Dance With Darkness And Light 6 Sightseeing In The City Ii

"Is that so, I wonder what uncle is talking about?" with a childish face.

Aran seemed perplexed looking at this innocent face if he weren't a guest at one of those parties he'd almost believe this act.

"Prince please do not make this…"

"I thought I told you, what debts are you talking about? Do. Tell!" Bazuul interrupted in a slightly darker but coquettish tone.

Aran smile froze, usually, he would have wiped the floor with whoever would be in front of him, except for a high profile n.o.ble. So, he laid out all his debts for the services provided plus interest and some shady agreements made beforehand.

"Outrages! How dare you a.s.sume our young prince would succ.u.mb to such profanity!" Bram instantly roared.

Whilst nodding Bazuul said:

"I really don't seem to remember doing those things uncle said."

In truth, the debt wasn't really that much, for a prince that is. In reality Bazuul knew full well that the previous him did agree to all these things, but, first of all, he wasn't going uphold to such disgusting agreements. Second, he meant to find an opportunity to make a name for himself, and third, he realized the movement in the tavern some time ago, as if they wanted to play hardball with him. Well fine, an opportunity presented, hardball it is.

"But I'd sure like to tell that flowers guy that he can forget about whatever debts he is dreaming about face to face if it isn't too much trouble uncle" He added with a switch in his tone and a wink while looking Aran in the eyes.

"Flowers guy?!" He thought in shock. It seemed the prince had gotten an upgrade in arrogance recently.

Aran was about to burst but there was a flicker in the young prince's eyes that left a piercing sensation in his own eyes which stopped him for a moment. After centering himself he attempted to roar once again but realized that the prince and his entourage had already stood up and were about to walk out of the tavern.

Meanwhile, Bazuul silently warned Bram to stay alert and get ready.

"Hold! Stop the prince you fools!" Aran finally roared as his little grey goatee trembled along with his body.

"You think you can ignore ME brat? A good-for-nothing wastling prince that still reeks of his mother's milk, dares to ignore me?!" He yelled once again whilst seething in anger.

Bazuul and his entourage made it just to the door as the other party started to show it's true face. His guards, of course, were a bit shocked but immediately blocked the way to the prince for the incoming thugs.

"Bye bye uncle, I'm sure we'll meet again~," Bazuul said once again in a childish tone and proceeded to run out of the tavern along with Bram. Leaving the two guards to handle the rest.

To make sure they weren't followed they kept zigzagging through the eastern city until Bram's old bones needed some rest. Bazuul was quite content - even though he wasn't aware how - the light in him simple took the answers he needed from Aran's mind. Also, he finally had lost his father's eyes and ears. Equipped with a broad inside knowledge of the eastern city's workings he started to evaluate and prioritize which locations were needed for him in order to make the biggest impact, places that were interesting and locations important to the flowers guy.

Even though he knew where he was located, he intended to poke him a bit at first and lure him out before destroying him in front of some witnesses.

But first, he wanted to visit two other places. One was a shop belonging to the royal court and a place called The White Crane Pavilion. Apparently, there was a person Aran called old man Fu and the fear he felt towards this old man...was deep. Which intrigued Bazuul on the other hand.

Luckily both the shop and the pavilion were close to each other and Aran would certainly come to the conclusion that he would go to the shop belonging to the royal court, thus most likely placing men around the shop.

Still intrigued, he made way to the old man.

After he eventually reached the pavilion and entered through its gates, a vastly different sight to the city unveiled in front of him. This place was lush in fauna and flora, with beautiful man-made streams of sky-blue water that flowed naturally. The air was so fresh that it truly made one wonder for a moment if you really were in the capital city of an empire.

The empty field in front of Bazuul made him feel like he was in a mystical Asian place with high feng shui, like in those old martial arts movies he's often seen back on Earth. His body and mind relaxed instinctively, he could even feel his organs relax, every fiber in his body as his mind drifted into the deep.

"Aaah, the one that opened the door." Sighed a voice that came from somewhere in his vicinity. After closer inspection, he eventually slightly made out frames of a silhouette sitting in the shades of a tree.

Bazuul started to walk towards that individual. As he closed in, the figure of a bald man with a long white beard - like those sages in those aforementioned movies - unveiled in front of him. Yet his skin, well...it was more so like a young man on the verge of becoming a middle-aged man, and nothing like an old man. Then again, his "father" wasn't that much different.

"I hope you can understand that what you are about to face is something with considerable risk. Behind this door is a forbidden domain out of reach for mortals. At the same time, this is also the achievement that is solely credited to you, isn't it?" He chuckled and opened his eyes, giving the young prince a meaningful glance which the latter wasn't sure if it contained pity or ridicule. Or even both.

Bazuul didn't show any reaction on the outside but felt puzzled by the words. He did not answer, he just sat down in front of this "old man". After a while, they started conversing. Hours later, the sun slowly started to show its last light of the day, Bram had fallen asleep quite a while ago, yet was still sitting by the side as if silently waiting. Long Fu laughed out loud in a manner not befitting his posture nor speech.

"If you are prepared to take the risk, then take this manual, it is just a basic training sequence to strengthen your body, but I guess it shall be enough." Fu similarly glanced at Bazuul again directing his hand towards a room of the bamboo mansion.

Bazuul simply nodded and went there to ingrain this sequence into his body.

First, he read through the manual a couple of times, then started each sequence separately, learning its right form, posture, and movement. After one set he sat down and visualized the sequences. Then he repeated everything. What a basic body tempering manual could do to the vessel of darkness and light. Who would know the difference?

Soon the sun greeted the day again. Contend with his nightly achievements he stood up and walked out.

Fu still meditated beneath the tree, Bram also...meditated. So much so that he became one with the elements, to be precise, the morning dew.

After waking Bram up and drying himself, they said their goodbyes to old man Fu and made way to the royal shop.

It was still early in the morning and the streets weren't fully lightened yet when Aran's appointed henchman in front of the royal shop made out two silhouettes walking towards them. One was small and the other was taller but a bit more hunched over, probably an elder. Which fitted the description of the prince and his servant perfectly. Not yet sure if these were the targets they waited for.