(Author's Note: There are references back to Chapter 12: Apprehension and other past chapters set in the North Pole)

Ginger, the Avatar’s faithful messenger hawk, soared through the skies on a mission to deliver an important letter to the Water Tribe Chief: a letter about the uprising against authorities. Princess Sunny and Princess Fany were definitely right when they thought the bird might be handy, especially since human messengers who travel on foot take longer to reach their destination in comparison to the long-suffering bird. Hopefully Ginger delivers the letter in time for the Water Tribe Chief to take precautionary measures in regards to the royal assassination conspiracy that was slowly spreading.

          Days later, inside the North Pole palace, Chief Jung was talking with a short young girl of about fourteen years old. She was a very bright and positive young fellow by the name of Luna, Secretary Park Yoochun’s younger sister. She was a very hard-working perfectionist, which makes her fit as a replacement for her brother in secretary duties, even though she was quite young. In fact, she was even better than her brother when it comes to assignments and errands. The only down side to her was that she wasn’t much of a fighter unlike her brother; she focused more on healing. Secretary Yoochun doubles as a bodyguard and secretary, but since the North Pole wasn’t a very dangerous place, he really didn’t need to guard anything or anyone back in the day. So Luna was able to fill in for her brother easily.

          “Here’s the medicine that Lay Oppa prepared from the clinic,” the girl cheerfully said to the Chief, who was sneezing his life away because of a terrible cold. Colds are common to North Pole citizens considering the terrible temperatures. This was usually nothing to worry about.

          “Just place it there before me,” the Chief said, sounding rather nasal. “I’ll drink it soon enough. Thank you, Luna. You may go home. Ah-ah-ACHOO!”

          “Are you sure you don’t need any more assistance, Your Majesty?” the girl asked with an enthusiastic smile as she laid the small table with a bowl of bitter medicine right before the feet of the Chief. “My older brother, Secretary Park, specifically asked me to look out for you and the Queen while he’s gone. If you need any more errands done, I can do it for you faster and better than the other palace maids can! Besides, I have nothing else to do at home anyway and I like working hard at what I do.”

“Just go home, Luna,” the Chief insisted. “You’ve done a lot for me these past few months. Go home and don’t come back tomorrow. Rest for a week or so. If you don’t, you might even catch the cold from me. You don’t want that, do you?”

          “Ugh, fine, Your Majesty,” she said in a rather bitter, bratty voice. Then she lightened up and continued, “But if you need me you can just ask for me anytime. I’ll still be glad to help.”

Luna headed out of the palace in obedience, even though she didn’t really want to go home. As she walked through the open pillared hall that heads out to the small palace courtyard that evening, she saw five familiar men muttering amongst themselves by the water fountain at the palace courtyard. By the dim moonlight, she could recognize the first man immediately: it was Shim Changmin, the town firebender who works at the local clinic. As for the other men, she has seen them around before, but she wasn’t very close to them. One was the really tall guy, the second one was Krystal’s adorable close friend, and the thrid was the really pale-skinned guy with big, pretty eyes—all of which she had seen to hang out with Prince Yonghwa in some occasions. I think their names are Jungshin, Minhyuk, and Jonghyun…? Then the fourth guy was smaller in height than the rest of them, but this man, isn’t he Prince Xiumin, the Jungs’ cousin? Before she could pass by them and bow for a friendly greeting, the three of the men left while Prince Xiumin headed back into the palace, heading her direction. She bowed respectfully when he passed by her, but he didn’t seem to notice her.

That’s weird. Usually Prince Xiumin is friendly and smiling…, Luna thought. Anyway, I have to go home.

That same night, Ginger, the faithful messenger hawk, finally arrived at the North Pole Palace. As a bird, he was able to get in through the huge ventilation holes and make his way into the Chief’s throne room. The letter will soon be delivered and his duty will soon be fulfilled, however, when he entered the throne room, he witnessed something devastating: the Chief of the Water Tribe—the receiver of the letter carried in the cylinder case on his back—was found dead. The Chief looked awful: he was sitting all alone, lifelessly on his throne with blood and vomit dripping from his mouth, and a broken ceramic bowl of so-called medicine had fallen on the floor before him. The bird perched on the dead man’s shoulder and pecked his cheek to check if the man would receive his letter, but there was no response. The dead cannot receive letters anymore. While the bird was there, a young man stepped into the room. It was Prince Xiumin. The prince saw the Fire Nation bird and walked straight toward it, but as if frightened by the young man’s presence, Ginger flew away to avoid him and headed for the ventilation. The prince didn’t think much about the bird though, for he had other things running through his head at the sight of the dead Chief.

