(I'm feeling better! I might not be able to finish the next part for a while, but in the mean time have this part my brain cooked up while sick)
A shadow portal arises from the cast of a statue in the palace's main hallway. The final few strands of light peak through the windows, barely missing Macaque as he steps out with his long mane of hair now resting loosely over his shoulders. Inside it hides the small form of a butterfly trying it's best to get a look of their surroundings.
The queen listens closely for any noises in the distance as he slinks through the palace. It's around the time for the palace's lamps to be turned on, so they won't have the shadows to cover them for much longer. His shape-shifted husband clings onto those dark strands for dear life with every movement.
"As nice as it is to see you in your element. Why do I have to hide like this again? Couldn't you just drop me off in our room? What's the secrecy for?"
Macaque's lips purse as he quickly hushes the sage... The rushed clattering of boots echoes in his ears, every corner of the castle is being scoured...There are too many eyes to risk getting detected...
"I do not know who's been tasked to search for me, but if the other generals are involved..."
Wukong can't see his husband's face, but he knows that tone all too well...
"You're worried they'll recognize me..."
Macaque let's out a hum in acknowledgement.
The generals are most certainly sharp enough to tell he's not the real Ba...and if someone like General Beng catches even a hint of Wukong's presence in that bedroom, it's game over for them... Macaque is capable enough to mask the king's tracks, but hiding the Great Sage himself is a whole different story.
"How about we leave stating the obvious for when we aren't trying to keep quiet?"
The queen tucks Wukong further behind the locks of hair.
All things considered it's not the worst place he's ever hidden. Sure it's a bit claustrophobic, warm and hard to see out of, but it's also unfairly soft and drenched in Macaque's natural scen, wich is a much-needed comfort.
He wonders when the other decided to grow it out so long, it could be a status thing or maybe Macaque didn't trust anyone to cut it?...
Had Macaque been letting someone else groom his fur? Most likely the younglings, they seemed rather comfortable around him...
The king doesn't think it matters now... He'll be taking over that job now anyway.
Wukong could tell the shadow monkey was avoiding some of the guards, dipping in and out of the shadows as they pass by. The king could only vaguely identify their voices.
"...missing-....How?...General....-oesn't know...keep look-"
Macaque could most definitely hear them clearer than he could, but he swears they sound almost panicked... Was it really that concerning to not hear from their queen for what was couple hours at most?
The king remains silent..., even if sneaking around your own castle seemed like a pretty silly thing to do....
As they passed through the halls, they could smell a whole storm of fragrances brewing in the kitchen. With every step the scent of food became harder to ignore. It was almost time for dinner and they were both starving.
Macaque gently reached into his mane to trace one of Wukong's wings, making the disguised king shiver.
"Hold still" he whispered, before placing a small cloaking spell over Wukong's form.
It was a bit overkill in the king's opinion, but feeling the tingle of Macaque's magic again left him without much room to complain.
The queen stepped into the light of the kitchens many oil lamps causing a few of the chefs to startle, a pair of them to almost drop their respective utensils and one of them to hurry off at the sight of him.
Macaque makes note of the sudden flight the one monkey demon took, likely a mandatory reporting. He'll handle that later, but swiftly gestures for a shadow to follow him, before turning to apologize to the closet staff member.
"Apologies for my intrusion. I didn't mean to startle you all. Is everything alright in here, Meini?"
The queen's tone is calm and apologetic in a way Wukong still isn't used to hearing from a ruler to his servants.The shorter monkey woman lets out the breath she was holding in and meets the shadow monkey's eyes with respect.
"Quite alright your highness."
"We just weren't expecting you back so soon. Marshal Ma had mentioned she was looking for you and we assumed you were out and about somewhere."
The shadow monkey felt his muscles tense in a way only Wukong could have picked up on and Great sage knew why.
He recognized that name and all the history that came with it...
Macaque's thoughts were running so fast it made it hard to keep his face from betraying his true feelings.
Ma was looking for him? Why on Earth would she be here? She was supposed to be on the other side of the kingdom by now! What could possibly be catastrophic enough to make her abandon her post like that... ? What if Wukong isn't the only thing he needs to be worried about...?
Once again the queen was given a reason to panic and once again he shoved it into away in favor of a calm smile.
"Ah, well I'll have to catch up with her when I get the chance."
"I do have a bit of a favor to ask of your staff again, if it isn't too much trouble."
"Could you increase my portion size by a bit? I don't know what's given me such a large appetite recently, but I would most certainly appreciate it."
The chef nods and pulls out her note pad. Macaque can practically feel the questions brewing from the rooms many observers, but that's the least of his worries right now.
"Right away your highness! Will this be in the dining hall or taken to your room?"
"Room is fine. I'm a bit behind on my paperwork as it is."
The shadow demon thanks her with a smile, then watches as she returns to work. He chooses to ignore the whispers from the rest of his onlookers, before turning his head to see the shadow from earlier gesturing wildly at him.
It's form was intentionally tiny, peeking out from the cast of a stepping stool as the little dark tendrils pointed for him to leave the room. The queen followed it into the hallway where it could take up a form more similar to his usual shadow clones.
A bead of sweat rolls down his back as he hears the furious steps of the female marshal approaching with haste, while someone else trails not far behind her. He looks to the being he summoned. It mouths a set of words at him. Reading the shadowy form of its lips he can identify phase "Found Ba".
Absolutely fantastic... The plan he had spent hours toiling over, now made void in less than a day... He can only hope Ba was able to keep their lies straight... Otherwise, this was going to be a train smash...
With a flick of his wrist the shadow was gone. The queen didn't have time to inform his hidden king about what was about to happen, but he trusted Wukong knew better than to reveal himself.
There was only one thing left to do now. Just. Act. Natural.
