Maybe there was some level of magic in this world that they all lived in, maybe those words that had come from her lips could somehow strum those strings of fate into actionable reality. The lesson 'speak not of demons, lest you summon them' was a quite popular Capital valley saying, so there was probably something to it.

Though, maybe this wasn't exactly the greatest avenue for her prophetic words to come to fruition.

It's a shadow against the window, humanoid for sure in its strange, partially obscured frame against the light of Unudo streaming into the room.

The Dominion is a cruel place. Part of her mind panics. They know you're here—an assassin has come to take your life.

It's the wheel of reflexes, and as seemingly always it falls on freeze; this Fourth Princess just sitting in the center of her floor bed in messy pajamas like some sort of camouflaged tiger as she stares down this intruder into her sanctuary.

Her brain takes a second to really process that shape, those proportions, and most importantly that face. The entire consciousness committee slaps their forehead. Yeah we recognize that man… stupid girl!

Sophia wants to scream in shock, but instead that diaphragm of hers remains utterly frozen. Staring down this politically married husband, staring down this stalker now outside her window.

And for a good twenty two seconds they just make some strange form of eye contact, separated by these double planed sheets of glass. Zai Tianci actually has to speak this unspoken request, whispering as quietly as possible through the slightly open crack. "S-Sophia, c-can you unlock the window…?"

This Fourth Princess has to process those words, to make that connection to that task she must undertake.

Her internal monologue screams at her, jumpstarting action. LET HIM INSIDE GIRL.

And Sophia, the ever so calm and collected type she is, simply takes a breath and lets this thought into her head. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

She's fast, silent; rushing over to this window to let him inside her domain. Two locks unlatched, the whole window slid open with a low thunk.

And in one motion, like some sort of eagle coming to land, this Crown Prince leaps near perfectly onto the hardwood floor of this room.

He's wearing his loose fitting sleeping robes, those trails of black silk coming to settle around him as he stands with much care and grace.

That thin body barely exposed in those harsh curves beneath clothing, those strands of hair that were now falling onto his forehead, that soft yet textured face, and those longing sleep deprived eyes all come towards Sophia in one package.

In one, half north, half central Tiancin manufactured, noble forged, Ensolian beauty standard typed, male human being.

Goddess DAYMN. A wayward thought process slams Sophia right in her head like a truck.

"Apologies." Zai Tianci carefully whispers, quieting himself as he listens to another foot patrol pass through the grounds outside.

He's here. A political part of this Princess' brain reads beneath this dog pile of thoughts. Why?

Sophia whimpers out the question. "W-what's happening? Why are you…"

And he doesn't even answer her, instead asking her the question with a small smile. "Having trouble sleeping?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Rotting Royal of the Ensolian Imperium, keep it together now…

Sophia Elise the Eighth, with as much grace as an incendiary bomb, slams out her answer to that strange look. "I dictate my terms of rest."

"That you do Sophia." He keeps that smile on his face, taking a long breath as he himself tries to ask that question. "I apologize for taking this more inconspicuous route. I thought it would be best if there was less of a commotion for this conversation."

Conversation. Sophia notes that word down in her disorganized mind palace.

And for just a single moment it all comes together: she breathes, very obviously shuts this diary she was peeking through, and stares down her husband. "A conversation?"

"If you are available." He asks rhetorically.

And some level of pride within her soul is still there, letting her eat these next words like an undressed salad. "I do not seem to be preoccupied, what is there to discuss?"

It's a permission implied, great work girl, we're working on the undertones, and with that Zai takes a long breath and begins with something completely unexpected. "Do you ever look at the stars, Sophia?"

Enough of a tangent that this Princess is caught off guard, just slightly.

And Zai simply stares out that open window, out into that world; listening to singing cicadas and the soft croak of field frogs, feeling the heat of a summer night, and the soft blue glow of that vast parent world.

He stares into those stars. "You never really can see them in Landfall, or any of the cities. Too much light. If you want to see most of the old constellations, you can only find a few of the brighter stars; only half a painting."

He raises his finger to point out something, that body hunched, reaching as if trying to grasp something in that far distance. "But here you can see most of it. Not all, but some. Enough to get a picture of what it really is."

They had crossed the gap, a long time ago. The old ones along with humanity, bridging those longing voids to come here, to this world; drawing sigils, artworks that spanned this vast darkness.

He begins to murmur, still looking out, still reaching, "We've tried to keep these constellations as best we can. It's part of the duties of Tianci; keeping these beliefs central to our canon. Because you know what the gods told us?"

A rhetorical question for certain, but Sophia's own ignorance of this matter gives her silence and allows him to continue. "They said that in these constellations, they drew maps, guides, across the stars. Each one supposedly points to a place, or says something. Old heavens, abandoned battlefields, maybe even some mathematical theory that we can't understand… in the hopes that we'll eventually go back to them. One day…"

Zai Tianci points out the one closest to them, visible through this window. A haphazard setting of five stars, crumpled together like crumbs accidentally left on a black dining cloth. "It's the Dancer's Star. There's a formula there, it's in how they're organized but… nobody's been able to figure out what sort of formula it is."

Sounds like old Ensolian astrology. Sophia thinks as she rolls her eyes at this superstition. Back in the days when Emperors actually listened to their half-mad court diviners, those fools who were spooked by the very sight of a barn owl in day-time. Well no more, we're now the Imperium of reason!

And a small part of her finds an objection to that last part. Well, Mother always does check the fortune telling section of the newspaper every morning right before the sports results… so maybe there's something to it.

"Maybe it can tell the future." Sophia blurts out that random theory.

"Maybe." He says back.

As a joke.

No. One thought process reads that expression. Not a joke.

Because Zai Tianci said those words with absolute seriousness, turning back to this Fourth Princess to stare her directly in the eyes.

Aw crap. She's missed something, some allegorical reference in their conversation tossed over her head and Sophia knows it.

The Consciousness Committee scrambles in a panic. Transcripts, transcripts! Read'em over again, there has to be something!

And she lets this husband of all people wait as she digs through this spaghettified conversation stored in her short term memory.

It's not even a conversation. It's him just coming here and just lecturing you on Tiancin Astrology. Sophia's brain tells her, buying some extra processing time. So look, all you can do is…

And Zai Tianci just cuts through to her, his words cold, political; utterly alien from him. "Sophia, what do you want with the Dominion?"

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