Finding Stardust

Xion had read the contents and he shared Emma"s sentiment. The agreement looked more like a love letter than an agreement. Ah ... why did people in love do mushy things like this?

Emma"s personal a.s.sistant and private teacher looked so excited about being part of this agreement between Emma dan Therius. 

Atila did not know who Haoran really was, and she a.s.sumed Emma was not married. Atila thought this agreement was made because Emma refused to marry Therius since she considered him as the enemy. After all, Akkadia colonized Thaesi.

In her heart, Atila sincerely hoped to see Emma and Therius someday overcome the enmity between them, get married, and bring peace between Akkadia and other kingdoms.

"I just want this to be over quickly," Emma responded to Xion curtly. She looked at Therius and repeated her question. "So, how can we make it official??"

"We will sign the agreement with DNA," Therius said. He pulled a small knife from the drawer, cut the tip of his index finger, and smeared the blood in the lower-right corner of the contract doc.u.ment. He then gave a signal to Emma to give him the contract in her hand. "Give me yours so I can sign it."

Emma walked hesitantly and handed the paper in her hand to Therius. "Don"t you have a pen?"

Xion cleared his throat.

"We sign important doc.u.ments with DNA," he said with a chuckle. "You could say blood covenant binds stronger than law."

Emma shook her head, not understanding. "Don"t you use a lawyer or legal specialist to handle this?"

Atila smiled and joined in explaining. "The blood covenant is an old Akkadian tradition. In modern times we use legal specialists such as lawyers like you mentioned earlier. However, if we don"t have access to lawyers, for example, people in the village or in outer s.p.a.ce like we are now, we can use the blood covenant. This agreement is binding because the witnesses also give their blood to sign the doc.u.ment.

"Oh ..." Emma nodded. She actually did not care much about the procedures as long as the agreement between Therius and her could be made. She needed to have something to hold on to the next five years.

She watched as Therius smeared his blood on Emma"s contract in the same lower right corner.

Emma then took the knife from Therius, made a small cut on the tip of her index finger and put her blood in the lower-left corner of her contract and Therius"s. Then, she handed them over to Xion and Atila.

"Now it"s your turn," she told them.

Xion and Atila took turns, and soon the two papers were each marked by four blood prints.

"You keep one, and I keep one," said Therius. "I will save a copy in your tablet, but you must not lose the original."

"I understand," Emma said. She read the contract one more time and nodded in satisfaction. At least now, she had clarity. Emma nodded slightly toward Atila and Xion, "Thank you for being for our witnesses."

"You"re welcome, Miss," said Atila, smiling broadly. Xion just shrugged.

***

It had been two months since they signed the contract. According to Emma"s calculations, they were more than halfway through their journey back to Akkadia. She had started feeling very bored. Emma always had to do the same things every day, and after more than three months, it finally took its toll on her.

All her waking hours were spent on studying, training, and visiting Haoran in the clinic. Emma could now read any books she wanted because she had mastered the Akkadian writing language.

And, so, Emma used her new skill to research various materials and knowledge she would need to live in Akkadia. But she could only read so much before she got bored and fed up.

Atila and Anddara were very satisfied with her progress. Therius didn"t say anything, but from his att.i.tude, Emma could conclude that the man was happy with her.

Therius also had started training her the basics of mind control. After weeks of teaching Emma meditation and breathing techniques, Therius finally taught her some techniques of using telemancy to control other people.

Like Xion, Therius also held the principle that Emma must use her power as often as possible and train it like a muscle.

Every day, he gave Emma an a.s.signment to randomly control the minds of one crew member and sent them to meet Therius to deliver some items he chose randomly.

"Tomorrow morning, I want you to send someone to the library and bring me a blue cup."

"Tomorrow, you have to send someone to get the cup from the library and put it back in the lounge."

"Send someone to take this book from the library and give it to Saul on the bridge."

Emma had to do it all without using words. She would randomly walk around the s.h.i.+p and chose anyone, patted their shoulders, and ordered them to follow her wishes with telemancy,

Every day, without missing a day, person after person would come to the library and carry out Emma"s orders according to what Therius a.s.signed her.

"For the past three weeks, you have always managed to do what I asked you to do," Therius commented. "From tomorrow, you must control those people without meeting them and touching them."

Emma frowned in surprise. "What? I need to look at their eyes to control their minds."

"You should now be able to control other people"s minds remotely. This s.h.i.+p is not that big, your power is strong enough to reach them," Therius commented. "I"ll show you how."

Emma was stunned. She remembered the event in Shanghai when she was enjoying her nice bath in the bathtub, before her wedding to Haoran. Emma could communicate with Haoran, who was in another room, and they didn"t see each other. Did this mean telemancy can really be used remotely?

Emma was really curious to see for herself how it was done.

"What would you do?" Emma asked attentively.

"I"ll make someone come here. Who do you want to call?" Therius asked her back. "Atila, Anddara, Saul, or Doctor Salas?"

Emma became very excited. If Therius could indeed control people remotely ... then Emma wanted to learn how to do it.

"I want you to get Saul here," Emma said.

"All right. Do you have any preference for his outfit?" Therius asked again.

"He must always wear a military uniform, right?" Emma furrowed her brows. "Can you make him wear other clothes?"

"Of course. I can even make him come here naked."

"Gosh... No need to go that far!!" Emma exclaimed quickly. She didn"t have the heart to see Saul coming naked. The man would have to roam the s.h.i.+p in his birthday suit and be seen by so many people. He was the s.h.i.+p"s captain, after all. His reputation would be destroyed if he wandered naked in the s.h.i.+p.

"Do you want him to wear something specific?" Therius repeated his question.

"Hm ... Make him wear a hat."

"Fine. Anything else?"

"Make him bring a bottle of wine from the lounge and a basket filled with cakes."

"Okay."

Therius seemed to concentrate for a moment. Once he was done, he tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently. Emma looked at the door and the man alternately. She was waiting to see Saul walk through that door anytime soon.

"Just like that?" she asked.

Therius nodded. "Sit down. He will be here soon."

Emma sat down, but her face looked impatient.

Therius didn"t lie. Soon, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Emma exclaimed.

The door opened and Saul entered in his military getup like usual. However, Emma noticed the man now wore a hat on his head. In his hand was a basket containing a bottle of wine and some cakes.

Without saying a word, he placed the basket on the desk, then turned around and left the library.

"Gosh ..." Emma"s face looked very impressed. She patted Therius" shoulder and praised his skills. "How could you do that? That"s amazing!"

Therius" face was beaming at Emma"s compliment. He took one cake from the basket and handed it to Emma. "Do you want to try for yourself?"

"Hmm ... yes," Emma said. "Who should I call here?"

"Try calling Atila," said Therius. "Make her come here to get this basket and return it to the lounge."

"Alright, I"ll try." Emma took a bite of the cake Therius gave her and focused her mind on getting Atila to come to the library.

"Done," Emma said later. She looked at Therius enthusiastically. "I think I did it. I could find her. She was in her clinic, and I told her to come here."

Therius looked at Emma with a faint smile. "We"ll see very soon if you succeed."

Emma stared at the door enthusiastically. She wanted to know if Atila would really enter through the library door as she ordered.

Ten minutes later.

KNOCK KNOCK

Emma held her breath.

"There she is ..." she whispered excitedly. "Atila is really coming!"

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