“She’s glowing.”

“I know. Irene always looks amazing on stage - or anywhere, honestly - but when she’s up there, you can really tell it’s where she belongs.”

“No, Seulgi, I mean she’s actually glowing,” Wendy iterated pointedly, ignoring one of Seulgi’s rare eloquent moments. “It’s so bright, I can barely look at her, but at the same time… I can’t really seem to turn away…” she marveled.

A few feet away, their manager regarded Wendy with an unreadable expression. After a moment he pulled out his phone and left the auditorium to make a call. “Wendy needs to be told.”

“And Seulgi?”

“... No.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate. Let Taeyeon tell Wendy; it may come as less of a shock if she does it.”

“Understood.”

+++

Taeyeon sighed as she leaned against the glass wall of the elevator, watching the numbers slowly tick down on the way to the ground floor. She had asked repeatedly why she was put in charge of this errand when something of this magnitude would be better coming from the CEO himself, but she had been told the King no longer has time for these kinds of ‘minor concerns’.

So much had changed over the past seven years.

“Do you really think with JYP and YG breathing down his neck the King has time to explain the basics to each new stray we take in?”

“Then maybe BoA should…”

“Know your place. You still have a lot to learn about Court politics, and where you fit in it.” Her manager let out a long-suffering sigh. “Just do what you’re told, Taeyeon. You were chosen because she really likes you.”

“But what about me? What about what happened in Japan?” How could they expect her to just bounce right back from such a scare? After everything that had happened, was she really the best person to introduce someone new to their world?

“You’d be doing her a favor. Besides, I think you need to be reminded why we do this.”

The elevator halted with a mild lurch and Taeyeon stepped out, immediately heading over to the conference room that had been reserved for the meeting. She didn’t dislike Wendy, but this could go wrong in so many ways. She tried to organize her thoughts and anticipate what kind of questions Wendy might ask, but she reached the door to the room all too quickly. Maybe it was just better to let things unfold organically. If they wanted Taeyeon to do this, they were going to get what they asked for.

Wendy was nervous, of course. She was excited to see Taeyeon, a senior she greatly admired, but why did it have to be in such strange, formal circumstances? In the year and a half since she had arrived at SM, she had never heard of a meeting quite like this. Maybe it had something to do with their upcoming debut? Last-minute advice from one main vocalist to another? She tapped her foot as she sat alone at the table, watching the door.

It opened suddenly and Taeyeon stepped inside, shutting and locking it behind herself. Wendy’s anxiety grew, though she still stood and greeted her senior with a wide smile.

As soon as Taeyeon looked at her, she could tell. She was one of them. The girl was clearly still growing into her nature, but if Taeyeon looked at her from just the right angles, she could see it - something that set Wendy apart. “A sparrow?” No, maybe a lark? Taeyeon wasn’t exactly an ornithologist, but there was definitely something delicate and feathery about Wendy. Not to mention, the girl’s vocal prowess seemed to fit the bill, as it were. Taeyeon smirked. A songbird of some sort, no doubt.

Wendy’s smile drooped a bit. “I beg your pardon?” she asked in confusion.

Taeyeon shook her head and gestured for Wendy to sit. “It’s nothing. Do you know what this meeting is for?” she began, pulling out a chair at the opposite end of the table.

Wendy shook her head as she was seated. “Honestly? I have no idea. My manager just said you wanted to talk to me? I mean I know you’re still busy touring...” Wendy let her voice trail off. She was frankly surprised Taeyeon was in the country, let alone had time to talk to some trainee.

Taeyeon chose not to comment, knowing her time here was indeed short, though also so cruelly delayed. No, this wasn't about her right now - she had a responsibility, as her manager had reminded her in no uncertain terms. She examined her subject anew: she could see Wendy was clearly still delighted to be in the same room as her, despite the situation. Taeyeon smiled. It was endearing. She stood up from her seat and shut the blinds to the conference room, cutting them off from the hallway beyond. Checking once again that the door was locked, she turned back to face Wendy, whose expression was growing more apprehensive by the moment.

“I’m talking to you because you saw something when Irene was on stage, during this month's test. Does that sound familiar?” Wendy slowly nodded, her eyes wide and blinking in surprise. Taeyeon could see she wasn’t quite following, but she decided to rip the bandaid off. “You saw through her Masque. There are only two situations where you should be able to do that,” Taeyeon explained. “Either we show you deliberately, or you’re one of us.”

“Her… what?” Putting aside how Taeyeon even knew about that incident, Wendy still wasn’t sure that what she had seen up on the stage. Hadn’t it just been a trick of the light - eye strain from too much time on her phone? But maybe, just maybe she had seen something after all...

Taeyeon could see something in Wendy’s eyes; behind the confusion was the stir of a deeper understanding. Or maybe it was genuine fear. Oh, well. “I’m more practiced than Irene, so you can’t see through mine, right? My Masque?”

