Yesung couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Apparently neither could Ji Yong, nor Heechul. Zhou Mi’s network of contacts hadn’t explicitly confirmed what species of shifter she was, only that she could shift. “Do you think this is the work of that coven?” Yesung asked, his long fingers absently twisting a piece of string.

Zhou Mi rubbed a tired hand over his face. In between searching for the rogue attackers and dealing with this new gisaeng, he was tired. It would take a few more days before Kim Yujin, his second from his own feline Clan, would arrive to relieve him for a bit. “I wouldn’t put it past the witches to attempt to pull something like this off.” Zhou Mi said in response to Yesung. He scratched at spot on his arm while shrugging. “I don’t know all that much about them though, so at this point it’s pure speculation.”

“If I may, there is someone whom we can gather information about witches from.” Krystal interjected between the shifters.

Heechul raised an eyebrow at Krystal. “What else do you have up your sleeve that we may find useful?” He said with a hint of humor in his voice. “The more you pull out of the sleeve, the more my pockets empty into your hands.”

Yesung raised his cup towards Heechul in a silent toast to the idea. Even with all the nasty stuff that was going on around them, the man could still find time to think about chasing a tail or two both shifter and non-shifter. Yesung himself frequented the gisaeng house on a monthly basis, but due to the Lee/Choi wedding he'd been so busy the last 2 weeks with those invited to the celebration coming in for new hanboks. It was almost enought to make him want to drink something sweet or fermented. Ji Yong cleared his throat, bringing the focus back to the conversation.

"So we would greatly appriciate your contact in learning more about witches." Ji Yong said, smiling politely at Krystal. They needed to keep the House Mother in the shifter's good graces in order to keep gaining information that otherwise would be forfeit to them. Ji Yong made a mental note that there should be more than one shfter in the gisaeng house in order to balance out Victoria and to get more information on the nobles. "We also have another pressing issue that I think we all need to discuss here." Ji Yong added.

Krystal raised an eyebrow. "I assume you mean the rising conflict between Joseon and Japan?"

Ji Yong nodded. As the only alpha shifter in this meeting, he felt it was needed to warn the gisaeng house of any possible threats to their business. "I've already spoken with the Packs and we've all agreed that banding together all the supernatural elements to prevent any potential threats to our existence is vital to our survival."

"Word from our allies on the coast is that Japan plans to invade Joseon." Krystal said. "Some of the outer gisaeng houses are packing up and moving further inward to join other houses, or they are preparing for the impending invasion by aquiring gisaengs who speak Japanese fluently and training the other gisaengs how to provide entertainment to the Japanese soldiers."

"The big problem is, we don't know what the Palace and the King plan to do about this potential threat to our country." Heechul interjected. "My contact in the Palace hasn't been allowed out since that Japanese diplomat came to talk peacefully with the King."

Yesung sat up straighter. "If the Palace servants and nobles can't move around in or out of the Palace, there is something going on that the King doesn't want the citizens to know about."

Heechul nodded. "This is where we hope the gisaengs will help us." He said. "With the Lee/Choi wedding coming up in a few days, we were hoping that you would be able to get some information from one of the Palace people about what is going on."

Krystal shook her head. "We were not invited to the wedding celebration." She said. "Minister Lee has not been kind to us the last few years since his son started coming around. It's unfortunate we cannot help." She said. “In fact, we were expressly forbidden from sending any of the girls to the wedding as companions to the yangban’s who are unmarried.”

"Ah, now this is where we get sneaky." Yesung snapped his fingers. "We have Seungri, and we have the new shifter. I have been asked to help prepare the groom on the wedding day as Minister Lee wants things to go perfectly since the King will be attending."

Zhou Mi gasped, catching onto what Yesung was saying. "That is brilliant!" He said. "You take the girl with you, with permission of course." He said to Krystal. "And she goes and does her charms on some of the servants to get information."

Krystal nodded. “That is brilliant.” She breathed. “We haven’t introduced Victoria to the public yet, so her face and the fact she’s a gisaeng won’t be spread all over the city before the wedding.”

"And with Seungri being next to the young Lee's side, he can get information in another way." Ji Yong finished, a smile crossing his face.

