There is one truth that every soul experiences.....
Life will always, one way or another, carry us to our destined path.
Whether by a straight road or a twisted one, destiny finds its way.
And yet, we complain.
We grumble against our lives, never realizing…
it is not we who change our destiny.....
but our destiny that changes us.
So remember: whatever is happening, let it happen.
Rest easy, for your fate is the four wheels of your carriage, and you are but the rider.
No matter how rough the journey, it will take you where you are meant to be.
Just as it had brought Wee to her destination.
After a long journey, she had finally arrived at the Gentle Heart Institute.
A place of immense power, governed by rules and order, filled with its own world-cities...a society within itself.
The car carrying Wee and Lamai had driven through a breathtaking path, a road shaded by endless trees, embraced by gentle hills and valleys.
It felt as though they were entering not a mere academy, but a divine sanctuary of the gods themselves.
Birds of radiant colors flitted through the skies.
Flowers bloomed that neither of them had ever seen before.
And when at last the car stopped before the gates of the Gentle Heart Institute.....
their breaths caught.
The gates rose tall and magnificent, like the entrance to another world.
Around it ran low stone walls, designed so that the students studying within could gaze out at the beauty of nature beyond.
The gates opened.....
and so did their eyes.
Inside was a world unlike anything they had imagined.
A city, vast and alive, with towers, halls, and courtyards stretching farther than the eye could reach.
The guards at the entrance permitted them through, handing them a card with a map etched upon it.
A yellow pathway was marked on the ground.....
a trail they were to follow, leading them directly to the Head Court.
---
Far away, on the other side of fate's design, Kai was walking into her own world.
She had returned with Teanguan to their hidden base....an abandoned tunnel, now transformed into the lair where her great network of shadows carried out their work.
The moment she arrived, her men gathered, ready to hear their boss's orders.
But Kai…
Kai was elsewhere.
Her thoughts would not leave that single name.
That name written in the magazine....the one tied to the sacred Miss Fate Tree.
The name that haunted her.
Talotkan.
Every time it echoed in her mind, her chest stirred, her heart beat strangely, and her soul ached with a yearning she could not explain.
She tried to speak to her people, tried to issue her commands, but her eyes faltered, her voice fell silent, and her thoughts drifted again.
Confusion spread among her men, who had never seen their boss falter.
But Teanguan understood. He knew something troubled her.
He stepped forward, signaled her to leave it to him, and assured her he would handle matters here.
Kai turned and walked away, her steps heavy, until she found herself beneath the shade of a tree.
For the first time that day, a soft smile touched her lips.
From here, she could see it clearly....
the Gentle Heart Institute.
Its buildings rose proudly, and even the students walking within its grounds were visible from this distance.
And for reasons she could not understand, the sight of that place made her feel the very same way she felt when she whispered the name Talotkan in her heart.
That strange pull.
That unexplainable warmth.
That undeniable longing.
And though she did not know why.....
Kai… liked it.
She liked watching the Gentle Heart Institute.
She liked remembering that name.