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Rumi

Rumi first summons her saingeom when she's eight-years-old. Celine had shown her how to do it the past week at Rumi's insistence, but she never expected Rumi to pull it so young.

When she pulled her own weapon, it had taken a year of concentrated training, and even still, Celine was the last of them to pull her sshang nat from the Honmoon. The first time took so much energy out of her that Celine spent the rest of the day in bed, Mi-yeong and Dae glued to her side until she was better again.

But here's Rumi, eight-years-old and holding her saingeom with so much wonder. The Honmoon sparkles off of every surface and sings it's low, harmonious tune, and Rumi looks up from her blade to Celine.

"I did it," Rumi breathes out, "Celine, look! I did it!"

Celine smiles and places her hand to the top of Rumi's head. "You did."

Something tugs at the sight of Rumi with a saingeom in her hands, her vision blurring just so to see Mi-yeong at the beginning of their training with the same wonder in her eyes.

She brushes it off as Rumi starts to bounce on the balls of her feet. "It's so pretty," Rumi says as she looks back down at her weapon. It's the perfect size for Rumi right now, like the Honmoon is meeting Rumi where she is with every intention to grow with her.

Celine crouches in front of Rumi. "It reflects the Honmoon itself," she says, her hand bringing up the chords of the Honmoon flowing around them. "Remember, Rumi, your weapon is what makes you a hunter. It is the Honmoon made corporeal, but it is also a piece of you."

Rumi's brows come together. "How is it a part of me?"

"Because you're the only person who can ever pull your weapon from the Honmoon." To demonstrate, Celine grabs the small hilt of Rumi's sword and holds it until eventually, it fades back into the shimmering blue chords. "One day, your fellow hunters will pull their own weapons, but your saingeom is yours and yours alone, because it is tied to your soul."

Celine sees the quick glance of Rumi's eyes to where her patterns stain her shoulder, but Celine grabs Rumi's chin gently to bring her eyes back to Celine and the Honmoon.

"One day," Rumi says, "My fellow hunters will pull their weapons from the Honmoon, just like I did."

Celine nods. "And just like with your saingeom, it will be tied to them from the moment they pull it to the moment their soul ceases to exist."

Rumi nods. Then, in the whip-fast way kids do, Rumi's expression goes from thoughtful to excited. "Can we train with my weapon today?"

Celine lets Rumi's chin go and pushes herself back up to standing. "Can you summon it once more?"

Rumi's excitement turns to focus as the Honmoon sparks to life around her hands. It's moments before Rumi materializes her saingeom once more. Celine sees the small amount of effort it takes in the bead of sweat falling from Rumi's temple, but it's nothing like Celine's experience.

Rumi pulls her weapon as easy as lifting a weight, and Celine knows that in a matter of weeks, it'll be as easy as breathing.

She holds her sword exactly as she would one of the wooden practice swords, and Celine summons her sshang nat.

"Why don't we take today to see how this sword differs from your practice sword?" Celine suggests as she watches Rumi thinking through her stance with the new weight of her saingeom.

She's careful to keep her hold on the hilt exactly as Celine taught her, her feet perfectly placed to maintain her balance. "It's doesn't feel all that different," Rumi says, "I thought it would be heavier, but it isn't."

"Metal from the Honmoon is not like anything we have on Earth." Celine moves around to check that Rumi's stance is exactly as it should be, and she's pleased to see that Rumi doesn't need any adjusting. "It holds the power of all of the hunters who came before, but it knows your soul. If it didn't, your blade would likely be too large for you to manage."

"So, it knows I'm eight?"

Celine smiles. "Yes, aegiya, and it knows that you're not at your full height and strength, so it has adjusted for you."

Rumi's eyes practically twinkle as she says, "That is so cool."

That makes Celine breathe out a laugh. "Now, shall we?"

Rumi's face turns serious as she nods, and Celine moves Rumi through new exercises. She demonstrates with her own sshang nat the way that Rumi needs to move her sword and they go through again and again until Celine can see the exhaustion in Rumi's shoulders.

If Rumi had her way, Celine would keep pushing, but Celine knows just how far Rumi's body can go before it shuts down entirely, so she stops them.

Her sshang nat dissolve into the chords of the Honmoon alongside Rumi's new saingeom, and Celine asks, "Would you like to help me prepare lunch?"

"Can we have gimbap?"

Celine laughs, because she never would have imagined that Rumi's favorite food would be the exact same thing Mi-yeong always craved.

"Yes, aegiya, we can have gimbap."

"Yes!" Rumi grabs Celine's wrist to pull her back to the hanok, and the entire way, Rumi fills the space with anything and everything.

Her saingeom.

How excited she is to one day meet the two girls who will shoulder the responsibility of the Honmoon with her.

What she wants on her gimbap.

And Celine listens to every word despite having heard all of it before.

~*~

Rumi is a quick study. Within just a year, she moves her saingeom as easily as if she were born with it in her hands, so Celine decides now is the time to amp up the difficulty.

Fitting, too, that Celine chooses this lesson as she has her right arm in a sling from a particularly huge demon she fought the night before.

By the time breakfast is done and Rumi has cleared and cleaned all of the dishes, she's practically vibrating with excitement. There aren't many things that she does day-to-day, just school work, lessons, and training, and Celine knows she looks forward to training most of all.

She figures Rumi picked it up from her, but it makes Celine smile as Rumi pulls her saingeom from the Honmoon the moment her foot hits dirt. She's in stance before Celine even has to ask, but Celine shakes her head.

"If you had to use your left as your dominant hand, how would you stand?"

She watches Rumi work through her question, and she moves her hands first, left over right on the hilt, before mirroring her footing.

"This is weird," Rumi says.

"Yes, but it is necessary." Celine adjusts Rumi's shoulders just so. "Knowing how to wield your saingeom is one thing, but you need to be prepared for anything, including the possibility that you may not be able to use your dominant hand."

Rumi looks briefly at Celine's arm in a sling, proof that Celine isn't lying, before turning back to the practice dummy in front of her. It's painted with a wide array of patterns, something Rumi did one day out of boredom while Celine worked in her garden, and she prepares herself.

"Some people are born ambidextrous," Celine explains, "They can easily use either hand, but being ambidextrous is also something you can learn. Like a muscle, you can train it just as much and just as well."

Rumi nods. "How do I swing like this?"

"Why don't you try?"

She does, and mid-swing, her body falls out of stance, and for the first time since Rumi started training, she stumbles. She doesn't let out a frustrated noise like Celine expects, though. She just rights herself and swings again, this time her body adjusting enough that it doesn't stumble where she did last time.

"It's like I'm a beginner all over again," Rumi complains, and Celine lets out a soft laugh.

"Rumi-ya, it's a new skill. You won't get it perfect on your first try."

Rumi pouts, and it's enough to make Celine's heart constrict just so, her mind conjuring Mi-yeong with the same pout on her lips.

"I know." Celine tousles Rumi's year, her pout leaving in seconds as she lets go of her sword to bat Celine away with a smile. "There is no pouting in training, young hunter," Celine jokes.

Rumi scoffs. "That can't be true."

"It is," Celine says, "Every hunter before you has learned to wield their weapon with completely straight faces and no emotions. Such is the ways of our traditions."

Rumi's stance drops as she laughs. "Celine, that's silly."

"It's true," Celine lies, "When your mother, Dae and I were trainees, we were expected to learn in silence."

"But hunters sing." Rumi points her sword up at Celine. "Our power is our voice."

Despite having a saingeom trained on her, Celine can see the playfulness in Rumi's expression. "We weren't silent while hunting demons."

Rumi hums, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Celine wouldn't lie so obviously."

"I'm not lying, aegiya." Celine has to actively fight the smile pulling at her lips.

"Sounds like something-" Rumi lowers her sword just so. "-a demon would say!"

Rumi lets her sword dematerialize as she lunges at Celine, so careful and so mindful of Celine's injured arm, and Celine lets her knock them both to the dirt.

"Oh no," Celine says overdramatically, "You have defeated me, hunter! My plot to destroy you is foiled!"

All she's met with are Rumi's giggles, her own laughter joining it.

They joke around some more, Rumi sputtering out, "A better demon would know Celine a bit more before mimicking her," through her giggles, and Celine wrapping her good arm around Rumi to tickle her sides.

She knows one day Rumi will be too big for this, too old to play around and be a kid. She's already seen it in the serious draw of Rumi's brows as she works through an assignment with her tutor or trains her voice, and while Celine is so happy that Rumi takes everything so seriously, she finds herself wanting more moments like this.

One day, Rumi won't be allowed to be goofy. She'll be an idol, the leader, a hunter. The lives of everyone depends on her ability to sing, to dance, to draw a crowd, to fight.

