Irene stared at her phone as she laid in bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. “Liar,” she murmured as she saw 0 new messages from Seulgi. She let her phone slip out of her hand as she to her back and stared up at the ceiling. What did she really expect? Seulgi was no doubt too afraid to message after she just bolted like that. Irene couldn’t help feeling that she had made the situation much worse than it could have been. She should have downplayed it more. She should have asserted that nothing had happened. She should have taken control of the situation, but…

She had run, like a coward.

She hugged her pillow tighter as she buried her face in it, trying to blot out the image of Seulgi’s sleepy face watching her with such a sad look. Or had she still been asleep? Irene kept her eyes shut as she tried to recall. She had a brief idea of brushing Seulgi’s bangs away from her face as she laid half-concealed in blankets. But why? Where had that come from? Maybe it was a memory from last night. Or maybe she had simply imagined it. Irene had seen Seulgi fall asleep hundreds of times before, with their marathon schedules. But most of all, why had a part of her wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed with Seulgi? The idea existed there in her mind so naturally, a layer beneath the worry that felt more like a safety net for her tumultuous thoughts than something that haunted her.

She felt a headache coming on. Irene knew she would need to clean this up as soon as possible, but she wasn’t sure what that would entail.

“Hey, um, I made muffins! If you wanted one…” she heard Wendy call from the door. “They’re on the counter if you get hungry.”

Right, she probably shouldn’t mope about too much or else the others may get suspicious. Irene let out a long sigh against her pillow.

+++

Irene had cleaned herself up, taking a long hot shower to delay needing to face Wendy, but when she emerged after finally gathering her thoughts and courage, it was Joy she saw first, seated on the couch.

“Great,” Joy said, briefly looking up from her phone she hunched over. “You’re just in time - we’ve been summoned.”

“All of us?” Irene asked as she saw Wendy come out of the kitchen with a muffin on a plate for their visiting member.

“Yup,” Joy replied, gratefully accepting the dish.

“Well, except Seulgi, of course, right?” Wendy asked as she made Joy scoot over so she could sit, too.

Joy furrowed her brows and looked over at Wendy. She opened , but then shut it again, the muffin already forgotten. “But…”

“What?” Wendy asked, leaning over to unwrap the muffin for Joy.

“He said all of us,” Joy murmured, pouting even through her confusion.

“Why would the Mirror King want Seulgi there?” Irene challenged, perhaps a little too forcefully. “She doesn’t know about… us,” she said with a wave of her hand, taking them all in. Joy looked up at her sharply, but couldn’t voice her thoughts as she watched Irene’s face. “I’ll text Yeri, and we can meet her there.”

+++

Joy rubbed her temples as they entered the misty court of the Mirror King. The cool sunlight of the Hedge poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, cut by the marble pillars that lined the margins of the hall, but the sight had long since lost its mystique and significance for her. How many years now had she stood in attendance of the King, listening to his once-inspiring speeches grow into tiresome, perfunctory mish-mashes of words? Indeed, the traditions of the SM Court seemed like they had fallen into something of a rut - pomp for pomp’s sake, and the attendants had long since grown bored.

What he had summoned them here for, she couldn’t guess, but there seemed to be more courtiers here than usual. They watched from the wings, leaning against the walls or the pillars, caught in the faint shadows, or basking with the sunlight on their backs as they waited for the proceedings to begin. It was the usual crowd, mostly the veterans, both in terms of the industry and their longevity in the Court, but there were also some new faces, practically children, scared yet curious. Joy even spied the Dancer among them, a rare sight these days - this must be an important meeting after all if the aloof BoA had deigned to join them.

The Mirror King himself rose from the gilt throne atop the grand, opalescent diaz and he took a moment to button his suit jacket. “Hmm, there they are,” he murmured in a silvery, metallic voice. Joy was used to the way it no longer carried its usual shimmer, though for Irene and Wendy the effect was still unsettling.

