Pure panic filled Mina when she heard the servants statement. She had never gotten out of bed faster. She knew Sana was right behind her. This was their biggest fear. Sure being royalty meant they had enemies, but so far they hadn’t run into many issues at least with the children. Starsia rarely had to deal with the war inside its borders. Sure they helped out their ally countries with the war, but there were very few incidents of humans even entering the country.

“What about the others?” Sana asked quietly, her and Mina were both racing to grab clothing they could wear in front of their court. 

“Princess Sae and Princess Saya are both still safely asleep in their beds.” The servant informed the two of them. 

“Station guards outside both of their rooms.” Mina commanded. “Also double the castle security. No one comes in or out until everyone has been questioned.”

“Yes my queen.” The servant bowed, leaving the room afterwards to start carrying out Mina’s orders.

“How would anyone have even known about Nico?” Sana asked, panic clear in her voice. “We haven’t announced to the public that she is a starfire elf.”

“I don’t know… And clearly whoever did this knew Sae and Saya couldn’t take over the throne despite being older.” Mina pointed out, putting on a pair of trousers. 

“Yeah that’s true.” Sana nodded. “This wasn’t the work of an amature.” 

“Clearly.” After that, little words were spoken as they made their way to the throne room. Mina had her blades at her sides and Sana had her sword in it’s sheath at her side. They both knew they were going to make whoever did this pay.

xx

“I’m so sorry Mina.” Was the first thing Jeongyeon said to them when she saw them. She had been in charge of palace security for the time being, as she was taking a break from her job as Mina’s right hand in the military to focus on her family. 

“It’s okay Jeongyeon.” Mina groaned. She didn’t blame Jeongyeon. She knew Jeongyeon had sent some of the palace security to the front lines of the war, Mina had told her to do so.

“It’s not though. This is my fault.”

“No it’s not.” Mina nodded. “If you feel so bad, make it up to me by helping figure out where they are.”

“Yes my queen.” Jeongyeon rarely addressed Mina as her queen. They had long passed the point of closeness where Mina had told her to stop addressing her by her title. Jeongyoen only really called her that in front of the military generals as a formality. Her saying it just made Mina realize how serious Jeongyeon really was at the moment.

“Tell us about the people that did this.” Sana shifted the focus of the room off of Mina and Jeongyeon. She squeezed Mina’s hand before addressing the rest of the throne room. The other people there were Nayeon, Tzuyu, their head guard, and a few of Sana’s advisors. Nayeon had come with Jeongyeon when she had heard what happened, too upset to go back to sleep. 

“None of the guards stationed in the hallways around the princesses room report seeing any suspicious activity, but we do have reason to believe the perpetrators came in through the window to take the princesses. They were discovered missing when one the maids had come into princess Nico’s room to do a routine check on her like you assigned her to do every few hours when she doesn’t sleep with you. One of my guards reports seeing a group of men outside in the garden, and when she tried to pursue, the men got away. I believe they were the perpetrators, your majesty.”

“How long ago did that happen?” Mina asked.

“About thirty minutes ago.” The guard informed the room. “There’s more your majesty.” 

“Go on.” Sana nodded.

“We found a note in princess Saki’s room.” The guard pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“Let me see.” He nodded and handed it over to Mina.

“We have your children. You have two days to pull your troops out of Ausslavia and surrender your kingdom before we kill one of them. If you still won’t listen, we will kill the other one. We know they are your only heirs, and they will remain unharmed until our deadline. Don’t try anything, or we cannot guarantee their safety.” Mina read aloud. She could feel Sana was upset as she read the note. It made her sick to her stomach too. It was one thing to go after her or Sana, but her children were something else entirely.

“I think we should send out small teams to try and find the princesses.” Tzuyu spoke up for the first time. “Big teams could alert them. They must have a hideout somewhere nearby. There’s no way they could get too far without princess Nico getting fussy and drawing attention to them.”

“Your right Tzuyu.” Mina nodded. “Also I can’t imagine Saki isn’t trying to put up a fight, so that would draw attention to them as well. There aren’t too many undeveloped areas around here, and Saki knows to yell for help.”

“I agree with sending small teams.” Sana nodded. “Mina will lead one, as will Jeongyeon, Tzuyu, Nayeon and I. We will search the forests around the palace. It hasn’t been very long since they got away, and the forest isn’t too thick. In the meantime I want someone looking into how the group learned about Nico being a starfire elf as well as extra security around Saya and Sae.”

“I will look into it, your majesty. We have already stationed guards at the base of their windows and in front of their rooms.” The guard informed.

“Add some guards to the entrance to the palace. Don’t let anyone who doesn’t come here regularly in. Any regulars get questioned on their way in.” Jeongyeon turned to the guard.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Okay, you're dismissed.” The guard saluted before leaving the throne room. 

“Queen Sana do you really think it’s wise to leave the palace? I mean you just had a baby not long ago and-”

“And now that baby is missing. It is my job as her mother to go after her.” Sana interrupted one of her advisors. “The palace will be fine. I will be back in a few hours.” Mina had the same concerns as the advisor, but she was smart enough to know not to voice them. Sana had always been a sweet woman, but when she was mad, she could be terrifying. Plus, Mina knew how strong her wife really was. Sure Sana’s delicate appearance made people foolishly think she wasn’t capable of defending herself, but it was quite the opposite. Mina was the head of the military and she had only beat Sana in a fight once in her entire life. Sana was as talented with a sword as she was beautiful.

“Darling, we should start looking.” Mina squeezed Sana’s hand once again.

“I agree. Jeongyeon we should have two guards per team. We will all start in different places around the forest and meet up at the palace in a few hours.”

“Yes your majesty.” Jeongyeon bowed, leaving the room to start organizing everyone. 
“Are you guys going to be okay?” Nayeon asked as she watched Mina and Sana both get off their thrones, still holding hands as they got themselves ready to leave.

“Yeah, we will be. Once we get our babies back everything will be fine.”

xx 

The search wasn’t easy. The wo