The crowd present in the courtyard was insane. Kai-Se tucked his arms closer to his chest, eyes roaming faces, snouts, and other appendages in search of the only person he knew. Night had fallen on them, with the whole day focused on honoring the dead and cleaning the courtyard up. Over the hours, families and friends of the rebels had dropped by and started helping around. Kai-Se, since then, have been roped into keeping the children still and preventing them from seeking their parents out who might be busy.

That's how he got separated from Nao-Zai, who was spirited away by a man with a boar for a head, to where they attended to the wounded. Kai-Se didn't mind though. The children were sweethearts, except for the rare occasion of one trying to eat the other, and Nao-Zai was better suited in helping soldiers like him.

As soon as the sun disappeared from the sky and the bright moon had replaced it, people started lighting paper lanterns and setting them against the tips of their spears or on the floor. Not long after, the whole courtyard burned with a kind of orange that Kai-Se only associated with late nights out in the streets and, of course, An-Ri.

He shook his head. Perhaps An-Ri was in a better place now instead of being stuck in his necklace for spirits-knew how long. His fingers wrapped around the pendant hanging against the base of his neck, tips feeling the gawking tear right into the middle of the green jade stone. Before he could heave a sigh, his eyes landed on a familiar figure hobbling towards him.

"Kai-Se!" Nao-Zai called, the solider's smile brightening up Kai-Se's evening much more than the lanterns did. The soldier jogged towards him, wincing a little and clutching his side. "I've been looking for you."

Me too, Kai-Se wanted to say but wisely didn't. Instead, he jerkde his chin at Nao-Zai's wound. "Feeling okay?"

The soldier rolled his shoulders. "Not something I'd die of," he said. "I'm lucky it's just a graze."

Kai-Se recalled the amount of blood that coated Nao-Zai's side. Some of it even stained Kai-Se's sleeves and his loose trousers. It wasn't just a graze like Nao-Zai was making it out to be. But, wait a minute. Since when did Kai-Se start caring about soldiers, much more, a guard his father hired?

"You should come," Nao-Zai's voice jarred Kai-Se back to reality. "Gang Sen's about to address the crowd."

Without a word, Kai-Se bobbed his head and followed Nao-Zai across the courtyard. The sky bridges still loomed over them like hulking statues but now, they lost their might in Kai-Se's eyes. Just like the vast empire of the gods, these could topple over at any time too. Their footsteps scratched against the chipped cobblestones and the fine layer of dust and debris that the creatures failed to sweep earlier.

The light from the lanterns intensified, signaling an increased number of them. Kai-Se raised his eyes from his bloodied and muddied socks and let his gaze settle into the sea of armor, weapons, and animal heads.

The sound of a sword clanging against another resounded in the air. A wave of silence passed over the crowd as heads swiveled to somewhere Kai-Se's north. He found the source of their attention just as Gang Sen walked into what he deemed to be the center of the conregation.

"Friends, family," the rebellion leader started, clearing his throat in a way Kai-Se wasn't sure boar-heads could do. "We have gathered here to celebrate not just the lives of the people we lost in our great ordeal but also our victory and the fulfillment of the dreams passed down from generation to generation."

The silence stretched as Gang Sen continued. "We have fought hard and our bravery is unmatched," he said. "We have sacrificed so much just to dream of seeing Shencai standing on her own. Well, today, that dream has become our reality. Shencai is liberated. The gods are no more!"

A roaring cheer erupted from the crowd. Some banged the butts of their spear against the cobblestones while others let out various calls and howls.

Gang Sen raised a hand and the crowd fell into silence once more. "But we couldn't have done it without the help of two, meritous humans from the Xuijae Empire," he said. "Come forth, Nao-Zai of Xuijae and..."

"Kai-Se," he raised a finger and supplied Gang Sen with the missing information. "My name is Najizaki Kai-Se. I also happened to be the...um, the Emperor's heir."

Gang Sen blinked. Being separated by at least a hundred people didn't do his hanging jaw enough justice in Kai-Se's eyes. Then, the boar head turned to Nao-Zai. "You told me your friend is a piper," he said,

Nao-Zai laughed. It carried more nervousness more than amusement. "Well, he is a piper," the soldier said, scratching the back of his neck. "He just happened to be a prince and I just happened to be his companion."

The word rang in the chambers of Kai-Se's ears. Companion. Not guard. Not even the Emperor has hired me to bring the prince to places. Companion. It has a nice ring to it and, even as much as Kai-Se denied it, the word brought some sort of comfort in his system.

"Well, Najizaki Kai-Se of Xuijae," Gang Sen said. "You have Shencai's utmost gratitude for helping us ending Dansarun's tyranny. Without you and your heavenly magic, we wouldn't have survived and seen our friends and family laugh the way they do now."

Kai-Se stepped backwards. The amounts of eyes trained on him somehow made his palms clammy and his throat dry up. Why was he even acting like this? He's a prince. He was bred and raised to act as expected during times like this. And yet...

And yet, he was hesitating.

"So, allow us to properly express our deepest thanks," Gang Sen said. "Everyone!"