“Ladies-” the King paused suddenly, looking at each of the four of them in turn. He cocked his featureless head to the side as if considering something, but shook his head and cleared his throat after another moment. “Ladies, come, come, please step forward. This is a momentous occasion!”

The members exchanged glances, but Irene led the way as they approached the diaz.

The King spread his arms wide, his dull, yet reflective hands catching the sunlight, sending it refracting across the hall. “In light of the circumstances, we must appoint a new cadre of Knights, and the Court has agreed that there are none better suited for the honor than you five- erm, four.”

Irene’s eyes nearly popped out of her head at the announcement, but it was Yeri who blurted out a “WHAT?!” in an unbecoming squawk.

The King paused with his arms spread before dropping them back to his sides. “Now, now, Yeri. You can’t tell me you were caught completely unawares.”

But she had been. Yeri, the Oracle of SM Court, had not seen this coming. This was not the vague fate she had glimpsed for them all, and she momentarily closed her eyes as she focused, recalling what she had seen for Red Velvet. But it was no use - her future sight was as clouded and murky as her memories were. All she knew was she hadn’t anticipated anything like. Something had shifted things off course - wildly. She couldn't think of any other way to describe it.

After all, who would have guessed that Red Velvet would need to rise up and take on the mantle of protectors of SM Court?

“What happened to the previous knights,” Irene asked in the prevailing hush. She recalled a man in blue… and one in gold, though she was having trouble placing their names. How odd. She knew everyone here - had spent years of her life surrounded by them - but the identities of the knights were escaping her. She couldn’t even recall how many they had been.

The King was starting to regret making such a grand announcement in front of the courtiers. These girls had always been feisty and contentious; why should this moment be any different? “They are gone,” he began simply, a shrug of his shoulders in his fitted suit jacket. “I’m afraid they have left us, striking down various paths, some voluntary… and some not.

“You are special, each and every one of you,” his voice rose to reach every corner of the hall. “And while you are not bound to this hall, I hope it has afforded you some protection and comfort. I hope this is a place where you may grow and flourish. Thrive. Continue to be your unique and uncompromising selves. But there are forces in this world and beyond that would try to snuff you out. Banality is something we must all insulate ourselves from. It challenges our values at every turn. It tries to hold us back, it oppresses and suffocates, chips away at the beauty and magic of our lives.

“You four will stand in defense of the Court. You will protect it from those without who would seek to do it harm, while standing as a shining beacon to those within. You will inspire and lead us against the chill Autumn, you, the best and the most brilliant among us.” He stepped down from his diaz and came to stand before Irene, gripping her shoulder firmly with his silvery hand.

“Irene,” he said solemnly, “You are the Crimson Knight, Captain, a passionate and resolute leader. Your strength of character has earned you this powerful color and nothing less would suit you. Wendy,” he said next, taking a step down the line to address her. “You are the Cerulean Knight, embodying the frivolity and capriciousness, depth and complexity of this hue.”

Next he moved to Joy, taking her shoulders in his hands as he had the others. “Joy, my Truthsayer. You are the Viridian Knight, for I cannot look upon you without thinking of the verdant Spring, emergent, hopeful. Never lose this ineffable quality.” Finally, he paused before Yeri, and they looked at each other for a long moment before the King put his cold, metallic hand on her head.

“Yeri. The Violet Knight. Your hue is the color of valiance, of the people. Of loyalty and a richness of spirit. You are a friend to everyone here, and I hope you will continue to be.”

After another moment, he turned and stepped back up to his gilt throne. “It is done. I require no oaths, not of you, not after…” but he paused here, tilting his featureless head to the side. “Well, you have more than proven yourselves already and I know you will carry out your duties well. You are free to go.”

