Kar was a beautiful settlement. A bit primitive compared to the rest of the continent's propensity for mechanical wonders, but beautiful, nonetheless. Daichi, after his ominous greeting, took it upon himself to give the group a grand tour. The houses were cosy and wooden, none taller than two stories, and all with thatched roofs. In the very centre of the village was a large temple, also wooden, adorned in hues of orange, gold, and navy. Massive crows and other corvids perched on nearly every possible surface, and the people talked to the birds as casually as one might to a friend.

Daichi led the ragtag bunch to the centre temple where he grimly sat them down for conversation. The interior of the temple was simple and plainly decorated; it seemed more a place for important meetings than any centre of worship, Tsukishima didn't judge; it was clever of the people to have repurposed such a beautiful piece of architecture.

Kuroo excitedly looked around, searching for some other person, "Hey now Sawamura, where's chief Ukai? Or has Nekomata finally outlived the old bat?"

Daichi blanched for a moment, uncomfortable, as he searched for words. Tsukishima thought it quite rude that Kuroo would so gleefully await the downfall of Kar's leader, but he didn't know how close Kuroo was with everyone and so he said nothing of the matter.

From behind the group came a low gravelly laugh, "I certainly hope you're talking about my grandfather and not me, bedhead." The owner of the voice, a tall man with blond hair held out of his eyes by a headband, gave Kuroo a light smack to the back of his head before taking a seat next to Daichi. "And I'll have you know those old bastards went out at the same time, Nekomata didn't win nothin'."

Daichi simply chuckled, "Well, now that the new chief Ukai is here, we have business to discuss."

Almost instantly, the jovial disposition of the group dissipated, and Kuroo turned to Tsukishima, "Go on then, specks. You're the one with all our intel."

Tsukishima straightened in his seat and recounted the details of the mysterious letter. He had planned on leaving out his dream, but both Kuroo and Kenma assured him that the two Kar men were trustworthy. Neither looked particularly surprised at Tsukishima's synergy, and they both listened intently.

Ukai and Daichi shared a concerned glance before the younger of the two spokes, "I have no insight on your dreams, but the crows I can explain. My partner," Daichi looked to Kuroo and Kenma, "you two know Suga, he's been in the Slithering Isles for just under a year now to spy for us. He's a synergist too, talks with animals and the like, and there have been whisperings amongst the birds and beasts for a while now, they all say the Snakes are up to no good."

Kuroo huffed, "When are those bastards ever up to anything good, slimy fuc-" he was cut short by a glare from both Daichi and Ukai, a truly terrifying combination.

"As I was saying, Suga has been keeping tabs on the archipelago; he sends us reports through the birds. We haven't been able to track every action Daishou takes, of course, he makes most of his plans in the palace, where Suga can't send animals to eavesdrop, but we know enough."

Here, Ukai took over and pulled out a folder full of letters, all written in the same messy script as the one Tsukishima had received, "I'm sorry to say we didn't know about the plot against your kingdom, Tsukishima, but we do know that Daishou has been making moves to undermine his mother, the current queen. It's likely that he somehow orchestrated the conflict with your people behind his mother's back. By Suga's accounts, Daishou is as power-hungry as they come. The queen is a good leader, and she knows her son isn't fit for the throne, but that doesn't mean Daishou won't just try and seize power."

Daichi cleared his throat, "But! There is some good news in all of this! Yamaguchi somehow made contact with Suga; he'll do everything in his power to get your friend out safely. For now, though, we just have to wait."

Tsukishima fought the urge to fully snap at Daichi, "We don't have time to wait; did my warnings of destruction and continental collapse mean nothing? Yamaguchi sure as hell didn't look safe there."

Ukai grimaced slightly, "Yeah, none of that is exactly ideal, but you all need to get a plan, a real one, before you can do anything."

Daichi stood up and motioned for the group to follow, "Look, we've already sent word to Suga and Koma-Nek," both Kuroo and Kenma shared a look at that, "you all can stay here while we wait for a response; it'll take five days, at most."

Tsukishima wanted nothing less than to wait in boredom for five days, but Ukai had a point, they had no real plan, and any information would be useful. The group walked in silence to a house at the edge of the settlement, it was small like the others, wooden and sturdy, and Tsukishima was at least glad for the privacy it offered. Daichi left, and they all sat in silence for a moment.

"The colosseum in Fukoni, it's been out of commission since the civil war started, are you sure you saw the one in Fukoni?" Bokuto looked uncharacteristically small as he asked; the colosseum, as Tsukishima knew, was not a happy topic for Bokuto and Akaashi.

Tsukishima pondered his dream for a moment, he only figured it was Fukoni because that was the only colosseum he knew of, but it didn't make much sense for Yamaguchi to be somehow in Fukoni, "I mean, no one said it was Fukoni, maybe there's a colosseum in the Slithering Isles too, we don't exactly know what goes on down there."

