"Zhou, how is my daughter?"

In the royal throne room of Kai palace sat the queen, all her beauty hidden behind a wooden screen and fancy curtains which were gifts of passing foreign merchants. She is Queen Ibex, the Lady of Honohori Temple, an oracle and the second wife of the late king. In front of her throne was commander Zhou, genuflecting and his head lowered.

"I'm afraid you daughter will need a long time to recover from this battle, your majesty."

All throughout the years that Zhou has known Rin-ha, he knew how the general is unable to move on so easily. Hadashi Zhou had been beside the general since the day that Rin-ha's mother, Yoriko, had died. He and Kyu-so were the retainers-in-training for King Shin Oh-Rin who were introduced to reside in the Kai Palace when they were both ten years old and Rin-ha was six at that time. Zhou remembered when the late king's first task for them was to accompany and guard Rin-ha during the royal funeral and how Zhou and Kyu-so scrambled and made fun of themselves in the attempt to make the princess laugh. They became close friends and had trained together for battle, both of them supporting Rin-ha in her developing stage. It was again that the two young retainers had to find a way to make the princess happy when the king died but after her father's death, Rin-ha's mindset no longer reverted back to the joyful and curious child that she was.

"Rin-ha, that child, she refuses to learn the ways of the palace. I wonder when she'd give up the sword and prepare herself to be a bride. It's always easier to secure alliance with the other kingdoms through marriage."

"My queen, we both know how upset the princess will be whenever you open that topic with her."

"I cannot argue with that, commander Zhou." the queen laughed. "I worry for that child. Her father wanted her to live a long life but with her thoughts into waging war to expand this nation."

There was a brief silence in the air, with the queen looking longingly at the commander kneeling before her. She took a deep breath and exhaled, the night was still young and hidden among the peering eyes of the palace elders, Ibex had her throne room all to herself. She yearned for the young man's return and he was the sole chain that held her sanity together when the late king had died. He stood up and approached her throne, lifted the screen covers and looked at the queen with total adoration.

"Welcome home, commander Zhou. I have prayed for your safe return."

Without saying any more words, the head of the Hadashi clan dove into the queen's arms, plunging his lips into hers, pulling her into a heated kiss, his carnal desires connecting with hers and eventually the two were lost in a lustful bliss. The queen and the commander's affair was a taboo that only the walls of her chambers knew. When the oracle Ibex was invited into a banquet in the palace of Kai, her sights were already on to the sun-kissed tanned commander who had been her personal bodyguard during her visit. Since then, she openly professed her attraction to Zhou who dismissed her advances, being more loyal to the king but when the king passed, one thing led to another and he found himself wanting to protect the queen with his life.

"Aren't you getting tired of being with a woman so old, commander Zhou?"

"My queen, I beg to differ, but as an oracle, age is fictional."

Ibex laughed at the clever man, pulling him into a kiss once more. "You really do speak only of honesty, commander."

"I will not be weary of your divine beauty, my queen. I will do anything you command me to do."

"Anything for me?"

"Yes."

Pulling up her robes to cover herself and fasten her sashes, the queen turned her back to the commander to look at the mirror beside her and fix her messed hair. There was a growing tension between the two when the queen had not spoken for a few minutes as she retouched her make-up. Zhou proceeded to tidy and dismiss himself from her presence, wondering if he had offended the queen of had said anything that might have upset her.

"Zhou." she called in a stern voice.

"My queen?"

"I want you to marry Rin-ha."

Zhou's mouth partly opened, surprised with the queen's command. Her voice was not the one she uses to tease him or to make childish requests but it was the voice and tone she uses whenever she made decisions for the kingdom. He was taken aback with the queen's impulsive decision.

"Pardon me, my queen but why do you want me to marry the princess?"

"If forcing her to marry will take her away from the fields of war then I would prefer she hate me forever for pushing her into becoming a bride. I want you to marry her because I trust you the most, commander Zhou. I know you will not leave and hurt the princess. Then, I can comply with my final promise to the late king."

"Marriage right now will not do good for Rin-ha, my queen, please forgive me but that's a request I cannot accept."

"Before we had this, commander Zhou, I knew too well that you wanted the princess. Isn't this something you've always looked forward to?"

The commander's cool demeanor somehow snapped and pinned the queen on the wall, towering over her, his face showed expressions that even his lover found very unfamiliar. The speed and transitions of event was alien to both of them and the queen new very well that she had peaked something that the commander had been meaning to hide and keep only to himself.

"Rin-ha..." Zhou stated, trying to calm himself, "Her heart only yearns for Kyu-So. I can never take this moment of grief to put her in a situation that will hurt her even more."

"I see. I adore your view on this matter, commander Zhou. Then please, if you want to protect the princess, talk sense to her and make her leave the life of bloodshed and war."The retainer soon found out his brash actions and knelt down to plead forgiveness from the queen and she immediately told him that she was proud of his loyalty to the princess.

"I'm throwing a banquet in three days to celebrate another war won, even if I want to grieve with my daughter, the soldiers deserve recognition. Your mission is to make sure Rin-ha attends it. I will have the elders prepare a line-up of potential husbands for that child."

