Little Purple

Jin Lan's body was drowned.

The chain was very heavy, making his body unable to float. He couldn't get off from the chain either. The chain was too strong and his body condition was too weak.

He looked up, looking at the moon which came in and out of the cloud. As he was starting to run out of airs, he wondered, would he be able to survive this?

"Look! It's the light from the banquet! We made it!" Zhi Shao Yao claimed happily as she jumped out of the bushes. "Praise this young girl for finding the way to the grand courtyard!"

She looked very proud, the fact that she lost her way thrice before wasn't shown on her chubby face.

Zhi Shao Yao was holding the palace's map she got from Fa Sui's office, she wasn't sure why he had it though. Because she had lost the way trice, going in and out of the bushes, sneaking around, her beautiful clothing was now disarrayed. She tried to clean it up by brushing the clothes, cleaning the specks of dirt and leaves.

From the bushes, Hu Xiang Yi finally got his tiny head out. Zhi Shao Yao held his hand and pulled him out. He landed savely on the stone-paved road

They were now standing right beside the lake. Zhi Shao Yao lighted the lantern she got from their last stop and saw the small road leading to a gate up front.

"Follow me, Xiao Yi!" Zhi Shao Yao happily marched, she held the little boy's hand, but the boy refused to move. "Xiao Yi?"

Hu Xiang Yi looked at the lake beside him, contemplating. "Yao…"

Zhi Shao Yao's eyes widened. When Hu Xiang Yi is talking, it meant that smothered something serious he needed to tell. "What… What is it, my cousin?" She unconsciously spoke formally.

Hu Xiang Yi kept looking at the water. He and Zhi Shao Yao heard a very loud splashing sound before. While the girl's attention was too focused on finding the way from the carriage place to the grand hall, his attention was all on the huge splash, wondering what kind of fish made such a loud noise. "...Nothing, let's go."

-----

"I knew it! Royal Mother didn't summon me to her palace." Jin Tao grumbled. He used the other road that connected the phoenix courtyard to the grand hall. "Just who told you to tell me to go to Royal Mother's palace, Lu Wei?"

"Uh, that's…" Lu Wei broke into cold sweat, he couldn't answer that question.

"Anyway, you need to shape up, how could the personal servant run slower than the master? You didn't catch up to me until I was in front of the phoenix courtyard…" Jin Tao looked up and down his personal servant, wondering if he should make him do the guard's training. When he was thinking, he saw a figure on the corner of his eyes. "That's… The wind dragon…"

He saw her talking to Qing Bo, who came after her. He was wearing a black robe with red hems. Jin Tao looked at Hu Zi's purple eyes and felt curious.

"Colored eyes, there are also two more guests here that had such." Jin Tao recalled. He looked up to the second floor, there, a man was standing, half sitting on the railway. He looked down to the first floor with his amber orbs.

"How interesting." The amber-eyed man said.

The nobles that came for this year's banquet weren't only those who live in the capital, but also those who came from other provinces. Some even came from other nations, the amber eyes, brown hair, and dark skin were features only the northern earthen tribe had.

The earthen tribe's territory was located to the north, in a desert where barely anyone ever stepped foot. On it's southwest was the Meng Empire, on southeast was the Jin Empire.

"What is? Did you finally spot Jin Lan, Tora?" A boy who had the same features as the man asked. "I swear big sister almost crossed the border when she heard that he came back, luckily grandmother was there and managed to stop her. If not, it will be a big disaster for all of us who needed her presence in the desert back then.'

"True," Tora said, "she almost flipped the dessert upside down, literally."

Both of them wore patterned clothes, the pattern was different than those of the Jin Empire, it was more complicated and hard to make.

The boy had a light brown robe with a black inner layer while the man wore a dark robe with square patterned hems.

From his small body, the boy's age should be around Jin Tao's. He walked to the railway and looked down to the first floor, trying to figure out what his cousin was mumbling about. "Those eyes, I heard of her. She is the Wind Dragon, Hu Zi, isn't she? Are you interested in her?"

"No, the statement I said just before was meant for the one beside her. That interesting fellow is a classmate of mine when I was still in the academy."

Ten looked down again, he looked at Fa Sui who seemed to clumsily follow Hu Zi's fast footsteps.

"You mean that man?" Ten titled his head. His cousin rarely became interested in people.

"A man?" Tora smirked. "I see... So Sui even manage to fool your eyes, Ten."