The head of the royal guard, Zitao, Tae was pretty sure his name was, had her hold onto his arm and walk with him back to the road. She had been so dizzy she had actually wished that he would have offered to carry her, but he was afraid she’d get a concussion from hitting her head so many times and wanted her to stay conscious. He figured forcing her to walk back would be a good way to make sure she didn’t fall asleep.

When they broke through the trees, Tae thanked him and the other guard who had come to her rescue and turned to head back to where the servant girls were. Before she could, though, Zitao clamped his hand over hers and was pulling her along towards the head of the entourage.

“Where are we going?”

“His majesty wanted us to report back with you once you were retrieved.”

She didn’t like that wording, that she had been “retrieved” instead of “rescued.” Still, she couldn’t really complain too much.

She walked silently with them until they reached a small, simple tent with members of the royal guard posted around it. This wasn’t where they were stopping for the night, and their breaks were never usually terribly long, so she couldn’t help but wonder what the point of pitching it was.

Zitao lead her straight up to the entrance, only pausing as the guards there opened it up and leaned in to announce them. The guard moved back and as they entered Tae was a little surprised by how empty it was inside. The king and another man were the only contents. The tent wasn’t large, though, and when the flaps closed behind Tae and Zitao, it felt crowded inside, even with just the three of them.

The king and the other man had been in the middle of a conversation, but stopped immediately when they walked in. They bother turned, towards the new arrivals, waiting. Tae wasn’t sure if she was supposed to speak up, and if she was, what she was supposed to say, but Zitao started talking before she could even attempt to come up with anything.

“We were able to apprehend the kidnappers before they got too far. The girl has received a couple of blows to the head, but aside from that, and a few small bruises, she seems to be unharmed.”

“And the kidnappers?” the king asked.

“Escaped.”

“They got away?” the other man.

“That is the meaning of the word.”

Even in the dimly lit tent, Tae could see the man’s face flush.

“This isn’t really the time for your sarcasm, Tao,” the other man said, frowning, though not offended.

“Sorry, Suho.” The head of the royal guard tipped his head forward, though Tae could see him trying to suppress a smile.

“How did they manage to get away?” The king crossed his arms, a thoughtful frown on his face.

“The perpetrator was the thief Yeol and an accomplice.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. You can call in Taeyang to confirm if you need to.”

“Since he’s such a high profile criminal it’d be best to have more than one person to confirm his identity. Though it probably doesn’t matter if we add another charge against him, he’s already one of the most wanted criminals in all Chilrion.”

“He’s so wanted even the rest of the underground wants him arrested, though I hear that’s just because he annoys them. Still, this information could be useful to us in the future, so it’s best to do it by the book. We should bring Taeyang in.”

Feeling like it would be unnecessary to track the other guard down when she could help, Tae wanted to let them know that she had heard the girl refer to the man as Yeol. However, unsure how to address a king, she did the only thing she could think of to get his attention that seemed in any way respectful.

She raised her hand.

All the men in the tent paused and stared at her for a moment, clearly not quite sure what to make of her raised hand. Then, the king spoke.

“Yes, Miss. Noh?”

“Please, your majesty,” she said as she lowered her hand, feeling weird to be addressing someone as “your majesty” but unsure if it was okay to leave it out. “I heard them referring to each other by name.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. The man was Yeol and the girl was Luna.”

Suho swore under his breath.

“They’re working together now?”

No one said anything at first, though the king kept his eyes firmly locked on Tae. He seemed to be deep in thought as he watched her, his mind working through something complex and consequential. It took him a few moments, but he seemed to finally reach a decision.

“It would make sense for them to start working together if what they’re after is important enough.”

“And a girl who can turn straw into gold would definitely rank high enough. Although I always thought Yeol stole mostly for the fun of it.”

“With more money he could organize bigger heists, get more people on his crew,” Zitao said. “Theft isn’t always necessarily about the money. Sometimes it’s about the item being stolen or the fame that comes with it. Sometimes, people just enjoy the con.”

