In Navillera Isle, Princess Jiyeon was in the lake garden once they reached the palace in Haesang once again. Sighing at the view of the lake reflecting her image, the water rippled from the wind blowing around her. She should not be thinking too much, that was what her stepbrother told but her mind could not prevent from turning its gear. Worry was all she felt when the carriage passed through the opened gates after coming back from the Seonghwa’s palace.

If only it was the same as before, her fellow gardener friend would swing by and threw on the brightest smile he could ever muster but she heard something about him staying over in the servants’ quarters to carry out his job. That made it harder for her to share her random thoughts and she did not want to burden Taehyung anymore.

The reason as why she was in such state was regarding the latest meeting held by the two high-ranked royals of both parts of the land. According to plan, they were down by six months before her and Jimin would be crowned as King and Queen which meant they would have to lead separately. They discussed the idea of how to actually make it a possibility for the two to combine their parts into one to ease the trouble. However, it seemed like they still had no conclusion to dissolve it so far, leaving Jimin sitting all silent while Jiyeon’s mind occupied with various potential option.

She could not bring herself to present the ideas as she discussed them once before with Jimin personally with Yoongi as the third party to review the plans. He agreed on one but it would require a lot of patience for the couple and might take years to make it into reality. Before they could succeed, they need to suffer on their own by not constantly meeting as they used to visualise on their spare times out of their learning sessions.

After minutes passed by simply staring on the water, Jiyeon’s eyes shot up to the air and wondered of the voyagers’ well-being instead. Placing her hand on her chest, she felt her heart beat pounding all of the sudden due to a new surge of worry over the five. Had they been doing well during the sail? Had they found a place to stop? So many questions but there seemed to be no answer. Shaking her head, the princess stood up from her kneeling position as she decided to head to her room to rest for the day.

They did everything they could muster to handle the horrendous weather attacking them at the moment. The ship was tumbling a bit too much for the prince of Haesang. Thus leaving him to only one option and that was to let his arm pulled by the Seonghwa’s prince who managed to save them. Panting hard once they entered the cabin, Naeun immediately rushed over to Ilhoon, taking his limped body into her hands while Minhyuk plopped his on a nearby seating area as Sungjae worriedly watched over the eldest fellow.

“It’s very stormy outside. There’s nowhere the ship can be controlled right now.” Prince Changsub broke the silence that consumed the whole room. “But wouldn’t that be even more dangerous? We will not know where the sea will take us.” Sungjae replied as he appeared to visually more anxious than he supposed to but he felt a hand landed on his after he was done with his words. Glancing to its owner, the other prince spoke.

“It will be alright. Let’s just pray that we’re not going to be dead in the middle of nowhere or something.” Shaking her head, the only princess gently placed her friend’s head on a pillow which she found among the chaotic cabin area. “That’s sounds very reassuring, Ilhoon.” Changsub muttered but for once he agreed with his statement. The least he wanted was a crew’s death. He felt like it would be his responsibility to make sure they headed out of Navillera as five and returned as five as well.

“How long do you think the weather will stay like this?” He added on before leaning on the wall with one hand holding tightly on a handle for support. Since the two Haesang indeed had water as their element, it was only logic for them to know anything regarding the matter. That was why Changsub was glad to see the two volunteered to tag along in the first place. He could not seem to picture the voyage without their expertise. “Well-”

As Naeun was about to make her reply however they screamed and moaned in surprise when the ship stopped tumbling and a crashing sound was followed after. Their bodies instantly responded with the pushing force coming from the incident to notice they actually stopped. Willed their selves helplessly to be back on their feet, the leader of the voyage slowly made his way to the cabin’s door and stepped out of the room before climbing up the ladder to see what actually happened.

“Guys, we have arrived?” The prince informed questioningly with his brows furrowed as his choice of words. Since he remained immobile after jumping out to the top of the ship, Minhyuk decided it was his turn to check out what Changsub actually meant just to make sure the prince’s head was not going bonkers over the unintentional halt.

