Ara woke up to the scent of morning roses.

It happened naturally, as if she had only been taking a nap without dreams, eyelids fluttering open and the first thing that came to sight was the ceiling painted elaborately with roses of pink and red, white and beige. Was she actually dreaming without realizing it? Ara couldn't be sure. Immediately, all that had happened before she out started rushing in like clear water bursting out of a dam-

"Ara, it's okay. Everything's alright,"

"Jongho?" she breathed when she saw her friend facing her, his eyes furrowed with concern. A lot of things didn't make sense, Jongho being with her in a flowery room somehow topped the list. She came to her senses quick enough and her breathing returned to normal. "What - how - where am I?" she caught his arms. "Mingi and Yunho-"

"-are fine," Jongho assured her. "You and Mingi were injured by those wood nymphs, but the poison got into your system more. Mingi just got hit on the head, minor concussion but he's alright now. Yunho's with him in the other room," he beckoned towards the curtained entryway not too far from where she lay, where the light from the outside peeked. 

"He is?" Ara blurted, not wanting to sound fazed. There was no reason for Yunho to not be with Mingi, he was his best friend after all. 

Jongho shrugged, "Said he wanted to give you space," and he fell silent, proceeding to sit beside her. Mindlessly, his fingers traced circles on her wrist, going back to the silent company they had from each other when Ara wasn't doing the talking which wasn't frequent. The scenario they were in brought her back to the time Jongho had landed himself in the hospital in ninth grade with a broken leg (all because he had rushed into moving traffic to save a stray puppy) and she had stayed with him in the ward for an entire night; only now the roles were reversed. 

She peered around, "Where are we?" the bed she was sleeping in had clean white linen sheets, but the rest of the room looked far more elegant: Vines with little flowers s across the walls, white marble floors as well the lingering scent of rosemary and honey in the air. "And how did you even find us?" She noticed what her friend was wearing as well, and wondered why it hadn't dawned on her sooner. Jongho had on a navy dress shirt made of silk, boots she would see in a horse riding catalogue, his fingers that had been touching her arm were decorated with rings of gems in blue and red. All the things Jongho would never wear. 

Jongho shook his head regretfully, "I shouldn't have walked away like that when I knew you would need me," he said. "I was being selfish, if I were there when it happened...none of you would've gotten hurt," 

"For Pete's sake, Jjong," Ara scolded. "One more word of remorse and I swear I'll smack you with this pillow," and that remark made him grin crookedly. "I was being stupid too, I shouldn't have thought I could navigate this place on my own. I put all of us in danger too,"

"That I won't deny,"

This time Ara did smack him.

Ara cleared , "You were saying? What made you change your mind and how on earth did you find us? And maybe I might need some context as to how we ended up in the faerie version of Buckingham Palace?"

Jongho was about to open his mouth to answer, when someone had pushed past the blinds of the entrance; A faerie maid with pointy ears, moss green hair and pitch black, pupilless eyes dressed in plain garments. She brought along a stack of clean clothes, Ara spotted a pair of trousers and shirt that she assumed - were for her. 

"The clothes for the girl, Your Highness. Lady Auraline is expecting you and your...friends." The maid eyed Ara skeptically. "The other one has left for the Lady's courtroom." Ara assumed 'the other one' meant Mingi. She stared at Jongho, Your Highness?

Jongho nodded wearily. "We'll be there in a minute, thank you."

"Er but your friend..." the maid gestured towards the screen partition at the corner of the room. 

"Oh it's fine! I can do it myself." Hastily, Ara got up from the mattress and picked up the clothes to change. 

"If that is what you wish..." and without anything else, the maid left them alone but not before curtsying to Jongho.

From behind the partition, Ara spoke. "Okay, explain how did we end up in a Faerie Palace?" 

From the other side, she heard Jongho groan. "It's only a small part of the place, it's no big deal. I knew you guys were going to join the revel Rocco told you about, so I had a rough idea of how to find you but when I arrived - you had already left,"

Ara wriggled into the breeches she was given, "Still doesn't explain how you found us in the grove,"

"As you saw minutes ago, people seemed know who I was and among those who recognized me was my cousin," Jongho said in a sarcastic manner. "Don't think you'd know him, even his name can be a pun at this point-"

"Septimus?" she querried.

