Nao-Zai stared at the fire licking the wood he had fed it a while ago. His hands braced his knees, unmoving despite the growing storm inside him. Last night, he had sent Mang-Zhao home, assuring the dignitary he could make it to Cheokjin on his own. Despite being doubtful about it, Mang-Zhao had followed. Nao-Zai didn't need to be a mind reader to know the man secretly was relieved by that. He had just lost his wife in a battle they wouldn't have even fought if not for the Emperor's request of them.

He blew a breath and tapped his palm against his knee. Seeing Dong-Seol fall under Zhi-Xen's sword was something he wouldn't be able to forget in a long time. Wang Dong-Seol had been nothing but sweet since their brief time together. She didn't deserve to go like that. How was Chi-Sae? The Imperial City? The Emperor?

There was no one who could answer him, much less ease his worries. These were matters he had no control over, matters he had no way of knowing unless he went out and sought answers for himself. He forced himself to glance at Kai-Se once again.

The prince was slumped against a tree, the blanket Chi-Sae and the ladies of the Butterfly Court had wrapped around him before entrusting him to Nao-Zai. Until now, Nao-Zai had been using it to cover Kai-Se's face so as to not be recognized by the traders and any of the passers-by they've come across on their way to Cheokjin.

As it was, the town flourished because it was apparently the birthplace of the famous urayang wine made from grinding nuts and berries. This meant Cheokjin was a place to visit by travelers looking to get a taste of the famed delicacy and by merchants seeing if they could get enough supplies to sell outside.

That also meant Nao-Zai and Kai-Se would encounter several people going the same way and those who were already coming back to where they came from on the road they took. They're bound to be recognized, or at least, retained in collective memory, so Nao-Zai made the decision of veering from the well-trodden path to wait until the nighttime or some pocket of time where there weren't too many people milling around.

Now, a few hours had passed and the day wore on until the sun had started climbing down from its perch in the sky. Nao-Zai had built a fire to keep himself and Kai-Se warm, although he doubted Kai-Se could feel anything at this point.

During the hours of sitting around, Nao-Zai had tested several of his theories. He had pinched Kai-Se, punched him lightly, and even slapped him across the face. At each instance, he elicited no responses. What in the spirits' names did Kai-Se even do to himself to end up like this? This body Nao-Zai had been carting across Xuijae felt like nothing but a shell, a husk of what had once been Kai-Se.

He turned his gaze towards the road once more. The amount of travelers passing by had dwindled to at least five or six over the last half an hour. Still a lot for Nao-Zai's taste but it's not like he could control the traffic and have everything go his way. He needed something to make him less memorable. Something that'd make him one of the many faces in the crowd.

Like having an idea of what he was supposed to do, his fingers floated towards the tight knot atop his head. They felt for the ring around his bundled up hair and the pin holding it in place. The silver casting might give him away so he might as well get rid of that. With a heavy heart, he drew the sharp pin out and slipped the ring off. His hair, having just recently grown to his back, tumbled down.

He eyed the accessories in his hands, caressing the deep engravings of lines and curves on the ring with his thumb. It might have been a different set than the one he had in Dansarun, but being able to tie his hair up like he was trained to do gave him some sort of stability and predictability. And at times like this, sitting with an unconscious prince while knowing there were people out there wanting to kill them both, those two things were what he needed the most.

But, who was he kidding? It was because he was so damn predictable that Zhi-Xen was able to follow him around and why she was able to beat him in their thousands of sparring sessions. If he was dealing with her, he needed to be smarter. He needed to be inconsistent with everything he had lived by for the last twenty-one years. If he was to outsmart her, he needed to be unpredictable.

It's the only way they could survive her and her blade, because once Zhi-Xen has been assigned to something, she wouldn't stop until it's done. Unlike Nao-Zai, who have been completing missions to the letter, she liked to complete hers with the grandest show possible. She'd stop at nothing to make sure her delivery and her execution was to her glory and to her credit. That's how she ended up with the most brutal ways of disposing of her victims.

In short, unpredictability has been her weapon—still was, especially after she had managed to track Kai-Se down despite all of the Emperor and Chi-Sae's efforts. The only thing that's predictable with Zhi-Xen was that even if the mission didn't involve killing anyone, with her dipping her toes into it, death followed. Always.

The horse Mang-Zhao had given Nao-Zai huffed as it finished munching on a clump of grass it had found. Nao-Zai clenched his jaw, running his hands against his hair to flatten it out to either side of his face. Then, he snatched the sword from its resting place by the satchel with his meager supplies, and drew it.