“It’s always a bit unnerving how much you know about all this.” Suho crossed his arms.

“You have to be informed on your enemy if you are to fight them effectively.”

“The people aren’t the enemy,” the king said.

“They are when they break the law and threaten innocents.”

Again, quiet.

“I guess the big question at this point is, what are we going to do with her now? If Yeol knows about her, there’s probably plenty more people that do to. Even if he doesn’t try to take her again, there’s a good possibility others will.”

“I could position guards around her.”

“We can’t decrease the king’s guard since we came with so few and the other nobility will just get offended if we take any from them. We can’t bring her up here to travel with us since that would also annoy them. Especially if… well. I’d just rather not upset them until I can actually get away from them.”

King Jongin only hesitated for a moment before he started making his way towards Tae. He pulled a golden bracelet with an intricately carved design on it off his wrist as he moved, which sent the other two men into a fit.

“Your majesty-”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s the best solution.” The king was calm as he grabbed Tae’s hand, raising it so he could attach the bracelet to her wrist. His hands were soft and gentle as he worked, and there was a kindness in it that Tae much appreciated after what she had just gone through. “We can’t move her position, nor can we send any guards to protect her. Zitao will be by my side for the rest of the trip, I’ll be fine.”

As he finished fastening to bracelet, he adjusted it to it’s proper position, then raised her arm so the bracelet was right in front of her.

“This bracelet is your protection for the rest of the journey. Anyone who tries to take you should at least hesitate if they see this on you. Never take it off whether you’re sleeping, bathing, or doing anything else.” Tae couldn’t help but blush a little, only then realizing she hadn’t properly bathed in the past couple of days and the king himself was standing so close to her. He could probably smell her, and the smell couldn’t be described as lovely. In all fairness, none of the men smelled great either, but she still felt embarrassed of her odor in front of a king.

“Do you understand?”

Tae nodded, realizing a second too late that he had been waiting to be acknowledged.

“Then I think that’s all,” Suho said, clearly dismissing Tae.

However, when the king released her hand, instead of letting her walk away, he reached up and ripped her upper arms, keeping her in place. As he leaned in, Tae became extremely uncomfortable being that close to the king. She wasn’t even sure if it was allowed, or at least not looked well upon. Though she was sure the king could do whatever he wanted. Still, Tae couldn’t help but tense her entire body and shoot her eyes straight down as he leaned in.

“Look at me.”

Tae forced herself to raise her eyes. There was a calm, almost caring look in his face that made the whole thing feel weirdly intimate despite the other two people in the room.

“Are you alright?”

After the previous conversation where she was barely acknowledged, him asking that seemed largely out of place. Unsure of how to react, Tae simply nodded, though with small, jerky motions due to her nerves.

“Would you like a doctor to check you?”

She shook her head, again, using small and jerky motions.

 “Do you have any questions?”

Tae was so thrown by his behavior her mind was frazzled. She opened to ask, but caught sight of Suho’s look of disapproval over the king’s shoulder. Whether it was disapproval for the king’s actions or for her she didn’t know. It only served to make her more confused, so instead of asking her question she merely closed again and shook her head.

“Ms. Noh, I wouldn’t tell you to ask if it wasn’t okay to do so.”

From the look Suho gave, Tae was pretty sure not everyone agreed it was okay. Still, he was the king, and she wasn’t sure who this Suho guy was anyways. Zitao looked impassive, giving her no indication, so she just decided to go ahead and ask since it wasn’t a big deal anyways.

“How did you know I had been taken?”

“One of the maids heard your scream and noticed you were missing. Zitao and Taeyang just happened to be at the back doing inspections when it happened. She informed them, and was sent up here to us to pass along the information here.”

“What…” Tae began hesitantly, but when nobody objected to her asking a second question she continued on. “What was her name?”

“What was her name again?” the king asked, released one of her arms to turn and look at Suho.

