Yue was having lunch with her father Arnook, she was treated like a princess, always given the highest quality of food and drink. However, she had been more stressed in the last few days, mainly because of her tribe's rejection of Yoshie's presence.
"Is there a problem, daughter?" Arnook asked, finishing his alcoholic drink. "If the food is not to your liking, I can ask for a change."
"It's okay, Father." Yue quickly tried to regain her composure. "I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, that happens sometimes."
"Not as often as it has since that girl came here." Arnook placed his hand gently on his daughter's. "You must understand that this girl is very dangerous for you."
Yue just snorted in disappointment, knowing that she couldn't change her father's opinion about Yoshie.
Arnook, on the other hand, knew that Yoshie was more powerful than the entire tribe, Pakku himself confirmed that the powers she possessed were very well hidden from her true form. In Pakku's words: "My power is like a lake, and the power Yoshie has in her soul is the size of the ocean." With these words, Arnook knew that he could only tolerate her presence without doing much about the situation he was in. He suspected that his daughter might have such potential, but she never revealed such an ability, and even if she had, the culture and law of the northern tribe forbid women to master their powers for use in battle.
"Daughter, I only want to protect you, the only thing I value most is you." Arnook put his hand gently on Yue's shoulder.
"I know you're scared, but not everything is the way you think it is." Yue left the dining table and went to her room.
On her way to her room, Yue made sure she wasn't being followed and cunningly used her powers to open a passage in the ice, creating an opening large enough for her to pass through and then closing the wall as if nothing had happened.
Going through the tribe during the day was more difficult for her, as the guards might notice her presence more easily, so she chose a longer route to at least avoid being seen.
When he finally reached the sea, he looked into the water, searching for his spiritual counterpart. Yue waited a few minutes until he saw Yoshie's head emerge from the water with a lobster in its mouth.
"What was it this time?" Yoshie asked, ignoring Yue's reaction to eating a raw lobster.
"Can't I just spend time with you?" Yue sat down to observe Yoshie more closely. "I've been visiting you every day, you should be used to me by now."
Yoshie rolled her eyes and took another bite of lobster. "I'm more worried about your attempts to seduce me than anything else." She noticed how depressed Yue was, which was unusual for the princess. "Spit it out, Yue, what's wrong?"
Yue expressed how frustrated she was with her father and the tribe for being suspicious and afraid of Yoshie, even though she didn't seem to mind.
"You don't have to worry about me, you should worry about your duties as a princess." Yoshie commented calmly, not feeling pressured by the bad reputation she had with the northern tribe. However, seeing Yue's reaction to everything that happened made her heart feel uneasy.
Yoshie looked at the fragile princess in front of her and just sighed with her mouth under water, creating air bubbles with her action. "Yue... Do you want to see the ocean with different eyes?" Yoshie seemed conflicted because her emotions were very confused, but she felt that she had to at least help her new friend.
Yue's eyes flashed with excitement, and her dejected expression was replaced with happiness. "Really!"
"Why not? Let's do it." Yoshie raised her artificial arm and closed her eyes to create a bubble of transparent water.
"Wow, amazing Yoshie." Yue observed the bubble, which was 3 meters in circumference, large enough for her to enter without any problems.
"I don't know if you have the same ability as me to breathe underwater, so you better be careful." Yoshie helped Yue enter the water bubble.
With the princess inside the water bubble, Yoshie crystallized some parts of the bubble to provide more safety for Yue.
"This sounds like a date." Yue took the opportunity to scoff. "You're quite the romantic."
Yoshie's face turned slightly red before she regained her composure and coughed a little. "This isn't a date, I'm just helping you distract yourself from your worries, pervert." Yoshie dove a few meters underwater and used her powers to pull Yue with her.
Yue just watched as the seawater was dense and hard to see, but it didn't take long for her blue eyes to shine and she could clearly see what the sea was like. Yue was dazzled by the beauty of the ocean, and she could see several fish swimming together.
"This is amazing... so this is how you see the world." Yue smiled, enjoying spending more time with her spiritual counterpart.
Yoshie sometimes watched Yue's genuine reactions out of the corner of her eye and could not help but smile discreetly. She enjoyed seeing the more naive side of the princess, which made her seem even more beautiful than usual.