Wendy shook her head. Taeyeon’s smirk grew.

“I need you to stay calm, but I think this will help you understand. Now pay attention: I’m going to show you my Seeming, just like Irene accidentally did. Pretty simple, right?”

Wendy nodded, though her wide eyes belied any appearance of understanding. Her Masque? A Seeming? Wendy had studied multiple languages but the way Taeyeon was using these words made her feel like she was hearing them for the first time.

“Don’t scream.”

Wendy gripped the edge of the table, unsure of what Taeyeon was going to do that warranted such a warning.

Without taking her eyes off of Wendy, Taeyeon dropped her Masque.

Wendy stifled her gasp, covering with both hands. Taeyeon was changed. Her skin had darkened to a rich olive hue, and in the florescent light of the room, Wendy could see a dappling of light spots on her skin where it showed above her low-cut blouse. The lines of Taeyeon's face became more accentuated, a bit smaller, her nose a bit longer, but perhaps most shocking was her “... antlers?” Wendy whispered, dropping her hands from .

Taeyeon was extremely amused at Wendy's reaction. She tilted her head this way and that so Wendy could see: a pair of small, three-point antlers grew from just above her temples up past the crown of her head. “Nothing too flashy, hmm?”

“Wh-what are you?” Wendy asked breathlessly.

Taeyeon laughed. “What are we, dear,” she corrected, crossing her arms.

More like ‘deer’, Wendy thought to herself, unable to tear her eyes away from those antlers.

“Tell me if you know this word, polyglot,” Taeyeon teased. “We’re ‘Fae’.”

“Fae? Like… like faeries?” Wendy asked incredulously, as if she weren't sitting there talking to a woman who looked like a fawn.

Taeyeon laughed. “For the most part. It depends on who you talk to, but for instance in your case, you’re a Changeling.”

Now that was a word Wendy genuinely didn’t know. “A what?”

Taeyeon thought for a moment on how best to explain. It wasn’t an easy concept to understand. “For you… so you were born here, right? In Korea?”

“Yes, I was born here,” Wendy answered, “Why?”

Taeyeon watched her intently. “Do you remember it? Your childhood, I mean.”

Wendy shook her head. Did anyone remember things from when they were so young? She had never given it much thought but with the way Taeyeon was looking at her, she was getting the feeling this was heading somewhere.

“You don’t remember being a kid in Korea because you were never actually here.” At Wendy's blank expression, Taeyeon could tell she was losing her. She needed to stop surprising the girl and hit her with just the facts, no drama, no suspense. “Changelings are taken from their families as infants,” she explained. “You might have been taken for lots of reasons, but the point is, you grew up with the Fae. You spent your childhood in Arcadia.”

That sounded like something out of a fantasy novel, Wendy thought as she continued talking to the fawn known as Taeyeon.

“To put it as simply as I can, you must have eventually been returned to your family,” or you escaped. “The point is, you came back and spent the rest of your teenaged years in Canada. And now you’re here with us.”

"Wait, wait wait..." Wendy was glad she was sitting. “I was a baby in some Faerie land called Arcadia?" At Taeyeon's nod, Wendy sat back in her seat, trying to decide what to ask next. Frankly, it was all so difficult to digest that no sentence could fully form and come to the fore. Eventually she numbly asked, "So Irene, too?”

“More or less,” Taeyeon said vaguely, feeling a pang of pity as she watched the waves of various emotions ebb and flow across Wendy's features.

“And Seulgi?”

“No." Taeyeon said quickly, her voice low. "Not Seulgi.” She had watched the girl train for years and years in the company. The staff and instructors always keeping a close eye on her, watching for any signs of a change, but it had never happened. For all of her remarkable talents, Seulgi was surprisingly... unremarkable.

“She’s not one of us.”

+++

Seulgi kicked her feet as she sat on the bench, bored. “I don’t understand. Wouldn’t I benefit from extra dance lessons, too? Wouldn’t we all?” She looked up and down the empty hallway, finally settling on staring out of the building’s dark windows to the cityscape beyond.

Irene smirked. She was practically sitting on top of Seulgi, as was her habit, even though the bench could have easily sat six. Why their soon-to-be leader was so clingy with them was a mystery Seulgi and the others had long-since given up on. “You shouldn’t overwork yourself. You don’t need the extra practice like Wendy does.”

“But she’s fine!” Seulgi said defensively. She was tired of hearing Wendy constantly make disparaging remarks about herself, and wouldn’t let anyone else put their future member down either.

Irene’s smirk grew and she nudged Seulgi. “It’s not about how good she is or isn’t. I think she feels better if she practices more. It gives her confidence.” Irene was aware that there was a little more to it than the fact that Wendy was their group’s latecomer, but this half-truth should satisfy Seulgi.

