Author Note:

Guess who has a Tumblr now? It's me. (Link in comment box. ➡️)

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[ Bdubs Point of View ]

"Welcome to Coastal Kingdom, your highness."

Servants and guards greeted the Moss King and his companions, various butlers and maids offer to carry their luggage and offering refreshments. One amongst the many servants and guards, stood out to Bdubs. Grian noticed it too when he stepped of the carriage.

"Y-You're the messenger." Grian's eyes widened.

"I am." The man confirmed, stepping forwards.

The man dressed in sea blue and black stood before the Moss King and his entourage. He flipped his hood off to reveal his blonde hair and a gray head band. His blue eyes reflected the light of the setting sun, shadows growing underneath his eyes.

"Apologies for your unfavorable first impression of me." He said, eyes locked on Grian. He then held out his hand to Bdubs. "My name is Martyn. Martyn of the Coastal Kingdom."

"King Bdubs of the Moss Kingdom." Bdubs shook his hand.

"You've got quite the group with you, King Bdubs." Martyn commented, eying Bdubs's four other companions.

"Of course." Bdubs faulted at the comment, before giving a confident smile. "I wanted to make sure I came prepared, since this meeting is important to both our kingdoms."

Bdubs and Martyn exchanged silent glares at one another for ages. It wasn't until Cleo stepped forward that the blonde man's gaze shifted to her.

"I'm Cleo, Captain of the Moss Kingdom's Royal Guard." They introduced themselves. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Martyn."

"I'm Scar!" Scar introduced himself.

Martyn opened his mouth, presumably to ask for Scar's occupation, then shut it. His eyes glanced up and down the brunette in a purple robe. Martyn came to satisfy conclusion to the question he never asked.

"Grian..." Grian mumbled his name. He shuffled behind Scar when Martyn looked in his direction.

Martyn paused, thinking. He then looked to Etho who stood on the right of Bdubs. Etho was admiring the explosion of blue, pink, yellow and orange over the calm sea. If he weren't meant to be introducing himself, it would be the perfect time to admire the sunset.

Etho!

Bdubs gently elbowed Etho to bring his attention back to Martyn.

"Tell him your name, Etho." Bdubs whispered to the silver haired man. "And your job."

"Oh, uh, I'm Etho." Etho awkwardly introduced himself. "I'm Bdub— King Bdubs's bodyguard."

Martyn cracked a smile, before spinning to face the Coastal Kingdom palace.

"Right! It's been lovely meeting you all, it really has, but we have business to attend too." Martyn announced.

"Now?!" Bdubs gasped. "I thought that wasn't until tomorrow?"

Did we arrive a day late?!

"Actually, your business is on the day after tomorrow, King Bdubs." Martyn spun back around on his heels to clarify himself. "The business we're getting up to me showing you to the Coastal Kingdom's guest rooms."

"The day after tomorrow?!" King Bdubs cover his mouth in shock. "What for?"

"A representative from the Wizard Coalition is going to meet with you and Queen Lizzie." Martyn explained. "However, he's had a delay in his travels, and won't be arriving until late tomorrow."

"What are we supposed to do until then?" Cleo questioned.

"I dunno." Martyn gave a useless shrug.

How helpful. Not.

"Enjoy ourselves, of course!" Scar excitedly exclaimed. "Do you know how many great shops are in the Coastal Kingdom?!"

"Shops?" Etho perked up.

"I don't really care what you guys do tomorrow." Martyn reiterated, spinning back around. He waved his hand for everyone to follow. "It's outside of my responsibilities to keep up with that."

After enlightening King Bdubs and his entourage of the news, Martyn showed them around the Coastal Palace. Prismatine was no rarely, neither was the opulent sea shells were engraved into the white walls. The castle was not lit by traditional torches, but by majestic sea lanterns.

Bdubs was too preoccupied taking in the architecture of the castle to pay attention to whatever history of the building that Martyn was going on about. Martyn was too caught up in his own ramblings as well, bumping into another blonde man who wore a silver crown atop his head. This man was tall, his brown eyes wide after running into the other man.

"Sorry, Martyn!" He apologized.

Martyn muttered a response, before the man turned to King Bdubs and his company.

"Oh, King Bdubs this is Jimmy." Martyn introduced the other blonde man.

"Prince Jimmy!" Jimmy corrected him.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Jimmy." Bdubs greeted him.

