“Wait–wait, what do you mean she was pregnant?!”

“It means exactly what it sounds like… Danh Văn Trần, was it? I think it says something that I spotted you immediately in one of the lower akasen districts but then again, from what I’ve been told this isn’t too different from your line of work back in Vietrot.”

Harlequin was sitting directly in front of the very culprit that knocked up his prince’s halfwitted daughter and got them into this mess in the first place; fortunately, their faces weren’t publicly known in the empire so he was more than comfortable throwing on a commoner’s yukata kimono with his long mane tied into a neatly braided bun.

Overall, he knew he looked good, especially since he got multiple keen looks from females on his way over here; although seeing just how much of a nervous wreck the other male looked to be also boosted his confidence so, maybe that’s what was making his ego feel stronger than usual.

They were sitting in a more secluded part of an unpopular seedy bar so luckily, not many were around to hear Danh’s little outburst; either that or they were too busy buying out prostitutes for the night to care to listen.

Danh sucked in a deep breath, “we-well… shit!” He began pulling hard on his long, stringy chartreuse mane as he tried his absolute best to keep himself by hyperventilating, not at all concerning the red-haired changeling across from him.

In fact, Harlequin was a bit annoyed at the moment with this sight, “for the gods’ sake, pull yourself together; what did you expect when you slept with her? That there wouldn’t be any sort of consequence for this, that you’d get your fill and skip onto the next hapless being’s bed without a second thought?”

Once Danh managed to get his breathing under control, he also got composed enough to feel offense at the harsh jabs towards him, “first of all… it’s not like that, it’s really not. Second of all, you don’t know me or what I’ve been through to get to this point so, I’d suggest you watch your tone before I walk straight out of this shithole.”

Harlequin didn’t feel fazed at all by the empty threat, however, he did know that his more hostile approach wouldn’t get him anywhere. So, he softened his tone as he said, “alright, alright. I’m sorry, it’s just been a long few days and I’ve been getting clues of where to find you from the sleaziest of creatures and it was frightening at times. I’m here with you purely because I was ordered to by the prince, and out of care for his daughter; no matter how much that girl frustrates me.”

That seemed to calm the other male just enough to relax in his seat, and Harlequin took in the appearance of the streetworker in front of him. If he were to force himself to be completely honest, Danh was, in plainest terms, very easy on the eye. He could tell that if they were in a more… different and nightly setting, he’d probably be quite the sight so to an extent, he could almost understand why Princess Tsubaki desired and burned for him. Despite all that, Harlequin was–believe it or not–happily married so he couldn’t bring himself to care too much for that possibility.

“What am I supposed to do about this?” Danh asked, not sounding impatient or angry with this revelation, instead his voice was now filled with genuine concern.

Harlequin sighed, “luckily for you, my prince has a kind heart and came up with a plan that will include your participation as a key part of it.” Judging by the confused look on his face, Harlequin figured he should elaborate a bit more in a hushed voice, “you see, it’s not just one grub that was born; it was two.”

Fear filled Danh’s eyes as he slapped a hoof over his mouth, clearly showing that he too knew the absolute taboo and stigma that surrounded it. After a few beats of silence he breathed out shakily, “Where… where are they?” Harlequin glanced around once more, making sure no one was eavesdropping before leaning as close as he could to the other male.

“One of them is in the palace as the second heir to the throne until the princess births a daughter, and the other is at my minka with my wife, Hornet, caring for it,” he honestly responded, noting the way Danh visibly relaxed with a sigh.

“Now I have a few personal questions just for peace of mind, how old are you?”

Danh tensed up again, answering with an ashamed sounding, “Seventeen; I turn eighteen in a few months.”

Harlequin bit his cheek in order to contain his shock, the male in front of him was much younger than he originally suspected; he was the same age as the young princess and was working on the streets. He ignored the growing guilt in his gut as he remembered his earlier harsh comments, but pushed it aside in order to learn more about him.

“Right,” he clicked his tongue, continuing, “and where do you currently live and what are the conditions?”

