Late night at the palace.
"Princess... Princess...." a general rushed in, worry etched on his face.
" Woah ... Why are you in a hurry?" Jinha asked playfully.
The general looked around the room surprised to find three of the thunder squad members along with the princess.
Jinha was standing near the table as Liz and Hak were sitting on the opposite side of princess Hazel, who was leaning back on her chair.
Liz rolled her eyes while Hak stared at him in amusement, while the princess rubbed her forehead, " Knock it off, Jinha."
She, then turned to the general and asked, "What is it?"
The general gulped nervously and announced the dreading news he received, " We have received news from the lookouts, ten minutes ago, that they have noticed a movement up north and have sent a search party to look into it. But, they haven't received any news from the search party for two days now."
Hazel's face darkened hearing the news, as she asked, "Did everyone return to the palace from their lookouts?"
The general shook his head, "No.. Captain Federick ordered two among them to deliver the news while the rest is still waiting at the lookout for further orders."
Liz murmured, "It's happening too early. Why is that so?"
Hak, who heard her, said grimly, "Maybe because Freya intercepted their plans."
Hazel frowned as she remembered the red eyes they were discussing before the general came.
She gave out an order, "Don't waste time looking for the search party. They must be dead to not return after two days. Inform everyone, an urgent meeting is required which will begin after twenty minutes."
Hazel straightened on her chair and placed both her elbows on the table, while her hands folded in front of her face as she said dangerously, "We have to be on our guards."
Hearing this, everyone's face darkened. Jinha narrowed his eyes as he said, "They have made their move, huh?!"
Hazel smiled coldly, "Looks like they can't wait to trample us. They were planning on ambushing us from both outside and within the palace."
Liz nodded, "It's good that Freya stopped one of their plans."
The general, who was waiting for his orders, stood confused as he thought, 'How did they know this would happen? Is that why the princess ordered us to look out for any movement up north?'
He remembered the incident clearly as if it happened yesterday.
....
One early morning, the princess entered the commander's room, shocking the generals as they didn't expect the princess to arrive here without notice, just a day after she returned to the palace.
Looking at the generals who were seated around the round table. She asked, "Is everyone here?"
The generals looked around and nodded. Thankfully, everyone had just finished their duties and was huddling around the room or they would have had to wait for a long time before the meeting to start.
Hazel asked," How many people have we deployed for lookouts lately?"
The generals were confused by her question but one of the generals stood up and answered, "Well we have around ten people looking out at each side. They are at a distance where notifying us about any movement would help us prepare beforehand."
The princess nodded as she looked at her team.
Hak took a step forward as he ordered, "Increase the number of our men up north. Keep a lookout for any movement from the forest and inform us even if a small movement occurs."
Everyone protested, "But why, sir? We haven't received any information on new threats to increase our vigilance."
Zeno smiled," So are you waiting for someone to attack us first?"
The generals shivered in fear looking at Zeno's smile. They hurriedly nodded and proceeded to carry out their orders.