FORMAT AS FOLLOW: Italics - Past | Straight (but really gay) - Present

 

“Aim for her head.”

Chaewon closed one eye and did so.

Vivi sighed softly as another paper ball bounced off the back of her head. Her students were waiting for her to finish diagramming on the chalkboard so they were told to wait.

But this group of students could never just sit silently in their seats.

Turning around with a good guess to who it was - the only other person with comparable aim was out with Jinsol per usual on a job - she was met with a Renaissance painting.

Yeojin, leaning back with her hands behind her head, treated the plain ceiling as the most fascinating part of the room. Yerim was waving through the windows to a group of pigeons perched on the windowsill, baby-talking them. Heejin - who was past the age of school but loved being around her friends - was hyperventilating into the collar of her blouse when she saw what Yerim was cooing at. Chaewon was thumbing through her sheet music even though Vivi didn’t teach any music courses.

But Vivi knew the kids adored her.

Coming from a Western kingdom, Vivi was equipped with knowledge far beyond the Eastern’s current lexicon. It was part of why the Kim kingdom, and then the Jung kingdom, kept her on staff for so long. Besides her expertise in medicine, she was one of the few that firmly protested the possible expulsion of Jungeun.

The Kim kingdom didn’t want to risk maybe housing a werewolf. Vivi fought a good fight - being the only one brave enough to stay with Jungeun the first full moon since her attack.

(Besides coming from a far away land, her familial ties made her an expert in certain fields that people wouldn’t understand yet.)

So the students absorbed her every word.

(Unlike Haseul who struggled keeping all of them in their seats.)

“Does anyone know why we have a nervous system?” Vivi turned her back to finish the rest of her body diagram.

“Because we’re always nervous around cute girls,” Chaewon joked.

“Speak for yourself,” Yeojin retorted.

“You of all people should not be disagreeing with that,” Heejin said through her blouse.

Vivi shook her head as they argued who had the most guts among them - “Weren’t you paying attention to Teacher Vivi, we have the same amount of guts” - and started labelling, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get them to behave and copy it down unless she was completely out of the way.

She held in a smile as a familiar humming graced the corridors.

Haseul peeked into the lesson. She wanted to see how the students were getting on.

(No she didn’t.)

And Vivi happened to be teaching today.

(There were only two teachers in the castle.)

Seeing Yeojin and Chaewon rolling up loose leaf parchment into small balls on their laps and the collection of balls laying around Vivi’s teaching space, Haseul was scandalized.

Snatching the ammunition off the girls’ laps, she glared at the two. If Vivi wasn’t going to call them out, as honorary co-teacher, she would.

But not before Yeojin smuggled one last ball and took one last shot.

Vivi turned around, having finished the drawing moments ago but grew shy when she heard Haseul enter the room. Rubbing the back of her neck in faux pain, she looked for the culprit. The students, knowing they had no physical evidence pointed at Haseul. (Even Heejin joined in, Yerim lifting her hand and making her point her index finger while she hid behind her clothes.)

Haseul, with an armful of paper balls, let out a shy smile at the semi-annoyed anatomy teacher.

---

This couldn’t be.

The knight-in-training recklessly leapt off her horse - skidding on her face, a gash opening on her forehead - as she surveyed the damage of the royal carriage. She was breaking protocol, having ridden ahead of her cohort. But her family was out there and she would face the consequences later.

All wheels broken off and what was left of the horses scattered across the road, she didn’t think she could stomach what happened to its riders.

But she was trained to look into incidents like this.

Trembling and bleeding from her forehead, she opened the carriage doors - easy as only one hinge remained - expecting the occupants to be in the same condition as the horses.

No bodies.

Blood splattered everywhere.

Scratches up the seat.

A cloak.

The queens’ hearts were going to weep when she had to deliver the news.

And so was hers.

Underneath the overturned carriage, she saw two very familiar pairs of royal guard boot clad feet. It was sinful to think about but she hoped it was the Ha family instead.

“MOM?! DAD?!” Hyunjin shrieked, using all her willpower to lift the carriage.

She shouldn’t have danced so hard at the party. She should have preserved her strength. She should have eaten more. Why was she so weak?!

“Hyun?” A shaky voice called out.

