Chapter 59 - Koi Spirits (1/2)

The chill grew more substantial as Nik's warm breath escaped his lips in a form of a vaporous cloud, dispersing to form the space for another breath. In front of him, the lady kept on moving.

No conversation was initiated until the silver-haired lady took a turn towards the entrance of the valley that housed the base of the river connected to the waterfall before she surprisingly slumped on the ground while heaving a deep sigh.

”Haaa~ Finally!”

She almost cheered, yet, kept a semblance of mediocrity before snapping her head in Nik's direction with her eyes and lips growing wider with each passing second.

”Hey! Sorry for being soooo boring back there... you know...”

The lady stood up and placed her hand in front of her face before coughing lightly, her voice turned deeper, somehow, perfectly imitating Bhiman as she continued.

”As a human born of spirit I must take care of my image—”

Coughing once again, the somber expression turned little bright as her voice returned.

”— or something like that.”

She smiled before her walking towards Nik.

”I am Yue. Princess Yue. Nice to meet you... er... Nip?”

'ple.'

Nik kept the pun within him, he didn't wish to show his lack of sense of humour just yet.

Instead, he focused on the dynamic changes of the expression showed by the lady named Yue... no, she just introduced herself 'Bond' style.

”Hello. I am Faran...”

He couldn't hold back after all.

”Nik Faran.”

It was quite gratifying that Kurumi didn't stand in place of Yue since all he would receive in case of his introduction would have been a humiliating eye roll of annoyance.

”Nik... I see. Father told me that I need to take you to meet with the Ocean Spirit La. So... let's go!”

She spoke before turning her heels while beckoning Nik to follow. On the way, as the walked deeper into the Glacial Valley, Yue started introducing the whole place.

”Our ancestors used to live here before moving out in fear of angering the Koi Spirits due to their needs of resources.”

Yue started with how the Northern Tribe first discovered the twin Koi Spirits.

La, the Spirit of Ocean, the master of water.

Tui, the Spirit of Moon, the mover of water.

Without Tui, the waterbenders could 'feel' water but cannot bend it and in the absence of La, the entire lineage of waterbenders would simply be cut short as they wouldn't even be able to form any connection whatsoever with the water itself.

”So... they are really Koi fishes?”

Nik asked out curiously while Yui nodded. She flung her braids behind her and stopped before looking back. Her smile had already receded as she frowned at Nik.

”Before we move further, I should establish some ground rules. The Koi Spirits are defenceless. They are spirits that enable us to bend the elements, yes, but they are sacred beings that have existed with us since ancient times.”

Walking forward, Nik felt a faint sense of pressure exuding out of Yue. It would have been alright if this pressure was only ethereal, but honestly, he felt his physical body being pressured as if something tangible was being used to achieve this method.

”So, I must clearly state whether you aspire to be a tribe member or not, no harm should come to the koi spirits.”

A silver sheen touched her blue eyes as she gazed at Nik's face seriously. Even she subconsciously let go of her biggest secret as Nik could swear that he saw Yue's body glowing silver for a moment before everything turned normal.

Even with his enhanced stats, he couldn't help but gulp as he once again gazed upon the sweetly smiling Yue who stood with her hands behind her back, her body leaning forward and her tilted with a sense of cuteness.

Terrible!

”Uh... yeah. I get that.

No need to worry about that.”