The maids rushed to the king’s side, their skirts flowing as they ran around to arrange the king’s proper attire. They were suddenly interrupted by an envelope knocking against the window. They all stopped, wondering why the king had a letter in such an important occasion. They all thought it would be rude towards him if they didn’t leave, so they did.

The king opened the window and grabbed the letter, knowing immediately that it was from his son, Jungkook. He sighed, opening it. His eyes went from left to right, reading every word written on it. His face immediately went from placid to a scowl.  He clenched the letter in the middle of his palm, slowly burning the parchment,  though it was a pleasing scent. The ashes fell on the carpet, carried away by the wind right after that.

“How dare he venture out there without an earlier notice?!” His voice was deep and loud that it bounced back on the walls. He walked around his orb, the white marble, standing on its standee, on a small desk. He hummed softly and touched it slightly, and as he did, it immediately showed the image of the headmistress, writing down on parchment paper. “Hestia!”

She seemed surprised by the sudden call of the king. She fixed her glasses and tilted her head, confused and a bit nervous. “Yes? Is there something you want?” She fixed her posture, straightening her back as she arched an eyebrow.  

“I won’t beat around the bush, I’ll get straight to the point. Why did you send my son out of the Academy? I specifically asked you to look after him, not to go look after your daughter. I can send a lot of my guards after your daughter if that is what you need. Just not my son.”

Hestia sighed and stood up, walking on the other side of the desk. “You don’t seem to understand, my king. Your son was the one that volunteered to go and look for the future queen.” She then raised a finger when the king was about to say something. “I already told him he couldn’t, but he was willing to do so. Don’t you think you’re locking him up inside for too long? He’s not like Taela. He doesn’t need to prepare to hold all the responsibilities of the kingdom. Obviously that doesn’t mean he hasn’t a responsibility with his people. So what if by locking him up, the time comes where he needs to go out there to help them? He needs to get used to the environment. Your reason for making him study in my school is to let him socialize with the people that might be his subjects someday, am I not right? And—Why aren’t you listening to me,” she rolled her eyes when she saw in her orb the image of the king fussing around in his chamber.

“No, Hestia, whatever you say, my son is still not ready to go out there. He has to wait until he is graduated,” he said, determination clear in his voice. He sounded like he was already ordering Hestia, but of course she wouldn’t say so.  

“But my king, maybe he’s more ready than you think.” She smiled at him. “Give the boy a chance to shine. Let him carry your name as the next guardian of your kingdom, next to my daughter.”

The king scoffed. “I wouldn’t be so sure that Taela will be the next heiress if I were you.”

That made her squint her eyes. “What are you possibly implying?”

“What I’m saying is that it’s not definite. And you know it too. That is why you have been investigating my son. Trying to figure out his hidden power in case he’s a threat to your daughter’s future, huh?”

“What? How did you—”

“Min Yoongi doesn’t have the title of royal knight as decoration, Hestia. I’m watching you too.”

The last thing that Yoongi saw before going through the gates of the Academy was the headmistress from the top window who looked sad and concerned, but he was sure to reassure her that they would find her daughter soon, because the sooner they found Taela, the sooner Jungkook would be back in the Academy, and of course he would be safer there. He didn’t pack much, only the essential stuff he would be needing, and of course a few snacks so they wouldn’t have to spend some money on the way to the small town. He sighed deeply and looked down at the path; he could tell that there was still a lot of walking they had to do. He pursed his lips and tried not to think much of it or else he would get too impatient. He looked over at Jimin, he seemed to have no problem with carrying his bags, because he was strong. He wished he could have a power that could be useful in his everyday life, not a power that could kill someone when used wrongly.

“What are you thinking about, hm?” Jimin stopped for a second so he could talk to Yoongi who was behind all of them as if he was watching them. Yoongi wasn’t the type to have a conversation while walking, but he would exempt Jimin and Jungkook for now.

“Just thinking about stuff that’s been bothering me lately,” he replied to the shorter male.

“What about Jungkook? Have you guys fixed things?” Jimin turned his head to look at Yoongi, but there was no response. The pink-haired male guessed so. He shook his head stubbornly and crossed his arms at him. “You know it can affect our mission if the both of you don’t fix this soon.” Jimin creased his lips in a thin line.