The Chief is dead, the prince thought calmly as he stared at the dead body of his uncle. After a few moments, his poker face turned into a sinister grin. This throne is mine. Then he called out in feigned shock and innocence, “Help! Anyone? The Chief! He’s dead!”

***

          Then next morning, Luna woke up to a loud knocking at her house’s door. When her mother opened the door, five palace guards forced their way in and quickly looked around. When they found the still sleepy Luna in the house, they yanked her and tied her hands behind her back. “You’re under arrest!”

          “Wait, what?!” Luna said in shock upon being yanked and bound by the guards.

          “My daughter!” her mother cried.

          “What is going on?!” Luna exclaimed, not understanding why she was being arrested. She has never done anything wrong to deserve this—at least she thought.

          “You are a suspect in regards to the Chief’s death,” one of the guards spat. Then he said to the others, “Take her away!”

          “The Chief’s death?!”

          Luna was immediately taken to the North Pole underground prison for water benders. Usually, the prison was empty since no one ever commits crimes nowadays. Even if there were some petty crimes and misunderstandings, the “criminals” just stay there for fewer than 24 hours, depending on how serious the offense was. That prison was very dry though; everything was made of earth, wood, and metal. Not a single drop of water was allowed in that prison to prevent water bending. Prisoners are left to be dehydrated to show their penitence and then leave after the period specified according to their offense. Since no one has done some serious crime, no one has been left to die of thirst in that prison for many years. As for treason and killing the King, someone has to die of thirst this time.

          “I told you, I didn’t do anything! I didn’t even know that the Chief died last night!” shouted someone who was already in prison before Luna arrived. It was Zhang Yixing, or called by most as Lay, the nurse from the clinic.

          “Lay Oppa?” Luna called out as she was pushed into the underground chamber. There she saw Lay behind bars being eyed in disgust by a soldier. Soon she was pushed into the cell beside Lay, only separated by metal bars.

          “Miss Luna, what are you doing here?” Lay couldn’t believe that Luna was also locked up in prison. Neither of them had ever been to this prison, so they really couldn’t believe this madness that they were going through.

          “I’m not sure. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Luna answered honestly as she shivered in the cold. Her black hair was even too messy because she just woke up with no time to fix herself up before being dragged by guards. She was even wearing pajamas. As for Lay, he’s usually up early because he has been working harder at the clinic when Seohyun left. Naturally, he was all ready for the day when the guards dragged him away to prison. Since Lay has always been a nice gentleman, he took off his wool jacket and handed it to Luna from between the metal bars. Luna thanked him and put it on even though it was over-sized.

          “I believe you. This isn’t fair,” Lay said, feeling sorry for Luna and himself. “During the long time that I have been serving people through my healing and medicines in the clinic, I have never done such a thing as to poison a patient—especially not the Chief Ruler! What cruel person would do such a thing?!”

          “Ah, so it was the medicine? And I happened to be the one to serve it to him,” said Luna in realization. “But that’s all I really did. I accepted the medicine you delivered and served it on a bowl as it was prepared. I didn’t do anything to it.”

***

          Shim Changmin, head of the North Pole division of the annihilation group, sat down with his three underlings: Lee Jungshin, Lee Jonghyun, and Kang Minhyuk. All three of them were from the Fire Nation, but nobody in the North Pole knew that they were Fire Nation too because they were born and abandoned there. Jonghyun was actually of a royal Fire Nation origin—a very far relative of Princesses Sunny and Fany. He’s a fire bender, but he only ever used his fire bending when he’s out training in the glaciers where no one would see him. But since his parents were not benders, nobody recognized them to be Fire Nation. The other guy, Jungshin, was also born in the North Pole, and his mother was an actual waterbender. As for his father, nobody in town knew about him, but Jungshin knew very well that his father was from the Fire Nation. Now Jungshin isn’t a bender, but his towering height and long limbs made him appear intimidating. Then there was Kang Minhyuk, who isn’t a bender either but he was the son of a former Fire Nation admiral. His non-bender Fire Nation mother brought him up alone too. All this time, their families have pretended to be immigrants from the South Pole. When Shim Changmin arrived, he officially began to train them into the real spies that they were supposed to be.