“Heeyeon, I believe,” Suho supplied, though the corners of his mouth were turned down.

“Anything else?” the king asked as he looked back to Tae.

She hesitated, but shook her head. She had no more questions, and honestly was ready to head back to the servant girls where she would be ignored. All of this strange attention was making her very uncomfortable, and she’d rather be with those girls than with these men.

The king released her arm, nodded at Zitao, then smiled at Tae before turning away from her and walking back to Suho.

Understanding the dismissal and not wanting to wait around for him to change his mind and come back to grab her again, she turned and exited the tent.

“I’ll you back to your position,” Zitao said as he followed her out of the tent.

“Oh.” She nodded and began walking with him trailing behind her.

~

“This is so boring.”

Lay finished up the mineral locating potion he had been working at his workbench on before reaching for the ingredients to start the next. He glanced up at Baekhyun, stationed at his own workbench, who had flung himself back in his chair with a very dramatic show of distress.

“It does get mindless after a while,” Lay said. “I could quiz you on the last potion ingredient list I gave you to memorize?

“The only thing worse than being bored is being quizzed.”

Lay smiled.

“You need to study so you can learn this stuff.”

“You’d think with all this magic we’d have a spell so that you can just know information, without having to study.”

“We have one for temporary knowledge. Everyone that has attempted anything more permanent has resulted in the opposite happening.”

“Like people not remembering anything?”

“Not exactly. It actually prevents anyone from learning anything new. Of course, different recipes can affect how strong it is. For some it just makes it harder to remember anything from the point when they take the potion on. For some, They can’t retain anything after drinking it. They live constantly thinking they just drank the potion.”

Baekhyun frowned at this. He stretched in his chair, popping his joints and relieving tension that had built up in his muscles after spending hours sitting in that chair making potions. At the rate he and Lay were working, they would make the deadline, but just barely. Lay continued on working while Baekhyun started thinking.

“Maybe it needs to be a magical object, rather than a potion. Has anyone tried anything like that?”

Lay smiled even more at Baekhyun’s question.

“If they have, it’s not known information. When you became skilled enough to imbue objects with magic, maybe you should try.”

“Yeah, whenever that will be.” A pause. “Have you ever made any magical objects before?”

“No.”

“Have you ever owned any?”

It was a few seconds before Lay answered.

“Yes.”

“What was it?”

Lay finally stopped working on the potion, heaving out a sigh and closing his eyes before leaning back in his chair. Baekhyun glanced over at Lay from across the room. Their workbenches were separated so far away to minimalize the risk of their spells or potions crossing each other as they worked on them.

“It was actually two objects, but they were a set. One only functioned with the other.” Lay glanced up at a painting on the wall, The Woods. He did it periodically, and it had always struck Baekhyun as strange. When he had first apprenticed himself to Lay a few years ago, and he had found out what the painting did, Baekhyun had feared someone was trapped inside. However, the more time he studied under Lay, the more ridiculous the idea seemed. He was convinced Lay wouldn’t have been able to trap a fly in the painting, forget a person.

Besides, the way he looked at it was all wrong for that. His face would turn thoughtful, almost day-dreamy sometimes. Baekhyun only recently had the thought that it might remind him of a past lover, but it was a strange painting for such a thing. As a result, he hadn’t really given the idea much credit.

“The objects were a pair of bracelets. They were created so that when one of the bearers is in danger, the person wearing the matching one would know.”

“What constitutes danger, though? Does the bracelet decide?”

“It’s less complex than that, actually. They’re triggered by fear.”

“But that’s it. They don’t do anything but alert the person wearing the bracelet that the person wearing the other bracelet is afraid?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s so useless.”

“It isn’t useless if you’re trying to protect someone.”

Baekhyun was silent a moment.”

“I guess. But how often are you going to need those? You’re not using them now, are you?”

“I don’t have them anymore.”

“Why not?”

“They were stolen.”