Celine remembers what it was like to go from the hanok to existing as an idol. Everything became so real the second they debuted, and there was no time for the softer moments they shared around training and chores. One moment, they were just three girls, and the next, the entire world knew their names. They were selling out entire stadiums within a year of debuting, and every moment, every thought, was dedicated to the Honmoon and turning it golden.

Right now, though, Rumi is still just young enough to know about all of the expectations that are already on her shoulders but to know she still has time.

Celine hopes that Rumi knows that she still has time.

"Alright, my fearless hunter." Celine's voice is breathless in the aftermath of their goofing around. "You have defeated your demon, but we must get back to training."

"Yes, Celine." Rumi stands up obediently, and she makes sure that Celine doesn't need her help before summoning her saingeom once more.

She walks Rumi through the new forms like she did when Rumi was little and her tiny hands struggled to hold any of the wooden weapons. Rumi's nose scrunched every time she lost her footing, but she doesn't voice a complaint at all.

That makes Celine smile.

When they were trainees, Mi-yeong was always talking. Whenever she had to learn something new, she was bright so long as it was going well and voiced every single annoyance when she struggled.

Rumi trains like her, quiet and analytical. Celine sees herself in the way that Rumi resets her position the moment her feet slip out of place and moves through the form again and again until her foot no longer slips. Celine doesn't need to ask her to go back to one and do it again; the moment Rumi is done, she's already doing so.

Celine steps through them with her, and by the time Rumi's music tutor arrives for her lessons, she's already grasping the change in muscle memory enough to try some attacks against the dummy.

In a few days, Rumi is using her left effectively. It's not as strong as her right, but Celine assures her that it is all about building strength.

"Your right was weaker before we started using practice swords as well," she says as Rumi tries putting all of her force into her next swing. "Moving on, we'll decide left or right with a coin flip every day we train, but you should continue training your left in your free time."

She knows she doesn't need to push. Deep in Rumi's soul, just like it exists in Celine's and existed in Mi-yeong's and Dae's too, is the absolute need to be the best she can possibly be.

Just like with her singing, her dancing, her academics, Rumi excels in ways Celine could've begin to imagine. By the time Rumi's tenth birthday comes around, her left is almost as strong as her right, and she's fast and efficient in every single one of her moves. She and Celine spend mornings sparring, and every day, Rumi gets closer and closer to sending Celine to the ground no matter which hand she's using.

Mira

Finding Rumi's hunters is easy at first.

Mira is a chaebol daughter, a Kang, already trained in how to present herself and maintain her composure in front of a camera and with people asking questions and taking pictures.

Celine's main struggle is the rebellion written deep into Mira's every word and movement. Training her is nothing like training Rumi. She's snarky and caustic, and more than once, Celine wonders if the Honmoon chose correctly, but Mira's connection is undeniable.

There's something about her, something that Celine has only ever seen in Rumi's relationship to the Honmoon, that makes Celine settle into kindness, her words soft as she assures Mira that no one here is going to treat her like her parents and brother do.

"No one here is your enemy," Celine says once day during training, Mira sprawled flat on her back after being disarmed. For just a moment, she sees herself in the same position, her mentor offering her a hand, and so she does the same for Mira. "You've been surviving your entire life, and that will do you good as a hunter, but Rumi and I just want what is best for you."

Mira denies Celine's hand just like Celine did back then. She picks herself up and brushes the dirt off of her clothes. "You don't want what's best for me," she says, voice hard, "If you did, you wouldn't favor Rumi so much."

Celine tips her head gently, her eyes looking until she finds exactly what it is that she's looking for.

Mira feels unwanted. Celine can see it in the tension in Mira's shoulders, in the way there's something sad beneath all of the anger she uses as a front.

It's something she's never had to deal with raising Rumi. Rumi pulled more to sadness than anger, but she knows the girl in front of her as well as she knows herself.

"What can I do to make you feel like Rumi's equal?" Celine asks. "Because whether you believe it or not, you are. Rumi may be your leader one day, but no hunter is magically stronger than the other, so what can I do to show you this?"

What can I do to show you that you're safe here? That no one is ever going to make you feel as though you mean nothing?

Mira looks up at Celine in surprise, like she's never been asked what she wants before.

After meeting Mira's parents and explaining why a Sunlight Sister was so interested in training their teenage daughter, Celine wonders if anyone ever has. Mira's parents spent the entire meeting asking when Mira would be able to come back to join the family business and represent the Kangs as she is meant to do.

Never once did they ask Mira, sitting with her back straight and her hands curled so tightly in fists that Celine worried that she may make herself bleed, what she wanted.

Even the Honmoon gave Mira no choice, but Celine can give her it now.

She knows how important it is.

"I don't-" Mira grits her teeth as she stumbles over words. "I don't know."

"That's okay, Mira." Celine takes a step closer, but she still keeps space between them. "We can do more one-on-one training like this if you'd like," she suggests.

Mira scoffs. "That's just your nice way of saying that I need more training."

"It isn't." Celine picks up the wooden staff left forgotten by Mira's feet. "It isn't extra training. Your hours will remain the same, but we'll specialize. After all, something tells me your weapon likely won't be a sword, so while Rumi trains on her own with her saingeom, you and I can train the longer, heavier weapons."

She smiles the same smile she used to give Rumi when she was still young and needed convincing to do something, and when Mira looks up, there's unshed tears welling in her eyes. Celine can't tell whether they're from frustration, sadness, anger, or a mix of everything.

She doesn't care, though. She'll do whatever she can to remind Mira that she has a home here, one she never had with her family.

"You won't be training any more than Rumi is," Celine assures her.

"Is it-" Mira's voice catches, and Celine watches her squeeze her eyes shut and shake her head. "It's because I'm not good enough."

And there's the thing hidden behind all of Mira's anger.

"You are good enough," Celine says steadily, "You would be enough whether you were a hunter or not, because you, Mira, are enough."

Then, there are tears, angry and hot, and Celine doesn't hesitate. She pulls Mira against her and hugs her tight.

She expects Mira to fight, but Mira sinks into the contact, her hands fisting into the back of Celine's shirt.

She wonders if this is the first time someone told Mira she's enough. She wonders if Mira spent sixteen years of her life being told she's a problem, not good enough, second in most things and last in everything else.

When Mira's sobs start to quiet, Celine's fingers pull through her ridiculous pink hair that Mira said was, "non-negotiable. If Rumi can have purple hair, I can have pink." She hums a song she used to hum to Rumi as a child and wonders even more if Mira was ever given comfort, or if her whole life has been pushing and pushing until Mira breaks.

When Mira pulls away, her face red and tears sticking to her cheeks, Celine smiles. "We don't have to make time to train one-on-one if that's what you want."

"No, I-" Mira takes a deep, shaky breath. "I want to."

"Are you sure?"

Mira wipes the tears from her cheeks roughly with her palm. "I am."

Celine nods. "We'll start tomorrow. Take the rest of the day off."

"I can-"

Celine cuts Mira off and says, "Take today off. You need rest, especially because I have no intention of going easy on you."

~*~

Mira is a quick learner. In their one-on-one time, Celine trains her arms to hold a heavier weapon and pushes Mira to her limits, and Mira meets her at every step.

Whatever broke or healed the day Celine held Mira also had an effect on Mira and Rumi's relationship.

Before, Mira did everything she could to get under Rumi's skin. She called Rumi names and goaded her during training, but now, when Mira smirks and calls Rumi, "Princess," Rumi just rolls her eyes. When Mira goads her, Rumi goads her back, and if Celine is being honest, it's made the both of them into better fighters.

Mira's unpredictable in the way she brings her newly-pulled gok-do down, but where Mira has strength and surprise, Rumi is fast and can find Mira's weaknesses like it's the easiest thing in the world.

One day, when they're both laid out on the ground and breathing hard, Celine looms over them and smiles. "I have a few notes."

Mira groans. "Of course you do."

Celine has learned not to take Mira's sass seriously anymore. She almost finds it endearing. It reminds her of the way Dae always loved pushing people's buttons, but she never dug too deep.

Over the past few months, Mira has finally found that same sweet spot.

Rumi pushes herself up to sit to hear Celine's notes, and Mira snorts. "Nerd."

"I don't want to lie on the dirt anymore," Rumi argues.

"She knows you're listening even if you're still lying down," Mira counters.

"Girls."

They both look up at Celine, Rumi with a sheepish expression and Mira face forced neutral.

"Rumi, you did well bringing Mira closer in to utilize your saingeom," Celine begins, "Mira, in those moments, using the other side of your gok-do could be good for blunt force to make space. We'll practice that tomorrow. While we're doing that, Rumi, your left hand seemed weaker comparatively, so I want you to spend the next few days working predominantly with your left."

Mira spends the entirety of Celine's notes splayed out on the ground until Celine mentions Rumi utilizing her left hand better. At that, she springs up to a sitting position, and she asks quickly, "Can I learn how to do that?"

