She's a princess and he's the butler she loves. The
promise they made to meet every full moon under their favorite willow tree means their paths will continue to cross even after they're torn apart by spiritual and magical war.
Three young apprentices training under the great Master Yin sat beneath a waterfall, falling out of their cross legged positions and interrupting their mediation to complain about their exercises.
Master Yin, a 378 year old Shui dragon and the current chief of a small, secret village of survivors stood with his arms folded across his chest, disappointed with his young trainees' work, but patient as always with children nonetheless.
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Master Yin sighs and hides a smile behind his sleeve as he watches the children struggle. They were always so eager in the early hours of the morning to learn something new from him, but threw tantrums when they didn't suddenly come out of training with fully controlled powers and excellent combat skills. They were only small children after all, and had much to learn in the ways of discipline. Rather than scold them, Master Yin decided to maintain a laidback, easy-going composure before the intense part of training came. He thought it best to catch his trainees off guard with difficult work. The complaints lowered their expectations and cleared their minds while the basics warmed them up for the intermediate stage.
The water village of Shui people chose not to question Master Yin's methods. As calm and as kind as he looked on the outside, Master Yin's army of men always finished their training with impeccable skills. The village always stayed well hidden and any bandits that came in either left empty-handed or never at all.
Despite his playfulness, Master Yin always readily accepted new trainees. The village had to prepare itself for any attack at any and all times.
After all, the village was populated by the only remaining survivors of Emperor Houzhu's massacring of the Shui empire. If Emperor Houzhu found out the Shui people were still alive, and growing in number by the year, he would come to finish the job he thought he had. The people wanted to be ready for his return, unless they grew strong enough to initiate an attack themselves.
Master Yin had once before disapproved of feelings of brewing hatred or revenge, believing it hardened the heart and prevented the ability to move on from tragic events... However, after the fateful, traumatizing night that Master Yin has lost so many loved ones, saw innocents die, and Emperor Shui Tao and his entire family of 3 boys and beautiful wife Nuwa become torn apart by the flames forever, Master Yin had felt an intense hatred for Emperor Houzhu. He wanted to avenge those he'd lost. He hoped to do it by making the people of his village safe and strong, and hoping for a sign that there was still hope for Crystal Arcadia not to fall as it had over and over since the beginning of time over the clashing of the seven kingdoms.
Day and night, he hoped for a sign...what it would appear in the form of, he wasn't sure...but when it came to him, Master Yin felt he would know...
"Ah, Master Yin..." one of the boys poked his head out of the curtain of the water fall, squinting in the distance at the crystal clear lake behind them. Master Yin frowned at the child, snapping his fingers.
"Ah ah ah, direct your focus back to meditation. If you continue to break it, you won't ever train your mind, body, or spirit to—"
"Master, look! Something's in the water!"
Master Yin turned to glance over his shoulder, catching a floating object in the corner of his eye. Yin turned his head to examine it at a better angle, long white hair whipping about as he realized with alarm that it was a child floating on her back in the lake, a long, skinny object that appeared to be the tail end of an arrow sticking through her chest.
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Letting out a gasp, Yin waved his hand once, the water in the lake bending to his will and rushing the body toward the shoreline at his feet. When she was close enough, Yin and the children ran to grab her, lifting her out of the water and into Yin's arms.
"She's breathing!" One of the boys observed, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Yin was the only one who did not, however. He looked quizzically down at the face of the child, at the way her eyelashes curled and her eyebrows arched, her nose, and her jet black hair.
It had been many years since he's last seen her before the attack, but the child's resemblance to the late Shui Empress Nuwa was striking...
In fact, if Yin hadn't known better, he would think...
"Lift the sleeve on her arm." Yin instructed one of the boys. The child did as he was told, lifting the wet fabric up to the girl's inner elbow to reveal a vibrant, iridescent blue mark that graced her skin from her the back of her hand to her elbow. There was no mistaking the marks — symbols of ancestral Shui emperors and gods and all things meaning peace and tranquility.
"The mark of the Shui emperors?" one of the boys chimed.
"That's correct..." Yin's blue eyed gaze drifted back to the face of the child.
