The group made their way to the deserted ice cream parlor. Finn couldn't resist ordering an additional cup. Ice cream always helped with stress; it would calm him down. This time, he made sure to finish the strawberries before they could be cruelly taken from him. After satisfying his justified paranoia of losing his snack, Finn glanced around. First, he peaked to his right. Marceline was still trying to console Bubblegum, who didn't seem to be registering anything around her. She was way too busy to try and mess with Finn. Every so often, Bubblegum's eyes would light up with an all too familiar intensity of emotion. Her eyes gave off every indicator that she was going to fly into a rage and scream at anyone unlucky enough to be around her. But the look was fleeting. The spark in her eyes would dissipate as quickly as it appeared. Finn had flinched out of habit several times, but never got the expected verbal lashing.
Finn looked to his left. Simon was staring down the plaza. He too was wearing an all too familiar face. He was deep in thought. Finn became aware of a tapping noise. He lowered his gaze to see Simon nervously tapping his fingers against the table. Finn looked back up and then followed Simon's eyes. Down the plaza, the isolationist group was still in full force. The seeker force was visibly smaller, but the number of isolationists had swelled. That didn't make sense. Why would the settlement guards shrink away in the face of a potential threat?
"Hey Simon, what are you thinking about?"
"Well, honestly I'm concerned the humans have more on their plate than they thought they would and are being stretched thin."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Marc probably alerted the seekers about their increasingly disorderly guests near the research facility. Some probably made sure to backup the Minerva bots. Its probably difficult to make more of them right now. But more importantly, their division could be an opportunity for anyone who wants to cause trouble today."
"Yeah, I noticed some of the seekers were gone. I was actually worried some of them supported the isolationists and left so they could actually do something."
"Yeah. That was my other hypothesis. It's a scary one for sure. We don't really have much to go off of. Maybe we could try keeping an eye on everything. The settlement's government is having a lot of trouble today. I'm particularly worried about the diplomatic celebration they plan to hold later."
"Oh snap, I almost forgot about that! Do you think someone will something?"
"Its possible. I assume the settlement will have extra security now. But that in itself might end up making some of the guests even angrier."
"Man, political stuff is tough. I'm glad I'm not a princess or diplomat or anything. PB you got it rough."
Bubblegum let out a soft laugh. She was slowly returning. Simon glanced at Marceline and motioned to the register. The pair excused themselves but stayed within earshot.
"You don't know the half of it, Finn."
"No, I don't. I don't think any of us really do. Actually, I think I need to apologize for a while ago. I was so set on finding a peaceful path to you and your uncle's problems I kind of brushed everything else aside. I didn't really consider what could have happened to your kingdom or any of the others if my plan backfired."
"Its okay Finn. Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes that day too."
"What, no way! You were out there ready to fight for your kingdom!"
"Finn, I filled my war room with people who couldn't think for themselves. I had Lemongrab in the war room. I had LSP in the war room! Heck, even though he was hit with the dum-dum juice, Pep But was still my second in command."
"Wait, what?"
"The point is that I was trying to make sure my plans would go through with minimal resistance. I should have been open to ideas by people who could actually think for themselves. Glob, I drew a bunch of the Candy Kingdom's allies into the war and didn't give them a chance to contribute."
"Okay, but you knew best right?"
"That's the point Finn. I only thought I knew best because I shut myself off from every other opinion like I always do. The others are right to be skeptical of me. But I've also learned something."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Just because they're right doesn't make me wrong."
"I… don't follow."
"The others are looking out for the best interests, or what they think are the best interests of their kingdoms, just like how I always do. Right now, our perceptions clash. They don't benefit as much from human technology as the candy kingdom does. And they're not used to special weapons that can hurt them existing."
"So, what, they're all just scared that you benefit more from the humans than they do?"
"Exactly. A lot of them don't really need or see the value in the human tech. And they certainly don't see why the humans are developing it. I think Marlo and BP are trying to cause major drama. I just don't know why now."
"Maybe they are actually scared you know? I mean, you already do have a lot of banana guards, not to mention Marcy, Jake and me."
"Yeah, but they weren't this scared until today. Maybe the fears have been building up overtime and just seeing the human's research caused them to all come up. Or maybe there's something I'm not seeing."