          “We have finished the Chief, now all that’s left is to install our puppet,” Shim Changmin told them.

          “But Changmin Hyung, what if they figured out that you were the one who tampered with the medicine when Yixing wasn’t looking?” Jonghyun, the oldest among the three, asked, obviously worried and unsure about this plan.

          “It doesn’t matter. They’ll be too busy trying to make Lay and Luna confess because I planned to frame them from the start. All those openings were just calling out for our plans. Even the heavens are helping us. The Leader will be pleased. Once we install our puppet ruler, we can control all of his affairs and eventually the entire North Pole will fall into our hands. Soon when the whole world proceeds with their own plans, our Leader will be the Supreme Ruler of all the nations and all of us from the Fire Nation will be governors of his kingdoms,” Changmin said, fantasizing about the amazing new utopia that they are planning on creating.

          That was the annihilation group’s main goal—to take over the world. They had a three step plan: First, get rid of the current rulers of the nations. Second, install a weak, naïve, puppet ruler by enticing them into obtaining the throne without knowing that they will be used and controlled by firebenders. They did that so as not to be noticed. Third, when the right time comes, the Leader will assume position as Supreme Ruler and use armies of Fire Nation rebels to take over the nations. By then, the whole world will be on checkmate since they puppets were nothing but weak, gullible fools. Why armies from the Fire Nation? The Leader himself is from the Fire Nation. This is his plan to expand the Fire Nation’s control all over the world and make the Fire Nation the strongest in all of earth. His plan was stealthy at first, but soon enough everyone will have to fall down before the master race: the Fire Nation.

          “What if the Avatar stops this? Isn’t the Avatar the one to maintain balance in all the nations?” Jungshin asked, also in doubt.

          “Ha!” Changmin scoffed. “Have you ever heard of how the previous Avatar, Avatar Leeteuk, died? The old man was silently poisoned after blindly accepting soup! Of course, nobody bothered to write that on history books because no one else knew the truth but the killer! And you’ve seen Avatar Taeyeon yourselves, nothing about that little girl is amazing other than the fact that she’s quite adorable and pretty! Do you think she can stop thousands of us scattered all around the world? I don’t think so. The Avatar is nothing but a fad.”

Jonghyun and Jungshin looked at each other, still having doubts about what they were forced into. As for Minhyuk, he just nervously stared at Changmin blankly. During their childhood days, they truly cherished Prince Yonghwa’s friendship. Unfortunately, their whole existence was a set up. They were just tools used by higher people from the annihilation group so that the Water Tribe Crown Prince may be killed easily and inauspiciously—through induced “accidents” and wild animals—because they were too young and clueless. What better excuse for a death than an accident while playing with friends? Unfortunately for the annihilation group, those plans didn’t work because Yonghwa’s friends actually cared for him and even helped him get out of trouble at times. However, when the three got older, they were enlightened about the terrible plans. At first the boys objected since the prince was their friend, but they eventually had no choice but to side with their bloodline loyalty because they feared the higher ups too. They all know that annihilation group was definitely more powerful than any of them and none of them had the will and confidence to oppose because they might get punished for betraying their blood allegiance.

Months ago when Seohyun was looking for Sergeant Keroro, the three of them were ordered by Changmin to set up another attempt on killing Yonghwa without making it look like murder. Of course, none of them wanted to do this. So by casting lots, the three of them agreed on having Minhyuk execute the plan alone. Minhyuk gave Yonghwa, Seohyun, and Krystal false information, and later, he purposely led Krystal to the polar-bear dog’s cave because he knew that Krystal will not resist the puppy. Throughout that whole time, Minhyuk was actually very unsure and nervous even though he looked like his usual happy self. He honestly didn’t want to do it. When he heard that Prince Yonghwa, Seohyun, Avatar Taeyeon, and Princess Sica survived the polar-bear dog attack, he was actually relieved. But of course, Shim Changmin got mad. Minhyuk, Jonghyun, and Jungshin just pretended to feel sorry for their failure. When Yonghwa and the others boarded on the ship with Kyuhyun, no one else was more scared for him than his three friends. They kept their hopes up though. Avatar Taeyeon was with the prince. The Avatar should be able to protect their friend from Kyuhyun and all the other people trying to kill him. Hopefully…

***

          Thirty minutes after being imprisoned, Luna and Lay finally had his first visitor: Suho the Librarian.