Akaashi's metal arm whirred audibly as he held onto the arm of his chair with an iron grip, "When it was still active, the colosseum was used as a sort of jail, almost. My-" Akaashi stumbled over his words, a rare occurrence for the otherwise calm man, "the king, he would make criminals fight in gladiator matches there. But not just criminals, the king hated any opposition, he'd arrest anyone who disagreed with him, political enemies, people who spoke out against the cruelty, anyone who so much as pointed out how poorly the kingdom was run, really. Maybe I'm wrong, but might Daishou seek to do the same thing? Build a place where he can place so-called traitors and exemplify his power? First the queen, and then the only other person who would speak against him, the last loose end, Tadashi."

Bokuto furrowed his brow and tenderly rubbed Akaashi's metal arm until he was no longer at risk of splintering the wood, "Treason and public execution are a pretty damn good way to discredit someone."

The room was quiet once again, filled only with the dulled sounds of birds and wind from outside. Akaashi and Bokuto clung to each other with matching expressions, as if they were reliving a nightmare or watching a ghost walk before their very eyes. Though it was barely sunset, the two former Fukoni citizens made to rest for the night, no one moved to stop them.

Desperate to fill the silence and do something, or perhaps just because they were hungry and there was food present, Yachi and Hinata lit the woodstove and made to prepare a late dinner. The fire crackled and cast dramatic flickering shadows across the room, even as the space began to fill with the aroma of spice and cooked meat, they could not shake the grim mood that permeated through the air. Dinner was served in silence, cutlery and plates clinking, and mindless compliments to Yachi's cooking skills were the only sounds to be heard.

Only after the meal was done and the moon high in the sky did Kageyama ask the question that had been on everyone's mind since they reached Kar, "Why'd you guys leave Koma-Nek? The chief and that other guy seem to know you well, what gives?"

Kuroo laughed bitterly, "Sometimes, even I don't know, it was all so stupid."

Kenma offered Kuroo one of their rare smiles, seemingly enough encouragement for the man to keep going.

"The title of Chief in Kar and Koma-Nek is based on succession, like kingship, kind of. The people get to vote on if they think the new Chief is ready, and the current Chief can choose to train someone who they're not related to, that's not important right now. My point is, my grandfather is the Chief of Koma-Nek, or well, was, I guess he's retired now."

Hinata practically radiated admiration as he bounced in his creaky wooden chair, "You could've been Chief? Uwah! That's so cool, why would you ever want to leave that?"

Kuroo laughed, only slightly more genuine than the last, "Yeah, well, while I was training, I wasn't the most responsible guy out there. I didn't care about safety and governance and cooperation with Kar, I didn't want to be responsible for a whole group of people, I wanted to go on cool adventures and see the world."

Tsukishima snorted derisively, "And look at you now, a train conductor, responsible for a bunch of people and crunching numbers over transportation costs and trade deals."

Kenma sniggered at that, and Kuroo shot the two an unimpressed look, "The irony of my situation is not lost on me, Kei. Anyway, I didn't want to be a leader, and quite frankly, I would've been a bad one at the time. I had a whole argument with my gramps, he was pissed, I was pissed, we didn't talk to each other for weeks. He called me a coward, said I was running away from my responsibilities and living in a fantasy world. He wasn't wrong."

From there, Kenma took up the mantle, "Kuroo approached me one night, after the argument, and asked me to leave with him. I was the only person in Kar and Koma-Nek that was a mechanical synergist. We don't have much in the way of complex technology here; we live a simple life. Kuroo knew I wanted to see more of the continent's technologies, so one night we just left."

"That was mid-winter some five years ago now, and we haven't been back since." Kuroo's expression was unreadable, stoic, and distant.

"Oh, but that's so sad! You haven't seen your family in five years? You didn't even write to them?" Yachi looked at the pair as if they were a set of drenched kittens.

"Nah, we never had the time to visit, don't know that we even wanted to. We cut ties, sure, but I don't regret it for a second; the Nekarasi is just as much my home and family as Koma-Nek ever was." There was no lie in Kuroo's eyes as he spoke, nostalgia, maybe, but he spoke the truth.

Tsukishima pondered Kuroo and Kenma's decision to leave their lives behind as he got ready for bed. They were unhappy in their positions of power, just like he was in the Firefly empire. Would Tsukishima be willing to leave everything behind for the promise of freedom and adventure? He didn't know. There weren't nearly as many consequences for him if he left, Akiteru was always destined for the throne, and that much would not change. It wasn't like anyone knew his face either, so he wouldn't be easy to find. It would be so incredibly easy for him to leave, to simply not go back to the Firefly empire, to live his own life once this was all done with.

But where would he go? Would he stay with the Nekarasi? Maybe. What if they didn't get Yamaguchi back, what if something went wrong and he never got to see his love again, never got to even try and see if they could work. Tsukishima pondered a life away from his royal title; he couldn't imagine it without Yamaguchi at his side, the two of them working together. He could be happy, Tsukishima supposed, he could be happy anywhere so long as he got to stay with Yamaguchi. He had to get him back, had to make sure the other was safe.

Tsukishima fell asleep with a troubled mind and a conscience torn between two potential futures, unsure of which would be true when he next awoke.