Cassie walked through the empty halls of the Jade Palace with a maid, it was quiet, most of the Song sisters were in the battlefields of humanity, they were among the most powerful of the Domains after all, their mere presence would cause the battlefield to change in their favour.
Their brother, on the other hand… Had more important things to do.
Cassie's reason for being there was to meet with Seishan, the leader of the Blood Sisters and the one that represented the daughters of Ki Song.
The maid accompanied the blind seer to serve as her eyes, but it was unnecessary. Cassie had already been here, she already knew where to go.
They reached the meeting room of the Palace and the maid bowed.
"Lady Cassia, Lady Seishan is waiting."
"Thank you, you may leave."
Cassie opened the door to meet the beautiful grey skinned woman sitting in an armchair at the center of the meeting room. The blind woman could do that thanks to the mark she had placed on Song's daughter all those years ago.
Seishan turned to look at Cassie, a genuine smile appeared, after so much work seeing her friend was comforting.
"Cassie, how have you been?"
The seer smiled back.
"Same as always Shan… How's Kai by the way?"
Seishan rolled her eyes, a hint of a blush passed through her cheeks.
"You know… He's the same charming archer."
Cassie's smile was soon replaced by a sour expression. She couldn't do idle chatter.
"Good… But I didn't come for small talk unfortunately…"
Seishan frowned, if it was an urgent matter, Cassie could have just talked through her mark, there was something else…
"Why did you come here then?"
The blind Saint wandered around the room, pretending to analyze it through her blind eyes. Eventually, she stopped by the window, turning to the scenery she couldn't see.
"Do you regret it? What you did at the Bright Castle."
The grey skinned woman twitched, gripping her nails on the armchair.
"That… It was a long time ago…"
Of course she knew, she knew everything, the fearsome Heir of Fate… It was only a matter of time before she confronted Seishan. Cassie turned to the Heir of Blood.
"Indeed it was, but you didn't answer my question. Do you regret it?"
Seishan couldn't help but scoff, a humorless smile showing.
"Does it matter Cassie? What will you do? Condem me and my brother? Announce that the Song family are manipulators?"
Cassie studied Seishan for a moment. Then answered.
"No. But it will make 'me' sleep better at night."
Seishan hesitated, her smile faltaring…
"... I don't regret it… But I do feel guilty."
Silence was all that could be heard in the grand room.
"I understand… I hope you can sleep better at night one day…"
Cassie walked out of the room, knowing full well that Seishan won't be able to for a long, long time…
—
Cassie woke up from her vision, less than a second had passed in reality.
She was trying to touch the treads of weaving like her future self did, but she was once again unsuccessful.
'... You did what you had to Seishan…'
These visions weren't exactly visions, they were more like memories her future self sends to her in a specific moment. Cassie could somehow tell the difference, first it was when she consumed the [Drop of Ichor] but now…
Cassie leaned on her chair, sighing as she did. The visions of the future showed many things, many sides of different people, it seemed like her future self wanted for her to keep that in mind.
"But… It's not something to be proud of…
Even if less people die."
A knock on the door interrupted her.
"Who is it?"
A useless question, she knows who is on the other side of the door, she also knows what he will say…
Cassie had so many visions ever since she received Weaver's lineage… Apparently, the more she walked the path of ascension, the more control she would have over her visions based on her future self memories, but it was still overwhelming sometimes.
Caster answered on the other side of the door.
"Cassia? Sunny and Lady Nephis are calling for us to the meeting room."
She got up and opened the door for him, having already memorized the whole room after months, she didn't bump into anything.
"Thank you Caster, can you guide me there?"
He grabbed her hand gently.
"Sure."
Caster of Han Li… Sometimes Cassie had some visions of the past timeline, the one where Ki Song hadn't adopted Sunny. It was like the threads of Fate were still there, but inactive, lifeless.
In that life, he was trying to gain Nephis's trust to eventually kill her, maybe he still is.
But at least this time, he's Sunny's friend, and is upfront about his objective…
'Such… A shame…'
—
"So, who were you saving?"
Sunny perked up and made a face of someone who remembered something important.
"Oh, right, I'll get him, he's famous actually, and has a really useful aspect."
Sunny got up and moved to the door, opening it to see Kai still standing in the hall and Caster right beside him.
The scion seemed to be catching up with the singer, they were on friendly terms after all.
"Caster! Hey, can you call Effie and Cass here?"
