The tense and highly political atmosphere slowly relaxed. The humans played a combination of their own music and while allowing guests to perform and introduce their own. Princesses and diplomats vied and lined up to dance with the remaining humans. Marceline and Bubblegum were able to quietly inch themselves into an empty corner. Finn found himself dragged and pulled in all different directions. Sometimes by the attending humans, but mostly by the princesses he once saved on a daily basis. In some cases, he would be mistaken for one of the human settlers. Unknowing diplomats would try to cut in only to sink away in embarrassment. Some of the older guests remained on the sidelines. Some were enjoying the music, while others simply enjoyed the unfamiliar company.

For now, Simon sat alone. In an interesting twist of irony, he had been asked by many of the princesses he had formerly kidnapped to dance. At first, he had obliged to be polite. But he soon found himself mentally tired. The event was reminding him of the many dances and dates he shared with Betty. Of course, this wasn't an excuse to not participate. But as the event continued, he realized that the festivity was more of a tease than anything. A tease of what he once had, and potentially could have had in another life time. A tease that others in the room could potentially have something he could not. They could meet someone, fall in love, and spend the rest of their lives together. He could not. While Betty sacrificed herself years ago, he was still a bit stubborn and held on to a ray of hope to save her. Simon lost himself in his recollections for a moment.

This ray of hope came a couple of days after the return of his sanity. Marceline had taken him to the candy kingdom for his first checkup in one thousand years. On the outside he was just as before he put on the crown for the first-time, a forty-seven-year-old scrawny academic. But on closer inspection, this wasn't the case. From all of the tests Bubblegum and Dr. Princess had run, despite his physical appearance his body was otherwise operating in its prime. His heart, which was supposed to have been replaced by toffee, was back. What's more was that it pumped more than 10 times the blood needed to keep himself alive. For a 47-year-old man, that was unheard of. But it was commonplace for a human in their physical prime. Scars he had obtained before fully transitioning to the Ice King were gone without a trace. Bubblegum extracted cells from his liver, kidneys, new heart, several muscles. There was no sign of any lipofuscin, or any wear and tear that naturally came from aging.

He and Bubblegum eventually came up with a theory— that he was, at the very least, biologically immortal. After failing to wish Betty back with the help of the cosmic being Prismo, Simon asked if he could see Betty's wish. As it turned out, she had wished to keep him safe. From his own studies, he knew wish magic was often tricky- especially if worded in broad terms like Betty's was. But safe didn't necessarily mean immortal. Using his knowledge of Golb, Simon guessed that Betty was able to keep entropy, time, and other agents of decay away from him. It was a guess out of left field, but for the time being it was there best one. Over the next couple of years, Bubblegum performed the same tests. No changes were found. What's more was that nothing else about him changed. His hair and fingernails didn't grow or grey. Nor could he grow any facial hair. He couldn't seem to gain or lose any weight. He wasn't getting sick either. With all of this new evidence, Bubblegum proposed an addition to his theory. Simon, or rather Betty's physical perception of Simon, was going to be stick around forever. In a way, this was torture. Being cursed to be without the one you loved while you would continue to live. What's more, he would never truly move on. Those around him were going to slowly wither and die, and he would be alone again.

He heard an audible clash, and Simon flashed back to reality. He glanced around the room and quickly found the source. Bodies upon bodies of squirming and fighting princesses had piled up. Looking closer, Simon spotted Finn attempting to squeeze out from under them to no avail. Simon took the rest of the room in. Diplomats were trying to engage several of the humans sitting the dance out. The musicians were desperately trying to keep Lumpy Space Queen from dropping "her sick beats" on the piano. Elder Marc was slowly making his way towards the sitting area. Finally, his eyes settled on Marceline and Bubblegum. They were happily dancing in the corner in their own little world. His mental jade and fatigue melted away. Of course, he missed Betty. He would never get over her- or maybe he never wanted to get over her. But he was elated that Marceline found the kind of love he once enjoyed. If there was any proven upside from his cursed circumstance, it was that he could watch and be apart of this family. Afterall, Marceline suffered from the same curse. And from what he could tell, Bubblegum was also immortal— at least biologically.

He felt an arm on his shoulder. He turned and was greeted by elder Marc. His face was welcoming, but by the way he was standing, something was off.

"Greetings Simon. I see you're not dancing. Not that I blame you. Many of the guests seem to be a bit… rough."

"Oh, hi Marc." Simon smiled. He had waited for the opportunity to say this. No one else would appreciate the joke, but no one else needed to.

"Is there something I can help you with elder? I'm unsure why, but I get the distinct feeling that something is bothering you."

"To tell you the truth, I have a concern. Earlier today, I said I didn't think the isolationists would be a major concern. But after the incident with Bubblegum sitting at the VIP table, I've put a bit of thought into it. The isolationists were protesting on the main plaza today."

