Chapter Text
Tae-woo,
It is my displeasure to inform you that you have been selected as my bodyguard for the upcoming months. As Kouka’s least valuable general, I’m sure the others will not care in the least your attention will be divided.
Signed,
An Lili
Tae-woo slammed the letter down onto his desk, seething. He could nearly hear her sneer radiating from the paper; even the way she penned her signature seemed smug.
“What does it say?” Han-dae asked, hand still outstretched from where Tae-woo had snatched the letter.
“She’s demanding I be her bodyguard.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because I don’t want to,” Tae-woo said.
“Won’t you get paid?”
“It doesn’t say.” Tae-woo held out the letter for Han-dae to see. “All I have are these two rude sentences.”
Han-dae squinted at the letter. “’You have been selected?’ What does that mean?”
“I don’t know! I didn’t ask for this!”
“Why would she even want you to guard her?” Han-dae asked.
“You have the same amount of information I do,” Tae-woo sighed. “I need to clear up this misunderstanding, once and for all.
Tae-woo yanked open a desk drawer and grabbed one of the several wildly rolling thinning brushes from among the mess of broken inkstones. Rummaging around deeper, he located a bamboo slip. With gritted teeth, Tae-woo wrote his letter with aggravation pooling in the ink.
Lady Lili,
You must be confused.
“All finished.” Tae-woo slapped the slip into Han-dae’s palm. “It would be great if you could deliver that for me.”
Han-dae glanced at the brief message. “I’m not delivering that.”
“What? Come on.”
“I’m not spending two days riding all the way to the Water Tribe for that stupid message.” He shoved the slip back into Tae-woo’s hands. “Write something more thorough.”
Tae-woo groaned.
“If you don’t want to, just go there and tell her yourself.”
He groaned again before picking up the brush.
Lady Lili,
You must be confused. If you think I am the least valuable general, perhaps you haven’t met your own father.
Either way, I will not become your bodyguard. I’m not sure where you got the idea you could demand this of others. If it came from Princess Yona because it worked on Hak, it won’t work on me. I am not him.
Signed,
Tae-woo
Han-dae raised an eyebrow at the addition. “She’ll yell at me when I deliver this.”
Tae-woo fished around in his pockets. “Just go,” he said, shoving a handful of coins into Han-dae’s hands. “I’ll give you more when you come back.”
“If I come back,” Han-dae grumbled. “She may wring my neck when she reads this.”
Though Han-dae had marched from the room and acted inconvenienced by the ride, he still had a personal interest in delivering Tae-woo’s letter. He couldn’t wait to see how Lili would react. Han-dae loved watching Tae-woo getting himself neck-deep in trouble, and this certainly was the fastest he had ever done himself in. So, as he packed his bags and saddled his favorite, fastest horse, he relished the thought of Tae-woo making another enemy.
Lili looked up disdainfully from her notes to her law tutor. The tutor gulped, flinching under the tense atmosphere that was building within the study.
“I don’t understand why nadai addicts can’t receive care in prison,” she said.
“They’re criminals lady Lili.”
“No, they’re not!” Lili pounded her fists on the desk. “They simply need help! Prison would be a perfect place for them to break their addiction if we allocated each location a budget.”
“It’s not that simple because—”
“Then why don’t—”
A maid interrupted the rapidly escalating argument to introduce Han-dae. “A message has arrived for Lady Lili,” she told them.
Han-dae stepped into the room behind the maid. Lili’s eyes scrutinized him up and down, from his braid and necklace to his bound sleeves.
“Do I know you?” she asked, tone tinged in disapproval.
Han-dae rifled in his satchel and handed her the wooden slip. “Not really.” I only helped rescue you and many other captives. No big deal, he thought. “This letter is in response to yours, from my friend and the general of the Wind Tribe, Tae-woo.”
Lili flipped the slip over to read the script. She smirked at the message, then grew a deep shade of purple.
“Tutor,” she said. “Give me a moment while I compose the correct response. Haven’t you always said that communication is the key to proper diplomacy?”
“Damn Saki,” Tae-woo muttered, yanking thorns from his hair.
In an unwise dare, he and Saki had a horseback race through the bottom of the gorge. Saki, being the more skillful of the two riders, was able to dodge the briars, whereas Tae-woo got caught up in the thorns, not only causing him pain but a humiliating defeat.
He hissed as he ripped a spiked tendril away from the stinging flesh of his arm. As much as the briars inconvenienced him, Tae-woo pitied his horse even more, who now suffered because of his own ineptitude. His little brother, Tan-tan, too, would inherit even shabbier clothes than usual because of today’s events.
Tae-woo led his horse back to its stall for a thorough grooming to remove the plant matter that covered them both from head to foot. As he curried the horse—the smooth, methodic motions comforting them both—Han-dae kicked the stable doors wide open.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Han-dae said. “What happened to you?”
Tae-woo glowered at him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Han-dae handed him an envelope. “This might cheer you up, then.”