Positioning the blade at the level of his chin, he gathered a bunch of his hair in his grip. With a strong, outward swipe, the blade's sharp edge bit into the strands. The snipping sounds of his own locks being felled by his sword filled his ears. He shut his mind down for any thoughts of what he looked like. This was for the mission he has been assigned. Nothing more. His hair would grow back, but their lives would not if they lost it. His feelings didn't matter at this point.

So, he continued hacking and snipping, throwing every bunch he gathered into the fire. The smell of hair being singed to ashes filled his nose. It no doubt wafted throughout the whole forest but who cared? By the time Nao-Zai finished, the back of his neck prickled at every breeze passing through it. The sudden absence of a weight at the top of his head unsettled something in him.

Still, he closed his eyes, sheathed his sword, and began dusting his sleeves, his trousers, and his fenhai. Maybe he'd need a change of clothes before they enter the town? Perhaps. He moved towards Kai-Se and wrapped the blanket tighter around the prince's shoulders. As usual, there was no response from him. He wasn't merely sleeping. Nao-Zai had lost count of how many times he had to remind himself that.

He loaded Kai-Se into the horse's flank. When he was sure the prince wouldn't slip off to the other side, he gripped the reins, hooked his foot into the stirrup, and hauled himself. Then, their journey started anew.

Unlike in the afternoon, there were notably less people on the road. The sun had just begun to set but there were already lit lanterns by the time Nao-Zai made it to the lip of the town. People dressed in average fenhais walked to and fro, absorbed into their own worlds and thoughts. Children giggled and slapped each other on the back by a pond with rippling, green water. Houses resembled the wooden walls, paper-thin windows, and the curved roofs common in both Dangrao and Izeryeo, telling Nao-Zai he was still in the same Empire and the same continent. It was still Xuijae, despite being leagues away from the Imperial City.

He gripped his reins tighter. A caravan sidled up next to his mare, two of its drivers engaged in a lively talk. "There's armies marching to Dangrao as of this moment," one of the drivers said. He was a scrawny man with barely a hint of facial hair. Young, smooth-skinned, and fairly new to the trade. "I hear they're going to take over the Imperial City soon enough."

The second driver waved his hand in the air. "Bah, why do you care about those pompous fools?" he said in a tone so raspy Nao-Zai almost didn't understand what he said. "We could have no Emperor tomorrow and life would still go on. You get me, boy?"

The thinner and younger man blinked at his companion. "We'd still ride these carts and deliver our goods to people who may want to buy them," the older driver continued. "We'd still keep our profit, spend it on our wives and cattle. It's even a bonus if we don't have some dynasty ruling over us. We wouldn't even need to pay taxes!"

"Huh. That actually makes sense," the younger man tapped his chin in thought. "Shall we support the coup, then? It seemed like they wanted to overthrow the Empire because of that."

The older driver clicked his tongue, swearing as he did so. "Taxes? Nah," he said. "I say it's because the current dynasty is wicked. The spirits want them gone. Imagine consorting with the shamans. Pitiful."

Nao-Zai rolled his eyes and flicked the reins to urge his horse to walk faster. The two steeds pulling the cart beside him seemed to give Nao-Zai the stink eye. Whatever. It's not like these people would actually go up there and raid the Imperial City.

But then again, someone mentioned Pyeongjeon getting a lot of support from the masses. Were they helping him in some form? Money, most likely. To mount an uprising this big, military power wasn't the only thing one needed. It's money. Wealth. Influence. Having all three could change the tides in an instant.

He forced his fists to relax around the reins. It wasn't going to be of any use to be agitated while riding. It might make the mare anxious and jittery as well. Relax. He should relax.

"Hey! Stop right there!" an authoritative voice speared through Nao-Zai's mind. He whipped to the source to find more black-clad men charging towards him. With swords drawn and faces scrunched into a scowl saying they knew who Nao-Zai was, they charged through the street. Nao-Zai cursed as he tapped his foot on the mare's flank.

Black meant they were members of the platoon that was sent to look for him and Kai-Se. Black meant that if they found him, then Zhi-Xen must not be too far behind. It meant death. It meant the last thing he's ever going to see if he failed to survive.

So, he tightened his hold on Kai-Se's body pressed against his, and with a yell, sent the horse to break into its fastest and savagest run.