Danh sighed out, “you see, I grew up in poverty with my family in a small village–Chuồn Chuồn Village to be exact–in Vietrot, and let’s just say I wasn’t too happy with it. I ran away about two years ago to live in the capital since I believed that I’d somehow thrive there but, evidently, that wasn’t the case and now I live at the bar I also work at. It’s… not the greatest place to live, eh,” he shrugged with an eye roll, “that’s home for me I guess.”

“Why did you come here in the first place?” It was honestly what he wanted to understand the most, what point was there in coming here in the first place; he couldn’t have possibly planned to end up catching the eye of the princess, there was no logical way.

“Let’s just say my ‘line of work’ as you put it earlier, isn’t as accepted or tolerated there as it is here; I’m desperate for some kind of income and it’s not like I can get a good-paying job that’ll keep food on the table. I have no real work experience and my education doesn’t really pass basic homeschooling. It wasn’t too hard getting here since many Thayđổnese changelings come here either as immigrants or as students, seeing as I’m the age of a student it wouldn’t be hard to pass as one.”

Harlequin nodded as he took this information in, “I see… this makes the plan seem much less ethical. As deranged as it sounds, the alternative plan was to just go through with the original route of… you know.”

“Wait, wait! I have an idea myself, just please, hear me out.”

The red-haired changeling cocked an eyebrow, “go on?”

"See, I have two younger brothers back in my home country. One of them is sixteen and the other is four; my sixteen-year-old brother just recently got married so he'd be the perfect changeling to raise that grub. I can't raise a nymph where I am right now so please, don't make me carry this burden and mistake. It'll only result in both me and the grub suffering."

Harlequin raised an eyebrow as he watched the other begin to fumble around to grab something he had stashed underneath his kimono, eventually pulling out a candid black-and-white photo of three young changelings. Two of them looked to be in their pupa years while the youngest between them looked to be just entering their nymph years. Danh appeared to be the one on the right, having a small smile on his face while his supposed brother appeared to be in the middle of laughing as the photo was taken. “I assume that the one on the left is the one you trust to care for the grub?" He wanted to clarify, humming when the other slowly nodded.

He gave a pitiful look to the somber-looking Danh, saying, “if you wish to do so, I can let you spend some time with him before we–”

“I can’t. I’ll get attached if I even step into the same room as that poor grub, just… inform me when he’s with my brother and I’ll figure out what to do from there.”

“If that’s what you wish, then okay. What is your brother’s name?”

“His name is Netwing, birth name is Binh Văn Trần, I’ll give you whatever information you need to send my son there safely.”

Duy Văn Trần woke up to the sound of soft knocking against the wall of his tiny bedroom, making him groan softly before rubbing his eyes. He sat up, stretching a bit and hearing a few cracks, making him cringe slightly in disgust. After a few seconds of tiredly staring at his plain wall, he looked over to the entrance to his bedroom, which was separated by the hallway with a curtain–which his mother often corrected him by saying it was called a portière.

Standing there with a shy smile was his kindhearted father, Netwing. He was a middle-aged male with a mid-length dark green mane, stringy and cobwebby towards the edges, and his eyes were a darker green in comparison to his currently unruly hair. Duy’s mother once passive-aggressively commented ‘you know, your father used to be considered the loveliest changeling in the village… I wonder what happened.’

“Duy honey, have you seen my nón lá? I think I might’ve misplaced it again,” he asked with a bashful little giggle.

Duy blinked a few times before shrugging, “No I haven’t, sorry papa. Maybe you left it in the fields or something by accident?”

“Hey! I’m sure I’m not that irresponsible,” Netwing exasperatedly responded, leaning against the wall with a soft yawn.

Then he straightened up, clapped his hooves together and grinned, “let’s not worry about that right now, how about I start up breakfast! Does bò kho sound good with you–ooh! Or maybe trứng vịt lộn? I bought some from the marketplace yesterday for cheaper than usual; oh, you should’ve seen how packed it was, I swear I was standing in line for hours–”

Duy interjected with a warm smile, since he knew his father tended to go on long tangents, “either one is fine with me, and did you get any nước mía from the market?”

