ODDS & ENDS

To the Battlefield

Master and I had begun to plan out our duel. Our intent was not to kill each other so we needed to figure out a way to do that. We started to plan out our movements step by step. Almost as if it was a stage fight. Though, when the day comes, we will be trading blows and that's what scares Master the most. I don't want him to feel scared as we keep sparring, Lan refusing to appear until the actual duel.

"I've trained you quite well," Master's pained smile says it all. He even believes that I have a chance. But Mr. Svarog's predictions are quite accurate. I want to ask him what he thinks. I smile back at Master letting him know I was fine. It's my job to share his burden. I can't help but feel a little scared myself. I don't think I'm capable of killing him but yet, there's still a small chance right?

After my training, I head to the Central Starskiff Haven and sit on a bench looking towards the universe. Tingyun just went on her break and approaches me with some baozi. My eyes light up and egg her on to sit next to me.

"So? How'd it go?" She asks as I start stuffing my face with food, "Children are so cute," she says to herself not aware that I could hear her. I choose not to acknowledge it and tell her how it went.

"It went better than I thought. At first he rejected me which I expected. However, it wasn't because he thought I wasn't ready, more so, he was afraid he was gonna kill me," I explain to her while continuing to eat my lunch.

"So that lighting stand thing, is independent from the General?" Tingyun asks.

"Yeah, it acts on its own and when I look at the action order for battle, I see that he has a slot of his own." Tingyun nods in understanding. I think she also knows that Master and I are basically father and son. The whole Luofu has thought that to the point where they keep giving Master best dad awards. It didn't even exist until after he took me in.

"He does treat you like his son, it's quite cute actually. Do you think he's acting on some urge that he never got from his Master?" Tingyun's hair blows in the wind. She looks like she could be the catalyst of change in a storybook. Wait..., I shake my head in obvious denial. Tingyun pouts and says,

"Everyone knows it! He's giving you the same attention he craved as a kid! Why is it always everyone but the people themselves who realize they are closer than they'd like to admit?" My eyes widen in shock, I couldn't believe my ears. Nor the fact that she was right. I sit in silence processing my words when a strange Blue-Haired man approached us. Tingyun, like she had a situation like this in her head, throws her hand in front of me. I notice all the details of her accessories and make-up done to her nails. I look up and see a sly looking man and Tingyun being my protector.

"Well, isn't this unfitting," I try to push in front of her but she remains firm, "Tingyun!" Qingque shouts. Isn't she supposed to be working right now?

"Hey..., you're that guy who stole from the Belobog Museum, right?" Qingque gives him a smug look and his look of shock said it all, "Maybe you caught a ride on the astral express and got off with two children named Clara and Hook?" Tingyun and I look at each other in complete shock. I begin to draw my sword from its sheath awaiting Qingque's cue, "You know, Clara and Hook have been having a lot of fun. And yet? You've been chased here by someone with a strange guitar case. It isn't even a gun. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Is this what the divination commission is all about?

"Any move you make here has been foreseen by someone, and that someone is me and Fu Xuan," Her abilities were amazing. And yet, this blue-haired man shows no fear of Qingque. Yet he allows her to walk circles around him. It put him into a trance.

"Sampo, right?" His eyes widen and it tells me all I need to know. Tingyun and I slowly walk away from the thief to another area on the haven. What a weird distraction, right? We walked together and find Master. I wave and he walks over.