After the Maiden of the Wind Ring Princess Nephrites Lomka flees, her older brother Prince Jade arrives and tosses Haruto in a cell for a period not to exceed eighty years. Jade is a serious siscon, and even if he didn’t feel she was too young (54!), he insists that Nephrites doesn’t have to inherit the Wind Ring. As long as the Tempest Wall is in place, their people are safe.
Haruto is busted out by a busty elder she-elf, who takes him to the Temple of Wind to show him the location of the Wind Ring: in the hand of Nephrites and Jade’s parents, turned to stone but still continuously maintaining the Tempest Wall. When Nephrites shows up to pray to them, she over hears Haruto and the Elder, and when she spots him, she faints on sight.
The Elder takes Haruto and Neph to a secure location and bids him good luck in winning her over. And while she vomits all over him shortly after regaining consciousness, he’s able to assure her he means her no harm. He learns Neph is actually quite curious about the outside world, including the one he comes from, thanks to the books the Elder has lent her. She even expresses an earnest desire to visit his world with him someday.
But being curious about the world and actually stepping outside are two different matters. When Prince Jade and his guards flush them out of the Elder’s treehouse, Neph is ready to assert her own will, as Haruto encouraged, but is quickly strong-armed by Jade to return to the palace with him. He’s convinced the status quo is sufficient; Neph needn’t ever inherit the ring.
After reuniting with Hime (who admits she’s a bit jealous by his dealings with pretty she-elves), the Elder, named Peridot, tells them that it isn’t just Prince Jade keeping Neph from inheriting the ring. When her elder sister fell in love with a human traveler but rumors and suspicions led to his mysterious disappearance, the grief-stricken sister cursed and fled the village.
The ensuing fear of that curse led to Neph’s parents inheriting the ring in her older sister’s stead and using it to raise the Tempest Wall. Neph isn’t the only one afraid of the outside world; the entire village is that way. But like Rivendell, a beautiful elven haven cannot stand against the power of the Abyss King.
They may feel safe now, but if Neph doesn’t inherit the ring and the Ring King doesn’t marry her and gain its power, their ruin is as certain as everyone else’s. If Jade can’t be convinced of this, perhaps Neph can be made to realize she can’t keep her promise to her parents.