"Do what?" Celine asks, genuinely confused.

"Switching left and right," Mira says, her voice going from strong to shy in a moment. "I've noticed that Rumi can do it, and I want to know how to do it too."

Celine smiles, a plan forming easily. "Rumi?"

"Yes?" Rumi says eagerly.

"Can you walk Mira through using her non-dominant hand?"

She expects Mira to protest, but she doesn't. Mira just looks over to Rumi with barely contained want and excitement, and that makes something settle in Celine.

Mira looks like a sixteen-year-old kid, her eyes bright and every part of her barely contained with how much she wants to learn. It's the first time Celine has seen her look her age, and she sees the way it completely disarms Rumi too, because this Mira, a Mira who realizes that she's safe, that Celine isn't going to treat her like her own parents do, is something completely new to both of them.

"I have some work I need to get done," Celine lies, "But you know what to do, and I'll be in my office if you two need a bit more help."

Rumi nods, still looking at Mira, but she breaks her gaze and looks at Celine as she says, "Of course. I'd be happy to."

"Perfect." Celine watches both of them pull themselves up from the dirt. "You both know where to find me. Make sure you're both cleaned up and ready to help me with lunch in an hour."

At the same time, Rumi says, "Yes, Celine," while Mira goes, "Okay, yeah."

"Don't kill each other."

Mira snorts and Rumi turns on Celine in a way that reminds her of every time she made a joke around Rumi when she was young. Rumi's eyes narrow, and it makes Celine bite back a smile.

She leaves them in the training area, the sound of Rumi's steady voice following her as Rumi helps Mira adjust her stance.

She spends the hour actually working, even though it was initially a lie, and through her window, she watches Rumi walk Mira through each stance and the change of weight. She watches Mira fumble, and when Rumi catches her, Mira doesn't pull back violently like she had been.

Mira smiles at Rumi and Celine sees her say thank you before she brings herself back to one.

It's been months of Rumi walking on eggshells around Mira, months of the two snapping at each other and Mira morphing Rumi into something Celine had never seen from Rumi before, but now, it's like the dust has settled.

They still snap, and Mira still doesn't know exactly when to stop and Rumi is still learning how to be around people her own age after years of spending her days with Celine and tutors, but something in them seemed to finally realize that they're bound whether they like it or not.

The Honmoon comes to life around them as Mira jabs forward with her gok-do, and Rumi moves out of the way with a bright laugh, her saingeom held in her left hand. She doesn't counter, just lets Mira walk through it again and again like Celine always did for her growing up.

By the time Celine makes it to the kitchen to start lunch, Mira and Rumi have washed their hands in the sink and have gotten started cutting up the vegetables and preparing the banchan. When Mira goes to get out of Celine's way, Celine puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and she lets the two of them work until it's her turn to start the rice.

Over lunch, Celine asks them how it went, and Mira lets out a long, overdramatic groan that has Rumi laughing.

"She did really well," Rumi says, and at the praise, Mira's eyes go wide. "Honestly, I think she picked it up way faster than I did when you first started teaching me."

"You were also nine," Celine reminds Rumi gently, "But I'm happy to hear it went well. It's a good skill to have, Mira, and the better you get at it, the better you'll be in battle."

"Celine's an expert with it," Rumi says with a smile, "She literally taught me after a demon dislocated her right arm and she could only use her left."

"Sick." Mira looks to Celine with wonder.

"I also have a dual-wielded weapon," Celine says, "No matter what happened, I had to learn to be capable with both."

"Celine doesn't like to brag about herself," Rumi whispers conspiratorially across the table.

Mira laughs, and it's loud and bright and fills up the hanok just as much as Rumi's does. "So that's where you get it from then."

That makes Rumi sputter and blush, and now, Celine and Mira are laughing together while Rumi buries her face in her hands.

~*~

Over the next week, Celine notices Mira spending most of her free time walking through the stances Rumi taught her. She also starts working more on her upper strength, and Celine sees why when she spars with Mira.

She watches Mira wield her gok-do one-handed, her arms straining just so from its weight but none of the power lost. Celine is so proud that she almost forgets to bring her sshang nat up to block the blow, and Rumi cheers from the sidelines.

Celine wonders for a moment if Rumi suggested Mira focus on wielding one and two handed like Celine had made her do, but no matter what, Mira has come so far. Her gok-do becomes more of an extension of herself every day that they work and train, and the ease that she shows now makes Celine so proud.

Mira still ends up disarmed, but Celine leans over her gasping, prone body and smiles. "You are going to be an excellent hunter, Mira," she says, "You've grown so much since we started."

Mira turns her head into the dirt and mutters, "Yeah, thanks, or whatever."

Celine can't tell if the pink in Mira's cheeks is from exertion or embarrassment, but she lets it go.

"You two have been working hard," Celine says to Mira and Rumi, "Take the rest of the day off, okay?"

Rumi's eyes go wide. "Really?"

Celine smiles. "Really."

"Holy shit, finally," Mira groans.

"Language," Celine chides gently, and Mira rolls her eyes. Then, as she makes her way into the house, she calls, "Have fun. Don't get into trouble."

Zoey

Finding their last hunter takes time. Mira and Rumi have been training together for a year by the time the Honmoon guides them to Choi Zoey.

The first moment they meet, it's almost like a sigh of relief, both between the three of them and the Honmoon, and Celine feels it too.

She knows that they don't have forever to train. Eventually Mira, Rumi and Zoey will have to prepare to debut, but right now, all three hunters found and living together and causing chaos in Celine's hanok feels perfect.

Zoey is a quick study and an even faster learner. She rambles on and on about having seen the Honmoon since she was fourteen but never really knowing what it was or whether it was a hallucination but always having it there as a comfort.

Celine has Rumi and Mira help her wherever she can, and Zoey's easy smile and constant chatter breaks down their walls before the end of their first meeting. By the end of the day, Mira's smile is bright and unguarded, Rumi's too, and the three of them act as though they've known each other their entire lives.

It's mere weeks before Zoey pulls her shin-kal from the Honmoon's chords, but Celine can tell the amount of effort it took. She remembers something Dae told her back when they were still speaking, that pulling more than a sword or two from the Honmoon felt like giving a piece of herself for every arrow she needed.

Zoey collapses, and before she can hit the ground, Celine catches her.

"Oh my god," Mira says quickly, "Is she okay?"

Zoey is out, her shin-kal slipping from her hands and falling back into the Honmoon.

"She's fine," Celine assures her, "Sometimes, pulling our weapons from the Honmoon can take more out of us than we were expecting." She starts to make her way inside, Mira and Rumi close on her heels. "It happened to me too, the first time I pulled my sshang nat, I was out for a full day, but it gets easier."

"And she's not hurt?" Rumi asks as she opens the door to Zoey's room.

"She's not hurt," Celine promises, "It's almost like the Honmoon takes every bit of energy from your body to put into your weapons so there's nothing left for you."

She always assumed Rumi didn't have that happen because she was so young with so much energy to spare, but then Mira pulled her gok-do from the Honmoon, the same age as Celine when she pulled her own, and did so with effort but didn't collapse.

She wonders what it is about her and Zoey that made it happen to them. Maybe it's the fact that they were the last hunters of the trio to be found, maybe it's because they're the youngest.

Maybe there's no correlation at all.

Mira moves Zoey's covers back so that Celine can lay her gently in her bed, and then Rumi and Mira take over. Rumi goes to the hallway to grab a rag and run it under cool water while Mira pulls Zoey's blankets up to her chin.

It makes Celine smile, the memory of Dae and Mi-yeong doing the same for her overlapping with the obvious care and love shared between the three girls in front of her.

"She'll likely be out the entire day," Celine says gently, "But I know I appreciated it when my hunters stayed by my side."

"We're not going anywhere," Mira says, voice steady and determined, her eyes protective.

"We'll be right here for her," Rumi agrees, her voice a little softer.

Celine leaves them in Zoey's room, the sounds of their soft murmurs following her to the office.

The next morning, Zoey wakes up with a headache and absolutely starving. She holds her head at the table as Celine passes out breakfast, and she places Zoey's in front of her with two painkillers and a cup of warm, soothing tea.

Collapsing the day before has left Zoey with barely enough energy to get herself out of bed, let alone to talk at the speed Celine has grown used to, but she still makes sure to say, "Thank you," when Celine puts everything in front of her.

Rumi and Mira worry over her, and Zoey's energy starts to come back as Celine sets a second serving in front of her and the painkillers start to kick in. By the end of breakfast, she's laughing at Mira's pout and saying, "I didn't die, you guys. It's all good!" as Rumi scoffs.

"You literally collapsed!"

"People pass out all the time."

"If you're passing out all of the time, you need to see a doctor," Mira says, voice flat.

"I didn't say I pass out all the time," Zoey argues, "I said people pass out all the time. It's a very important distinction."

