“Suju was a major trade port before, wasn’t it?” Suho asked, everyone gathered around a campfire they’d built just beyond the brush behind the building. It took them back to warm nights after a long day of training. Back when their only stress stemmed from failed exams and dorm drama.

Ryeowook nodded, pulling the blanket over his shoulders snug. “Yeah. We were the second richest city after the Capitol. People were always in and out of this place, so it was pretty crowded.”

Sighing cheerfully, voice filled with nostalgia, Jessica wrapped her arms tightly around her little sister. “This place wasn’t ever quiet. We were the city that never sleeps. Over there,” she pointed into the dark streets, knowing full well no one could see the buildings in the distance, “was a chain of clubs and pubs. And on the other side of the street there was a memory shoppe I used to work at. It was our mom’s before the Red Force.”

Sehun looked into the flames of the campfire, suddenly remembering a story Sydney told him about Suju; the city she was from. He didn’t realize a faint smile crept up on his lips, even if Luhan did.

They carried on with their conversations, Xiumin and Sulli listening from the outside of the circle. The glow from the campfire caressing Sulli’s face made her even prettier, Xiumin noticed, wondering what she was seeing in the flames. Her expression was focused, staring deeply into the center of the fire. Without moving her gaze, she saw him staring at her. “I must look so strange to you.”

He raised a brow, face contorted in confusion for a moment. “No, it’s not that.”

A dainty laugh. “I know what I look like when I stare at bonfires. I get comments all the time. Krystal says I look possessed, and honestly, I feel possessed. There’s something about that hot light that captures me.” She paused, a warm smile on her lips as she snuggled up in her blanket. “Do you know what that feeling’s like?”

Xiumin stared down at the fire now, thinking hard. “I’m not sure if I do. I don’t have a lot of experience with fires, actually.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “Nope, not really.”

Sulli pursed her lips, squinting her eyes at him, leaving him to wonder what she was thinking. In only a moment, a hand emerged from the blanket and she grabbed one of his. “You’re cold as ice.” He gave her an awkward smile. “You’re an Ice Force, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t say anything else, even though plenty of things ran through his head. That it was an unwelcoming Force, that it was probably the reason people didn’t want to be around him, and many other things that were self-depreciating. And even though he didn’t say any of these things aloud, it was like she heard them loud and clear.

“Cold hands, warm heart.” She said it so matter-of-factly, that pure expression on her face radiating.

Xiumin chuckled faintly, leaning over his knees and looking into the fire again. “I haven’t actually heard that one before. Did you just make it up?”

“No,” she scooted a little closer to him, thinking. “My mom used to say it to me all the time. I have bad circulation, so my hands and feet get cold really easy. People used to get upset with me if I touched them because it was so cold sometimes,” she laughed to herself. “Your hands are much colder than mine ever were, though.”

He sat upright, fighting with his introverted nature. “My whole body’s cold.”

She opened one arm of the blanket, eyes in a full smile. “Wanna share?”

Nervous and a little unsure what to say, he laughed weakly, hesitantly nodding his head. “Might be nice.”

Scooting closer to him, Sulli wrapped the open end of the blanket around him, their bare arms touching. “Oh, you weren’t lying! Your arms are like ice-cycles!” she laughed, shivering in the blanket and pulling his end of the blanket tight. “Better not let any heat out, huh?” It was obvious the two were feeling awkward, nerves leaving them without most of their vocabularies. There were nervous laughs here and there between them, and yet no one else around the campfire seemed to notice. In only a few short moments, they began creating their own little world together.

~  ~

“Really? You just messed my hair up and you know how long I just spent on it!” Sydney glared Sehun’s way, running to the nearest mirror to restyle it. Sehun giggled under his breath, always one to enjoy using his Force to annoy her.

He leaned against the wall, waiting for her to finish while he played with his cufflinks. “What are you worrying about it so much for? You look fine.”

She didn’t pull her focus away from the mirror, making some odd faces here and there to be sure her make-up was still just the way she wanted it. “I did look fine until you threw that gust of wind in my face.” He grinned. “I just wanna look nice. I never got to dress up to go out into the nightlife at home, so I’m sort of experiencing that vicariously through this formal dance.”

“Vicariously?” he mumbled under his breath, not fully understanding the meaning of the word. He thought for a moment, a question he’d had for a while finally erupting from him. “Where did you come from, anyways? You never told me before.”

“Really? We’ve known each other for almost twelve years and I never mentioned where I was from before?” She turned her focus someplace else, thinking. “Were we really that busy?”

“If you did say something, I don’t remember. Which is a real possibility.”

