Archive of Our Own

For some, the winter months were the harshest months of the year with little game to hunt and barely any sunlight to get them through each day (and candles had to be made by hand so they were used sparingly), but it was the rain season that Yoohyeon dreaded the most.

It was hot and sticky, and the river was always at risk of swelling over its own banks into the village, washing away any crops planted the seasons before. It was also a time when all the predators, natural and not, were the most active, and the competition for a kill often left her on a sparse diet of mushrooms and berries. The mushrooms, small and rare, sold for a high price, but she couldn’t fetch any silver for what was in her own belly.

The last of the winter snows melted away, leaving room for fresh budding blades of grass and clover that fed the local livestock, but she couldn’t take a cow. She did have her own goat for milk, but she could never bring herself to hurt it even if she was on her last sack of grain. But the heat of summer came too quickly, and she worried that that year was going to be one of the worst.

She checked her cupboards, her smoke room, and the cold space underneath the floor to see what she needed. A long winter left most of her stocks low, and she thought that it would have been a good idea to head out and at least replenish what the rains might wash away in the coming months before everyone else had the same idea.

And then she had a thought. 

There was a goddess that supposedly watched over her little part of the world from the heavens and was supposed to bless anyone who gave to her an offering, but Yoohyeon never had before because, for one, she wasn’t from their originally and often felt too much like an outsider to spend too much time worrying about local myths and legends, and two, she didn’t know if she believed in the heavens at all. What she did believe in though were rains that could swallow a village whole and the creatures in the forest that could gobble up the deer she wanted to salt in one bite.

Everything about this part of the world was gluttonous, but she was someone who never took more than she needed. What kind of goddess watching over a place like this would look at her and give her a blessing? For what? What could she offer and what could she want?

She looked around at her small shack of a home and all the repairs it needed to get through a single nasty rain without flooding and thought to herself that maybe she wanted a lot, and if she asked, the worst this goddess could say was no. If there was even a goddess out there at all.

It felt silly to do so, but she found herself stuffing a small purse with a bundle of herbs drying over the window. She couldn’t get the preserves she had made in there without making a terrible mess, but there was an untouched bowl of forest berries on the table ready to be turned into something useful. Wine or dye perhaps. And just to be on the safe side, because she had no idea what kind of offerings this goddess might like because she had never done this before, she squeezed in her favorite river rock she found that had been smoothed out by the waters into a perfect circle like a small stone coin.

The path to the shrine was up a mountain that curved through a break in the forest shaped like a crescent moon. She hadn’t been there before, but she had seen pilgrims travel to it during the four points of the year enough times to know to follow the foot beaten path even if it felt like it was leading her nowhere. 

By the time she reached halfway up the mountain, it was midday and she was starting to sweat. Luckily the sky was a clear blue other than the blazing white sun that singed her shoulders so she didn’t have to worry about rain yet. A small mercy, she thought.

The further up she walked, the more the curve yanked her towards the forest like it was a snare, and she found herself stumbling away from it, but no, if this was the path the pilgrims took, then she needed to move like they did. She belonged to this realm too, and there was no use fighting it. This was her goddess too, she thought. This shrine was hers as well.

It wasn’t much longer that she saw the towering pillars of river rock in the distance, and it was a strange sight to see the splotchy stacks of gray and ochre wedged in such a green place, but what did she expect? A temple carved from marble covered in centuries of ivy? No, this made sense. This looked like it was supposed to be there.

She reached the pillars and found a cleaner path drawn in the grass that was well taken care of. She followed it until she saw a woman carved from stone surrounded by a small pool with little fish swimming around her bare feet. An old woman sat on the ledge of the pool with a patchwork shawl around her shoulders, and Yoohyeon found herself startled by the sight of another person there even though she wasn’t sure why she thought she would have been the only person up there. 

“Hello,” she said quietly with a small polite nod, not wanting to sneak up on her. The elder offered a thin lipped smile, curled in like she didn’t have any teeth left in her mouth. “Am I interrupting you?”

“No, no, please come closer,” she beckoned her. “Such a pretty girl.”

“Thank you,” Yoohyeon said, shy. She glanced up at the statue of the goddess. The likeness was beautiful with tumbling robes and a carved amulet around her neck that implied wealth and status, and her hair flowed like it was windswept, if stone could flow. If she was a living person, she would have been someone Yoohyeon would have never dared to look at in the eye because surely someone that perfect would have been too otherworldly for her own eyes. Of course she’s otherworldly. She’s supposed to be a goddess. Yoohyeon cleared her throat. “Excuse me…”

The old woman hummed and looked up at her, expectant, shielding her eyes from the sun. Yoohyeon took two steps over to provide a little bit of shade. 

“I’ve never done this before…”

“And you were wondering how to give an offering,” she guessed. Yoohyeon nodded. “Did you bring a gift?”

Suddenly self conscious about the offerings she gathered from things lying around her kitchen, she held her pouch behind her back and swallowed. “I’m not sure if it’s good enough…”

“Any offering that shows your true heart will please her,” she smiled. “What is it that you came to ask for?”

Yoohyeon hummed in thought. She wasn’t sure. Less rain? It wasn’t good to pray for the weather. More mushrooms? That could have been chaotic. A world covered in mushrooms, no thank you. What did she want? 

“I’m not sure,” she said. “Money maybe so I can patch up my home.”

“Fortune,” the old woman nodded. “A good request.”

“Is that enough?” Yoohyeon asked, self conscious.

“I suppose as good as any,” she said. Yoohyeon stepped forward to place her offerings on the edge of the pond, but the woman stopped her and continued. “Maybe not.”

“What?” She stepped back.

“Let me take a closer look at you, dear,” she said, reaching out a long arthritic hand towards her. Yoohyeon kneeled down so that the elder wouldn’t have to stretch, and a cold hand touched her cheek. “Hmmm.”

“Is something wrong?” She frowned.

“A lovely face,” she said with a soft smile. “Fortune smiles on you.”

Yoohyeon stood back up and thanked her.

“But I do not think you should pray today.”

She blinked. “Why not?”

The old woman pushed herself up to her feet. Her back was hunched over pitifully, and she balanced herself on a wobbly walking stick before continuing. “Because I can tell that you aren’t someone who stands back and watches as things happen for her. You can create your own fate, and you’ll be happier if you do.”

Yoohyeon looked at the statue and frowned. She came all that way to be told she didn’t need to give an offering? If she left without leaving anything, what if she offended a god? It wasn’t an easy walk either…

“One thing,” the old woman said, hobbling away. “Don’t take the pilgrim’s path back.”

“Why not?”

The elder looked up at the sky and smiled. “The path gets slick when it rains.”

