Chapter 20 ~ Talk

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"It's already a disadvantage for our family that I got a daughter instead of a son....and not only that, the divine flower chose her directly, there is nothing we can do" a voice coming from a sillouhette behind a curtain spoke in a low but reverberating tone from inside of a large embroidered tent. Out in the massive garden of the even more grandiose compound it will be unlikely for anyone to wander all the way to the tent and hear what was being discussed, it was a place where the elders of the family would sometimes meet to discuss trivial matters while enjoying the fresh air and view.

"Despite all my efforts to teach her, the child lacks the mentality and instinct required, till this day I still don't understand why the grey lily went to her" the man's voice added and a disappointed sigh could be heard after.

"What must we do? We can not take it from her , afterall the bonds of the divine flowers can never be manipulated" one of the elders commented.

"It can not be manipulated,that is true, but it's power always stays in the family...maybe if I were to have a son , the powers will sense a better instinct in him and transfer to him" The voice replied.

Another of the elders cleared his throat loudly and spoke "Yes but we know now that the flower does not prioritise males, didn't it transfer itself from you to the child as soon as she was born , despite all your accomplishments with it's powers?what makes you think if you had a son it would be any better, if you think the powers are lost on her why not sacrifice the child so that the powers may be free again and return to the next most compatible ,which is you?" He asked the sillouhette behind the curtain following with a seated bow for courtesy.

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The elders words made the entire gathering in the massive tent go silent, the thought of him suggesting the young mistress be sacrificed by her own father was something no one would say out loud, but almost every elder in the room had thought of it every moment they watched the girl grow and fail .

The voice did not reply for a few seconds , taking in what was said.

"I care about my daughter , though I can not help but be reminded of her mother's death whenever I look at her" the voice said in a lower tone...

"All of you here know what happened that day...the grey lily's blessing is the touch of death, my wife had to be sacrificed for my daughter to be born." The voice added as the sillouhette stepped out between the curtains revealing the head of the Kaizon clan centered to the elders seated in the tent in rows on both sides .

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His tall frame and long jet black hair commanded seriousness wherever he was , his long goatee flowed with wisdom but his eyes looked weary and tired, his cheekbones deep and jawline so sharp it could cut steel, his brows where thick and rough, everything about the appearance of Ma-tai Kaizon let you know he was not a man to joke.

Now that he was in front of them in person the elder who had suggested he killed his own daughter refused to make eye contact, knowing that he might have upset Ma-tai, and if Ma-tai was upset with you , he made sure to settle the score. Perhaps he got carried away watching how strictly Ma-tai raised his daughter all these years , he had come to believe the father had no care for her especially with how often he complained about her not using the divine flower's blessings to prosper the clan as well as others before her had done.

He was wrong , Ma-tai stared at him in the silence of the room, waiting for him to look up and make eye contact.

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"Elder Rowan...because I think that my daughter lacks competence , do you now think that I would disrespect the death of her mother and my wife and kill the child that she made me swear to protect in her dying,just so that I can have the divine flowers blessings?!!!" Ma-tai shouted , his voice piercing through the tent .

Elder Rowan shaking in panic , sprawled himself flat on the ground and pleaded.

"Fo- for-- forgive me my lord... I did not mean such , I only thought that you where deeply desperate for a change in the clans current standing among the other families and I thought I had no choice but to suggest extreme measures" He cried out ,shaking in fear as he planted his face into the ground.

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"Maybe all of you here have started to disrespect me because I no longer have the grey lily's power, or maybe it is because my daughter is not ruthless enough to lead , and now you have started having ideas to usurp me and claim the power for yourselves?!" Ma-tai said sternly, confronting the elders.

"No our lord we would never harbor such thoughts!!!" The group of men and women protested in unity against the claims Ma-tai had made, masking loyalty to him.

"I am not a fool, I know that over the years as the Kaizon clan has lost some of its influence in comparison to other clans that carry divine flowers,many of you have started to call me unfit to lead and my daughter, Lia-ti ,unfit to handle tasks for the kingdom"

Ma-tai continued , refusing to sugarcoat the internal issues he was well aware of. He made a hearty laugh that echoed around the tent as everyone else kept their head down in complete silence.

"You are all fools!!!! , not a single one of you here or any members of your bloodline have ever inherited the grey lily's power!!! It has always been us!!!! Ussssss!!!!" He screamed furiously, keeping the rest of the crowd dead silent as he then walked down the steps into the middle of the seated crowd.

"Do not act hastily and mess up what our clan has built for generations because you desire power, I am still the lord here, I will find the solution that brings us back to favor with the king and our clan will continue to prosper" Ma-tai said and walked over to place a hand on Elder Rowan's shoulder, urging him to look up from his grovelling posture.

"But never ever suggest anything that involves harming my daughter ever again in your life, or your entire bloodline will be erased by me personally " he added as he held eye contact with Rowan, "And that message goes to all of you seated here, let me do my job and I will handle ...everything".

