Yue sat silently, watching the world pass by through her window.
Sometimes she liked to play a game, which she creatively dubbed the counting game. How many of one thing could she count? Birds, moths, fallen leaves, people? Maybe the amount of headaches that had passed in her time staring through her window? She wasn't particularly picky.
So far, she had counted thirteen different species of birds that had flown by, none of which she could name. Despite Sylas' attempts to educate her on avians and their descendants, most of what he said went through one ear and out the other, birds weren't that interesting to her.
Out of nowhere, she began to feel dizzy.
She had long recognized the signs of a coming vision. Notably, painful headaches, blurry vision, dizziness, and the whole shebang. Sometimes faintness, the urge to vomit, disorientation, and other various sickly feelings. In short, she knew a vision was coming as long as she felt like Vischo was actively trying to torture her. She staggered towards her bedpost, clutching the spherical top as she submerged back into the vision plane.
Will Vischo make another appearance?
A soft chuckle in the distance. No, my child. We're here to observe. Of course, you may attempt to explore the rest of the time palace. I won't interfere.
That will be the last time Vischo appears. Yue, content with her god's response, allows herself to dream, and let the vision play out.
There is a battlefield. It is littered with battered bodies, empty weaponry, blazing fire, torn flags. There is Solarie, standing next to Roza and Gwen, battling against these humanoid shadow monsters. They screech, as Solarie summons a beam of light, projecting it towards the monsters.
Nicholas, King Magnus, and all of the other distant relatives of the crown are nearby. Not all of them are fighting- some physically cannot, or do not possess the power to do so.
Sylas and Ashlee are right on the front lines. Purple crackles rip through the air, the brief flash of light enough to dissolve some of the smaller monsters. Sylas doesn't watch his back- he is impaled by a sword, right to the stomach. Yue tries to call out, and stop the vision, but it changes, and morphs.
Now, she's watching as the group conquers the final flag, ripping it from its post. Solarie, Roza, Gwen, and Nicholas are standing there. Below, there is a body- one that looks vaguely familiar, a boy. Not Sylas, someone else. They dig a shallow grave, leaving the boy's body to rest, as they cover his body with the earth. This is a funeral.
Everything shifts again. This is no longer one funeral, but hundreds. It looks similar to the one they held after the fateful attack that killed her family, only this one is spread across the same blazen field. There are opium poppies, the ones that the healers use to sedate patients. The opium makes them rest, peaceful during any kind of operation. These poppies are symbolic- the people here are to rest, in an eternal state of peace with the poppies. The petals are blood-red, and the seeds are black. The colours of the Cai flag. This is a mass grave. A mass funeral.
There are some names she would recognize, had the vision not been partially obscured. Yue cannot read the names, but she has the feeling that some are people she knows today. The corpses beneath the gravestones are people that are living and breathing in the present.
The vision ends, but she is not forced to return. Perhaps she is learning how to venture towards the past of the time palace, to go along with the flow and ebb of time. There is no previous version of the time palace. The time palace only looks like what Yue imagines it looks like. Usually, she only uses one plane, mostly made up of white lines and a swirl of dark colours. This time, she is transported elsewhere, outside her vision plane.
This is the center foyer of the palace, the cusp of the past, the border of the future. There is nothing and everything here. Outside a grand window, Yue can see the enormous tree, willowing and swaying in the wind. Luminary bulbs hang off of the branches. These are memories, the memories of the dead, the unborn, and the alive. Time is only a concept in the eyes of Vischo. To this tree, everything is happening at once. The future is just a mere congregation of thought and philosophy. To this tree, memories are not just makes of the human mind.
Now, Yue is outside. She reaches out to touch the bulb- she does not care who the memory belongs to.
It is her own memory. There is a girl, running around as she treks her muddy boots into the halls. One of her twin buns has come undone, and Ella Chang is trying to catch her.
This is a memory she does not recognize. Her mother has been dead for years. Everyone has.
The memory continues. Yue slips into the staircase, the one she found so long ago, watching another boy hide away in there. Nobody can find her. For good measure and her own amusement, she cracks open the door slightly, enough to let the barest sliver of light enter and so she can watch her mother's search.
There is a loud, blaring bell. David Chang, Yue's father, rushes to the scene, grabbing Ella's hand. He says something that Yue cannot discern, but the look on his face is panic. Yue soon sees why.
No. This memory- this was something she had tried too hard to forget. To block. To change.
The monsters of the night rip open the doors, letting out a terrifying screech. Yue slinks into the confines of the staircase, unable to look away.
