“So, what business do you two have around here?” Hwasa settled herself comfortably into one of the adjacent wooden chairs, supplementing her curiosity with a fresh, overflowing mug of ale. “Wheein and I frequent this tavern, but we’ve never seen anyone else with clothing like yours. You must have come from even further, distant lands.”

“Our visit was…unexpected, to say the least,” answered Moonbyul, still thrown off by the similarities between present Hwasa and her bodyguard Hwasa. “Rather than why we got here, the question’s more of a how we got here. And maybe a why. We’re looking to go back.”

“But we’re not sure how we’ll manage that,” piped up Solar, concern finally sketching its way across her face now that her stomach was full and mind functioning. “Then again, we don’t know where home is relative to here either.”

Wheein frowned and said, “You could have probably chosen a better time to come visiting this place, regardless. It’s kind of all a mess right now, with everything that’s recently happened. All the guards are side-eyeing any visitors and occasionally they just take them in for questioning.”

“What’s the reason of that?”

“Have you heard anything about the theft that happened a few days ago?” Hwasa questioned over a raised, bubbling mug.

“Heechul mentioned something about that,” pondered Solar, hand brushing against her chin as she recalled the last few hours. “He said it was to do with the royal treasury?”

“You’ve already met the king? And you’re on casual terms with him?” Wheein looked surprised, then a little knowing huff of understanding burst out . “Our king is a strange one, I guess you’ve gleaned. He’s certainly kind to his people, but his eccentricity makes us a little more susceptible to…happenings.”

“Happenings like the grand theft,” interjected Hwasa with a sigh. “And the occasional attack.”

“Attack? Is it dangerous here?” Moonbyul’s eyes widened in worry. This was not what she expected, to be dropped off into the middle of a potential warzone. Not to mention it would probably hinder their efforts to return.

“Not as much. The king…,” Wheein grumbled, “the king has a strange way to deal with conflict. Let’s just say conflict never lasts too long around here, thank god.”

Hwasa added, “And we’re pretty friendly with most of the kingdoms in the immediate vicinity. The king has his ways. At least, that’s what his drunk guards complain about every time they stumble into the tavern.”

“So the theft…” Moonbyul thought for a bit. There were no clues they had to go off of. There had to be some reason this was the place they landed in, out of everywhere else. Sure, it had a wacky ruler in charge who brushed off danger too easily. Who bonded with suspected criminals and joked with them about petty things.

She swirled around the liquid in her mug, dark dregs of the remaining drink looking less and less appetizing by the second. This Kim Heechul was such a character she wondered why she had never heard of him before, despite her lack of historical background. The lineage, especially a royal one, could not have so easily just vanished, disappearing without a puff into the veiled drapes of history. Kim Heechul, Kim Heechul.

Was it possible he wasn’t even real? In their timeline, at least.

She glanced at Solar, who was entertaining the younger pair of locals with a lively anecdote supplemented by extravagant hand waving. To think that the king would even assume a familial relation to the girl simply based on their surnames. It was simply preposterous and only made Moonbyul worry more about the security of this kingdom. If he was so gullible to believe in that….

There was also that other possibility.

One that annoyingly s its way into Moonbyul’s mind. The one she desperately tried to sweep away because it would be a little too coincidental and well, she believed in things that fit together logically, like puzzle pieces. Not this oddball named Heechul that ricocheted off every idea she had. But the more she denied it, the more she found her disgruntled self leaning towards the idea. After all, what could possibly be more coincidental than Hwasa and Wheein in this time approaching them so suddenly. Or approaching them at all?

The other hint that pointed towards this was Solar’s, say, unfortunate, similarity to the king in demeanor. For one, both were awfully flippant about anything and everything. It was as if nothing could bother their happy go-lucky mindsets. On one hand, you had Heechul nonchalantly letting in and escorting out unusual visitors despite the security risks, and blatantly ignoring the advice of his personal guard. On the other, you had Solar, seemingly already ignorant of the fact that she was in the wrong time and place, and instead acting the bubbly character with her two new best friends.

Moonbyul was certain staying in either one’s company for too long would drive her crazy. Those few minutes in the throne room? Torture. And she was sure it was a feeling many in the guard likely reciprocated.