Netwing nodded, “Both it is! And yes we do, please don’t drink it all in one sitting again.”

The pupa male couldn’t help but snort as he started to get out of bed, “it sounds like you’re just stalling before working outside.” He grabbed his baby blue áo dài that he had neatly folded in front of his wooden bed.

“And so what if I am? It’s only 5:15 and that gives me plenty of time to do both; you can get dressed and check if the Nguyễn’s are up yet. Who knows, maybe you’ll see you know who again!” Netwing teased in a sing-songy voice before exiting Duy’s room.

It took everything in Duy to not cringe at that, just one day, a single day he wished to not be reminded of his soon-to-be arranged marriage with his fiancée, Mai Thị Nguyễn–or as she’s now known by her second name, Silkmoth. Sure she was pretty cool and fun to hang out with but at the same time, it kind of felt like they were moving too fast for his taste. If anything, he didn’t at all mind the idea of marrying her; in fact he could find himself feeling strong feelings of attraction towards her, especially when she was particularly affectionate with him one day.

On the other hoof, he also had been having strange thoughts about her brother that was a year older than them, Hieu Ngọc Nguyễn… considered the most lovely boy in their village aside from his equally beautiful and admired father, Dragonfly. However, Hieu didn’t quite act like how males their age were expected to act, and for some reason it made Duy feel… odd? Maybe it was discomfort at Hieu’s odd behavior or some sort of mild attraction he didn’t know how to process properly–

“Netwing, why the hell aren’t you clothed properly? You realize there’s a thing called common decency and respect for one’s body, right?”

Sounds like his mother, Stonefly, is also awake and already in an unsavory mood this morning. His earlier train of thought was lost as he began getting dressed in order to escape the inevitable scolding he’d receive if she caught him in his indecent state as well. Fortunately he had left his white yếm on from the previous day, meaning all he had to do was pull on and fasten the hooks on his áo dài and then start off his day.

So far it looked like another long morning of harvesting rice before the rest of the village wakes up, as Netwing always made sure to remind him every time they walked out the door with nón lás in their hooves; despite the fact they were only outside before the sun rose, making the hat’s function borderline useless.

But, oh well, that’s just his life and for now, he’d have it no other way.

Luckily for Duy, the Nguyễns were also wide awake and already collecting fish from the river by the village. He quickly ran over to the quietly chattering family, throwing his arms around the eldest daughter’s–his fiancée, who made a startled yelp as he nearly made them tumble backwards into the water; thankfully they were aided by Silkmoth’s mother, Orchid, who yanked them away from the river.

“Careful there, kid!” Orchid laughed, “we can’t have you catching sickness right now, especially with… wait, has your father told you yet?”

Duy pulled his face away from Silkmoth’s shoulder to look over at the sheepish-looking female, “huh? What are you talking about–”

“None of that now!” Orchid’s drop-dead gorgeous husband, Dragonfly, interjected with a wave of his hoof, continuing with a lighthearted tone, “how have things been with your father and mother? Have they been speaking about having another nymph yet, after all, I’m starting to think Netwing wants to compete with me!”

“Uhh… I’m not entirely sure? I’m pretty sure my father wants a grub but I don’t know what’s been going on between them lately,” Duy honestly felt a little confused at the moment, what was the female about to tell him?

Suddenly he felt Silkmoth nuzzle his cheek affectionately, “I’m sure they’re perfectly alright, maybe your father’s just too shy to bring it up to her. Although…” she dropped her voice to a low whisper in his ear, “we could make up for that, quite a few times, can’t we?”

That single sentence practically yanked him out of his previous thoughts and he suddenly had the flustered urge to change the subject, “how many fish did you manage to catch?!” he blurted out with a flushed green face.

Dragonfly playfully rolled his eyes as he gestured towards the other side of the river, where his youngest sons and daughter were attempting to catch fish with their mouths; a feat Duy thought was impossible before he once saw Hiệu, Silkmoth’s older brother, accomplish it.