Mira rolls her eyes. "Yes, sorry, I didn't think about that distinction. Still, please don't make it a habit."

"It's not like I chose to collapse!" Zoey winces as her voice makes her head throb. "I just pulled my shin-kal from the Honmoon and then everything went black. I didn't sit there and actively go, 'You know what would make Mira and Rumi freak out? Blacking out right this second!'"

"Okay, okay," Rumi placates before Celine has to. "Either way, you're not training until you're back to a hundred percent."

It's so very leader-like the way Rumi speaks like there's no argument, and that makes pride unfurl in her chest.

"Rumi, you and Mira can get back to training," Celine suggests, "I'll spend the next few days walking Zoey through some excercises my mentor taught me that helped with the exhaustion."

"I don't-" Mira starts, but Rumi cuts her off with a hand on her arm.

Some silent conversation passes between them that has Mira nodding her head and turning to Celine to say, "Anything we need to focus on?"

"Just focus on drills," Celine says, "Something easy." And mindnumbing, Celine thinks, something to keep them going while their minds are still stuck on Zoey.

Mira nods, and Celine lets the three of them fill the space throughout the rest of breakfast.

Rumi pushes Zoey back into her chair when she tries to get up to help clear the table, and Mira levels her with a soft look that says, "If you get up from that chair, I will literally tie you to it."

Zoey looks down from it like she doesn't want to see the soft care in Mira's look, and Celine notes that in the back of her mind, just like she noted the way Mira always clenched her hands into fists when Celine tried talking her through a new skill that Mira struggled with.

After Rumi and Mira leave the kitchen, Celine gently says, "You can still rest if you need to."

Zoey's head snaps up.

"No!" Zoey's voice is loud, and something passes through her eyes before she says quieter, "No, I want to do this. I just-" Zoey takes in a deep breath. "I've only been here a few weeks and Mira and Rumi are so ahead of me, and I feel like I need to train through this because how else am I going to reach them? But also, like, eventually we'll get hurt by demons in a fight, right? And this? Nothing. It's nothing like the time my skateboard slipped underneath me and my head slammed right into concrete."

There's so much information that Celine has to parse in such a short amount of time, but it all solidifies in enough time for Celine to hold her hand up to keep Zoey from exhausting herself further.

"This is still training," Celine says, "You need to be able to summon your weapon like it's second nature, so you can join them and exhaust yourself over and over again, or you can rest and train with me to get back out there faster and better than before."

"So, I'm not good at pulling my weapon while Mira and Rumi are," Zoey says, more to herself than anyone else.

"That is not at all what I said." Celine leans back in her chair. "I'm unsure why the Honmoon did this to you, just like I'm unsure why it did it to me, but I know that it's nothing to do with how prepared or strong you are. The Honmoon is a completely unknown entity despite existing for over four hundred years, and its reasons are rarely crystal clear."

"How long did it take you out for?"

"About the same as you." Celine smiles. "And I woke up starving and with the worst headache I've ever had too, and my mentor taught me to build strength to pull my weapon just like I will for you, and you'll never have to worry about it again."

Zoey doesn't say anything, and Celine waits for her to make the decision to leave the table, to start working, and she does.

Celine spends the rest of the day walking Zoey through meditation and building strength through grounding herself in everything around her. She watches the way Zoey's hands fidget with the hem of her shirt and a lose thread coming off of her jeans, and she doesn't say anything. She just tells Zoey to take deep breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth.

At one point, Zoey wobbles a bit, her body likely too tired to keep going, and Celine insists she at least lie down.

Zoey argues. "I don't need to lie down. I can keep going, I promise. I'm still just a little tired, but it's nothing I can't work through, you know?"

"I know," Celine says, because she does. She understands the need to work through exhaustion so deep that Zoey's eyes get heavier and heavier with each blink. "Come on." Celine gets one of Zoey's arms around her shoulder, and there's not enough left in Zoey to fight it.

She lays Zoey down just like she did the day before, and she pulls the blankets over her and waits until Zoey's body decides it's far too tired to try being awake anymore.

As though they knew exactly what had happened, Celine is met with Mira and Rumi as she closes Zoey's door.

"She didn't collapse again, right?" Mira asks around heavy breaths.

They must've run to get here.

"She didn't. Her body is still just tired."

She almost tries to tell them to go back to training, but if Mira and Rumi are anything like Dae and Mi-yeong (and Celine can practically see Mi-yeong's memory just over Rumi's shoulder like a ghost), she knows there's nothing she can do or say that will keep Mira and Rumi from spending another day in Zoey's low-lit room.

Celine steps out of their way. "I'll come let you both know when lunch is ready, okay?"

Mira doesn't acknowledge the question, but Rumi nods and says, "Should we wake Zoey up?"

"We'll try, but I'm going to prioritize sleep right now."

Rumi nods again, her teeth biting softly into her lower lip, and Celine can see just the slightest hint of pointed canines.

As Mira goes into Zoey's room first, Celine grabs Rumi's wrist and whispers, "They can't be seen."

It takes Rumi a moment to put together what Celine is talking about. When she does finally realize, her lips come fully down over her teeth, her hand coming up to her left shoulder.

"Sorry," Rumi whispers, "I didn't know."

"I know, aegiya," Celine whispers back, "They can't know, though. You know that."

"I know." Rumi's hand fists into the sleeve of her shirt, and Celine can see just the bottom part of purple patterns on her skin.

On instinct, she reaches out to smooth the shirt down and thinks about buying Rumi some longer sleeves just to be sure.

Some guilty, horrible part that sounds almost like Mi-yeong taunts Celine in the back of her head, but she ignores it.

She knows that this is what's best. She's certain that Rumi, Mira and Zoey will be able to achieve the golden Honmoon, and Celine hopes it will happen exactly as she always tells Rumi.

They'll make the Honmoon gold and her patterns will go with it, just like any other demonic entity under Gwi-Ma's control.

Dae's voice joins Mi-yeong, sneering and awful as she whispers, "This is a part of her, Celine. You're making Rumi hate a part of herself because of your insecurity. If the Honmoon turns gold, what stops it from taking Rumi along with it? How can you be so certain that you're theory is true?"

Celine pushes Dae aside and smiles as Rumi with as much conviction as she can.

"Our faults and fears must never been seen," she whispers, and she doesn't know if it's for Rumi or herself.

A hunter with demon patterns is a fault just as much as Celine's grief and Mira's anger and Zoey's insecurity.

"I know," Rumi whispers again .

Celine brushes her thumb over Rumi's cheek. "Go take care of Zoey."

Rumi nods, and as she opens the door, Celine sees Mira look up at her and start to ask a question, but she walks away before she hears it.

~*~

By the end of the week, Zoey is back to her usual bright self, and she's able to pull her shin-kal as easy as breathing.

Celine gives her a few days working on her aim with her dominant hand before suggesting, "Throw one with your left now."

Zoey looks down at her hands, her brows pulling together unsure. "I don't think I'll get anywhere near the target."

"That's okay," Celine says, "Lets see where you are, and then we can practice with your left more often. I want to ensure that you are able to use both hands to throw."

"I'm better with my right, though," Zoey says with a smile, "Left could just be like a quiver for arrows and then my right is my throwing hand."

Celine chuckles gently. "Dual throwing will only make you stronger, Zoey."

"What if I can't?"

The question is quiet and unsure, and Celine takes a step forward so that she and Zoey are both on the line she drew in the dirt. "I'll tell you what I told Rumi as a kid," Celine says, "Some people are born naturally amidextrous, but it's a muscle, and muscles can be trained and honed. It may take time, but it's time that we have."

She isn't look at Zoey, but she sees Zoey fidgetting out of the corner of her eye.

"This training is meant to make you the strongest you can be, both as an idol and a group, but also as a hunter," Celine continues when Zoey stays uncharacteristically quiet. "You were chosen for this, Zoey. The Honmoon had the option of any young woman, and it chose you. I understand insecurity and worry, but you were built for this. All I'm meant to do is make you more capable than you already are."

Zoey lets out a harsh breath that almost sounds like a laugh. "I've never been built for anything," she says, "I wasn't even built to pull my shin-kal from the Honmoon."

"Neither was I, but we learn." Celine turns to Zoey then. "We have to, or we will never reach our full potential."

Zoey sits in that for a moment, her fingers running idly and gently along the blade of the shin-kal in her hand. It's a few moments before Zoey mutters something to herself in English that sounds vaguely like, "Better than I was yesterday," before looking up at Celine with a new determination.

"I've got this." Zoey's smile is bright as she bounces on the balls of her feet. "I've totally got this. How hard can it be, right? I mean, Mira and Rumi already learned how to use their left hand. This will be a piece of cake."

Somehow, it is.