Her mother.

“The Has, did they make i…”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE HAS!” Hyunjin gritted her teeth, trying to lift the carriage. Her mother should be conserving her strength, not talking. No more talking.

Where was Knight Sooyoung? Where was the follow up team of knights that should have been behind her?

(It was later Hyunjin would let go of her hatred for Sooyoung, knowing she had to protect her family first. By knight logic, she was a knight of the Kim kingdom and her family were its residents.)

But Hyunjin wasn’t strong enough.

She was merely a teenager.

A knight-in-training.

By the time Hyunjin lifted the carriage off, panting and in pain, her parents would be casualties of this attack.

---

“Kind of like old times huh?”

“Except without a wall to seperate us?”

Jungeun and Jiwoo strolled the Jung gardens arm-in-arm. Hyejoo volunteered to look after the stall today so Jiwoo could catch up with her best friend. The two mothers were busy sorting out their daughters’ drama the night before and Hyejoo felt bad.

(So did Chaewon.)

Jiwoo spoke at a thousand words per minute but Jungeun caught onto key phrases.

Sooyoung and her were resetting their lives after holding seasonal jobs over the years among the different kingdoms. Park. Choi. Liu. Moon. Im. Shin. Kwon.

And now - hopefully and permanently - Jung.

They were all badly injured from the wolf attack, Hyejoo suffering an almost-death.

Jungeun didn’t know why they didn’t come to them. Vivi helped her after her attack and besides a few nightmares and blackouts, she was fine.

(Was she though?)

The scars on her back long since faded to faint white lines. Something Jinsol loved tracing her fingers up after a night together.

(That was not the case the first few times they slept next to each other.)

“So Vivi and Haseul are teachers too?”

“We had staff cuts after the…”

“Oh,” Jiwoo understand.

All the kingdoms were grasping for help after the ambush. Forfeiting money for the arts and other departments for stronger fortification. Setting up curfews. Random checks on residents that behaved erratically. Long drawn citizenship paperwork. Some implemented identification cards all residents had to carry at all times.

Sooyoung and her got by with all the changes but she knew all kingdoms suffered. From what Jungeun was telling her - and not telling her - her time with Jinsol was limited due to her growing responsibilities to eradicate the cause of their problems.

“Perhaps Hyejoo would like to join…”

“Join?”

“Chaewon! At school! They can be schoolmates!”

Jiwoo laughed at Jungeun jumping up and down. A stark contrast to Jungeun the night before.

Hyejoo didn’t experience a normal childhood. Not only did Sooyoung and Jiwoo struggle in affording lessons for Hyejoo to get a decent education, Hyejoo wasn’t physically or emotionally ready to be a student. An incident at getting angry with a teacher and her breaking the school’s doors down meant Hyejoo was homeschooled from then on.

(It was Hyejoo who begged to stay home, scared of what she could become.)

But with work, they couldn’t teach Hyejoo everything.

She wasn’t even sure if Hyejoo remembered how to read.

“She’d be a bit behind…”

“Vivi and Haseul would accommodate. Heejin, Yerim, and Yeojin all go. Sometimes Hyunjin. Hyejoo’s met all of them. Oh Jiwoo, it’ll be like we imagined. Our kids growing up together.”

Jiwoo was sorry they couldn’t follow through on that. Chaewon was already eighteen. They weren’t kids anymore. But the hopeful look in Jungeun’s eyes were too hard to ignore

“So Chaewon won’t be lonely.”

Jiwoo needed to make up for those years. She couldn’t disappoint Jungeun again.

“I’ll ask Sooyoung and Hyejoo.”

(Chaewon wasn’t lonely. Jiwoo knew Jungeun really meant herself in her last statement.)

---

WELCOME HOME

“I really like your penmanship,” Haseul complimented Vivi as she strung up the banner.

Vivi blushed at the compliment but before she could voice her gratitude, a beet red Haseul ran off.

Jinsol, Taeyang, and little Hyunjin had embarked on a fifteen day mission to the borders of what the kingdoms had collectively named “Exoland” - where it was rumored most werewolves resided. No one really knew. It was far from civilization, in the high north of the cold mountains and no one wanted to risk proving the rumors right.

