This story is part of the Wanderer series.
Miyako and Akasuki walked down the dark hallways. Miyako kept her hands grasped in front of her, hidden under her long sleeves, while Akasuki kept his hands loosely grasped behind his back.
“Have you received my reports recently?” Akasuki asked.
“Yes. It appears the Budding Mist technique is coming along well?”
“No, more recent than that. This report concerns the Scattering Flames.”
“Oh, I have not, then,” she breathed out, straightening. “Are you writing them?”
“Yes.”
“Hm. Then they are not being delivered to me. I will ask General Tatsuo why he is holding them.”
Her expression quickly changed to confusion.
“Though… I thought I told you not to worry about the Scattering Flames. Is there urgent information you wish to share?”
“No, I do not have any new developments to share,” Akasuki replied simply. “Moreover, for the past moon I have been writing the same report, multiple times, each one arranged slightly differently.”
Miyako glanced at him with surprise, her deep dark eyes shimmering. She knew he would not do this without reason.
“I reasoned you would give me a lecture if I kept reporting to you the same details… Yet it seems the reports are not reaching you.”
Brows furrowed, her lips parted, but she quickly closed them without a word. She turned her head forward again, deep in thought.
“General Tatsuo insists the reports are being delivered properly to him, and instead accused my questions as an excuse for not writing enough reports.”
“…”
“I believe someone is intercepting my reports before they are delivered to the general.”
They arrive at a junction where the hallway splits into two. Miyako stops walking, continuing to stare blankly ahead. Akasuki stops with her.
“When was the last report you sent to me?” she eventually asks. “I remember the last one I read was five days ago.”
“I gave a new report to a delivery boy just this evening,” he replied. “Another variation of the Scattering Flames. I summoned you here to warn you: keep a lookout for it in the coming nights.”
Miyako nodded. “I will. Thank you.”
Dipping his head in a subtle sort of bow, Akasuki drew his feet together. “Then… I will take my leave.”
With that, he turned to the left and walked away, leaving Miyako alone at the junction. Eyes squinted, she was still lost in thought. Eventually, she looks up, eyes lighting up, and turns around, briskly walking back the way she came.
Reflecting on what she just heard, her mind briefly wandered off track as she silently mused to herself, her expression becoming slightly embarrassed. “Miu’s right… Akasuki does act and speak a bit like Uncle…”
Darkness fell upon the palace grounds. With all traces of the sun gone, the vibrant tiles of the rooftops no longer shimmered, becoming dull during the cloudy night. Crickets chirped, filling the absence of a breeze to rustle any branch or pane.
Miyako sat on the floor of her bedroom, alone to herself. Dressed in her royal robes, sitting with her legs folded under her thighs, she closed her eyes. Slowly breathing in and out, she brought her hands together on her lap. After a brief moment of meditation, she began to resonate her energy, very gradually. Allowing it to flow out of her body, her energy extended in all directions, forming an aura. Slightly furrowing her forehead, she concentrated her efforts in spreading her energy field calmly, even as it swept through the palace grounds. An effort to stay covert, less detectable.
As her aura grew, so did her innate vision. Extending beyond her palace, beyond the walls, engulfing the nearby palaces… All gardens, all hallways, all chambers… She saw all the residents, the generals, the royal magicians… Miyako stopped and paid careful attention to Miu, seeing if the mage could detect her. Seeing no change in her behavior, Miyako confidently continued to expand her aura, slowly engulfing the rest of the royal grounds.
Her focus rapidly jumped around to anything that moved, focusing of course on the humans first. Glancing over the royal magicians, who were mingling where she’d expect them to be after curfew, she glanced over the servants, the soldiers, the generals.
Then, Miyako noticed something strange. Two people of disproportionate ranks together: a delivery boy, and a general. One of Akasuki’s delivery boys, and General Toru. They were in a small, private study near the palace where several generals resided, including General Toru. The room was dark, illuminated by a single candle. The boy stood still in front of the general as he was reading a piece of parchment. This immediately caught her interest.
Carefully enhancing the density of her aura in the vicinity, Miyako begins to hear the sounds around the two suspects. She read the characters on the parchment. For several seconds, the boy and the general were both silent. Then, the general eventually nodded.
“This one is for me. You are dismissed.”
The delivery boy meekly nodded, and exited the study without a word. The general rolled back up the parchment and slipped it under the robes of his uniform. Resting his hand on a nearby desk, he glanced up, staring long and hard at the sliding door where the boy exited.
After a long pause, he finally picked up the candle tray and blew it out. Turning, he slid open the door on the other side of the study, stepped through the threshold, and quietly slid the door behind him, heading deeper into the structure. There was an exit on the other side, which led to a narrow shaded corridor. Seeing this clear and obvious destination, Miyako suddenly opened her eyes wide, accelerating the resonance of her energy.
As the general turned the corner, he stopped abruptly. There, in front of him, in the darkness, was Miyako, dressed in her royal robes, staring up at him. Her face was barely illuminated by the moonlight just breaking out of the clouds, dimly shining through the lattice walls. Yet, her deep, stern eyes pierced cleanly through the darkness.
“Princess!” he calmly exclaimed, keeping his voice leveled. Yet, there was a slight waver to his voice, betraying his surprise. “What are you doing outside the palace, past your curfew?”
Miyako slightly dipped her head.
“Don’t play games with me, Toru.”
Without warning, her eyes illuminated, glowing malevolently magenta in color, penetrating the darkness like two full moons in a starless night. Three swirling black arms stretched out from each pupil, swirling to a stop in unison to form the infamous pattern her eyes were known for.
The general froze in place, eyes widening as he stared the princess in the eyes.
Resonating her energy even further, she synchronized herself with his energy, delving into his memories.
Silence took over. Miyako and General Toru stood motionless like this for several moments, as if neither of them could move.
Eventually, satisfied with what she gathered, Miyako widened her eyes, allowing them to grow brighter. The general’s eyes widen with hers, perceptibly shaking. Gradually, they rolled back as his body stiffened, joints locking, fingers twitching, heartbeat arresting. Once Miyako finally relaxed her eyes, letting them dim back to normal, the general’s knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the floor, knocked unconscious.
Taking a step forward, the princess stared down with disdain.
“How far you have fallen, Toru.”
Stepping around him, she crouched down and fished the rolled-up parchment from his robe. Safe in her possession, she tilted her head up and resonated her energy again, reestablishing her connection to the energy field she carefully laid out before. Finding the nearest soldier who could help her detain the unconscious general, her eyes widened again, and she disappeared.