Sky struggled to squeeze through the crowd of people inside the great hall. Every inch of the place was covered with people who greeted and congratulated her with beaming faces as she passed through to reach the other side of the room, where Mingi stood talking to some people from the fire clan. They looked like they were engaged in a rather pleasant conversation, judging from the bright smile on their leader's face, so Sky thought it appropriate to join in the conversation after slithering out of the crowd.

"Hey! What are you all talking about?" She smiled at her friend, sending polite nods to the fire mages, who were eager to answer her question.

"We were just telling our leader how beautiful his side of the island is." One answered, earning nods of approval from the rest of them. "It might be the prettiest village of all." His statement met even more pleased hums and nods from the rest. They eagerly explained the fire village's unique geography. It was situated on the easternmost side of the island since they drew their powers from the energy of the sun. The houses there were quite different from the bright, colourful ones of the water village; they were mostly in jewel tones, accessorised with a touch of gold.

"If we're talking of the prettiest village, I think we earth mages take the cake." One of the Earth mage generals, Seungmin, if she remembered his name correctly, invited himself into the conversation.

"Hah! As if your trees and boulders could compare to our lava lake!" Beomgyu, the Fire clan's general, huffed proudly.

"What's the point of a lava lake? You can't even swim in it." Seungmin spoke with an eyebrow raised.

"If we're talking lakes, then I think Water Village would beat you any time." The water benders joined, not to be outshined. "We have the best views of the island."

"And this is where we step in." Yeonjun, one of the air mages, claimed.

"I agree to disagree; Fire Village is literally clad in gold." Kai triggered a whole debate in the hall, with everyone chiming in to claim why their village was the best. It was funny at first, but now it was making Sky's head hurt. The people of the Crescent tribe were oddly competitive.

"Aren't they precious?" Yeosang slid next to Sky, handing her a glass of mango juice that he had brought along with him from the other side of the hall. Sky giggled at the sarcastic tone of the shadow mage, sipping a bit of the cold juice. "Want to get out of here?" He extended his hand towards the confused princess, one of his eyebrows raised at her hesitation.

"Is that even allowed? We'll not be in trouble, right?" Sky looked around for signs of any of the elders, whom she found engaged in a conversation in the far corner of the room, away from the chaos.

"Oh, please. Do you think any of these knuckleheads would notice?" He scoffed, taking her hand into his and melting into the shadow.

"Hey, I can't see a thing!" Sky cried, clinging to the hand that held hers tighter.

"We'll be there in no time. Don't let go." She heard his velvety voice, now more prominent in the silence of the dark realm. She looked around, trying to spot any source of light as they walked further. There were none. The whole realm was so void of light that she couldn't even see her own hands.

"How do you even know where to go in here?" She wondered.

"Night vision." The shadow mage answered plainly. "Although I couldn't look past a certain distance either, so don't let go and keep as close as possible." He explained, finally going upward and pulling Sky along into the real world.

"Wow!" she gasped, her mouth hanging open as she watched the colourful streaks of light in the sky dance around like the waves of the ocean. They stood atop the highest peak of Crescent Island, watching the aurora unfold its magic. The show never stopped-green, purple, pink, blue-the colours shone in contrast to the dark sky, painting the mountains like watercolours spilt over pristine white paper.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She looked over to her companion, gasping once she saw his beaming face, which was still staring at the aurora in awe. His eyes were bright, illuminating under the light of the space and reflecting back the colours that danced in the sky. To Sky, those eyes of his always looked like shards of stained glass that were melted together, but right now, under these lights, they looked like the entirety of outer space itself had decided to reside in Yeosang's eyes. She couldn't help but reach out to caress his face, finally making him turn his attention back to her as she ran her thumb right over his long lashes. To her surprise, he only leaned into the touch, holding her hand as he smiled at her.

"Are they shining?"

"Hm?" She flushed red upon realising her hands were now completely cupping his face, and she had pulled him closer to examine the twinkling hues.

"My eyes. Are they shining? You seem to be quite amused by them."

"I'm sorry." She finally came to her senses, taking her hands off his face and stepping away, only to be stopped by the shadow mage and pulled even closer. All air left her lungs when Yeosang decided to join both their foreheads together, gazing straight into her eyes.

"It's okay. You can look." He whispered, taking her hands and bringing them back to his face. Sky didn't know how to react to the close proximity. She had never had an experience like this. One thing she knew was that the man standing in front of her was beautiful. Words weren't enough to describe how breathtaking Yeosang was. All the things she studied in her life-the countless philosophers' works she read, the countless languages she learned-none of them were enough to describe how beautiful Yeosang was. No poem was powerful enough to compare the shine of his eyes and the light of his face to anything that existed anywhere in this galaxy of theirs. But she had to let him know.

"I want to kiss you." She spoke in a whisper, as if anything louder than that would break the fragile little bubble they were in. She eyed his parted lips before looking back into those eyes of his that seemed to have found a life of their own, wide open from the words that had left the princess' lips but shining even brighter than they initially were somehow.

"I KNEW IT!" Mingi jumped out of the bush, pointing at the two accusingly. Sky's jaw dropped to the floor as she looked at Yeosang, who looked equally confused.

"You ruined the moment, you idiot. They were just about to kiss!" Yunho slapped the back of the firebender's head, shaking his head in disappointment. Sky stood there, mortified at the realisation of what she was about to do. She had asked to kiss Yeosang, all because she found him pretty. That was some next-level desperation, for sure. She cursed at herself mentally, wondering what the shadow bender might be thinking of her. That too, just when they were starting to form a friendship.

"I can't believe our manifestations finally got them together." Wooyoung squealed along with San, the two jumping up and down while holding hands, adding to her embarrassment even further.

"No, you got it all wrong!" Sky tried to explain, only to be stopped by Mingi before she even got to finish.

"We literally saw you two about to kiss, Sky. Are you still going to deny that you're not dating?"

"Our children." Seonghwa fake-cried, clearly taking his role as the distressed and betrayed wife quite seriously.

"You better find a new father for your children now, Hwa. Your husband has gone and cheated on you with some sparkly-eyed bitch." Hongjoong joined in on the drama, eyeing the two 'culprits' with faked disdain.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She turned to the shadow mage, who just sighed in disappointment as he watched.

"How did you all even get here?"

"You left the portal open." Hongjoong pointed at the still-open portal on the ground that connected the party hall to the mountains.

"Thank my incredible detective skills for finding where it was hidden." Jongho huffed proudly, smirking as he stood with his hands resting on his hips.

"What are you talking about? You fell into the damn thing." San deadpanned, wiping the smirk off the youngest's face. Yeosang sighed, watching the two Earth tribe leaders engage in a bickering competition that broke into a huge brawl. Finally done with their shenanigans for today, he took Sky's hand into his once again, jumped back down into the portal, exited into the great hall, and walked off-not before closing the portal off this time, of course. Did all of the team manage to get back to the hall? That is up for speculation.

Sigh...I am alive I promise. I feel terrible for being so irregular😔.