A desert away from where Maes Hughes was comforting his friend, a young boy was sitting on the highest boughs of a tree. His name was Ling Yao, and he hd absolutely, positively, one hundred percent not stolen all of the bread in the kitchen. Or the rice. Or the chicken. If, perchance, these things had happened to disappear while he was near the kitchen, it had obviously been a complete coincidence, and the cook really should be looking for the true culprit, rather than hunting him down. Yes, Ling decided, munching on a piece of bread that had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, he was definitely not the person behind the Case of the Missing Food Items.

Despite his complete and total innocence, Ling's snack was interrupted by the appearance of his guard, Fu.

"Young Lord, what are you doing up here?"

Ling quickly his the food.

"Nothing! I am doing nothing at all!" Fu gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Young Lord, if you remain in this tree for much longer, you will be late for the diplomatic meeting your parents are having with the Chang clan." So saying, the old ninja began to descend from the tree. Ling pouted and shoved the remaining bread in his mouth, before following.

It had been a month since the accident which rendered Mei Chang invisible and incorporeal, and she had since come to the conclusion that she had died, and was now doomed to haunt her family for all of eternity. It just made sense. After all, the only things she had ever heard of that sounded like her situation were the ghost stories Old Man Lee told her whenever she would bring Xiao Mei over for a check up.

Speaking of the little panda, she seemed to be the only living thing capable of seeing Mei, and had taken to following her around the house. She wasn't doing so today, though. No, today, the little panda had a much more important job; spying. The Yao clan was visiting on diplomatic business, and Mei Chang might not be alive anymore, but she'd be damned if she was going to let another clan walk into her home without keeping a very careful eye on them. Hence why she was floating in the corner with the best view of the entire dining hall, and Xiao Mei was on the highest wall of the castle, watching for the Yao's arrival.

Mei's introspection was soon cut short by the chattering of her panda companion, who had spotted the oncoming procession. After that, it wasn't long before the Yao's arrived. They were an intimidating family, not one of the wealthiest, but certainly far better off than the Changs. The clan head was a tall man with his long hair pulled up into a bun. He was lithe, rather than outright muscular, but one look at the large sword on his back would keep anyone from doubting his strength. Next to him was his sister, a tall, rather beautiful woman with intelligent eyes and ink stained fingers. Behind her was her son, the Prince and the Yao clan hier. He was a young boy, supposedly only a year older than Mei, but he was rather tall for his age. His hair was pulled up into a pony tail, and his face was split into a wide grin. Overall, he looked rather nice, but not particularly intimidating, and Mei's eyes would have scanned right over him had he not walked right up to her, poked her in the face and said

"Hi, I'm Ling? Why are you see through?"