"You too, King Bdubs." Jimmy relaxed and smiled. "Just ignore what Martyn's says. He's the worst servant ever."

"Fitting for the worst prince ever." Martyn mumbled.

"Go away, Martyn." Jimmy's pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Aww." Martyn frowned, almost laughing as he left.

The room was open, two twin spiral stair cases leading up to the second floor. The rising light of the moon reflected on the chandelier that huge above. The blue light illuminated the face Price Jimmy, who cluelessly looked around, only to be the the only Coastal Kingdom resident the whole room.

"I'm really sorry for the poor hospitality, King Bdubs," Jimmy finally said. "My sister was supposed to do this, but she got interrupted... The kingdom has been a bit short on staff lately, so you can probably assume how unprepared I am for this."

"No worries." Cleo assured.

"R-Right." Jimmy awkwardly nodded. "Follow me."

Bdubs and his ensemble followed the prince. They walked down a long hallway, filled with painted portraits of a much young Jimmy and pink haired girl who looked to be few years older than him. A portrait at the end of hallway, the most recent one by the looks of the subject, displayed the same pink haired girl as an adult. She had long pink hair pulled into two buns that sat atop her head. The paint capture the shine of her silver crown, and matching necklace with an unrecognizable pattern engrave in it. Her dress was a simple and black, standing out amongst yellow sand and blue waves in the background.

In between the portraits were small tables with vases of pink coral. Each pot had a fish or fish adjacent craved into it.

Eventually, the group came across half a dozen unlabeled bedrooms.

"These are our guest rooms." The blonde prince pointed out. "If you need anything tomorrow, feel free to ask me or Martyn. Also your free to the kitchen whenever you'd like. We also have a chef on staff."

"Where is the kitchen?" Etho held his hand up to ask.

"On the other hallway that leads out from the main room." The prince answered. "You take a left into big open room with a large table. The door at the end of that room goes to the kitchen."

"Thank you." Bdubs thanked him.

"Does anyone have anymore questions?" Asked the man in wearing sea blue.

"When will we see the queen?" Questioned King Bdubs.

"I doubt you'll see her tomorrow." Jimmy gave an almost fearful reply. "She's been... busy."

"Of course." Cleo nodded. "We understand."

"If that's everything, I'll go now." Announced the blonde prince.

Cleo eyed Jimmy as he turned away, before glancing back and forth from the available rooms. She then opened one on the left hand side.

"I'm taking this one." They stated.

Scar peaked inside, his eyes going wide at the contents. He grabbed Grian's hand, pulling him towards a room beside Cleo's.

"We have to get a room with a view of the beach, Grian!" Scar explained, running into the door.

Grian nodded, his face too red to verbally reply.

"Do I need to do anything tomorrow, Bdubs?" Etho asked, proceeding a long period of silence.

"No, I don't think so." The man with darker hair replied. "You can just relax tomorrow. Cleo and I are going attend to business tomorrow."

"Alright." The man with gray hair nodded. "Goodnight."

"Good—"

Etho's already in his room.

"...night."

* * *

Bdubs awake a harsh knocking on his door. He forced his eyes open, pulling himself off the mattress. He made his way around the room, getting ready in the unfamiliar setting. First, he made his to the dresser to fish out a white tunic, a short moss cape that barely covered his sternum, and a pair of black pants. He put his boots on shortly afterwards.

Secondly, in his Bdubs morning routine, he made a stop by the full body mirror. He made sure his black hair was just as amazing as he was. He did the same when applied foundation to make sure any stress and tiredness was obscured.

I'm representing the Moss Kingdom. I need to look perfect everyday on this trip.

Lastly, Bdubs gave a wide smile to the mirror and made sure his nature crown was straight on his head. His browned eyes slid towards the door at sound of another harsh knock.

"Bdubs, if you don't hurry up, I'm going back to bed." Cleo threaten from the other side of the door.

"No, wait Cleo!" Bdubs moved faster than a horse running into battle. He swung open his door, nearly hitting Cleo with it. "I'm ready."

"If we're going to talk with Prince Jimmy and discuss our discuss our findings, shouldn't we get Scar?" Questioned the royal guard captain.

"No. We'll save that for tomorrow." Bdubs stated. "Right now we need to find Jimmy and make sure there is no risk of war."

"I see."