"I could try to follow Marlo for you. Sneak style."
"That could work."
Marceline floated back to the table with Simon in tow.
"Bonnie, no! You would literally just be proving his point! They were already angry you were spying on their kingdoms. You can't just have Finn stalk the guy because you think he's planning against you."
"Well what am I supposed to do? They're all saying they want to keep their kingdoms safe from me. I need to keep my kingdom safe from what this bozo might be doing behind the scenes."
"I know Bonnie. But don't send Finn. I'll go. I won't get caught."
"I thought you were against my espionage."
"Yeah, when its unjustified. You saw that guy. He clearly has a bone to pick. If we can figure out why maybe we can get the princesses to stop listening to him, without you insulting or threatening them."
Bubblegum took a deep breath.
"Okay Marcy. I trust you to do this. Just don't get hurt okay?"
"Please, when do I ever get hurt?"
The couple shared a quick kiss.
"Bonnie please don't do anything reckless while I'm following this dingus."
"No promises. But I'll try, for you."
Next, Marceline gave Simon a quick hug.
"Don't do anything dumb while I'm gone."
"When have I ever done anything dumb?"
"Well there was this one time where you put on a crown a bunch, and that time you almost fell into the music hole, and like every day you didn't have your memories…"
"Okay, okay point taken. Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything dumb Marcy, I know you'd kill me."
"Like I would hurt you."
With that, the vampire queen turned invisible. The remaining members of the group stood silent.
"Oh PB. As long as you're looking out for your kingdom first, elder Marc gave me a treaty for you to look over."
Finn dug into his bag and pulled out the now slightly crumpled defense pact. Bubblegum snatched it and gave it a cursory read.
"Nothing about technology exchanges. The humans probably want to test the waters first. Can't say I blame them. In fact, maybe this will show the others that I'm not just interested in human tech."
Bubblegum reached into her hair and produced a silver pen.
"PB you keep a pen in your hair?"
"It's convenient. A girl never knows when she'll need to sign a treaty on behalf of her kingdom. Besides not all of us carry backpacks around all day."
Simon cleared his throat.
"Princess maybe its not my place, but are you sure it's a good idea to sign this right now? Tensions are pretty high, and this could be taken as a sign that you don't care about what the other princess's think."
"I don't care what they think, Simon. I need to do what's best for my kingdom, just like they're trying to do."
"Wouldn't an in-depth, public discussion be best for everyone though? I know they weren't exactly cooperative outside of the research facility. But surely in a more formal setting you, or elder Marc could better sway them to your perspective. It just seems like this would be giving your opposition more ammo."
"You didn't seem to object to sending Marceline to spy on Marlo. Is that not also giving them more ammo?"
"Marceline can go invisible and fly. If she somehow got caught, she could claim she was shadowing visitors all day because of the concerns with the isolationists. They might not believe her, but they couldn't refute her either. But this… this would be a very public declaration of indifference."
"The candy kingdom has to be assertive."
"Yes, but you could be assertive in a different way. You said that it's a defense pact with no tech exchange, right? Are there any other special clauses or commitments?"
"No. It just says that the Candy kingdom will help defend the human settlement against raiders or formal declarations of war."
"So why not call on everyone to make that pledge? You could do it during the diplomatic ceremony later. You use it to open dialogue between the humans and other kingdoms. The humans will get protection and guarantees of safety, and none of the kingdoms will enjoy a technological advantage over the others. And I'm sure the humans will be grateful to the candy kingdom for setting up a multi-kingdom defense pact."
"That solution is a bit quixotic don't you think? The other kingdoms will still suspect me of making some sort of secret deal."
"They're going to think that no matter what you do. But if you sign that document without openly discussing it first, you'll be validating every fear the other kingdoms have. Besides, what's the harm in waiting a couple of hours?"
Bubblegum stared at the pen in her hand. Then she stared at the treaty. Finally, she glanced at Simon. He looked visibly concerned yet confident. Bubblegum contemplated.
"Okay Simon. I'm going to trust you on this. Marceline always has confidence in your decisions, and you probably have the best understanding of human politics of anyone outside of the settlement. Just please don't be wrong."
"Thank you, princess. And don't worry. I'm sure this should work."