The Northern palace you and your friend were crashing in, thanks to Yue’s hospitality, was anything but quiet this morning. Which, frankly, kind of bugged you—especially since you’d accidentally pulled an all-nighter trying to track down some spirit-thief who’d been using an ancient artifact to capture spirits.

Faint footsteps echoed across the marble floors. Yue, the prince, walked the hallways, rubbing his eyes and sighing, visiting you all for breakfast in bed. Every night for the past week, you’d noticed him slipping out of his room, pacing, muttering to himself, and occasionally losing focus to stare at nothing.

He paused outside your door—before barging in with almost half his staff trailing behind, each holding a different breakfast item. You groaned, burying your face in your pillow in protest, but the smell of warm pastries and Kalenutsco hit your nose. Your stomach betrayed you with an unignorable growl, forcing you to sit up.

"Rise and shine, Avatar," Yue said, leaning casually against the doorframe. "Sorry to, um… wake you this early, but I was up, and it’s really not good to sleep all day."

He stepped closer, white fur-lined jacket catching the soft morning light, expression calm and almost indifferent—but you knew him well enough to see the tension coiled in his shoulders. The cup of green tea in his hand trembled slightly, a subtle reminder that his connection with the spirit world had been pulling at him more than usual.

"I wonder if you’ll go down in history as the laziest Avatar," he added, his tone teasing—but with a weight beneath it that made you hesitate.