Sydney shot him a knowing look. “That’s true. Anyways,” she grabbed her coat, making sure not to muss up her hair yet again, “I’m from Suju. The city that never sleeps.”

Sehun’s face wrinkled up and he grabbed his coat, prying through his mind to remember where he heard that name before. “Suju… where is that exactly?”

“You don’t know? It’s north from here, a major trade haul and tourist utopia. There’s everything you could imagine there. Clubs, theatres. It’s like the Capitol but a million times more dazzling. It’s the very essence of city life.”

The two of them made their way out the front doors, meeting with Luhan and Kris at the front landing. They, too, were in formal attire with hair quiffed back, looking rather dashing. The blonde brothers did clean up well, Sydney told herself.

“Well, don’t you two look nice?” Kris grinned, Sehun shooting him a warning with glowering eyes.

“And so do you two. Didn’t know there were gentlemen hiding somewhere behind all that messy hair and ragged clothes. Let’s hurry up and go, I’m getting anxious and it’s driving me crazy,” Sydney replied, jittery, oblivious to what Kris was implying before.

Kris offered his arm out for Sydney to take, escorting her through the streets as they walked to the Capitol Hall. The entire city was buzzing with people talking, girls in heels clicking their way through the streets and boys huddled together laughing. The formal dance was a real event, especially amongst the younger generations. In all that vibration between the people of the city, the air was crisp as the sun set somewhere in the distance, making everything a lovely tint of blue. It was a lively summer evening that gave birth to youthful energy.

The three of them, along with many others, entered the towering double doors of the Capitol Hall. People spilled in, lining the walls, jewelry sparkling in the crystalline light from the ornate chandelier hanging overhead. Other Legends, Masters, Trainees and ordinary townsfolk mingled together in the ballroom, chatter echoing off the walls.

Sydney held onto Kris’ arm a little tighter, trying to be sure she wouldn’t lose the boys in the crowd. She hadn’t seen so many people gathered in one place in the Capitol before. It was almost frightening, but so much more exciting. Her blood was rushing, legs jumpy, finding a beat in every slight noise.

Head of the Masters, Young Min, stood at the front of the Hall, his voice projecting across the crowd of people. Glowing faces gazed upon his, half listening in the distraction of the dazzling and the dreamy of the event.

“Today, the real training begins for our Trainees! Today, we celebrate the beginning of a new cycle of Legends. The retirement of the Elders and the rising of the new sons and daughters of the Tree. Today, we celebrate tradition and the longevity of our people.”

It was how this speech started every year of the Switching Moons; the time when the first moon, Koraea, would go into the shadow cycle and the second moon, Mandaro, would come forth into the light cycle or vise versa. The switching of the moons had become the representation of the rising and falling of new and old Legends. A constant reminder that all things must come to an end, that all things will be replaced.

“He’s always so long-winded at these things,” Sydney mumbled to Kris, smiling and feigning interest like the rest of the people.

“Right? God, I wish he would shut up. I’m just here for babes and food,” he laughed under his breath, grinning like a child as Sydney rolled her eyes with a smile.

Raising a hand to the crowd, Master Young Min let the people go into an applause as he finally finished his speech, a spotlight falling onto the Trainees and Elder Legends. “And now, we celebrate these cherished Forces!”

Lully came racing through the crowd, her grip on Chen’s wrist as she dragged him along and towards the blonde brothers and Sydney. Before Kris knew what was happening, she snatched him by the shirt and dragged him off with her. “You’re coming with us, I wanna dance!” He was easily pulled from Sydney’s arms in her confusion, Luhan, Sehun and herself laughing to themselves as they tried to process the sudden turn of events.

“Well, that was interesting,” Sydney said to the other two, trying to catch sight of Lully, Chen, and Kris in the crowd but to no avail.

“She was wasting no time,” Luhan chuckled. “I’m starving. You guys want anything?” he asked, motioning towards the buffet.

Sehun shook his head. “Nah. Sydney?”

“Nope. I couldn’t eat anything if I wanted to, I’m too antsy.”

Luhan smiled, heading off. “Alright, I’ll be back.”

They waved him off, looking around the Hall for any sign of the others. Sydney was sure she saw Nana jamming with Chanyeol and Baekhyun at the other side of the room. She was even sure she heard their voices; loud and obnoxious, over the crowd.

A grin snuck up on Sehun’s face as he pointed past Sydney’s line of vision. “Look. Kai and Taemin are having a dance battle or something.” He chuckled, watching over rows of heads. She turned to see, laughing with him.

Things became awkward quickly. Despite the immense amount of distractions, neither could think of anything to talk about or to do. It was strange. They’d never faced this sort of predicament before.