[ Etho Point of View ]

Sleeping on a mattress was a luxury like none other. The moment your back is rewarded with soft, warm padding in opposition to the cold, hard, ever so uncomfortable ground, you can never go back. The value of full night's sleep was something Etho never wanted to give up.

Even the sun that peaked out from the open curtains couldn't bring Etho out peaceful sleep. The warmth of the sun only added to his positive experience.

"Etho! Etho!" The of the door swung open, making room for Scar to enter. "Wake up!"

"Ugh, Scar...?" Etho opened a single eye to see what was going on. "What are you doing in in room?"

"Waking you up." The wizard smiled. "You and I have a lot to do today."

Etho opened both eyes, letting himself adjust to being awake. He pushed himself up to a sitting position. It took him a few minutes to realize Scar was wearing a black robe, the hood concealing most of his brown hair.

How many different robes does he have?

"What?" Etho lowered his eyebrows in confusion. "Since when do you and I have plans today, Scar?"

"Since I woke up this morning and decided on them." Scar said with a cheeky smile. "Now get dressed, Etho. And don't wear anything green."

"Why can't I where anything green?" The gray haired man asked. "Didn't Bdubs say we were supposed to wear green so we could be identified?"

"With what we're doing today, we don't want to identified." Elaborated the wizard, slowly backing out of the room.

"Okay." Etho nodded, before he had fully processed what the brunette wizard had said. "Wait, Scar—"

Scar was gone and the door to Etho's room had closed.

* * *

Etho left his room, not wearing the moss cape Bdubs had gifted him. Scar and Grian stood outside in the hallway, Grian dressed in a familiar green robe that was too long for him and hung around his shoulders so his wings could comfortably breath. Unlike Scar who was wide awake, Grian needed to lend on his magical companion in order to not fall over.

"Finally." Scar said upon seeing Etho.

"Scar, I don't even know what we're supposed to be doing." Etho pointed out.

"I'll tell you later." He answered with a smug grin, glancing to the sleepy hybrid at his side.

"Okay..." The gray haired man nodded.

"Unfortunately, I have to get going, Gri." Scar frowned, slowly leaving Grian's side.

"Already?" Grian's eyes widened with sorrow. He cupped his hands around Scar's face, his hands weakly sliding down his cheeks. "You've barely been up for an hour."

"I know, but Etho and I have something very important to do today." Scar replied, gently holding the other man's hands and pulling them away from his face. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Later." Grian nodded, sniffing to hold back tears.

Despite Grian's performance, he was the first leave. Once he was out of sight, Etho turned to Scar.

"Why isn't Grian coming with us?" Asked Etho. "You two are like the sun and the sky. Always together."

"Today the sky needs to something special for sun to show how much he cares." Scar explained. "Also the sun would not approve of what the sky and the clouds will be doing today."

"Why am I the clouds?" Questioned the gray haired man.

"Because you're shady." The brunette simply replied.

"No, I'm—" Before Etho could finish, Scar pulled him towards the stair railing.

Without any warning Scar and Etho slide down, the world around them spinning. The king's bodyguard nearly fell due from vertigo, stumbling as he followed Scar out of the palace.

"How many aqua pieces do you have, Etho?" Scar asked.

"None. You didn't tell to bring any." Etho replied. "Do you have any?"

"Note! But it's fine!" The brown haired man assured him. "We'll earn a few on our outing, if needed."

"Are we going shopping, Scar?" The bodyguard curiously inquired.

"That depends, Etho." The wizard grinned. "How badly do you want to go shopping?"

* * *

Etho and Scar stood off to the side of the Coastal Kingdom streets. Shops and restaurants built of quartz and prismarine surrounding them, along with too many people to count. No one paid much attention to the two, but that would soon change.

"Okay, Etho. Do it just as we practiced." Scar whispered, taking his hood off.

Etho nodded.

Scar dramatically pulled out a white crystal coated in gray powder from his pocket.

"BEHOLD!" The wizard called out. "A crystal that can you make you a genius in seconds!"

People started to gathering around Scar, Etho quietly joining that crowd.

"Does it really work?" Etho asked, disbelieving of the magic. "Your crystal sounds completely made up."

"Allow to show you it's power then." Scar crushed the crystal in his hand. "Ask me a question. Any question."

"How many chickens do I have at my farm?" Etho randomly asked.

"27 currently, but you're expecting 10 more to hatch soon." Scar made up an answer.

"How did you know?!" Etho's eyes widened as he pretended to be shocked.

