Chapter Text
“Don’t let the king touch that.” Hakuryuu’s gruff command scorched mercilessly through the air, raining on everyone’s ears like hot acid. “It may be poisonous.”
“So the sheltered White Dragon knows all about poisonous plants despite never going outside, is it?” provoked Ao even as he pulled Yona back by the hem of her hood anyway, gentle to the touch, away from the blatantly identifiable poison ivy bush she was prepared to adventure into for the sake of a single apple that had rolled off Yoon’s preparation table.
“Of course. I have studied all about them,” replied the other man. No one ever really knew whether he didn’t get the the sarcasm or purposely feigned ignorance, but Hakuryuu continued, adding on, “Through books. You are capable of grasping what books are, I presume? However, it’s come to my attention someone like you wouldn’t know how to read them.”
“Father! That’s enough!” Kija cried, just as Ao’s hand flew to the grip of the sword hanging by his waist. The older Hakuryuu retreated with little repentance and continued filing his sharp dragon nails. He would have been written off as uncaring altogether, save for the fact his eyes trailed occasionally to the bright red hair before him, as if making sure what he saw would not suddenly drift off, same as a dream. Ao pulled back with no more than a grumble and moved to sit at the edge of the camp grounds, where the others’ arrival would be better viewed.
Kija sighed, having no control over the adults, then turned to Yona, who had switched tactics during the scuffle and was currently attempting to use the staff end of Hak’s Hsu Quandao to poke the apple out of the bottom of the bushes. Her eyebrows were furrowed in absolute concentration. “Princess, please get up from the ground. Your clothes will get dirt.”
With her elbows already digging deep into the soil, Yona whined, “I almost have it! I don’t want to waste it.”
“Yona, you don’t have to get it back. It’s only one apple and it’s probably already bruised,” Yoon exclaimed from his side of the camp, trying to lure her to him and far from the Big Beasts as soon as possible (the Little Beasts weren’t much better in his opinion, but they were a lot less stab-savvy). “I’ll get angry if you mess up your dress.”
Yona pouted and for a moment it was no surprise she had once been so spoiled. “But the apple—”
From above, a single apple came falling which Kija only managed to catch because he nearly thought it was a bug, intending to flick it off. It was bright red and shiny and definitely not the same fruit that had lost itself underneath the foliage.
Garou jumped down effortlessly from the treetops and greeted Yona with a little head rub that would have annoyed her had it been Hak instead.
“Hey, Yona.” Unsurely, Kija handed the apple back to him, but Garou only shook his head. “Heard you were in need.”
“Garou!” Yona said, a wide smile painted on her face. “You’re back! Where’s Jae-Ha?”
As if those were the magical words, the second Green Dragon himself came dropping down to the earth, a basket full of fruits and vegetables in arms. Yoon had sent the fastest errand boys to buy him some ingredients for tonight’s dinner in the town over, but he definitely didn’t instruct them to collect the entire bazaar. Yona tipped toed to see and Kija leaned over the basket, sensing that Garou and Jae-Ha hadn’t been virtuous and bought whatever they wanted.
“I was first again, boy,” Garou boasted in front of Jae-Ha, some long dark green strands of hair flying out of its ponytail. “You should work on that.”
“Who was the one made to carry the load of crap we were both supposed to divide and handle?” Yet even as he said this, Jae-Ha was windblown, flushed a shallow pink, and the wild grin on his face betrayed him. He settled the basket in front of Yoon who scowled and scored a hit on his shoulder, complaining about money-spending idiots.
Hakuryuu called Kija over to practice sparring, as they did almost every evening, and so Kija gave Yona the apple and went on his merry way after a small ‘excuse me, Princess’.
Yona kept the apple to herself and bit into it, the juice overflowing in her mouth, and listened with her head against the tree trunk as Garou glossed over all the races he had beaten Jae-Ha at, that the younger man still had a long way to go.
Yoon paused in his lecturing to tell Yona she’d ruin her dinner, but Garou defended that there was more for everyone, he had made sure of it. That had made Yoon stomp all the way to where they were and pull him by the ear, because you stupid Green Dragons don’t know anything about the economy and what will happen to our budget next time we go out to buy supplies?
When Shin-Ah and Hak had returned with a boar the size of the moon and multiple birds, they were flagged by Yoon and were roped in to help preparation. Ao, the squirrel, leaped onto Ao, the Blue Dragon, and the man brushed her off, having a strange temperament about the small animal named after him. The squirrel ran up to Yona, who accepted her gratefully, and ate at her earrings.
Yona stood and stayed by Hak, aiming to learn how to skin a boar so big, but he threatened her with his knife and she kicked his shin and both ended up being banished from the preparation area by Yoon when they almost tipped over the boiling soup with their squabbling.
Shin-Ah stayed loyal to cutting the carrots, even as Ao played with the fur of his headdress, questioning its efficiency during summer. Kija was beaten by his father, but Hakuryuu had praised him on his endurance, and so he was floating on cloud nine.
Then Zeno arrived with the washed laundry and the cast was complete.
They had leftovers after dinner that night.
“What is it?” Yoon asked Yona, shifting in the sheets to face her, who still hadn’t slept yet, glassy eyes raking the ceiling of their tent.
“Nothing,” she replied, though it was not nothing at all. “I was just thinking… I’m happy. I’m really happy everyone’s here.”
“Oh,” he said, “I guess. It’s too noisy, though, and without me you’d all be on the streets or in a ditch. Zeno messed up the laundry today, y’know. He didn’t rinse good enough and now everything’s dry and soapy. That Big Hakuryuu also left a mess after we ate, as if I would clean up after him. It’s a pull-your-own-weight world here! And idiot Jae-Ha and his annoying—”
He looked back at her, and she was asleep, small snores and everything. Yoon smiled—just a little.
“Yeah. I’m happy, too.”