DIVINITY ♛ LEE JENO

NINE

"You're late." The two were greeted by the impatient fire shifter. Jeno ignored his comment and walked to his seat, while Meilin took a moment to bow in respect. Jaemin eyed her outfit and then his own. "Did I not get the memo?" he asked, feeling the material of his knitted sweater. Meilin's pearly whites gleamed, straightening out her dress in her seat. "I guess I'm not used to the dress code here. I've never worn anything but gowns to these sort of things." she looked down.

"Never mind that, we have things to catch up on." Jisung set his hands on the table. He sat right across from Meilin who seemed to avoid his eye contact. "As said in our agreement, you'd tell us about this anticipated attack. Now is your chance." he burned holes into her forehead.

Meilin took the chance to examine everyone's faces in the room. To the right of Jisung was Baek Seorin. She looked tired, maybe too tired to quarrel with Jisung today. To Jisung's left was Na Jaemin. He stared at her too, but with more curiosity than angst. Lastly, Mark Lee sat beside the water leader. He hadn't made his presence apparent, even during the last time she saw him.

"What exactly would you like to know?" she asked. Her voice was soft, much like the look on her face. A pink hue rose onto her cheeks from the cold weather. Jisung's eyebrow gravitated upwards. "Let's start with what happened at the Jade Kingdom." he shrugged. She paused, taking a moment to really remember every detail of the night.

"It was the last week of December. My mother had passed just a few weeks prior. She knew this would happen, but it was a bit too late to prevent." she bit down on her rosy lip. "The Sujo Clan had been making its way east. They hit the earth shifting capitol of Ho Chi Minh months prior. The president survived, sending out a warning to us and all shifting centric areas. We knew we were next. Before Ho Chi Minh, it was Bangkok, a melting pot like the Republic. Before Bangkok, the air nomad capitol of Bhutan." she continued.

"Those are major cities. The Jade Kingdom isn't necessarily a significant place for shifting." Seorin interrupted.

"That's true. The clan attacked major cities— places with power. Bhutan had masters of their element, they could knock the wind out of someone's lungs. Ho Chi Minh held the oldest living earth shifters. Bangkok was just like the Neo Elemental Republic of Seoul." she explained, looking the the flag that stood behind them. "Their leader was much like you, a fire prodigy." she then looked at Park Jisung.

"You still haven't answered Seorin." he wasn't intimidated at all, pressing his tongue to the side of his mouth.

"The Jade Kingdom was the next place on their list with power. I was recently announced to be inaugurated as queen once I became of age. News got around, people in the surrounding areas started to get notice of who was taking the Mad Queen's place." she remembered the day like it was yesterday.

"So what are you? Another scary earth shifter like your mother?" Jaemin questioned. Meilin smiled, taking him by surprise.

"I'm far from scary," she looked up at him, speaking with her honey voice. "Not so far off from an earth shifter. I am an earth shifter." she continued, then looked down at her mittens. "I could shift earth— fire, water, and air."

The five other people in the room looked at her either impressed or unamused. "Yeah right." Jisung scoffed, earning a look from Seorin. "That's impressive, really. Though, how can we trust you?" she spoke more gracefully than her partner.

"I couldn't tell you. I lost those abilities the night my kingdom was sieged. The Sujo Clan is notorious for being mockingbirds; they can mirror your shifting. Unfortunately for me, they attacked me during a blood moon." She could remember the rays of red bleeding into her bedroom window. "It's not just a blood moon because of its red color. The moon is powerful, more powerful than you could imagine." Now, Seorin wasn't sleepy at all, listening with her ears completely open.

"I'm sure you're all familiar with blood shifting. The head of the Sujo Clan plans his attacks during lunar eclipses for a reason. Blood shifting under a red moon serves no consequences— you can take someone's shifting without tainting your spirituality."

"How do you know about blood shifting?" Mark finally cut in. It's not like he hadn't been listening, he was, very hard. Though, Uncle Jin always emphasized how sacred the art of blood shifting was. The only way you could learn about it was through old scriptures, or passed down lingually through folklores- not that it was ever portrayed as real. Meilin was surprised at the sound of his voice, staring into his green eyes that never met hers before.

"I heard about it growing up." she replied.

"I can't shift in front of you all right now. If I could, I wouldn't be here. You don't need to trust that I can shift all four elements. I wouldn't believe me either." Meilin took turns looking all four of them in the eyes. Gray, orange, blue, and green. "But I hope you can trust the information I'm telling you. The Republic is next. I may not know what you're hiding here, but they do." she recalled the incident years ago, the imprisoned clan member still in their city limits.

"And if whatever he was after isn't enough, they're coming for you." she referred to all four of them, but her eyes laid on Baek Seorin and Park Jisung a little longer. Prodigies.

The room became quiet for a moment, the news heavy. Each of the four had their own thoughts, processing them all in real time. Meilin remained quiet in her seat, praying that her explanation didn't scare them off.

"You're still the daughter of the Mad Queen, do you think we forgot?" Jisung spoke again. Princess Meilin was starting to think the balance wasn't necessarily balanced between the four. Fire shifters really were hotheads. "I can't trust you. I cant promise what you're saying is truthful." he came to his conclusion, pressing his palms together.

She stared him down. The amber in his eyes were ironically cold. If she thought General Lee had a poker face, Jisung knocked him out of the park. The constant reminder of her mother wasn't a warm condolence, but just an annoyance. Meilin was never fond of her, in life or death.

"My mother wasn't the most agreeable person, I'll give you that." she held eye contact with him. You could've mistaken them for having a staring contest at this point.

"But you of all people, Park Jisung, know we are not all like our parents."

nine— the first meeting

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AHHHH. thoughts on meilin? i haven't had the chance to really build upon her personality yet, but i hope y'all like her so far ;")