The crowd grew still, taken with disbelief and astonished by what they were hearing. His words sounded true, but did they command respect? Would such words be followed? Oaths were tested. Many had pledged their lives to the Imperial Family, even into exile, and all had sacrificed so much. 

The Imperials, the guards, all remained where they were. None budged an inch. Many looked defiant, refusing to follow the his command. At the time, I did not understand. How could the very words from the Young Emperor himself be treated with such ignorance? As a boy, their reasons were obscure to me, but looking back as an adult it was finally clear. Their oaths, their pledges, their very loyalties extended far beyond that of a single child. They were the protectors of not just the Young Emperor, but of an entire dynasty. Seeing such resolute passion in their eyes, it became evident to me that they would not leave, even if it meant contradicting the child emperor’s order.   

The princess's men, however, were not bound by such a pledge, for within their ranks, one of her soldiers took advantage of the moment. He let loose a well-aimed shot from his rifle. Piercing the silence, the sudden crack of the rifle shot echoed across the deck. The guard captain looked up at the Young Emperor with wide, pleading eyes and then fell into a lifeless slump. Ren Tzu immediately spotted the shooter, and with quick precision, darted effortlessly through the crowd and struck him down with his sword. 

Before the princess could react; before the Young Emperor could utter a single word, battle cries, screams of vengeance were shouted among both sides and like two opposing waves upon the sea they clashed. They swarmed around the crashed sky boat meeting each other with rifles, swords and even fists. Both Ren Tzu and Kosh dove back into the boat and fended off those that tried to clamor aboard while Kassashimei reached up and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me down. We huddled for cover. It wasn’t long before the Young Emperor joined us, his face pale with dread. 

"I thought if I told everyone to leave," he said, his voice in a trance, "all of this would come to an end, that I would be free from all of this." When he looked at me, I saw again, the same face I first met that day when he set fire to the cargo hold. "Maybe I could have lived the life you once had, the one you’ve told me about so many times before, a quieter life in some small village." 

"Jiro!" I said his true name, his forbidden name. I said it so loudly he shook with surprise, as if I’d snatched him from his despair. "I sometimes regret leaving that life behind me, and even more so I regret the death of my sister. There's so much I wish I could have back. But I do not regret becoming who I am and I do not regret meeting you." 

"And what about me?" Even amidst the cruel carnage surrounding us, Kassashimei's sarcastic tone still rang out with a egotistical smile that defied even the bleakness of our fates. "Don't tell me you regret meeting me."

I tried my best to return her smile. "You're one strange girl, you know that?"

I took a deep breath, then summoned the will to move as I slowly propped myself to my feet.

"What are you doing?" The Young Emperor asked.

"I'm going to fly us out of here." 

I climbed towards the bow, glimpsing at the chaos that teetered amongst the writhing waves of angry, shouting bodies. Just a few paces away, men lashed at each other with steel and flesh. The senseless fighting, the very ferocity of it all was so great, I nearly froze. Like a man agonized by his wounds, I crawled up the bow steps towards the pedestal. Ren Tzu, ever sensitive to my plight, bounded across the length of the boat and picked me up, shielding me with his body. 

He ushered me on. "You’d better hurry. I see a terrible lust in the faces of these warriors. They fight out of rage, without restraint. If we don’t leave soon, we’ll be caught up in their insanity."

"I go to protect the princess," Kosh bellowed. "Good luck to you all." 

Both he and Ren Tzu gave parting nods before he leaped from the railing and disappeared into the crowd. 

Though the screeching clang of swords below and the terrible whiz of bullets sent me shuttering with fear, I slowly managed to steady myself behind the pedestal. I looked to the beads on my wrist and then to Kassashimei behind me, whom I never doubted would always be there. 

"Terr, let's go," she said impatiently.

"Right."

I quickly went into my stance and turned my sights to the ether. However, as I went into my motions, I felt a disturbance in the air, then a sickly thud at my feet. I turned to see Ren Tzu. . . fallen, a spear pierced into his thigh. He gave a small frown, barely acknowledging the pain. I reached out for him, but he’d already lost balance and fell backwards into the mass of people below. He lay prone for the briefest of moments before he looked up at me and waved me away, yelling something I couldn’t understand. The steadily rising roar of battle had completely drowned out his voice. 

"Terr, let's go," Kassashimei repeated. "We have what we came for. We need to get out of here."

As if searching for a reason to stay, I sought the attention of the Young Emperor, but he seemed even more unsure of himself than I, as he regarded his surroundings in silent disbelief.  

