"What?!" San's chair toppled over when he stood. Yunho also surged up, pale around his nose.

Hongjoong snatched the letter and read over it twice, thrice. With a growl, he slammed it down on the table, making the silverware clatter.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He hissed at Seungyoun. When the wide-eyed servant helplessly shook his head, the sorcerer's golden eyes found Yeosang. The dryad sat frozen with shock and he found no words, even when everyone stared at him.

"What happened? Didn't they sign the treaty?" Yunho protested. Upon the mention, Seungyoun dashed away, just to check the documents once more and make sure. The scribes eagerly jotted their notes, informing the emperor of the dreadful news.

"They did," Seonghwa mumbled, all grace lost as his confusion chilled him to the bone. "Where did we go wrong? Why is this..."

"They sent no envoy to the festivities either," Wooyoung threw in.

Hongjoong's indignation bubbled over. As soon as his patience with Yeosang ended, he snapped at the dryad across the table. The glow of their laughter and pleasant conversation shrivelled to an alarming hostility.

"What do they want? Why aren't you suitable as their diplomat?"

"I don't know," Yeosang brought out, eyes as haunted as the rest of them. "It's not as if they told me, they refused to see us and then-" Vines climbed over his face, hiding him, shielding him. His stress thickened his bark as he obscured himself from their accusing eyes.

Seonghwa lifted his hand and beckoned everyone to sit.

"Stop. Let's not yell at each other. What else do we know? Are there any more letters?" Seonghwa asked over his shoulder, but his nervous servants shook their heads. The prince lowered his eyes to the document. He crossed his hands under his chin, face dark as he skimmed the looming words once more, trying to find a hidden clue.

"How can they monger war after you just allied once more with the other kingdoms? Are they nuts to attack now? All seven kingdoms will collaborate against them!" Yunho exclaimed. By his side, Mingi clutched his hands to the desk. His mutter of 'they sure are nuts' drowned in the stifling silence.

"So this is war? They will come to attack the throne hoping to take over?" Wooyoung asked, back to the matter at hand instead of the explanations no one had.

After a pause, Seonghwa nodded slowly.

"Perhaps they hope for authority if they bring down the emperor. But the other kings swore us their loyalty, so I can't imagine what their reasoning would be. Especially since they complained about Yeosang, not towards my father's diplomat. I am no ruler yet, so this shouldn't be a matter."

"Unless it has been going on for longer," Hongjoong grumbled in his sinister voice. Seonghwa conceded.

Seungyoun returned, and he carried the parchment with the contract. Hastily, he spread it out before Seonghwa. Everyone gathered around, reading through the terms and the signatures below. Hongjoong's touch to the ink proved it was real.

"What happens when someone breaks the treaty?" Jongho asked, more curious than agitated even now.

Seonghwa tapped his fingers on the tabletop.

"As soon as they dare an attack in our direction, we are also absolved of the treaty and can defend ourselves. Seeing as the dryads face an entire empire... it gives us the right to extinguish their home and all of their people."

Yeosang stared at his empty plate. He didn't move, didn't react even when the others gasped and glanced at him.

"They would be foolish to gamble like that. Perhaps they think of elves as too peaceful to fight back. Can you tell us what happened at the Glistening Walnut Grove?" Yunho ushered everyone back to their seats and they perched at attention as Seonghwa unravelled the facts.

"After receiving the formal invitation to visit their kingdom, Yeosang and I travelled for their borders. We were told the king couldn't receive us at the time since the grove was impassable, but his envoys sent us the contract with his signature and sigil and we handed ours back before we left. There is no reason to mistrust us. Even if there were a hindrance and he didn't receive our contract, that wouldn't warrant a full-out attack," Seonghwa resolved.

"While we were there, no one complained about Yeosang, though they found him peculiar. He didn't grow up in the grove but in the palace, and though they could have claimed he was my favoured pick, they didn't. Nothing hinted at their displeasure with us." Seonghwa's eyes sought Yeosang, a silent question. Perhaps Yeosang heard something he didn't, or he kept a secret. But the dryad shook his head.

"I don't know what is happening," he breathed, terrified. He shrank under the glances the others gave him. Vindictive. Judgmental.

"If he grew up here and not with them, it makes sense why they don't feel he is a good spokesperson. He knows nothing about them," Yunho applied with sense.

"Then why never oppose beforehand? And why declare war instead of giving criticism? This isn't a strategic choice for either of us," Seonghwa pointed out all the holes in this argumentation.

It made no sense, and it wouldn't, no matter how they dug. They lacked the answers only the dryads could give.

"Perhaps I should meet with them and find the root of their problem," Seonghwa muttered. Hongjoong jabbed a thumb in Yeosang's direction.

"It's right over there. Not only did he fail to deal with these matters that give him his purpose here diplomatically, but he also created that very problem. If you're lucky, this is solved by installing someone else."

"War isn't solved so easily. By declaring war on the empire despite the treaty, they committed high treason that can't be nodded away. Not to mention- Ah, no." Seonghwa fell quiet since this wasn't his place to share. He lowered his eyes, but Yeosang bravely spoke up despite all the accusations thrown his way.

