Meeting at Montelli Manor (Part 1)

"You played that beautifully, Yangyang."

A cheerful voice came from behind her, interrupting the melodious flute music.

Yangyang turned to see Chixia leaning against the bridge railing, making faces at her. She had no idea how long Chixia had been standing there.

"Chixia..." Yangyang lowered her bamboo flute, a lingering smile still on her face. "How long have you been listening?"

"A long time." Chixia strode over and threw an arm around Yangyang's shoulders. "Our Yangyang really lives up to being the second daughter of a vocal music family. That was beautiful. If you entered Jinzhou's talent contest, you'd sweep everyone off their feet. Hey, when are you going to sing just for me?"

A little embarrassed by the praise, Yangyang gave her a gentle push and laughed. "All right... I definitely will next time."

"You always say next time!" Chixia pouted, but quickly leaned in again and lowered her voice, as though she were about to share some extraordinary secret. "Hey, I've got something serious to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"The Magistrate is recruiting volunteers from the Midnight Rangers to serve as guards on a trip to Rinascita." Chixia's eyes sparkled, and her voice brimmed with barely contained excitement. "Interested?"

Yangyang froze.

Rinascita.

The word was like a pebble dropped into a tranquil lake, sending ripples spreading across its surface.

She instinctively touched the letter tucked against her chest. The paper still held her body's warmth, and the words "We've owed each other this meeting for twelve years" were still etched clearly in her mind.

She had been worrying about how to get to Montelli Manor.

"Chixia, is that true?" Yangyang suddenly grabbed Chixia's hand, a hint of urgency in her voice.

"Of course!" Chixia was startled by her sudden enthusiasm, but quickly smiled. "Too bad I'm not a Midnight Ranger, or I'd go too. I've never been abroad in my life. I wonder what the scenery's like outside Huanglong-"

Before she could finish, the hand in hers slipped free, and Yangyang was already gone.

Holding up her skirt, Yangyang jogged along the bridge. Her little blue-and-white hat bobbed through the crowd and soon vanished around the street corner. The tassel on her bamboo flute fluttered behind her like a jubilant butterfly.

"Hey! Yangyang, why are you running so fast?" Chixia called after her, rising onto her tiptoes.

Yangyang waved without looking back and ran even faster.

Chixia couldn't help laughing as she watched the flash of blue disappear from sight.

She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward the distance with all her might:

"When you get to Rinascita-remember to take some pretty pictures for me-!"

A laughing reply seemed to drift back from far away, carried by the wind, though most of it was drowned out by the water flowing beneath the bridge.

Chixia lowered her hands and leaned against the railing, gazing in the direction Yangyang had gone. "In such a hurry... who's she going to see?" she muttered to herself.

No one answered her. The water gurgled beneath the bridge, and the wind lifted the willow branches beside it, brushing them gently over the spot where Yangyang had just stood.

Huaxu Academy.

Baizhi slowly lowered the letter in her hand, her fingertips brushing lightly over the paper twice before she sighed.

"Montelli Manor... a sea of irises..." she murmured, reading the words on the letter. A trace of longing surfaced in her eyes, but reason quickly suppressed it.

She turned to glance at the reagent bottles and petri dishes crowding the lab bench. Next week was a critical point in the third stage of the experiment, and several reaction cycles were linked together. None of them could manage without her.

"What a shame," she said softly, a hint of regret in her voice. She carefully folded the letter and put it in a drawer. "It looks like I can't go."

As soon as she finished speaking, the voices of two researchers chatting as they passed came from outside the lab.

"Hey, did you hear? The Magistrate is recruiting medical personnel to accompany her. I think they're going to Rinascita."

"Rinascita? That far? What for?"

"I'm not sure. Anyway, it's official business. They're recruiting guards from the Midnight Rangers and accompanying physicians from Huaxu Academy. The compensation is generous."

Baizhi's ears perked up.

Rinascita. Accompanying medical personnel.

