~Jisoo~

As Lisa and I climbed up to the window, I felt a yearning to run back to Jennie. "Jisoo! Please, do hurry up. You have been hanging there for longer than I would recommend." I didn't realize that I was just hanging on the vine instead of climbing. "S-Sorry." I quickly continued to climb once again. Lisa trailed on, glancing over to a patch of the forest. I pulled myself up and swiftly looked down to see that Lisa has yet to climb up. "Hurry up Manoban!" I shouted and soon pounced on my bed. "H-Hey! Do not leave me hanging!" Lisa soon fell down from the window, landing with a thud.

Time had passed, Lisa was reading a book. She was near the end of it. I, however, was thinking about something. Actually, it wasn't a something, but someone. I heard paper crumple and fabric shifting. "Jisoo, it has been about half of an hour. Are you missing your lover?" Lisa teased. "But seriously, I have never seen you like this."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, slightly angered by the statement. "You seem crestfallen. I called for you to help me pick a new book for later fifteen minutes ago then again five minutes ago, you did not answer once. You were empty minded, and the Jisoo I know is on full alert." She called for my attention? I asked myself. "How about this. Why do we go and eat? It is over six and a half." I heard a grumble, "Seems as if your stomach is quite keen on the idea." I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I got up and agreed to the idea. "I do have a hankering for some chicken and rice." I quietly said, we both walked out of the chambers and flew down the stairwell.

The servants had listened to our small request of dinner. They insisted for them to make a bigger meal, however, we both refused. Tzuyu joined us and also ate. After our meal we all headed out to meet some friends. Friends hidden in the palace. We went to a stairwell that led to the dungeon. As we went down we faced the seventh torch of the hall and pulled. A secret passage was revealed to the left and quickly entered the room. The room had many exits, but only two entrances. "SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon. Soojin, Minnie, Soyeon, Miyeon, are you here?" Lisa asked, softly, jumping at the sound of the door we came in closing. "Well the room is clean, so SuA was here." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "You called?"

"Soyeon! Where are the others?" Lisa questioned. "SuA is cleaning her room, again. Siyeon is hiding in the corner."

"Hi!" We heard Siyeon shout from a corner of the room. "Handong is with Siyeon, reading. Yoohyeon is asleep. Minnie is out shopping in the bazaar. Miyeon is currently tied up, and Soojin is out with her lover."

"Soojin has a lover?" I retorted, Tzuyu raised her right eyebrow. "Well, we are not sure. We about it and she denies it. But we are sure that they have a connection. Though we do not know much about her, all we know is her name and what she looks like."

"What is their name?" Lisa, energetically, asked. "Wait, 'tis a girl? I thought Soojin was straight as a stick!"

"Well the stick bent when she met her."

"More so snapped." Tzuyu scoffed. "But what is her name?" Lisa jumped up and down, yearning to know. "I think it was Shuhua. That is all I know." The name rung in my ears. "Shuhua? The Taiwanese escape artist? The rogue assassin?"

"Assa-wha?" Soyeon replied to my sentence. "Shuhua, she is a wanted criminal in Taiwan. No one knows why she became such a crook. People even said the pirates fears her. She had a happy and wonderful life as an actress and a training assassin, then poof, she disappears for months. Soon after, she was seen leaving the empire. As she left she had lives hanging on her blade. However, if she is here we cannot do anything. We do not have any relationship with Taiwanese Empire and vowed not to interfere with their criminal records and things like that. It is important to know that she is absolutely dangerous and cunning with tactics that are extremely unexacting." How did Tzuyu know about this? "Before you ask, I read her files that I obtained." I wasn't planning to ask her anything about that. "She should be returning anytime soon, we can probably question her about that."

"Okay, enough about Soojin's love life. We are here to ask about what you have gathered so far." I said, quickly changing the subject. "If it is information you seek, then let me bring Handong. She has a friend that gave her information from the week."

"Leave the poem rhyming to me."

"Fine. Handong!" Handong quickly scurried over, "What is it?"

"Tell them what your friend told you."

"Very well." She faced us. "The borders will be line with people, an ambush will be organized. Those who wander near these borders are bound to die or to be kept as hostages. Currently the attackers are mainly from the Liúxuè Tribe near the west coast in China. They are considered to rule to Yellow Sea. The attacks are also trailed by the Běifāng Tribe in the North. The tribe that is the closest to the borders." I took note to the information, with some questions of my own. "Do you know about the other two tribes?" She shook her head. "My friend did not have any time to share anymore. If she did she was sure to be caught."

"Well, I shall request Kassie to take a closer look and see what she can recover about the two tribes. However, Handong, may I ask that you learn more about the other two tribes. It would be best to know what they specialize in." She quickly nodded. I soon dismissed her and she ran back to where she was before. "Soyeon."

"Yes?"

"What the hell did you mean when you said "Miyeon is currently tied up"? Explain?"

"Indeed, I am most curious about that." Tzuyu responded.