The group all collectively let out a sigh at the solution to the events. Yeung nodded in satisfaction that the others had caught on quickly. "Where is she at the moment?" Ji Yong wondered. "She will need to be welcomed into the Clan as well, with your permission, of course."

Krystal thought for a moment. "Master Howie will have to be informed of everything since he technically owns us, but I am sure he would be ok with it. I know the codes require all shifters to belong to either Clan or Pack. I think Victoria is currently with Seungri and Master Howie learing how to conduct herself around others as a feline shifter."

Heechul rubbed his hands together. Things were certainly getting more and more complex. He only hoped that things wouldn’t escalate quicker than they could predict as he wasn’t sure that shifters would be able to survive if their secret got out.

**

The next few days progressed without any new shifter attacks, nor any other unwelcome surprises. Yesung found himself growing more restless the longer he went without hunting. He's been forbade by his alpha from hunting beccause of the importance of the wedding. Yesung gritted his teeth and tried to keep his irritation from showing the longer he had to deal with the haughty and arrogant noblility that came into his shop demanding new hanboks for the wedding, which was in 2 days.

His tolerance became thin, and as a last resort, he tapped into the stash of fermented beverages that he kept for the nobles. It took the edge off the restlessness and kept his wolf, Cloud, somewhat subdued. Having Victoria there during the day helped. She'd been introduced to the shop servants and had proved within the first hour that she was adept at dressing the nobility that came into the shop. He was more than grateful that she was also adept at sewing and could make a perfect hanbok in about the same time he could.

Yesung reminded himself that he needed to thank Krystal with lots of attendance at the gisaeng house once this horrid event was over. Normally Yesung liked weddings. It provided his shop with months of stable work, especially if the wedding was in the late spring or fall as the summer months found people less willing to stand in a stuffy hanbok shop trying on the heavier cloths needed for the cooler months once it got past mid-summer. He also had more than a week to size, make and tailor the hanboks to the person, which on a normal timeframe took about a month to do.

The first night Yesung dipped into the alcohol, it was nearing dawn and he still had to finish the hem line of the current hanbok order that had been made the day before, right when Yesung was about to close shop for the night. His wolf had been begging to go for a run, even though he knew that doing so would earn him the wrath of Kangin. It wasn't just Yesung who'd been banned from hunting. All shifters had been banned because of the influx of new people for the wedding.

His servants and slaves steered clear of him for several hours after that, and the worst part was Yesung came out of it with a horrid hangover, no finished hanbok from the night before, but his wolf was sleeping soundly, nestled in the back of his mind like a warm fuzzball of comfort. He’d be able to finish things up without snapping the head off of the next haughty high class idiot demanding a rushed hanbok.

"You need to sleep." Victoria said to him on the day before the wedding, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. Master Howie had given permission for her to come stay at the Merchant's shop to help him finish the 5 orders of hanbok that were the last of the wedding requests.

“Need to finish.” Yesung mumbled, eyes bleary as he stitched another hem line. Even exhausted, he still managed to sew a perfect line, proving he was a master at his craft.

Victoria laid a hand over Yesung’s hands, marveling at how soft they were even after all the frantic sewing they’d been doing over the past week. “I can finish, you sleep for a few hours, otherwise you won’t be fit for tomorrow.” She admonished softly, making sure that it sounded like a suggestion, and not a command. Most of the shifters Victoria had been introduced to were much stronger than she was, even though Ji Yong had promised he would work with her on that once the wedding was over with.

Yesung looked up from the hanbok, his eyes blinking blearily at her. “I suppose a few hours wouldn’t hurt….” Yesung’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he passed out from sheer exhaustion. Victoria barely caught him before his head hit the floor. Victoria took the hanbok gently out of his hands, already noting what was left to finish the garment and signaled for one of the servants to find a blanket to cover the sleeping shifter up. “Poor thing.” She murmured in Chinese, tucking the blanket around him as he sighed. Another cushion served as a makeshift pillow so he wouldn’t have a stiff neck when he woke up.

A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday my dear readers!!  I was busy running errands and writing all day and then went to see Guardian's of the Galaxy last night with my husband and a bunch of fellow convention staffers. The movie was good. had some great hilarious parts, even some sad ones (sad for me at least) and overall a movie I recommend seeing. Anyway, I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far, and I promise, it starts going a bit faster after this chapter. :)