She closes her eyes, but it is useless. Yue opens them to find the eviscerated and mangled bodies of what used to be her parents. She cries softly, then sobs, then wails. Her tears create a damp puddle in front of her as she weeps. Nobody finds her for hours. Her tears have dried, but she cannot forget the sight of her parents' corpses.
This is familiar. There is a boy who pulls her out of the staircase, bravely as he presents her to the guards.
The little girl that emerges is not the rascal, the gremlin, or the troublemaker Yue Chang.
It is a broken, shattered, and hardened version of her.
At last, Yue lets go, and allows herself to return to the mortal world.
"Yue, are you alright?"
Yue rubbed her eyes, only to realize she was sitting on the floor. It seemed that she hadn't made it to the bed. Pitiful. She glanced upwards to find prince Nicholas staring down at her, perplexed as to why she was slumped against her bedframe and on the floor.
She quickly gathered herself, burrowing her emotions from her vision into the depths of her mind. "I'm fine," she began. A white lie. "But there was another vision. Pertaining to the prophecy. To summarize, a lot of people die." Yue left out the bit where Sylas was stabbed and the whole group buries a body of their own.
Nicholas furrowed his brow. "Before you write down your vision, you should probably get some rest. I had a feeling I'd find you unconscious. People seem to pass out around me for some reason." He remarked.
The prince dug into his pockets, producing an orange container sealed with a label. "Medicine," he explained, twisting the lid open with a pop! and pouring a few tablets into her open palm. "New healer batch. Usually reserved for my grandfather's health issues, but I feigned a headache." He spun the bottle until the label faced him. "Treats headaches, soreness, fever... yeah, you'll be fine. It's a little strong, so I gave you half the dose."
Yue looked down at her palm. Two tablets. "Your grandfather takes four tablets a day?"
"Every hour." Nicholas corrected, pointing to the label. It indeed indicated that it should be taken every hour for maximum effect. "But you don't really need that. My grandfather should've passed long ago, but the healers are excellent. Praise to House Zhu and Saint Byzjer. I suppose House Zheng too, for their willing contributions to experimentation." He tossed her the bottle, and she caught it swiftly. "Yours to keep. Two a day at first, give or take depending on severity. Don't lose it."
Yue nodded, and got up to add the bottle to the shelf with her other medications. She swallowed the ones in hand, swallowing without chewing.
"What kind of monster are you, taking these without water?" Nicholas marveled at her.
She shrugged. "One that's used to taking these things. Was I supposed to chew that?"
Nicholas bit back a smile. Yue could barely see it, but it was most definitely there. "No. It's absolutely horrid when you chew it. I strongly advise that you don't."
"I will take that under advisement, then."
For a moment, they stood there silently, staring at each other. It was rather improper for the prince to visit her in her room, but it seemed like he didn't care too much.
Yue finally broke the silence. "So, you went to an all-boys school?"
Nicholas groaned. "This, again?
Yue sat down next to him. "Yes, I would like to know your childhood stories. Might distract me from my encounters in the vision plane."
He glanced at her. Unlike the other times she had encountered him, his eyes didn't have the faint golden glow she was used to seeing. They were purely sunshine yellow pupils, with not a hint of guard or defense in place.
Nicholas sighed. "My father put me in an all-boys school so I wouldn't get distracted. Only problem was that I liked girls and boys. You can see where this is headed." He relented.
Yue didn't actually know where the conversation was headed, but pretended to. Her grasp on social cues wasn't exactly sharp. "Oh?"
"Oh, as in Bennett Gao."
Yue had to recall her lessons with Roza and the rest of her tutors to remember who Bennett was. As soon as she did, her eyes widened. "Bennett, like Elyse's older brother?" she exclaimed.
"Gods, keep it down!" Nicholas pressed a finger to her lip, but stopped just before he made contact. He quickly reigned back, before continuing. "And yes, Elyse's older brother. We were good friends in school. Now, we're more estranged than acquaintances. I'm far over it though. My heart is locked in chains until my twenty-third. Then, the courtship begins."
For some strange reason, Yue felt a little disappointed about his statement. Twenty-third birthday? That was three years away from now, and to keep a heart under lock and key for the sake of propriety? To Yue, it felt downright insane. One would have to be senile to think like that.
Yue twirled a strand of her midnight black locks between her fingers, the split ends dangling from the clutches of her hands. "Twenty-third? Why not any sooner?"
"The same reason I'm not allowed to claim the crown and ascend to the throne. Old laws nobody remembers the origins of." Nicholas stared as Yue began to unfurl her curl, but quickly caught himself and straightened himself out.
She didn't seem to notice. "Any ideas on who you'll pick?" Yue pressed on.