+++

It was only after the quartet had left the Hall of the Mirror King that Yeri even began to wonder what the other courtiers gathered must have thought about the promotion. Red Velvet? The protectors of the Court? The levels of irony were too much to laugh at for the young Oracle. She had, of course, been groomed to be a courtier for the King for years, but even this was something altogether different. She looked ahead to Irene suddenly, wondering what their leader thought of it.

Unlike Yeri and Joy, Irene had never been given a formal position in the Court before - she had always simply been Red Velvet’s leader, and her responsibilities had never extended beyond the wellbeing of her members. But now… could she shift her priorities so easily to all of the others? These days those who belonged to SM Court were scattered - some were Lost, as the king had mentioned, but others… Irene’s eyebrow twitched as she felt her headache returning.

“Banality,” she muttered, before turning to look up at Joy. “What is ‘Banality’?”

Wendy perked up, arising from her own thoughts, and drew closer. “Yeah, he made kind of a big deal about it back there… and mentioned losing people.”

Joy frowned. Why did these things always fall on her to explain? She was the Truthsayer, not an encyclopedia. Still, it was something they should be aware of, especially now that they were expected to insulate the Court against it.

“Not ‘losing people’,” Yeri corrected, before Joy could formulate an explanation. “They were Lost. They gave in to Banality. They became Autumn People.”

None of those words held any meaning for Wendy, but she waited silently for either of the younger members to continue.

Yeri realized she had spoken aloud without intending to, but it was too late now. “Banality is… ‘normal’. ‘Average’. It’s everything dull and boring in the world.”

Joy jumped in. “It’s like when you’re a kid and you feel like you can be anything you want, like an astronaut-”

“-or an idol,” Yeri added quietly.

“-but when you grow up, you get hit with… reality. And you lose that spark, your dreams. You stop believing in them, and in yourself.”

“You become one of them, Autumn People.” Irene didn’t like how frightened Yeri’s voice sounded as she iterated that phrase.

“What happens then?” Wendy asked. “Who are the ‘Autumn People’?”

“They’re everyone else,” Joy replied. “Everyone who isn’t like us. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but most adults belong to the Autumn - you know, the season where things whither and die off. People like that just don’t believe in things like magic or dreams - they don’t even see things like the Fae anymore. They can’t.”

“So then... what about us? What if we lose our ability to dream?” Wendy led, making sure she was following.

“You become Lost. You fall to ‘Banality’. You lose the parts of you that were fae-touched, and you’re doomed to live a mundane existence for the rest of your life,” Joy ended matter-of-factly, though dwelling on the thought gave her chills.

“Wait,” Irene finally spoke up, grabbing onto Joy’s arm and stopping her. “What does that mean? You’re no longer fae-touched? You don’t have abilities anymore? Our Seeming...?”

“Gone. It’s like you never had it,” Joy confirmed. Irene’s grip on her loosened and her arm fell back to her side.

“Like you never had it… So, your memories…?” Irene pressed, her voice hollow, far-away sounding. “Would you forget it all? Everything that happened… there?” she ended in a whisper.

Joy didn’t like Irene’s expression, but she didn’t like the answer she was about to give even more: “I’m not sure. I haven’t exactly spoken to anyone who’s been Lost. They’re not part of our world anymore, so it’s not like I can just walk up to them and be like ‘hey!’, you know?” But it was clear Irene wasn’t really listening anymore.

Wendy pinched both of their sleeves and gently pulled. “We should head back. We can talk at our place - Seulgi won’t be there.”

Irene jolted like she had been woken up from a deep sleep, more at Seulgi’s name than Wendy’s touch. “Yeah, let’s go,” she said, her voice having regained its composure. Once the group began walking again, Irene fell back a pace to glance at her phone.

A text from Seulgi, finally.

[Seulgi]: “Hope you got home ok”

Irene frowned. That was it? Though what she had expected, or perhaps hoped for, she couldn’t put into words. Her severe frown once again caught Joy’s gaze however as they continued their trek back to Irene and Wendy’s dorm.