Author Note:

Also redoing this A/N because it was just me talking about the story's outdated AO3 status.

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[ Bdubs Point of View ]

"Can you repeat that, Scar?" Requested the king, hand shaking as he held his quill.

Upon Bdubs and Etho's return, the moss wearing royal was given a pink letter. Grian had informed him of the note's contents, but that warning wasn't enough to prevent the king from growing stressed after reading it. Bdubs was also met with Scar telling his the cause of the crop decay and what he suspected it was caused by. All of this was going during dinner, and the king was struggling to focus on anything but writing a letter back to the Coastal Kingdom.

"Sure." The wizard nodded in compliance. "Wizards can cast spells to make crystals. These crystals are usually used to enhance the power of a spell or curse, also making it harder to remove them."

"Are you saying someone cursed the soil with a crystal?" Skizz questioned from across the table.

"Yes." Scar nodded. "But this curse wasn't casted from a book or reciting a phrase. These crystals were created and them manually planted in crops fields."

"Why would someone do that?" Etho questioned.

"Lots of reasons..." Bdubs groaned in reply.

"Scar, do you know where the crystal came from or who made it?" Cleo questioned, taking a sip of her mead.

"No, I don't," The green eyed magician lowered his head. "Because the crystals have already spread out into the soil, there's no way of tracing something that small. The only way I could track them is if I had a full crystal that's not crushed into thousands of pieces underground."

"Is there a way to remove the crystal from the soil, Scar?" The king asked him.

"No." He shook his head. "All the infected soil will have to be dug up and replaced with healthy soil. The only thing that magic can do for you is protect our own soil from any spread."

"...I'll let the other kingdoms know about this." The king stated.

The king ended up shooing away all of his associates, even the protector, leaving only the winged hybrid. It was late once he finished the letters, Grian had fallen asleep from waiting so long.

'I'm not very good at this king business.' Bdubs sighed to himself. 'I can't give away all our food to the other kingdoms.'

The royal in moss glanced from his pile of letters and then to the sleeping avian. He was nearly out of ink, though he decided to write a few short letters.

'But I can't do nothing.' The king began writing with the quill. 'Scar's made a breakthrough with the soil. All that's left is the food problem. And I know just how to solve it—working my way up to becoming a better king as well.'

* * *

After a much needed sleep, Bdubs had gotten out of bed for the morning. Typically he would do his hair and pick only the best of his abundant moss cloaks to wear. He did not do that today.

He settled on half doing his hair and the first moss cloak he laid eyes on.

'Grian's already delivered the letters by now.' The king stopped, his hand pressed on the door. 'The other kingdoms will understand... Hopefully.'

King Bdubs pushed open his door, surprised to see his bodyguard awaiting him. While the male with white hair may have dosed off against the wall, it still shocked the king that his bodyguard was awake before him.

"Etho?" The king's eyes widened. "You're up early."

"And you slept in late." Etho retorted, tiredly.

Bdubs chose not to comment on the other's man statement.

The table was rather bare. Not in terms of food—the Moss Kingdom still had plenty—but in terms of atmosphere. Typically, at least one of the king's close associates would be present during breakfast.

None of them where present today. It was only the king and his protector this morning.

"So, Etho." Bdubs finally spoke, turning to the light haired man. "How much do you know about the other kingdoms and factions?"

"Nothing." He answered nonchalantly. "Except that your the king of the Moss Kingdom."

"Really?" Bdubs nearly dropping his fork.

"Really." Etho confirmed, in between his plates of food.

'How is so out of the loop?' The king pondered. 'The tundra is far, but for him to to have not heard anything at all?'

"Let's see..." The brunette thought before speaking. "There's the Coastal Kingdom, the Cavern Kingdom, the Mountain Kingdom, and then there's my perfect Moss Kingdom."

"Only four?" He titled his head in surprise.

"Well you probably know what happened with the tundra," Bdubs skipped over the topic. "No one is daring enough to try and live in the dry desert, much less settle there with other people."

Etho's deadpan expression shifted to slight frown. The royal didn't question it, continuing with his explanation.

"Then there's the Wizard Coalition," Added the moss loving king. "Just because they're called a coalition doesn't mean they don't function like a kingdom."

"What about the other factions and groups?" Asked the protecter.

"Most of them are too small or not developed enough to be considered an establishment." Stated he. "Aside from a few who are on and off the map, it's just the four kingdoms."

"Which kingdom is the most threatening?" Etho asked.

"Probably the Mountain Kingdom." Bdubs answered. "Not because I'm scared or anything. The king is just so cold and distant from other kingdoms, it's intimidating in a way."

The king noticed his bodyguard making a mental note of his reply, before proceeding to finish his breakfast. Long after the king the had finished his breakfast, he was waiting on his protecter to finish. Bdubs didn't say anything, letting himself be distracted by the avain hybrid flying outside.

Without missing a beat, Grian flew in and dropped a satchel filled with letters. He then made a slow descent, feathers falling in his shadow over the table.

"Your majesty," Grian gave a clunky bow as his feet touched the ground. "The other kingdoms have answered back."

"Great." Bdubs sighed, opening the pink letter first.

Grian wobbled, shuffling his feet and no so subtly flapping his wings to keep his balance. The noise was too distracting for the king not to notice it.

