"Who has answered?" Kyuhyun asked.

Leeteuk tapped his staff and a shining orb of fairies popped out from the top. "Taeyeon from Ileun, Victoria from Yeryeun, somehow Onew managed to convince Sileun to help, so there's the three sister cities." he listed. "Bomi from Tharje, Eunkwang from Liber, Sunggyu from Graevir, Jihyun from Cordel, Hyorin from Rohero, Jinyoung from Milen-"

"That's enough to cover our trip from here to the capital." Kyuhyun interrupted. "We're in the Sekisetsu mountains, right? Then if we travel to all of those towns, we'll be good."

"But we also need to go as undetected as possible." Leeteuk pointed out. "Jimin of Lun sent a fairy over, as did Jungah of Mordue. If we go through the Achime road-"

"But don't you need towns with enough space for your pegasi?" Boa asked. The men turned to look at her incredulously. "Didn't I tell you? I'm giving you pegasi to ride to the capital."

Kyuhyun's jaw dropped clean open. Boa just laughed. "With the pegasi, you'll make it to the capital in about three weeks time."

"A-Are you sure?" Leeteuk stammered.

Boa shrugged. "I would offer to take you on my dragon and get you there in half an hour, but Chrysos is still a baby, he's not mentally ready to carry so many passengers."

"Your dragon's a baby?!"

"Chrysos is only seven, he still has a lot of growing to do!" Boa exclaimed. "Anyways, when you reach Sileun, since it's the closest of the three sisters to the capital, have Leeteuk contact Joy and we'll be right over."

Kyuhyun was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he would be riding on a pegasus.

Leeteuk nodded. "Thank you, we'll be sure to tell you."

"You better, my girls and I have been itching for a good fight." Boa sniffed. "When do you plan to leave?"

"As soon as possible." Kyuhyun managed to say.

Boa grinned and motioned towards the pasture. "Then we should get you used to your mounts! Are you ready?"

Henry was.

The young man raced past the group, yelling at the top of his lungs, Wendy hot on his heels. "Wait! You don't even know the way to the stables!"

"Gut instinct!" Henry laughed, and then he and the rider were zooming out of sight. The older people exchanged a glance and leisurely followed after them.

Henry's gut instinct turned out to be correct and when the others reached the stables, Wendy was instructing him how to mount a pegasus. "No, she doesn't like it when you pull her mane!" she hollered.

"How do you expect me to get up!?" Henry shouted.

Wendy rolled her eyes and yanked the man down by the collar of his shirt. "Like this." The rider slowly extended her hand to the pegasus, eyes cast downwards. The pegasus snorted in acceptance and confidently tapped its nose to Wendy's gloved hand. Wendy cautiously lifted her head and raised her other hand to gently the pegasus's mane. She backed away slowly, lowering her hand as she went. The pegasus followed her hand and lowered itself onto the ground.

Henry's jaw dropped open in awe. Wendy smirked and beckoned him closer. "Do exactly as I say." Henry creeped towards the rider, whose eyes were still fixed on the pegasus. "Just bow, keep your head down, reach out your hand-" Henry did exactly that, eyes never leaving the ground. “She seems to like you. Okay, now raise your head and jump on her back.”

“What?” Henry hissed.

Wendy shrugged. "This calm only lasts as long as you're in front of her, so you gotta run as fast as you can to her and jump on her back."

"You're joking."

"Nope. Now go and ride that pegasus!" Wendy smacked Henry on the back, and Henry bolted forward, pushing off the ground with a shout and landed perfectly on the pegasus's back. The pegasus immediately rose to its hooves and let out a ferocious whinny.

“What do I do now?!” Henry shrieked.

Wendy tried so hard to keep a straight face, but her mask cracked and she fell to the grass in a laughing heap. “What?!” Henry asked. Wendy only let out another peal of laughter and fell on her side, body trembling with the force of her laughter. “What is it?”

“You didn’t have to jump on her! I was just messing with you!” Wendy giggled. “Lyra’s one of the sweetest pegasi we have, you could’ve just climbed on her like a normal horse!” Kyuhyun began roaring with laughter, leaning heavily on a snickering Leeteuk.

Henry looked mortified. “You’re telling me I didn’t have to do that, and I could’ve just gotten on her back normally?!” Wendy nodded and then promptly went back to laughing wildly. “Wendy!”

Boa cleared and walked over to Henry, who was still frozen on top of Lyra. “You have to use your mind to tell her where to go.” she tapped the area between Lyra’s soft ears. “Place your hand there and she’ll do the rest of the work. Be polite though, pegasi are a prideful species, and you won’t get any help by being rude.” Henry looked confused but did as she asked.

Almost immediately, Henry’s eyes drooped shut and he slumped forward onto the pegasus’s neck. Boa’s eyes widened and Wendy let out a gasp. “What is it?” Leeteuk whispered.

“Usually, pegasi only form a temporary bond on their hand that lets them direct the pegasi, but the human is usually conscious!” Boa hissed.

“What does that mean?” Kyuhyun asked.

Boa turned to look at them with a look of fear and excitement. “Either we’re getting an incredible pegasus rider, or we lose a member of our party.” she trembled. “It’s either because he’s been horribly rude to Lyra and she’s killing him, or that she’s taken a shine to him and adopting him as her own.”

Kyuhyun blanched. “We can’t risk that! Take him out!”

“We can’t!” Wendy protested. “The bonding process is very sensitive, if you take him out of it now, he’ll definitely die!” The king glanced at his retainer, who was growing increasingly paler with each passing second.