Standing with arms tucked on his back, a male figure had a stoic expression plastered on his face as his eyes seemingly piercing through the thick atmosphere floating around him. He had been on the same position for a while from the window of the reading room in the main palace’s quarter. His breathing was surprisingly calm unlike the weather he was viewing. There was barely any light making its way to the land as the grey clouds mysteriously filled the entire what once to be a bright blue sky. Yet there was no form of liquid pouring down from the clouds which always fascinates him in some way.

The figure sighed before his head spun to his back when he heard a voice called for his name. Her vibrant taffy pink coloured hair was all he saw for a brief second before the palace servant quickly made her leave, causing his head to tilt sideways and followed her steps. He noticed the fast paced set by the girl but he did not question about it as he was a man of few words. Nonetheless, when she told him to head to the dock, he grew even more puzzled at the instruction to realise the Crown Princess of the land eyeing on his back figure from the window of her bedroom once he stood at the palace’s entrance.

“What’s going on?” He voiced as soon as he found himself surrounded by a number of the villagers chattering and whispering when he arrived at the dock as told. His voice seemed to capture their attention instantly before their heads snapped over to his direction. He detected a glimpse of a recognisable maroon red lock so he walked over to the other’s spot, tapping on his shoulder to gain his attention instead of asking the villagers.

“Kyungsoo, what’s going on? Why is everyone here? Why are you here?” The figure asked as the fellow named Do Kyungsoo merely ignored his words and continued to stare up north. Before he could say anything further, he heard an answer coming from one of the villagers, “It seems like we will be having guests after so many years, Prince Hyunsik.”

Lim Hyunsik or best known as the land’s prince nodded his head knowingly upon gaining the statement and glared at his fellow friend who also happened to be a prince from the same palace as his. When he was still eyeing forward, the prince with light silver hair trailed along the direction only to witness what the villagers’ conversations were all about. Seeing that his close acquaintance had no intention of moving, he set out to meet those people himself.

Known to be the wisest and most diligent princes among others of his age, Hyunsik was often looked up by many so it was not surprising to see he was the one advancing to the ship with his signature calm nature. His steps appeared to be light, brushing softly on the brown sand underneath his feet until they saw a sparkle of silver radiating around him like an aura. Once he reached the bottom of the ship, it was then he saw they were indeed people on the deck. Therefore, he wasted no time and called for them.

Craning his head for the prince’s to see was someone with a person owning the same hair colour as his but a shade darker. Before he could say anything further, Hyunsik heard voices talking among themselves and a rope ladder was tossed on the side, revealing unfamiliar faces jumping off the ship at ease. Taking a couple of steps back, he instinctively made way for the five figures to stand in front of him in a crooked straight line.

“Welcome to our land,” Hyunsik greeted them professionally and truth to be told he felt uneasy for no apparent reason. Perhaps it was because it was his first time seeing someone out his land before in his life. Taking his hand out for a shake, the one with dark brown hair and orange for the tip returned the shake. He assumed the fellow would be the leader among the five before continuing, “May I ask, who are you people and what makes you come here?”

“We came from an island called Navillera and I’m one of the princes, Lee Changsub,” the Seonghwa’s prince introduced as he gestured to the others whilst telling the male along the way, “Yook Sungjae, Jung Ilhoon and Son Naeun are also royals while this fellow here is Lee Minhyuk, the gate keeper of Seonghwa.”

‘Seonghwa? Navillera? Never heard of them before.’ Hyunsik thought as his eyes scanned them. One statement interest him most and that would be the fact these people in front of his were indeed royals, just like him. But why would one leave the comfort of their land? It had been so long since they had visitors from another land. Gathering his attention back into one piece, he decided to voice his question but they were shocked by a fluttering red butterfly before he returned into his human form easily.

