John was lingering at the edge of a party, not wanting to be there at all, but his father had insisted that he go and talk to some girls.

Luckily John has managed to convince him that he shouldn't actually get married until the war was over, which would hopefully take long enough for him to convince his father out of the idea completely.

Not that he wanted the war to last a long time; every day that the fighting went on Alex had an even greater chance of dying. Oh and all the other soldiers. But he mainly cared about Alex, the others not so much.

He watched all the fancily-dressed purebreds mingling, dancing and flirting. He recognized a few features from the high-status families.

He spotted Eliza Schuyler at the side of the ballroom, looking around with wife exited eyes. There was Angelica Schuyler seated at a table with a few other females, clearly discussing something that interested them. Peggy Schuyler was by the bar, drunkenly flirting with a pretty servant in a red dress, an act which would probably come back and haunt her once she'd sobered up. Martha Manning was dancing with some random faerie. Thomas Jefferson was just being his annoying self, flirting with every female he saw and pissing almost everyone off. James Madison was talking with someone who John didn't recognize and didn't care to recognize.

Of course John recognized Martha and Henry Jr., who'd also come to the revel, but really didn't care much what his siblings were doing, he knew they weren't going to get drunk and sleep with anyone. Actually, it was more likely that they were there to watch over him.

John was leaning against a wall, trying to stay away from people but also being polite if someone spoke to him, which basically meant he shut down the conversation in a nice but rapid way.

He'd had to move many times to avoid conversing, but had found a spot that no one bothered him in.

John drank some of the Sam Adams in his glass, watching the faeries laugh and smile and wondering how on earth they could be so nonchalant when other faeries were being killed and risking their lives.

John has taken Alex's warning to heart and had packed a bag just in case he ever needed to leave. And by that he didn't mean flee, oh no, what John meant by 'leave' was join the army to make sure his Mushroom Boy didn't do anything stupid or reckless. He wanted to do all the stupid and reckless stuff, or at least be there for it.

A letter from Alex had come earlier but John hadn't had time to read it because of the stupid party thing and his stupid father.

He pulled the paper out of his pocket and began to read the handwriting he now recognized so well.

My dearest, Laurens,

I see I've done it again with the comma, it seems my pen is infatuated with you. It may also just be me subtly flirting with you, you may never know.

I've accorded Cathy and Laf one paragraph in this letter each, because they've been insisting to write to you. I haven't proofread their parts so if there's French words and touchy questions sprinkled in there, it's not my fault.

John noticed the handwriting changed in the next few paragraphs and was exited but a little wary of reading from the famous Cathy and Laf.

John drained his glass and got more comfortable leaning against the wall, but just as he was about to read the text, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

John gasped, dropping the letter and whipping his head around to see who it was.

There was a male standing there, looking a little surprised and pretty apologetic.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." He said bending down to pick up the letter.

(I'm not great at describing people, can you imagine JD (Christian Slater as JD) but with 18th century clothes? That's kinda what I'm picturing here)

The faerie handed John the letter, who folded it and shoved it quickly in his pocket.

"Who are you?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Francis Kinloch, it's a pleasure to meet you." The male, Francis, held out his hand.

"John Laurens." John replied, shaking Francis's hand. "Why'd you bother me?"

"I was talking with Henry, your brother, and he said he was leaving and I should inform you. I assumed you were the right person because there aren't many blond faeries gloomily hanging around in corners around here." Francis explained, smiling.

"Oh ok, did Martha go too?"

"Martha?"

"My sister." (I swear I didn't do that on purpose)

"Oh, well I don't know about her, I was only talking to Henry."

"Mk then." John looked around the room for his sister but there were more faeries now and he couldn't see her through the crowd.

"What were you reading?" Francis asked.

"A letter."

"From who?"

"Nosy aren't you?" John raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry." Francis bowed his head. "You don't seem to be enjoying yourself much."

"I would rather be somewhere else."

"Really? None of these lovely ladies interest you?"

"Nope, I've got someone else."

"Oh? Who?"

