Zen could already hear the bustling chit chatter of the people gathered and the soft sounds of music. He rolled his shoulders in an effort to find some comfort in his constricting formal clothing. He wore a green outfit with golden linings arranged in a beautiful pattern.

“Damn clothes,” Zen whispered to himself.

“Zen look like a monkey,” Shibi laughed.

“Pssht, better to look like a monkey than be a monkey,” Zen said.

“Shibi no more monkey, Shibi Great Ape!” Shibi said before beating his chest and crying out.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Shibi said, rubbing his ear at the noise. “Anyway, lets get inside. You ready.”

Shibi snorted yes.

Both he and Shibi pushed the door open.

They walked in, threading through the crowd. Zen ignored the looks on people’s faces when they saw him walking beside Shibi. At this point, he was used to it as it was the same look he would get when they saw the silver in his eyes.

Shibi on the other hand… did not care. He was already looking for a peach dessert. The guests were surprised and moved away from the excited ape as it drooled over the food.

Zen smirked at the ape’s antics.

“Hey, look, its Zen.” Tian-Ji Yin said as she and her brother came over to Zen.

“Brats?” Zen frowned, giving them the side eye.

“Zen looks good!” Yan said.

He smirked. “Aw, thanks Brats.”

“You don’t look like how father says you normally look.” Yin said.

“Yeah, nothing like that at all!”

“Really?” he looked at them suspiciously. “How does Taing-Ji say I normally look like?”

““Dad says you look like a Drunken Hobo!”” the twins said.

“That jerk,” Zen said, under his breath.

“But we don’t think that, right, Yan?” Yin said.

“Yeah we don’t think that.”

“Aw, you know you little brats are alright in my book.”

“Yeah, we think you look like…”

““A beggar hobo!”” they both said.

“You little brats!” Zen growled at the two kids while they laughed and ran away.

“I see some things never change.”

Zen stiffened at the voice. “Please, don’t tell me that’s…”

“I see you haven’t grown up one bit, heh, cousin Zen?”

Zen turned around to look at Jao Fuu. She was his cousin and one part of the Jao Twins.

“Cousin Jao Fuu,” Zen turned around to face her. “I see you’ve made it.”

She wore a crimson dress, her hair was let down with a flower with petals of the same colour tucked in her brunette hair. “I have. You were a bit late, but being fashionably late has not been in fashion since I stopped doing it.”

“Well, I’ve never been much into fashion.” Zen said.

“Clearly.”

Zen controlled his annoyance. “So… you came alone?”

“No, she did not.” Another voice said.

Zen smiled at this one. “Hey, Jao Cong.” He turned around. “Whoa! You’ve gotten tall!”

Jao Cong was taller than the last time he had seen him. Though he was still shorter than him, he no longer looked like the smallest guy in the room.

“Yeah, I did some growing since last we saw each other.” Cong bowed.

“Sure did!” Zen said. “Bet your stronger too. Maybe we should have a sparring match.”

“Of course you would ask for a sparring match at such an event. Still a little kid, hey?”

“I’d ask you but then the sparring match would end too quickly,” Zen said, sticking out his tongue at her.

The two glared at each other.

“Help us out here,” Cong lightly elbowed his companion. “Before these two start a fight here.”

His companion was tall and skinny with hair, neatly gelled back. He nodded and stepped forward. “Wang Zen, good to see you again.”

Zen turned to the man, his look of anger replaced by one of confusion. “”Hey… you! Are you doing well? Long time, no see?”

The man frowned in confusion at this. “You? Do you not remember my name.”

“What? What kind of silly question is that?” Zen said, as he broke out in a sweat. “Of course I remember your name.”

The man exchanged a look of confusion with Jao Cong before returning to Zen. “Really?” he sceptically said.

“So, if you remember our colleague’s name here, surely you can remind us?” Jao Fuu said.

Zen glared at her and she giggled. “Wait… did you say colleague. You’re working with my cousins now? On what?”

“We’re not quite sure what we are yet.” Cong said. “I prefer to call us researchers and antic dealers, others call us treasure hunters. But we are amassing a museum of interesting things.”

“That’s cool!”

“Yes and it is also getting us off topic.” Fuu said, walking beside their companion and putting an arm around him.

The stranger stiffnened and his face grew red. “Uhm… F-Fuu?”

Fuu had a mischievous look upon her face. “What is our friend’s name.”

“I know it,” Zen said. “I… I just forgot.”

“Yeah, you don’t know his name. You said it a hundred times back in the academy days. I know they say drop outs are less smart than us graduates but even so, you’re giving your fellow drop outs a bad name.”

Zen rolled his eyes. Even though he was a drop out of Goixi Academy, he did not believe that made him inferior to any of the graduates.

“How about we give him a clue, hey?” Fuu said to her companion who was getting redder by the second.

The man fished out a pair of glasses and wore them.

Zen tilted his head and squinted his eyes. The man was now very familiar but he could not quite place who he was and then it clicked. His eyes widened and the words fell out of his mouth before he could think, “Deng Ai! You used to be my roommate back at the academy.”

Deng Ai smiled and nodded. “It has been a while Wang Zen.”

“Where is your friend? Our other roommate, Ao Li, was it?”

Deng Ai nodded. “He has joined the Red Dragon Sect.”

Zen frowned at this. “The Red Dragon Sect huh, poor choices in sects.”

Deng Ai frowned, “But they are the number 1 sect in the Empire. They call them the Overlord’s Favourite.”

“Semantics.” Zen said, glowering.

There was a tapping of glass and everyone’s attention as drawn to Tian-ji Ling. She stood high above everyone, in a radiant white and gold dress and a brilliant smile on her face. Next to her was her husband Tian-Ji Jia, in black clothing. “Hello Everyone, thank you for coming and coming looking at your best, as I see many of you are.”

The crowd giggled.

“Now, eat, drink, be merry and strengthen your bonds and later, my family and I will announce something wonderous!”

“Wonderous?” Fuu said before looking at Zen. “You have any idea what this wonderous thing is.”

“Yeah, and I’m not sure if its really that ‘wonderous’” Zen said with no measure of excitement.