Krystal stepped up beside him where he stood gazing at the city drawing closer. The sun was close to the horizon then, casting the ship's shadow out ahead of them: he hadn't realized they had changed direction in sailing since the previous night. They had been traveling in a northern track, but now they headed almost due east and the sun was setting behind them. "That's Redrian," Krystal told him. "There, on the hill, that is the King's Palace."

It was a stone structure she pointed out, something that looked nothing like the castles of the stories. No looming towers, no spires reaching for the clous, just a massive hulking structure on the hill. From it, streets wound down toward the harbor, each one lined with more stone buildings in shades of brown or grey. There were many ships in the harbor, anchored not at a wooden pier but intead strange stone structures that stretched out into the bay. "Kelsar's main export is stoneware," Krystal told him as she noticed his scrutiny of the piers. "They're master stone workers, and they have incredibly productive gem mines somewhere that they keep a great secret. That's the biggest reason Eldresan wants to conquer them," she added with a shrug.

"So. Why are we here?" he asked finally, turning to look her in the eyes. She stood so close that he would only have to take on step forward to kiss her... and then he mentally smacked himself for that thought and took two steps away.

A small smile edged on her lips when he moved away, but it faded as she looked back at the city. "The truth? I shouldn't tell you," she said softly.

Oh. "Okay. So it's not something safe, then?" He was disappointed that she couldn't tell him, but he supposed he could understand it. They were still strangers, despite that he felt so comfortable around the tall princess.

She shook her head slowly, chewing the inside of her cheek as she thought. "It's... delicate. My sister's husband, Yunho. He's missing and he was last here in Kelsar as an ambassador for my father, but we were sent word that his ship was wrecked." She shrugged then and shook her head once again. "That just doesn't sound right for anyone in my father's court. Remasan is too skilled with sailing and he did not send word that he would be returning home. But things are delicate, we can't just let alliances fall apart, so we need to know what happened. Likely, he was taken by someone wanting to force his mother into action. And so," she turned to him with a wry smile, "We are here, with just one small crew and one powerful magician, to find some answers."

"Thats why you said this could start a war," he breathed, wondering what exactly he had stepped into, but she shook her head.

Her arms crossed over her chest, she stared at the approaching city as if it were a viper about to strike. "No. Remasan is not allies with Kelsar, but we have a common enemy in Eldresan. King Sukjin won't start war with us, but we can't just sit by and accept that Yunho is dead. His mother is the Queen of Maklar, he's too tempting a target to just assume he's not being used as a piece by a third party. So we're here, as a surprise guest, to play the idea of a grieving widow looking for answers of her husband's death. And this," she smiled then, a truly sharp-edged smile that almost made Jaehwan want to step back from its ferocity. "This is why I'm here. To help find the leads as Jessica keeps the attention on her. No one pays attention to a second daughter."

Jaehwan took a deep breath, trying to process all of what she had told him. But... "Why did you tell me? I mean, if you're not supposed to."

She laughed, very softly and almost as if to herself, and shook her head as she looked up at him. "I'm... I can't explain it. You're so, I don't know, so pure. So naive, I don't mean that as an insult," she added quickly when his expression shadowed. "I mean, you don't have any of the taint that the people of the court or of the cities have. It's like being around you makes me feel like I'm just Krystal, because you're not watching every move and weighing every word as you look for some crack in my armor. And you wear your heart on your sleeve," she added softly, looking down at the floor and allowing her hair to fall to shade her face. "I guess it just makes me feel like I can trust you."

Warmth bloomed inside of his chest, and, especially conscious of it after her words, he hoped it didn't show on his face. But to have her say that she trusted him, after so little time they had spent together... "I won't betray that," he told her quietly. She didn't look up at him, though, and so he took a step toward her, reaching out to touch her shoulder-

And the map room door opened. He dropped his hand immediately and turned to see Dara standing there, her already thin lips pressed tightly together as she looked between them. "The Captain wants you," she told Krystal.

"Thank you," the tall Princess said, raising her head and tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. "We'll speak more later, Jaehwan," she promised, then crossed the room to slip out the door past Dara.

The short officer watched him for a long moment, then she shook her head. "She's out of your league, villager," she told him softly. Then she closed the door behind her and left him to himself.

He knew that she meant well by the words, and he also knew that she was likely right, but he couldn't help but to wonder. His father had always said that when he met his wife, Jaehwan's mother, that he had known that she was who he was meant to love. Jaehwan didn't know much about love, and he certainly didn't think he was falling in love with Krystal, but he realized now that he could. It wouldn't be that hard to do, all he had to do was let himself fall, and as he realized that, he gave a soft curse.

He didn't need this to come in and confuse him! He wanted to return home... but the nagging voice in his mind said, 'yes, but what then?' Would he work in his father's butcher shop for the rest of his life, splitting the work and income with his brothers? Marry and raise a family there, to teach them the same thing? Was there even anyone in his village that he was interested in? He had dallied, of course: he was past teenage years after all! But he couldn't think of a single time he had been so drawn to someone, so comfortable with a woman, as he was with Krystal.

But Dara was right, she was a Princess and Jaehwan was far beneath her. And yet he couldn't stop the thought that it was better to live than to regret. Maybe he would take this path and see where it headed, even if that meant heartbreak and parting ways after the adventure was over.