“Kyungsoo, what did I told you about shifting without any warning?” He shook his head before eyeing on the new comers fast to make sure they were not blown away by the scene within their sight. What he did not expect to see was the smiles on their faces and Changsub told him not to worry before Hyunsik saw a certain taller fellow which he barely remembered his name was nowhere to be seen. Giggling behind Minhyuk, Naeun pointed somewhere behind the prince and surely enough, he got a glance of a floating brownish orange pair of wings.

“So…Iseung is what you called yourselves?” It was the oldest; Minhyuk asking the question as Hyunsik and Kyungsoo good-naturedly invited them to their palace ground. Along the way, they met the few faces of the locals who stare at them interestingly as a number of the females giddily waving over at Sungjae and Ilhoon who had two very distinct responses – winking and smirking respectively.

“Yes,” Hyunsik smiled at the gate keeper, noticed how they were genuinely interested of his kind on the island. “Unlike Navillera, our island doesn’t really have a specific name so we grew into calling the land Iseung as well. The King and Queen even from way back believe we don’t need one since as Hyunsik mentioned before, we never really had anyone out of the island’s border coming here for trading or visit. Those were all the past but really, the five of you are changing history.” Kyungsoo took his turn to do the explanation as the other Iseung prince spoke to their gate keeper and told them to let them into the ground.

“I see that you guys don’t really address one another formally.” Changsub stated in keen. He already took note of the way they conversed and to know they were not as strict as he hoped calmed his wondering mind down. “Will you believe me if I say even our Crown Princess is not the kind to address us formally. We are technically close friends.” Hyunsik spoke which made the prince who had been scanning the new grounds to meet with his pair of eyes.

“The island’s future ruler is a female too?”

“Are you saying Navillera will be ruled by a female as well?”

“Well…” Changsub stuttered, taken aback because he could not seem to figure out a decent answer for the other. Iseung and Navillera were two very different islands. While Navillera currently ruled by two set of peoples, Iseung only had one pair for the whole isle so the responsibility would be twice as tough for a single Crown Princess to handle, right? That was what Changsub came into conclusion anyway.

When they entered the hallway, Kyungsoo bowed to them all of the sudden and informed them he would have a lesson to attend. At least that did not shock them as much. Hyunsik already disappeared behind the massive double door in front of them, leaving them talking among themselves. To say did not expect to meet more of butterfly shifters like them beyond Navillera’s border was a lie. Nevertheless, they still did not know their elements and ability yet.

“These people are a bit too friendly to us, don’t you think?” Minhyuk said in a low tone since he did not want his statement to reach unwanted ears. Looking at Changsub who was deep in his own thoughts to hear the question itself, Ilhoon replied instead, “Yeah, that make me wary of them for some reason. Can it be they are actually expected us to be here?”

“One thing for sure, we can always blame the storm for bringing us here.” Sungjae retorted in supposedly joking manner but he was unfortunate because by the time he was done sprouting nonsense, Changsub already joined their conversation and smacked his head.

Closing the door behind upon exiting what apparently was the throne room; the welcoming smile that once carved on Hyunsik’s face was already gone and was replaced with a serious expression. He told them the King and Queen wanted to meet the five of them. Gazing at their wrinkled attire and messy hair indicate one thing in the dark silver headed one. “Can we at least neat ourselves up before meeting them?”

Chuckling lightly at the question, Hyunsik bobbed his head and spoke, “Of course, Minhyuk. I will have to inform the Crown Princess about you guys too. I’ll show you guys the room and separated room for the princess?” He eyed on the only female in the circle. “That will be nice. Thank you, Prince Hyunsik.” Naeun bowed shortly, suddenly aware all attention was on her.

“Let’s go. This way, please.” Hyunsik gestured to his right and before they knew it, they were placed in three different rooms whereby Changsub and Minhyuk, Sungjae and Ilhoon, and Naeun were situated in their designated rooms.