"Only idle hands allow their treasures to be taken away from them"
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King airu lost track of time or interest in anything happening outside of what he had been doing in the moment, it surprised even himself that he enjoyed showing lady kalah around the smaller landscapes of the old earth.
After their heavy conversation, king airu took lady kalah's hand and led her through the cascading waters, and into a cold cave.
Inside the cave, there was a large bed at against the wall at the far back, with a black bear fur cover. To the side of the cave the wall was carved into a bookshelf with a few old books.
Airu looked to lady kalah, and said in his monotone voice:
"You can sit on the bed if you'd like. I'll get a fire going, so it'll be at least warm in here."
Lady kalah nodded, and sat on one side of the bed. She stayed silent as airu knelt at the center of the cave, and rubbed some dry wood together until sparks came to life, and eventually lit a bonfire.
Once that happened, airu took off his fur cape and sat on the side of the bed opposite to Kalah.
A moment of comfortable silence, with only the sizzling sound of the bonfire and the waterfall, passed until lady kalah said:
"Just a few days ago when me and shiro came here, I took you for a more simple king… but, you're more complicated than I thought."
Airu turned his dark pools of eyes to lady kalah's back. He looked at her shivering figure, and wrapped his fur cape over her shoulders.
Then, he said:
"I may not look it, but I'm not so different from mundane people."
It was then that lady kalah turned around, and looked at the black cracks branching across airu's pale cheeks.
The king had the face of a strangely beautiful doll. Without thinking, lady kalah slowly raised her hand and traced her fingers along the black cracks.
His cheeks were warm and smooth. Usually whenever he himself traced his fingertips along the black cracks, he would feel an unpleasant sting, but for some reason this time he didn't.
Lady kalah looked into airu's eyes and asked:
"Can I ask about these?"
Airu sighed. As he laid on his back, he answered her questions as though he'd been asked the same thing many times before.
"Apparently, as the bond I have with the spirit of death grows… so too does my soul's essence, and eventually I along with others such as kinte and ōroro will transcend to a realm of existence where a physical body is no longer needed."
Lady Kalah slowly lowered her hands into her lap, and stared at the bonfire as she thought about his words.
At the same time, she remembered all that she'd ever heard of the true essence of the soul and the known history of the spirit realm.
Usually when a sorcerer's soul reaches its true essence, once their physical body dies after a few thousand years their soul would travel from the physical world to the spirit realm.
And they would eventually go on to become gods who take on unknown dangers that reside within that realm, monsters referred to as "souls without a master"…
Or rather sorcerers who've become forgotten by the world, and now live on in a realm where they forget themselves and become beings whose only goal is to erase the border between Godhood and humanity.
But that was all just a hypothesis from those who haven't actually died yet… obviously.
Maybe that same thing would happen to airu and those who've taken part in the soul-killing ritual, but that was probably something Airu didn't want to think about so lady Kalah decided not to keep talking about it.
But there was one thing she did wonder.
"King-"
Airu suddenly interrupted her and said:
"Just airu is fine."
Lady Kalah nodded, and continued.
"Airu… why did you bring me specifically here?"
As airu began to speak, lady Kalah removed her footwear and brought her legs up on the bed. Leaning against the cold stone wall behind her.
"Because you're a strange woman."
Once he said that, lady Kalah struggled to hold back a laugh. And airu saw a weird tight smile on her face as she did, but he thought nothing of it and continued.
"When I talk to you, I can see that you're someone who understands my way of thinking and doing things. But I also find myself interested in your course of action for the "better future" you want."
Lady Kalah's expression grew a little somber when he mentioned a better future. But she didn't speak, and just listened as he spoke.
"Whenever I feel overwhelmed by my own thoughts about the state of the world, I come here and ignore everything that's stressing me out."
"Sounds cowardly when you think about it. But that's how I feel…"
Suddenly the space between lady kalah and airu grew smaller, which made lady kalah's cheeks flush a little.
But also, she could understand airu's words about wanting to ignore his responsibilities as king when they became too overwhelming.
Just then, lady kalah felt as though her heart was pounding against her chest, and her skin began to heat up uncomfortably.
She glanced down at Airu, who was also looking at her for some reason.
Another moment of silence passed, until Airu sat up, and suddenly pressed his warm lips against hers.
Lady kalah's eyes widened at the suddenness of his action, but she didn't pull away.
A part of her liked it even. As they laid down together, Airu undid her robes for her, relieving her of the uncomfortable heat.
And then, all else outside of the cave was someone else's problem.
***
Later that evening as the sun lowered itself and cast an orange and purple glow into the dimming sky, Prince Shiro who was still sitting in wetlands grew tired of waiting for lady Kalah to return.
He stretched his arms and yawned, and then decided to walk back toward the underwater kingdom.
'This is not what I expected to become of Kalah once we arrived to the old earth'
As he used his handy stick to travel through the wetlands, Prince Shiro couldn't let go of the feeling he got after witnessing how close lady kalah and king airu got after just a few days.
To him, it even began feeling as though lady kalah was a different person than the woman he'd grown up with.
But a part of this feeling he had was maybe envy towards king airu, and how he could understand lady kalah's motives and true thoughts better than he had.
'This is childish'
Trying to shake off these thoughts, Prince Shiro suddenly remembered the loud rumbling sound he'd heard coming from the ocean earlier.
After half an hour of walking, he swam back down to the underwater kingdom. There he heard many of the civilians in a panic, as well as kinte and ōroro standing among them trying to calm them but to no avail.
The blindfolded prince went down, and squeezed past many of the civilians until ōroro saw him and asked in a rough voice:
"Mainlander. Where is airu?"
All of the civilians turned to Prince Shiro, with hopeful looks on their faces. Just then, he said:
"He took me and lady Kalah to some wetlands, but after that he and lady Kalah went off somewhere else… and left me behind."
The civilian's began to whisper among each other. Some questioning why the king would leave at such a terrible moment, while ōroro and Kinte looked at each other in silence.
They walked away, but gestured for prince shiro to follow them.
They led him to the dead tree hanging over the homes resting on the kingdom's slope, and once inside they turned to him and said:
"Elder Kael has been abducted by sorcerers from the mainland. And come morning, we intend to storm the mainland and get him back."
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Continued in chapter 135: Fallen From Grace
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