"I'm not quite sure," he shrugged. "Would you like me to choose you?"
Yue froze, staring blankly at Nicholas. Was he serious? She had never considered what Nicholas was saying- to court a prince? Prince Nicholas?
Nicholas stammered. "I'm sorry- that was my, er, attempt at a joke? Did I do it right? Gwen has been coaching me, but I get the feeling that I'm not doing it right." he frowned.
"No, no, you did fine. Just- work on your tone. You sound too serious." Yue quickly recovered. She felt a brief period of relief- then, a pang of disappointment. Outwardly, she offered a weak smile- internally, she screamed at herself for letting her emotions cloud her head. What was happening to her? She had never felt this way before. It was as if hundreds of butterflies were fluttering in her stomach- Yue simply surmised that the drugs were just about kicking in. That was all it was, right? Nothing more she could chalk it up to. Just a funny reaction to a new medicine. Nothing more. Yue wasn't about to go fishing for something that wasn't there.
A silent pause. "Alright then," the prince continued on. "Anything else?"
"Not in particular." Yue twiddled her thumbs, nervously anticipating what was going to happen next.
Thankfully, Nicholas rose, giving her a silent nod as he strutted out of the room. Yue noticed a small woven basket made of thin strips of cedar bark in place of where he had just sat, filled with a selection of her favourite snacks; tanghulu, dango, and milk pudding. How did Nicholas know that these were her favourites? Was it just a lucky guess, or had she been spending more time with him than she thought?
It's just the meds, Yue silently reassured herself. In truth, she was more panicked, and a smidge baffled by what kind of conversation she had just had.
To clear her mind, Yue set the basket aside on her desk, barring herself from any remote thought related to Nicholas. Instead, she chose to quickly write down her vision, which took about fifteen minutes, and then ventured downstairs to find some peace of mind.
After wandering the halls of the palace, ducking her head everytime she neared another person, she ended up in the south area of the palace garden, tranquil and lush as she took note of all the different species of plants grown around the garden. Tiger lilies, orchids, pond lotuses, and red river irises were the most plentiful- but she also spotted a few sprigs of ivy, periwinkles, bramble bushes, song lotuses, trilliums, and branches of bleeding hearts. Fitting, considering-
No. Stupid brain, stay put. Stop wandering.
"I thought I'd find you here."
Yue turned to see Gwen sauntering towards her, her half-shorn hair bedraggled and her clothes completely wrinkled.
"You look well," Yue remarked as Gwen took a seat next to her.
"Don't start there," Gwen sighed. "I had to do swimming drills with the rookies. You can't even begin to fathom what kind of horrors I witnessed. I had to go diving at least seven times." She let herself stretch out, revealing a great deal of wet sand stuck to the creases of her shirt.
Yue looked to the sky, watching as the clouds passed by overhead. One of them looked like a snow hare. I should really come here more often if I'm going to count things.
She didn't quite know how to respond to I had to stop seven people from drowning today, but she thought of a few replies in her head before selecting what seemed most appropriate. "Why look for me? Why not Roza, or the twins?"
The general sighed. "Roza's cooped up with Solarie, and the twins are busy doing... Well, I don't actually know. Usually the king summons them for secret assignments even I don't have access to. You were next on my list." she paused, observing Yue's perplexed face. "I have heightened senses and a general idea of your personality. How else do you think I found you?"
"I figured you checked my room first, then asked Sylas."
"That's plausible too."
For a while, they sat in silence, listening to the crickets creek and the fountain circulate its waters, the wind blowing on the flowers. Yue herself counted sixteen clouds that looked like animals- six snow hares, including the one she had counted before, two snakes, four turtles, one baby reindeer, one hummingbird, and two eagles.
"You know," Gwen started. "Yue, you've changed. You're... happier. Less sickly looking. Finally found someone to cheer you up?"
"Something like that." Yue replied, unsure of whether or not she wanted to tell the truth. In actuality, she didn't quite know what triggered her change in personality, but she suspected it had something to do with her recent revelations with the time palace and Vischo's spontaneous visit.
Gwen glanced at Yue, the way she drummed her fingers on the edge of the concrete fountain. "You're not going to tell me?"
The other girl shrugged. "Gwen, I don't know what to tell you. It just kind of... happened. Probably when I talked to Vischo for the first time, but-"
"You talked to Vischo? And for the first time?" Gwen interrupted, astonished. It was for good reason- there was no recorded history of any Chang, let alone any Elite ever actually communicating with their scions.
Yue, not one bit perturbed, continued. "I don't necessarily see what's so confusing. We've long known that House Chang, and House Li have access and control over time, although it has its varying degrees of confusion. Discombobulated moments in time due to interference with House Li isn't uncommon." she frowned. "Also, I know who else is part of the prophecy."