“I know what I’m doing Jimin,” Yoongi bickered back, defiantly rolling his eyes as he sped his pace of walking just so he could avoid further conversation with the younger. Jimin knew it would be a long way for him before Yoongi could even trust him wholly, he guessed that Jungkook must have had a hard time trying to understand the mysterious man as well, even if they knew each other since forever.  

Seokjin tried to get a better grip of his bag, his back starting to hurt, as well as the rest of them, except for Jimin. And that was actually the only time that everyone felt envious of Jimin’s power. They all turned to look at him and the young boy was too distracted since it was his first time going to a town that wasn’t populated by mages. They all bared it until they were near the town. They chose that destination simply because it was the closest town to the Academy, so there was a high probability that Taela went there. It was easy to travel since there was a path leading to their destination, but mostly they would have to search for the right place to stop by.

Finally they arrived at the small village. Namjoon scanned the whole street to look for someone to talk to until his eyes were caught by a crying child with a worried old lady. Namjoon couldn’t help himself but do what he thought he should do: help them. The old lady seemed a bit startled with the sudden visitation of mages, bowing deeply so she could show respect.

“Mages! Oh, your kind doesn’t visit us elves that often,” she gave them a smile that made her wrinkles visible, it was warming and welcoming. Jungkook tilted his head, looking at those twitching pointy ears. He widened his eyes in fascination. He didn’t have the opportunity to see them in real life since he was always in his room, just reading about them instead of actually seeing them with his own eyes. She was about to say something when she was interrupted by the loud whining of the child that was just holding her hand.

Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows. “What seems to be the problem here madam?”

The old lady tugged on his daughter’s hand to stop her from crying. “Don’t be rude to them—”

“Mister, mister, we ran out of coals to cook with, now mama can’t cook our soup…” The child kept pointing at the empty shelf that was inside their house.

Hoseok smiled at the young girl, crouching down. “Now now, please don’t be sad, we’ll save the day for you,” he ruffled her hair making her pout.

“But how is that mister? Are you going to help us with your magic wand?”

Seokjin chuckled at the assumption. They were often mistaken with witches and fairies, but it was amusing. “We’re not fairies my dear, we do not have a wand, but we have powers.”

Namjoon tilted his head and shook his head. “There has to be some way to keep the fire long without coals, you can use logs and—that. Yep, we can use just that.” As he was talking, Jungkook was already walking inside the house casually. He whistled and bent down to the small kettle that already contained the ingredients. He placed his hands on either sides of the pot and closed his eyes, trying to ignite a small flame. As he opened his eyes, the girl giggled and went to his side.

“The soup is boiling ma! Oppa did it!” She clapped her hands, grinning widely as if she just won a prize.

Yoongi chuckled and looked at Jungkook. He seemed so far away from him. He was helping people, and he was there, just caring about Jungkook. All this time he only looked at the younger, he didn’t have the time to look at the lives of other creatures out of their kingdom. From when he was just young he was taught to protect only the prince, but as he grew up, he couldn’t help but to think that maybe it wasn’t just Jungkook, maybe it was also everyone. As a royal knight, he should protect everyone that the prince held dear to him. He looked over to the child and had that nostalgic feeling to it. He placed his hands on his back and immediately straightened his posture.

“O-Oh my, you’re the prince!” the lady suddenly exclaimed as she looked more closely at Jungkook. “How rude of us not to greet you with proper manners,” she was about to kneel down when he suddenly shook his head frantically.

“N-No, please stand up.” Jungkook sighed. Before, when he was in the castle, he loved that kind of treatment: people kneeling at his sight, admiring how important he was. Now, after spending time in the Academy being treated like an ordinary person, he just felt stupid and uncomfortable.

The old lady was confused but she just nodded and ushered all seven of them inside her small house. It was a simple house, almost the same size as dwarves but a bit more bigger, since elves aren’t that big like normal human beings or even mages. As they went inside, they observed the old lady had a couch, and a few small stools that surrounded the small table that was on the center. Taehyung loved the design, it was so antique and it never got old.  He smiled and huffed out when he saw the big portrait that had a lot of small elves lined up.  That must be her family. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect any guest, my house is dirty.” She said, trying to rearrange some things on the table, getting seven bowls and spoons from her cabinet.

“Oh no you don’t have to, we were just passing by—” Jimin couldn’t finish his sentence because of his grumbling stomach. Hoseok chuckled—he knew most of them didn’t have any breakfast because of the hurry and nerves—and looked at all of them before smiling at the old elf. He thought it wouldn’t hurt if they accept generosity from a lovely elf.