“What the hell was that?”

Irene throws Nayeon a sharp glare and quickly snatches the paper back.

“You will know how to find them when you understand this.”

“Can I see it?”

“Let’s figure it out together.”

They all settle in the reading room, working their brains out to solve this.

“From the times you met them, did they say anything about this?”

“They said the most important thing is to keep the faith. The seekers must have absolute faith in finding them, otherwise they’ll never find the destination.”

“It said they rise from the East. Does that mean they’re staying in the east side?”

“I think it’s about their origin. In the stars we rest, that’s where we can find them.”

“But which one?”

“This is strange.” Tzuyu mumbles. Sana thinks it’s the first time she hears the girl speak.

“What is strange, Tzuyu-ah?” Jihyo says in a gentle voice, encourages the girl to speak up.

“Uh… I can understand every sentence except for the last one. I mean, not like I totally understand all that, but at least it has some meaning, like about their origin and keep faith. But the last one… Our Queen will light up. I never saw or heard any saying like this.”

“True. Now she mentioned about this, I also find it weird here. This must be the key. You’re the sharp one, Tzuyu-ah.”

Sana sees Nayeon pats Tzuyu’s head. Nayeon can pat Tzuyu’s head too? Unbelievable.

“Do they have anyone that they refer as Queen?” Jihyo turns to Irene, the only one in here who has met the demigod.

“I don’t know much about them. But I have never seen any. The stories said they fled here with their children only, but I think all of them are boys.” – Irene frowns, she doesn’t recall they mentioned about any girl at all.

“Even if they have daughter, it should be Princess, not Queen. Must be something else.” – Seungwan says, still leaning on the priestess’ shoulder.

“What can it be?”

Usually, Mina loves to solve a puzzle, but she’s a little distracted today. It’s so weird from the moment she woke up in Jihyo’s house, seeing so many new people, finding out she’s cursed. Yeah, cursed. Now there’s poison coursing through her body, as Nayeon said. And everybody acts strange whenever she asks about the curse, always avoids her eyes and quick to reassure her that it’s not very severe. But here they are, doing so much for just a minor curse. Mina is not a fool, especially when she’s been friend with Sana and Momo long enough to know they’re lying. Maybe she will corner one of them later, when she has a chance, to ask them about this.

Or maybe she’ll ask Chaeyoung. The girl, now sitting between Jihyo and Dahyun, has been avoiding Mina ever since they left Jihyo’s house. Mina is almost convinced the girl is mad at her. But why? It can’t be because Mina is cursed, can it? No, that’s not it. She searches through her mind for what she did wrong, but none comes up. They have been fine this morning, before Mina left home. She scans the girl’s face, who is frowning intensely at the paper, as if commanding it to explain itself. Chaeyoung seems angry, and sad, Mina can tell by the slouch of the younger’s shoulders. It must be something related to the curse, Mina concludes, and maybe this curse is not as minor as everyone makes her to believe.

“Why it’s light up? It doesn’t sound like a person. More like a thing.”

Sana’s voice interrupts Mina’s line of thoughts. Oh right, people are still discussing about the curse. She looks around as people nod in agreement with Sana’s statement and start guessing what the poem is referring to. They list out many things that can be found in the forest, a stream, a certain animal, a fae. The opinions are heavily leaning towards a tree, much like the trees that guard the magic world entrance, when Jihyo and Seungwan decide they should have some food in their system. It’s been a while since lunch and it’s already dark outside.

Irene doesn’t say anything except for “No food in reading room” before Seungwan and Jihyo usher people to the dining place. The dining room is situated in a separate house behind the main hall, together with the priestess’ living quarter. To get there, they have to walk across a large yard. It’s already dark outside when they step out. Two lines of lanterns start lighting up with their steps, just enough to illuminate the path, but not too bright to hinder the stars, which look like beautiful blinking fairy lights in the night sky.

“The stars are so bright tonight!”

“Yeah, we don’t get to see lots of stars in the city because, you know, light pollution. But there are so many stars here, you don’t even need to light up the lanterns to see the way.”

Everyone stops in their track as soon as the words come out of Sana’ mouth. A moment of silence pass by when all eyes are switching between Sana and the sky.

.

.

.

.

.

“It’s the stars! Oh my god it’s the stars!”

Nayeon’s squeal is the first to break the silence, then it’s chaos. People start jumping up and down, yelling

“YESS WE FOUND THE ANSWER!”

“Can’t believe we didn’t think of it sooner.”

“The stars~~~”

“It said they rest in the stars. Of course, we have to follow the stars!”

“But which one?”