Yoohyeon glanced up and the clear sky and frowned, confused. It wasn’t supposed to rain, but the old woman was on her way off before she could argue. “Do you need help getting to the bottom?”

“No, dear,” she cackled. “The Stone Lady is good about getting me where I need to go.”

Yoohyeon wanted to stop her, but like a ghost, she was gone, and she wondered if she had seen a ghost, but it was more likely that considering how well kept the shrine was, the old woman lived up there somewhere maybe with her family. She wondered what it would be like to live at a shrine, safe from the river below but at the mercy of the many pilgrimages that came with every season and decided that perhaps her little cottage with the patchy roof was the perfect place for her.

Without leaving an offering, Yoohyeon headed back down the path, but something told her to take the old woman’s advice. It probably would have been faster to cut through the forest anyways because she could go straight towards the village rather than wind around for over an hour.

It was about ten degrees cooler underneath the tree cover, and she wished she had worn something warmer for the walk back. She followed her feet down the slope of the mountain, knowing she would find familiar trails within once she reached the bottom, but the further down she walked, the less comfortable she felt.

There was an eerie silence that swallowed up her footsteps, leaving not even the sound of a twig snapping underneath her feet even if she tried to do it on purpose, and the cold seemed to come from within the forest like the surrounding warmth was being drawn into it, including the heat from her own body.

Monsters.

Yoohyeon didn’t bring a proper weapon to protect herself, and even if she had, it would have only been a flimsy bow with a few shabby arrows made of wood scraps and chicken feathers. She wasn’t a warrior, but at least she had her knife. She kept it strapped to her thigh for anything from skinning game or chipping away tree bark for sap, but in a fight, she knew she could have been easily disarmed. It wasn’t meant to be used as a weapon, but it was sharp, and it was all she had.

She stepped carefully to not make a sound, painfully aware that she couldn’t make a sound, that was, until a loud thud came from the brush ahead along with a small yelp that sounded human.

Yoohyeon ran.

A smarter girl would have run back up the hill to the shrine to get help from the older woman’s family (or to hit the trail and go back to the village and mind her own business), but Yoohyeon ran towards it. If someone was in trouble, their ghost would have surely tormented her if she abandoned them, and even if she believed in ghosts, she wasn’t the kind of person to leave a rabbit trapped in a snare. She was someone who helped.

“Huah!”

Yoohyeon followed the shout and dropped her body against a large fallen oak. She peered over to see a large scaled and dripping beast chasing a hunter dressed in black in the clearing. She squinted to get a better look.

Based on the hair that spilled out from under their hood and their lithe shape, Yoohyeon deduced that the person fighting the monster was another woman, and she was fast. She moved like a spider skittering around the forest floor, but the thing chasing her was bigger and faster, and if Yoohyeon’s suspicions were correct, it was also stupid.

She stood up on her feet and straightened her back, emitting a loud, shrill note that the villagers used to summon herds of cattle and sheep. The first time she heard it, it reminded her of spine chilling siren’s song, but she soon learned of its effectiveness, and after getting over the discomfort of making such a sound herself, she found that in certain situations, it was good for calling things other than livestock.

Her voice echoed in the forest, shaking the birds from their nests. The hunter froze, stunned, but so did the beast.

“What are you doing?!” 

Yoohyeon called out again, louder and from her belly. The monster turned towards her, sniffing the air and kicking up the forest floor with its hooved feet. It snorted and set its five eyes on her. She paled.

“Jump over the brush,” she shouted. “Don’t step in it!”

“What?!” The hunter shouted.

“Traps!” Yoohyeon shouted before dropping down to roll out of sight. Traps. The forest floor was covered in iron traps from the local hunters, but as a rule, they were only placed in the heavier brush where the animals might run to escape. She warned her so that the woman wouldn’t step in one herself, but perhaps. “The traps!”

“Got it!” She heard a whistle and a small thud followed by a large skid. Yoohyeon lifted her head back up and saw that the creature was no longer chasing her, but instead, running towards the other girl into a cluster of bushes. A roar followed a loud snap, and the other girl had just enough time to run out of the way before it ripped her head off in a rage. The creature spun to attack whatever it was that hurt it, not able to see the iron trap stuck on its long tail. “Where’s my sword?!”

“Your what?!” Yoohyeon shouted. She scanned the clearing, but the forest floor was too overgrown and covered with dry fallen branches to be able to tell the difference between the debris and something as delicate as a saber. 

“My sword! Hurry!”

“I don’t see it!”. The monster lunged towards the other girl, no longer distracted by the pain. She sang again, but her voice cracked, overused and coursing with adrenaline. It ignored her, so she followed the other girl’s lead by tossing a rock at the back of its head.

The two girls circled the clearing like that for a while, sending the monster back and forth with whistles and calls and stray rocks, leading it into traps and praying one of them could slow it down enough to find a way to kill it. 

“Do you see it?!” Yoohyeon shouted. 

“No!”

But the other girl was getting tired and so was she, a lot faster than the creature was. She called out again, a shrill sound that made her lightheaded, and it was a mistake, because as she turned to run, her foot twisted beneath her and dragged her to the ground.

Seconds later she was on her back, and she watched helplessly as a brownish glob of slobber dripped down from the monster’s open mouth onto her collarbone, soaking the fabric to the skin.

All five eyes looked down at her, red and jaundiced? The part of her brain that refused to sense danger made a comment about lizard-cow-monster alcoholism, but she was sure the rest of her brain would need a moment to catch up so she stored that information for later. For now, she had to focus on staying alive.

And that seemed like it was going to be a problem.

“Help!” Yoohyeon cried out. She kicked up, jamming the heel of her boot into the monster’s neck. She locked her knees and prayed that her legs weren’t too tired from the hike to hold it off, but the weight against her was too much. Her thighs jerked, and her knees were pushed down to her chest.

Meanwhile she could hear the sounds of rocks and broken branches being tossed towards them, but they bounced off of its back, ignored, and even the girl’s shouts and taunts went unnoticed.

The monster lurched forward and hissed its hot breath, and she felt her stomach churn. The odor coming from its mouth had a sickening sweetness to it like a dead rat in the walls, and she wondered if that was what she was going to smell like too if it–.

Yoohyeon reached down and unsheathed her knife, letting it bounce on the ground beside her. Her hand scrambled clumsily around in the leaves while the other arm pushed up at the monster’s jaw to keep its teeth from coming too close. The wrapped hilt found its way into the web of her fingers, and she wrapped her fist around it.

Slashing wouldn’t have done her any good with the monster’s thick hide, and she could have gone for one of its eyes, but she risked losing her arm if she tried.

