I kept training the king's army every day. Me and the king only exchanged courtesies, and we stood shoulder to shoulder when supervising the soldiers, but there was never anything else to it. I kept myself occupied with my own training so I didn't have to think about it that much.

Truth was, I felt torn. So, so torn. I liked the king. But I couldn't forget what he'd done to my brother. Question was... Even if I couldn't forget, could I forgive? I found myself wondering what my brother would have thought of the entire situation, but the truth was, I had been too young to know or understand his values and morals. There was just no way for me to know. Despite, he was dead, and thus unable to speak for himself. So it was up to me to decide on my own morals and values. It was tearing me apart. 

The night before we were leaving by boat to travel, I was in a deep sleep in my room when I felt someone touching my shoulder. I heard someone murmur something, and had to make a great effort to pull myself out of the vast ocean of sleep and resurface to the awake.

"Izu... Hey, Izu."

Would turn out, the awakened world was much better than the world of dreams.

Above me stood the king, one hand on my dressed shoulder, not touching my skin out of courtesy. He was wearing the same marvellous turquoise and orange clothes and jewellery as he'd done during the dinner.

"What did you call me?" I asked groggily. He had called me "Izu". For some reason, that sent a jolt of excitement cruising through my spinal cord.

"Get up. We're leaving", the king said sternly.

"Already?" I checked the he crystals hourglass on the wall. "But it's only twenty-nine!"

Suddenly, he took my hand and entwined our fingers. The wave of pleasure from his touch shot through me, and I gasped, wide awake.

"It's just you. And me."

"Oh..."

We were escaping without the captains or guards knowing. The whole situation filled me with an indescribable thrill. He took me to a beautiful, gigantic cave in the mountain that was full of blue trees more than ten times higher and thicker than any trees I had ever seen, with walls filled with crystals providing a glowing blue light. The most fantastic thing, however, was the giant lake in the middle, or rather, the planets orbiting above it. They encircled something in the middle I couldn't discern, in different velocities. My eyes caught a beautiful planet that looked like it was made of solid amethyst, and I could feel my sword hum where I'd fastened it around the back of my robe with my belt as well as an eerie sensation in my body, as if my blood was simmering. 

Tobirama hadn't let go of my hand the entire time. He held on to me so harshly, it was as if afraid I would turn to smoke and disperse if he let go. I let him, enjoying the immense pleasure his skin gave me. I felt an openness about him that wasn't intrusive, as if I could ask him anything about the cave and he would answer it, but I also felt a courtesy from him; that he but he wouldn't begin to explain it without me asking first. He led me to the lakeside while producing his flute from a deep pocket in his turquoise robe. When we reached the shore, he let go of my hand and put the beautiful instrument to his lips, exchanging the touch of my hand on his palm to the touch of the metal on his lips.

He played a soft and slow melody that was filled with so much sadness I could hardly stand it. I started weeping. Slow tears of sorrow fell from my face and landed in the water. I realised how incredibly deep the water was; the crystals that lit up the cave were also present underwater, providing light so you could see a long way down, yet, there was no end. The endlessness matched the sadness I felt and I was close to begging the king to stop when suddenly, the water in front of us started bubbling. From the depths, I could see a gigantic figure rising. I immediately took a few steps back. The surface broke as the ginormous structure showed itself, and we were splashed by humongous amounts of water.

"What... Wow", I whispered, voice wobbly from crying.

In front of us was a sperm whale, but at least five times the size of a regular one. It had huge, warm, kind eyes that looked at Tobirama with all the love and trust in the world. The king went to the whale and put his palm to it, then leaned their foreheads together. The sperm whale closed its eyes.

"This is Jenna", Tobirama said and stood back. "She is four thousand years old."

Jenna didn't seem to be just any old whale. It was not only her size that made her stand out from anything else I had ever seen; she seemed to have strings connected between her fins of some biological material, and on those strings were hundreds upon hundreds of orbs the size of my fists that were transparent like dessert jellies and had the same colours as them; blue and red and green and yellow. And they glowed, giving off the most beautiful light.

"Have you put the lights on her?" I asked.

"No", Tobirama said, backing off. "This is a lanternoid sperm whale. They are born with the strings, then get more and more of the lights as they age."

Jenna opened her mouth then, and I backed off, frightened by her giant maw.

"Please don't tell me we're travelling in her mouth", I begged.

Tobirama just smiled, reached his hand into her mouth and took out the largest pearl I had ever seen. It was much shinier than an oyster pearl, almost a bit transparent, and milky white with whisps and swirls of more solid areas. It was the size of the king's head.

"No, on her back. But we need this to protect us from the water. This pearl is worth more than the castle and every treasure held within it put together and multiplied by a thousand." I just stared. The king then backed until he was next to me, and took my hand. The pleasure was immediate, but I didn't jerk this time.

"It affects me, too, you know."

I turned to him.

"What, money?" I asked stupidly.

"Your touch."

"The human touch affects you the same way the elven touch affects me?" I asked.

"No." The king didn't meet my eye. "Not the human touch. But yours."

He climbed up onto Jenna's back, helping me up, still in a confused state after what the king had said, and she was so large and broad we would easily be able to sleep on her.

"How does the pearl work?" I asked.

"I'll show you", the king said. He held up the pearl towards me then, and looked at me with intent. "We have to take care with it. Because there's one thing in the world worth more to me than this to me."

I frowned. "What ever could that be?"

He looked to the side then, unable to meet my eyes anymore. "Your life."