“…Hello,” he said, a hand raised to hold the papers in place – presumably. “Do you need anything?”

“N-no,” Dahyun stammered to answer the man’s question, cringing immediately. She looked down, taking in a deep breath. Since when was she like that? Shy and stammering? She’d never exactly been the life of the party, but she was usually comfortable around people. “Th-that is to say, I… um.” She looked away, sighing. Get yourself together, Dahyun. “Do you know the way to the Sun lodgings?”

“No,” he said, not needing much time to think about it. He lowered his hands, the papers hanging frozen in the air, and he turned to her, taking slow steps. Dahyun stared at the streamers for a few moments, perplexed by whatever made them hang in the air, before forcing herself to look at him – he’d been a decent way away, but he was at a fairly normal, conversational distance now. She had to fight her itching ankles and knees just to stand still. Instinct told her to move away. “Why would I? They don’t want those from the Moon Clan to reach them.”

“I don’t think they’ll mind,” Dahyun said, and finding and speaking the words somehow allowed her instincts to take over; she took a step back. He noticed it, a small knot appearing between his eyebrows. “I-I mean, if you do know. Which you don’t. So it doesn’t matter.”

She should move away, but she was frozen.

“Why do you want to go there anyway?”

“How are those papers floating?”

She blurted it out almost before he’d even finished his sentence, and he turned back to the shape. As he looked, it all crumbled, falling gracefully to the large mat on the ground. “That was me,” he said, looking back. “What else would it be?”

“B-but you weren’t touching them!”

He didn’t react at all, just stood still and looked at her, not outright flabbergasted but very clearly confused. “I was doing it with my mind,” he said, his sentence fading out with uncertainty. “Have you really never heard of the powers of the nobility?”

“We don’t have anything like that in the Sun Enclave,” Dahyun said, stepping forwards for some reason – foolishly impulsive and courageous apparently go hand in hand. “That’s incredible. You’re just born with that?”

But then he looked like he wanted to take a step back. “Ah… you’re from the Sun Enclave,” he said, eyes flickering away. Dahyun’s breath came a lot easier while he was looking away. “I suppose that’s why you want to go there.”

“Oh, yes. I got lost.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why weren’t they watching you?”

“I don’t know. They were busy doing other things.”

“So then you wandered to our part of the Temple.”

“Not intentionally,” Dahyun said, taking another step forwards in spite of herself. “I just – well I got lost and then I kept moving in case I found my way back and I ended up here.”

“In case you found your way back.”

She faltered at that; it wasn’t a question, he wasn’t asking for a response.

“You’re judging me,” she accused, standing as tall as she could.

“Oh, you worked it out?”

Dahyun puffed anger out through her nose, crossing her arms. “You shouldn’t judge people you hardly know.”

“Everyone judges people they hardly know. That’s how they form opinions. I assume you’ve had an opinion at least once in your life?”

“What did I do to deserve this!?”

The man blinked. “I don’t know. When you think of these things, you just say them.”

“Speak for yourself,” Dahyun grumbled. “Who’d have thought someone who could make those streamers look so pretty would have a personality like this.”

The man smiled, a forced one that still made his eyes crinkle. “I’m not the best at streamer art. It’s not even a hobby. So I’m not obliged to have a good personality.”

Dahyun giggled in spite of herself – she cycled wildly between emotions, but there was something about this man that made her so aware of herself and how she was feeling. “Fine. I guess I’ll tolerate it then.”

“Dahyun!”

She turned quickly, beaming at Yugyeom who rushed inside.

“I got lost!” She said, moving over to him. She paused, glancing back at the Moon man, the one with the quiet dignity and the perfect posture. “I guess I’ll see-”

She'd had been speaking tolerably smoothly, but suddenly it occurred to her that see you later wasn’t necessarily valid.

“...see… um, bye!”

She beamed at him, managing all the brightness she usually reserved for her closest friends, before Yugyeom started tugging her arm and she followed him out of the room.

“That’s a strange man,” Dahyun said, looking back at the door as she moved with her friend. She felt his eyes on her for a few moments; thinking about something. Dahyun was a bit too absent-minded to wonder what.

“Strange in a bad way?” Yugyeom asked.

“Hmm… I don’t think so.”

Yugyeom sighed, and she looked over at him. “Right.”

***

You see their eyes, or their smile, and you feel it.

Jimin wasn’t exactly sure what kept that smile burning in the back of his mind. She was a complete stranger; she appeared, talked to him for perhaps a minute, and then vanished. He’d had plenty of interactions like that before. But in this case…

She was stuck in his mind, a strange new mental scent lingering on his every thought. He showed up the next morning to the Council room, and he hated how all he could think the moment the Sun Clansmen arrived was that they probably knew who she was. How was he supposed to ask?

Who was that dark-haired girl with the bright smile? What they would want to know is why he cared. And it was a damn good question.

“As with yesterday, I would like the begin with a formal request that Park Jimin be removed.”

Jimin stifled his groan.

“All who agree?” Jiyong asked, and the Sun Clansmen raised their hands. “And those who disagree?”

The Moon Clansmen only.

“No majority,” Jiyong said lifelessly. “Overruled.”

Jimin leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the table without really seeing it. He wondered if that Dahyun girl would feel that same hatred towards him.