"Right. I saw them a couple of times."

"Yes, well, the thing is that they could have only protested on the plaza if they had a permit to do so. And the only way to get a permit is from a majority vote by the city council."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I think there is some level of fear, or in the worst-case scenario, support, for the isolationists on the settlement's council. And I think that Bubblegum's movement to the VIP table is part of a ploy to divide and anger the outside forces, and ultimately try to convince the settlement to remain isolated."

"A council woman with dark hair was responsible for that. She overheard Marceline and I talking and she took it upon herself to move Bubblegum."

"Councilwoman Tollins. I should have guessed she was involved somehow."

"What do you mean?"

"She is… uncompromising to put it politely. She isn't terribly popular on or off the council. But she does enjoy support from many of the more reactionary citizens. I'm guessing there's an overlap between that group and the isolationists."

"I see. I know Marcy didn't take kindly to her after our initial meeting. I'm glad to see her instincts were justified."

"In any case, I'm a bit afraid. Right now, it seems like things have calmed a bit. And Bubblegum was able to get a good number of the other kingdoms to sign that defensive pact. But that doesn't mean we're out of the woods at all. The isolationists, and Tollins if she is truly involved with them, might point to that as a poor commitment."

"Do you think they'll try something?"

"I don't know. Its possible. Tollins is steadfast and I've witnessed her say and do all sorts of crazy things to get her way. She's never caused violence, but I can't put anything past her."

"So, what would you like my help with?"

"If you don't mind, could you keep an eye on things here for me? I don't mean to drag you further into this, but like I said I'm concerned. I want things to go well for all of us. I'm also worried for Bubblegum and some of the other princesses. They could be targeted if anything does happen."

"I can do that. I know Marcy won't let anything happen to Bubblegum, so I can try to look over everyone else for now. I can get Finn to help too."

"Thank you. There's just one more thing I'd like to ask of you."

"What's that?"

"I know you wanted to take some time to think about the position you were offered. But I honestly believe you should take it. It could help to diffuse the current situation."

"I don't know. A lot of the guests who didn't sign may silently disagree. They don't like the candy kingdom having so much perceived influence, and I'm kind of connected to it through Marceline."

"I understand that concern. I admit that I'm a bit of an idealist, but I think sharing our culture will help bridge that gap. They'll see we have no intention of amalgamating with the candy kingdom. And they might be more open to working and trading with us. I'm sure we can even negotiate the halting of research if it really upsets them. But right now, we don't have anyone to start that dialogue. And you saw everyone's reaction to your performance. It started a dialogue."

Simon pressed his hands together and looked at the ground. There was truth to what the elder was saying. For some reason, he was still hesitant. But why? He was a human and had a rich understanding of human culture. What he didn't know he could learn. And he was always good at teaching and representing it to new learners—it was his job once upon a time. So, what was the problem? He wasn't disconnected with—

Simon stopped. A flash of realization hit him. He was distancing himself from the humans the same way he was distancing himself from people. He was afraid to get attached out of fear the settlement too would eventually wither away. But it would certainly wither away if it didn't get the help and connections with the other kingdoms it needed.

It was true, individual humans may not live for a long time in the grand scheme of things. But the humans were developing technology. Minerva was already immortal so long as the central network on the island didn't fail. Maybe in years to come and enough help, the humans could expand this technology. Longer term connections could be possible.

"Simon? Hello?"

"Sorry elder. I was just thinking, and I've come to a decision. I would like to help your settlement how I can."

"That's wonderful. I'll go speak with council chair Wayne right away."

Elder Marc bowed and exited the room. Simon looked around the room again. Finn had finally managed to squeeze out of the pile of bodies. Marceline and Bubblegum had stopped dancing at some point in favor of laughing at his situation. To the relief of the musicians LSQ had lost interest in the piano, and was now trying to dance by herself. The room had narrowly avoided a musical disaster.

Simon walked over to Finn and began to pull him out. Marceline and Bubblegum walked over and helped. Finn stood up only to be dragged away again. The immortal family chuckled at the hero's misfortune before heading to the rest area.

Finn was not having a good time. Every minute he was dragged or pulled or pushed in a different direction. He had been under a pile of overly dressed and frankly smelly princesses for the past ten minutes. He finally broke free only to be immediately dragged away again. He couldn't really say no. He tried too at first, but he was just ignored. For a minute, he considered forcibly pulling himself away. But he knew that long as the princesses were focused on him, they wouldn't turn their attention to thinking about or annoying PB. Not that Marceline wasn't enough of a deterrent. But Finn wasn't just physically keeping a riot or argument from happening. He was preventing them from thinking about one. Even some of the angrier guests seemed to be lost in their desire to dance with him— even Breakfast Princess and Marlo were occupied.