“Hyung! Oh good heavens, I missed you!” Lay cried out when he saw the Librarian.

          The responsible and caring Suho slipped his hand into the prison bars and shook Lay’s hand. Poor Lay. he used to live peacefully as a nurse and now he was all depressed and trying not to cry. He really didn’t want to be branded as a criminal. Suho’s presence gave him assurance though. Suho was always the guy who would help out and care for his friends.

          “Yixing, you haven’t even been here for an hour and you already miss me?” Suho chuckled. Then he turned to Luna and asked, “What exactly happened here? News is spreading that the Chief is dead!”

          “We didn’t do it! We’re innocent!” Luna told him.

          “Yeah!” Lay affirmed her. “We didn’t do anything. I swear to my friend’s grandma’s grave!”

          “Alright, alright,” Suho nodded, “I only came here to ask about the truth because I cannot believe that either of you would do such a thing. I trust you both.”

          “Will you defend us and find out who had done this?” Luna asked. She knew that Suho was one of the smartest in all of North Pole. “We need a lawyer.”

          “Hyung, I don’t want to die of thirst!” Lay cried.

“I’ll try. Anyway, since Crown Prince Yonghwa is not available to take the throne, Prince Xiumin will be the Chief for now. I know him well. I’m sure Prince Xiumin will look kindly at both of you and serve justice well to the right people.”

***

          Minhyuk wandered around the city on his own, trying his best to rid himself of the guilt that was bearing him down. When he was upset, he usually went off on his own to quietly reflect on things, only to be cheered up by Krystal who was lonely just like himself. But nowadays Krystal wasn’t even around for a pity party with him. He didn’t want to talk to his friends either, because they were all just as scared and guilty as he was. He would definitely just run away and leave the North Pole in a heartbeat, but he can’t. He’ll have to sail out of there but he doesn’t know how. He can run to the dangerous glaciers, but he can die there and he doesn’t want to die. Finally he just sat by a secluded area of the docks and just stared down at the calm blue waters.

          “There has to be a way to get help,” he sighed.

          Suddenly, something wet and icky fell down on his shiny dark-brown hair. When he touched his head and looked up, he saw a maroon hawk sitting on the lamppost beside him. That’s when he realized what just fell on his head.

          “Ew, ew, ew!” he shrieked and shuddered like a little girl. Then he drenched his head in the water and washed off the bird poop. Now his head was completely wet. “Stupid bird!” he yelled. Then he combed up his wet fringe to keep it from covering his eyes. “That’s so disgusting…”

          Strange enough, the maroon hawk flew down to his shoulder and pecked his head. He was nervous—thinking that the bird was going to eat his ear—but then he looked closer and saw that the bird had a Fire Nation insignia on it. He quickly took the bird to his arms and opened the cylinder case on its back. It could be from the Leader of the annihilation group.

          “Wait a second,” he said as he skimmed the letter. “This is addressed to the Chief!” Soon he saw that it was a letter written by Secretary Yoochun telling about Kyuhyun’s death, the people trying to kill them, taking refuge, and a warning about rebellion. “…the heirs are safe for now so please do not worry about us. For safety reasons, we will not disclose our location in this letter. Please take caution in case such rebellion to overthrow your throne might take place…”

          Minhyuk, followed by Ginger, immediately got up and ran to the place where he usually met with Jonghyun and Jungshin deep the city. It was that same rooftop where they used to sing songs together. That was where they usually met with Prince Yonghwa whenever Yonghwa wanted to get away from the palace. Not even Shim Changmin knew about that place. When he got to the rooftop, he saw Jonghyun and Jungshin leaning on the blocks of ice that formed fence, both looking very upset.

“Hyung! Jungshin!” Minhyuk called out. “Look at this!”

***

          Later that afternoon, Suho walked to the palace from working at the library. He planned his papers well and researched the type of poison used in the Chief’s medicine. He wanted to free his friends as quickly as he can. If they stay there for weeks without food and water, they can possibly die. He planned on informing Prince Xiumin about the innocence of his friends as soon as possible so that they may be able to find the real culprit.