"As you wish, my queen."

"You are dismissed."

When the commander left the throne room, he was left to think on how he would have to convince the princess to attend. He knew that she would shut herself inside her chambers and refuse to talk to anyone, let alone attend a banquet. He looked up at the lonely night sky, the moon paler than usual with the stars slowly increasing in number. In the tower of the palace, his eyes caught glimpse of the mourning princess, sitting in the large opened window of her room, gazing at the same moon, light lost in her dead eyes.

It was hopeless.

Hopeless to force her into doing things she did not like. She was a stubborn princess and even on her childish whims, she never backs down without a fight, it was her nature. Zhou prayed that if ever she was to be wedded to someone, it would be a man who can cope up with how she naturally is and Kyu-so was the perfect candidate. The commander's feelings for the princess had been long locked up at the back of his mind when his best friend, the tactician, told him about his plans on attempting to court the princess. He told himself he would be content with being there for Kyu-so and Rin-ha, to watch and protect them from anyone who would try to pry them apart. It was his promise to Tsubaki Kyu-so.

'It would have been your wedding, Kyu-so.' he whispered to himself, imagining how things would have been if only the tactician was alive. He found himself walking mindlessly towards the bamboo forest that covered the royal throne house of the queen. The commander thought of how lively the palace would be, how Rin-ha would talk endlessly about her plans once she gives up her title as general and how he, himself, would be in the backgrounds smiling at the two of them.

"Why didn't you take me instead?!" Zhou shouted as he unsheathed his sword and carelessly slashed the trees and woods that were on his way. "Why? Gods, answer me?!" In his mind replayed the moments after the war where Rin-ha's despair was evident. She was good at hiding her feelings. On her mother's funeral, she never shed a tear as well as on her father's death but the death of her lover had triggered her to finally break down. Zhou's never seen her like this and it pierced his heart to find her in her weakest state. She wasn't a general nor a warlord, at that moment in time, she was just a girl who wept. She was fragile.

He hacked and slashed until the radius around him cleared of any debris and obstacle. Throwing himself to the ground, the commander found himself crying for being unable to protect the princess and his friend.

Suddenly, a soft voice calmed his nerves. He was surprised and so was she, seeing his face wet with tears.

"Zhou?"

"Rin-ha, what are you doing here?"

Her shocked face then softened and gave her friend a smile. For the first time in a long time, Zhou saw her smile again but the melancholy was evident, but still, a smile is still a smile.

"I saw you leave the throne room. For some reason, a voice in my head kept telling me that I should talk to you, Zhou. And thank you, by the way."

"Thank you for what?"

"It's been a long time since you've called me by my first name. I appreciate it."

Zhou smile back at her and inserted the sword he was holding back into its scabbard. He slumped and lay on his back at the cool grass, waiting for the princess to speak her thoughts.

"It feels really odd, how it's just the two us now. I'm used to having both sides of me protected."

"For what it's worth, Kyu-so was really going to quit involving himself in the battlefield after the war. He'd boast to us that he'll make sure you two get the biggest pavilion in the capital when you marry, he looked forward to this day. I am not saying this to make you cry, but I want you to know that he died loving you, and wherever his soul is right now, he will continue loving you."

"You know, when I saw that the spark of hope for us during the battle, I told myself that the moment my sword penetrates the heart of that general, it will be the last life I will be ending. I dream of a quiet future, in fact, I wanted to live outside palace walls. I mean look at me!" Rin-ha let out a sarcastic laugh, making Zhou smirk in approval with her statement. "I've never learned how to properly cook, or dance, or play any instrument. What good of a bride can I be to anyone?"

The two laughed, reminiscing their childhood and the times when the three of them were together. It was an easier life before they started joining the Kai army and march into war, it was just days of playing, sleeping under the trees, making mischievous pranks on the elders and riding horses through the hills. It was the times when the three of them never knew pain, suffering and the meaning of sacrifice. When Zhou noticed Rin-ha's constant yawning, he offered to walk her back into her room and as the two stood up, Zhou gave the princess a tight embrace.

"Live on, Rin-ha. Kyu-so would not want to see you sulking all day."

"I wish I could just ignore the pain, Zhou. But every time reality sinks into my mind that I will never see that man's annoying grins, I can't help but to shed tears for him."

"Remember what the elders told us when King Shin Oh-Rin passed away. Nothing is really gone in this world, human souls will reside in a realm known only to gods and they will keep watch over us until the time comes that it is our turn to descend into that realm."

"That's life for us mortals, huh?"

"I guess so."

Zhou released Rin-ha from his embrace and led her back into her chambers and after exchanging good nights, the commander left. Lying in her bed, thoughts flooded Rin-ha's mind, the possibilities of pleading to the gods to resurrect the man she loves the most. The existence of heavenly beings sparks curiosity and hope to the young princess, even if it sounds loony and may be frowned upon by the scholars and elders, she thinks it is always worth the try.

"Mortals." she thought. "Death will always be the outcome, whatever we do, we will die in the end."

Finally, her tired eyes gave into the inviting slumber of the night and once more, she dreamed of the future that was supposed to be, if only he was still alive.