Mark of the Firefly (Tsukkiyama)

A Deal Finalized

Life in the palace was, in short, miserable. Yamaguchi and Kageyama had been treated well, sure, but a gilded cage was a cage, nonetheless. Neither of the boys were allowed to leave the palace grounds under any circumstances, not even with the supervision of Yachi, and they had tried. The guards and the royals insisted the rule was for safety reasons, but Yamaguchi knew it was really to make sure word of the attempted insurrection didn't spread. They didn't even have full access to the palace as had been promised to them. Most wings of the building and many rooms were strictly off-limits for the two scrappers and the two scrappers alone. They had also been barred from reading any of the empire's newsletters and from receiving any mail. Had it not been for Yachi, Kageyama and Yamaguchi would have been well and thoroughly isolated from the entire world.

As it was, though, Yachi had a lot more leeway for her time in the palace. As an empire employee, she had been given free rein of all the rooms as well as permission to leave palace grounds, albeit once every week. She couldn't bring papers or books back to the boys, just in case they had any news-worthy information, but Yachi didn't need the written word to be useful. Every week she would come back and, in the dead of the night, sneak into Yamaguchi's shared room with Kageyama to give them any information she deemed important. According to Yachi, the presence of armed guards in the streets had in no way died down but had not amplified either. The people of Haibuichi had grown antsy; they knew how to recognize when something was afoot and had taken to group travel. Yachi had, of course, not mentioned the impending conflict to anyone, but people weren't stupid, and the whole city was on edge.

None of that was really information that the three of them needed, though. No, the best news Yachi brought back weekly came from Hinata. Despite their insistences, Hinata had stayed hidden in the forest instead of retreating to the Nekarasi. Ever suspicious of others, he staunchly refused to leave for safety without confirming that Yamaguchi, Yachi, and Kageyama were in no danger. To kill time, the Kamelion wandered the streets and eavesdropped on citizens and officials alike, keen on gathering as much information as possible. Occasionally, he would fly out to where he knew the Nekarasi to be and relayed information from party to party should they feel the need to execute an emergency evacuation of the palace premises.

Inside the palace, spirits were low. Yachi had been placed back on duty some time after the third week and had to alternate between acting as a firefly guard and a courier between Hinata and the others. She kept her head up and always graced the room with a calm smile, but Yamaguchi could practically feel the stress radiating off her. Kageyama was no better; he held no love for royals and had taken on an especially sour mood since his last attempt to see Hinata was foiled. The relationship between the two remained as strong as it had ever been, but Kageyama was clearly missing the redhead; he had even gone as far as to ask Yachi to deliver a letter of his affections to the boy. It pained Yamaguchi to see his friend so sullen, but the pair had been firmly in the honeymoon phase up until they were separated by palace walls, so he hoped they would bounce back after a supposed reunion. Yamaguchi couldn't say he understood Kageyama's heartache.

Yamaguchi himself was faring the best of the Nekarasi three. He was by no means used to or comfortable with the lavish life of the palace, but he knew how to make people like him and had managed to weasel a few special privileges out of the guards. They had deemed his thin, wiry frame non-threatening enough to allow him to peruse the royal library. There was nothing wrong with the much smaller general library in the palace, but Yamaguchi needed to reestablish contact with Tsukishima as they had been cut off from each other. The royal library was the only place both of them could be without constant monitoring from the guards and, so while Yachi went about her daily trip to the outside and Kageyama scoped out the palace, Yamaguchi met up with the prince to share information.

Through these hushed and hurried discussions, Tsukishima mentioned another premonition. It had come to him at night in the form of a dream, he explained, and it troubled him deeply. The second-born prince had seen glimpses of both past and future conversations about and in the Slithering Isles. He had witnessed clipped proposals of trade deals and political unions, confirming that the archipelago nation had at some point requested financial and economic aid. Tsukishima, however, insisted that the Firefly Empire had never received such requests, he had gone through every trade deal and letter himself to check, which meant someone, or someplace, had interfered. That, of course, put nearly every nation back on the suspect list; anyone would benefit from overthrowing the continent's most powerful empire.