Soyeon motioned us to follow her and so she led us to a room in the far right corner. There was Miyeon, tied and bound to a chair. We all stood in the doorway, watching her struggle. "Soyeon. What the actual ."

"Untie her!" Lisa shouted, worried for Miyeon. "Soyeon! I swear to god! I will shove a salad down your throat and sticks ears of corn in your ears!"

"Miyeon is as wild as can be." Tzuyu sighed. Soyeon went ahead to go untie Miyeon. However, behind Miyeon was a vase on a small table. It was a jade and an orange-red color. Why was it so important? Because Soyeon knocked it over when she reached to untied Miyeon's hand, which were behind the chair, and it fell with a shattering sound. "Well god dammit Soyeon! This is why we cannot have nice things!" Miyeon retorted. "And you are the reason why we cannot have a fridge with food that does not have a lock!" Does she eat the food in it. "You broke three fridges just by opening them!" Oh...

 

We bid our farewells and went up to find Kassie. Wasn't hard, during this time she would wander the left side of the palace. "Kassie." Tzuyu said. She quickly hurried over and gave a swift bow. "Yes?"

"We need you to investigate about two tribes in the files."

"What are the names?"

"There is the Liúxuè near the west coast of China. They thrive near the Yellow Sea. Then there is the Běifāng Tribe near the northern area. May you gather as much as you can about them?" I asked. Lisa started to wander away from us, so I had to grab her arm and pull her in. "Of course. Do you wish for me to start now?"

"That would be most wonderful!" Lisa, cheerfully said. She ran off to complete her given task. "Now, what time is it Tzuyu?" I asked, she ran off to see the time. "Close to eight."

"Tsk, one more hour." I scoffed under my breath. I tried to think about what to do in the mean time. "Have any ideas about what to do now?" I asked. "Should we ask the readers?"

"The what?" Tzuyu and I said in unison. "Nothing!" We all stared at Lisa.

Tzuyu suggested that we go hang with Soyeon and the girls hidden in the stairwell. We had nothing to do so we agreed and headed towards the stairwell. Making sure that no one can see us or had followed us we opened the door and went in. "Soyeon! Where are you!" Lisa shouted as soon as the door closed. Their "home" was soundproof to the outside and was quite large. Multiple rooms for many purposes. Yoohyeon went to give us a more than weird greeting, "You do not want to bother Soyeon right now, trust me. I did that sorrowful mistake and I regret everything." 

"Yeah, whatever Soyeon is doing must have gave you a run for your mental health." Siyeon joked. "I mean she did run out of the room with Soyeon yelling and she had at least one bruise on her arm. You were wide-eyed too." Handong stood to grab a piece of chocolate from a drawer and handed them out. We graciously took the sweet treat and munched on the treat. "Hey Handong, do you not sneeze when yo-"

"Achoo!" Handong sneezed before the sentence was finished by Yoohyeon. "I forgot. But I still enjoy chocolate." We all shook our heads. "Well, we came here to have fun! What should we do? Play games? Tell stories? Act? Gossip?"

"Calm down Lisa. I question how much sugar was in your piece of chocolate." I said. "But, what did you see? What made Soyeon upset?" Yoohyeon was about to speak, until, "Let me guess, Soyeon and Miyeon having !" Siyeon jokingly said, but we took it more as a statement than a joke. "What? Hell no! We would probably hear it! Soyeon was just changing clothes. She does like other people looking at her when she changes." Better than the first thought. 

We were hanging about on their sofa. Soyeon went to sleep with Miyeon. As in they turned in for the night. Minne came back from shopping. We all gathered around and spoke about random stuff. "Why are they hiding in the palace again?" Lisa asked. "Because, we are the princess' personal spies. And we work to keep the dungeon as peaceful as we can, in secret."

"Should I ask for a more descriptive explanation, Handong?" We all said no together. "I am back. Minnie? Miyeon? Soyeon? Guys?" Soojin was back. "Soojin, may we talk with you?" Said Minnie. "Sure, mind if I bring Shuhua?"

"As long as you blindfold her. And that you made sure that she does not know how to get here." Yoohyeon replied. "Done and done." Soojin pulled in a slim and beautiful girl. She wasn't tall, but she's at least taller than Soyeon. The door slid shut. Soojin carefully took off the girl's blindfold. "Shuhua, these are my friends. Yoohyeon, Siyeon, Handong, Minnie, and. Wait, where is Soyeon and Miyeon."

"They had s-" Handong quickly covered Siyeon's mouth and pulled her to the ground. "They turned in for the night. And Siyeon. Please keep your ing mouth shut." We all stared at Handong. She never cusses. "Hey, Soojin, forgot about us?" Tzuyu waved her hands. "Oh! I did not know you were here. There is Jisoo, Tzuyu, and Lisa." 

"Hi." She gave a cheerful wave. "Now what did you wish to speak about?" Soojin asked, bringing her guest to the sofa. "We have some questions for you." Minnie calmly said. "One-"

"Are you two dating?" Siyeon shouted, earning a glare from Handong. "I shou