"Grian," Bdubs turned his head to the avian hybrid. "You have the rest of the day off."

"What? Really?" His dark eyes lit up in excitement.

"Yes." The royal nodded. "Go get some rest."

"You're too kind to me, sometimes, King Bdubs." Grian bowed in the wrong direction, readying his wings to fly.

"Scar's tower is the other way." Bdubs pointed out.

"R-Right!" Grian promptly turned himself to face the other direction. "I knew that."

Grian flew away, nearly flying into the doorframe on his way out.

Bdubs began to read through the letters, failing to notice his protector leaving to go train. The king also failed to notice Etho's return, the man walking with the slightest limp. The king failed to notice that he was drafting letters in reply at the dinning table, rather than his desk.

'I can't let the other kingdoms go too long without hearing from me.' Bdubs snapped a quill, spilling ink on his hand.

"You've gotta being kidding me!" Bdubs sighed, face palming.

The king had touched his inky palm to his face in frustration, accidentally smearing it with ink. He tried to wiped it off with his clean hand, only making matters worse. Two hands. Both covered in ink.

"Maybe you should take a break?" Cleo suggested, sitting down at table. "You haven't moved since this morning."

"Huh?" Bdubs raised an eyebrow.

Bdubs glanced around, observing his surroundings for the first time today. It was no longer light outside. He was at the the dinning table instead of his desk upstairs. Etho, Skiz, Cleo, and Scar were all gathered at the table for dinner. Dinner had already been served. Etho was stuffing his face with his third bowl of beetroot stew.

'How did I manage to miss all of this?' Bdubs' jaw dropped in astonishment.

"Are just going to let the Coastal Queen threaten you like that?" Tango asked from behind the royal.

"What?" King Bdubs turned around.

Tango stood behind the king's chair, taking a bite out of an apple. He approached his seat, the wide eyes of Bdubs following the blonde.

"If you leave open letters on the table, there's no promises I won't read them." Tango stated.

"Open lett—" The king raised an eyebrow, nearly jumping out of his seat upon glancing down. "How many of you read these?!"

"I haven't read any of them." Skiz was the first to admit. "I just had a glance or two when I walked by earlier today."

"I haven't been close enough to your side of the table to get any glimpses." Cleo explained herself.

"I haven't been in this room all day." Scar added.

"What about you, Etho?" Bdubs turned to his bodyguard.

"Huh?" Etho paused, fiercely gripping his spoon. "What are we talking about?"

"You see these very important open letters on the table?" The king sighed. "Have you read of them?"

"No. The handwriting is too messy to read." The light gray hair man replied.

'I think she has really nice handwriting, but to each their own.' The king glanced to and from the letter.

"How much did you read Tango?" The king questioned.

"Just the pink one." The blonde admitted.

"That's the worse one you could have read..." Bdubs frowned, folding the letters to hide their contents. "But it doesn't matter now. I need to talk to you guys about what's happening."

"What's happening?" Skiz asked. "Is it good or bad?"

"Good for us, bad for everyone who isn't us." The king awkwardly smiled.

"What have you done, Bdubs?" Cleo strengthened the grip on her glass, bracing herself.

"I haven't done anything yet." King Bdubs corrected. "But I'm not sending anymore food. We don't have enough for everyone and ourselves."

"Why is that problem?" Scar questioned.

"Because the other kingdoms have so much damaged soil, it's either we starve or they starve." Bdubs said with a frown. "I don't want my people to starve, Scar."

"Oh." The wizard cover his mouth with his hand.

"What was this threat Tango mentioned?" Skiz questioned. "If the other kingdom's are threatening you, Cleo and I need to know about it."

"It wasn't really threat." The king tried to smooth it over.

"I'd say sending your army over to attack us is a threat." Tango commentated.

"She's probably just worried and stressed." The moss king brushed off. "Nothing we should worry about."

"Uh-huh." Tango crossed his arms in disbelief. Standing and smoothing his hair back, the blonde pushed in his chair. "I've had enough action for today. I'm turning in for the night."

Goodnight wishes went out to the doctor, soon followed by Skiz. Etho, at the request of the king, went to bed as well.

"I guess it's time for me to go to bed." Cleo announced, pushing her chair in.

"Wait. Cleo." Bdubs suddenly stood up.

"Hm?" She turned around, stray strands if orange hair falling over face.

"Tell the guards to be on high alert." Commanded the king. "I don't know what coming, but I have a feeling we need to get ready."

"Of course." She nodded. She opened her mouth to say more, but stopped herself.

Once Cleo had taken her leave, King Bdubs sat back down. He took a deep breath, looking across the table to see his royal magician still at the table.

"Scar." The king had forgotten the wizard was even in the room. "You heard nothing."

"Yeah..." Scar shook his head. "Do you want me to give the letters to Grian?"

"It's fine." Bdubs said. "I'm having them delivered by horse."

"What for?" Asked the brunette, worried.

"It takes longer." Explained Bdubs. "I have a gut feeing we need more time to prepare for what's coming."

"Are we going to war?" Scar bluntly questioned.

"I sure hope not." Said the king.

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Author Note:

I want to say that either around this or last chapter's release, I disappeared for a year.