So, Finn took one for the team. He allowed himself to be pulled and dragged like a child's toy at playtime. Not that dancing with princesses was an extraordinarily difficult task. But not being able to hang out with his mom or friends, or make sure PB was doing alright. That hurt a bit. But his mom was probably busy, and Bubblegum had Marceline to confide in. What hurt most was that he was giving up his own sense of agency. Nobody enjoyed being forced into do something. In fact, these princesses should know that better than anyone. How many times had he saved them from the Ice King or a more competent kidnapper that was trying to force them into marriage? Why was dragging him across the cramped dance floor so different?

He decided that after the day was over, he was going to have a serious talk with all of them. For now, he'd continue to let them have their fun so long as it didn't get too bad. But they needed to recognize that they were at fault. It was funny. So many of them were angry at Bubblegum and the humans for supposedly forcing their kingdoms into awkward diplomatic positions. Yet here they were, forcing him into awkward physical positions.

The music stopped. The musicians were taking a short respite. That meant he could rest for a bit. Before doing so, he looked over to where his friends walked off too. Bubblegum and Marceline were smiling while Simon was delivering some sort of news. He couldn't hear very well, but caught elder Marc's name among a couple of other words. A sudden tap on the shoulder snapped his attention away.

"Oh, hey mom. I thought you would be working right now."

"I was. But I wanted to come by and see how you were doing. Did you get to dance with anyone?"

"That… would be an understatement."

"Okay. Are you enjoying your time at the settlement?"

"Kind of? I'm happy to help out the humans and my friends. And of course, I was happy to spend time with you today. But its also been pretty stressful with the diplomatic fighting biz. It would be a lot easier if there was just a monster or some bandits or something."

"Sweetie, you probably already know this, but you'll find the hardest foes in life aren't the one's you can just stab or fight. Often times, they're going to be the ones you need to work and speak with every day."

"Well that's depressing."

"Not fully. Just because they start as enemies doesn't mean they'll always be ones. You're a charming, wonderful young man. I'm sure whatever problems you find with people you'll be able to hash out in time. It just takes some getting used to."

"And what if those enemies try to force me to do stuff I don't want to do? Or if they threaten someone I care about because I don't cooperate with them? How am I supposed to hash it out with people like that?"

"No one should be able to force you into those situations. And you shouldn't take complete responsibility for everyone else's safety. Your well being matters too. Of course, you should help where you can. But you shouldn't force yourself to take everything on alone. Especially if its not your fight, or if you have people who can help you out. I wish I could say something more helpful, but there isn't really anything else I can say."

"No. I think you're right. Thanks mom."

"Anytime. Whoops. I don't mean to do an impression of Martin, but I have to leave you for now. Something important just came up."

"Anything I can help you with?"

"Please rest for now."

"Okay."

The Minerva bot left. Finn walked over to his friends and sat down.

"Guys. I appreciate you pulling me out from under that pile of princesses. And I know I kind of put myself in the position without telling any of you, but I think I need to take a break from dancing with them for now."

"Are you okay dude? You looked pretty unhappy." Marceline asked.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I kind of put myself in a position I shouldn't have. I let myself get dragged a ton because I thought it would distract them all from interrupting or thinking about Bubblegum. I think it worked, but I can't do it again."

"Finn I would never ask you to do that for me. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it- a lot- but I can handle petty anger. Especially from a bunch of other princesses."

"What Bonnie means is that what you did was sweet. But seriously, don't feel obligated to do that for us. We're used to having a good time, even if other people aren't happy with us."

The group went silent. Soon, the music returned and princesses and guests began dancing again. A couple of them looked in Finn's direction but a quick hiss and facial transformation from Marceline was all they needed to stay away.

One figure, however, was determined. Marlo began walking towards the group in defiance of Marceline's many unnatural faces and noises.

"Oh, what does this bozo want?" Bubblegum mumbled.

Marlo reached the group. Each eyed him with contempt. The wizard sighed.

"I want a truce for now. I have no interest in starting a fight or trying to snatch Finn onto the dance floor.'

"And why exactly should we trust you?" Simon barked.

"Because I believe that I have a mutually beneficial offer. I am willing to step away from the opposing princesses and join your treaty with the humans. But I'll want something in return."

"I can't convince the humans to stop developing anti-magic technologies. Like I said before, I'm not influential with them."

"You do not need to convince them for me. I believe I can do that myself. I just need your group to get me in touch with one of their leaders. In return, I'll sign onto the defense agreement. In fact, I'll even recommend the grand master wizard to declare any wizard who threatens the humans to be permanently expelled from the city."

The group turned to Simon.

"I can try to find elder Marc. He should point us in the right direction."