, but what he saw before him definitely wasn't who, or really what, he'd expected.

A black vulture with eyes like obsidian stared back at him from where it perched atop one of his crossed legs.

But that had sounded like prince Yuen's voice...

The vulture blinked and rustled its feathers, then leaned forward and opened its beak to tug at a piece of Zen's long hair.

So you do have a voice, little guard.

Zen leaned his head away, hoping that the vulture would release his loch of hair, but it didn't seem to pay any mind to his action and instead hopped forward up onto his shoulder and began nipping at other sections of his head. It was oddly weightless, making him realize that his eyes must not truly be open. He was somehow stuck inside of someone else's thoughts.

Very good.

He saw nothing good about it.

Release me, he stated calmly, though he knew that he was beginning to show his growing nervousness.

A tsk'ing sound echoed around him, though nothing but the vulture appeared visible in the blurry area.

It has been quite some time since I've seen something so intricate. Quite some time, indeed.

Zen focused his ability on where he sensed prince Yuen within a pavilion at the other end of the palace grounds. The blurred area around him shuddered briefly before he heard a faint laugh in the back of his mind.

That ability of yours is quite interesting. I would love to continue our exchange, but I'm afraid that our time has run out for now.

Before Zen could respond the vulture perched on his shoulder suddenly became frantic and flapped its wings repeatedly in his face, loosing charcoal black feathers as it squawked several times, then shattered as if it were made of glass. At the same time, the blurry landscape around him broke apart, too, returning his mind to his current surroundings.

He blinked several times as his vision got used to the darkened area around him. He was still sitting beside the pond, though the sun was now on its way down. To his surprise, a blade rested beneath his chin, its owner an unknown, masked man clad completely in black.

"To think that he would allow such a weak point to return when the courts are in such turmoil around him. What a perfect chance to get rid of an old inconvenience, once and for all," the man said, his voice and words seemingly holding an air of authority.

Zen met his eyes calmly, though his attention was split between the man and the flower perched within his own hair. He'd let prince Yuen distract him from his surroundings for too long. He drew the energy from within the flower carefully but quickly, making sure to not make the same mistake he had previously.

"You have no idea how much of a problem you have caused us over the years, you little curse," the man said, his words immediately dismissed as Zen continued to focus. He let his ability inch its way up the man's shoes, allowing the air to grasp gently at his clothing as it crawled its way toward his upper body.

"I have no idea why his highness has allowed his most precious person to be called here during such a time, but that just gives us a chance to finally remove an obstacle that's been plaguing us for years," he said as his eyes narrowed and he jutted his sword forward, intent on stabbing Zen's throat.

Considering how long the man had drawn out his meaningless monologue, Zen had no issue dodging backwards. His long hair dipped into the cool water of the pond before he rolled to the left, avoiding another slow swing of the man's blade.

"Hold still, you blasphemous poltergeist!"

He dodged another strike before getting into a kneeling position and reaching out with his hand, then making an abrupt squeezing gesture. The man's body instantly tensed and his legs jerked together at the same time his arms seemed to bind to his sides.

"What unholy magic—?" Zen cut off his words with a flick of his own sword.

The swing was precise, and when Zen released his binding wind ability, the man dropped to the ground, dead. Blood pooled from his slit throat, but he didn't care. He could never interrogate people well without a voice, and what was the point? He knew that many would be targeting them the moment they had stepped foot onto enemy territory. He hadn't been disappointed in the number of them so far, that was for sure.

He stared at the body, an unimpressed expression on his face as he flicked the blood from the tip of his sword. The man hadn't been much of an opponent. It wouldn't be surprising if he turned out to be a court eunuch or someone else of importance, but who had disregarded their sword training and gotten by with bribes or, on rare cases, brains, instead. Although, if brains had been his main weapon in life, he hadn't seemed to be using them in his most recent endeavor.

Either way, he was no longer interested in the corpse, but as he moved to turn and head back toward his master's temporary home, he heard a faint splash from the pond to his left. He was about to look when his ability alerted him to someone coming through the foliage to his right.

"Ah, it seems that I wasn't needed after all," prince Yuen said as he ducked beneath a low hanging tree branch so that he could gain access to the little oasis Zen had been using to practice his skills.

Is he not supposed to be at the dinner?

The man's presence immediately put him on high alert, but prince Yuen didn't seem like he had come to fight. Or at least, he wasn't making a show of trying to attack him. He also hadn't bothered to try and catch him off-guard.

So, instead of pointing his sword at him, he calmly sheathed it and turned to face him fully. The prince had changed his clothing since the last time he'd seen him and now wore a cloudy black and silver robe with pitch black feathers sewn into the right shoulder and slightly down the sleeve.

Vulture feathers?

He heard another couple light splashes at that moment, drawing his attention momentary away from prince Yuen and toward... the fish? The koi from earlier had somehow dragged themselves out of their pond and were crawling over to the body of the man he had dispatched a few feet away.

"Quite useful fish, Devil's-Koi. They don't care what you feed them as long as it had been alive at some point. They'll make quick work of him and most of his garments, too," prince Yuen said as Zen backed away from the encroaching army of crawling fish, as well as the prince.

Said prince gave him a smirk before turning his attention back to the dead man before him. He expected him to care a little more about the seemingly-affluential man who had tried to murder him, perhaps even try to place the blame on him so that they could get him away from his master, but instead he simply kicked the corpse into the water, making the fish slowly turn, then fumble their way back toward their pond for dinner.

