While the skies of Everleaf blazed with gold, the Kingdom of Nairon remained drowned in the ashes of its own destruction, turned completely upside down. The capital's streets echoed with the chaotic noise of reconstruction and repairs, while hospitals and medical wards were filled to the brim with countless wounded and injured from the recent battle.
Inside the royal council chamber, a suffocating tension hung in the air. The King and Queen of Ice, still staying as heavy, uninvited guests, exchanged sharp, calculated banter with the Prince of Air around a grand table headed by the King of Nairon. The words thrown across the room were nothing but veiled, coded accusations directed at the King, subtly implying that he might have known about the rogue girl's hidden powers all along.
The Prince of Air commented with cold provocation, "Perhaps she was trained in secret somewhere... for such mythic powers do not simply exist in our era without prior calculation."
Deflecting the trap, the King of Nairon sharply shifted the conversation toward resolving the humanitarian crisis striking his kingdom, securing their borders, and retrieving his son, Vairo. He spoke with rigid, royal authority, masking a deep, clawing terror in his heart regarding Dalirina's true nature, while the others cared for nothing except capturing the girl, unraveling her secret, and seizing her power.
Once the stormy meeting concluded, Nazar pulled her father aside in one of the long, secluded corridors. Her face bore a crushing weight of guilt and sorrow toward Dalirina. Looking into her father's eyes, she pleaded in a choked, tearful voice: — "Father... please, let me go and search for them. I thought that if I lost, I would only lose one person... but now I realize I will lose them both. I will lose my friendship with Dalirina, and my brotherhood with my brother. Let me follow them, maybe I can help."
Despite her desperate pleas, her father's refusal was absolute and firm. Nazar had no idea that the Queen had already anticipated this, forcing the father to swear a strict oath before speaking to his daughter, promising to keep Nazar entirely out of this dangerous conflict for her own protection.
As night fell, a shattering piece of intelligence reached the palace; spies brought word of the miraculous appearance of the "Sacred Tree" in Everleaf. Driven by quick political instinct, the King decided to completely bury the news, hiding it from the other kingdoms—not out of malice, but as an indirect way to protect Dalirina and Vairo's location from the greed of the world.
However, the secret did not escape Nazar. The moment whispers of the Sacred Tree and her brother's presence reached her ears, her resolve hardened. Under the shroud of pitch-black darkness, Nazar slipped through the shadows, carefully escaping the palace to chase after her own destiny...