Perhaps it was too much information to dump on Gwen at once. Nevertheless, Gwen stood up, and offered a hand to Yue. She took it, and Gwen hauled her up with grace and ease.
"Okay," Gwen dusted off more sand from her pants. "We're going to have a meeting tomorrow morning."
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"Welcome, everyone, to our morning council of despicable teenagers and exhausted adults."
Roza delivered the opening line dryly, a most humourless phrase. Again, they were at the breakfast table just before midday. Yesterday, Gwen had urged Yue to present her vision.
Today, she felt like she was going to die before she got to do so.
"Why are we gathering?" Solarie inquired, shuffling in her seat. It looked like she felt uneasy, since Jin had missed their meeting. Nobody was sure what he was doing, but he definitely wasn't coming down any time soon.
"Because," Roza said sternly. "Yue has more vision crap to show us."
"Not crap," Sylas grumbled, barely audible.
Yue stood up. She didn't like the seat she was in, anyway, since it was disgustingly warm and had some kind of sauce smeared on it. She could've swapped her chair, but that would've made it seem like she wasn't in a rush to start their congregation. She took a deep breath, and spilled all of the details of her vision.
"I know that there is going to be one big battle at some point, and Solarie, Roza, Gwen, Sylas, and Nicholas are part of this somehow, and me too. I don't know who belongs to which house, but I don't think Nicholas is directly related to the prophecy, rather just looped in by proximity. Also-" she frowned. "Sylas, you get stabbed."
"Do I die?" Sylas asked cautiously. Yue supposed it was a valid question to ask. If someone told her she was going to get stabbed, she would've liked to know if she was going to die soon too.
"Not necessarily. There were multiple visions, but thankfully, in what I think is the sequential order. While you're not in the final vision... it's not your body the rest of us are burying."
Yue probably shouldn't have said that.
The room erupted into chaos, most of which was caused by overlapping voices asking who was getting buried. It was a little hard for Yue to remember not to say things that might sow seeds of discourse without easing into it first. At least she tried to integrate the subject carefully- after all, she did say somebody was getting stabbed, though impaled, really.
In the end, it was Gwen who silenced everyone, through some kind of magic general-silencing power. The command she had over the room was phenomenal; everyone shut up all at the same time.
Yue offered a weak smile to show her thanks. "Anyway," she continued. "I don't know who dies. Usually near the end of visions, it gets really blurry. But if it helps-" she turned to Sylas- "Sylas isn't getting buried."
"Thank the saints," Sylas sighed in relief.
Yue bent over to pick up a bundle of parchment off of the impeccably clean floor, and passed them around the table. "These are written copies of the vision, to the best of my ability. Keep them. I still have the original in my room." She passed an extra copy to Gwen so she could pass it on to Roza.
"Thank you," Roza said just as Yue was sitting down. "Anybody else with something to share?"
Nobody answered. "Then that concludes today's fun. All dismissed. Solarie, I will see you in the library. Nicholas, go do princely things and practice for the interview. And Gwen-" the general had already left, but Yue had a sneaking suspicion that the slight pink tinge in Roza's cheek was not the result of being out of breath.
Everyone exited the room, but Yue lingered. "Sylas, wait."
Sylas pivoted, tilting his head, resulting in his glasses being left at an awkward angle on his nose and his textbook beginning to slip out of his clutch. "Do you need something, Yue?"
"It happened again."
He immediately dropped his book, and hurried over back to his friend. "Again?"
"Again," Yue confirmed. "But this time, he left early. 'Said that he wasn't coming back to talk any more. But..." she sighed. "I can explore more planes, and the tree too. Actually, the tree is pretty important. I left this out when I wrote the vision, but that tree? It holds memories. It showed me-"
Yue stifled a sob, and Sylas drew her into a warm embrace. There was no need to say out loud what memory was triggered. The warm tears that fell onto Sylas' sleeve were telling enough.
"I thought I was over it, you know?" Yue choked out through sobs. "It's been so many years, so long... but nothing's changed. My parents didn't come back. My cousins didn't come back. Nobody came back."
Sylas silently comforted her, and began leading her to her room, but she stopped him. "No," Yue demanded. "I hate being trapped in there. Somewhere else."
They turned and trekked through the palace for a while. They simply wandered the halls, letting the emptiness of the corridors consume them. Yue realized that while it was not silence she had sought out, she found it soothing. She never finished telling Sylas about what else she experienced in the time palace.
And that was okay. Sylas would understand.
He always would.