It would be unwise to ignore, however. It was a lead.

“Can you two tell us more about the theft?” interrupted Moonbyul, prompting three bright, chuckling faces to turn towards her. “Solar and I are new to town, so we don’t know what’s really been happening around here.”

“It was a huge heist!” Wheein spread her arms out—not a great distance to begin with, but Moonbyul got the point—and widened her eyes. “It had the whole castle in a frenzy! No one had ever tried to just steal—“

“Because obviously, the more reasonable idea is to just raid and loot,” offered Hwasa.

“Yes, but everyone agreed it was almost magical in its mystery. The thieves went in and out in the dead of night, not hurting anyone, not even alerting any of the guards. In fact, they would not have even known of the incident had the king not gone to look for one of his, er…golden hairpins the next day.”

“What kind of stuff did they steal from him?” prodded Solar, suddenly interested. “Money? Gold?” She herself was a thief, too, after all. She spied a rapt Moonbyul out of the corner of eye. “Maybe jewels?”

“You see now, that’s the interesting part.” Wheein lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Most thieves, especially if they’re good enough to break in and out of the royal palace, would probably leave with the items of greatest value, right?”

“Right.”

“But they didn’t. They left pretty much everything of value. All the piles of gold. All the sparkling jewels, assorted in rainbows of colors. They’ve got pretty much the whole castle confused, so I’ve heard on the grapevine,” Wheein said, eyebrows waggling in excitement.

Moonbyul frowned. “So what did they take then, if not that?”

“They went after historical and cultural items. The king’s family heirlooms. Stuff that’s been passed down for generations. Weapons, artwork, accessories.” Hwasa chuckled, fingers dancing across the tabletop in the excitement of the story as they counted down the things the thieves had gotten away with. “Of course, their monetary value must be high as well, but what matters more is their value to the royal family.”

Wheein added with a grin, “Some even say there’s hidden secrets behind those possessions. That’s why they never see the light of day and always remain locked up within the royal treasury.”

“Among the things that were stolen, did anything perhaps resemble a vase?” As she spoke, Moonbyul met Solar’s inquisitive gaze, nodding slightly at the gasp that came out. “Or in general, does the king have a vase among his heirlooms?”

“It’s possible, since the stuff’s been accumulated over the ages. No one ever really checks the precise inventory even when the crown is passed on. My friend who works as a maid in the castle says they’re still trying to document everything that’s been taken. No one really knows what’s exactly in there.” Wheein shrugged, shaking her head with a reluctant sigh. “Not even the king. So it’s really a question of how the thief or thieves knew what they were looking for, if anything.”

Hwasa tapped her chin, eyes suddenly unfocusing in concentration. She threw a question towards Wheein. “Among those relics, there’s three they always told us about, right? In the legends that our parents would tell to us as children, about the history of this land.”

Wheein’s eyes lit up and from gushed a torrent of words. “Right, right! There was um, the sword that the first king used to slay countless hordes of enemies, the one that finally struck down his nemesis, whose blood watered the lands and brought to life the arid battlefield!”

“And then there was the circlet that came to be during the time of the first great war. The one that presumably bestowed wisdom upon the greatest general of the time, leading us into victory and long-desired peace after a long century of endless violence.”

“Finally, there was the urn in which the ashes of a certain important person were stored,” finished Wheein, face flushed from the excitement of remembering her childhood. “Every child in the kingdom knows of these stories.”

Urn. Vase. Moonbyul didn’t have a thesaurus on hand, but she was pretty certain there was a strong likelihood that that special urn was a little more special than the children in the kingdom had been taught. And even though the item she had acquired from the auction had no signs of being used to hold cremated remains…

Which, by the way, brought up several other questionable points.

Moonbyul coughed, gaining Wheein’s and Hwasa’s attentions. “Did those stories ever say whose ashes were held in the urn?”

“They were actually pretty vague on that detail.” Wheein shrugged apologetically and shuffled in her chair. “All we were told is that during that time, a dangerous foe to the kingdom had been wandering around, wreaking havoc with strange, dark abilities. People were dying by the day and order was chaotic. The ruler at the time was fed up with the situation, so with the help of a close aide, they snuck out and hunted down the threat, slewing it and cremating the remains, safekeeping them into the urn as a precaution.”