“So, we were talking about Suju before, weren’t we?” Sehun asked at random, trying to spring up some sort of conversation to dissipate the awkward feeling in the air.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll definitely have to take you out there sometime and show you around. It’s so great, I think you’d really love it there. There’s so much to do. It’s like this everyday in Suju. Or, that’s what mom used to say in the stories she told me about when she was young. I wonder if my sisters doing well back home? Probably enjoying herself without me…” Sydney trailed off, smile fading.

Sehun ducked his head a bit, trying to give her eye contact. “I’m sure she misses you a lot. She probably thinks about you all the time. She writes to you, doesn’t she?”

She nodded. “Yeah, she does. I guess I just miss her a lot, too.”

“That’s pretty normal. You’ll have to take me to Suju real soon. And introduce me to your sister. I introduced you to my brothers so it’s only fair,” he raised a brow, giving her one of his signature ridiculous faces.

Chuckling, she grabbed him by the sleeves and dragged him through the crowd. “Dance with me, you loser. I can’t stand to stand around anymore.”

She swung him around the floor sporadically, the two laughing as they barely tried to maintain a rhythm or any kind of coolness. Every move became an instant inside joke, some leaving them doubled over in fits of laughter. It was their usual silliness and it all seemed so out of place in their formal attire, in the chandelier light and the smell of extravagant perfumes and dishes.

“This is why we’re friends!” Sydney cried, nearly  out of breath.

They hunched over their knees, desperate to compose themselves. And as they began to find their breath, the rambunctious music became slow and romantic. Without saying anything, Sydney placed her hands on his shoulders as he found the least awkward place he could position his hands on her waist. In silence, they swayed back and forth to the rhythm, not daring to look the other in the eye for a moment.

“I wonder what I’d be doing right now if I never came to the Capitol?” Sydney thought aloud, looking over his shoulder and at another couple.

“Hm?” Sehun replied, trying to get the heat to leave his ears.

“I’d probably be in the arms of a really handsome guy, jamming with my sister in one of the clubs in downtown Suju. Having the time of my life.”

Sehun’s face was one of complete disgust. “What do you mean you’d be in the arms of a handsome guy? Like you aren’t now? What the hell, Syd, I thought we were friends? And you aren’t having fun, what, am I boring to you? I’m offended,” he finished matter-of-factly, pouting in the way that was all too natural for him.

She laughed, giving him a knowing look. “Oh my god, Sehun, you are too sensitive, I swear.” Her face softened. “But, you’re right. I am doing all those things now, aren’t I?”

He tried not to let himself become bashful as he always did before, looking away from her. “Well, of course, yeah. Geez, you say really dumb things sometimes, what’s with you today?”

“I have no idea,” she laughed.

~  ~

Luhan wiped a thumb over Sehun’s face, his expression concerned. “You doin’ alright?” he asked low so only Sehun would hear.

He’d been so caught up in his memories, he didn’t even realize tears had surfaced. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just… I really miss the girls, I guess. We never really…”

“We never really got time to grieve,” his brother finished. “Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ll forget about them, you know. But I know you were thinking of someone in particular. What were you thinking about?”

Sehun sighed, pulling the blanket tighter over his shoulders. “The Switching Moons dance thing. Honestly, it’s probably one of my favorite memories.” He stared into the fire, not wanting to look his brother in the face. He was never good at expressing feelings like this, this mushy stuff.

The elder brother smiled, looking into the fire with him. “You guys were cute. Kris and I both agreed. Li and Lully, too. That’s why she dragged Kris away,” he grinned.

“What? Are you serious?” Sehun was dumbfounded. “So you guys all set that up, huh? What the ,” he laughed, but it quickly faded. “Wait, how many people knew? You told everyone, didn’t you? What the hell!”

Luhan was trying hard to stifle laughs but failed miserably, hiding his smile behind his hands as they waved away every accusation. “It was so obvious, Sehun. I didn’t have to tell anybody!”

“It was not,” he mumbled, returning to his place.

It grew quiet between them again besides the crackling of the fire. The quivering of lips caught Luhan’s eyes.

“I really miss her, Luhan.” He bit on his bottom lip, trying to fight back the sorrow. “She was my best friend, she really was. And I’ll never see her again.”

Luhan put an arm on his back, lips pursing as he tried to remain strong. “I know, I know. I miss her, too. I miss all of them. Everyone. So many people…” he trailed off.

“Too many people,” Kai added, also staring into the flames.

“I really hate fires,” Baekhyun stated, the heat hitting him in the face and his voice monotone and melancholy. He didn’t have to explain, everyone knew what he meant.