Speaking of Hiệu, “Đức, Mình, Hướng! Quit that, you’re all going to fall in and cry like little grubs!” He hollered at the three nymphs, who all pouted at him in annoyance.

Duy felt his mouth go dry as he greeted the scowling male, “he-hey, Hiệu…” the older Changeling blinked a few times before glancing over at him with a soft smile.

“It’s good to see you, Duy, I see you’re doing well this fine morning. Also, mind you it’s far more appropriate to call me by my second name, Cricket.”

“Right, right! Forgive me, Cricket,” Duy corrected before burying his still bright green face back into his fiancée’s chest, hearing her snort out a laugh.

Silkmoth proceeded to press a soft kiss to the tip of his horn before releasing him from her grip, mumbling that she was going to go snatch her younger siblings up before they hurt themselves before flying across the river. Duy stayed in place, not having the energy to walk back to his family’s stilt house… then again breakfast could almost be ready so that was almost motivating enough to turn back.

Cricket’s muzzle twitched a few times before looking behind him, “your father is heading over here, I can tell from his scent… it’s melancholy mixed with sexual frustration, it’s bordering on smelling like straight depression.”

It should be concerning how that sentence didn’t really phase Duy but at the same time, you’d have to be both blind and deaf to not notice the tension between his parents; that and his home’s walls were thin enough that he could hear practically everything, it was beginning to get a bit awkward and he genuinely needed to address that fact with his parents at some point.

Dragonfly glared at his son, “oh hush, Cricket, you didn’t have to put it that harshly.”

“It’s true though; not my fault he can’t get it up back at home,” thankfully Duy didn’t hear that last part as he grumbled it just quietly enough, but he still earned a sharp jab to the side from his father.

Duy squinted in order to see his father coming into view, on his back was a half-full basket of rice, no doubt quickly collected with the assistance of magic; a taboo for males in their culture to use it but then again, no one else but the Nguyễns were up to witness it so, it’s not that big of a deal. Netwing stopped at one point, appearing to keep his distance away from the Nguyễns as he gestured to Duy to come over to him, which he quickly obeyed.

Once he was next to his father he asked, “papa, do you think we can talk a bit when we get back inside? I think Orchid was trying to tell me something but I’m not quite sure what it was about.”

Netwing’s eye twitched a few times before he slowly turned his head towards the quietly chatting couple across from them, “oh, is that so? We can discuss it over breakfast, your mother is finishing it up for me as I have to go harvest our share of the rice fields as soon as possible.”

Duy sighed out, “if you say so, papa.” His ear twitched as he began to pick up on the conversation between Orchid and Dragonfly, and from what he could hear it was mainly cheesy compliments and playful teasing between the two.

“Oh, aren’t you just the loveliest sight I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing!” Orchid giggled as she tugged her grinning husband close to her, pressing a few soft kisses to his cheek as they both let out barely contained laughs of pure, unadulterated joy.

It was quite a sweet sight, sweet enough to make Duy smile a little at the clearly happy couple. Then he looked at his father’s harsh glare towards them, and once he really thought about it, it started to make sense why Netwing held some sort of animosity towards them despite wanting Duy to marry the eldest daughter. The Nguyễn family was everything they weren’t, having more money in comparison to the rest of the villagers, were always fed and satisfied with how things were, had the most loving parents Duy had ever seen, and not only that, they also produced the most beautiful nymphs in Chuồn Chuồn Village.

Dragonfly himself had the prettiest mane in the village, with a lustrous tea green color that shone in the sunlight, just barely reaching his sylphlike shoulders; it contrasted beautifully with his jade green eyes. Meanwhile Orchid had a less shiny fern green mane–which complimented her deeper green eyes–that was long enough to reach her elbows, but as with tradition, she kept it in a tight ponytail. Cricket himself deeply resembled his mother–albeit with a shorter and choppier mane–while Silkmoth was a complete copy of her father. She even had his long, lustrous mane that she let grow below her shoulders; something completely unprecedented in their conservative village.