"The genius crystal." Scar excitedly replied.

"I want a genius crystal!" Shouted a man near the back of the crowd.

"Me too! Me too!" A child jumped up down, raising their hands in the air.

"I'll take 2 genius crystals!" A woman eagerly said, opening her handbag.

"How much for a genius crystal, sir?" An older man asked Scar.

"Hmm... 3 aqua pieces for 1." Scar replied.

People began gathering in line to buy genius crystals from Scar. They were quite the popular item, attracting an assortment of Coastal Kingdom citizens and guards alike. Once they ran out of crystals to scam people with—wait no, sell to people, they used a smoke crystal to escape.

"How much do we have, Scar?" Etho asked.

"However many can fit in this bag!" Scar laughed, showing Etho the bag full of money.

"Do think that's enough for our shopping trip?" Etho asked.

"I hope so, because I'm all out of genius crystals!" The wizard laughed.

"You mean scam crystals." The bodyguard snarked.

"That wasn't a scam!" The brunette claimed. "The genius crystals just help people realize how smart they are."

"Isn't that what like most of your magic crystals do?"

"No! All my crystals are 100% real magic!"

"Can you prove it?"

* * *

Etho and Scar divided their aqua pieces in half. Etho wasn't quite sure what he wanted to buy, until the smells of the cooked and steamed fish seeped into his nose. His mask blocked most unpleasant smells, but never the pleasant odor of food.

After trying everyone possible option of food from the stalls and stand displayed in the city, Etho finally took a seat at a metal table. Scar took a seat in the chair across from him, watching him eat his final not-quite-lunch meal of the day. Cooked salmon.

Scar had removed his black hood, let the occasional gust of wind blow his brown hair to the left. The scars on his face were on full display, along with his curious green eyes that couldn't stop eyeing whatever was behind Etho.

Etho around turned to see what had gotten Scar's attention; he was confused when it was only a jewelry store.

"Do you want to go there?" Etho asked, taking the final bite of his food.

"They make jewelry with crystals, Etho." Scar stating, glancing over to his make of aqua pieces. "I not sure if this will be enough."

"You can take the rest of mine." The gray haired man offered. He tossing his satchel to the wizard, the brunette was shocked to have caught it. "I don't think I'll be able to eat anything else for a couple hours."

"Heh, thanks Etho." Scar smiled, his eyes creasing along with his grin. "It's good to know that your stomach isn't a bottomless pit."

Scar stood up, both satchels in hand and went to the store. Before he went inside, he spent a while admiring a purple crystal on a necklace. He nodded, going inside. Moments later he left with 2 empty satchels and 2 of the necklaces.

"Here you go, Etho." Scar returned the satchel.

"What are those for?" Etho tilted his head to look, before Scar was quick to pocket the jewelry.

"A wizard never reveals his secrets, Etho." Scar simply answered.

Right... It's not exactly a secret since I know about too.

"If we're done here, we should head back to castle." Scar suggested. "I bet Grian is getting lonely without us."

Etho nodded.

As the two walked back, a person whispering some guards pointed at them. The guards readied their swords and walked over to Scar and Etho.

"You were the one selling those genus crystals, right?" One of the guards asked Scar.

"No—" Etho nervously tried to answer, only to be interrupted.

"Yes!" Scar cheerfully replied.

"Well they don't work!" They other guard complained. "I'm still as dumb as I ever was."

"Huh. That's weird." Scar shrugged.

"You ripped us off." The first guard accused. "There's no such thing as genius crystals, is there?!"

"No, no. Genius crystal are very real, sir." The wizard assured the pair. "My friend here proved that, didn't he?"

"Yeah, you're right." The second guard let his arms hang down sadly. "I guess I'm not genius material."

"Wait, that's the guy from the demonstration." The other guard elbowed his buddy. "These two are in cahoots! It was all staged to begin with!"

"How dare you trick us!" The guard pointed his sword at Scar. "Give us our money back!"

"I would love too, but I spent it. All of it." The wizard nervously laughed.

"We'll have you arrested for theft!" Shouted the guard.

"Run, Scar!" Etho commanded, taking off sprinting as fast as he could.

Etho and Scar ran throughout the cobbled streets, the crowds parting as they ran through. Etho paced himself managing to dodge or jump over any food stalls. His wizard friend, however, was not as agile.

"Sorry, sorry, excuse me." The wizard awkwardly rolled over a stall of tomatoes. "Your tomatoes are delicious."