Jungeun was holding her breath the entire time she was gone.

(So was Jinsol.)

But Jinsol promised she wouldn’t venture out for the next few months if she came back in one piece.

Heejin, Yerim, and Chaewon screamed at the sound of hooves outside. 

“THEY…”

“ARE…”

“HOME!”

Jungeun shook her head, her heart finally calm as she followed the girls outside.

Hyunjin all but toppled over when Yerim and Heejin jumped on top of her.

Jinsol laughed and patted the pouting Taeyang’s back as he was expecting the first hug from his daughter. But this was Hyunjin’s first trip as a knight candidate - even if she was told to stay in the carriage for a majority of it.

Hyorin compensated by greeting her husband with a kiss as Yerim and Heejin bickered.

“I missed you Hyun!”

“I missed her more!”

Hyunjin closed her eyes and let her two favorite girls fight over her. She needed a nap, a bath, and bread.

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

Jinsol was more prepared than Hyunjin as she caught Chaewon mid-jump, smothering the girl with kisses. Chaewon’s loud giggles echoed throughout the castle, making everyone’s heart soar.

“Come on, I can catch you too,” Jinsol stretched one arm, balancing Chaewon on her side, signalling Jungeun to jump into her arms too.

Jungeun rolled her eyes and joined her family even if she did want to take Jinsol up on her offer.

---

Jinsol and Hyunjin thanked their servers as they left the busy diner. They walked towards their horses, ignoring their fans.

Yes, the royal family and knights had gathered quite the following over the years.

“She’s taller than I thought she’d be.”

“Did you figure out her real height?”

“Forget height, look at their jawlines.”

They returned to the conversation they were having inside, waiting until they were out of hearing range.

Ha Sooyoung was their topic of interest the whole trip.

The former seneschal of the Kim kingdom.

From what they knew, Sooyoung was honorably discharged. The Kim’s stableboy opened the castle gates and found Sooyoung’s crest hastily wrapped in parchment with a small note apologizing for leaving the armed guards. People dismissed it as a prank as Sooyoung, Jiwoo, and Hyejoo were declared missing - and most already believed they were dead.

Jinsol wondered if Sooyoung would be on this journey with them.

She adored Hyunjin like her own daughter but there was an age difference between them. She wasn’t comfortable telling Hyunjin all that was on her mind. She wanted the young woman to not have the same adult stresses that she did.

Like how she was missing her wife and daughter dearly. Since Jungeun’s fainting spell a few days ago, all she could think about was Jungeun and Chaewon. But when was she not thinking about them?

While Sooyoung was impressive on the front lines, Hyunjin possessed an edge over her. Her reflexes the sharpest in the land. Her tracking skills unbeatable. Her speed could use some work but it was still fast. Hyunjin was always the first to volunteer for all jobs. Head Knight Minho, who was patrolling the markets instead, couldn’t hold a sword to her dedication.

“You may head back to the castle now, aunt...Your Majesty,” Hyunjin forgot she was still in public. 

“What about you?” Jinsol furrowed her eyebrows.

Wasn’t Hyunjin tired?

“I have things to catch up on.”

Hyunjin saluted and rode off.

---

Hyunjin winced as Vivi rubbed a damp towel on her forehead.

“What is that?”

“Liquor.”

“On a wound?!”

“Trust me, it’s to sterilize,” Vivi said, quickening her pace so Hyunjin didn’t have to suffer any longer.

She had suffered the most out of this. When Jinsol rode out with some knights they requested Vivi to join them - Vivi luckily remembering how to ride a horse and riding ahead - Jinsol found Hyunjin crying over Taeyang and Hyorin’s bodies. She begged them to be careful transporting their bodies back to the Jung kingdom cemetery.

She also begged Vivi to do something - anything - to revive them.

But Vivi’s medical skills (and powers) could only do so much.

Wrapping a bandage around Hyunjin’s forehead, Vivi tried not to react to the tears streaming down the teenager’s face. It wasn’t because of the alcohol. Hyunjin’s pain tolerance was high.

Hyunjin couldn’t believe they were gone. They were the strongest people she had ever known.

She wouldn’t know what happened unless she asked the Has but she didn’t even know if they made it out alive. From the bloodbath she saw, she would be surprised if they did.

