The meeting throne room bustled with disgruntled elders, all having been dragged out of their comfort zones to attend the impromptu meeting, robes in disarray and expressions aloof and furious.

“Who the hell does that woman think she is? Summoning us to her whims and fancies?” The screech of the old man she brought grated against Yuri’s ears as she folded her arms and sighed heavily.

“She’s Queen, Sir Zachary, incase you haven’t got it into your thick head at all. Queen.”

“I see that life has not taken its liking to you, Sir Zachary.” Yuri sighed lightly as the sound of Kwon BoA’s voice floated through the air behind her, addressing the elder that had been complaining and hurting her ears for hours beside her.

“Thank you.” She mouthed to BoA, who nodded at her lightly before turning her attention back towards Sir Zachary, the bearded, pot bellied lycanthrope elder, who had not taken the comment from BoA that well.

“How dare a hag like you address me!” He screeched, the sound of his voice grating on all their ears like nails on a chalkboard. “You---” BoA snapped her fingers coldly, ice glistening in her eyes momentarily as they turned silvery blue. The ground beneath Sir Zachary’s feet cracked open, and he dropped into the ground, clinging desperately to the cracked edge with fat, sweating hands.

“Enough!” Jiyong’s voice thundered over the raucous crowd, as the lycanthrope elders roared in anger at BoA’s actions, preparing themselves for a fight. “Lady BoA,” Jiyong inclined his head lightly. “If you’d please.” The witch scoffed lightly, snapping her fingers again, just as Minho stepped forward to lift Sir Zachary from the hole telekinetically. The ground resealed itself as soon as he was lifted clear from the wreckage, and Yuri sighed gently as Sir Zachary brushed down importantly on his dusty robes, snorting impertinently through his nose.

She turned her eyes to the dais, a light smile twisting across her face as Taeyeon flitted into view, a floaty white piece dress falling to her knees, the fabric lightly rustling as her blondish pink hair flickered lightly behind her. She frowned lightly, nudging Hyoyeon, who stood at her side, as they both stared at Taeyeon’s seemingly changing hair.

“Is it me, or Taeyeon’s hair is getting darker?” She muttered under her breath to her best friend, allowing Jessica to sling a possessive arm around her waist tightly, as they looked up at Taeyeon, who carried a young dark haired girl in her embrace. A baby faced male stumbled in behind her, hair ruffled, but well dressed enough, the previous ankle chains that they had seen on his feet having been broken off by the guards upon Taeyeon’s command. Her heart dropped slightly at the sight of the chains peeking beneath the tiny girl’s dress, flickering with some unknown kind of magic---clearly, neither Taeyeon nor the guards were able to break the bonds that had restricted the child.

“I’ve called everyone here to discuss something incredibly important, that I’ve found in relations to my kidnapping just a few days ago.” Taeyeon’s light voice filtered across the room gravely. “I believe that everyone deserves to know this fact---that the girl I brought here with me, is the one that had caused the bombing in the city square, and had kidnapped me, and the boy that help us is one of the slaves belonging to the men who orchestrated this kidnapping and bombing.” Titters flickered through the crowds of elders as the news fell from their Queen’s lips into the middle of the crowd, malicious eyes falling onto the shrinking child in Taeyeon’s arms.

Taeyeon's arms tightened fractionally around Judy, her eyebrows furrowing at the angered gazes of her audience. She had expected such an reaction, somewhat, but regardless, it was her duty to make sure they understood clearly that Judy was not the person in wrong here.

“I hope you will understand my reasons for taking them both in, as their actions were involuntary and absolutely they had no control over what they were allowed to do.”

“So does that mean the child was brainwashed?” A voice called out from the depths of the crowd. “We have countless citizens lost to this massacre, namely vampires, but each race has lost a few of their own! You cannot simply expect us to justify our people with a simple explanation that a child couldn’t control her actions! In fact, which race is she?”Taeyeon’s eyes fell on the eagle eyed lycanthrope elder, who crossed his arms, glancing at her with disdain.

“Judy is a witch, tied to a Death Patron.” A clatter of an assembly chair resounded on the ground as the crowd fell into silence. “From what Baekhyun has told me, they orchestrated her near death experience as a baby in order to get a child that could easily resurrect the dead for them, to direct according to their whims and fancies.” Taeyeon said coldly, staring down at the lycanthrope elder who was clearly out to pick bones with her.

“He’s human.” The lycanthrope elder crossed his arms, deflating at her rebuttal and finding another reason to pick a fight within the group assembly.

“As was I, before I turned. Do you have any problems with that?” Taeyeon released her grip on Judy, standing slowly as her palms pressed against the table. The atmosphere in the room turned viciously cold as Jiyong jerked next to her, purple eyes burning violently and deeply at the lycanthrope elder in question, held back only by a gentle press of reassurance from Taeyeon’s own hand. “Or perhaps, what you mean to say is what everyone in your race means to say.” Yuri snorted slightly at Taeyeon’s words, a grin creeping across her youthful face.

That was some controversial words to use, but powerful enough to throw the picky lycanthrope elders and their discriminatory views into chaos. Jiyong’s anger was another factor that they could not tolerate--for if they were to insult Taeyeon, it would be equivalent to insulting their king, who did not tolerate such insults at all. He would probably wipe them all out with a flick of his hand, if it was not Taeyeon holding him back as a gauge to his empathy and moral consciousness. Yuri admired the two young lovers. They worked so well for each other that sometimes she couldn’t really believe the compatibility of the two. They were like clockworks in a beautiful clock, syn