Chapter 1

Sunlight glinted through the window of the carriage as they approached the palace. It was a sunny day. A good one to arrive in her new home, Yoohyeon thought. 

    She shuffled along the plush velvet seat to peek out. When she had left home people lined the streets to cheer and throw flowers and wish her good luck. It was a huge honour to have one of their own be chosen as one of the seven queens. Well, chosen wasn’t really the right word. She didn’t feel like she had been chosen.

    Yoohyeon opened her hand to look down at the crystal she had been holding all morning. It would be hers until her time as queen ended, whenever that might be, and then it would turn clear again. After that it would be taken all over the country until some other girl was tested and managed to make it change colour. Right now it was blue but it might be any colour when the next queen touched it.

    Yoohyeon ran her fingers wonderingly over the hard, smooth plains and rough edges of the crystal. Some days she thought it looked as clear and blue as the sky above her right now. Other times it looked cold and icy.

    Pulling her eyes away from the crystal she looked outside again.

    Seven City was beautiful. The houses were neat and white, some with flowers in baskets at their windows. They crossed a river at one point with sparkling water and little fish darting about beneath the surface.

    Yoohyeon pressed her face against the window, angling herself to get a glimpse of the palace. Her jaw dropped. It was huge and white and shining in the summer light. She had already been told by one of her attendants that the palace was split in two. The lower palace was level with the city and was where most of the daily business was taken care of. The upper palace where she and the other queens would live looked like it was sitting on top of the first one. It was built up into the natural rise of the ground behind the lower palace. Yoohyeon arched her neck to look up at it, still hanging open.

    The door didn’t make a sound when Yoohyeon pushed it open but it was heavy. She peeked around the small gap she had made. 

    “Wow,” she said to herself at the sight of the long white room. There were tall windows and pillars and at the end a large white throne. Yoohyeon glanced around to make sure she wouldn’t be caught and then slipped through the door, pressing it quietly shut behind her. She began to hurry towards the throne, itching to sit on it, when a voice stopped her.

    “Hello.”

    Yoohyeon gave a little yelp and spun, almost slipping, to find a tall pretty woman looking at her. Her hair was the brightest and most vibrant shade of purple she had ever seen. She smiled, making herself look somehow prettier. Yoohyeon gawped, blinking.

    “H-Hello,” she managed.

    “Are you Yoohyeon?” The purple haired woman approached. She was wearing black boots and pants with a fitted jacket. The only colour was a little bit of dark blue trim. Yoohyeon looked down at her shapeless dress, so pale blue it was almost white. Or maybe a faded grey. 

    “They said you would probably arrive today. I’ve been dying to meet you,” the woman continued.

    Yoohyeon lifted her head again, flashing her a smile. “Hi, yes, I’m Yoohyeon. Nice to meet you.”

    “Jiu,” said the purple haired woman, shaking her hand. Her skin was very soft and Yoohyeon immediately worried her own hand would be clammy from the heat outside and her nerves and just generally because it seemed like what would happen to her in such a situation.

    “That’s a nice name.”

    “Well, my real name is Minji but…” She pulled a face and shrugged.

    “That’s a nice name too,” said Yoohyeon.

    “I guess but there were always at least two other girls in my class at school with that name so people started calling me Jiu. There’s never been a Queen Jiu before either so…”

    “I guess so.” Yoohyeon smiled. “I don’t think there’s been a Queen Yoohyeon yet either.”

    “We can both be firsts then.”

    Yoohyeon nodded. “A-are you a fairy too?” 

    Jiu looked confused for a second and laughed when Yoohyeon gestured at her hair. “Oh! No, no, no, I just dyed it this colour to match my crystal. It just… seemed fun at the time.”

    Jiu smiled widely. It was a smile that seemed to fill her whole face. Yoohyeon couldn’t help but smile back though she felt embarrassed. Her own silvery grey hair was a natural fairy shade. She had never known anyone with a colour as dark as Jiu’s. Purples were always a soft lilac colour. She just hadn’t known you could dye hair a colour like that. Seven City really was different from Faeland.

    “Are there any others here?” she asked.

    Jiu linked her arm through Yoohyeon’s, surprising her. Her feet almost didn’t move when Jiu started leading her toward the throne. For a second she thought she was going to get a chance to sit in it but then they skimmed past it and headed towards a door behind. Jiu stopped.

    “This room is mine,” she said gesturing at the door behind the throne. There were six others, three on each wall. One for each queen Yoohyeon supposed. “They said I could have it since I was here first, although they said you’re registered as having chosen your crystal first so if you want it-”

    “No, no, no, that’s fine.” Yoohyeon cut her off quickly. “I don’t mind. You were here first. I’ll just take one of the other rooms.”

    Jiu smiled at her again and Yoohyeon somehow got the feeling that she had done something right. Like when she answered a question correctly at school.

    “There’s someone else due in the next few days,” said Jiu.

    “That’s good.” 

Yoohyeon stood awkwardly shifting from one sandaled foot to the other but Jiu didn’t seem to notice.

“It’ll be good to have someone to eat with. The food here is amazing!”

Yoohyeon’s stomach rumbled like it recognised the word food and they both stared at each other a second before bursting into a laugh.

“Come on.” Jiu grabbed her hand and gave it an eager tug. “Let’s go see what we can find.”

A/N: I know it's a slow start but the other members will arrive next chapter and then we can have some fun. Let me know what you would like to see, favourite ships, who's your bias etc (Mine's Gahyeon :p )

Thank you for reading <3