"Dean, could you please explain to me why in the HELL Lilith and Joon's shuttle appears to be headed for the same galaxy that Era is in?"

Dean shrugged in the front pilot's seat, but Jin being seated behind that bulky chair couldn't quite see the gesture. "I don't know how the mind of a possessed man works, bro. But what's so weird about going to Era?"

Jin tried to smack the back of Dean's head, but only managed to hurt his hand slamming it against the hard leather upholstery of the headrest. "S'where Noon Mool was before it was destroyed. And where my people are from, dumbass."

"Oh. Right, right, that place that Petra's Gwangju Ai army blew to smithereens. Yeah, I saw the recordings. It was pretty cinematic. Hope people didn't get hurt."

Jin said under his breath, "Cinematic? What is this, Saving Private Ryan?" Then he sighed, "Yeah, that's the one. And I can't say I'm feeling chill about the fact that Joon and Lil--and WE--are heading right into that very same tense enemy territory. This is the stuff of idiot playbooks and sabotage, and I don't like it."

Dean added pleasantly, "Yeah, well, on the plus side we've almost caught up to them. So the next place they land, we should be able to catch 'em."

The good doctor couldn't help but point out, "Yes, but if the next place they land happens to be hostile enemy territory, then I'm not sure how well that serves our purpose in the long-run. As we might all end up caught by someone else."

"Hmm. I see you, man. I feel you."

"And I feel nauseous."

"Let's just see where this road goes, Mannequin Man. Have a little faith in my covert piloting skills."

"I have very little faith in you in general. From the way that you dress in all that ostentatious black leather, to your choice in black smokey-looking tattoos, to the general lack of upkeep inside of this jet. But I suppose it'll have to be done."

"A higher vote of confidence from you, I'm sure there never was," Dean answered, sounding very unbothered by Jin's sour mood.

--

"Please explain to me again what you mean by 'neutral territory' again. Because this is all not quite making sense, Joon."

Lilith was reclining casually in the pilot's seat of their transport shuttle as it autopiloted its way along, sailing smooth. She was simply eyeing the monitors for anything unusual as they went.

Meanwhile, Kim Namjoon was back in that white, sterile seat in the back lounge area of the transport shuttle with one of the three thick, mysterious volumes splayed open in his lap. He held his chin in one hand, as his elbow was propped up against the armrest of his chair, and he had sunk down deep into his seat as if aided him in sinking deeper into his concentration.

His voice came out a little bit cracked, like a man who's only just woken up. "One moment, please."

Lilith rolled her eyes. She was already so used to trusting this dark Joon, and she found her own trusting nature in this strange situation just as irritating as the man sitting behind her. But it was easier to be annoyed with him, so.

"Ok, Joon, so I get that Era is a neutral territory. That the planet it's on is, as you call it, a safe zone. Mentally noted. But could you hurry up and unpack what the hell that means, before I have to come back there and--"

Joon chuckled low and chocolatey. "Please come back here. I do love your insults, but I love them even more when they're being whispered in my ear." He shut the book in his lap and tilted his chin back, eyes narrowed, as he looked up the shuttle in her direction. She could see the smoldering look in her rearview mirror.

When she turned around in her seat to glare at him, his smolder broke into a laugh instead.

"Joon, cut the crap and answer my question."

"Okay, okay. Well, obviously the Library of Mirth was occupied, or you could say owned, by the House of Mirth. Because while there, their spirits made quite a fuss. Obviously."

"And?"

"And their presence in that library was just a focal point of the overal power of the House of Mirth over that planet. It was like all their spirit-energy converged in that one space. But the whole planet itself was a kind of territory of theirs."

"So like the rocks and the air and the trees were possessed by dead Satoor Ai spirits. Is what you are saying right now." Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose.

"No, Lilith, that's not what I'm saying." Joon was laughing at her, and it was so very irritating. He went on, "You know how oil and water can't mix, right? You put them in the same glass jar and they're going to settle and separate in their own levels."

"Obviously. Your point?"

"It's difficult to communicate how Satoor Ai are different from regular humans because so much of the mythology has been lost. But they are. They're born of flesh and spirit in a way that regular people like you, Lilith, are not. They are both oil AND water, impossible as it sounds. According to these texts here, Satoor Ai are descendants of the Creator of the universe, with each of the four Houses considered to be all descendants of the Creator's four children. If that myth is taken literally, Satoor Ai are holy and powerful in a way that regular humans are not. If that myth is taken figuratively or historically, they've been deified and worshiped throughout history for their exponential power."

