Dark Wind, Icy Snow - RyuTar, YinYuan [BL]

RTYY 033 - A Fiery Gift

ZaiWin was considering where to safely spend the night when a warm hand landed on his shoulder, startling him. Spinning around, he immediately relaxed at the sight of Wen NimRen's gentle smile.

"I didn't see you the entire day. I was worried something might have happened ..." she added in a low voice.

"I'm fine. Please don't worry."

"Yes, I can see that," she declared looking up at the scores. "Tenth place. Not bad at all."

"Look who's talking," he retorted and she blushed, averting her gaze.

"As if I could take any of the merit. You know my brother would never stand to see me placed lower than that. In truth I didn't do much of anything ..."

Of course he knew that. Neither she nor any of the royals had gathered all those tokens all by themselves. Taking into account how well they'd been hidden, it would be simply impossible to gather so many of them in such a short amount of time. So it was obvious that other kids had gathered them for them. Which was hardly against the rules, he thought. In fact the Calzai had never said anything against people working together, or even stealing other people's tokens. He'd only stated that they couldn't injure one another.

"I wonder what happened to the four that are missing ..." NimRen sighed, her face growing a shade paler when the twins silently walked by, side by side like two synchronized copies. ZaiWin also followed them with his gaze.

So they knew, he concluded bleakly. It was clear that NimRen had immediately suspected the two of them, and the fact that such a horrible thought had crossed her mind could only mean that the twins' ... twisted games had become widely known, at least amongst the royals.

Well, he didn't have to wonder about what had happened to two of the missing kids. He'd seen it with his own eyes. And yes, NimRen was probably right. The other two had probably fallen victims of a similar fate. He was sure that the Calzai's men would eventually find their bodies. After all, it wasn't as if they'd taken the time to hide them or dispose of them. They had just left them there, out in the open. He just didn't know what the men would do once they found them.

Taking a deep breath, as if that could expel the dark thoughts from her head, NimRen held his hand and, with a renewed smile, quickly pulled him to one side.

"Where are we going?" he asked and she looked back at him, a happy, almost excited expression on her face.

"I have something for you." He frowned suspiciously but still followed her. "But you have to promise me that you'll keep it a secrete from my brother. He'll kill me if he finds out."

"Then maybe you shouldn't give it to me."

"Nonsense! Those are two completely different things!"

Once they'd stepped a few ways away from the camp, enough to be hidden from unwanted eyes by the shadowy trees, NimRen finally stopped, releasing his hand, and looked for something inside her backpack.

"I've been watching you and I noticed you haven't been using your fire daitai," she started and he couldn't help taking a step back, his entire body tense, ready for a fight. "I don't know why. I remember you used to control them rather well. But I also know that when we practice other daitai too much the less used ones can go dormant for a while. And so I did this for you," she declared with a smile, showing him a small crystal with an orange-fiery marking engraved inside it. Like the orienting crystal, the marking had a gentle glow to it, and he immediately recognized it as one of the royal daitai of fire that only the direct descendants of the El'Dur carried on their bodies since birth. "I had a lot of free time on my hands today, so I spent it imprinting it on this crystal. It is only one of the weakest daitai and, since I didn't have a lot of time, it will probably only last a few days. But, until then, you can use it to light a fire anywhere you need."