Its eyes.

Yoohyeon flipped the blade towards herself and tightened her grip. She thought about the sickening color of its eyes and only wished she had a better grasp of beast anatomy. She reached her hand below them, and with a strong upward thrust, she jabbed her blade into the monster’s underbelly, praying she hit close enough to its liver.

The monster screeched in pain, and Yoohyeon dragged her blade up, splitting it open from below. Yellow bile and blood spilled out, soaking the underside of her legs. It loosened its grip just enough for her to roll free, and as she did, she saw a flash of red like lightning whip towards her.

Stunned, she pushed herself up into a crouch and saw her new companion brandishing a sword with both hands wrapped around the hilt. She stepped forward like she meant to sneak up on the injured creature, and Yoohyeon meant to tell her to run while she had the chance, but something about her gaze made her freeze in place. 

With a wide swing across herself, a red bolt of lightning arced from her blade and cut into the creature's back. It shrieked in pain and turned towards her, but before it could charge, she struck again across herself, completing a large X, and that time, the arcing lightning cut across its face, taking out two of its eyes. Yoohyeon winced.

“You okay,” the girl asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Then get somewhere safe,” she called out.

“What about you?”

“I’ve got this,” she said through her teeth before the creature charged towards her. It jumped, and she jumped out of the way just in time. Why won’t she stab it?

Yoohyeon scrambled across the forest floor for her own knife. It was covered in ichor, and the handle was slick in her hand. If she tried to fight with it, she knew she’d likely only hurt herself. It was a disaster waiting to happen. 

While the other girl sliced and slashed at the air, sending red shocks through the clearing, Yoohyeon looked around for a new plan. If there were iron traps on the ground, there surely had to be more than that? Especially this time of year…

She looked above for no other reason than that she had looked everywhere else, and that’s when she saw the net. Normally it wouldn’t have been enough to catch a monster of this size, but it was badly wounded and weakened and exhausted, and at that point, they had tried everything else.

“Get it under the net!”

Without checking to see if the girl knew what she meant, she followed the rope to one of the trees where it was tied off. She looked behind her and saw the girl tumble forward out of reach, and it chased her angrily, giving Yoohyeon only a second to catch it.

She sawed at the rope as quickly as she could with her sleeve over her palm to keep the blade from slipping, but it was unaimed and clumsy at best.

“Is this your plan,” she shouted.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” she said hurriedly as she sawed at the rope, but it was possible that the creature’s hide had dulled it just enough that it could no longer cut, or it was possible that her blade just sucked because it wasn’t made for more than her usual forest mushroom adventures.

“Get down,” the girl shouted, and something about the command to her voice made Yoohyeon fall down on her ass in a daze, knife in hand. A flash of red appeared above and cut into the tree, nearly slicing it in half and almost giving her one hell of a haircut in the process.

The rope snapped, and the net fell from the trees on top of the monster. It struggled in the snare, but it was too brutish to get itself out.

“Stab it!” Yoohyeon shouted. “Hurry!”

“I can’t!” 

Yoohyeon wanted to ask why the girl with sword would not or could not stab the giant ugly monster thing that threatened to eat them both, but somehow, arguing with someone with a sword that shot out bolts of lighting didn’t feel like it was in her best interest.

“Then what do we do?!”

“I’m thinking,” she cried out, her voice shaking. She lowered her sword, distracted by the captured monster for a moment., and raised it again. “Get out of the way!”

“What?”

“Move!” She thundered.

Yoohyeon skipped off to the side without a question, mildly offended and a little intimidated, but just as soon as she was out of range, a large arc shot towards the direction she came from, and she heard a loud crack.

The tree wavered as the remaining bit of its trunk splintered, and it tipped forward. The girl scurried off to the side as it fell forwards and landed right on the monster’s back with a loud, wet crunch.

“Oh god,” Yoohyeon said, disgusted. 

Seeing that the monster was dead, she sheathed her sword and bent over to grab her knees out of breath. Yoohyeon approached her carefully, keeping her eye on the mess they had made just in case.

“Are you oka–.”

“I had it,” she said, out of breath. 

Yoohyeon scoffed. “Alright. Get your trophy and go then.”

She knew how some hunters were, arrogant and dismissive. The truth was that she was seconds away from being lizard-cow food if Yoohyeon hadn’t distracted it, but if it made her feel better to be ungrateful, then so be it.

“I didn’t want to kill it,” she said, annoyed and standing upright. Her hood fell back, and for the first time, Yoohyeon caught a glimpse of her face. She froze, a swollen lump in her throat the size of a grapefruit. Past the streaks of dirt and blood, the hunter’s face had a striking, no, identical likeness to that of a certain goddess standing at the top of the mountain. She was sure that it was only the exhaustion making her see her like that, but the resemblance was uncanny.

“Then you wouldn’t have made it out of here,” she said. She looked at her expressionless. Did she not want to make it out? “What were you doing baiting one of these in the first place? Trying to relate to minced meat?”

She laughed bitterly and shook her head. “I was trying to tame it.”

Yoohyeon blinked.

“These monsters make good companions,” she said casually, dusting herself off. “Good guards and good for traveling.”

“You want to ride it?”

“Well not anymore,” she pointed. “It’s not doing anyone any good like that is it.”

Yoohyeon huffed. “Okay, well next time kindly consider getting yourself a horse or a dog before you get someone else killed.”

She put her own knife away and walked off, tired and not in the mood to be told that she wasn’t helpful.

“Wait,” she said, skipping after her. “Thank you.”

Yoohyeon side eyed her.

“You’re right,” she said. “I wouldn’t have made it out if you hadn’t shown up.”

She hummed in agreement, but she kept walking.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“Of course I do,” Yoohyeon sighed. The hunter hummed, following her. “Do you?”

“Of course,” she said, a little too sweetly. Yoohyeon tried as hard as she could to keep from rolling her eyes, but if she needed help finding her way out, all she had to do was ask. 

She followed her quietly, taking cautious steps and looking around at her surroundings like something could jump out at any moment, but Yoohyeon wasn’t worried. With the monster gone, the air thickened again, and the sound returned to her feet. They were safe.

Although her trip to the shrine was fruitless and she hadn’t gathered or caught anything to eat, she at least got to leave the forest with a clear conscience knowing that the hunter who followed was getting out alive and safe even if she had acted like Yoohyeon got in her way.

It was a long and quiet walk, and they still had a ways to go before finding a trail, and having someone there with her made her anxious. She needed to say something for her own comfort.

“What’s your name,” she asked.

“It’s best I don’t tell you,” the hunter said. Yoohyeon hummed. It didn’t matter that much. “What’s yours?”