She sprang to her feet, sending her chair sliding backward into the lab bench with a dull thud.

The reagent bottles on the table swayed. She reached out and steadied them, but her eyes shone like lamps just lit.

"Where do I sign up?"

She ran out while taking off her lab coat, leaving two colleagues in the lab staring at each other, still bewildered.

Star Torch Academy.

Lynae read the letter in her hand three times, front to back. After making sure she hadn't misread "Montelli" in the signature, she couldn't help scratching her head.

"Montelli? Is that the Montelli from Rinascita?" She held the letter up before her eyes and tilted her head, thinking for a long while. Then she slumped over her desk with a troubled look. "How am I supposed to get there...? There's a whole sea between us and Rinascita. I can't just swim over..."

As she muttered, the voices of several students chatting at the next table drifted over.

"Hey, did you hear? Professor Mornye is taking a group of students to Rinascita on a study trip."

"Really? To Rinascita? That's abroad!"

"Of course it's true. The announcement's already up. It says it's an interregional academic exchange, with limited places awarded on merit."

Lynae's ears twitched, and she sprang up from the table, nearly knocking her chair over.

She snatched up the letter on the table and rushed over to the students, taking the steps two at a time without even stopping to put her books away.

"Hey! That study trip you were just talking about-where do I sign up?!"

Forest of Tranquility.

Sigrika was silent for a long time after reading the letter in her hand. She sat on a small platform made of branches, her legs swinging in midair as the wind rustled the paper in her hands.

"Rinascita..." She gazed at the speckles of light filtering through the canopy and murmured to herself, "It sounds so far away. Mom and Dad probably won't agree to let me go somewhere that far, will they?"

She lowered her head and curled a corner of the letter around her finger, rolling it up and unrolling it, then rolling it up again.

Reason told her she should put the letter away and go about her business as usual.

But the heart beating in her chest said-go and see it. Go and see that sea of irises, and the person who had written to her for so many years.

Just then, two familiar voices came from beneath the tree.

"Sigrika! Sigrika!"

Delifa and Zahira climbed up from beneath the tree, one after the other, both looking excited.

Delifa climbed faster and was the first to reach her. Her eyes sparkled. "Sigrika, Professor Mornye is taking a group of students to Rinascita on a study trip. Are you interested?"

Zahira followed behind and added at a leisurely pace, "There aren't many places. We're going to give it a try, so if you want to go too, we can sign up together."

Sigrika froze.

She looked at the letter in her hand, then at the expectant expressions on her two friends' faces. After a long while, a smile finally bloomed on her lips.

"Huh? Really?"

She jumped up from the platform and grabbed Delifa's and Zahira's hands. "I'm going!"

Underground Dark Plains.

The Void Matter Magnetic Storm was encroaching outward, little by little.

Chisa stood at the edge of the darkness, slowly folded the letter in her hand, and tucked it inside her clothes, close to her body.

Her face was expressionless, but she moved slowly and carefully, as though handling a fragile treasure.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to the darkness, as though someone were standing within it. "I can't leave this place."

She raised her head and looked at the Void Matter Magnetic Storm slowly expanding before her.

Purple arcs of electricity twisted in the darkness with a piercing crackle. The ground at its edges had already been eroded and riddled with holes like a honeycomb.

If no one dealt with it, it would continue spreading outward, swallowing up more territory.

Chisa drew the tachi at her waist. The Resonance power she had infused into its blade flowed along it, giving off a cold, sharp gleam in the darkness.

"Once this is over," she said, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the distant thunder, "I'll come find you."

She hurled the tachi with all her might. The blade traced a silver arc and plunged firmly into the center of the Void Matter Magnetic Storm. In an instant, a powerful suppressive force erupted from the blade. The expanding purple storm seemed to be gripped by the throat; its howling grew quieter, and its expansion visibly slowed.

Chisa dropped to one knee, her face a shade paler, but there was no hesitation in her eyes.

"That's a promise I owe you," she said softly.