Celine had already noticed how fast Zoey learns, but her learning to use her left hand to throw her shin-kal takes no time at all. By the end of the first day, her shin-kal are hitting the edge of the target, and by the third day, Zoey easily lands one barely within the bullseye.

"Hell yeah!" Zoey jumps up and down. "I did it! Did you see that?" She turns on her heel before Celine can congratulate her and goes to where Mira and Rumi are sitting in the shade of the hanok to pull them over. "Look, look!" Zoey points at her shin-kal sticking out from the hay-filled target. "I did that!"

Rumi smiles. "That's amazing, Zoey."

"Sick," Mira says in that way she does, her voice flat but a smirk on her lips. "Can you do it again?"

Zoey rolls her eyes. "Can't you just let me have this?"

"Nope." Mira pops the p. "Hit it again, Zo."

Zoey sticks her tongue out at Mira but she turns and makes another shot.

It lands directly in the middle of the bullseye.

"Suck it!" Zoey turns on Mira. "I can do it again, and I'll do it one more time just to prove to you that I am the best wielder of shin-kal anyone has ever seen in their entire life."

Mira laughs. "Those words sound eerily like what you said when you told Rumi and me that you can do a backflip and landed straight on your head."

"I can also do a backflip!" Zoey turns and takes another shot.

It lands in the second ring, and Celine watches Zoey's lip pull out into a pout before she whispers something to herself and sends another.

This one hits true.

"So I'm not a hundred percent accurate." She shrugs. "Who cares? I only started this on Monday. By debut, I am going to practically be a sniper, and you'll both be jealous."

"Yes, I'm so jealous of a weapon I don't wield." Mira summons her gok-do and holds it out for Zoey. "Would you like to try mine?"

Rumi follows Mira's joke and summons her saingeom. "At least mine is lighter."

Zoey takes the bait, and Celine watches her take Mira's gok-do in both hands, the weight of it dragging her down just so. "Easy peasy." Zoey doesn't do a good job at hiding her strain. "Pft, this is nothing."

"Convincing," Mira snarks, and Rumi snorts out a laugh.

"Okay, you three, that's enough." Celine takes Mira's gok-do from Zoey's hands and easily throws it back to her. "We need to work on consistency for both hands, Zoey, and Mira and Rumi, why don't you both go for a run."

That makes Zoey snicker, and Mira lets out a dramatic groan. "Why are we getting punished?"

"Running isn't a punishment," Celine says, "A punishment is making you weed my garden, and I'd be more than happy to have you do so. I'm getting older, and my knees ache every time."

It's a lie, but it's believable enough that Mira is off in a flash, Rumi just behind her.

Celine hasn't weeded her garden since Rumi grew old enough to love it too. While Celine picks the ripe fruits and vegetables, Rumi pulls the weeds for her because she likes doing it. She likes getting her hands into the dirt and yanking them out, roots and all.

She even recently learned that Rumi doesn't even put them into the compost. She pulls every weed up gently and replants it in the clearing in the woods surrounding the hanok so that they can find a life elsewhere.

"Alright," Celine says to Zoey, "Lets focus on accuracy. Tomorrow, we'll see if we can move to speed."

Huntr/x

The fact that all three members of Huntr/x are ambidextrous is something variety shows love to show off.

It starts off accidentally. When given a pair of chopsticks to eat some strange-looking food, fans notice that Rumi switches hands without thinking, the pair always opposite to Mira or Zoey on either side depending on who she's talking to.

By the time the episode releases, there are zoomed in edits of every time Rumi switches hands, and at the next variety show, the host asks about it.

"We're all ambidextrous," Rumi says with a perfectly rehearsed laugh. "It was a crazy coincidence, but all three of us are pretty capable either way."

Then, the host gives them fun little challenges to show it off, and Mira, Rumi and Zoey all complete each one without even breaking a sweat.

Celine watches the episodes and smiles at the ease of it all despite the fact that she's no longer leading their training. It's clear that it's something all three of them take the time to practice, and Celine writes it down as something to commend them on next time she visits.

For a while, it's just a gimmick that all of the Huntr/x fans adore. All three girls will switch off which hand they write with at fan signings when one gets tired, or they utilize it in a talkshow or variety show, but Celine knows it's keeping them safe.

Two years into their debut, she knows she was right to take the time to teach them, because Mira takes a hit that's bad enough that Huntr/x has to reschedule some meet-ups and two performances. When she arrives at their penthouse, Rumi and Zoey have already patched Mira up, but Mira smiles from her place in her bed and says, "I didn't die because I could use my left on its own."

Her words are a little loopy, pain and the strong meds getting to her brain a little, and as Celine sits on the edge of her bed, Zoey sat on the other side and Rumi pacing the foot, she says, "I told you it's a good skill to have."

"She shouldn't have had to," Rumi says, worry turning into frustration in her voice. "She jumped right in front of a demon coming for me, and I could've handled it."

Mira shakes her head, and she closes her eyes as her head swims. "You weren't paying attention."

"I was!" Rumi stops at the middle of the bed and takes a deep breath. Calmer, she says, "Mira, it was dumb."

"Are you hurt?" Mira asks.

"What?"

Mira's eyes open just a crack. "Are you hurt right now?"

"No, of course not. I-"

Mira cuts Rumi off. "Then I did the right thing," she says with a smile.

Zoey laughs. "Okay, that's enough back and forth." She helps Mira lay further down in bed and pulls the covers up just under Mira's chin. "Go to sleep, Mir. Rumi will be right here to argue with when you wake up."

Rumi groans Zoey's name, but it doesn't really matter because Mira falls asleep in seconds.

"This is your first major injury," Celine says, "I'm impressed."

Rumi crosses her arms. "Why?"

"Two years without an injury serious enough to cancel things is impressive." Celine stands. "It only took a few weeks after our debut for Dae to get hurt bad enough to postpone a few things." She tilts her head to signal to Zoey and Rumi to follow her out to the living room. "It shows you three work well as a group."

"We had to reschedule so much," Rumi argues, "And you told us that if we reschedule too much, it would look bad."

"You three have only ever rescheduled twice before this. Once-" Celine holds up her pointer finger. "-because Zoey got so sick she almost passed out on stage, and once-" Celine holds up her middle finger along with her pointer. "-because of weather that you three cannot control."

"But-"

Zoey comes up behind Rumi and hugs her, Zoey's cheek squishing into Rumi's shoulder. "It's okay." Zoey's voice is soft when she speaks. "Just because we have to reschedule doesn't mean the fans will start hating us. They're still just as excited to see us once Mira gets better."

Celine doesn't quite understand why Zoey's words are more comforting than her own, but she doesn't care all that much when Rumi's shoulders finally untense.

"She shouldn't have taken the hit for me," Rumi says.

"But she did," Zoey argues, everything about her gentle. "We can't change it, and honestly, it's very Mira to do that for us. She would get hit by a bus if it meant keeping us safe."

Rumi melts into Zoey, the only part still tense being her hand holds her hoodie sleeve down over her wrist.

Her patterns have spread, then. Celine was worried this would happen, especially because Rumi's patterns only started to reach past her shoulder after Huntr/x's debut.

She still remembers the first time Rumi noticed it. She had called Celine panicking, her breaths short as she said, "They're down to my elbow. They've never spread before. Why are they spreading?"

Celine didn't have an answer for her then, and she still doesn't have one now.

All she could do was remind Rumi to keep them hidden, to push longer sleeves on her and ignore the voice in her head that keeps saying, "She's becoming more of a demon every day. Hunters kill demons, don't they?"

"I wish she wouldn't." Rumi's voice cuts off Celine's contained spiral.

"Me neither." Zoey nuzzles her cheek against Rumi like a cat making herself comfortable. "I hate when Mira does this, but she's okay. She's safe, and that's really all we can say."

Rumi turns her head enough to look at Zoey, and she notices the same anxiety and worry in Zoey's eyes that Celine does.

Her words are comforting and grounding, but Zoey is doing just as bad as Rumi.

"I'm going to call Bobby and tell him to rearrange your schedules to have the week off," Celine decides.

Rumi, of course, protests. "You don't need to do that. Zoey and I can still show up for everything until Mira's arm gets better."

And there it is again, the parts of Celine that exist in Rumi. She wonders if Rumi is like her just because Celine is the one who raised her.

She wonders how different Rumi would be if Mi-yeong lived.

"I know you two don't want to leave Mira while she's hurt." Celine has her phone out and is scrolling through her contacts. "A week off won't stop you three from making the Honmoon gold."

Celine actively fights the voice in her head telling them to push through. Any other time, she would, but something in the worry and frustration in Rumi's eyes makes her take a card out of Bobby's book.

Mira could've died. She only didn't die because Celine made all three of them work on their non-dominant hand.

Even if Rumi and Zoey aren't hurt, they deserve rest after that.

"You'll still train and rehearse," Celine says, that softer voice getting buried once again. "I want to ensure that you're just as strong when you come back, understood?"