She gave her an inquisitive look. “Yoohyeon.”

“Thank you, again, Yoohyeon,” she said.

“It’s no problem. The forest can be a maze if you’re not used to it.”

They fell quiet again, and the other girl became pensive. If one thing was for sure, she may have looked familiar, but if she was actually the same goddess from the mountain, she probably would have known her name. Maybe every statue resembled a pretty girl out there, and she had just stumbled upon them too close together.

“You can call me Minji,” she said. “If you want.”

“Is that your name,” she laughed. 

“It can be,” Minji said, and that was that. If that’s what she wanted to be called, then that was as good as a name. “Yoohyeon?”

“Hm?” 

“I’ve been out here for a while,” she said, stumbling over a large fallen branch, not nearly as graceful as she was when she was leading a beast around in circles. “Do you happen to have any food on you?”

“Don’t you?” Yoohyeon raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t imagine wandering off into the forest on purpose without anything to eat just in case. 

“I used it for bait,” she said. 

“Did it work?”

“Surprisingly well.”

Yoohyeon couldn’t help but laugh. Minji was the strangest hunter she had ever seen, and her approach was almost academic. She didn’t have the edge of someone who grew up chasing the wild, and she wasn’t as cowardly as most scholars tossed out into the field, but she was just as aloof and unheeded as she was calculated. Someone smart and trained enough to fight, but somewhat useless out in the open. 

But then there was her weapon and garb.

The leather she wore was a dark black, not like the typical natural browns from deer and cow hides. It was made to fit her, snug but with enough room to roll around in a pinch, but she wasn’t very good in a fight? Was she trained or not? With the way she concealed her name, she could have been noble but rebellious… some rich Lady off playing adventurer without a guard. Yoohyeon had half a mind to rob her.

But then there was the sword. It was a magical item, and even though magic wasn’t unheard of, it was rare that far from the capital. And magical weapons were something one only saw once in a lifetime if they were lucky.

So she was wealthy and didn’t know how to use her fancy magic sword so she couldn’t kill the beast on her own. Not the most useful person alone in the forest.

But she wielded it well. She knew how to use the magic part of it even if the blade never drew blood. Lithe, quick, rich, and capable of wielding magic. Interesting.

“No food then?”

“Oh,” Yoohyeon said. She patted down her own legs like that was supposed to produce something to eat, but she didn’t bring anything either because she wasn’t supposed to do more than leave an offering and go back home. Well, she did have that. She untied her pouch from her belt and handed it to her. “There’s some berries in here. And a few bitter herbs that might help the pain from that cut on your face if you chew on them, but no promises.”

“Thanks,” she said without a lot of confidence to her voice. She picked out a berry from the pouch and popped it in her mouth. “Are these safe to eat?”

“You asked after eating it?” Yoohyeon laughed.

“I’m starving,” she pouted. 

Yoohyeon shook her head. “They’re safe.”

“How do I know you’re not lying,” Minji asked as she ate another one. Yoohyeon raised a brow and stuck out her hand. Minji placed a berry in her palm, and Yoohyeon ate it to show that her berries weren’t dangerous. A little too bitter maybe, but safe. “Hm.”

“Happy?”

“Enough,” she said, satisfied. They continued to walk, and after she ran out of berries to snack on, she got nosy about the other contents of Yoohyeon’s pouch. “What’s this?”

She pulled out the smoothed stone, and Yoohyeon blushed, feeling even sillier for considering it an offering in the first place. She forced herself to look forward as she pressed on through the woods, refusing to show her face. “It’s an offering.”

“An offering?”

“There’s a shrine up at the top of the mountain for a goddess,” she said. “I brought these to ask for her favor.”

“And you didn’t leave them?”

“No,” she shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Because an old lady told me not to.”

“What,” Minji snorted. Yoohyeon gave her a look. “I mean, I’ve never heard of someone sending someone away from a shrine. Especially an elder.”

Yoohyeon shrugged. “She asked me what I wanted the favor for, and when I told her, she said I needed to create my own fate.” 

“Huh,” Minji considered. “What did you ask for?”

She was a little too nosy, but Yoohyeon supposed it didn’t matter. They would part ways once they hit the trail so even if she laughed at her, it wouldn’t mean anything. She hummed. “I wasn’t too specific, but I wanted enough silver to fix up my home to keep it dry.”

“Huh,” she considered again. “Not gold?”

“Nope,” she said as they walked. “I don’t need it, and I think if I were to have too much, I’d want more.”

“Interesting,” she said. 

“What is?”

“I think that it’s something you can do without the gods too,” she said. “Maybe asking for something like that wouldn’t have been worth the price.”

“The price?” Yoohyeon asked.

“Mm. Why would a goddess give someone anything they wanted for an offering as small as this if she didn’t intend to take more later?”

Yoohyeon stopped in her tracks. “I didn’t think about that.”

“It’s a pretty rock though,” she continued, holding the stone between two fingers curiously. “It looks like a coin.”

“You like it?” 

“Mhm. I’ve never seen a rock this smooth before. Where did you find it?”

“On the river bank,” she said. “It was a dry year.”

“It’s pretty,” Minji repeated, her voice like an echo. She looked at it carefully in a daze, turning it over to see both sides and running the pads of her fingers over the flat sides to see if it was really so smooth. 

Yoohyeon watched her carefully. She wielded a magical sword and came out to the forest to tame a monster, and yet she was content to look at Yoohyeon’s little stone like it was a jewel. Interesting.

“Do you want it,” she offered.

Minji looked up and blinked out of her daze. “What?”

“You can have it,” she shrugged casually. “It’s just going to go back on my shelf when I get home.”

Minji wrapped her fist around the rock and opened it again, considering it. It seemed that she wanted it, but there was no precedent for accepting rocks from strangers.

“We should get going,” Yoohyeon cleared her throat. “We have a while before the sun sets, but I don’t want to get stuck in here just in case.”

“Is it hard to get out at night?” She looked mildly afraid.

Yoohyeon pointed to the blanket of trees above them. “No moon.”

Minji nodded and led the way, slipping the river rock into her pocket. Yoohyeon couldn’t help but smile. “This way, right?”

“Yeah, just follow the slope and don’t get too close to the thicker brush,” she said.

“Traps?”

“Mhm.”

Minji shuddered. “I can’t imagine stepping on one of those.”

“I never have before, but I don’t know if I’m strong enough to pry one off of you,” she said. Minji looked back in horror and slowed so Yoohyeon could get closer to guide her safely. 

Yoohyeon was familiar with the forest, and she suspected based on the way the girl fought, the only reason she was clinging to her so openly was because she didn’t want to lose one of her feet to an iron snare. Still it felt strange to have someone tag along so closely. 