"I am a castaway. Though born in the grove, my parents left me on a street of the Crystal Sphere where Seonghwa's father found me and took me in."

No one dared say it, but they all thought it. How would an unwanted child, a stranger to his own home, be a suitable spokesperson for a kingdom?

"It's not as if they didn't know," Seonghwa uttered. "They agreed to this despite his status."

A long silence stretched between them. Mingi nervously patted Buddy's head. The dog was helpless with the tension filtering through them.

"What now?" Jongho asked when everyone sunk into the depths of their thoughts.

Leaning back, Seonghwa sorted his documents into a pile.

"I will write them and ask for an explanation and meet for another treaty before something happens. I hope this resolves itself quickly. Please stay on alert and don't spread harmful rumours. In case fights break out, I need you to communicate with your kingdoms. The diplomats of my father will help you. Yeosang?"

As soon as he stood, Yeosang also got to his feet. He was wobbly, his back bowed under all the stares that tried to detect if he had anything to do with this. That reckoned whether it was his weakness or a scheme that brought them into this situation.

Seonghwa shielded him with a protective arm around his friend's back. They left the room, accompanied by two servants. Seungyoun took off to alert the strategists and advisors.

They made for the war room, too hurried to care about everyone else's wellbeing. Just before they made it inside, Yeosang tugged Seonghwa aside. His ruefully bowed head didn't dare meet Seonghwa's eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, voice like the croak of an aged chair. "I don't know what happened."

Seonghwa rubbed his shoulder, brushing twines and clovers from Yeosang's face.

"You have nothing to apologise for. This isn't your fault, or anybody else's. Let's hope it's a minor misunderstanding that we can resolve without spilling blood. I know they abandoned you, but I would hate to see the armies marching to reduce the grove to ashes," Seonghwa whispered. He engulfed Yeosang in a hug.

"Please stay strong for me. They will accuse you, but I know the truth. Trust me."

Yeosang struggled to nod against his shoulder. When Seonghwa stepped back to make for the room, he held Yeosang's hand in his and covered the stumbling dryad with his body.

Mayhem befell the gathered leaders in the short time before Seonghwa's arrival. They yelled all over each other, throwing accusations and plans and insults for the quality of those plans. Seonghwa's entry didn't calm them and he sat in his chair with Yeosang by his side to spread out the documents he carried. Only when his chilly aura touched upon the strategists with a twinge of dread, they calmed. One by one, they sunk into their seats.

The leaders of the military had come, their historian, the astronomer, the ministers for diplomacy and a scribe. Together, they huddled around the two parchments Seonghwa handed out.

"This just arrived here despite the weather. For our future reference, I retrieved the contract. The validity is proved by a sorcerer." Seonghwa didn't miss a second to start the discussion. He was tense since his father wasn't here to give commands and since he had to leave his husbands to their festering thoughts. Since the problem originated with Yeosang and Seonghwa's treaty, he needed to make a call, but letters already got sent to his father. So long as he was the emperor, no military that wasn't approved by him would move towards the grove.

"Was there a dryad present during the festivities of peace?"

"No," Seonghwa replied. "We sent out an invitation as they invited us to their lands, but we got neither a reply nor a visitor. Communication with them has been scarce from the beginning." Once more, he repeated the story of his visit to the grove. Mumbles and mutters passed between them about Yeosang's legitimacy. Since it was him of all people who was Seonghwa's childhood friend and favoured by the king, this didn't look good.

They conferred it until late at night. The watchtowers at the borders to the Glistening Walnut Grove would be strengthened, and the bordering kingdoms, the Cavern of Nightfall and the Sky-reaching Highlands, would be informed. The civilians in the danger zone would be asked to stay on alert and all dryads within the kingdom needed to be identified for questioning.

Letter after letter left the scribes' hands. Yeosang stuck to Seonghwa's side, quiet for the most part, while Seonghwa balanced his politics as he had been trained to.

Soon, they had accounted for everything they could from their current standpoint. The other kingdoms would send reinforcements and protect the borders, but they would uphold the truce until there was a need to fret. And then Seonghwa's father would need to make the final call.

Once they finished, the advisors left in less of a panic, but with constant mumbles. The head of the guard stayed behind to address Seonghwa.

"Best to send guards everywhere with your husband, Your Highness. Be it assassins or our people who feel wronged, some might leech for his blood." She bowed before she left.

The last to exit the room, Seonghwa and Yeosang took it slow. They read the frustration and concern right off each other, not needing to address it. Upstairs in the foyer, Seonghwa turned to his friend.

"If you need guards, take as many as you wish. Please be safe. I will talk to the others tomorrow so they apologise for their accusations, so let's resolve this confidently," Seonghwa suggested. The moon illuminated his features and made Yeosang's wilted moon flowers shine.

He nodded his drooping head.

"Let's hope this is just a big misunderstanding... I don't want them to fight you or anyone to get hurt."

Seonghwa related to that sentiment. He ruffled Yeosang's hair and bid him a good night before he retreated to his room to brood over his books. San watched him from a distance that night, leaving him his place to think and consider the variables. Circling through the cloudy night sky, he made sure that no one abused the prince's distraction to make another attempt on his life.