Hwasa tapped the table to turn the conversation to her. “But this story is the one most people assume is made up. There’s quite a few variations that have popped up over the years.”

“Why is that?” asked Solar, eyes shining in curiosity.

“People have been able to trace the sword and the circlet back down history throughout the years. They’re linked to real people, real times, even if some details of the stories have been exaggerated by word of mouth.”

“So the urn is not?”

“Well, it first appeared during a troubled time in the empire. A lot of the records from that time were lost during a fire or stolen into far off places. Much of the kingdom’s strength was reduced by a plague that swept throughout the land. Some of the scholars are saying the ashes in the urn are from a diseased, hidden member of the royal family. One that they were desperate to keep a secret about.”

“Or it could be that mysterious stranger roaming about at the time,” argued Wheein with a pout.

“Come on, Wheein.” Hwasa tried to reason with the girl who snorted and scooted back childishly. “It just makes more sense to be about the plague!”

While the two friends bickered back and forth with a hesitant Solar trying to pacify the situation, Moonbyul let out a deep breath as she turned her thoughts inward to process the latest information.

The urn was the key.

The urn had likely been stolen, along with the sword and the circlet. If the thieves had reasons other than monetary gain, they would have probably gone for items of other kinds of value. These relics fit the bill.

It was suspicious how no one knew for sure whose remains lay in the urn. The identity could be a clue towards what was happening. Considering what she and Solar had been through, Moonbyul no longer had the confidence to discount any theory that was brought up.

Pft. Time travel? Parallel identities? Ridiculous as each sounded, she couldn’t afford to ignore anything that popped up.

Solar also seemed to hold a strange role in all of this. Back then, she had said the vase was a family heirloom. If the urn was indeed the vase and it was part of the king’s treasury, that would mean Solar was royalty or related to royalty. Still, that did not explain why the vase had done nothing when either of them handled it separately, only to fling them all the way here when they’d joined actions.

What could her own role be? It would be utterly tragic if she had only been brought along by chance and sheer bad luck. However, she’d trained herself to look beyond the haze of the present to decipher the bigger plot.

The question now was, how would they proceed?

She clapped her hands together, interrupting the furious chatter beside her.

“So where would we begin to look for these thieves?”

------------------------------

Solar’s short legs struggled to keep up with the brisk pace the rest of the group set. She skirted around packed carts, hobbled down alleyways, dodged through thick crowds behind three equally short girls, wondering how in the world they could fly through such obstacles with ease.

Ever since Moonbyul had revealed herself to be a detective and insisted on finding information about the lost treasures—an idea that she had been the one to come up with in the first place—Hwasa and Wheein had dragged them through all these roundabout paths towards the edge of town. She couldn’t quite hear the rushed conversation up ahead between Moonbyul and Hwasa, but then again she was occupied with catching her breath every free second they got.

She needed to pull Moonbyul to the side later. There were a lot of questions that she had for the taller girl, most about the conversation they had earlier at the tavern. The words had flown over her head back there and she really needed an opinion of someone in the same position as her.

There was also the other question she reserved for Moonbyul, only to be said when their two new friends would be busy.

It hadn’t hit her at first, when they had first met the two girls. They had looked familiar, but Solar brushed it off, since she often encountered a lot of people in her job as a flight attendant. However, Moonbyul’s paled face and nervous countenance had provided ample clues to reminding Solar of where else she had seen the girls before.

There could be no way they were the same people that had accompanied Moonbyul to the auction.

Before they had rushed towards wherever they were headed right now, they had briefly returned to the two girl’s home, picking up several ‘necessities’, as they had stated in a hurry. Hwasa, an apparent blacksmith, had wrapped up several of her weapons to bring along, strapping an especially cruel looking blade to her back. Solar had no doubt the girl was just as equally capable of wielding it based on the ease with which she tested and handled them all.