But it didn’t take long to get comfortable enough to talk casually as they trudged down the slope. Minji offered absolutely nothing about herself while at the same time asking too many questions. Do you come here often? Are you a hunter? Have you ever killed a monster before? What do you do out here then? Mushrooms? Can you eat them? You sell them? You live alone? What happened to your family? Do you see them often? Why did you come here? How long have you been here? Are you ever going back? Will you go somewhere else? Why not?

Yoohyeon answered every question as simply as she could, just as eager to pass the time. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Minji chewing on one of the herb bundles from the pack like a wild hare. 

“Does it help the pain?”

“No,” she said, still chewing. 

Yoohyeon hummed. “Didn’t think it would.”

“Then why did you suggest it,” Minji asked, not bothering to throw it away. Her pupils were wide and catlike, and Yoohyeon suspected that if she tried to take her herbs and berries from her, she’d scratch.

“Because I wanted to know what they did,” she said.

Minji froze and glared. “You let me eat this and you didn’t know? What if they were poisonous?”

“Relax, I see the rabbits chewing on these all the time,” she waved her off. “They were probably okay.”

“Probably…”

“How do you feel?” 

“I feel fine,” she said, removing a sprig and replacing it with a new one. “Pretty good actually.”

Yoohyeon held back a smile and continued forward. If Minji didn’t stop snacking soon, she was going to have to carry her on her back to get them out of there. 

After a while, the slope evened out, and they were surely at the bottom. Yoohyeon was exhausted, but Minji moved like she had fairy dust on her toes, but luckily she had given up on the contents of the pouch and was just happy enough to giggle and trudge along. Unfortunately though, this was where finding their way out became complicated.

Up until that point, all she had to do was go down to find her way out, but when they reached the bottom, her surroundings were unfamiliar and seemingly untouched. The underbrush below was a little too overgrown, and the paths that usually snaked through the trees looked barely big enough for the deer.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve never been here before,” she said.

“We’re lost?” Minji gawked.

“No, not lost,” she tilted her head. “I know where we are.”

“Where are we then,” she asked quietly.

“In the forest.”

Minji turned towards her slowly with a flat expression, and Yoohyeon was suddenly reminded that she carried a very dangerous sword at her hip and it was probably best not to make any jokes yet.

Yoohyeon flashed her cutest smile. “Don’t worry! As long as we stay at the bottom, all we have to do is go around until we find a trail.”

“So we’re walking in circles,” she said, not really asking.

“Do you have any other ideas?”

Minji looked around, scanning the woods like an answer was going to pop out at her from behind one of the trees. They fell quiet. Yoohyeon knew her plan was the best option because eventually they would run into a trail or some sign of life, but she wasn’t in the mood to convince her. She didn’t have the energy to convince her. She just fought off a giant monster with literally her whole body. No one could blame her for being worn out.

“Do you hear that,” Minji frowned as she searched for the source of a sound that Yoohyeon couldn’t hear.

“No, what is it?”

Yoohyeon looked too, but all she could hear was the faint sound of the wind rustling through the trees, but even then, the rustling was blocking out anything else. Either Minji had never heard the sound of wind in the trees before, or she had some kind of magically enhanced hearing. No, not magically…

“Do you know where it’s coming from,” Yoohyeon asked, following her gaze off to the right (the west, maybe, she wasn’t sure).

“I think so,” she said.

“What’s it sound like?”

Minji frowned in thought. “Water.”

The river?

Yoohyeon followed Minji towards it, and Minji stumbled forward like she was in a trance. Yoohyeon made a note to never let someone chew on more than one sprig at a time or eat that many berries, and then she considered finding a way to ferment them into a wine of sorts to sell instead of mushrooms. Their effects surely would have been desirable, she thought.

Through the trees they saw a clearing, and sure enough, there was a clear path cut through the forest where the river wound through, and Yoohyeon almost cheered in joy.

They headed towards the bank, and Yoohyeon crouched down with her knees jammed into the rocks so that she could scoop up some of the water into her hands. She brought it to her mouth and drank, cursing herself for leaving that morning without a drinking horn. Minji unfastened one from her belt and filled it before securing it back for later. Maybe she would share if it took them too long to get back. Yoohyeon didn’t want to rely on that.

Then Yoohyeon reached down and scooped up enough water to splash her face, and washed off the mud and sweat and the… her stomach churned.

“Oh god,” she said, disgusted. “It smells so bad.”

“What,” Minji asked.

“That thing drooled all over me,” she gagged. “I think it soured my clothes.”

“What are you going to do?” She asked, just as disgusted.

“Burn my shirt when I get home,” she said, scrubbing her neck with the river water. “Boil myself.”

“It’s all over your pants too,” Minji frowned.

Yoohyeon looked back and saw the bile and blood stain down the back of her thigh. It had dried and crusted, but it still had to go. “Then I’ll make a really big fire and invite the whole village over for stories. We’ll have a big laugh.”

“That sounds nice,” she said, almost wishful.

“You can come and tell everyone how you tried to tame a monster with a magical sword and no sense of direction,” she teased.

“And if you hadn’t shown up, I might have succeeded.”

“Yeah, well, I won’t help anymore,” she said, standing up. “Maybe next time leave a notice. Don’t save me! I’m just insane!”

Minji rolled her eyes and scoffed. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Good, because from where I’m standing, this doesn’t seem like something I ever will.”

Minji stood up as well and brushed herself off, not bothering to offer an explanation.

“Couldn’t you have tried taming a two headed crow or something else less likely to eat you?”

“I thought you didn’t want to understand,” she said.

“I don’t, but I’m worried you’ll go back in there tomorrow, and one of us will find half of you hanging up in the trees, and I’ll have to go back up to the shrine to light a candle,” Yoohyeon said.

“You would light a candle for me,” she smirked.

“Only to keep you from haunting me out of spite.”

Minji laughed at that. “Alright, I won’t go back in. You’ve warned me. I’m scared off.”

“Good,” she said. “Are you ready to keep going?”

She took a breath and nodded. “I think so.”

“Alright, all we have to do is follow the river flow until we run into the mill, and then we can take the road back towards the village,” Yoohyeon said. “Stay on this side of me, though.”

“Why,” she blinked, stepping away from the water like a monster was going to reach out and snatch her by her legs.

“Because the river flows too fast, and you’re wobbly.”

“I’m not wobbly,” Minji said as she stumbled over one of the smoothed stones.

“It’ll wear off soon probably,” she ignored her, turning around to walk down the bank.

“What will wear off? Hey! Where are you going!”

