After being banished from Enchancia and traveling to Dracoland, Sehun, his siblings and knights had spent almost a week navigating the routes through the mountains only known to llda's warriors, only for Sehun to return to his home kingdom to find his troops in complete disarray, the city in a state of lawlessness, and his people miserable even with queen Mi-young trying her best to rule in her husband's place, not many wanted a faerie to rule them. In the three weeks that Joo-hyun and Yifan had been gone, the reserves of adamas in the mountains had been plundered to a point that the monsters of the deep had grown bold enough to attack the sentries and invade the homes of those who decided to make the mountains their home, and with many of the soldiers in the pockets of the rich and powerful, the common folk were left to fend for themselves. As if that hadn't been enough to contend with, Sehun's standing amongst some of the warriors and nobles had also changed. His parents, his knights, the warriors who had remained loyal to him, and most of the people of Ilda had been overjoyed at his return, and it had taken him much effort to convince his father that there was no need to hold a feast in his honour. But there were others who had been less pleased with his return, and not just because Ilda once again had a true heir to the crown. Word of what had supposedly befallen Sehun in Enchancia had spread, the rumours even worse than the lies that had been in the missive sent by Heechul, and there were some who thought him less of a man because of that. It used to be that Ilda was ruled by whichever House produced the strongest warriors, and any House could challenge another for the honour of being the ruling House, but the House of Oh had ruled Ilda for generations and the old custom of determining a worthy bearer of the crown by fighting each other to the death had fallen by the wayside - and naturally, Sehun wanted to ensure that it stayed that way. But it wasn't just Ilda that had changed; Sehun was not the same man he had been all those months ago. The man he had been before he left for Enchancia would have been more cautious of his behaviour and conduct, putting a distance between himself and any reminder that he had been forced to offer himself to Enchancia, but Sehun refused to be ashamed of his marriage to Kai.  With the days growing hotter, Sehun dressed himself in light tunics and made no special effort to hide the wedded union rune that stood out starkly on his wrist. As for the rest of it, a week after his return to Ilda, Sehun held a very public sparring session in the common training space shared by all the warriors of all the Houses, inviting any warrior to step up and practice with him - ostensibly to sharpen his rusty fighting skills, but mostly to show everyone that despite the months he'd spent coped up in Kai's room dressed in fine silks and supposedly being forced to serve as a in Enchancia royal harem, he was still capable of knocking any of them off their feet. Sehun was out of practice enough that it took more effort than it should have, but as usual only Yifan had any real chance of getting past his defences, and after that the men fell in line more readily - for as Kai had once noted, the warriors of Ilda tended to respond to fists more than wit.  Sehun could not say that the four months that followed were easy, but they passed quickly enough when he was so exhausted by the end of every day that he was asleep the moment he laid down in his bed. Patrols had to be doubled for the city walls and the caves that led deeper underground to keep the monsters at bay, groups of miners had to be organised to search for new veins of adamas to forge weapons and protective structures to replace the adamas that had been stolen. And Sehun had to figure out which of the nobles had ambitions that would threaten Ilda's continued peace with Enchancia. He had not forgotten his intentions to help Joo-hyun take the throne so that he could hopefully return to Enchancia with Kai when he come, but King Donghae's health had improved slightly with his son's return, enough to set in motion a decision that Sehun acknowledged as necessary for the moment but vexing nonetheless. Another thing that Sehun noticed after his return was how drastically queen Mi-young had changed towards him, she no longer gave him the cold and disgusted looks he was used to. Instead she had chose to treat him with much respect than she had ever shown him. He was worried at first, thinking maybe the queen had caught some illness that made her acted the way she did, hence decided to consult with his sister about the matter. Joo-hyun had assured him nothing was wrong with her mother, saying maybe she really decided to change for the better.  