Fear not the unforeseen welcoming

They are the people you are seeking

Searching beyond the crystal blue for its wonder

What is that supposed to mean? He had been studying over the same words, the same sentences, and the same stanza over and over again. At one moment of time, the phrase ‘give up’ would pass by his line of consciousness. Only that he knew he was not a quitter. Therefore, he increased the pace of his walk around his palace quarters, attempting to decipher the hidden meaning behind the ancient letterings.

Over in Navillera Isle, it had been months since the episode of reuniting two elements, two parts into one great harmony they were once known of. Seeing the Haesang with bright smiles as they swinging by with baskets of freshly picked fruits and vegetables to the villagers in Seonghwa, it was peaceful just like how they remembered.

Flying over to the Seonghwa palace, the side profile belonged to the soon-to-be King of the part of land was seen since he found himself sitting by the opened window of his bedroom with book in his hands. Though his time to read had lessen with the number of lessons he had to learn in order in preparation to be the future ruler, Crown Prince Park Jimin simply put on a smile of ease as he dived deeper into the world of fiction. But his imagination later torn off by the familiar sounds of horses galloping through the palace front and that would be only being one indication.

His future-in-laws and Crown Princess had arrived.

Swiftly shifted into his bright red pair of wings, Jimin flew from his room down to wear the Haesang royals carefully made their way out of their carriages. Fascinating enough for the other, it became a habit of theirs to go from one place to another in such transportation instead of flying. One of the things the Crown Prince was happy to witness after the whole ordeal occurred on their lands. However, it was not as happy as to see the princess’ face after weeks of exchanging letters.

“Kim Jiyeon, my princess, how are you my dear?” Jimin took her hand as she, Jiyeon stepped onto the flat ground with her signature shy smile when she heard him calling her ‘princess’ though she should have been getting used with it already. Nodding her head once, she replied, “I’m doing well, thank you for asking.”

As they were talking and moving over to the dining hall, the fellow stumbled forward a little and upon hearing his fiancée laughing on his right side would mean her stepbrother, his best friend managed to tag along. “Are you not going to talk to me now? Is that how you treat your brother-in-law, little one? I can’t say I’m proud of your treatment here.” Kim Taehyung spoke in a joking manner with his boxy smile visible on his face. He was excited to be in Seonghwa too because of many reasons and one of it would be he could see his love.

“Is it my fault that you’re always here and then head straight to the servant’s quarter to find Sujeong? Reflect on your action first, Taehyung.” Jimin replied knowingly as both of the high-rank royal family entered the dining hall where the brunch was already served.

They conversed and talked of the most random topics they could muster in between the session. It did not take long that as soon as it was done, Jimin, Jiyeon and Taehyung found themselves relaxing underneath the roofed area of what once known by many as the jousting ground. The visual of the place was different now.

The tree that was almost burned to the ground managed to regrow healthily with proper care by the royal gardeners. The princes had long ended the need to constantly train and sparring since they thought it would only hinder them from doing more important stuff like approaching and listening to the villagers needs and such.

Yet that was not the main reason of why the Seonghwa’s royalties called for the Haesang to come to their part of the island. There was a reason and truth to be told, Jimin himself had no idea why because the prince who called for them did not do much explanation, leaving them all fidgety of wanting to know his intention. Landing her head on his shoulder, it brought the Crown Prince’s train of thoughts back to reality.

“I wonder what the important proclamation that Prince Changsub wanted make is. We’ve been discussing about it in our ride on the way here. I even talked to Myungsoo about it too.” Taehyung broke the tranquil silence that was blanketing around them and being the one that was brave enough to voice it only then the other two sat and wondered as well. A round of sigh escaped the couples’ lungs.

Would it be a lie to say they were not expecting for this kind of day to come? To live in surprise as they waited for news regarding unknown. Maybe, just maybe someone should knock on their door and drag them out of the little world of discussion they have. And fortunately, someone did in a form of a recognisable palace servant. A smile came on Taehyung’s face before the two royals could even face her.

“Pardon me for interrupting the moment you’re having but Prince Changsub is calling for everyone to gather at the throne room. The King and Queen of both Seonghwa and Haesang are already there too.” The palace servant that went by the name Ryu Sujeong stated with a bow before her eyes fixed on the silvery purple headed ones. Bobbing their heads in synchronise, they exited the area in their respective pair.

Upon entering the throne room, it was noticeably filled with chatter and puzzlement. Leading the way, Jimin arrived at his parents’ side while Jiyeon stood on hers since the chairs were arranged in such position where three on the right and three on the left for the royals. ‘I thought Sujeong said Changsub is already here. Where is he?’ The Crown Prince noted in his mind as his eyes scanned the perimeter of the room. It took him about a minute to find the hint of orange contrasting to the dark brown hair owned by the older prince.

