xI. battle plans

  "...I've brokered a deal with a Seelie agent." 

  It was highly uncommon for Minkyung to be late to anything, due to...certain circumstances surrounding her occupation, but as she stepped into the Gemini lounge, yawning, everyone was there before her. 

  Well, there was a first time for everything, she supposed; besides, there was a reason she was late. 

  "Oh, Minkyung, you're here. You're - " 

  "'Late?' 'A mess?'" The murmuring in the lounge ceased as everyone turned to look at her, who  raised her hands in mock surrender. "Don't mind me." 

  "Sure," Jaebin replied sarcastically as she threw herself onto a nearby couch. She merely sent him a casual glare; that was a good sign. She knew Jaebin wasn't the type to stew on grudges, but she tends to kick up a big fuss when she gets pissed, and sometimes that led to unwanted consequences. 

  She could practically hear Yukhei scolding her in her mind now. 

  Minkyung gave Jaebin a thumbs-up and re-focused on the meeting in front of her. Chess - when did she come back again? - was standing in the middle giving a report, and she had stopped when Minkyung made her entrance. Now, she cleared slightly, and said, "As everyone is finally re-assembled - " 

  The door creaked open and shut again. Seven pairs of eyes swiveled around to look at the figue entering, and Celeste merely raised her eyebrows at the crowd, and took a seat. Even though she was in a dressing gown, Minkyung had to give it to her; a world-class actress wasn't crowned one for nothing; somehow she was able to continue holding herself up at the lateness of the hour and the faint redness at the corners of her eyes.

  Wisely, Minkyung redirected her gaze onto Chess and said nothing. 

  "Let me start over then." The woman sound annoyed and honestly she couldn't blame her. "As I have mentioned, the Seelie Court have agreed to hand us the Great Glyph for safekeeping for the time-being, and we would be honoured to accept. The Seelie agent who wold be handing us the object would be meeting us in three days, in Cairo." There was a pause. "I would be need to show myself." 

  "Cairo, where?" Minkyung was mildly surprised at hearing the King speak, but privately, she thought, About time. 

  "The Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski at the edge of the desert*. There is to be a summit meeting there." 

  "Am I to understand that we are doing this exchange," Celeste paused, until everyone's attention was on her. "Is to take place within an enormous crowd of people? Humans?" A clear edge showed itself in her voice.

  There was a murmur of agreement from Seoah and Jaebin, and Minkyung personally agreed. While they all mingled amongst humans during the day because they had to (and some of them perhaps need the break from Underworld life), Underworlder business remains strictly within Underworlder boundaries. There was no reason to make Underworlder deals in the human world unless that human had sought them. Besides - 

  "All Underworlder rules about mingling with humans aside," Minwoo leaned forward, and for once his hands were empty. "We run a higher risk of being exposed by that damn bunch if we meet amongst humans. Not to mention, if anything happens we can't fight to our utmost capability." 

  "Protecting humans now, are you?" Jaebin sneered, this sudden change of mood also shifting the tension in the room. 

  "I'm merely stating the trouble we're going to be with the Elders if we kill anyone," Minwoo raised his hands in mock surrender. "Besides, we'll be doing paperwork for weeks. Does that sound interesting to you?" 

  When Jaebin didn't reply, Celeste cut in, musing, "Maybe that's why. They wouldn't suspect us making a deal amongst humans. Besides, most of us work in the entertainment industry. The last place we would be gathering as professionals would be at a global summit." 

   "Celeste - " Disbelief. 

  "I'm just stating an alternate reason," She sighed. "It's wise to consider everything at this point." 

   "She's right." Minwoo leaned forward. "Anyways, there has to be a reason behind this, right?" 

   For once, Chess seemed hesitant. "I can't be sure. Seelie agents are always secretive - " There was a quiet chuckle from Sungjong and she realised what she said, coughing into her hand. "Anyways. The main point remains that our meeting would take place there." When no one responded, she continued, "The agent expects a pair to go together." 

  "I'll go," Jaebin immediately volunteered. "You'd need someone to watch your back, don't you? I'm one of the best fighting forces we have." 

