"What's the problem?" King Logan asked seriously. 

The entire room was charged with tension as they looked at the soldier. He looked uncertain about how to deliver the message, swallowing noticeably as he looked around the room of royals. "There's... there's an emergency. It would be easier just to show you, your Majesties."

The group rose from their seats and hastily made their way out into the hall. They followed the guard to out to the balcony overlooking the courtyard of the palace, where they found it crowded with people. 

"What on earth? What's happened?" Patton questioned, looking around at the crowd of people. His eyes drifted to the docks in the distance, seeing a couple ally ships tied there and more people getting off of them. A pit settled in the king's stomach as he turned to the guard. "There was an attack, wasn't there?"

"Yes, your Majesty," he replied solemnly. 

The royals all felt despair wash over them. The citizens below were all terrified, frightened, and homeless. They'd been brought to the palace for their help but at the moment, none of them knew what the best course of action was. 

"Where?" Thorn asked quietly. "Where was the attack?"

"Multiple kingdoms were hit," the guard said. He shook his head and gestured to the crowd of people. "The kingdoms Sheya, Tedal, and Ruica were hit. They had to evacuate, hence why their citizens are here now. Sheya was hit the hardest... I regret to say that the king was killed during the attack. Leadership of the kingdom has been passed on to his advisor for the time being."

Luis gasped, looking concerned and frantic as he suddenly searched the crowd. "Sheya's king is dead?!" he exclaimed. "Oh my god..."

He rushed away; as he left, Thorn gasped with realization and hurried after her partner. The remaining royals looked among themselves in confusion at the two's behavior, but their questions were answered as they looked back down at the crowd below. Luis and Thorn were weaving through it and appeared to be looking for someone specific. 

"We should probably get down there too," Logan said to the others, turning to leave. "The leaders of the respective kingdoms should discuss this event."

Patton nodded in agreement and followed him hastily back into the palace to head to the courtyard with is husband. Roman and Virgil made eye contact briefly before moving to follow them, subconsciously walking side-by-side though it wasn't necessary. 

Luis pushed through the crowd, looking for someone in particular indeed. His heart was racing. There were so many people; he wasn't sure how he was supposed to find who he was looking for in the crowded courtyard. Thorn, however, found her quickly, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. They made their way over to a tree by the corner of the courtyard, where a couple of kids were sitting on the ground. One was crying.

"Oh my gosh, Sapphire, you poor thing," the prince breathed, kneeling down and offering his hand to the little girl.

She looked up with teary eyes, sniffling pitifully. "Prince L-Luis and Princess Thorn," she whispered with relief. She seemed to be trying to stay strong, but she couldn't hold it back as she sobbed. She threw herself at the prince, hugging him tightly as she cried. "My father's dead! I d-don't know what to do!"

Thorn knelt down too, hugging the girl as well. She and Luis shared a look. They'd more or less mentally adopted the young Sapphire of Sheya since interacting with her last year. She'd been in need of support that they were happy to provide.

"Who are you guys?" the voice of a boy interrupted their hug.

"Oh, Matthew, this is Luis and Thorn, I told you about them," Sapphire explained, wiping her runny nose. She looked at the older royals and back at the boy. "This is Matt, he's a prince from Tedal. He's my best friend."

Matthew had reddish-brown, fluffy hair that seemed barely constrained by whatever had been used to style it. He looked to be the same age as Sapphire, about ten. He looked kind.

"Nice to meet you, Matt," Thorn said, offering a warm smile as she reached out her hand. 

"It's nice to meet you guys too," he replied, smiling a little as he shook it with his own.

Across the courtyard, Roman and Virgil were wandering through the crowd. They'd lost track of their fathers. Now, they were completely at a lost for what they should do. The dark prince looked uncomfortable in the crowd of people, seeing some of the citizens glaring at him. He felt his heart twisting with guilt as he saw crying families. 

Roman put a hand on his shoulders. "It's not your fault," he whispered gently and solemnly. "You can't blame yourself for that monster's actions."

"I know but I could've stopped him from ever having the chance," he replied with a shake of his head. He felt his throat closing up uncomfortably and his eyes were growing uncomfortably wet. He reached up to rub them in an attempt to hide his emotions. However, suddenly something was wrapped around his legs. "Huh?"

"Hi mister, you look like you needed a hug," a small, but confident, voice said.

The two princes looked down to see a girl with dark brown-red hair that felt off of her shoulders. She looked like she was ten and clearly a peasant going by the state of her clothing. She didn't appear to be homeless, but the simpleness of the dress she was wearing pointed toward it being cheap. She was smiling up at Virgil and hugging his legs.

"Uh, s-sorry-"

Roman quickly swooped in to save him from an awkward encounter. "Hey," he greeted, kneeling down to her level. "He did need a hug, you're very sweet. What's your name?"

"I'm Rose!" she said happily, unwrapping her small arms from the dark prince's legs only to shake hands with Roman. She then looked back at Virgil with big questioning brown eyes. "Why do you look so sad, mister?"

"What- I'm not- I-" he stammered, feeling his throat close up again. "I'm just... I'm sad that your home was attacked, that's all."

Roman gave him a nod, telling him that he'd done a good job handling the question. He then took the little girl by the hand. "Hey Rose, are you cold or hungry? Why don't we get you some food? Prince Virgil and I will take you there."

"Really? Thank you!" she gushed, reaching up to grab Virgil's hand with her free one.