Looking at how fast some of the fish crawled, he was surprised that none of them had gone after him while he'd been in a trance.

"They prefer to scavenge. You wouldn't have been a very easy meal. Even with them far outnumbering you," prince Yuen said as he walked closer, making Zen finally unsheathe his sword again and press it sideways against the man's clothed chest.

"I'm afraid that I was a few moments too late to see how you killed eunuch Song. Perhaps you could demonstrate for me? I am quite curious," he said, looking as interested as he sounded.

Unfortunately for him, Zen had no interest in showing off. He'd killed the man as swiftly as he could, and it was all the better that prince Yuen hadn't seen it. He shook his head and nudged his sword a little more firmly against the man's chest, but they both knew that he wouldn't harm him. Killing a mere eunuch who had tried to attack him while he was unaware was one thing, but to openly try to murder the prince of an enemy country? He wouldn't dare unless the man was after his master.

Thus, Zen gave a quiet sigh and sheathed his sword again. He would wait inside for his master to return since things were getting far too exciting outside for his tastes. Ignoring the splashing in the pond and the prince's stare, he headed back toward the pavilion, easily making his way through the vegetation. Unfortunately, as he stepped back out onto the stone walkway, he heard another set of footsteps stop behind him.

"Don't mind me. This is my mangeree pavilion. Most of my collection is here, so, naturally, I have to visit quite often," prince Yuen said as he calmly walked past Zen, his arms nonchalantly held behind his back as he headed up the few steps, then walked right into the building.

You! You can't go in there!

He hurried to follow the prince, quickly moving to block off his master's room so that the other man couldn't bother his meager belongings. They hadn't brought much, but Qi did have some rare herbs and a few pieces of spell sutras that they would likely need. He couldn't let prince Yuen simply waltz in and take them.

Instead of trying to get past him, however, the prince simply walked over to Zen's own small bed and took a seat on the edge, then fell over onto his back with a content sigh.

"You know," he began, directing his words toward the ceiling but meaning them for Zen's ears. "This is where I go to get away from all of that court filth."

He slowly lifted one hand up over his head as claws extended from his fingernails. The digits bent slightly, as if he were examining his new weapons with a pleasant smile.

"Come here," he eventually said, a hint of malice to his words that made Zen itch to grab for his sword again.

When he didn't move, prince Yuen slowly sat up, one of his braids that had been tied back evidently slipping free, because it was now hanging right in front of his left eye. Near the bottom of the twisted lochs of hair were three black beads and another black vulture feather. The other length that it had been tied with seemed to have gotten lost within the man's long hair, but Zen pushed the thought aside as prince Yuen's eyes narrowed on him and he shook his head.

"Oh how I wish I could kill you right now and finally put an end to these years of hell," he said, drawing Zen's brows together.

So the man did want to kill him, but there was something keeping him from doing so. He doubted that it was the emperor, since he hadn't seemed pleased about him not bowing, and he knew that such disrespect would usually result in beheading... but he had said years. They had not known each other personally for more than a day. He had rarely even heard whisper of the far away prince and his unscrupulous deeds.

Leaning forward, prince Yuen pointed at Zen with one long, curved talon-like claw, then slowly bent it inward as he commanded, "come."

Zen immediately felt as if spiders were dancing beneath the skin of his cursed hand and lifted it to look as it started to shake. Tiny, thin black lines jerkily unfurled along his flesh, painting intricate yet sloppy spiderwebs upward toward his shoulder. The marks quickly disappeared beneath the sleeve of his robe, but he could still feel their cold tendrils exploring beneath his skin.

"Come here," prince Yuen said again, his voice a little more quiet and less commanding.

Zen hesitated, still, but he felt his feet begin to move as the black lines began to climb along his throat. To his surprise, the closer he got to the other man, the more the curse retracted. By the time he stood directly before him, it had returned to his hand as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

Prince Yuen lifted his clawed hand and gestured for Zen to bow, but that was one thing he would never do unless it was strictly to his master.

"You are a stubborn one. I bet that is part of your making," prince Yuen said, confusing Zen as he took a step back.

Prince Yuen stood as he retreated that small step, then reached forward and up. Zen grabbed his wrist right before he could touch the flower Qi had given him, but the man didn't seem deterred. He simply lifted his free hand to gently grasp the bottom of Zen's mask, then slowly pull it down as he leaned forward.

Zen expected him to try and whisper a curse for him to swallow, but he knew that Qi's barrier would likely block it. What he didn't expect, however, was what prince Yuen actually said and did.

"You are going to need to learn how to use far more power, far quicker, in order to protect something so important," he said, almost too quietly to hear. As he spoke, he slipped the hand Zen had unintentionally relaxed his grip on slightly forward, allowing his clawed fingers to grasp a single flower petal. That was all it took for dark energy to flood the spiritual device. The surge of power sent a jolt through Zen's body as the previously-dying plant suddenly began pulsating as it grew black roots that hungrily began to dig beneath his skin.

His mind immediately started to flare with pain as darkness edged its way into his vision.

"Have you not heard, Zen?" prince Yuen asked calmly as he pulled him down with him to sit on the edge of the bed again, cradling him in his lap so that he could rest against his chest. His head felt like it was on fire, but he could do nothing but grip onto the prince's robe and try to stay conscious.

The man ran his clawed fingers slowly through Zen's soft hair, being careful not to nick any of the growing roots still searching for warm skin to penetrate.

"Those who scream silently, are usually the ones in the most pain."