[Apothecary room, the Rebellion base's cottage]
Sounds of the pages flipped through, several different chemicals filled the table and the shelves, a collection of alchemy books and chemistry laws - just the typical potion room anyone would see. A cauldron filled with water was placed over the fireplace and left to boil. The vivid blue-haired 20-year old looked into old prescriptions, potion recipe books, and numerous ancient scrolls to find alternate ingredients for a sleeping elixir. One that their elder requested. As he continued flipping the pages, Wonyeong walked in.
"You're back?"
"Mhmm," Wonyeong nodded. "I managed to find the lavenders we needed in town. But, couldn't find any poppy flowers,"
"Neither could I,"
Wonyeong hung his pouch on the wall and headed towards the cauldron. The water inside it was boiling profusely. He went to grab a bowl filled with butterfly pea flowers and tossed them in, then a few stalks of lavender lastly, two petals tea leaves into the boiling water. He walked to a shelf and dripped a few drops of an unnamed liquid.
"Without pollen from the poppy flowers, this elixir might not be effective enough,"
Sangho sighed then turned towards the small pot of boiling water. Due to the colors of the boiled flowers, it began turning lavender-blue. Just as Wonyeong started stirring, sounds of a horse neighed as it canters towards the backdoor of the apothecary room. A hooded rider then got off the horse and walked towards Sangho who stepped out to greet the rider.
"How'd you find our base?"
Before the rider could reply, Sangho was given a pouch, "I was sent by your leader to acquire these. I hope they will deem valuable," the person spoke, not letting the hood opening of the cloak face him.
'The rider is a woman...?' Sangho thought. Judging by her appearance, she looked familiar at some point. "Did Sanghyeok-hyung mention a name for us to address you as?"
She shook her head before hopping back on her horse and took off towards the woods. Sangho watched as the rider disappeared into the dark of night.
"Who was that?" Wonyeong questioned. But Sangho too was wondering.
Sangho untied the ribbon on the ivory pouch. It revealed several pollen bunches that were carefully removed from the poppy flowers they were hoping to find. "Wonyeong, take a look at this,"
"Poppy pollen bunches? But I thought you said you found none in the woods?"
"Whoever that rider was must've gotten these from outside the faction borders. She doesn't look like she's from around here,"
"She?" Wonyeong turned to Sangho, who nodded in response. "Her horse... What breed was it?"
"A gypsy vanner, an albino I think. Why?"
Wonyeong pulls Sangho into the cottage, then shuts the door behind him.
"The rider? What was she wearing?"
Sangho thinks again to remember her appearance, "A white coat over her hanbok... I think it looked a bit pale orange or something... She did say that Sanghyeok-hyung sent her,"
"Then it is her...," Wonyeong remarked, leaving Sangho also in question.
"You know her?"
"This morning when I headed to the stables, I heard Sanghyeok-hyung talking to someone. It was also a girl but I couldn't see her. I waited by the doors and overheard them talking about our missions,"
Sangho was left astounded. "What did they say?"
"I only heard the talking about Kanghui's mission... They mentioned something called the Golden Hibiscus. And the last thing I heard was that she'll be heading to the Kim faction to help Minhyeong and Changdong instead of heading towards the Kang faction.
"Hm... The Golden Hibiscus is an ancient artifact heavily guarded by the royal blood... Only those it chose or with consent from the keeper may hold or unsheathe it,"
"Are there any other idiosyncrasy that shows that someone is their heir?"
Sangho finally gets what Wonyeong is trying to point out, "I think we found her...,"
"But the question remains - Why didn't hyung say anything?"
The two 20-year-olds looked at the pouch Sangho was holding. "It could be an alliance... It's just without us knowing,"
Wonyeong nodded. They knew of how secretive their leader could be, especially in terms of keeping the Rebellion's secret in safe hands.
"One more thing, aren't they illegal?"
"Come to think of it, I think it's a mix of different poppies. Each of the pollen bunches looks different,"
Sangho walked over to the pot then shed a small pinch of the pollen into the pot. Before long, the water that was once lavender-blue turned a slight bluish ivory color which then started to turn crystal clear. He scooped the bubbling liquid with a small ladle then poured it into a small dish. Wonyeong noticed the liquid's color similar to water. The dish was then brought to a small cage where a rat was seen running around. As Sangho sets the dish down, the rat immediately scurried to drink it. Not a second later, the rat becomes static and falls flat in its cage.
Wonyeong checks on the rat then turned to Sangho, "It's asleep,"
"It worked,"
"Yep, I can vouch for that. Now the challenge we have left is to smuggle this into the palace... With the lavender scent, it would be easily discovered,"
"Not if we have someone in the palace to help,"
Sangho laid out a map, a blueprint of the castle estate. Each part was labeled in its spot. Some locations had been pin-pointed as guardposts while some were safety points where the castle is most vulnerable to getting breached into.
"The guards would be heavily guarding the main doors... The back entrance is lightly guarded but their shifts change frequently," Sangho points on the map. "Leaving the door where the servants use to enter or exit the palace completely vulnerable enough,"
Wonyeong began thinking of the rest of the plan, discussing possible consequences along the way. Until he feels a sudden urge. His mind clouded of their morning occurrence. He thought about the rider and the Golden Hibiscus. He recalled seeing a dark mark around her arm despite the dark shades of night dawning over not do the lights would shine bright enough.
"Her right arm... Was there any tattoo or weird markings? he pointed the question to Sangho.
He straightens his posture, explaining the markings identical to those of koi fish and a hibiscus flower.
The two were absorbed by their discussions being unaware of someone else's presence in the room. When one of them turns to see the sea-green tunic, all three began to give each other weird looks.
"Eh?"
"Eh-"
Jinseong raised his hand and waved like a mime wiping an invisible wall to which Wonyeong and Sangho responded identically. After a few seconds of the awkward encounter, they heard the door opening. This time, it was their guards.
"Sir, a scroll was sent for you," the guard said, approaching Jinseong with the golden scroll. The twine rope tied around it seemed familiar. He soon excused the guards and kept the scroll. As he turned to the two potioneers, they immediately asked what the scroll was about. Jinseong dodged the question with an excuse - saying it was for their leader's eyes only.