“What’s this?”
“A reply from Lili.”
“I didn’t expect there to be a reply.” Tae-woo began opening the envelope. “There’s not much to say after a refusal.”
Han-dae chuckled. “She certainly had a lot to say.”
“Now you’re worrying me,” he said, shaking out the letter.
Tae-woo,
While it may seem as if you have a measure of choice in the matter, I’m certain you cannot resist the lure of exorbitant pay. This is something in which you are in need, seeing as you still write on wood like a peasant.
Signed,
Your employer
Tae-woo crumpled the paper letter in his fist. “What sort of game is she playing with me?” he said, shuddering.
“Just travel to the Water Tribe yourself and ask her. This could have been over by now.”
“But I have Wind Tribe duties here,” Tae-woo said, gesturing vaguely. “I can’t leave.”
“Then get someone else to deliver your messages. I’m tired of the ride between tribes.” Han-dae stalked out of the stable.
Han-dae’s lack of cooperation only fueled Tae-woo’s determination to correspond with Lili further. As he plucked the twigs from his horse’s tangled mane, he was already constructing the response he would write in his mind.
Lili,
Leave me alone. I don’t want any of your money. I only accept compensation in terms of naps and relaxation, all of which I have here.
Not all of us are rich enough to throw paper around like it’s in endless supply.
When Lili read this letter over her morning breakfast, she decided the opportunity presented to her to be enormously petty was too juicy not to seize. Lili instructed her maid to fetch her messenger hawk. A correspondence war. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Tae-woo,
Perhaps if you had more paper in the Wind Tribe you would have more books, and would therefore be educated enough to reason out that you have everything to gain by becoming my bodyguard.
My hawk’s name is Fumi. He may peck, but I’m sure it’s well deserved.
And so the correspondence began.
Lili,
I still have no idea why you need or want me to guard you and I have absolutely no interest in it. My tribe is 100% more interesting and important than you. If you give me a concrete reason, then perhaps I would at least feel guilty for a moment before refusing once more.
Tae-woo,
Are my stunning looks and sharp wit not enough of a reason?
I BARELY KNOW YOU! WHY DO YOU KEEP TALKING TO ME?
Tae-woo,
I’m trying to make good from a poor situation coming my way. Nobody wants to be protected and treated like they’re weak, after all.
Lili,
Don’t try to make me feel sorry for you. It’s not going to work. I don’t fall for sappy stuff like that.
Yona seemed to like being guarded just fine.
Tae-woo,
Yona and Hak are different. He stays by her side because he is filled with devotion. My father wants a bodyguard to keep me confined to our manor. I’m only trying to find the most entertaining and least intelligent person for the job possible. If I’m being kept, then it must be a good show.
Lili,
Then perhaps you should ask Kan Tae-Jun. I’m sure he would be eager.
Tae-woo,
I change my mind. Perhaps I require higher intelligence.
Lili,
Does that mean you’re admitting I’m not completely, entirely stupid?
Tae-woo,
Not yet. Don’t flatter yourself.
Don’t forget, there’s a meeting of the generals in three days. It’ll be a perfect time to tell my father—the apparent least valuable general, in your terms—that you’ve decided to work for us.
Tae-woo tossed the last scrap of paper a drawer. He had nearly forgotten about the meeting. It was a good thing he had Lili to keep him in his place.
Tae-woo loped up the stone steps of Hiryuu castle, annoyed he had to attend yet another of these stupid meetings. The meetings of the Five Generals were rarely productive, entirely exhaustive, and boring as all hell. They nearly sent him into paralysis every time. In the beginning, Mundok kept catching Tae-woo attempting to skip the meetings, and he was beaten severely each time. Eventually, he learned his lesson and grudgingly attended.
Tae-woo wouldn’t mind attending them if they were beneficial to him in some manner, but they rarely were. Most of the time they were painfully detailed military updates that weren’t relevant to him in the least. When another tribe had a situation where they needed his help, he was sent a messenger because it was emergent and would happen outside the timeframe of the meetings anyway.
As he took his seat at the long cedar table, the other generals were loudly discussing Lady Yun-Ho’s tea. He could already tell the next several hours were going to drag by.
Tae-woo often passed the time looking out the one, small window in the room, balancing his chair on its hind legs, or picking at the feather attached to his spear shaft—the spear everyone else told him was inappropriate to bring to the table. He knew he was supposed to be attentive, but after the first hour his mind often drifted away.
“General Tae-woo?” Kyo-ga said.
Tae-woo set his chair on all its legs. “Yes?”
“What does the Wind Tribe have to report?”
“Um,” he said. “Not much. We haven’t detected any activity from Xing. Our recruitment for soldiers is down, so our military is shrinking. I’ve been sure to train those we still have to maintain their strength and vigilance in case something with Xing does happen. Other than that, the Wind Tribe is healthy and strong.”
Frowns from all around the table. Tae-woo shrunk underneath their gaze. “What?”
“Don’t you care to be more detailed?” every other general said in unison.
