"Either way, we'd need someone to rule the courts." Grian sighed.

His words were met with a long pause and he looked over to Mumbo, his head tilted as he silently asked what was on the redstoners mind.

"Why not you? You're clearly powerful enough for Thorn to be scared of you. We're here and no one else seems to be rebelling against him- so why not step up yourself?" Mumbo asked finally, finding the words he was looking for.

"I....don't feel comfortable ruling?" Grian shrugged. "Besides, if I took over, I would be worried about how to make everyone happy- which is why we typically have 2 rulers rather than one. So if I did take over the Seelie court, I'd need to find someone to rule the Unseelie.
"That and also, I'd have to leave the Hermits so I could keep an eye on things here...and I don't really want to leave you guys. Though I guess my reason for joining in the first place was because of how bad things got here..." He trailed off, his point made even if he doubted his own words.
Ruling was definitely an option, but was it one he was willing to give up the Hermits for? Did he really want or need to rule? Or was he casting himself as a meer soldier in the revolution he'd be leading? Grian had no idea, and the uncertainty terrified him.

"Hey, its okay- I get it." Mumbo smiled. If the bars weren't in the way, or if their cells weren't separated by a hallway, he'd give Grian a reassuring hand squeeze.
But they were, so he'd have to settle for a reassuring smile instead.
"Totally unrelated- what does Thorn even want to do with us?"

"Brilliant question, fake faerie. Unfortunately for you, now isn't the time for answers." Thorn walked in, his personal entourage of guards at his sides as he unlocked Grians cell and motioned for the faerie to follow him. A few guards stayed behind to ensure Mumbo wouldn't escape while the majority surrounded Grian so he'd have nowhere else to go besides following Thorn.

"You're smart enough to not disobey me. Especially if you don't have that to distract you." Thorn cast Mumbo a disdainful look, as if the redstoner was nothing more than a slug he'd love to pour salt on and watch it writhe.

Mumbo, clearly being the bigger person, stuck his tongue out at Thorn while the kings back was turned.

The snide look Thorn gave Mumbo had the desired effect of winding Grian up and the king smirked as he watched Grians expression turn furious and hands ball into fists, knuckles turning white from how tense he was holding them. Even his wings flared out a bit, as if he were going to launch himself into the air to properly sock Thorn in the face. The idea was tempting, Grian had to admit, but the constant threat of the enchanted iron and the knowledge that Thorn had his name kept him in line.

Thorn lead Grian through winding corridors that were vaguely familiar from years ago and into a library, the room filled from floor to ceiling with shelves crammed full of handwritten books. The leather on some was cracked with age, the spines broken in while others were carefully written on thin leaves and bound together with twine.
A table sat in the middle of the room, stretching nearly from end to end with floating lanterns illuminating the air. They hovered in place, runes on the edge of the paper ensuring that nothing would burn.
Grian recognised the charm as one he had helped come up with.

But he knew that talking about the lanterns was only part of why Thorn wanted to speak with him.

~~~~

"Jeez, how far away were they? My elytra's about to break." Iskall complained, glancing back at the wings strapped to his back. They were starting to tear in places, the delicate fabric wearing down as they flew, the runes holding them together fading away.

"I dunno." Scar kept his eyes trained on Professor Beak, lest they lose the tiny blue bird among the massive expanse of the blue sky. "Wait- is that it?" He exclaimed, pointing towards a very man-made structure. Two houses, hung up in the canopy at the edge of a jungle, one clearly more lived in than the other.

It was a relief when Professor Beak started to head towards the small houses and both Iskall and Scar sighed with relief when they landed on the roof of one of the buildings.
Scar was instantly off, jumping down onto a bridge and running into one of the houses and calling Grians name, only to find it empty.
"Grian?"

"Scar look." Iskall was staring down at the ground, the faerie ring still intact but the middle of it seemed oddly dead, a few skeletons of the unfortunate creatures who wandered inside lying among the dirt and twigs. In fact, the more Iskall looked around, the less alive the jungle seemed and it all stemmed out from the faerie ring.
"I don't know anything about what's going on, but that doesn't seem right."

Scar nodded, studying the ring. "It's not right. They shouldn't be spreading death like that." He climbed down a ladder to get closer, studying the edge of the ring without stepping inside. Runes he didn't recognise adorned the outer edge, the flowers and mushrooms growing happily between them. The flowers were odd too, alive and well within the circle that held nothing but dirt and bones, not a drop of water nearby.

While Scar investigated the faerie circle, Iskall decided to poke about in the house the wizard didn't barge into.
He found it surprisingly well decorated though sparsely furnished. A bed was tucked away in a loft and books spilled out from up there onto the floor below. A few more were stacked on a table that sat near a window, all of the ones there written in runes that certainly weren't from this world.
Unable to read them, Iskall turned towards the books from the loft and found some in English. Something about reading runes and using magic. He carefully tucked it away into his bag for Scar before continuing to poke about in the small space, deciding to investigate the bedroom as the rest of the room didn't have much else to look at.

And there, tucked into a drawer, he found an all too familiar red sweater.
It was folded carefully, clearly placed there with love and Iskall just stared at it.
Why was it here? Why was it folded?
And possibly more importantly- what the hell was Grian wearing if his red sweater was here? Iskall didn't think he'd be able to take the whole rescue mission thing seriously if Grian was shirtless.