Knowing her parents’ selflessness - it’s why they were good knights - she knew they would have told the Has to find refuge.

Not to call for help for them.

Because that wasn’t something her parents would do.

As knights, they sacrificed themselves for lives that weren’t guaranteed to live. If it was Yerim and Hyunjin in that carriage, her parents would tell them to save themselves.

She saw their wounds. Taeyang was more than capable of lifting the carriage and getting help for his wife but stayed put. By the time Hyunjin reached them, he had lost too much blood to carry his own weight.

For what?

To spend their last waking moments together.

It was selfish and selfless.

The knight-in-training didn’t ever want to be faced with a decision like that.

---

Hyunjin clicked her tongue a fourteenth time.

If Yerim was here, the horse would’ve been resting by now. Her sister was better at getting animals to do what she wanted.

“Allow me.”

Heejin let out a Brrrrrrrrrrrr-aaaaaaa and the horse followed her into the stable.

Hyunjin felt more comfortable waiting outside, listening to Heejin leading the horse into its stall. She didn’t have to wait but it was dark outside. It was her duty to protect the castle residents at all times.

She was responsible for Heejin.

Because she was part of the Jung castle hold.

But it had been more than five minutes and Heejin wasn’t making a noise. Snatching her lamp, she ran inside, seeing the younger woman brushing her horse’s hair mane.

Heejin must’ve been spending a lot of time with Yerim as she was trying to have a conversation with it.

Hyunjin realized that she had been caught worrying.

No, not worrying, doing her duty.

“What did I miss in class?”

“Body systems. Rain cycles. Ballroom dancing.”

“Ballroom dancing?”

“Chaewon’s suggestion.”

Hyunjin and Heejin laughed lightly, recounting Chaewon’s dizzying adventures on the dance floor on her birthday but as their eyes met, their giggles died down.

(So did the fluttering in their chests.)

It had been a while since they laughed in the same room together. They couldn’t recount the last time it was just the two of them.

“I’m sorry…”

Heejin suppressed looking too eager.

“I keep using you to catch up on my studies.”

Heejin should’ve known better.

“Well, I wasn’t in class this afternoon.”

Heejin wanted to slap herself for her bitter tone. This was most Hyunjin has said to her that didn’t involved taking turns in the washrooms, turning off the corridor lamps, or passing the bread basket during meal times.

“Why not?”

Hyunjin was hurt that Heejin eyes were looking everywhere but at her.

This was for the best though, wasn’t it?

“I have a real job now and it’s important.. Maybe not as important as being a knight but--”

Heejin was officially the head cook - Haseul and Vivi helped - but she shared responsibility for all the cooking related chores in the castle. Heejin knew she shouldn’t argue but her moments with Hyunjin were so short. She didn’t want Hyunjin to not know what was bothering her. Her and Jungeun were the same.

She too counted down the days Hyunjin would return.

But unlike before, she didn’t jump into the seneschal’s arms when her calendar hit zero.

(Neither did Jungeun.)

“No, no, it is a very important job Heejin. You’ve done well.” Hyunjin praised in a soft tone, “I think your parents would be proud.”

Heejin stood still at the unexpected words. They had lifted her spirits even if they weren’t quite what she had longed to hear from the taller woman. 

(I’m proud of you.)

---

Minho slammed the raging woman against the wall of the building. She made a fool of him in there. Of all of them.

And worst, the Jung kingdom.

Hyunjin was only a knight for one month and she would lose it all from this scene. She could still hear the bartender trying to calm everyone down inside. He already lost half his patrons to fear. 

She let Minho push her against the wall as it was helping her calm down.

The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins.

On the ground, the victim of her attack - which she stood by when Minho relayed the details of the assault - writhed in pain.

Minho knew he deserved it but Hyunjin was a representative of the castle and the entirety of the kingdom. He didn’t want all her efforts to go to waste because of one night.

She felt the blood dripping down her knuckles.

Was it hers?

Blinking away the dull throbbing in her body, Hyunjin’s vision cleared up slowly.

She was outside the pub, surrounded by her comrades. Some had their swords drawn and pointed at her. Not the victim grunting beneath them.