Wheein had given them comfortable clothes to change into, ones that would not make them victim to suspicion. She too had swiftly took a satchel, stuffing it with an assortment of foods, clothes, and accessories that she had proudly confessed to designing by herself. In fact, just by the few pieces of art Solar had seen, she was already convinced of Wheein’s talent in the field.

Confusion whirled through her mind as she stood waiting. She had absolutely no idea what could have prompted the two girls to drop their businesses just like that to help them, strangers they had met a mere hour ago. Confusion led to suspicion, but were temporarily washed away by the pure excitement and glee on Wheein’s face as she bustled back and forth in the small abode as well as the seriousness of Hwasa’s expression while introducing her craft to Moonbyul.

“We’re here!” Wheein’s voice broke Solar out of her reverie, back to the present where she was hunched over, gasping for air.

They had arrived by the outer edge of town, where the line of trees was just beginning and the stone path turned over into packed dirt. Several wagons were stationary in the vicinity, various men hanging off the edge clapping each other on the shoulder or tending to horses tied down by a watering trough. A few small fires lay here and there among the group, over which battered iron pots were placed, releasing savory steam that wafted about the air and drew in the crowd like moths to flame.

One of the closest men turned towards them and stood up as they approached, Hwasa and Wheein in the lead. He held a hand up, palm faced forward and said sternly, “This place is off limits.”

Hwasa muttered out the side of to Moonbyul and Solar. “You two stay back for a bit. Wheein and I will make a deal.”

With apparent complete faith, Moonbyul took Solar gently by the wrist, leading them towards the town walls to wait out the conversation. 

“Moonbyul.”

“Yes?” The girl leaned against the cold stone walls barricading the town, eyes trained on the group conversing in the distance.

“Hwasa and Wheein are your coworkers, aren’t they?” Solar’s words immediately rendered Moonbyul rigid, lips losing the little color they had as they thinned over gritted teeth. “I may be slow at times, but I’m decent with faces. And I know I saw them with you the other day at the auction. Don’t try to lie to me about this.”

Moonbyul held her breath, darting a glance towards the pair now arguing with a hefty man in colorful garments. Reassured that they were safely preoccupied and at a reasonable distance, she beckoned Solar closer before she began to speak in a hushed voice. “You’re right. But how was I supposed to explain to either you or them? ‘Oh, we’re not from here. We’re from a different time and place. And by the way, you look exactly like my friends from home.’ Can you imagine how ridiculous I would have sounded?”

Solar questioned further with a buzz of anticipation. “How similar are they?”

The girl let out a pent up breath. “They’re exactly the same. Down to the same mannerisms, the same preferences, and the same everything else. Hell, Hwasa even has that mole in the exact same place.”

“It’s not a coincidence?”

“I think we’re beyond coincidences at this point, Solar.” Moonbyul groaned, burying her head into her palms to muffle a stream of curses. “Nothing makes sense! Everything’s a joke, one after the other, as if someone’s playing with us.”

“So our game plan to get home is to go look for my vase? Are you sure that it’ll help us get home?”

“I don’t know! Ok? I. Don’t. Know.” Moonbyul spat the words out, voice as broken as the spirit it carried. She let out a shaky breath, eyes pouring out a barely withheld plea for help. Almost immediately after, she sputtered, “I-I’m sorry for lashing out. The stress has been getting to me.”

Solar nodded silently, gentle understanding gracing her face as she raised a hesitant hand to rub comfort into Moonbyul’s back, relieving the repressed sobs that rose with each heave of Moonbyul’s chest.

It seemed only normal to be completely flabbergasted with the sequence of events. Moonbyul had let the impossibility of their ‘trip’ send tremors through her stable, rigid view of the world. That was what left her so unprepared to deal with the situation, trying to reconcile two things that were clearly incompatible jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Perhaps that was where they differed. It wasn’t like Solar was particularly into supernatural or magical happenings, but she wasn’t entirely distrustful of their existence. She’d always been rather accepting of anything, maybe even a bit too accepting, to the point where she didn’t care. She’d felt just a bit…disassociated from it all.

There was something else that also dulled her reaction. She couldn’t quite explain it even to herself, but a faint sense of familiarity and comfort pinged within her throughout their journey thus far. It wasn’t like she had seen any of this before. Each step they took drew a blank through her memories but painted a new wondrous picture in its place.