“It’s the Queen, Momo, the Queen of stars!”

“Cassiopeia”

All of them turn their gazes to the starry sky, looking for the Cassiopeia constellation[1]. The five stars form a prominent W-shaped asterism, shining brightly in the Northern sky. The Queen they’re looking for is there, sitting in the throne she was chained in, promising to light up the way to those seeking for her gods.

This is it, that’s what they need to do, go into the Ancient Forest and follow the Cassiopeia. It doesn’t seem easy, but at least now they have a direction. With this new-found revelation, their steps are much lighter than before, all are stoked for the upcoming adventure.

***

“Only two of them should go on this quest.”

Irene points at Mina and Chaeyoung, who are sitting at the opposite side of the room. This makes the excited crowd, who are discussing passionately on what to prepare for this adventure, goes silent.

 “WHAT?”

“As I said before, they don’t want to be found. The more people going, the less chance you can find them. So, only two, Mina, of course, and Chaeyoung, her companion, should go on this.”

“But they are just babies! Mina doesn’t even know magic. They could die before even reaching the place!”

Nayeon waves her hands indignantly, worry is evident on her face.

“They are all grown-ups, Nayeon. Have faith in them. See, the larger the crowd, the more difficult it is to keep absolute faith in the whole group. Every single one must have faith in the gods and the stars, that’s the only way.”

“But it’s not about faith, it’s about them not prepared and equipped enough to go into the Ancient Forest on their own!”

“No, you don’t just follow the stars; you must believe in the stars and believe you could find them as well. It’s the gods we’re talking about, so yes, it’s all about faith.”

“But Mina is from non-magic world and Chaeyoung’s strength is not even magic. And, what if…” Nayeon says frantically.

“Don’t fret, Nayeon-ah. We will prepare for them. Are you sure there should be only Mina and Chaeyoung to go, Irene?”

Jihyo puts her hand on Nayeon’s shoulder softly to calm the older girl before turning to the priestess.

“I’m afraid so. Only people who’s directly related to this should and can go. You have to take the risk, or else you can never reach your destination.”

Irene looks around to the room full of worried faces and stops at a certain petite girl. The small girl looks so pitiful for the couple even though they just met, and it breaks Irene’s heart a little. She sighs. Her Seungwan always has kind heart for people.

“How about this. You should spend tomorrow to prepare everything for them. I will send the demigods and the kitsune a message, asking them to look out for the two. You still need to find them though, it’s a challenge you must pass. Mina and Chaeyoung will start on the morning after, I will perform a ritual to bless them on their quest.”

Going on a quest in a forest is scary, not to mention this is the Ancient Forest. Mina, of course, doesn’t know a thing about this forest, but its name only is enough to imply what’s waiting for her there. It’s old, spooky, and mysterious. And as Nayeon said, they might even be dead before even reaching the destination. But then, going on an adventure in a magical forest, the idea stirs up Mina’s memories from the olden days when she listened to her grandparents' mystical stories, about adventures into mysterious lands, meeting all kind of magical creatures. And maybe meeting magical creatures is not a bad thing, at least it’s better than going to work. She’s not good at meeting and getting to know new people, but she feels fine hanging with all these girls. Together, they form quite a big crowd, and Mina feels comfortable with them, which doesn’t happen a lot. Also, the first magical creature she met is actually a blessing to her life.

Mina looks up only to catch a pair of beautiful hazel eyes looking at her from the other side of the room. It’s the first time they have look at each other’s eyes since after the incident. She can see the swirling emotions behind those eyes, worries, uncertainty, and somethings she couldn’t decipher yet. Chaeyoung raises her eyebrows and tilts her head slightly, and it takes Mina a few seconds to realise the girl is asking her opinion. Still keeping their eye contact, Mina nods her head softly. Yes, going on an adventure doesn’t sound too bad, especially when Chaeyoung is going with her.

“I will protect her and bring us to the destination!”

Chaeyoung is looking at her so intensely, making Mina feels weird thing inside her chest, like her heart is trying to leap out. Is this a side effect of the curse? Maybe. She should ask Jeongyeon. That is so many people to talk to for Mina’s liking. Or she should just not ask them at all. The moment pass as Chaeyoung averts her eyes to a still fuming Nayeon, which gives Mina time to take a deep breath, trying to make her heart calm again. Wait, what did she just agree herself into?

They argue some more, mostly Nayeon and Sana, who still don’t agree to let Mina and Chaeyoung go into the forest on their own. But it settles, eventually. The group separate from here. Irene and Seungwan stay at the shrine. Grandma Hirai, Mr. Kimura, Momo and Sana goes back to non