What had happened in there?

Behind them, Haseul held her coat close, disregarding the strong whiskey scent, terrified of the woman she helped raise.

---

“What does that say?”

“Ovaries.”

“Over who? Who’s Yves?”

“Just take it,” Yerim pushed her paper into Yeojin’s lap.

Yerim stifled her giggle as Yeojin tried to decipher their anatomy homework. Turning her head, she fought a yawn and finished her breakfast.

She had stayed up waiting for her sister’s return.

(Also keeping a countdown of her own.)

Heejin came in a little before midnight, sounding a little congested. It was getting colder outside so maybe she was catching a fever. But Hyunjin trudged in before the sun rose. Unlike Jungeun and Heejin, Yerim hadn’t outgrown the “jumping into their arms” welcome ceremony. Hyunjin appreciated the warm welcome from her favorite person.

Yeojin caught the yawn from the younger sister, letting the ink drip onto the table. “Not enough sleep?”

“Nope.”

"Stomach okay?"

Yerim smiled.

It was rare when sweet Yeojin came out but it was - don’t tell Yeojin - rather adorable.

“Because if those Jungs are overworking you, I’m going to beat…”

And it was gone.

“You are not beating up anyone. If you knocked out the Jungs, we’d be unemployed.”

“Oh, right.”

---

Jungeun screamed in frustration but her wife wouldn’t console her.

Because Jinsol too echoed the same scream in the other throne.

Staff cuts and budget reductions.

These meetings were annual and usually the queens were prepared for them. But this was instigated by an emergency.

Crops were ruined.

Houses were ransacked.

Families were broken.

Friends were missing.

And Jungeun and Jinsol were required to cut the staff to pay for the damages and to increase security around the borders. They also personally decided that they would pay for all the funerals in their kingdom.

But the staff was comprised of people they loved. These were people that didn’t paint them as queens but as someone to tell secrets to, to have food fights with, to hide their socks around the castle for fun.

They were family.

“I don’t want to lose anymore people,” Jungeun sobbed.

Even if Jinsol was a mess, she couldn’t let Jungeun cry like this and took her into her arms. But Jungeun protested, wanting to ease Jinsol’s pain too.

They lost their best knights.

And their best friends.

And who could’ve been Chaewon’s best friend.

Vivi and Haseul found them the next day, sleeping in each other’s arms on Jungeun’s throne.

--

Haseul didn’t need to assign homework. Educational merit varied kingdom to kingdom but it kept the kids - notably Yeojin who chose when to do homework based on mood - out of trouble.

It would be their last homework assignment in a while anyway.

Today, a new student would be joining them.

Ha Hyejoo.

She didn’t want to overwhelm her.

Straightening up the reading room - finding three more paper balls, one lubricated with who-knows-what - she wanted to make a good impression on the new girl.

Hyejoo was a little over Yeojin’s age so she wasn’t sure what to expect.

Hearing the door creak open, Haseul plastered a welcoming smile on her face.

“Welc….JIWOO!”

The two met for a long hug, not much longer than the one they shared at Chaewon’s party. Hyejoo was capable of walking to the castle on her own so this was a pleasant surprise. Maybe she was visiting Jungeun.

(Haseul hoped she was visiting Jungeun. The more people surrounding her, the better.)

“What brings you here?”

“I was just around the castle.”

Haseul raised an eyebrow. She knew a lie when she saw one.

Her sister made her an expert.

“I can assure you that Hyejoo is in good hands.”

Haseul was amused.

If Hyejoo was younger, this parent-teacher conference would be understandable but she was almost an adult. These classes were more than anything a way to keep the kids up-to-date with current events and knowledgeable about anything and everything. Only three of them needed schooling but the oldest stayed out of habit.

“Maybe you can update me with Hyejoo’s educational background. I know a few of the teachers in the nearby kingdoms.”

“She doesn’t really have...one,” Jiwoo her lips in. “I’m sorry. This is a mistake. I shouldn’t have—”

“Jiwoo, wait,” Haseul reached out for Jiwoo to take her hand. “No one’s going to care what she does or doesn’t know. Just because this is a higher schooling than the rudimentary levels, it’s not any more different than other approaches to learning.”