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The room was quiet as Ma-tai patted Rowan on his shoulder and walked back to his seat behind the curtains to continue the meeting, no one said a word ,but it was easy to see the other elders were furious with Rowan for unsettling the lord with such comments, it was one thing to gossip about it in secrecy while criticizing Ma-tai, it was another to bring it up in his face in a meeting, it was foolish and loose-lipped, Rowan knew that he had fallen out of favour with the families today and was fortunate it was not Ma-tai of old who wielded the grey lily, he looked at the spot on his shoulder where Ma-tai had placed his hand with dread and relief, back in the day that would have simply been a death touch.

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In the midst of a busy night , on the roof of a small local restaurant somewhere in the middle of the village , a duo sat atop dressed in clothing that hid their features and blended them into the night sky, back in this time this was the dress code for assassin's or other secret sects that worked for the king, but these two weren't exactly any of those , they were just a couple of friends who had this spot as where they would ocassionally meet to escape the pressure from back home or just have fun together. They didn't get to see each other as often as they'd like, both their families were from separate clans and would not appreciate the two getting along.

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"It's just so frustrating don't you think?" Lia-ti asked her friend , the young man about the same age as her was laid down relaxing on the roof, with both hands serving as a rest for his head and a half chewed stem of a leaf sticking out his mouth

"What is frustrating this time, miss questions?" He asked as he stared into the night sky .

Lia-ti sat up next to him so that she could be heard better, "you never get stressed when you have to do all these tasks for your clan and the king, don't you ever feel that maybe we are on the wrong side of these wars and disputes?"

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"Hmmm wrong side?, here you go again with your questions of morality. I doubt ...and even if we were , we should be happy then that we are the winning side" he said and chuckled a bit as he turned to face Lia-ti who still had a mask over her face , revealing only her crimson coloured eyes and heavy silver lashes which even with the mask he could tell those eyes were not happy with his answer . Sometimes she reminded him of a 'doban' when he looked at her eyes , which was what they called a demon that ate souls in the kingdoms folk tales, to be fair she was not far off from one, he thought to himself.

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"How could you say that? You are always like this, sometimes I feel you are too excited to be part of the war" Lia-ti sulked in disagreement.

"I'm not excited , I'm just never bothered with the politics, i do what our lord tells me, I am not like you who the divine flower of your clan picked on its own on day one.....if I am to inherit ours from my father and become the lord one day I must prove that I am capable so that he hands it down to me..." The boy said seating up finally to face Lia-ti, "....and the best way to do that is to do the tasks I am given perfectly".

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"I don't think you understand, your tasks are different from mine, your family has the white marigold of healing, your tasks are simple, you go and you give your father's potions to soldiers and handle some simple scuffles here and there" Lia-ti said with a deep sadness in her voice.

"For me it's different, because of my powers I have to go to these places and assassinate enemies of the king and the kingdom, every other day and month they call me in and it is a task to kill someone new," she stood up on the roof as she explained her plight.

"I am tired, it scares me, you other clans are looked at with respect, you know what looks I get when people recognize me on the street? " She asked the young man who just stared at her silently, letting her continue.

"The kids run behind their parents and the women in the markets start gossiping,the men get protective of their family around them and nobody ever calls me a treasure of the kingdom like they do with the rest of you, people brush against my hand and start panicking and trying to scrub off the point of touch" she explained and stared down onto the roofing where she stood.

"I am just tired, I hate watching all these people die, before I could read I was taught how to snap a birds neck, despite all this I am still not immune to it like my father claims my predecessors where. I simply hate it, but I have no choice, the entire clan will fall out of the kings favour if I stop doing my job, anytime I have hesitated or let a target escape ,the king let's my father know he is displeased, and the entire clan goes into chaos mode" she kicked a tiny rock of the top off the roof as she dumped out her worries, unfortunately the rock rolled down the roof and landed on an unfortunate man who was passing by, he looked up scratching his head but couldn't see who dropped it on him and went about his day cursing the heavens.

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"What's all this all of a sudden? You always vent to me but never this detailed before,what's going on?" The young man stood up and took the stick he was chewing on out of if his mouth ,finally taking Lia-ti's worries seriously.

-sigh- " earlier today I was foraging in the garden and wandered close to the tent where the elders meet and overheard many things, I never even knew that all those people the king sends me to kill where just important people of the opposing kingdom, they always told me they were terrorists or criminals who fled the country, it helped me convince myself I was doing something good". she said and sniffled a bit,crossing her arms.

"Now I find out the war I thought was against rouge barbarians and terrorists and bandits was against our neighbouring countries, and we are the instigators, I can not sleep tonight knowing this" she added and sighed heavily .

"Neighbouring countries you say?" the friend replied with an awkward chuckle, not seeming any bit surprised by her reveal of the truth about the war.

"Did you know this entire time? " Lia-ti asked to dead silence from her friend who refused to answer.