          While he was passing through some narrow shortcut alleys, he found a familiar friend sitting all alone in the shadows. “Jonghyun Hyung?”

          Jonghyun was upset. Soon enough, Prince Xiumin will announce to everyone that he will take Prince Yonghwa’s place on the throne. He feared that the naïve people may end up liking Prince Xiumin more because Prince Xiumin was a great and powerful bender. If that happens, the people may not even want Yonghwa back anymore and the North Pole will slowly fall into the hands of rebel firebenders. Jonghyun may be a firebender, but his heart was in the North Pole. He doesn’t want a horrible takeover to happen.

          “Hyung, what’s wrong?” Suho asked. He was close to Jonghyun because Kyuhyun often visited his library with Jonghyun and Changmin tagging along.

          “I heard that the Chief was poisoned,” Jonghyun said.

          “Yeah, and I’m on my way to Prince Xiumin to report some of my findings from a bit research,” Suho told him.

          “No!” Jonghyun stood up and grabbed Suho’s arm. “You can’t tell him!” He was looking so paranoid right now that Suho almost thought that Jonghyun had something to do with this.

          “Why? My friend need help as soon as possible!”

          “You can’t go to that prince—not him of all people!” Jonghyun refused again. “He’s in to this plot. He’s part of it, I tell you!”

          “Part of what plot?” Suho was now getting worried.

          Since Jonghyun wnted to stop the charade, he began explaining everything from the start: his identity, his friends’ identities, Prince Xiumin’s betrayal, and Changmin’s real agenda. Suho couldn’t believe any of it though, so Jonghyun had to drag him to the rooftop and together with Minhyuk and Jungshin, they enlightened him on everything. They also showed Secretary Yoochun’s letter to him for proof that more rebels from all over the world are trying to get rid of royalty in order to install puppets that will be controlled by the annihilation group Leader.

          “What should we do then?” Suho asked, but none of them could answer his question. They all felt too weak.

          A day passed and Prince Xiumin was officially ordained as the Chief to take the throne while Crown Prince Yonghwa was away. As Chief, he immediately exercised his power—bringing a conclusion to the investigation of the previous Chief’s death. He announced that two criminals (Luna and Lay) were caught as the culprits who prepared and served the poison to the Chief. According to the news, their motives were unknown until further interrogation.

          This announcement definitely infuriated Suho. Prince Xiumin’s words proved what he heard from Jonghyun. As one of the sensible and responsible citizens, he can never stand for this. He will have to slap some sense onto that guy. So then he went to the palace that was now heavily guarded and asked for an audience with the new Chief. If Minhyuk, Jonghyun, and Jungshin won’t do anything, then he will do it. Someone has to stand up for what is right.

          “Suho, what brings you here?” the prince said, keeping up with his friendly charade again. He wanted to keep his humble, friendly image. Honestly, Prince Xiumin has been so sick of being unrecognized all the time. He was a very nice guy—caring, sweet, and always providing charity, but nobody bothered to recognize any of his good works. Princess Sica happened to receive all the praise because she’s pretty and powerful, even though all she basically did was just sleep all day. Well, what do you expect? He was nothing but a royal cousin. He was royalty only by name and blood, but not destined for the throne. Then finally, Shim Changmin noticed him and promised to give him the throne that he “earned” if he would gladly betray the current crown. Now he’s here, and all he has to do was to show his good traits so that his betrayal can be fully overshadowed.

          “I know everything,” Suho told him now that they’re alone. His face was masked in sadness and pity for Prince Xiumin. “I tell you what—you don’t deserve this throne.”

          “I am here because the Crown Prince is absent,” Prince Xiumin stood up from his seat and walked closer to Suho.

          “You lied to everyone,” Suho continued, “Luna and Lay didn’t poison the Chief; Changmin Hyung did, and you planned this with him! How could you cover this up? Are you just going to let Luna and Lay die for you to keep your throne? I thought you were one of the most kind-hearted people who didn’t care about fame!”

          “For the record, the evidence is clean; I did not poison the Chief,” Xiumin calmly said to Suho. “If that’s what you want, then I will gladly have Changmin Hyung arrested and expelled from the North Pole forever.”