An hour passed, and they walked with the sun behind them. The only comfort she had was that it didn’t rain that day because she couldn’t imagine trying to get back while under a storm. Minji’s medicine wore off, and she became quiet and serious again, walking with a certain grace with her shoulders squared like she had been trained to live with perfect posture.

Of course, Yoohyeon thought. She had suspected that she was a Lady. Ladies were trained for things like posture and poise, but it was strange to see someone in fighting leathers covered in grime and monster blood move with such prestige. She looked powerful. It was mildly unnerving.

All of Yoohyeon’s questions were skillfully evaded. Even when she was in her goofiest state, she never gave her more than a name that may or may not have belonged to her. She must have been skilled in keeping secrets then. An assassin, maybe? What did an assassin need with a giant beast, though?

“Your sword,” Yoohyeon said, interrupting her own thoughts.

“Hmm?” 

“Why couldn’t you use it,” she said. “You know, like you’re supposed to.”

She made a quick thrusting motion with her hand to demonstrate how a person normally used a sword.

“Ah,” she said. “It’s a magical weapon.”

“Mhm.”

“The lightning you saw, is just that, but the blade,” she started before pausing to find her thoughts. “Isn’t supposed to draw blood.”

“Oh?”

“Magic is… needy,” she explained. “Magic can’t come from nothing, and it’s finite, and it needs some kind of resource behind it. So, this sword can draw from the will of the bearer, and with some training, the person wielding it can use it without succumbing to exhaustion… or worse, but the blade…”

“Takes from what it pierces,” Yoohyeon nodded.

“Precisely,” she said. “And although it would have been a lot quicker that way, the creature…”

“Wouldn’t have been able to rest.” Minji looked at her and raised a brow. “I know that it’s hard to believe, being a lowly mushroom gatherer and all, but I can read, you know.”

“I didn’t mean to imply–.”

“I’ve never seen a weapon like that myself,” Yoohyeon continued. “But it’s not hard to put two and two together.”

“You’d be surprised how hard of a lesson that can be to learn,” she said, solemn.

Yoohyeon looked down at the sheathed sword and frowned. “How many people do you carry with you?”

Minji looked forward with a twitch to her cheek. “I don’t know.”

Yoohyeon glanced at her. Minji looked a lot older then. Maybe she wasn’t the reckless rich girl she thought she was. Well she probably was considering what terrible of a hobby she was out there trying out, but she was someone who carried a heavy weight on her hip. A price she was paying for someone else, no doubt.

“Are we close,” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Yoohyeon admitted. “But I know it’s this way.”

She hummed, satisfied. 

They walked quietly and slowly, both aching from their battle in the forest and drained from everything else that came before and after. Yoohyeon felt an uncomfortable pinch in her side and was sure one of her ribs was cracked. With the herbs completely worn off, Minji walked with a slight limp, but she refused to lean on her, stubborn and self sufficient.

After a while, they spotted the large wooden wheel of the mill in the distance, and it was like a beacon in the dark for two people who had long since silently lost hope that they were going to make it back before nightfall. 

Minji let out a sigh of relief, probably not used to relying on strangers blindly and had probably wanted to turn back a while before but chose to stick with her anyway for some unspoken reason.

“I know the family who owns it,” Yoohyeon said. “We can ask them for something to eat, and we can rest if you want.”

“I’d rather hurry back as fast as I can,” she said. “You can stay though. Maybe they’ll lend you some clothes.”

She shook her head. “There’s no need to go back by yourself, and if I sit down too long, I won’t want to get up again.”

Minji nodded in silent agreement. They would go back together after they ate if the mill’s family would feed them. Once they approached, Yoohyeon called out that they were there, not wanting to go barge in unexpected. A young boy up top saw them and waved. 

“Is your mom home,” Yoohyeon shouted up.

“She’s inside,” he called down. “Did you bring me anything?”

Yoohyeon patted herself down and frowned. She always tried to keep treats around when she visited other people just in case she ran into any children (or grannies with a sweet tooth), but she came empty handed that time. “Not today!”

“Oh okay,” he pouted. 

“I promise I’ll come back tomorrow, okay?”

The boy brightened up. “Okay!”

“Let’s go,” she said to Minji. Minji patted herself idly, also regretting that she didn’t have any treats for him. It was rude to show up to people’s homes empty handed, but they were stranded and desperate. Yoohyeon could always come back on her behalf too.

They walked up the steps to the home attached to the mill, and Yoohyeon knocked.

“Auntie, it’s me,” she said through the door. 

Moments later a woman in a floured apron opened the door, dusting her whitened hands off as she saw her. “Yoohyeonie! What a mess!”

“Ah,” she said, awkward. She looked down at herself and suddenly felt ashamed to go inside. “We got into some trouble in the woods.”

“Are you hurt,” she asked, concerned. Her eyes went straight to the blood on Yoohyeon’s clothes before moving towards Minji’s own matted appearance.

“Not much,” Yoohyeon sighed. “We were hoping we could get something to drink, and my companion hasn’t eaten more than forest berries today.”

Minji smiled awkwardly. “I’m fine, really.”

“Forest berries,” the woman tisked. “Bet you’ve been seeing fairies and all sorts of things out there haven’t you?”

She giggled warmly, and both Yoohyeon and Minji relaxed.

“Come in, come in,” she waved. “We’ll get something in your belly that’ll get you back to feeling normal in no time.”

“I thought you said they weren’t poisonous,” Minji muttered under her breath.

“Did you die,” Yoohyeon muttered back. Minji gave her a startled look that she could only smile childishly at in return. 

Alone at the door, they took off their mud and ichor covered boots and set them aside. If Yoohyeon was home, she would have peeled off the crusted layer of clothing off of herself too, but unfortunately that had to wait. Being inside someone’s home made her realize how truly disgusting she was, and she guessed that Minji felt the same seeing as how small she made herself look, drawing her arms tightly against herself.

“Are you sure this is fine,” Minji asked quietly.

“If you were to have two people show up unannounced out of the woods, would you rather it be us or a pair of burly hunters,” Yoohyeon whispered.

“You two will do quite nicely,” the woman giggled, hearing their conversation from the kitchen. “Hurry in and get something to eat before your bones give out.”

They both looked at each other and flushed.

Yoohyeon led the way, and Minji followed, keeping close enough that she stepped on her foot more than once. It wasn’t like she could get Yoohyeon any filthier than she already was, but there was plenty of furnishings around the home that she could have easily ruined with a single misstep. Yoohyeon’s heel became the sacrifice. She saw the table and froze, almost making Minji trip over her. “Oh, um.”

She looked back at her soiled pants and realized that she wouldn’t be able to sit down. The woman’s eyes followed and saw the ichor stain and gasped. “What is that!”

