It was another normal day in the Palace.

The King was discussing military strategies with the Military Minister. The Queen was sewing a new set of bed sheets. The maids were doing whatever they were supposed to do, hurrying about the large compound.

And Baekhyun was lazing in his quarters as usual.

He yawned, bored, sighing as he looked around for something to do. There were plenty of options of course. He could go to his father's to listen in on the discussion like an internship. Or he could practice his calligraphy like how his mother asked him to. Or perhaps he could read the large volumes of untouched books that lay in his quarters, collecting dust.

But no. Byun Baekhyun was too cool for all that.

Baekhyun was bored, and he didn't even want to go around looking for female attendants and maids to talk to because it was such a hot day. It made him exceptionally irritable and the bodyguard twins knew that, steering clear out of his way.

He wanted some company and hoped for the EXO-K princes to arrive quickly. He could have gone over to look for them of course, but Byun Baekhyun was too important for that.

Baekhyun stretched and pouted. He looked at the walls of the Palace, the thick darned things that separated him from the rest of the world.

Sometimes, he thought it was rather redundant for all that. If the ruler didn't even know what sort of life his citizens were leading outside, how could he make proper decisions for them in the future?

Well that was one way of explaining his frequent escapades into the outside world, the nicer version of saying he just wanted to have fun.

But he can't say that, because Byun Baekhyun was too proper for that.

"Aish why aren't they coming ye-" Baekhyun was just saying to himself, when his door to his quarters slid opened to reveal the maknae.

"HYUNG~" Sehun beamed cutely and ran in. Baekhyun brightened, delighted that he had company. The rest of the princes filed into the room and stretched, complaining about the heat.

"Aish these robes are so stuffy." D.O. mumbled. "I feel like I'm getting a heat from wearing it too long."

Kai grinned at his hyung. "You can choose NOT to wear it, hyung~"

D.O. pinked. "What? And go around not wearing anything?" he looked absolutely scandalized. "Kai-gun! Are you out of your mind?"

Suho laughed and shook his head. "Oh no Kai, stop that. The image flashed in my mind and I think I'm going to puke." he shuddered.

"Hey!" D.O. frowned.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the princes' lively banter. "I'm bored." he muttered. "Isn't there anything to do around the Palace?" he asked. "I'm tired of staying in my quarters all day long. I need some excitement."

Chanyeol tapped his chin and looked at his older cousin. "Weeeeellll.....if you don't mind the smell of the stables, we can go riding." he suggested, smiling. He loved riding, the exhileration it brought and the sense of freedom. "We can ride outside the Palace grounds for a bit, just before the gates into the capital city. How about it?"

"That's marvellous!" Sehun clapped. He looked over at Baekhyun with his large watery eyes. "Please can we go riding hyung? Pweeeeasseeeeee~"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. No he wasn't gay. But yes he was human. And Baekhyun suspected that any single living thing on earth would be vulnerable to Sehun's aegyo. Don't underestimate him. That boy's fatal.

"Fine fine." Baekhyun agreed, even though he absolutely detested the smell of the stables. "I'll ride my Light. Think it's time I got him out for a walk."

The six princes trotted along the outskirts of the city on their pretty horses. These horses were one of the best in the whole of South Korea, with strength and beauty. They were carefully kempted by the stable masters and looked like a picture.

The EXO-K princes had named their horses according to their super powers. Don't misunderstand, they were pure humans. But when they were young as we were once, they dreamt of having super powers and each one of them owned a power.

They even had their distant relatives in China, the EXO-M princes to join them in this one.

Which was why Suho's horse was called Water Prince, D.O.'s Earth God, Sehun's Wind, Chanyeol's Flame and Kai's Space Traveller.

It was pretty childish of them in the past, but they enjoyed their childhood games a lot and kept the names of their horses even till now.

The princes trotted along the gates of the Capital City and caught glimpses of the outside world. "Look at those kids!" Sehun pointed. "They're running without shoes! I wanna try that out someday." he grinned.

"With your clarity of the mind, I suspect that you'll run over pieces of broken glass on your first step." Kai said supportively.

Sehun made a face at his cousin. "Aish!"

Suho smiled and waved at the citizens. Some of them caught the princes galloping past and bowed. "This gate..." he looked at the walls and steel that cut the two worlds. "It locks so much more than just the bad people out. It locks the reality away from the Palace."

Baekhyun nodded in agreement. But as much as he wanted to dissolve the ranks of royalty, it wasn't possible because as soon as these gates were gone, those pleasant citizens out there would rush into the Palace to steal whatever was valuable inside.

"Hey. It's the Military Academy just around the corner." D.O. pointed out. "Let's go watch some swords play!" he beamed.

The six princes galloped over on their mares and slowed down in front of the academy. They could see plenty of strong men doing push ups, or carrying large ceramic pots that were filled with gallons of water on their heads.

Their muscles bulged out and perspiration dripped.

These men were training to be guards in the Palace. The better ones would turn out to be bodyguards or would join the military force as soldiers. It all depends on their level of fitness.

"Wow I don't think I'll be able to do that." Sehun blurted, staring in wonder as one of the men did a double flip in the air and landed perfectly steady on his feet.

Chanyeol laughed. "If you could do that, I think you can take over Minister Kang as the Military Advisor." he teased.

Baekhyun chuckled in amusement. The maknae was a little 4-dimensional sometimes, unlike his cool and down to earth cousin Kai. A little bit on the klutz side too.

His eyes shifted over to where the real excitement was going on in the yard. The guards let the princes in and they got off their horses and tied their mares to the trees as they wandered over.

There was some sort of a fight going on. Not fight as in a brawl, but fight where these pupils of the academy compared the standards of their skills and swordplay.

There were two people fighting at the moment, with swords. The swords produced clanging sounds as they came in contact, and D.O. flinched unconsciously. Both men were skilled with their swords and it was evident that this level of skill would not be possible without long training periods.

However, it was also obvious that one of the men was a whole lot more skillful with his sword than the other.

And that man was so much smaller in size too. He was so tiny for a guy, almost half the other guy's size. He was shorter too, and skinny. The other guy was made up of muscles and more muscles, looking completely intimidating.

However, the smaller guy was much more agile due to his size and could dodge all attacks swiftly. The other guy seemed clumsy on comparison, and tried hard to block the blows.

It didn't take long to determine the winner. The smaller sized guy soon had the larger one pinned on the floor with the sword aimed at his throat.

Claps resonated throughout the academy and even the princes joined in. It was excellent swordplay.

The smaller guy smiled and held out his hand to haul the tougher guy up. He took out his hat for a bit to wipe his perspiration, still smiling widely.

And that was when the princes knew they had it all wrong. He wasn't a guy. He...or rather, she, was a girl. A freaking girl that defeated a guy twice her size in swordplay.

"Oh my gosh." Sehun gulped. "Don't ever let me meet her on my way home." he squeaked.

Baekhyun squinted and looked at the girl. He couldn't make out her features too clearly, but she looked surprisingly pretty from far. He shrugged. "Come on. I'm hungry. Let's get back for tea." he got onto his horse and trotted off.

The rest of the princes followed suit and Chanyeol was the last one to go. His eyes were fixed on that girl and a smile crawled onto his face.

*Now that...* he chuckled. *Is one impressive girl.*