The class was made up of troublemakers for certain but they’d never intentionally bully someone based off of something as meaningless as literacy or mathematics. They were important skills to have but they were all raised in a way that taught them not to discriminate.

Haseul was the punchline of most of their jokes anyways.

Jiwoo nodded in understanding.

(She didn’t know how to read until after she met Jungeun and the princess never looked at her differently because of it. Neither did Haseul and Jinsol when she moved to the kingdom.)

“She could read. She used to read Sooyoung’s handbook and the price lists at the market religiously. We don’t have much reading material anymore so she is rusty.. All she knows is what Sooyoung and I have lived through. And we tell her about it,” Jiwoo supplemented, trying to help Haseul make the experience comfortable for her.

Her meaning Hyejoo.

But Jiwoo could use some comfort as well.

“So stories,” Haseul summarized. “Jiwoo, what else do you think fills these books?”

Vivi would slap her if she knew what she was saying. It took days before Hyunjin could differentiate “fact” from “storytelling.”

“All of these things we learn are compiled from stories. We know if I throw this book up, it’ll come down. And many more stories or as Vivi would say, experiments, point to that happening. You just told her rather than having her read it in a book.”

Jiwoo was happy Jungeun and Jinsol kept Haseul on staff.

Hyejoo was in good hands.

---

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes it’s true. It was in the newsletter,” Haseul whispered.

But Jinsol didn’t argue back, more interested in the koi fish in the pond. Teacher Tiffany was rambling about something she could care less about.

She could care less about her existence too.

Haseul sensed Jinsol’s hatred towards their instructor. Unlike Jinsol’s notepad, hers was full of lecture notes. Even Jinsol didn’t have her usual aquatic doodles lining the sides. Haseul knew not to comment on it. Right now, she was defending her current predicament.

“There’s no such thing as a weather curse.”

Or maybe Jinsol was not spacing out. Her expression begged to differ.

(That’s just how her resting face is.)

“And even if there was, why should that stop you from following your parents?” Jinsol said.

Yongguk and Minzy, Haseul’s father and mother, were joining a music festival in the Im kingdom soon. Jinsol wanted to attend but Sulli and Jessica were fighting - as usual - so she didn’t bother asking them.

She wanted Haseul to go in her place but she kept making excuses not to live out her dreams. Her as in Jinsol. But it could’ve been Haseul’s dream too. What’s the worse a weather curse could do anyway? Haseul was a perfectly healthy human being without a hex on her. Only a fool would curse her.

“Jung Jinsol, are you paying attention to me?” Tiffany shrilled.

“No.”

(Jinsol didn’t know how she was going to continue taking lessons from this harlot.)

“I’m asking what are a few tactics this kingdom has used to fight werewolves.”

“I don’t know, a weather curse?”

Haseul scoffed.

Jinsol sneered.

Tiffany huffed. The princess used to like her and she tried to make up for whatever she was angry about by having class outside. Her efforts were futile though and would be moving forward.

Tiffany dismissed class early that day.

---

Hyejoo was kind of glad people were still afraid to be outside so none would see the scene.

Her mother was blowing her nose into her handkerchief, snot and tears flowing down her face. 

Jiwoo rolled her eyes at her wife’s theatrics.

They were accompanying Hyejoo to school, wanting to commemorate the moment. Hyejoo wouldn’t be surprised if they hired a portrait artist to paint them outside the castle walls with her new parchment and quills.

“Hyejoo, welcome back,” Vivi beamed from her crouched position on the castle lawn.

Dropping her garden shears, she greeted the Ha family warmly.

“I was here last week.”

Vivi could sense Hyejoo wanted to escape her parents’ overly emphasized first day of school goodbye - she could hear Sooyoung wailing behind the castle gate - so offered to walk the girl up herself.

Sooyoung and Jiwoo were right. Hyejoo had healed well. If she was attacked by a wolf, you wouldn’t have noticed.

(But Vivi knew better.)

Hyejoo groaned. Her mothers weren’t budging when Vivi turned her towards the castle.

“Sweetheart, have a good day at school.”

“Okay Mom.”

“We’re proud of you!”

“Alright Mom.”

“We love you!”

“Aunt Vivi, may we please walk faster?” 

