There were more people in the kitchen than Seoyeon had anticipated when Baekhyun came to fetch her sometime long after nightfall.  Part of her had somehow just assumed that it was going to be her and Jongdae and maybe Minseok, despite Minseok asking for Sehun and Lieutenant Kim, and Baekhyun also appeared to have invited himself along for the adventure.  Everything about the situation felt odd.  Seoyeon was used the kitchens bustling with life, heat and noise, and to them being substantially better lit.  Only one oven was still glowing.  The shadows of Minseok and Lieutenant Kim stood in front of it, and the two brothers were conversing quietly.  Jongdae was standing near them, lost in his own little world.  Sehun was still in military uniform, sitting in a chair and attacking the last of a plate of food.  He looked exhausted, and Seoyeon wondered if he’d been on patrol.

Baekhyun saluted Lieutenant Kim.  “One daughter of the governor, as requested, sir,” he chirruped with an elaborate gesture at Seoyeon.  All of the men in the room snorted.  Seoyeon would have done so too, except for the fact that something about the ,fire felt oddly familiar.

“You cook with Borderlander fire?” she asked in surprise.

“Helps to protect us,” Sehun mumbled around a mouthful of food.

“Oh.  I never noticed before.”

“Most people never notice,” said Minseok.  “We should get going.  Baekhyun, lead the way.”

“Are we taking torches, sir?” Baekhyun asked.

Sehun spooned the last of his food into his hand and held out the other, palm up.  Flames danced there for a few seconds before he closed his fingers again.  The fire felt very familiar, and Seoyeon only realised that she’d been stepping towards it when Sehun put it out.  But she couldn’t deny also that something about the fire was different, not as full and warm and rich as Chanyeol’s.

“Alrighty,” said Baekhyun.  “Just tell Sehun hyung when you need light then, I guess.  Shall we venture forth?”

Lieutenant Kim gestured politely for Baekhyun to go first.  “Do lead the way.”

Beaming at him, Baekhyun practically danced across the kitchen to knock open a hidden door next to a cupboard.  They all piled into the passage after him.

Most of the journey twisting and turning through the depths of the fortress was done in silence.  Baekhyun was the only one to speak, warning them of steps or sharp turns or low ceilings (Sehun was the only one who needed to worry about those).  Every so often, they heard other people in the passages, but they never saw the glow of torchlight and they never met anybody.  At long last, Baekhyun halted them and turned to whisper: “we’re here.  Somebody will have to deal with the guards, though, I can’t do anything about that.”

“How many are there?” Lieutenant Kim whispered back.

From the flames peeking through Sehun’s fingers, Seoyeon could just about see Baekhyun bending down to peer through what must have been a pepehole.

“Maybe three?” he guessed.  “I can’t really see from here.”

Lieutanant Kim beckoned over Seoyeon’s head to Sehun, who was at the back of the group.

“Sehun,” he said.

“Yessir.”  The soldier carefully made his way forward through the group.  Lieutenant Kim gave no further orders, but Sehun seemed to understand anyway.  There was a pause of a few seconds before Lieutenant Kim knocked the door open and Sehun sent through a blindingly bright fireball that forced Seoyeon to shield her eyes.  Among the yelps of shock, she heard sounds of a quick scuffle.  It was all over by the time she had vision back again, and she allowed Jongdae to tug her out into the room the guards had been in.  Minseok and Sehun were busy dragging several unconscious bodies towards the wall (Seoyeon hoped they were only unconscious), and thankfully it didn’t seem like the disturbance had been noticed by anywhere outside the room.

She heard Minseok swear quietly.

“None of them have the keys,” the chef told Lieutenant Kim.

The lieutenant grimaced.  “Well, it would have been difficult to hide them both in the fortress anyway for any length of time.  Hopefully they won’t get in any trouble because of… this.”  He gestured at the unconscious bodies.

“They’re both smart men; they’ll deny any knowledge of anything happening until they’re blue in the face,” Jongdae said.  “Lieutenant, could you keep watch with Baekhyun?  I doubt anything will happen, but I’d prefer it if our favourite herald remained safe nonetheless.”

Baekhyun puffed his chest up with pride at being named the favourite, and Lieutenant Kim barely managed to hide his smile as he glanced across at him.

Jongdae turned to Seoyeon.  “Let’s go.”

Sehun led the way out into the passage and down to the cells with a tiny flame cupped in his hand.  It turned out that Minseok had come with them because he insisted on giving Commander Hwang and Lieutenant Do food, and so he stopped behind to feed the