Rumi nods and Zoey says, "Yeah, okay."

"Let me know if you three need anything."

Celine leaves them in their living room, and in the elevator, she has a moment where she feels unsteady.

Mira could've died, she thinks. Zoey and Rumi could've lost one of their hunters like Celine and Dae lost Mi-yeong.

Mi-yeong's death tore Celine and Dae apart, both in their own hearts and against each other's. She hasn't talked to Dae since Rumi was still little, and every single conversation was angry and weighted.

She wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially not the three girls she raised to be the next generation of hunters.

The thought leaves her lightheaded as her heart races, and when the elevator doors open at the ground floor, Celine picks herself up, ignores it, and walks out to the waiting driver.

Her faults and fears must never been seen. No one will know just how hard her heart is racing or the thoughts pilling up more and more, worries about the Honmoon, about Rumi, about her patterns.

Chin up, head straight, eyes forward.

Broken

Celine doesn't get out of bed the morning following the idol awards. She can't. She's so tired, and every time she tries closing her eyes, all she sees is Rumi.

Rumi standing before her, more demon than human.

Rumi knelt in the dirt, her saingeom offered to Celine in order to kill her.

Rumi's voice as she yelled, "Why couldn't you love all of me?"

Rumi, still so little with a laugh that soothed the hard mass of grief forming tar in Celine's heart.

She got a text from Mira earlier to assure her that it was all taken care of. After Rumi left the sacred tree, she ended up in Namsan Tower, and with Mira and Zoey, she did what every grouped of hunters dreamed of doing.

They sealed the Honmoon.

It's not gold, though. Every color refracts off of the chords that have come alive and refuse to ebb away.

"She wanted me to tell you that she needs space," Mira's last text reads, "She'll call you when she's ready."

Celine thought she had found comfort in quiet. She spent so much of her time alone, especially now that Rumi, Mira and Zoey live in Seoul, but this silence makes her feel like she's drowning.

Two days after the idol awards, Celine manages to finally pull herself out of bed for longer than a few minutes. She makes herself something to eat, and she scrolls through all of the notification she missed.

PR doesn't know how to spin Namsan Tower, and everyone barely remembers what happened.

Even Bobby, who Celine is sure knows that something is going on, even if he would never guess demons, doesn't remember succumbing to Gwi-Ma's voice and marching to the tower to await his inevitable death.

Any other day, Celine would already be calling their head of PR and walking them through the best option, but today, Celine just clicks her phone off and sets it facedown on the counter.

She ignores it completely as she forces herself to eat and take a few sips of tea. It's only when her phone starting buzzing over and over that Celine finally remembers it exists.

It's not Rumi. She knows it's not, but she can't help the small bit of hope forcing her hand to reach for her phone.

And she's right. It isn't Rumi.

It's Dae.

Celine answers, and Dae doesn't even wait for her to say anything before she says, "I saw the Honmoon. What the hell happened over there?"

She doesn't know. She wasn't there when Rumi, Mira and Zoey probably needed her most, so she stays silent.

"Celine," Dae says, "What's going on?"

She doesn't know how to answer. How does she tell Dae everything that happened at the sacred tree.

How does she tell someone that Rumi's eyes were devoid of all life even before she asked Celine to put her saingeom through her chest?

"They defeated Gwi-Ma," Celine says weakly, because it's all she can manage.

And it's true. Rumi, Mira and Zoey were faced with Gwi-Ma himself, with a group of demons posing as a boyband specifically sent to dismantle the Honmoon piece by piece.

She doesn't really know what happened at the idol awards, only that it sent Rumi to her with patterns over her muted purple skin and made Rumi believe that the only way to fix it, to save the Honmoon and Mira and Zoey and everyone else, was to kill her.

"You sound dead," Dae says, and Celine lets out a harsh laugh.

It has been so long since she wished that she followed Mi-yeong to the grave on the day she died. For so long, the only thing that stopped her was Rumi bundled up in her arms, so small and completely innocent.

Rumi deserved someone to raise her, and Celine raised her to hate herself.

"Look at me. Why can't you look at me?"

Even as Rumi broke, Celine couldn't even touch her. Rumi, her Rumi, her last piece of Mi-yeong-

Her daughter.

Celine closes her eyes and lets her head fall back to hit the cabinets.

"Rumi, she-" Celine swallows around the lump in her throat. "Mira and Zoey know. She came to me, and she asked me-"

She can't say it.

She can't.

She can't admit all of her failings to Dae.

She can't admit that her worst failing is that the child she loves so much trusted Celine to be the one to kill her, to finish the job.

"Do what you should've done a long time ago."

What Celine should've said is that she never once thought of killing Rumi. Even with her patterns, her little fangs that grew and shrank with emotions, Celine felt too much warmth and too much affection to even think of it.

Somewhere along the years, she made Rumi believe she would.

Dae doesn't make her say. She was always so good at reading between the lines.

Mi-yeong always needed things explained clearly and explicitly. She struggled with subtlty, but Dae was a master of intentions. She always knew what Celine was trying to say better than Celine herself.

So, she knows exactly what Rumi asked Celine to do, because nothing else she asked would leave Celine like this.

"You didn't," Dae says softly, and it's not a question or an accusation. It's just the knowledge that she knows Celine would never be able to make herself. "You didn't do it, Celine."

"I made her think I would." Celine coughs out another humorless laugh as tears start to fall. "I made her believe that I was the only person who could do it, because I'm the one who told her to hide and not trust Mira and Zoey. I made her think that if Mira and Zoey knew, they wouldn't love her and they may even try to kill her. Everything that happened to her last night happened because I raised Rumi to be ashamed of herself. I was always so worried about Gwi-Ma possibly whispering in her ear, and it didn't matter, because I did it instead."

That last sentence hangs in the air between them, and she hears Dae let out a sigh.

"You're not completely to blame," she says, and before Celine can argue, Dae continues, "Rumi is a perfect anomally, and no one knew exactly what to do."

"You didn't think she should hide."

"I also left when fighting and arguing with you became too much."

Celine lets her head fall back against the cabinets, tears still flowing over her cheeks. "Do you ever wonder what would've happened if Mi-yeong lived?"

It's a question she's never asked Dae. She never had any reason to.

When Mi-yeong died, she took the pieces of Celine and Dae's hearts housed in her own onto the afterlife. It's a piece of themselves they knew they would never get back.

Dae laughs, and Celine can hear the tears painting it. "Maybe if she lived, she would've told us that the man who got her pregnant was a demon."

There's a moment silence, then another, and then Dae says, "They really sealed the Honmoon."

"They did."

With all of their faults and fears on full display.

Celine not only has to somehow come to terms with hers and Rumi's relationship crumbling, but also the fact that everything she was taught, everything she spent so long drilling into Rumi, Mira and Zoey, was a lie.

Rumi never needed to hide. She never needed to feel ashamed by the very thing that gave her the strength to make something new.

Mira's anger wasn't a liability.

Zoey's insecurity didn't make her weak.

But Celine made them think all of those things.

"Do you need me there?" Dae asks, "I know it's been a while, but you shouldn't be on your own."

Celine's gut instinct is to say no, but something in her, something that feels sixteen and finding people who finally like her for once, has her wiping her eyes and saying, "You're not going to yell at me when you get here, right?"

Dae laughs. "Who knows? I'll be on the next plane out."

Rebuilding

It takes Rumi a few weeks to finally reach out to Celine, but when she does, Celine almost misses her call in hesitation.

"Why are you being dumb?" Dae asks as her phone rings. "Pick it up!"

"I-" Celine has been tripping over her words more and more lately. "I can't."

"I will then."

Dae grabs the phone out of Celine's hand before Celine can even think, and when she answers the phone, she says, "Hey, Rumi, it's Dae."

Celine hears Rumi's voice on the other side ask, "But I called Celine?"

"Did you?" Dae pulls Celine's phone from her ear and looks at it like Rumi is here to see her performance. "Oh wow, would you look at that. This isn't my phone at all. Well, Celine is right here, so I'll hand you over."

She slips Celine's phone into her hand, pulls both up to her ear, and leaves Celine alone.

"Celine?" Rumi's voice asks.

Just hearing it has tears searing at the back of her eyes, and she says, "I'm here."

She hears muffled voices on the other side that must be Mira and Zoey, but Celine can't hear what they're saying.

Rumi doesn't say anything at first, just sits on the line like she's waiting to see if Celine will say something first.

She used to do it when she was younger, before media training kicked the habit, and it makes Celine's heart constrict tight.

She shouldn't have to wait on Celine to say something.

Celine is the one who has everything to fix.

"I'm sorry." Celine takes a deep breath. "Rumi, I'm so sorry that I ever made you ashamed for being who you are."

"I-" Rumi takes a deep breath too. "Thank you."