"Scar, they're catching up!" Etho reminded him, pulled the brunette elbow along with him.

"This is exhausting!" Scar cried, falling behind. He stumbled over his robe, nearly falling to the ground. "I don't think I can keep this up!"

Breath heavy, Etho bent down and Scar put an arm around him. The bodyguard caught a glimpse of the two Coastal Kingdom guards, approaching rapidly and pushing through crowds. He ushered himself and Scar into a nearby by opening between two buildings.

Two roofs of prismarine provided a small area of shade, hosting the wizard in a black robe and the bodyguard in varying tones of dark gray. On the left was ladder leading to the rooftop.

"Etho." Scar whispered to him. "That... That can be our escape."

Scar went up first, Etho shakingly going up behind him. The primsmarine roof was within reach. The cold feeling of the brick in Etho's hand, was enough for him to fell accomplished in climbing up. The ladder didn't feel the same as it came loudly crashing the to the ground.

"Up there!" One of the guards yelled.

"Come on, come on!" Scar offered a hand, pulling Etho up on the roof.

The graynette and the brunette slide off one of roof and jumped to another, ruining the shingles of everywhere they walked on. The Coastal Kingdom had plenty of houses and shops, but they duo began run out of places to go.

"Hay!" Scar yelled.

"Hey?" Etho called back, puzzled.

"No, hay, Etho!" The wizard crouched and came a complete stop. He held an arm out to stop the man with his mismatched in his place.

The wizard grabbed Etho arm, pulled them forward in a clumsy jump. The landing was soft, but with a pricking to the softness. Straw stuck and dug into his skin.

He lied in the straw for what felt like ages, until he finally understand what had happened.

Scar pushed us off the roof.

A crackling sound, followed by the hay bale reshaping itself where the wizard was brought Etho back to reality. The brunette took the time to wipe off all the yellow strands that cover his skin and clothing.

"Where are we?" Etho asked, pushing himself up. The straw poked his hands, leaving little scratches all over the skin exposed by his fingerless gloves.

"My guess is that this is the outskirts of the city," Scar answered, tapping on the stone wall with his fist. "We definitely lost those guards."

"Or there's no way they'd want to follow us after we jump off the roof." Etho bitterly replied.

"Exactly!" Scar smiled.

[ Bdubs Point of View ]

Bdubs and Cleo found Grian sitting in the window. His usual red sweater blew in dusk wind. The sun was setting over the ocean front, the crowds outside the castle finally dying down.

"Good news." Cleo said. "The wizard representative from the Wizard Coalition arrived."

"What does that mean?" Grian turned around to ask.

"It means the meeting will happen tomorrow." Bdubs answered, not much emotion in his voice.

"Cool." The avian hybrid shrugged. "Why are you telling me this?"

"We were actually coming up here to tell Scar and Etho." The orangette informed him. "What did they get up too?"

Grian shrugged again. Before either the king or his royal guard captain could ask for more, Scar and Etho made an appearance. Certainly an appearance on Etho's end...

"What happened to you?" Bdubs couldn't but at sight of Etho's messier than get up.

"Nothing." He self consciously ran his through his hair to rid it of yellow strands of straw.

"You're gonna need a bath before tomorrow." Bdubs blunted said.

"What?!" The bodyguard gasped.

"Ha!" Scar giggled, but stopped when he saw Bdubs expression.

"You too, Scar." The king added.

Scar hung his head in defeat, straw falling into the floor. Everyone began to disperse, until Etho was all that reminded at Bdubs side.

A long silence proceeded as they watched the beachfront and the setting sun.

"I'm nervous about tomorrow." Bdubs couldn't help but blurt out his feelings to break the silence.

"You are?" Etho's eyes widen in surprise.

Very.

"There are so many things that can go wrong tomorrow." Bdubs let out a shaky breath. "Actually, just one."

"Yeah..." Etho agreed. He didn't respond for awhile afterwards. "If it makes you feel better, I'm nervous too."

Why would that make me feel better?

"You are?" Bdubs raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think I'm very good at my job." He frowned.

"I haven't died yet." Bdubs proudly reminded him. "I'd say that counts as you being good at your job."

Etho shuddered at the inclusion of 'yet' in his sentence.

"I suppose you're right, Bdubs."

"I usually am."

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Author Note:

Things are going to happen next chapter.