---

“The mobius strip...” Teacher Jaden droned on.

But Chaewon had lost track of what he was talking about thirteen seconds into the lesson.

Jinsol beat her at twelve.

To encourage Chaewon to attend class more, Jinsol had joined her. She took notes with Chaewon, drew with Chaewon, and even did fingerprint art that they showed Jungeun with huge smiles on their faces.

(Chaewon’s smile was more of a threat to get Jinsol away from her.)

But Jinsol understood why Chaewon was constantly skipping classes and even declared to drop out. Jaden didn’t really know Chaewon.

He only visited two to three times a week and taught her things he thought she should know.

Apparently, quantum physics was it.

English classes were paying off though.

(When they presented their skills to Jungeun and the rest of the castle at dinner - “Blonde baby unit.” “Oh my god thank you” - they earned a round of applause.)

Jinsol thought back to her conversation with Jungeun the night before - and internally smiled at the activities that followed after.

Today they’d present the final staff roster to turn into the financial affairs board. And the more she sat listening to this man talk about some sort of space-time condiment, Jinsol couldn’t agree more that Chaewon needed teachers that cared for her.

Teachers that have witnessed her mistakes and accomplishments growing up. Teachers that knew her ticks and interests.

When Jungeun suggested Haseul and Vivi, Jinsol couldn’t have fallen more in love with her wife.

---

“Sorry we’re late Teacher Haseul,” Hyunjin and Yeojin parroted, sweaty from their knight conditioning. Hyunjin didn’t need it, being the most in-shape knight of this generation, but she needed to run off some steam. Yeojin needed someone to carry her through the ropes course. She wouldn’t be joining the new training cohort because she refused to camp in the winter but she still needed to stay in shape.

Yeojin crumbled next to Chaewon, using her last bit of energy to smiling cheesily at the princess.

Yerim was only a little disappointed. They were getting along so great that morning before breakfast but sharing homework and fears of losing one’s job didn’t constitute a permanent seat beside her it seems.

She cheered up when her older sister took a seat beside her.

It was Heejin’s turn to be disappointed.

“As you all know, we have a new student joining us.”

“Does this person have ovaries?”

“Pardon?”

“Yeojin’s asking if this person is a girl. You know, to get her nervous system going?”

“I heard that!”

“Oh yeah and what body system helped you there?”

“The ear system obviously!”

“Not every person with ovaries is a girl or wants to be. Didn’t Teacher Vivi’s gender studies lesson teach you—“

“HYEJOO!”

All heads whipped towards the entrance where a nervous girl was standing, gripping her portfolio tightly. Chaewon bit her lip, recognizing that death grip around her favorite stuffed animal. She didn’t know if the Has would take her mother’s offer, not knowing their personalities at all. But them going to school together - and hopefully for her mother’s sake, Hyejoo’s parents visiting more - they’d finally get to learn from each other.

Vivi gave Hyejoo a gentle push through the doorway, winking at Haseul to take over.

(Haseul’s respiratory system somehow stopped working.)

Hyejoo apologized for being late, Haseul waving her off immediately, and took the empty seat next to Heejin who greeted her brightly.

It was Hyunjin’s turn to be disappointed.

“So who wants to read their assignment first? I would like two volunteers. Hyejoo don’t worry, you can just listen to see what we’re learning now.”

Hyejoo nodded and gave Chaewon a small wave from her seat. She kept her ears open but used the time to scope where’d she’d be given a proper education. The vaulted ceilings, glass-stained windows, and expansive collection of books lining the walls were very different from rooms she’s been in before.

“I want to read Teacher Haseul. And I think Yeojin should read next,” Yerim smiled coyly.

By Yeojin’s logic, her nervous system was definitely working now.

 

 

NEXT CHAPTER UPDATE: FIRST QUARTER MOON

Q (ourtuneisohigh): This chapter without much Lipsoul was excruciating to write but I did this to them so I will suffer. Thanks for reading everyone and let us know your thoughts. Twitter | Curious Cat

N (LazyNinja on ao3): Wow did you see those Viseul moments? No? Well try reading it again, I try hard to get them included TT Thanks for the kudos, we hope you are getting invested into the story :D Twitter | CC