There's another long silence before Rumi asks, "Is Dae really there with you?"

Celine smiles. She forgets, sometimes, that Dae and Rumi have their own relationship outside of Celine. She knows that Dae makes sure to call and send gifts for every holiday and major event, even if she's made the option to spend her time far away from Korea and from Celine. "She is. After you three sealed the Honmoon, we started fixing what was broken."

She doesn't mention that Dae is the only reason Celine has been even slightly presentable every time she's made an appearance at Sunlight Entertainment, or that she's made most of Celine's meals and made sure that Celine actually sat down to eat.

"That's-" Rumi's voice catches. "That's good."

More silence, and in it, Celine hears Mira's voice say closer to the receiver, "I know."

She doesn't need to ask anything before she hears Rumi sniffle a bit.

Celine has never been good with emotions. Growing up, her mother never really let her express anything. Even before training, the feeling of hiding her faults and fears came directly from her mother's actions, the way she would squeeze Celine's shoulder tight if she were anything but polite or the way her eyes would catch Celine's if her posture slipped.

She hadn't thought it affected her that deeply until she met Mi-yeong and Dae. Where Celine hid everything, Mi-yeong was an open book, and Dae's pages weren't necessarily hidden either. They expressed love like it was as easy as breathing, and even though Celine started off stiff and unfriendly, neither of them let her stay that way for long.

In the shade of the sacred tree, Celine learned to be open too, but all of that left the moment Mi-yeong died and Dae left.

She needs it now, though. She can't keep being like this if she wants Rumi to be in her life.

"It's okay, aegiya," Celine says gently into the phone, "It's okay, I'm here, and I am so proud of you."

"You are?"

The fact that Rumi has to ask shatters her.

"Of course I am." Tears start falling over Celine's cheeks, but she ignores them. "I am so proud of the person you are and the person you became despite everything I made you hide, and I'm so proud of you now for living exactly as you are. I never should have made you believe your patterns were anything but a part of you, and as a part of you, they're just as amazing as you are."

Rumi doesn't say anything, but Celine still hears the sound of crying on the other end.

"I know there's a lot to fix," Celine continues, "And I know it's on me to do so, and I want to fix this, Rumi." She takes in a deep, shaky breath and lets it out. "Whenever you're ready, I'm going to do everything I can to make up for how I raised you."

Still, Rumi doesn't talk, but Celine hears the sound of shuffling on the other end, and it's Mira who talks next.

"She's overwhelmed," Mira says, her voice gentle but still so clearly protective. "This has all been a lot on her."

"I know." Celine nods like Mira can see her. "I know it has. She can call me whenever she's ready, okay?"

She wants to add on that she loves Rumi, that she's sorry again, and she'll be so sorry for the rest of her life, but Mira hangs up.

~*~

Celine doesn't hear from Rumi again for another few weeks.

Instead, she gets little updates from Bobby about how the girls are doing on their hiatus, and every now and then, they'll post a picture to their social medias.

There's one picture on Rumi's private Instagram that makes Celine smile as she double taps to like it.

It's Rumi, Mira and Zoey in the penthouse, all three of them in dorky pajamas that Zoey clearly picked out for them. Mira's pajama pants have birds all over them, Zoey's have turtles and Rumi has a blue tiger's face on hers.

Rumi is in a tank top, and Celine can just barely see Rumi's patterns against her skin, their dormant state something new and almost scar-like compared to the muted purple they've been her whole life.

And Celine wonders for a moment why Rumi decided this picture is only for her private Instagram until she sees it.

Mira and Zoey are on either side of Rumi, all of them huddled together, but while Rumi is smiling at the camera, Mira and Zoey are looking at Rumi like she hung the stars in the sky. Their looks are both so soft and so clearly in love, and she wonders if Mira and Zoey have posted something similar to their own private Instagrams.

She doesn't check.

She's just happy that despite everything, Rumi has two people in her life that love her exactly how she should be loved.

Celine clicks her screen off and tries to ignore the ever-growing hole in the heart while she waits.

~*~

A knock at the door has Celine drying her hands, her dishes only halfway done.

She doesn't know who would knock in the middle of the day unless Dae forgot her key, and even then, she knows that Celine keeps the door to the hanok unlocked unless it's nighttime.

On the other side, though, is Rumi.

Celine is so shocked that she doesn't say anything for a moment. She just stands there, one hand gripping the door, the other resting on the door frame, until finally everything catches up to her.

"I didn't know you were coming," Celine says.

Rumi's arms are firmly at her side, but Celine can see the way she fidgets with the end of her sweater's sleeves. "It was a spur of the moment decision. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not." Celine moves out of the doorway. "This will always be your home, and you're always welcome here. I hope you know that."

Before taking a step inside, Rumi looks back over her shoulder for just a moment, and Celine can guess where she's looking.

She hasn't gone beneath the sacred tree since that night. She's only ever tried once, but despite the rain and the wind kicking up the dirt, she swears she can still see where Rumi's knees dug into the earth, her saingeom raised for Celine to take.

For Celine to-

Rumi steps inside, and she toes off her shoes.

"Would you like some tea?" Celine asks, unsure of what else to do.

Rumi nods. "Tea would be great."

So, Celine leads them into the kitchen, and she motions for Rumi to sit as she starts the kettle and gets out two mugs.

"Are Mira and Zoey with you?" Celine asks to fill the silence.

"No, I had them wait back at the tower."

Celine wonders how much convincing it took for Rumi to come here on her own. She knows Mira and Zoey well enough to know that they're both likely back at the tower waiting by their phones, both ready to just into action at a moment's notice for Rumi.

The teapot starts to whistle, and Celine pours two cups before sitting across the table and handing Rumi hers.

"It's warm out today," Celine comments instead of asking why Rumi chose to wear a sweater now that everyone knows.

On reflex, Rumi's hands pull the sleeves of her sweater down, and Celine reaches across before her brain can catch up.

She rests a hand on Rumi's, and when Rumi's eyes shoot up, Celine lets her go quickly.

"Sorry, sorry." Celine's hand grabs the mug's handle. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I just-" Rumi lets out a sigh. "I'm still getting used to it, the whole not covering up and not having to hide, and wearing a sweater feels safe when I-"

Her sentence trails off, and no matter how Rumi planned to end it, Celine can fill in every option.

Rumi doesn't feel safe right now.

She still feels the need to cover up.

She might even be scared that Celine will pull her sweater sleeves down for her, just like she used to pull the sleeve of Rumi's t-shirts down whenever her patterns peaked out from underneath.

"I know hearing it won't fix it, but you don't need to hide around me, Rumi." Celine blows on her tea and focuses on the heat of the mug under her hand. "I'm not going to tell you to cover up."

Rumi lets out a breathy, humorless laugh. "As if I could even cover them anymore."

She's right. Her patterns come down from her hairline and travel up and around her throat. Celine can even see them across the back of Rumi's hands as Rumi lifts her mug to take a sip, and all of them seem to catch the sunlight coming in from the kitchen window and reflect back opalescent.

"They're different," Celine says.

"I don't know why," Rumi says, "When I got to Namsan Tower, they were still purple and pink, but something about me accepting this part made them become this." She motions to her covered arm, and Celine watches the Honmoon come to life under Rumi's fingertips and reflect in the few patterns Celine can see.

It's truly something else, the way the Honmoon and Rumi seem to almost be one now, Rumi's patterns more like the strings of the Honmoon rather than demon patterns.

"Dae is the historian out of the two of us, so she may have a bit more information for you, if you'd like, but if I had to guess, it's because the Honmoon recognizes you as a hunter and half-demon."

"I already called Dae, and that's what she said too." Rumi smiles down into her tea. "For once, though, I'm okay with it being kind of a mystery."

It's completely not like Rumi to let a question go unanswered. Celine spent all of Rumi's childhood answering all of the questions she had about hunters and combat, about the garden Rumi helped her with, about anything and everything Rumi wondered about as a child. If Celine couldn't give Rumi the answer, then Rumi would ask her tutors or find it on her own, and she would always tell Celine what she found.

For her to decide not to dive headfirst into research is new, and it makes Celine smile.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while, Celine waiting for Rumi to talk whenever she's ready, but as the minutes pass by, and as Rumi starts to fidget more and more, Celine asks, "Would you like to help me in the garden?"

Rumi looks up at her, and Celine sees her at five-years-old, her eyes so wide and full of wonder that Celine wants her to help.

"Uh, sure." Rumi grabs Celine's mug and her own to take to the sink. "What needs to get done?"

She leans back, her hands bracing on the counter, as Celine gets up from her seat. "Pruning and weeding, mostly, and never fear. I've kept your field of weeds filled with all of those that don't go into the compost."

Rumi laughs. "You really didn't have to do that. I just did it because I felt bad for the dandelions, and if I made sure to save the dandelions, I had to save the other weeds too."