"Always illusive on the truth, aren't you?"

"Truth? What is that?" Joon threw back his head and laughed, and Lilith felt her fingers clawing into her arm rests.

He went on, "Anyway, these four Satoor Ai Houses have established their own territories throughout the ages. Naturally, the House of Card and the House of Dearth are the two that survived the longest, and their territory stretches the farthest."

"What does that mean? 'Established their own territories?'"

Joon thought carefully. "How to explain...? Hmm, it's like how when you look at a map of a continent, throughout history the borders of that map may shift and change. Different countries have been conquered and occupied and claimed it, right? And as history and ownership have changed, so have these maps."

"Sure."

"Well, that's like what the Satoor Ai houses did throughout ancient history, but across the galaxies. They didn't claim plots of land, they claimed whole galaxies as their own. But because the Houses of Reed and Mirth were snuffed out so much longer ago, they claimed less territory for themselves."

Lilith tucked one of her knees up into her chest while the other leg lay sideways beneath her in her seat. She shifted, tuning her ears to hear and trying to understand.

Joon went on, "But with Satoor Ai, claiming territory is more than just saying 'this land is my land.' It is a kind of ownership that their spirits have over that physical space. Supposedly, the heart of each House's territory has this massive tree planted there, and the only way to cleanse the whole of space and time of those Satoor Ai spirits is to destroy their House tree, but I think that's just a metaphor or something. I can't see how such trees would have gone undiscovered for so long, personally."

Joon's fingers tapped in the hard cover of the ancient text in his lap full of so many valuable secrets.

Lilith cocked her head to one side. Joon had lost her with his last bit of rambling, but something was clicking. "So it's kinda like this idea I heard of Christian mysticism theology, though I'm not sure how accurate it is... where a place or a person can be marked by a holy spirit or an evil spirit. And depending on how you treat that space or person, or what you do there, it can change the spirit that occupies it?"

"Not sure how accurate that is of Christian theology, Lil, but sure. If it helps you understand then let's go with that. Except it's not angel vs. demon, here, it's one House vs. another. Four different sides, technically, except only two of those sides still have living members."

"No wonder yin and yang only have two sides. Because if there were four like the seasons, damn, that's just too much to keep up with."

Joon chuckled. He watched understanding creep into Lilith's face, and it only served to make her more appealing. "But Era, where you used to call home, it's neutral territory. Even though Petra from the House of Dearth technically rules it, she never staked a proper claim. She never could. Because she wasn't the only Satoor Ai there--Shae was there, too. So her minions may live there, but on a spirit-level it's still territory open to be claimed."

"I thought war was fought in flesh and blood." Lilith shifted back around in her chair and stared through the glass, trying to process what this all meant.

Then Joon spoke again in a paced voice, like he was reciting a poem, and he said words Lilith recognized were from the Bible: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."

Lilith's brow furled. She said quietly, "My, my, aren't you just full of surprises, Joonie boy?"

"I'm just full of demanding spirits, Lil. And while they let me do and feel as I please..." he smiled seductively as his gaze swept across Lilith's frame unaware, "they demand that I help the remaining Satoor Ai to survive extinction. By any means necessary."

Lilith thought to herself, But I could argue that you, Joon, are an example of 'spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.' What could be more holy than the human spirit? And what could be eviler than to steal that from someone and shove a manipulative, dark power in its place?

"We're nearly there," she said quietly.

"Lil, why don't you come back here and join me for a break before we land? You could use some rest. You look tired."

Lilith got up from her chair and headed back to take a seat in the second white lounge chair. She obliged his request, but she looked quite sour about it. "You really shouldn't ever qualify a suggestion to a woman by saying 'you look tired.' It only makes them feel that they look as shitty as they think they do. And it's annoying as hell. Also, why does my appearance qualify your right to tell me what to do?! I've been stressing through all of this and handling it at the same time and--"

Joon interjected calmly, "But you do. You look tired. And I think you need to take a breather so you don't wear yourself out. I could keep watch while you take a nap, you know."

"Aren't you all righteous concern, all of a sudden." Lilith eyed him suspiciously.

He winked. "Unless you want me to wear you out a little more, first."

"Shut up, Joon."

"That sounds like a 'maybe.' I'm good with 'maybe.' I can patiently wait for it to turn into something else."

Lilith repeated her words, though much softer and more childlike this time: "Shut up, Joon."