How did she end up here?

How did she end up here, Solar (not her real name) finds herself asking often.

How did she end up 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦--here, after leaving behind her family and home in the dark of the night in tears and regret? Here-months, no, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 after, fending for herself and a whole ensemble of people like her: rebels, refugees, runaways?

𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦... 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦... 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦...

How did she end up here--dizzy on draining herself of her aflame power, lost in the drowning sea of fire that she created?

...Just exactly how 𝘥𝘪𝘥 she end up here?

Kim Yongsun--that was her name. Unlike others from Aurelia, she wasn't so lucky to be born into a wealthy family. Her mother ran a humble tea house deep into the village and the business wasn't always thriving.

Tea, Kim Yongsun learned, had to do with fire. And later on in life, Kim Yongsun learned she had everything to do with fire.

On the days she was allowed to work at the shop, Yongsun would be able to complete orders in a snap in no way any normal human can. But of course, that was because Yongsun was never normal. In fact, she'd never been even close.

It was innate, maybe. Yongsun never knew why she was so drawn to the fire and its blaze, but it felt as though the stars had always set for it to be that way. Kim Yongsun's soul naturally just had more flame in her than the others.

With no one to train her powers and those with '𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴' particularly looked down upon by the Palace, she had to do it by herself, just how she did everything... Alone... and patient with herself.

The powers started to manifest pretty early on; toys and silverware would suddenly be on fire and cause a ruckus at home because it was hard to replace whatever they had. She would cry seeing the glint of disappointment in her mother's eyes-things were setting on fire more often than she could be able to provide new supplies.

So, she learned to hide it away. And with the powers, so did her feelings. Anyone she was met with, she faced with thick and tall walls of a strong and independent facade.

That's how she found herself here for the most part: leading an underground rebellion to overthrow the Queen.

Right, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 Queen.

Queen Byulyi, who always had her way. Queen Byulyi, who had been so prejudiced against the citizens with special abilities that most of them had been driven out of town. And those who stayed had been disappearing mysteriously over the years of her reign. Queen Byulyi... Yongsun didn't even know where to begin with her.

Nor did she know where to begin with Princess Hyejin--next in line to the throne, but somehow, she had also taken under her wing at The Rebellion.

Barely a month ago, news swarmed Aurelia that Princess Hyejin had been assassinated. Everywhere, people mourned not only the loss of their adoring princess, but the hope of the kingdom for it meant that the royal bloodline had ended.

Or so, that's what they thought. For a few days upon hearing the news, The Rebellion ached. The princess was a symbol of hope for them too. But Yongsun sought to see it for herself the day of.

Blood wasn't something Yongsun was unfamiliar with but there were pools of Princess Hyejin's in the Aurelia Fountain-a fountain that had been built for the celebration of life and prosperity. The princess was only in her undergarments, and her empty eyes were open. It was a cryptic message waiting to be delivered; it made Yongsun sick. Never in her life had she seen something so grotesque and so open of an attack to Aurelia's faith.

Within the day, Princess Hyejin's body was removed. But ultimately, it took the Palace three days to restore the fountain to its original state, almost as though Queen Byulyi had been holding off on it just so the message had been clearly sent.

And so, that's how The Rebellion witnessed Kim Yongsun be genuinely afraid. She was genuinely afraid at the peak of one sunset over the fields, when Princess Hyejin showed up at her mercy. The color in Yongsun's face had drained and her knees shook.

The Princess knelt at her feet for help. Princess Hyejin was alive-that much was a huge relief in itself.

But what scared Yongsun was... Who laid dead in the Aurelia Fountain?

And the answer punched her in the gut; it was a shapeshifter who had happened to be unfortunate enough to be the one assassinated on the same night that the princess was sneaking out for