Yoohyeon swallowed. “We killed a monster in the forest.”

Her eyes became as big as her fists. “You what?!”

Minji looked at them both like she didn’t understand what the big deal was. She wouldn’t know because she wasn’t from there, but no one killed monsters, they avoided them. None of the local villagers or farmers had access to the kinds of weapons it would take to bring one of the beasts down, and even the greediest of hunters didn’t waste their traps and arrows on them. The meat was tough and often unfit to eat, and their hyde, although worth a good price, was too hard to remove without the proper tools that they just didn’t have.

And two untrained young wanderers? With a small gathering knife and a sword that couldn’t cut? With no obvious traps or armor? That was absolutely unheard of.

“We sort of made a bit of a mess,” Yoohyeon turned her towards her. “But we’re fine.”

“How did you…”

“We-,” she started. The woman’s eyes widened again, but when Yoohyeon glanced at Minji, the look in her eye told her to not mention the sword. Of course. “We were able to push a broken tree on it. We’re safe.”

“Mercy,” she said, amazed. “I don’t have anything that would fit you to wear home, I’m afraid.”

“That’s alright,” Yoohyeon said. “My friend didn’t get anything other than dirt on her, though.”

She turned to Minji, and the woman grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the table.

“Ah! Where are my manners! You need to soak up those berries so you don’t get a stomach ache!”

Minji sat at the table not really by choice, and the woman ladled out a bowl of stew from the pot for her. She set it down in front of her and sliced an apple to go with it.

“I’m sorry we don’t have anything else right now,” she said. “I haven’t finished the buns yet.”

“This is a lot, thank you,” Minji said. She looked at Yoohyeon who stood in the doorway awkwardly, unable to touch anything. Yoohyeon’s stomach growled, but she could wait. As long as Minji was fed, that was enough.

“Hold right there, dear,” the woman said. “I’ve got an old linen I can drape over the chair. Don’t ask where the stain came from.”

Before Yoohyeon could ask what she meant, she was off to the back of the house, and she returned with a beige sheet that had a large brown splotch in the middle. From childbirth maybe? She didn’t need to know. She was sure it was clean and dry, and it would keep her from getting bile and blood on the kitchen chair so she was happy to sit on it.

The woman draped the sheet over the chair, and Yoohyeon sat down, and soon she had her own bowl of stew waiting for her. It wasn’t much to some. Just freshwater fish caught from the river next to them cut in halves and dropped in a pot of water with herbs from the mountain and whatever vegetables they could pick up in the village. It was a taste she grew used to while living there for the last couple of years, but the subtle scrunch to Minji’s nose suggested that it was a little difficult for her to get down.

“Thank you,” Minji said. Her back was straight, and even as she brought the knobby wooden spoon to her lips she looked almost regal. It was peculiar, Yoohyeon thought.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled. “I’ve got to finish up some things, but you two feel free to finish up and rest as much as you need.”

“We won’t stay long,” Yoohyeon assured her. “I’ll come back tomorrow and bring some treats for your children though.”

“Oh, they’re spoiled enough,” she waved her off with rosy cheeks. “But you’re always welcome any time. Your friend too.”

“Thank you,” Yoohyeon smiled, already thinking about what kind of snacks she’ll bring. Minji will be long gone once they reach the village, off to find another monster to tame or something even more dangerous, and something about that saddened her. It had been a long time since she spent a day with someone her own age, choosing to live her life along either foraging for things to eat and sell, selling her wares at the market or trading them for eggs or vegetables she hadn’t quite got the hang of growing herself, and fixing up her home after the nastier weather. Until then, the idea of an adventure seemed impossible, and the idea of an adventure with another person seemed all that more inconceivable.

Minji was lost in thought as well. She scooped up a glossy cubed vegetable that looked to be the root of something mostly edible and let it fall back into the broth. The color was back in her cheeks, but she looked tired like if she rested her head for a moment, she wouldn’t wake up again until the evening.

They ate quietly, tired and weary, and it would be the tiredness from that day that they would remember for the rest of their lives. Not the danger, not the hunger, not the inebriation, but the feeling of being barely able to eat a bowl of soup because the movements were too much for their worn down bodies.

After they finished, they bid their farewells, and then the sun was hidden safely behind the trees, lending a cold shadow to accompany them home.

“Everyone is so nice here,” Minji mused as they followed the road towards the village. 

“Hmm? You’ve been visiting a while?”

She shook her head. “I got in yesterday.”

“How many people have you managed to run into in two days,” she laughed.

“Just you and that lady,” she smiled.

“Now, now,” Yoohyeon forced a scowl. “I thought I ruined your monster taming adventures.”

Minji looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

“You weren’t really trying to tame it, were you.”

“Was it that unbelievable,” she asked, not really asking.

“You don’t make a very good liar,” Yoohyeon said.

“I’ll have to practice then.”

“You are good at keeping secrets,” she said. “Maybe you don’t have to lie if you just refuse to tell anyone anything.”

Minji laughed brightly. “I’ll have to remember that.”

“One question, since you’ll probably never tell me what you were really up to…”

“Hm?”

“Is Minji your real name?” Yoohyeon asked.

“Ahhh,” she said before a soft giggle that was too warm for someone who could have very well been a dangerous assassin for all she knew. “It can be.”

Yoohyeon squinted.

“It’s my name for friends and family,” she said.

“Oh, we’re friends so soon? I had no idea,” she teased.

“Well you did share your twigs and berries with me,” she pointed out. “I’m sure that makes us something.”

“I’m sure it does,” Yoohyeon said with a smile.

So Minji’s name was probably Minji, she was honest with her about what the sword did (that, she was sure of), and she couldn’t tell her why she was in the forest. Could it have been that her stumbling upon the monster was an accident? Maybe she had been angry with her for different reasons.

“If I hadn’t come, assuming you could have survived that on your own, you would have stayed in the forest for something else, wouldn’t you?”

Minji glanced at her, taken aback. “You’re a little too smart for your own good, you know that?”

“I’m sure you can’t, or won’t tell me why,” she said with a sigh. “But you can’t stop me from piecing things together on my own.”

“Now why would you want to go and do a thing like that?”

“Because we still have a long way to go, and I’m curious.”

Minji hummed. “I might have.”

“It’s good I came then.”

Minji raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

“You didn’t know how to get out, and I did,” she said simply.

“You did not know how to get out.”

“I clearly got us out,” Yoohyeon said, spreading out her arms for effect.

“You walked us down hill until I found the river,” she said. 

“And you wouldn’t have known which way to go if it weren’t for me,” she pointed out.