He appeared to be talking to another prince that Jimin could point out to be Changsub’s closest male friend in the palace, Yook Sungjae. By the time he turned his gaze off the fellow, he met with Jimin’s before nodding his head, signalling that he was ready to announce the reason of gathering everyone. Standing up from his seat, the prince lifted his right hand and from that gesture alone, most of the people in the throne room grew into total silence.

“Thank you,” He began humbly as his briefly nodded his head and continued, “As everyone might have heard from rumours that have been lingering over in the Seonghwa’s palace, I think it is my time to step up to voice everyone, to clear up the things that could have been the wrong information. Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude towards the Haesang’s royals as I believe I might have disturbed your schedule.”

The mentioned side simply curved a smile as Jiyeon shook her head slightly. Yes, he did interrupt one of her lessons but when she heard the urgency written in Jimin’s latest letter, she knew something big was about to be revealed. Once he placed his hands to his back, Changsub carefully made his way to the centre of the room, gaining all the necessary attention he aimed for.

“You see, Navillera Isle have been standing here for many, many years with great history and its unique turn of events. However, has anyone ever think, what else is out there, beyond the comfort of our border?” He extended his arm to the left to let the people, princes and palace guards alike to visualise his statements. Getting off his seat, every pair of eyes in the room turned from Changsub’s to Jimin as he too walked down to join in the prince.

“I agree with you, Prince Changsub. I’ve been wondering the same. I do believe there are more people of our kind out there, beyond the borders.” Jimin spoke and signalled for him to proceed. “So here I want to present my proclamation. We are going to head out there. We will sail to the vast sea with high hope of finding a new land; potentially develop some sort of connection.”

“How do we know if this plan doesn’t work as you planned, Prince Changsub?” The King of Seonghwa voiced in slight amusement. It had been awhile since an interesting event other than the uncalled joust occurred on the island. So to hear someone, let alone one of the older princes stepping up to do something as crazy as going out of the island they had been living on for all their lives, it was rather refreshing. “That’s easy, your majesty. If this plan doesn’t work, we wouldn’t be back in Navillera…alive.”

There was a round of involuntary hissing and wincing produced and spreading throughout the room. Some of them already began to slowly make their exit as they did not want to hear more of the plan. He heard and saw the movements though nonetheless, it did not stop him from going on. “I’m not going to force anyone to join on the voyage but I do need extra men on deck who knows everything regarding the sea and boats. Meaning, I want to see someone raising their hands up to join me and Prince Sungjae.”

Crown Prince Jimin simply bobbed his head knowingly before spinning on his heels to face his family and the Crown Princess. As if he was conversing with them telepathically, his small smile came on his face when he knew the answer to his question. Can he go on the voyage too? And the answer he earned from them was a big ‘no’. Looking to his side at once, he landed his hand on the older prince’s shoulder.

“Sorry for not being able to join you, Changsub. But the Seonghwa needs their future ruler to stay here. Besides, I still have a number of stuffs to learn if I’m going to be the King in a few seasons time.” Turning his body to face the Crown Prince fully, he replied, “That’s alright. I didn’t expect you to join in too, to be honest.”

There were plenty more princes from both Seonghwa and Haesang that could have volunteered to tag along too. Sungjae’s eyes met with a familiar prince with apple green lock on his head but he shrugged. He is a married man and his wife would expect a younger version of them coming to the world in seven months. Judging on Changsub’s words, there were no promise they will come back safely so he rather stay out of the journey.

As minutes turned into hour in the Seonghwa’s throne room, there were only approximately six of them who willed to be on board with four of them being royals and the other three as the workers in the palace. Prince Changsub sighed. He had predicted the outcome beforehand. Therefore he was not as shock to see Sungjae being the only familiar face standing in front of him. As he was about to open his mouth to speak, his eyes squinted when he saw a pair of hands waving behind them.

A knowing smile finally appeared on the prince’s face once he saw the glint of dark silver hair floating about. “I thought you decided to bail on us, Minhyuk.” He heard Sungjae spoke, breaking the quiet scene in the room, almost causing him to laugh but there was a hint of truth in there. Letting out a sheepish giggle upon gaining the statement, Lee Minhyuk good-naturedly slapped the younger’s arm.

Being the gate keeper of the Seonghwa’s palace had its privilege and one of it would be he could easily make friends with most of the princes and princesses walking in and out of the gate for the past nine years of his life. He grew close of the two princes the most seeing that they were the easiest to approach. He would want to try and have a close tie with the Crown Prince too but he rarely went out using the gate. When they were very much sure the people stood in a circle were the ones, Minhyuk spoke.

“So…when are we leaving the island?”