"Ah… Sure… Something happened?"
Sunny sighed.
"A headache, tell you when everyone's here. And Kai, what are you doing in the corridor? Why not go to that room?"
The charming archer opened his mouth and pointed at the door of the other room.
"The door's locked."
"... Oh, forgot about that… Either way, get in, Nephis wants to meet who made me get late."
Caster bid farewell to Kai and went on his way while the singer got in the room.
Nephis looked up to see the culprit…
And completely froze.
Kai gave a respectful little bow and began to introduce himself.
"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Nephis, I'm Kai."
Sunny looked at Nephis who was taking a surprisingly long time to answer…
And it was because she was embarrassed. Frozen completely while Kai stood there awkwardly.
'Of course… She's a fan.'
Sunny went to sit back on his chair, and as soon as he sat down, he touched Nephis's waist beneath the table, waking her up.
"Y-Yes! It's good to meet you too… But…"
Kai nodded, understanding her confusion.
"Yes, I'm Kai from Nightingale…"
As he explained his situation to Nephis, who got herself together and went back to her usual demeanor, Sunny couldn't help but feel… Annoyed.
Why did it bother him so much? Nephis was a girl, of course she knew Nightingale, it was one of the most famous bands out there, known for the majority of their fans being girls, Nephis was just one of them.
So why did the idea of Nephis liking Kai bother him so much?
Was he… Jealous?
He looked at the beautiful girl with white-silver hair, grey eyes and ivory skin…
He remembered the moment they shared just a few minutes ago…
A blush invaded his face.
He put the thoughts aside, now was not the time.
As soon as Kai finished his explanation, the door opened. Caster and Cassie got in the meeting room. Caster led Cassie to her seat, on the left side of Nephis, right in front of Sunny. He sat beside her.
Effie lazily got in the room as well, and just as lazily sat on her seat next to Sunny, who stared at her, his gaze piercing her soul.
"Just so you know, we are in trouble because of you."
The giant huntress looked at him non-chalantly.
"Hm?"
He sighed, his voice showing even more annoyance.
"If you hadn't provoked the guards, it wouldn't have called Merlin's attention and caused a scene."
Effie hummed, seemingly not caring.
Sunny rolled his eyes, finally explaining what happened.
"A group of guards of the Castle didn't come back and now they are going to blame all on Effie and Merlin, since they are the same group that fought with them both."
Caster cursed silently and turned to Effie.
"You should be more careful!"
Then to Sunny.
"And you should take better care of your subordinates!"
Effie, again, didn't take the order seriously, and Sunny, again, sighed and rolled his eyes.
Caster continued, ranting about how much problems they had.
"If Gunlaug takes Effie he will want to bring "justice", forcing Lady Nephis to challenge him, and, no offence, you can't beat him yet.
If you don't take the challenge, he'll kill Effie, we lose either way.
The same applies to Merlin with Sunny."
Sunless interrupted.
"Well, not really since he doesn't know Merlin is-"
"My point stands! I hope those guards are just lost somewhere…"
Kai decided to step in, and Sunny noticed he had committed a big mistake, because the singer couldn't lie for his life.
"Actually, Sunny killed them while saving me, so they won't come back unfortunately."
Kai had the most genuine apologetic smile you could think of.
Meanwhile, Sunless decided the ceiling was really interesting all of a sudden, he even noticed a crack that wasn't there before.
He could hear Effie laughing right beside him and Caster's gaze piercing his soul.
Nephis voice finally left her lips and grabbed everyone's attention.
"We only need one week to start the expedition, until then, Effie stays with the Shadow Watchers. If Tessai comes looking for her, we say she and Merlin went hunting alone and have not returned."
Caster voiced his concern.
"They may not believe that…"
But Sunny had an answer.
"They wont, but they don't have a choice either way, they don't have a hostage without Effie or Merlin, and if Nephis don't has them either, they can't get in, so it works."
Caster nodded, understanding the logic.
And Effie did not seem bothered at all by the idea.
As everyone agreed, Cassie raised her voice for the first time.
"Can I talk with Sunny and Nephis?… Alone."
All looked confused, but Nephis nodded, indicating all to leave.
As the three stood in the meeting room alone, Sunny asked what was in his and Nephis's mind.
"What is the problem Cassie?"
The blind seer smiled weakly and looked up at where they were despite being blind.
Her voice was low and sad…
"We will have to leave someone behind…"