  A quiet chuckle rose from Minwoo. "With that logic, we could also consider our Majesty the Queen. Though," He added with a pointed glare at the man lounging against Sungjong. "I would suspect he seemed reluctant to assist you." 

  The tension in the room shifted, despite neither Minwoo nor Jineul making a move. Minkyung shivered slightly, though cursed herself for being weak. It's late, she told herself. And you've been putting more hours in than all of these bastards combined. 

  "A male and female." Celeste suddenly spoke, as if coming to a realisation. 

  "...What?" Minkyung thought she heard wrong. 

  "Two members of opposing genders was the most common combination for a duo operating on missions," The mermaid said slowly, as if talking to a group of children. "Which means that we would be more predictable if we go that route." 

  "Celeste's right," Minwoo drawled, dipping a biscuit onto a teacup - since when did that appear in his hand? - and drawing it out, dripping with a dark substance she strongly suspect to be brandy, though why he was drinking it out of a teacup and eating it with biscuits was beyond her. Minwoo, she reflected, had one of the least unhealthy habits of the group, though she had long given up on lecturing him on it. And besides, the Unseelie body appeared well suited for unhealthy consumption of food, as well as late nights up, so she decided, whatever. "Especially when Chess has agreed to show herself, it means that the Wonderland bunch would definitely send a girl. But how do you blend in well into a crowd?" He held the biscuit to the light, as if reflecting. "By pretending to be a couple , of course. Unfortunately, aside from Chess, all of us have had our faces plastered on the website, tabloids, and literally every piece of media you can dig out of the Internet. Which means - " 

  "It'll be even more useless attempting to hide ourselves," Jaebin realised, and Minwoo nodded. 

  "And that's why, we'll be sending the most famous person amongst us who also happens not to be a dude." Minwoo concluded with a flourish, and dropped the biscuit into his mouth. 

  "Celeste," Minkyung realised, turning to her. Given the distance, she couldn't say for sure, but as the woman set in a thin and determined line, she thought she could see a flicker of - dispair? desperation? - in her eyes, which was immediately gone. Strange; Minkyung would've thought that the oldest member amongst themselves would be most at ease at a mission like this. 

  With some reflection, Minkyung realised that both Celeste and Chess had likely been in the organisation much, much longer than any of them have been. How long she didn't know, nor was frankly interested, but as a fledgeling warlock she came to the conclusion that she, too, would have to endure eternity. She wondered what her White side would think of this. 

   There was a pause before Celeste replied, a pause in which she thought the mermaid was suffering through a bout of swallowing down something with difficulty, before replying, "Alright. It also happens that I've been to the palace before." 

   "You, ma'am," Minwoo pointed another biscuit towards her. "Is amazing and I would like you to appreciate that fact." 

    "Keep quiet, Minwoo," She tossed back, though good-naturedly, and prepared to stand. "Well, if we're done here, I would like to go back to bed - " 

   "U - um!" For the second time that night, Minkyung thought her ears were malfunctioning due to her disbelief. Seoah was speaking out for the first time in such a meeting. "I actually have something to say." 

  Seoah wasn't sure where she mustered up the courage, but she managed to tell everyone about what she had seen and happened earlier that night, starting with the letter until the sudden manifestation of the tunnel. When she finished, Minwoo was looking contemplative while the King had flinched as if something startled him. 

  "That must've been a faerie portal to the Seelie Realm, though why exactly it appeared here, I don't comprehend." 

   "What do you mean here?" Minkyung frowned, crossing her arms and leaning back into her armchair. "I thought faerie portals are prone to popping up everywhere and anywhere they liked. It's usually a mode of transport by faeries, right? Maybe Seoah unconsciously summoned it or something." 

   For a moment, Seoah found herself unable to speak. Was that true? Maybe she had unconsciously summoned a portal because of her restlessness? She had been wanting to travel again, or at the very least get out of Gemini HQ, no matter how big it was. Moreover, she was rushing towards Jaebin to tell him about the letter; her mind must've been thinking about her agent and caused the portal to manifest indirectly. It did not cross her mind that she had never been successful in summoning one...