His thoughts were interrupted by a full basket of fish plopping down in front of him, and a bored sounding voice saying, “hey, my dad told me earlier that we should give some to you guys; something about wanting to have dinner with you guys or something, I don’t really know.” Duy realized after a moment of confusion that it was the Nguyễn's middle child, Stickbug, a rather awkward and gangly male with a dull green mane and a constant look of boredom on his face.

‘A-ah, thank you, Stickbug,” Duy awkwardly stammered out as he pulled the basket closer to him, watching as the younger changeling stalked away from him.

A sudden feminine voice shook him to his core, “son, do you mind heading home with that right now? I need to speak to your father for a moment.” Duy immediately realized it was his mother, Stonefly, a bitter and overly stern female who had the constant attitude of ‘if I’m miserable that means everyone around me has to be miserable too’ to a tee. Even her mane was dull despite having an emerald green color to it, making her almost uninteresting to look at if Duy had to be honest.

“Alright, mother,” he softly replied, beginning to push the basket away instead of daring to use his magic–as weak and under trained as it was–in front of his mother, partially out of fear of angering her and also because he knew he’d pass out after a few minutes of doing so, meaning there was no point in even trying what would be the ‘easier’ option.

Netwing hadn’t noticed Stonefly’s presence yet, instead still focusing the couple in front of him. Envy and sadness bubbling in his gut the more he stared at them, wondering why he hadn’t been granted the same happiness as them. Although… There was a specific reason his marriage with Stonefly had gone downhill, and it wasn’t even his fault in the first place.

“Netwing.”

Ah, speak of the devil.

“Stonefly,” he softly said as he noticed his wife joining his side, with an unimpressed look on her usually stone-cold face–pun not intended.

Once she was sure Duy was far away enough, she sighed out, “I will never understand why exactly you decided to take him under your care, he is nothing but a danger to us and this entire village.”

Netwing shrugged as he answered honestly, “my family has always had a bad habit of dumping their responsibilities onto me, it was to be expected even at that time in our youth. I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything from Hà Nội in a while from my little brother…” he frowned as he mumbled, “I just hope he’s alright, I’ve heard from around the village that those who… work on the streets aren’t really tolerated by Chrysalis’s followers, my poor dearest brother is sadly not an exception to that.”

“You do realize that we should also be hightailing it out of here as well, right?”

Netwing blinked a few times at her in confusion, “what do you mean? We’re hidden in the highlands, Chrysalis’s followers have been congregating exclusively in the North. If anything, we're safest here, and definitely much safer than those around us.”

“Are you seriously that foolish?” Stonefly scoffed, “I guess word hasn’t spread among the gossiping males for once in a lifetime; a few villages on the Central Coast have been attacked or ransacked by her followers in just the last three weeks. From what I’ve been hearing she’s trying to recruit as many allies as possible, and I’m sure that more than enough males like yourself are desperate to ‘prove themselves as worthy soldiers’ to the Gods… it’s a hot pile of bullshit, honestly. It won't be long before they hear of our presence here.”

Netwing took in a deep breath, not allowing himself to express the absolute paranoia that began to build up in his chest, “I’m sure that we’ll be fine; worst case scenario we’ll just move farther west and in an even worse outcome, we'll just have to seek refuge in Cantlebodia.”

"And risk coming into contact with the Phlasa Btau R Colony? You and I both know what they think of Thayđổnese Changelings! We'd be dead on the spot the moment they suspect we have anything to do with Chrysalis. Not only that but we still need to prepare for Duy’s marriage to Silkmoth, and the boy doesn’t even have his second name; you know, the sign of his maturity that you’re pretending isn’t there yet?” Stonefly asked in a sarcastic tone.

“I know, I know. I should’ve taken him to the naming ceremony a few years ago but you can’t blame me for being paranoid, and I don’t see why we can’t just give him a second name ourselves!”

