The moon hung high over the Dawning Blades Sect, bathing tiled rooftops and winding paths in silver. For Yue, sleep would not come. She sat by her open window, watching lanterns drift and fade in the cool breeze, her mind circling the memory of Kai Jin standing alone in the courtyard's moonlight.
She pressed her palm to her chest, feeling the echo of his touch. Pride and worry warred in her heart. She had seen him face three adversaries and refuse to break—calm, precise, holding back a storm she sensed but never fully saw. Why do you hide so much, she wondered. Why do you only let me see the truth?
A soft knock at her door. Her father stepped inside, lines etched deep across his brow. "Yue, be careful with him. There's something about that boy even our elders cannot read."
Yue's answer was quiet but unshakable. "I trust him. Even when I don't understand him."
Her father hesitated, then nodded. "We leave for the tournament at dawn. Try to rest."
When he was gone, Yue let the silence linger. Her thoughts drifted—pride, longing, and the ache of hope tangled together. She finally slept, dreaming of lanterns floating above her and Kai, always near but never quite together.
---
Elsewhere, within the shadowed council hall, Sect Master Xuan Yu conferred with his closest advisors.
"Kai Jin draws attention," one elder muttered. "He humiliated the Heaven-Splitting Faction again. Their pride won't recover easily."
"He is a double-edged sword," said another. "If we press him, he may break. If we let him be, he might surpass us all."
Master Xuan Yu's gaze was sharp. "Just watch. Don't interfere. Let the boy reveal his own edge."
---
Beneath the ancient pine, Kai sat with the World Eye's faint laughter echoing through his thoughts.
*You're being watched again, boy. But not all eyes want to see you fall.*
Kai tilted his face to the dawn's first light, letting it warm him—just for a moment, hope was more than a memorory