Seulgi gave her a sideways look, unable to argue with Irene’s steady logic. “You’re good at that.”

Irene briefly glanced at Seulgi before giving her a bit more space, as if just realizing how close they were. “Good at what?”

Seulgi waved her hand in front of herself, trying to find the words. “Like, knowing how someone feels. Reading people, I guess.”

Irene laughed, giving Seulgi's shoulder a light shove, dismissing the compliment with a derisive snort. “Wendy’s just made it amply clear that she’s a little intimidated by us.”

Seulgi swayed under Irene’s hand, wondering how Irene went form all but sitting in her lap to pushing her away. But that was her way, wasn't it? And despite how familiar Irene was with her - well, with all of them, Seulgi reminded herself - she found it difficult to reciprocate. It didn’t come naturally to her to throw an arm over Irene's shoulders, or to link their arms while walking. She always had this impression that if she touched Irene too much, or got too close, something would begin to tarnish. Seulgi glanced at Irene, who was kicking her feet expectantly, watching the door across the hall as they waited for Wendy’s lesson to end.

The word tarnish really stuck in Seulgi’s mind as she let her gaze trace Irene’s statuesque profile, though eventually a small crept across those perfect features.

Irene knew Seulgi didn’t realize she could feel her staring. Ever since she could remember, people would stare - it was a consequence of genes and circumstance, unfortunately. It was in her nature. But with Seulgi, it was different; Seulgi had no ulterior motives. She had never been intimidated like the others. She had come to Irene with nothing but an offer of friendship, and that had been so refreshing to Irene that she immediately latched onto the younger girl.  

She didn’t mind if Seulgi stared, as long as she stayed by her side.

The door to the practice room finally clicked open and Wendy stepped out. She and her instructor immediately shielded their eyes as they saw Irene and Seulgi sitting on the bench nearby. The ‘instructor’ dropped her hand first. “Hey, guys.” It was one of their company seniors, Amber.

Irene and Seulgi were both surprised. Why was Amber helping Wendy? Wasn’t this supposed to be a dance lesson? Though they both did look a little tired and sweaty...

Wendy squinted at the two of them on the bench. “Why are you guys here so late?”

Irene stood and linked her arm with Wendy’s. “We were waiting for you, of course.”

Seulgi smiled at Amber. “Irene and I had dinner in the cafe, so we thought we’d wait.”

“Actually that’s good because I wanted to talk to you, Seulbear, if you’ve got a minute,” Amber said, giving Wendy a wink. Wendy and Irene walked on ahead and left the two other girls alone.

Seulgi pointed at herself. “You want to talk to me?”

“Yeah, hey listen, Seul,” Amber said, hesitating over how to begin. She threw an arm around Seulgi’s shoulders and turned them both so they were watching Wendy and Irene’s retreating backs.

“You know Wendy, right?” A stupid question, but there it was.

“Um. Yeah. I mean, of course. What…?” Where in the world could this possibly be going?

“So do you happen to know her real name?” Amber stared at Seulgi suddenly, watching her expression carefully.

“Well yeah, it’s Son Seu-”

“DON’T-!” Amber suddenly shouted, pulling away from Seulgi to cover her ears. Luckily the other two girls were long gone already and the commotion went unnoticed. “Don’t tell me. Honestly, Seul, don’t tell anyone. Once you guys debut, she’s just going to be 'Wendy', okay?”

Seulgi was too shocked by Amber’s reaction at first to respond. After a moment she slowly nodded. “Okay, but… but why?”

Amber waved her hand. “It’s… a privacy thing, you know? There’s going to be lots of paparazzi and stuff.” Amber suddenly looked very serious and she made sure she held Seulgi’s gaze before continuing. “And if you want to protect her, you’ll keep her real name to yourself, got it? Don’t tell me, don’t tell anyone.”

“G-got it…” Seulgi said, rather intimidated.

Amber watched her for another long moment before breaking out into a smile, though it didn’t seem quite as genuine as before. “That’s my Seulbear. Good girl. Okay, next question: do you know Irene’s real name?”

+++

Once they were out of earshot, Irene hugged Wendy’s arm to herself, watching her intently. “So you know, now, right?”

Wendy glanced at Irene, though the older girl’s glow still made her squint. “Know… what?” she asked cautiously.

“About us.”

“About…?” Wendy briefly glanced back to where they had left Seulgi, and then back at Irene.

Irene met her gaze with a curious one. “Did Amber tell you?” she asked in a slightly more forthright manner. “Did she tell you about all of us?” Irene knew Wendy had been pulled into strange meetings all day, so something must have been up.

“Oh, that,” Wendy said quietly. When she pulled her gaze away from Irene, she saw spots in her vision. “By the way, can you turn that down a bit?” she asked by way of answer.