John shot him a pointed look and Francis shut up.

"Are you a Petalbasket?" Francis asked after a moment.

John rolled up his sleeve, revealing the marigold tattoo on his wrist. The sight of the mark made him think of Alex and their incessant back-and-forth of Mr. Marigold and Mushroom Boy. Not that it was uncommon for the shroom to linger in his thoughts.

"Marigold, cool." Francis drew John from his memories. "I'm a Petalbasket too."

"Of course you are." John grumbled.

"What?" Francis cocked just head.

"Why are Petalbaskets the ones with the most 'important' families? Why are the other tribes so little represented in nobility? It makes zero sense to me. Leafbloods and Fruitvines are very important to our society yet we rarely ever see them at parties like these. The biggest problem though, it's shrooms. Why are shrooms hated on for what their parents did? It's not their fault. I've met a shroom, he was— is great. Our society is idiotic and I'll never be convinced of anything different until changes are made." John paused to drink some beer only to realize his glass was empty and set it down. "Ok that was it, I'm done talking now."

"That was really interesting." Francis pointed out.

"Glad you think so."

"I mean, I think you're wrong, but it's interesting to meet someone of a differing opinion."

"Why'm I wrong?" John asked, getting a little defensive.

"Purebreds are a superior species of faerie and Petalbaskets have the most purebreds. Of course the other tribes are necessary, but not as needed in high ranking positions. And I completely disagree with you on shrooms; they have mushroom powers, wow. Go them. But they're literally born from a broken law, so I'm surprised that they're even allowed to go about their days."

John's wanted to just snap 'you're an ass' and go outside to read his letter peacefully, but his loyalty to Alex kept him there, made him argue back. "But they can't just go about their days. The second they're known as a shroom people avoid them like the plague and it's harder for them to get money. Shrooms get kidnapped or even killed far more often then any other tribe and no one does anything about it because they're tribe somehow makes it ok. You do realize why the shroom population is so small, right? It's because faeries have been scared into not having shrooms because of the way they're treated. That's sick."

Whilst Francis came up with a response John walked away, having heard enough for one night. He walked out of the ballroom and out into the garden. He didn't even know who was hosting the party, he just knew that he had to clear his head.

John sprawled our in the grass, watching the rapidly setting sun and using its dim light to read the rest of the letter.

Hey, I'm Catherine.

He mentally associated the new handwriting with Catherine and kept reading.

Alex spends a lot of time writing to you, so I'm going to do it too, maybe just once.

Fun fact: I don't know your name. I read the start of the letter so I know your last name is Laurens (or is that your first name) but otherwise I know zero things about you.

Tell me, are you male or female? Are you dating Alex? What's your name? What tribe are you from? Should I like you? What are some things you like? What do you dislike? What gender are you attracted to?

I'll answer the questions I just asked as if you asked them to me, so you feel a little less pressured.

Female. No. Catherine Lark. (MacaroniCoconuts I had to give her a last name, sorry if you don't like it) Shroom. Yes. Fruit, books, dancing, animals. Quiet, closed spaces. Females 100% they're so pretty.

I'll pass the letter to Laf now, adieu Mr. Laurens.

John read the long list of questions over again, and decided he liked Cathy's personality. He then moved onto the next part, which was marked by a new handwriting.

Hello, I'm Marie Joseph Yves Paul Roch Gilbert Marquis de Lafayette, but almost everyone just calls me Laf or Lafayette.

Cathy has asked you a lot of good questions, but I want to ask some more if you do not mind.

Actually you do not have the choice, I'm asking questions.

1. If you aren't a shroom, what do you think of shrooms? Alex has spoken very highly of his correspondent so I can only assume you're a good faerie.

2. What's up with you and Alex? I know Cathy asked, but I'm asking again, because it seems more complicated then a petit ami(e) (I tried to ask Alex but he wasn't listening, and Cathy doesn't know the word in English either) or no.

3. Why aren't you here? Is there any particular reason that you've stayed back home and not joined the army?

That's about it actually, goodbye mysterious correspondent.