"You knew the entire time? My father and my clan leaders knew the entire time and nobody told me!!!? .... Oh Lia-ti is so soft and weak , she won't get the job done if we told her" she said in a mocking tone mimicking the things people have said about her.

"My own father today sat and listened to a member of our clan suggest that I be killed so that someone more worthy will take the grey lily, I am that worthless to them" she said in bitterness as she aggressively pushed her friend in the chest multiple times to get the message across.

"And I come here ,thinking I have someone who understands only to find out you see me the same way as they do?!!!" She took of the twinblades on her waist and the daggers in her wrist and dropped them onto the rooftop.

"Maybe all of you were right to hide it from me,because if I had known earlier that I was just being used as a weapon of war, I'd have done everyone a favour and helped them pass on the grey lily myself!!!" Lia-ti said full of rage and anguish to a gasp from her friend,as she took off the last of the weapons she had on her .

"No-no... Don't say that Lia-ti, I didn't hide anything from you" he tried his best to calm her down but she was not having it.

"You know me Damian!!! You know me!!!" Lia-ti protested, wriggling her wrists as he tried to hold onto them to reason with her.

"You know for years I kept telling you how uncomfortable I felt when doing these tasks!! and you hid the truth from me !!!"

"I didn't find out about the truth until sometime ago I swear" Damian said, trying to fix the misunderstanding.

"You found out and you were okay with it, you are okay with what our country is doing, you are okay with not letting your friend know what she was doing, all because you want some stupid divine flowers blessings.." Lia-ti said as she finally freed her hands from Damian ,staring at him with a disappointment that mixed with her anger.

"...Well I hope you have my powers, these divine flowers are not blessings , mine is a curse ...a curse I want nothing to do with" she paused for some seconds staring at her feet, before talking again in a much calmer and slow cadence.

" Tomorrow I have another mission, I will do everyone a favour and make sure that the grey lily is passed on to someone else", Lia-ti said without looking at Damians face before bolting off and hoping down the roof and out of sight before Damian could piece together what he meant.

"What???no no no!!, I have to warn lord Ma-tai about his daughter immediately" Damian exclaimed after he figured out her puzzle of words and immediately headed in the opposite direction towards the household of the Kaizon clan.

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"Yo! what the fu-!!!" Rei exclaimed ,as she woke up dazed and startled by the sound of a heavy book slamming the desk, coughing like she was choking and completely disheveled.

"No sleeping in detention missy" the teacher corrected before quickly heading out of the classroom again , leaving her to her own thoughts and of course Arloh who was seated opposite of her.

"Good morning sleepyhead" he commented as annoyingly as he could without looking Rei in the eye as he had found a book to bury his face in.

"Wait a minute !!! I fell asleep!!" Rei said shooting up out of her seat. She panicked around for a few seconds before grabbing Arloh's phone off his desk and using it as a mirror.

"Hey what are you doing? Give me back my phone" Arloh protested , finding it difficult to keep up with Rei's frantic pacing.

"Here whatever " she said and chucked the phone at him ,nearly dropping it on the floor.

"Rei, what is wrong with y-" Arloh's complaint was quickly interrupted by Rei's finger on his lips.

"Shhhhhhhhh...why didn't I change back?! What's this?" she said , still in her own world and thinking out loud.

"Change back to what?" Arloh asked after swatting away Rei's hand from his mouth.

"Ahh mind your own business, and what kind of dream was that?!! When did I even fall asleep??!"

Rei thought out loud some more before turning to look at Arloh.

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As soon as she made eye contact with him, she felt a sharp pang in her head which made her dizzy.

"Oh my goodness, I bet this is your fault too.." she mumbled as she stumbled around .

"Hey, hey do you need help?" Arloh offered ,getting out of his seat.

"No!!!!!!!!" Rei shouted and assumed a boxing stance.

"Don't come close to me, I swear it's you, anytime I am around you I feel dizzy and sleepy for no reason, I'm sure of it" she protested, winding up her hands like a cartoon character ready to box.

"I'm going to go sit wayyyy over there, don't come close to me" She said and stumbled her way over to a seat on the far opposite side of the classroom.

She sat down while still clenching a fist at Arloh, watching out for him the entire time but almost immediately after she took her seat she was fast asleep again with her head laid on the desk.

"Ahhh I feel so bad for her, she really has a mental condition and no one is talking about treating her, should I try to ask the principal if the school is aware of this?" Arloh said to himself and went back to his book, but before he could he noticed Rei's head somehow slowly slipping off the desk, she was going to smash into another desk if that happened.

Arloh acted quickly and rushed over subtly ,catching her head just as it left the desk and gently adjusting her to rest properly on the desk , he moved her hair which covered her face out of the way and placed her backpack next to her feet, *she was a ridiculously light sleeper for sure*he thought to himself.

He stared at her sleeping face for a while and for a moment he had fond memories of that day he found her in the street and how she was not annoying at all.

"You're much less annoying when you're asleep" he commented in a soft voice and sighed before going back to his seat to continue reading his book.

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