“You don’t know that,” she said stubbornly.

“Would you like another berry,” Yoohyeon half threatened. 

“No, thank you,” Minji said, punctuating her words.

Yoohyeon decided that it was more fun to bother her now that her head was clear, and the secretive stranger was far too mysterious to not activate her curious side.

“So what were you doing in there in the first place,” she asked, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.

“Hunting rabbits,” she sighed like she was annoyed with the question, but the faint smile on her lips suggested that she didn’t mind being bothered.

Yoohyeon hummed. “Hunting… but not rabbits.”

“How do you know?”

“I can tell when you’re lying, remember,” she said. 

“How can you tell?”

“If I tell you, you’ll start lying to me better, and then this won’t be fun anymore.”

“If you tell me, other people won’t be able to know what I don’t want them to,” Minji said.

Yoohyeon hummed. “It’s a thing you do with your mouth. When you lie, your lips curl at the corners, and when you tell the truth, they don’t move at all.”

She reached up and touched the corner of her mouth with her finger idly. “Interesting.”

“I’m guessing you are someone who is supposed to be very good at lying.”

“You might be getting somewhere,” she said with a smile. 

“An assassin?” Yoohyeon guessed since it had been on her mind since they met.

“No,” she snorted, giggling too happily at her guess for it to be correct at all.

“It was worth a shot,” she shrugged. “Alright, let’s practice your lying.”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me what you were or weren’t doing in the forest, and I’ll make a guess to see if it’s the truth or not,” Yoohyeon said. 

“Alright,” Minji nodded. “I was on official business.”

“Truth,” Yoohyeon said easily. 

Minji smiled slightly. “I was cutting through to deliver a letter.”

“A lie.”

“Alright,” she nodded. “Let me try again.”

“I was hunting,” she said.

“Half true, we established that,” she reminded her.

“Hmm.”

“On official business and hunting,” Yoohyeon considered. “Interesting.”

“That is if I’m telling the truth,” Minji reminded her. 

“Of course,” she nodded, but she knew that so far she was. “What were you hunting?”

Minji hummed. “Take a guess?”

“It has something to do with that sword,” Yoohyeon tried.

“No,” she shook her head. A lie.

“Alright,” she said. “You were chasing down an evil spirit then, and because it’s official business, it must be a threat to someone important, but they sent you and not a team so it must be a secret from the common people.”

“Wow your imagination is wonderful,” she said, excited. “You should become a bard.”

Another lie.

“Then I have absolutely idea what you were doing up there,” Yoohyeon conceded.

“I can assure you, it’s not that interesting,” she laughed. Yoohyeon offered a smile. She wasn’t the gifted liar she thought she was, but the conversation unsettled her too much to continue. If there was something dangerous in the forest, it wasn’t safe for the other villagers and hunters to go in their unaware. Even if they knew, they wouldn’t stay away, but if they were all in danger… “Look! The village!”

Minji pointed down the road, and sure enough, they could see the tops of several buildings from where they walked. Yoohyeon was almost home, and she might have been happy about it if she didn’t have that nagging feeling that something bad was bound to happen.

They finished their walk silently, and she led her into town towards the inn where Minji supposedly had a room. When they approached, Yoohyeon saw a large, unmarked, black carriage, several horses, and what looked like a small army dressed fully in unmarked armor. Strange.

Minji huffed and stepped towards them. Once she was spotted, the others stood at attention. All Yoohyeon could do was stare curiously, rooted in place by the strange energy of it all. Luckily, no one seemed to pay her any mind.

A long haired girl stepped out from among them in clothes identical to Minji’s but cleaner. She bowed once with her arm across her chest as a salute.

“Siyeon,” Minji said, exhausted. “Good, you’re still here.”

“Where have you been,” she asked, wild eyed. “We were about to send a search party.”

“I told you I was going alone,” she said. 

“I thought you were joking,” Siyeon said.

“Do I look like someone who tells jokes?”

Siyeon offered a thin smile that looked like it should have accompanied an eye roll, but instead of answering, she regarded Yoohyeon who suddenly realized how much she didn’t belong there.

“Tell everyone we’re leaving,” Minji said, taking on a firm and loud voice that thundered in a way that unsettled Yoohyeon to the core. “Leave enough silver for three nights, and have everyone saddled up by sunset.”

“My L-,” she started, quietly, but she looked at Yoohyeon again and stopped herself. She bowed again. “Of course. Everyone, we’re leaving!”

Minji turned to Yoohyeon and offered a kind, distant smile. “Thank you for bringing me back in one piece. My Captain would have been very upset with me if she had, how did you put it? Found half of me hanging up in a tree.”

“It’s no problem,” she swallowed, a little intimidated.

“Oh here,” she said, reaching down under her collar. “For your troubles.”

She pulled out an amulet that Yoohyeon hadn’t noticed she was wearing. It was a large black and red stone like the bloodshot eye of a monster, and Yoohyeon wondered if that’s what it was really made of but petrified somehow. She handed it to her by the chain, and Yoohyeon took it. “What is this?”

“Call it the Queen’s Favor,” she said, less impressed with it than Yoohyeon was. “Take it to the Academy when you have time. It should fetch a good price. Fix your house if you want, buy a new one somewhere dry. Somewhere far away.”

She saw Minji swallow at the last part. So something was wrong… Yoohyeon thought about the family on the river and all the other villagers and knew that if it came down to it, she wouldn’t leave if she could somehow help them. That wasn’t the kind of person she was. She was the kind of person who ran towards the struggle.

Yoohyeon looked at the medallion and frowned. “The Qu-.”

“We’re ready to go,” Siyeon said. 

“Did you pay?”

“Two gold pieces,” she said. Minji raised a brow. “Bora started a fight and broke a table.”

“I leave you alone for one day,” Minji scolded, wagging her finger. Siyeon cracked a smile. “Fine, two gold pieces it is. Let’s go while there’s still some sun left.”

Siyeon nodded, and they left like Yoohyeon wasn’t there. Minji climbed into the carriage alone, and Siyeon mounted the last horse and rode next to the door as the party moved down the road. 

Yoohyeon put the amulet around her neck, feeling silly for holding it in her hand in the middle of the village, and she swore she felt it pulse against her skin like it was alive. Like it had a heartbeat. She reached up and touched it idly. It was both warm and cool to the touch, and it was the first magical item she had ever come in real contact with in her whole life, and she suspected, for some nagging reason, that it wouldn’t be the last.

As she watched them ride off into the distance, fading away like specks of dust off to somewhere much more important than there, Yoohyeon had a thought. If a goddess wouldn’t give her her favor so easily without asking for more later, then what would a queen do?