However, she couldn’t shake off that…feeling. That feeling of belonging.

Instead, she shook away the troubling thoughts as she bounced on one foot to the other, trying to cheer up the gloomy detective beside her. If they were to return at all, she knew it would require both of them to be in tip-top condition. “We’ll be ok. At least we have a start, right?”

“Let’s just hope it leads somewhere.” Moonbyul raised her head, half-smile tugging up one side of her lips. “Ever so optimistic, aren’t you?”

“And aren’t you ever so pessimistic.” Solar flicked Moonbyul’s forehead, giggling at the shocked eyes and wounded pout that sprouted. “Ever so serious.” She poked Moonbyul in the side and the girl practically leapt into the air. “Ever so rude.” She lunged forward, mussing up Moonbyul’s hair, ignoring the howl of outrage that erupted from beneath the curtain of silver.

“How dare---“

“Now now. Don’t forget I am older than you, miss detective. You should really listen to your elders sometimes.”

“And let them bully me?” snorted Moonbyul.

“Let them support you and cheer you up.” Solar stood her ground, feet spread as she stared Moonbyul down with crossed arms. Whatever retort Moonbyul had prepared died with her drooped head, still a wild tangled mess. When the silence reigned a little too long, Solar began to grow afraid she had gone a little too far.

As she was about to raise another question, a small voice flew between the locks of hair, mumbling hesitantly, “Thank you.”

Solar let out a sigh of relief. “I’m here. Well, we’re stuck here together regardless,” joked Solar, but her smile of delight at being accepted was sincere. So was the sudden fluttering within her chest that traveled through frayed nerves and sent them tingling throughout her body.

“I’m relieved you were the one I got stuck with then.”

“W-what?” Solar dropped her hands from her chest at the sudden confession, red coloring her cheeks. She apprehensively watched the swath of grey that hid Moonbyul’s face, partly glad it blocked the view of her own flushed face, partly irate that it veiled the emotions she wanted to see on Moonbyul.

“Hey! Guys!” Wheein’s voice cut through the air and Solar almost wanted to cry in frustration at not hearing Moonbyul’s answer. What did Moonbyul mean? Did she mean what she thought she meant? Were those feelings that Moonbyul was revealing? Were—

“I almost forgot to tell you.” Moonbyul sidled next to her, whispering softly as the two girls approached. “Trust Hwasa and Wheein. I’m almost certain we can believe in them. It may be just be my instinct for now, but based on what I know of the pair from home, I can say that they’ve been honest with us so far.”

“But why would they just, all of sudden, decide to join us on the quest?”

“I can’t answer everything. We’ll just have to see.”

Moonbyul grabbed her hand, squeezing it for reassurance as a satisfied Hwasa and Wheein bounded towards them, skidding to a halt a few feet away.

“It’s been settled. We’re to join the merchant caravan and will be leaving in the evening,” informed Hwasa with a pleased expression. “They’re conveniently heading in the same direction as we are.”

“And which direction is that?” asked Solar, with a slight hint of dread in her stomach.

“It’s where you’ll hopefully begin to find answers.” Wheein tinkered with the short sword that had not been strapped on her waist minutes ago. “As long as you stay alive long enough, that is.”

“The town has no name. And technically, it doesn’t even exist. Not on the books at least.”

“But everyone knows it’s where you go if you need something.”

Wheein and Hwasa shared a solemn, knowing glance.  

“The Market.”

*A/N   I have horrible naming sense, so I often tend to try and avoid naming as many things as possible. Honestly, I could not come up with something better than the market. 

Anyways, it looks like their trip will get a little wilder! When I write, I find myself slipping in random tidbits of information that may be hints of what's to come and are also ideas for me to build off of. So don't be surprised if you see random things from before popping up in the future.

Once again, thanks for reading! Updating with unfortunately be a little more irregular with finals coming up and all. Maybe I'll first stop trying to update two fics at the same time because it seems a bit time-consuming. Please feel free to leave a comment below! I really enjoy reading all that you have to say; having a response to my writing is truly motivating. I haven't quite had time recently, but I will do my best to reply!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!