All at once, the crowd bustled up only to fall down on one knee, ducking their heads in Kai-Se's direction. Some kind of horror and embarassment formed a ball in Kai-Se's gut. "Please, stand up," he said, his voice sounding flimsy against the thick darkness of the night. "I was only trying to get out of the grounds. It was nothing special. I---"

"Have saved countless of lives from years of endless suffering," Gang Sen finished for him, taking Kai-Se aback. "From now on, as a remembrance of your help towards Shencai, we will make sure to open our doors to any citizen in Xuijae whenever they need help. When the empire is in a pickle, rest assured that Shencai will be its ally, come what may."

Kai-Se blew a shaky breath. "T-thank you," he stammered. Then, he remembered what little ettiquette he had in his brain and bowed partially towards the crowd. "I'll relay that to my father. Whatever Shencai offers Xuijae, Xuijae will offer in return."

"Here's to a long-lasting alliance!" Gang Sen pumped his fist in the air. Another round of cheers surged from the crowd.

"Now, we will be asking you for one last favor," Gang Sen said, stopping Kai-Se from breathing a sigh of relief. "You're a piper, correct?"

Kai-Se pursed his lips. "Yes."

The sparkle in Gang Sen's eyes was unmistakable. "Then tell us a story," the rebellion leader said.

Kai-Se blinked. The hard set of Gang Sen's jaw told Kai-Se the boar man wasn't joking. A playful nudge bumped beside him. He turned to see Nao-Zai beaming at him. "Go on," the soldier said. "They're waiting."

Kai-Se turned to the hushed crowd whose eyes and attention seemed to follow his every movement. It's just that seeing so many people interested in what he had in mind, to see them so eager for the stories he would tell...it brought a different kind of excitement and, with it, fear.

Then, he glanced at Nao-Zai, who looked at him with a certain softness in his warm brown eyes---the kind of eyes where Kai-Se could get lost in forever. The stern soldier and the insufferable stick man was nowhere to be found. Somewhere, somehow, Nao-Zai changed.

They both had.

So, Kai-Se squared his shoulders and marched towards the front of the crowd, joining Gang Sen. The rebellion leader stepped to the side as if to give Kai-Se the whole space. They exchanged brief and understanding nods. Then, Kai-Se was on his own.

After being jostled and slapped around, none of his ideas would pop in his head like they do during the nights he was out in the streets. A sharp twinge of panic twisted in his gut. The expectations. Oh, he couldn't let anyone down. They're looking at him. They-re expecting things---

Kai-Se's vision tunneled, selectively blurring out all the auxiliary faces into huge blobs of color. Only one face remained clear enough. It was of someone whom he had come to think of as a friend. Or...maybe more than that.

Just then, he knew what story he was going to tell.

"Once, there was a boy and his fox," Kai-Se started. Some of the creatures shifted in their seats and leaned forward, already invested even if it was just starting. Kai-Se smiled, feeling the oopressive weight on his gut lift, little by little. "They have had many adventures together, both grand and mundance."

He made the crowd follow the story of the boy and his fox, their adventures filled with fun, and the memories they shared. Without his magic, he couldn't fold sheets of paper to accompany the scenes he was painting but the crowd hung on to his every word just the same.

"Then came a time when the boy and his fox encountered a giant from a big, smelly cave," Kai-Se narrated. "The fox tried to save the boy but the giant was strong. Very strong. The fox had to get the boy to safety before the giant could get to him so it distracted the giant and instructed the boy to run. To get away from the giant."

"And so the boy ran," Kai-Se continued, despite the growing lump in his throat and the tears pricking at the sides of his eyes. "He ran and ran, expecting the fox to be behind him all this time. When he turned, he realized he was alone."

Kai-Se scanned the faces of the crowd. Most of them looked genuinely worried. "Night had fallen and the forest was dark. Leaves rustled and the shadows howled. The boy was scared. He kept screaming for the fox to come and rescue him. But he didn't know it had already perished and the giant was on the boy's tracks."

"Then, the giant found the boy the next morning," Kai-Se said. A chorus of gasps rang from the audience. "It chased the boy down through the forests, hoping to tire him out so he could eat him for dinner. They went round and round until the boy could no longer run. The giant had won. He would have a boy for dinner!"

Kai-Se dared to glance at Nao-Zai who stood at the edge of the crowd, his smile still not spent. "But soon, a tiger came bounding from the woods," he continued. "It was a snow tiger---all white and majestic. It attacked the giant, ripping it to pieces. Finally, the boy was saved."

A collective sigh of relief could be heard floating in the air. "When the boy asked the tiger why it had saved him, the tiger answered," Kai-Se said. "It told the boy that it wouldn't let someone be alone again. It didn't want the boy to feel like he was against the world with no one beside him. Like the fox, the tiger felt like the boy deserved a companion."

There's that word again. Kai-Se finally let a smile crack his own lips. "And since then, the tiger and the boy became inseparable," he said. "He still missed the fox but being with the tiger helped ease the sadness and the pain, bit by bit. And they had many, many more adventures, both great and mundane. It formed in their memory. These were the things they carried and treasured. Forever."

Kai-Se bowed for the last time. "The end."

A series of applause greeted him. Kai-Se noted the wide smiles, the bright eyes, and the delight dancing in the crowd's faces. This was the reason why he chose to be a piper. This was his purpose. His calling.

Telling stories was his destiny.