The queen was mostly with her husband, helping him through his illness, but she'd come find Sehun every day just to ask how he was doing and handling things. Sehun hadn't expected such change and the first two months he became wary of the queen, wondering if it was one her of tricks. But as time went by and the queen hadn't changed or shown anything suspicious, he gradually began to relax. Another thing that was disturbing him was his body, Sehun had noticed the changes in some part of his body, like the swell of his belly that had began a month ago and the sensitivity of his s making him wince when dressing or undressing and the way his apatite had increased, eating many things he didn't used to like before. He didn't give it much thought and associated it with some sort of mild illness that would pass with time, as sometimes he felt better after throwing up the content of his stomach mostly in the morning. When he woke up every morning, the first thing Sehun did was to check that the brief letter he had received from Kai was still safely rolled up in the hidden pocket in his belt together with his new adamas wand. Sehun would allow himself a moment to hold Kai's smiling face in his mind's eye, tamping down the dull ache in his chest before getting on with all the tasks he had set for himself that day - for as King of Ilda, even a temporary one, his time was not his own. After attending to Court each day, he'd take a couple of hours to go spend time with Blink that had been staying in the farthest mountain but close enough to the city. Only a few knew about her, his knights, sister and father. The dragon had grown so much that she was now almost the size of her father (Arkan). Sehun had also visited said dragon a few times since he came back, Arkan had met his daughter and Sehun saw the pride on the elder dragon's face. With Arkan's help, he was able to master his powers, now he could control and keep those powers in check and he had learned that Arkan was also the one that helped his mother to master her abilities. They had a lot talked about, Pashíu and Dracoland in general. Then ten days ago, the sentries had reported unusual activity from Necroland, something so large– that they had felt the ground shake from its movement even in Ilda– had emerged from the cursed land and headed towards Dracoland, then returned and vanished into Necroland again as abruptly as it had appeared. Sehun could not help but worry about Baekhyun and his people, even though he thought his worries were probably needless since Dracoland had the advantage of dragons and magic. Besides he was certain if something happen, Pashíu would let him know through her connection with Blink. Or Baekhyun would have sent Chanyeol since he could create a portal directly to Ilda. Chanyeol had decided to go stay in Dracoland for a while after making sure Sehun was back home and safe.   **** They were checking the perimeter with his sister, Yifan and a few of his men. Sehun was lost in thoughts about the plans he had made with Kai, Jimin, and Jongdae, and was overcome by a feeling of melancholy - quickly replaced with alarm when something black dropped out of the sky and flew towards him. "Peace, brother, it's just my crow," Yifan said as he grabbed Sehun's arm, which was already raised to strike. The bird settled on Yifan's shoulder and let out a series of caws, then flapped its wings agitatedly.   "I did not realise that you were still keeping that bird around," Sehun said. "What would you have me done then - break its neck?" Yifan demanded. "It wasn't its fault that that bastard confused it with his magic." "No, I suppose not," Sehun agreed, frowning as the bird nipped Yifan's ear none too gently and cawed again. "Are you sure that the magic has not addled its brains?" "I think its trying to lead us to something," Yifan replied. He held his arm out straight, and the crow flew to his index finger. "Show me." "I agree!" His sister said with a nod. "Are you sure its not going to lead us to our doom?" Seulgi said, coming to stand next to the princess. The two shared a look and Sehun pretended not to notice the hunger they gazed each other with.  "You can always call for Blink if we happen to meet something we can't handle." Yifan said, pointing at horn settled on Sehun's right hip. It was given to him by Arkan, the dragon had said it was an easier way of calling for Blink whenever he needed her to come to him when he couldn't go to her until she's fully matured and able to communicate with him telepathically no matter the distance. "I have to see if that will be necessary." The bird took flight immediately, but landed after a few yards and stood there, waiting for them to follow. Sehun was skeptical, but Yifan was already taking off after his crow, and even though Sehun did not trust the bird, he was not about to let his sworn brother wander off into danger alone. The bird led them outside the palace, and deep into one of the old passes that Sehun knew had been marked as the easiest route from the city to the foot of the mountain range on Jimin's map. It was a narrow path that hugged the side of the mountain with a sheer drop to one side, only just broad enough for a two-horse cart if they were very careful, but otherwise a straightforward route with no confusing offshoots or sections that might make the journey difficult except for the very young or infirm.  One look at the path showed Sehun that what had been shown on the old map and the actual state of the path were very different. Centuries of rain, snow, and wind had eroded the path, making it steeper and barely wide enough for one horse, and sections of the path seemed to have fallen away completely. He could see a group of around two dozen men and women of all ages trapped on the wrong side of a yawning gap in the path that was at least ten yards wide, slowly making their way across a shimmering blue bridge made solely out of magic, and his heart skipped a beat when he recognised the two people who were making the bridge - Jimin(who had a bundle strapped to his chest) and Kai, with Kai on the far side of