"Not yet," I replied. "I need to get Ren Tzu."

Now that I think about it, years later, I realize how strange it was that I’d said such a thing. Perhaps it was the first thing that came to mind, or perhaps it was because I hardly understood how much of a fool I truly was. I barely had the courage to climb towards the bow, and now as I looked out across the mass of frenzied warriors, I found myself frozen once again, wondering if it was even possible to rescue my guardian.  

A sharp buzz rang loudly behind my ear. Stunned, I slowly reached behind my head and found blood on my fingertips. The bullet had only grazed the side of my head, but it was more than enough to horrify me and drive me to the brink.

In a somber daze, I looked out across the length our boat and realized that men from both sides had already climbed aboard. Kassashimei pushed the Young Emperor down into the hold and covered his body with hers. 

It was too late. A solemn feeling of helplessness swept over me as I began to realize that everything we had done, all our efforts, came to nothing. All at once, my shame, my anger, every hateful emotion consumed me, and I yelled as loud as my lungs would allow. 

A moment later, a sudden gust of wind and a savage, unseen force tore across the ship sending men and debris in all directions. Portions of the deck shattered, causing the ship to moan and shutter like an animal whipped to the brink of death.

From within the depths of my other sight, I watched as the ethereal currents writhed about and cascaded like a wave upon everyone and everything in its path. Still dizzy from the wound on my head, I no longer had the will, nor the strength to stand. So I allowed my body to slump to its knees. Kassashimei and the Young Emperor took me by the arms and dragged me into the hold with them. 

The three of us lifted our heads as we saw descending from the sky, standing at the bow of a sky boat, a familiar blind girl who commanded the vengeful ether as an extension of her will. There was an anger in the storm she brought, one that threatened to end the fighting one way or another. Though it was a violence drowned by another form of terrible violence, I found my tired eyes still relishing at the sight of her grace and beauty. 

                                                                ****

The Empire's divine airship lay shattered, its pieces strewn about like dead leaves from a withered tree. Meandering outside the ship were those of the Imperial and Royal courts while inside various crews and some monks picked at the wreckage, salvaging what they could. It had been some time since the fighting concluded. Though few had died, it did not excuse the fact that their deaths were needless. Too many were injured including my guardian who walked about with a terrible limp from the wound in his leg. Even so, he still remained loyal to his duties and helped carry supplies down the main boarding ramp, where most of us stood huddled, consolidating all that we had into ordered piles. 

Our animosity for one another continued to linger and a great divide had formed. Those belonging to the Royal Family gathered on one side of the ramp while those belonging to the Imperials were on the other. Whispers and talks of distrust still murmured within both groups, but their lust for violence had subsided as each had had their fill. We were too busy mending our wounds to allow our hate to get the better of us. 

I watched with a bleak feeling of uneasiness as I sat amongst a pile of stacked crates while Kassashimei bandaged my head. Dae Jung and a small group of the ship's officers strolled down the ramp towards Ai, who was with most of monks tending to those injured on both sides. 

"Lady Ai," Dae Jung said loud enough for the rest of us to hear, "of all the people I've ever trusted, I never would’ve imagined you to be someone reckless enough to attack one of the Empire's own airships."

Ai seemed hardly shocked. She seemed ready for his accusations. "Your words pain me Dae Jung. Surely you wouldn’t think that I would ever use my abilities with such force unless there was a proper reason behind it. As I returned, I saw fighting, and I knew the Young Emperor's life was in danger. Putting an end to the quarrel and protecting his life was more important than the ship itself."

"Well I fear it is now damaged beyond repair. And in your impudence you have brought further injury to my men." 

"I don't like him," Kassashimei said to me in a hushed manner, tightening the last of my bandages. "All he does now is complain."

"I don't like him either." I propped myself up, and though I knew it was not my place to address him directly, I walked towards him. "Leave her alone. You shouldn't speak to her like that."

One of the officers blocked my path. Dae Jung redirected his attention, the frustrated look on his face deepened by my presence.

"And you," he said, "the one who had the audacity to kidnap the Young Emperor and endanger his life by dropping him needlessly into the middle of a battle. If not for the fact that you saved the Young Emperor from that fire, I would’ve sold you long ago."

At that moment, I saw in his eyes, a strange, bleak kind of hopelessness. The same ones I’d seen on the Young Emperor's face during the battle; one that expressed the same feeling I had when I first learned of my sister‘s passing. And now, the most prideful of us all, a man who had lead everyone away from the turmoil of our country was poisoned by it.