"Of course I had to. It's yours," Celine says.

Something in Rumi seems to start at that, and Celine doesn't know what to say, so she adds, "It's thriving as well."

"Really?"

Celine nods. "Really. The dandelions have gone a bit wild, but it's truly beautiful to go out there."

"Can we go today?"

"Where else would we replant the weeds?" Celine asks with a smile.

They go out into the garden, Rumi just a step behind Celine, and she doesn't even need to tell Rumi what to do. Rumi pulls on a pair of gloves and starts at the plot of vegetables right by the flower bed Celine kneels in front of, and they work together quietly.

For a while, there's only the sound of the wind through tree leaves and the soft song of wind chimes. Celine hums under her breath, and the Honmoon fades in and out around her, joining her song until she realizes Rumi has joined her too.

They work until they have a wheelbarrow full of weeds, and Rumi takes the handles from Celine with a soft, "Let me," as they push it in the direction of the clearing.

Celine has been here a lot recently. The night of the idol awards, after Rumi vanished, Celine came directly here, and she's made sure to visit this clearing at least a few times a week.

They start to plant the dandelions into the free space closest to them, and Rumi laughs as she does it. "You know, I really thought I was keeping this from you as a kid."

"If you were keeping this a secret, you should've been a bit sneakier," Celine jokes, "I know I taught you stealth better than that."

"Yeah, as a hunter," Rumi argues back, her voice light, "I can sneak up on any demon there is, but how was I supposed to be stealthy with a bucket of weeds?"

"If you do not know that answer, then I've failed you," Celine says, her voice mock-grave.

Then the reality of Celine's words sink in for both of them, Rumi keeping her eyes on the dandelion in her hands and Celine watching her.

"I'm sorry," Celine says, "For just how true that statement is."

"You didn't fail me," Rumi whispers.

"I did." Celine rests a hand over Rumi's. "I failed you in so many ways. You never should've felt ashamed for who you are, and in trying to help you, I made you feel as though there was something to be ashamed of, but I don't want to be that person for you anymore, Rumi. I want to be someone you can feel safe with."

Rumi looks up, tears shining in her eyes, and Celine pulls her into a hug.

"I love you, Rumi," Celine says, her own voice thick with tears, "I never should have made you wonder that was true or not, and I'm going to spend every single day making up for what I did."

Rumi hugs her back, and Celine lets out a sigh of relief that she didn't realize she was holding onto. "I love you, Celine."

Dae finds them in the clearing later, the setting sun casting everything in gold as Rumi and Celine plant the rest of the weeds around those still fighting, still thriving and living beautiful as they are.

After

Celine holds her grandchild like she is the most precious thing in the world, and she is.

Ryu Jia is only a day old, but already, she has three mothers who love her with everything that they have and are and two grandmothers ready to spoil her.

"How's Zoey?" Dae asks as she takes the seat next to Celine.

"Better." Jia sneezes in her sleep, and Celine smiles at how small and cute it is. "We've been put on grandparent duty so that the three of them can have a moment for Zoey to rest with Mira and Rumi by her side."

"I'm surprised they were able to let Jia go," Dae jokes, "Has she even been put down into her bassinet?"

Celine honestly isn't sure, and she's definitely not about to disturb Mira, Rumi and Zoey's peace to do so.

She would argue it's because they deserve a second of peace before life becomes truly hectic, but if Celine is being honest with herself, she doesn't want to let Jia go.

Dae runs a hand over the hat covering Jia's head. "She really is perfect, isn't she?"

"As perfect as Rumi was."

Dae laughs. "Thank god Jia came into the world in a quieter moment."

That makes Celine laugh too.

Rumi's birth was frantic, Celine and Dae fighting while Mi-yeong fought to stay alive, to bring Rumi into the world, to have just one moment with her daughter in her arms. Sometimes, even with all of time between then and now, Celine will dream about it, about the fear and the grief as Mi-yeong rested a hand on Celine's cheek and said, "She's yours now, okay? Treat her like she's yours."

"They deserve quiet," Celine says softly.

"They do," Dae agrees.

Jia's face scrunches, and Celine prepares herself for crying just as the door across from them opens.

It's Rumi, bags under her eyes but a smile shining bright on her lips. "Zoey said she may be exhausted but she's willing to fight you for Jia back."

"One more minute," Celine says, "And then she won't have to fight me at all."

Mira comes up behind Rumi, her arms crossed and her shoulder leaning against the door frame. She looks just as tired as Rumi, but even still, Celine can see the way her lips quirk up in the corners. "You're really going to deny one of the mothers of your beloved granddaughter?"

Celine laughs. "Fine, fine, I'll give her back."

Dae takes Jia before Mira or Rumi can. "Actually, I think it's my turn with our adorable new addition."

Mira rolls her eyes. "You two are insufferable."

"Just wait until Bobby comes back," Celine says mischieviously, "Between the three of us, you three will never hold Jia ever again."

Rumi teleports, the red smoke startling despite how often Rumi uses it nowadays, and before Dae and Celine know it, Jia is back in Rumi's arms. "You two can have another turn after you've learned how to share."

That makes Mira, Dae and Celine laugh, and they follow her back into the room where Zoey is making grabby hands in Rumi's direction.

"Grandmothers are currently banned from Jia," Mira says as Rumi gently sets Jia down on Zoey's chest. "We tried to get her back and Dae stole her."

"Celine took my entire turn." Dae huffs as she slumps into one of the seats.

"Three generation right here in this room, and somehow Dae is acting the most childish," Mira says, and that earns her a glare from Dae and a laugh from Celine.

Mira leans back on the edge of Zoey's bed and trades joking barbs with Dae as Celine takes a seat and watches Rumi with Zoey and Jia.

"Are you feeling a bit more rested?" Rumi asks, her voice just barely loud enough for Celine to hear her. She takes a seat on the side of Zoey's bed and brushes some of Zoey's hair off of her forehead.

"Yeah." Zoey holds Jia close and sinks into the comfort Rumi is giving her. "I still feel like I could sleep for a century, but this is nice."

Rumi leans down and gives Zoey a soft kiss. "You know Mira and I don't mind watching over her so you can keep sleeping."

"I know, and I know it's not really all that logical, but I feel better when Jia's here," Zoey says, "It feels weird when she's not."

Mira moves from her spot at the end of the bed to Zoey's other side and runs the back of a finger down Zoey's cheek. "You can sleep if you want to, jagiya. We'll make sure nothing happens to her."

Zoey's eyes slip closed, her cheek just barely squished against Jia's head. "I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Nothing will," Rumi promises, "Mira and I will be right here, and we'll make sure you're both okay."

"Okay." Zoey's voice is just a release of breath, and Celine sees Jia reach out and wrap a hand around Zoey's pointer finger in her sleep.

She wonders, for a moment, if this could've been her, Dae and Mi-yeong in another life, Rumi held safely in Mi-yeong's arms while Celine and Dae kept watch over both of them. She imagines herself in Mira's place, Mi-yeong safe and alive beside her while Dae cracks jokes to get Mi-yeong smiling.

The image only lasts a moment, but it makes Celine smile, because even if they didn't have it then, Rumi, Mira and Zoey have it now.

The Honmoon comes to life beneath their feet, and Celine watches the small patterns across Jia's cheeks light up along with it.

It makes Mira breath out a laugh and Rumi's eyes go wide.

"They're not dormant." Mira's voice stays low to keep from waking up Zoey and Jia. "They're like yours."

Rumi's patterns like up iridescent, the light muted. "I didn't know if they would be. Mine weren't until they spread." She smiles. "She won't grow up thinking they're bad."

"Of course not." Mira reaches across Zoey to cup Rumi's cheek. "She'll see her patterns and know they came from you, that they're just as beautiful as every single part of her."

"Too loud," Zoey grumbles, her arm coming up to grab at Mira's and pull her to lay down with her. There's barely any force behind it, but Mira still complies, her body laid out in the small sliver of bed available to her with a hand next to Zoey's on Jia's back.

"You too," Mira tells Rumi, tugging at her sleeve, and Rumi lays down with a soft laugh.

"We can't fall asleep," Rumi says despite just how tired she sounds. "Someone needs to stay up to make sure Jia's okay."

Celine takes out her phone to grab a picture of the four of them, Jia laid on Zoey's chest and each of them with a hand on Jia's back. "Get some sleep," she says, "Dae and I will make sure nothing happens to her."

"Are you sure?" Rumi asks, and despite the fact that Rumi is thirty, that she's had an entire career and sealed the Honmoon, Celine still sees the little girl who would fall asleep curled up against her.

Rumi used to ask her the same thing when Celine told her to take a nap after hours of training, her little voice so tired while Rumi actively fought falling asleep.

"I'm sure," Celine says as Rumi's eyes slip closed. "We'll be right here."