  "I thought doctors were supposed to be smart, Minkyung," Minwoo sighed dramatically, popping another shortbread into his crumb-dotted mouth, which the healer responded with a 'hey!'. "But anyways, I'll explain." Carelessly wiping the corner of his mouth with a thumb, he stood up, and conjured a holo-screen in the middle of the room. "Right. So this is a layout of the confirmed rooms in the Gemini HQ." On the screen was a blueprint of a building with six floors, four above ground and two below. "We're currently here, on the first floor," He zoomed in, and the picture changed to one from a bird's eye view. "As you can see, the corridors are shaped like a circle. The lounge is in the middle, and there are other rooms surrounding it, probably the armoury or something." 

  Jaebin frowned and leaned closer. "The blueprint's wrong. There's supposed to be six rooms on the first floor, not four."

   "Aha, our Mr Jaebin has caught the point." Minwoo snapped his fingers, and the outline of the rooms displayed solidified into black lines. "You see, this was how our base looked like when it was first formed, which is also its base form. As I've mentioned countless times in the past, the HQ shapes itself according to our own desires,which we have to voice - otherwise my room would've had a casino and a bowling alley by now - in order for them to manifest. However, everytime there is a turnover of Gemini members, the HQ reverts to its base form. It's that simple. Moreover, its different entrances and exits are located in different locations in the world, though of course they're sealed with magic to ensure some blundering human fool doesn't accidentally enter. Of course, we could also come back through a summoned portal, but we ourselves can't portal back inside the building. We always end up in one of the entrance halls. Ever notice that?" 

   "O-kay," Minkyung rested her chin onto her palm. "Still doesn't explain the relation with faerie portals though." 

    "The building itself is enchanted," Celeste cut in, stopping Minwoo from making another snide remark. "Which means that no portal or person could burrow directly into the building without using extremely advanced and strong magic. With such a large degree of magic, usually our systems would be alerted and either drive out the intruder, or alert one of us to let them in. However, if Seoah didn't notice it this time..." She let that hang in the air before continuing. "It's likely Gemini would've been infiltrated." 

    "And that's serious?" 

    "No, Minkyung, letting an unannounced guest come into our most secure headquarters is by no means serious," Minwoo replied sarcastically. "It's just a daily part of life; after all I'm sure that the Seelie are extremely friendly, right?" He directed this towards Chess, who had a pained expression on her face. "At any rate, hmm...Seoah, where did the tunnel appear?"  

     "The ornate mirror next to...that room." She stood up and pointed at what she thought was the room, though honestly she wasn't sure. Realising that she had walked into the middle of the circle of Gemini members, she quickly made her way back to her seat. 

     "That's strange. I was positive there wasn't a mirror there," Jaebin frowned. 

     "You did see a mirror though, am I right?" Minwoo asked. "When you bumped into Seoah."  

     "I - " For a moment, he seemed lost, reflecting, before answering, "Yes, yes there was one. A large gilded Victorian mirror." 

      "Was there a frame made of intertwining flowers and vines?" Sungjong's quiet voice suddenly rose, startling Seoah. 

     "Y-yes, I think so." 

     "With the bottom two cherubs holding it up?" 

     "Yes - actually I don't know, what are you getting at, Sungjong?" 

    There was a pained expression on Sungjong's face not unlike Seoah's as he spoke again. "That was the Queen's mirror. I think...I think the Seelie Court wants to summon us, or tell us something." 

I finally updated whoop! Also let me just say college apps are even worse than the exams themselves...my supervisor is also being kinda annoying so nonetheless I want to d i e :)

Also I've decided to change Celeste's faceclaim from 9muses' Kyungri to 9muses' Hyuna beacuse I realise she suited my image of her better :3

But yes seriously who decided that the average grade 12 student has to do reading, like three projects, two coursework plus a personal statement in the span of two months. And that's not even counting the activities to boost your personal statement like internships, student initiatives, MOOCs and who knows what else 

*The Palace isn't located at the edge of the desert. The location does exist in reality, but it's in the middle of town