It didn’t seem likely. She didn’t strike him as a hateful sort of person. It was a strangely warming thought, and it occurred to him that if he was ever lucky enough to meet her again, he should try not to be so poisonous with his words.

…If he was ever that lucky. Not probably. And anyway, luck and running into a stranger were two different things.

He sighed wearily, drawing glares from Soonkyu for the interruption. What was happening to his mind?

***

“How did it go, Mother Soonkyu?” Dahyun asked, offering the woman her brightest smile. She returned it, slightly muted; she was tired. Dahyun knew politics had never suited her all too well; Soonkyu was born humble, and growing up she’d naturally dedicated herself to the worship of the Sun. Dahyun had heard her story by many people, praising her to the skies and back; she’d always envied it. It didn’t come naturally to her. She feared that all her religious characteristics were simple habits, properly trained into her as she grew up in the Sun Chapel.

That had something to do with why she idolised Soonkyu so much. The rest of it was the simple fact that when Dahyun had lost everything, Soonkyu had been there, kind and warm and exactly what a young girl who missed her parents needed. Yugyeom had helped too; he forced her to laugh and to smile. But Soonkyu forced her to remember that even when she was laughing, she was allowed to hurt.

“It went… ah, not too well. There is little unity within the Moon Clan.” Soonkyu looked away for a moment. “Except on all the wrong things.”

A moment passed, and Soonkyu moved forwards, seating herself by her desk. Dahyun had followed her into the room the moment she saw her – not everyone was welcome there, but Dahyun knew she was.

“Are they really so bad?” Dahyun asked, remembering that man with his streamers. A bit… harsh, but in a playful way.

Dahyun really wasn’t sure why she had such fond memories of the conversation.

“Yes,” Soonkyu said, exhausted. “At least all those I’ve met. I don’t doubt that they are honourable and kind folk throughout the Enclave, but the Council…” Soonkyu sighed, looking back at Dahyun gently. “It is a plutocracy, child. That means that only those born to noble blood may make the rules; it is inherently designed to hurt the struggling, and to help the wealthy. Pity them.”

“That’s terrible,” Dahyun said quietly. “Is there any way for them to fix that? To have some proper perspective on their Council?”

“A good question,” Soonkyu said, looking down sadly. “But I’m afraid not. Only one of their Council may be of poor blood; and that person is always corrupt with the Essence of the Moon. There is no saving them, and no saving the Council.”

Dahyun bit her lower lip, looking down. “It’s a good thing that at least we work so hard for our poor.”

“Yes,” Soonkyu said. “The Sun shines light on all, without preference. It is a gift, one of which the Moon Clan would be willingly ignorant. All we can do for them is pray, and to highlight a better path for them.”

Dahyun nodded, a strange uncertainty hitting her as she thought about that man. “Haven’t we tried talking to them? Making them realise how their people suffer?”

Soonkyu smiled wanly. “We could try… but I fear it would lead only to exhaustion, and an even greater dislike between our peoples. No, they are lost to us.”

Dahyun still wasn’t sure why it wasn’t worth the effort. Mother Soonkyu – for all her good traits – assumed that it was over, without even trying once.

“I see,” she said quietly, looking away. She bowed deeply, thinking hard. “Thank you for this conversation, Mother Soonkyu. I’ll speak to you in future.”

“Have a good night, Dahyun.”

She left, closing the door behind her. She felt beyond burdened, but that wasn’t exactly supposed to be a surprise. She’d be worried if she didn’t feel burdened, given everything.

“Hey.”

She jumped out of her skin as she turned, and Yugyeom laughed at her, bright as ever but somehow different.

“You’re so flighty, little girl.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes, letting a hint of a smile crawl onto her face.

“Sometimes flighty is good.”

“Oh yeah? When?”

“When there’s a bear,” Dahyun said, forcing her dramatic expression as she moved passed him. He followed wordlessly.

“You talked to Mother Soonkyu?”

He went serious fast. But it wasn’t too far from the surface these days. Ah, her Yugyeom had grown up – it made her feel nostalgic. Like she was his mother.

But in an orphanage, it felt like there were times where they all mothered each other. Like having a hundred poorly prepared, idiot parents all at once. She loved them all.

“I did,” she said, pulling herself back into reality. “She’s… not seeming very happy.”

Yugyeom sighed; the weight of it almost sounded like it would match the weight on Dahyun’s shoulders. “We’re all under pressure right now.”

“Yeah,” Dahyun said quietly. She only realised a few paces ahead that Yugyeom had stopped walking.

“How are you holding up, Dubu?”

Her smile came forcefully, along with a valid amount of cringing. “You haven’t called me that in at least a decade.”

“Well, what better time for it to resurface?”

Dahyun turned, smiling sadly. “I’m okay. I don’t really have room to be anything else.”

“Emotions usually don’t like to take that into account.”

Dahyun looked down, the weight feeling heavier. Not quite crushing yet. She’d cling to that.

“Don’t worry about me, Yugyeom,” she said, moving again and steeling herself. “We should worry about the sky.”

“Yeah, I just…”

She turned back to him outside her door, casting him a smile.

“Don’t worry about me,” she repeated, entering her room. There was an upside – no room-sharing anymore.

It felt like a cheap consolation.

a/n- I hope you're as into politics as I am because it always bleeds into everything I write lmao. A lot of build-up at this point, still. Let me know what you think :)