Stonefly scoffed, “because it’s practically blasphemy, I want him to receive his second name and get that wedding ceremony over with as soon as possible. It’s in less than three weeks and you haven’t even told him yet, haven’t you? Next thing you know he’ll be stuck in the same situation your absolute harlot of an older brother put himself in with the literal crown princess of Neighpon.”

“Watch it.”

“Fine, that was a little harsh but it’s the truth.”

They both shared a cold glare towards one another before Netwing decided to change the subject in order to keep himself from strangling the cruel female in front of him, “look I was thinking about something, and I genuinely do not care if you agree with me or not.”

“Oh wow, because I already care so much about what you do or what you stand for,” she mocked with a roll of her eyes.

Netwing decided to ignore that.

“I was considering having him spend time away from the village, before he gets married, of course. I just want him to feel free just a little bit longer, even if it’s just for a week or two,” he confessed.

“First of all, he’s getting married to Silkmoth in less than three weeks and second of all, where exactly do you even want him to feel freedom?”

“Thay Đổi, it’s where I’ll tell my brother to go hide out at; it gives me an excuse to get him away from Hà Nội so, it’ll be hitting two birds with one stone. Besides, Duy can just come back a day or two before the wedding ceremony.”

His wife looked caught off guard, "The capital? And with it's recent infestation of ponies trying to 'help out' our country? Ugh, even the vile Kỳ Lân have started moving there as well; you know I can't stand either of them, especially after the Kỳ Lân were held responsible for the unexpected crop fire in Đom Đóm Village south from us. Oh! And the horrid Dragons as well, haven't they been stealing from the locals there?"

Netwing didn't have the energy to disagree with her assumption that the Kỳ lân were responsible for that incident, seeing that whenever something like that went wrong, Changelings would immediately blame the Kỳ Lân or the Dragons if they were also locals. Overall, he genuinely couldn't bring himself to care that the creatures indigenous to this land were becoming more and more prominent in Changeling societies, it had nothing to do with him and they literally lived in the highlands of Vietrot; meaning that they were among the very few mainly Changeling Villages in the entire area.

Stonefly then scrunched her nose in distaste as she remembered something else her husband had brought up, “and not only that, you want to send him to stay with your up-and-coming hooch maid of a brother? Not that I’m opposing Duy's absence but Odonata of all whores?”

“Odonata is a kindhearted soul,” Netwing corrected through his teeth, biting his tongue from snapping at his wife’s plain disrespect towards his young brother, “he’s estranged from us purely because of our father’s disapproval over his behavior, and he was younger when he acted out; I'm sure he's matured somewhat since then.”

“Whatever, just hope that brat doesn’t run back crying because he saw something in the city he wasn’t supposed to see. And I wonder if that brother of yours finally took up a career similar to you-know-who, and for all we know you-know-who has already been fraternizing with the Equestrians and bringing even more shame to your family name–”

“For the Gods’ sake, can you just quit it!”

Author's Note

this feels like it took me longer than it should've to write lmao

Rough Translations:
Chuồn Chuồn - translates to Odonata, coincidentally the same name as one of our characters.
Thay đổi () - roughly translates to change, and I basically use this to define their Changeling "ethnicity".
Nón lá - this is basically the rice farmer hat that many of you may be familiar with.
Bò kho - Vietnamese pot-roast beef stew (yes Changelings do eat meat, I portray them as both omnivores and capable of consuming emotions).
Trứng vịt lộn - this is that one dish with the fertilized egg, where you can see the bird embryo in it (surprisingly pretty popular in southeast Asian countries).
Nước mía - sugarcane juice.
áo dài - Vietnam's national dress.
Yếm - it resembles a western halter top but was once widely used by Vietnamese women as an undergarment.
Phlasa Btau R - is the best translation I could get for "change" in Khmer (Cambodia's language).
Kỳ lân - Mythical creature known in some countries in both east Asia and southeast Asia (in the show they're known as kirin, but I use the Vietnamese spelling since well this is set in a country based on Vietnam).