“If a few words does the trick, why go on for hours? It’s all I have to report that’s meaningful and relevant to you four.”
The four men all looked peeved, but moved on. Tae-woo smirked to himself.
Just as they were closing their meeting, the conference room doors swung open. “Ah, good. I haven’t missed it entirely,” said a smooth voice. King Soo-won’s voice.
Tae-woo’s recently-recovered mood plummeted.
Soo-won took the empty spot at the head of the table. “Now, can you catch me up on what I’ve missed?”
Tae-woo groaned. He wasn’t going to get out of here for at least another hour, was he?
After the king was finally caught up an hour and a half later, they were all finally allowed to leave. As Tae-woo stood, Soo-won passed by him and clasped his shoulder in a greeting.
“How’s our newest general faring?” Soo-won said, his signature false smile not able to fool Tae-woo in the least.
He wrenched his shoulder from Soo-won’s grip. “Fine.”
Tae-woo considered that acting however he wanted around the king might get him in trouble, so he set his jaw and turned away. Taking the Hiryuu castle’s front steps two at a time, Tae-woo exited as quickly as possible before anyone else could stop him.
The king, he thought, I hate that guy. Asserts his power, plays with people’s lives, treats our tribe like garbage…
As he put his foot on the last step, Joon-gi called out to him from the top of the stairs.
“Where are you going off to so quickly, Tae-woo?” he said as he descended.
“Home.”
“I hate to delay you, especially since our meeting went long today,” Joon-gi apologized. “But I’m afraid I have some important business to discuss with you.”
Tae-woo propped his spear on his shoulder. “Does this have anything to do with Lili thinking I’m going to be her bodyguard?”
Joon-gi assumed a look of great long-suffering. “What, exactly, have you found out?”
“Two weeks ago, she wrote me and told me I was to be her bodyguard, for some reason. We’ve been corresponding since then, but I still haven’t found out why. Mostly she insults me.”
Joon-gi rubbed his temples. “That sounds rather on-brand.”
“Can I ask what this is about?” Tae-woo asked, growing irritated.
Joon-gi adjusted his bandana. “She used to have two female bodyguards, but Tetora is now occupied with caring for her ailing mother and Ayura just moved to Xing after marrying Vold. Since then, we’ve needed to find a new guard for her. We’ve been looking for a female guard, but those are awfully rare and we can’t find any. I compiled a list of possible new male guards for her, and I think your name caught her attention because she realized you were at the forts fighting for the release of the slaves. However, I didn’t realize she had contacted you. I hadn’t even asked the permission of most of those we listed. They were brainstorms I was about to propose the idea to. I didn’t think she would take it as a done deal.” Joon-gi looked as if a migraine were settling in.
“Sir,” Tae-woo said. “I think she knew it wasn’t a done deal. She probably only wanted to pester me.”
“Then please forgive my daughter. She has been increasingly rebellious these days. Sneaking out, going to rough neighborhoods. That sort of thing. It’s only gotten worse since we betrothed her,” Joon-gi said nonchalantly. “It’s another reason why we need a bodyguard for her.”
“Wait, betrothed? Isn’t she a bit young for that?”
Joon-gi shook his head. “She’s eighteen,” he told him. “That’s around when engagements usually happen nowadays, isn’t it? I’m afraid I have higher aspirations for her than to remain unmarried. Either way, do you have any interest in being her bodyguard? Compensation won’t be an issue. I’ll house you in our manor, additionally.”
Tae-woo turned his back on Joon-gi. “Like I’ve already told Lili, no.”
“You can have frequent time off once I find a second guard,” Joon-gi added, growing desperate.
Tae-woo faced Joon-gi again and smiled. “General, you are being very generous. But I have an entire tribe to look after.”
“Hak protected your entire tribe while he was protecting Yona for three years, did he not?”
Tae-woo tensed.
“Do you think your skills are below that of the Thunderbeast’s?” Joon-gi added.
Tae-woo narrowed his eyes. Was this a challenge?
“Don’t compare me to him,” he growled.
“I wasn’t,” Joon-gi responded calmy. “I simply asked what you thought of yourself.”
Tae-woo didn’t think Joon-gi—or anyone else, for that matter—was entitled to that sort of personal information. He clenched fists. “Have it your way, then,” Tae-woo sighed. “I will be Lady Lili’s bodyguard. But I would like a horse provided for me to travel back and forth to Fuuga for my duties as general when they arise.”
“Of course.” Joon-gi bowed. “I am very grateful to you.” A pause. “Well, then. I’ll be travelling to Fuuga with you immediately. I can discuss the finances with your parents, and you can collect your belongings. Then, in the morning we’ll leave for the Water Tribe.”
“So soon?”
“Is there a problem?”
“I suppose not.” Tae-woo hadn’t even had time to get comfortable with the idea, but he understood that there wasn’t a reason to pointlessly wait around.
“Alright,” Joon-gi said. “Then take me to your home.”