Irene stopped so suddenly she accidentally yanked Wendy back by her arm. “Whoa-!”

“You can see it?” Irene asked, a small smile curving her lips.

“I’m saying it’s hard not to see it; I can barely look at you. Ever since we did this month’s evaluations, it’s like looking into the sun…”

Irene gave her a shy smile. “I’m sorry. It’s hard for me... My Seeming is very different from yours,” she said quietly, reaching out to brush Wendy’s hair back from her temples with the tips of her fingers.

Wendy froze. Irene had virtually no concept of personal space, but this was a little forward even for her. “M-my what?” she asked over her embarrassment. “I still don’t really know how to… “ should she tell Irene about Taeyeon? How much does Irene already know? “How to show it.”

Irene smirked. “That’s the opposite of my problem. I don’t know how to hide it, especially when I’m… up on stage.” Irene glanced around and seeing that they were alone in the hall, she suddenly started pulling Wendy in a different direction.

“Wait, where are we going?” Wendy asked as she tried to keep up.

“Just in here for a minute,” Irene said suddenly pushing Wendy into another one of the dance practice rooms.

“Irene-!”

Irene followed in after, and locked the door behind them. Wendy was growing more alarmed by the second. First Irene’s familiar touches, and now locking them in a dark room together…? Was she about to see something as terrifying as when Taeyeon had locked them in the meeting room?

Irene walked up to her and reached out, putting her hands on Wendy’s shoulders. Wendy tensed. Irene turned her so that she was facing the wall of mirrors. “Watch this, okay? Don’t look at me,” she commanded. “And don’t scream.”

A lot of people were telling her that today.

Irene walked a few paces away from Wendy and faced the mirrors as well. Slowly, the glow that had almost seemed like it was radiating off of Irene turned into a glitter, a shimmer of light that was much more pleasant to look at, even as its intensity increased. Wendy held up a hand, gazing at Irene’s reflection through her fingers, but dropped it just as quickly. She just couldn’t look away. It was painful, but it was beautiful; it touched her somewhere deep, and she was inexplicably drawn to it. Wendy felt the full force of… whatever this feeling was wash over her. She could bask in this light forever.

Forever.

That thought suddenly jarred her out of her reverie, and she started to become suspicious of the effervescent sensation. Even so, it took every ounce of her willpower to finally turn away. Almost immediately, the light began to dull, until Irene barely had any glow at all. Wendy glanced over, squinting at her through the sudden darkness. It was the dimmest she’d seen her since that day up on the stage. Truthfully, Irene looked like she was about to collapse. Wendy quickly walked over and held her up by her elbows.

“Are you okay?”

Irene wore a sad smile. “You felt it right?” She sighed and tried to stand up by herself. It always took so much energy...

“I felt…” How could she even put it into words? Now that she was no longer seeing or feeling it, the whole concept of what Irene had just done to her was a little frightening. What kind of power did this girl have, exactly? Wendy had felt the inklings of pure devotion well up in her in the face of that light. “It felt like…”

“Like you were being enchanted?”

Wendy slowly nodded, her expression still scrunched up in confusion. “Like, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was being… I don’t know, tricked maybe. Yeah, enchanted.” Like if she had let herself, she could have fallen under Irene’s spell without any hope of return.

Irene nodded. “That’s why I need extra ‘lessons’, too,” she said quietly. “My Seeming is… I’m dangerous.”

Wendy wanted to say she didn’t believe that for a second, but she couldn’t deny how addicting that light was, the way it had drawn her in. She turned to look at herself in the dark wall of mirrors, barely able to discern her silhouette.

“So… what about me?”

+++

Seulgi wandered down the hallway, wondering where Wendy and Irene had gotten off to when suddenly a door opened and there the two girls were.

“Oh-!”

“Seulgi!”

“You’re still here!”

Seulgi smiled. “I was just about to text you. Are you guys heading back to the dorm?”

“Please,” Wendy said. Irene nodded, still spent after her little exhibition.

Seulgi watched Wendy for a long moment while the three of them started off down the hall again together. She didn’t know whether or not to bring up the odd conversation she’d had with Amber, but she was still curious about something. “So what exactly was Amber teaching you? I thought you were in a dance lesson.”

Irene and Wendy shared a look and Wendy finally shrugged. “Amber can dance, too, you know,” she said in a roundabout way. “You know how talented she is.”

Seulgi furrowed her brows, a little unsatisfied. “But teaching it to you?” That seemed like a very bizarre use of company resources.

“Rapping and dancing at the same time is pretty difficult, you know,” Irene cut in, coming to Wendy’s rescue. “There’s more to dancing than just the choreography. They probably asked Amber to help her with breathing techniques. Wendy’s our main vocalist after all.” She didn’t like having to lie to Seulgi, but what else could they do?

As Taeyeon had stated before, she wasn’t one of them.