          After Xiumin finished talking, palace guards suddenly went into the throne room and surrounded Suho. “You’re under arrest!”

          “What?!” Suho exclaimed in shock. His eyes looked to the soldiers then back to the new Chief standing before him. “What did I do this time?” he asked Xiumin in a low voice.

          One of the guards spoke, “You are under arrest for plotting to kill the previous Chief and providing intelligence to the nurse who prepared the medicine.”

          “And your proof?”

          “We saw open books and notes on your library desk about poison,” the guard said, throwing the books on the ground before Suho to show him the evidence against him.

          Suho gave Xiumin a defeated look and said, “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

          Soon the guards seized Suho. He was now a prisoner.

***

          Changmin stood at the lonely rooftop that night with an amused smirk on his face. He didn’t see it coming—these three boys betraying him and have been against him in their minds and souls all this time. He thought for sure that they would have already made up their minds on their allegiance to their Fire Nation blood and fathers, but he was wrong. They were nothing but children, mere lads, who wasted their loyalty on a Crown Prince that may not even survive out there. Changmin heard it all—Jonghyun explaining everything to the librarian in the alley. Unfortunately, as the one in charge here, he will not tolerate traitors to their cause.

          “I thought you were all smarter than this,” Changmin said with an evil chortle. “But I guess I was wrong.”

          Without warning, he sent a huge, powerful wave of fire at Jonghyun, Jungshin, and Minhyuk. The maroon messenger hawk, who was still with them, quickly flew away to avoid the fire.

          “Guys, get out of here!” Jonghyun, the oldest among the three, yelled. He had to protect the friends whom he cherished as brothers. As a firebender, he immediately stepped in front to disperse the roaring flames that came at them.

          “Oh no, none of you are getting away,” Changmin said with a smirk on his face. Then he quickly shot two poison darts at the two younger boys, Jungshin and Minhyuk, before they could jump off from the rooftop.

          But… Jonghyun saw that coming and quickly shielded the two with his body. He knew that mere flames made of gas cannot stop those swift darts. When the two boys had jumped off down to the ground, Jonghyun continued fighting even though he knew he was done for in a short amount of time. Soon enough he had fallen down on Changmin’s feet. He had gotten weaker. He cannot breathe or move his limbs properly anymore.

          “Foolish young man,” Changmin scoffed. Then he also jumped from the rooftop and chased down the two boys.

          Minhyuk and Jungshin ran as fast as their long legs could carry them. They’re both non-benders. They don’t stand a chance against Changmin Hyung of all people. When they turned to a corner, they saw Changmin land in front of them—he had quickly flew to them using his fire bending like a rocket.

          “Neither of you can get in the way of the group’s plans now,” Changmin said, very intent on killing both of them.

          Unexpectedly, Jungshin threw a stone he got from his pocket and hit their pursuer’s left eye.

          “Argh!!! My eye!!!” Changmin shrieked in pain.

Then he yanked Minhyuk and ran in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, Changmin still had one more dart. With one quick throw and a boost of power using his fire bending, the dart still hit one of them.

Minhyuk and Jungshin continued running until they reached the stairs that lead up to the outer rim of the city—the frozen tundra. They weren’t being chased anymore though, but they still kept on going. Changmin will not stop until he eliminates them. When they reached the tundra, Jungshin fell down on the ground. He was excessively sweating and was now having difficulty breathing.

“Jungshin!” Minhyuk said as he crouched down to his friend. Then he noticed a dart sticking out of Jungshin’s back. Because they were busy running, Jungshin ignored the dart and just continued running. Now the effects of the poison had taken over him. “No, no, no! You can’t die!” Minhyuk cried in agony. “This is not fair!”

          Minhyuk, distraught and afraid, quickly blew his animal-calling whistle. He usually used that whistle to call otter-penguins. When an otter-penguin arrived, he hopped on it immediately with Jungshin’s body and zoomed to the freezing arctic tundra. Ginger, who also heard the whistle, flew after them too. When they arrived in one of the caves, Jungshin was already dead. There in that lonely cave, Minhyuk wept in despair. With a charcoal pen in his pocket, he wrote a long letter about what just happened to him at the back of Secretary Yoochun’s letter to the dead Chief.

          Dear Yonghwa Hyung and Avatar Taeyeon,

          ...please come back soon and restore this chaos…