"There are some wonderful places I can show you one day, some caves with blooming algae or some very interesting rare animals." Yoshie commented and led Yue to a rock 20 meters underwater. She sat down and moved the crystal clear bubble of water so that Yue was next to her.
"Are you already planning other appointments? You're not wasting any time." Yue used a more seductive voice to tease her friend, causing her to turn her face away to avoid seeing her reaction. "Anyway, thank you. The silence of the sea is almost therapeutic."
Yoshie nodded silently. "The sea has its beautiful moments, not everything is perfect, but for people like us, it is more than enough."
Yue looked at Yoshie and saw how she had her eyes closed, enjoying the silence of the sea while the fish swam together or ate something, as if they were both just ghosts in an immaculate world.
A few hours later, the two women were resting on the shore, enjoying the sunset together. They both just sat in silence, enjoying the peace.
"You showed me the beauty of the sea, so it's my turn to show you the beauty of the northern tribe." Yue stood up and pulled Yoshie by her artificial hand.
"Yue, I don't want to get into trouble with your people." Yoshie said, letting herself be pulled by the princess without resisting.
"You said yourself that you don't care about people's opinions, so it's okay." Yue led Yoshie into the tribe, both of them having to sneak around to avoid being seen. Since Yue was practically an expert at escaping from her room, she knew very well which shortcuts were best for certain situations.
After a few minutes, they finally reached the princess' room, where they both wanted to change their clothes.
"We're lucky my father didn't visit my room, otherwise the whole tribe would be in chaos." Yue commented, taking off the blue fur cloak she was wearing, revealing even more of her body shape.
Yoshie quickly turned her face away, not wanting to look any longer than necessary. She knew she shouldn't be embarrassed since they were both women, but it was undeniable that there was a certain tension between them that could be dangerous and irreversible.
Yoshie just sighed to calm the emotions that covered her, she took a set of the princess's clothes because she didn't have anything in her size. Since she was a little taller than the princess, the tightness of the clothes didn't bother her, but it was enough for the moment. Yoshie wore a blue kimono with darker fur pants that helped hide her artificial leg. Yue, who had already finished dressing, looked at her back and saw the scars she had, which gave her an imposing and erotic contrast, as if Yoshie was a perfect contrast to the beauty and fury of the sea.
Yoshie and Yue walked in silence towards the most sacred place of the Northern Temple, but it was obvious that the tension between them had increased. After a few minutes of walking, they both arrived at a double door bearing the symbol of the Water Tribe.
"Shouldn't there be guards here?" Yoshie asked, feeling the energy around her grow stronger as she approached the northern spiritual center.
"Since the northern tribe hasn't been fighting for a while, there's no need for a guard here right now." Yue said awkwardly, understanding Yoshie's question. "Although it's rather irresponsible."
Yue opened the door, revealing a magnificent sight to Yoshie's eyes, making her marvel at such beauty. The trees, plants, and animals that lived in this environment, it was as if she was in a tropical forest, completely untouched by the freezing environment of the North Pole.
"Welcome to the Spiritual Oasis." Yue extended her hand to emphasize her introduction.
"It's very beautiful." Yue whispered, awed by the beauty of the place and the gigantic amount of energy flowing harmoniously throughout, feeling a very familiar primordial power next to another. "I feel La's power."
"La and Tui are almost ready to reincarnate into their mortal forms, hence the large amount of energy surrounding this place." Yue walked over to a tree and carefully picked the fruit as if it were a sacred object. She brought the fruit to Yoshie's hands so she could taste it.
Yoshie just nodded silently and bit into the fruit, feeling an unfamiliar sweet taste that made her taste buds feel like they were in complete ecstasy. "Delicious."
Yue sat down under the tree and motioned for Yoshie to follow. They both stood side by side, just watching the stars in the sky, just maintaining the silence that was comfortable for both of them.
Yue wanted to talk to Yoshie about something and noticed how she fell asleep due to the silence of this environment. She just smiled silently and laid her head on her shoulder, closing her eyes to sleep with her.
Next chapter: The Moment of Change Part 2