Jongho frowned, "Y-yeah, though I'm not sure how you'd know him before I even told you." 

Ara stepped out of the partition, changed in the newly fitted breeches and slippers, her red dress in a heap that she tossed onto the mattress. "I might have danced with your cousin, thoroughly enjoyed it actually." And the pair of friends continued their lengthy conversation on the way out the room. It opened up to a grand lobby, where it was the intersection to many other corridors, servants passed by to and fro, none failing to give a respectful nod or bow to Jongho when they noticed him - to which he avoided as much eye contact as he could. Ara swatted his arm, "Don't be rude," she said teasingly. 

He rolled his eyes but didn't comment. He proceeded to explain the other parts of the story, about Septimus spotting him first and questioning the reason he was there in the first place; Jongho had briefly explained the situation, about how his idiot friends had wandered off into Faerieland (to which Ara snorted) and lives were at stake, thanfully without questioning much, Septimus had obliged to send his guards. 

"The Court has lookouts all over the place, it wasn't hard trying to find two humans running into the Whispering Grove," Jongho said. "I followed them there and I saw everything, Mingi got hit on the head, but you were poisoned Ara," he added gravely. 

"But why didn't I notice it?"

"Faeries-" he paused to look around, and switched to more of a whisper. "The folk are always sneaky, Ara. Any one of them could have told you to jump off a cliff, and you'd thank them for that."

"Doesn't sound like a bad option to be honest," Ara murmured unabashedly. 

They strolled down a few more corridors and Ara chose not to question how Jongho knew his way around the place so well. The brass doors to what looked the courtroom was half-opened, and Jongho pushed it open further. Morning sunlight poured into the room from the floor-to-ceiling windows, at the far end was the carpeted steps leading up to the dais - where Lady Auraline sat in her rose gold throne, situated between two white sculptures of handmaidens - holding up pitchers of water that flowed into fountains, the ripples of the streams going along as Auraline chatted heartily with, surprisingly, Mingi in a separate seatee. 

"Psst, I know that you and her aren't the closest - but your mom's really hot," Ara nudged Jongho. And she didn't want to deny the obvious, even if it'd irk her friend. Auraline's golden tiara held her long auburn hair in place, soft full lips letting out laughter while Mingi told her a joke, a sound that reminded Ara of birds twittering, but the most obvious thing that stood out were her different coloured eyes, one the identical colour of brass and the other a deep red - almost copper shade.

But after Ara had gotten over Auraline's etheral beauty, her eyes searched for something else. Yunho was nowhere to be seen

"Ahem." Jongho grunted, his hands suddenly behind his back as he stood in an awkward position.

Auraline's attention fell on him. "We've been expecting you," she flashed a brilliant smile at Ara. "Your other friend here was telling me all about his years in...Switzerland, am I correct?" and Mingi responded with an eager nod, he was still in his velvet suit from the previous night with the jacket draped across his arm (Ara figured that meant he was alright now). "I did not know the human world had such places like the Ice Court, snowing all year long. But it was a relief Septimus and my son arrived in time, otherwise I cannot imagine what ill fate would have come for you."

"Thank you as well, Your Highness," Ara quickly said, glancig at Jongho to see if he knew what to say. Instead his face was as uncomfortable as ever, clearly not of help. She wondered if pinching him now would anger his mother. 

"You are my son's friends, it is the least I can do," Auraline said. "You can stay for breakfast, the servants are almost done preparing."

"We're really rushing actually," it was Jongho who answered, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. "Like I explained yesterday we're not here to enjoy your hospitality, which we - I, appreciate, but we really must be going."

Comparing glass cracking to the expression on Auraline's face was the best way to describe the evident demur, Ara almost felt like Jongho wanted to sound hurtful with the rejection. His face bore no signs of guilt, and Ara couldn't help but feel bad for the faerie princess. Even if she wanted to interfere, it was none of her business and they were already delaying more time than supposed. 

Auraline set her jaw, "Very well if you insist, Joyeuse,"

"Jongho," he corrected her. "My name is Jongho." There was an odd pause that hung in there, that even Mingi could notice the back and forth hostility between Lady Auraline and her son, who somehow was called by a different name.

Auraline paused for a while before rising from her throne, "Septimus and your spirit friend are waiting in the manuscriptorium, come along now."