Morning came and with it, the rain. It had been blessedly dry for most of the night, though the sound of the trees dripping onto the tarpaulin had invaded Chorong's dreams. She woke feeling as if she hadn't slept at all, her muscles sounding their protest as she sat up on her bedroll.

The fire had gone out sometime in the night, and though it was cold, neither of them bothered relighting it. Now Daehyun crouched beside it in the early morning light, using straw from the tinder box they carried to restart the flames on the coals. He glanced at her when she sat up, though he merely gave a smile and turned back to his work.

"Do we have time for that?" she asked groggily, one hand coming up to rub the sleep from her eyes. She craved the warmth and a hot meal, for sure, but she was worried about Himchan. "What if he finds us?"

Daehyun frowned and shook his head. "If he could track us after that rainstorm yesterday, then we have no chance of outrunning him anywhere we go. I know the man, he's not the best tracker. We have time."

She deferred to his judgement and rose from her bedroll, stretching out her limbs as she stood. She was lucky to be short, she realized, as her fingers brushed the top of the tarpaulin. Grabbing her coat, she shrugged into it, picked up her pack, and headed out to take care of morning business. It was uncomfortable doing so in the pouring rain, but oh well. By the time she returned to their campsite, her skirt was already drenched and she felt like a drowned rat.

"By the gods," she grumbled as she stepped back underneath the protection of the oiled cloth. "It's misery out there!" She lifted her skirts to wring them out, watching the water flow from the dark fabric with a bit of disgust. "We have to travel in this, don't we?" she asked, a bit forlorn, and her mood only soured when Daehyun nodded.

He had gotten the fire going, though, and that was enough to at least ease the frown from her lips. She moved closer to it and shivered in pleasure as the heat cut through her general chill. Daehyun gave her a long look before he turned away to the pack horse panniers that he had brought into their shelter the night before. After digging for a moment, he emerged with a blanket that he motioned at her with.

"If you take those off they'll dry faster," he said, eyes dropping to her wet clothing. 

She considered his words, considered the blanket he held out, then shook her head slowly. "I have another dress in my pack," she explained. "Can, um, can you hold the blanket for me to change behind?" She tried to not allow the blush to spread over her cheeks as she said it, but it didn't work and her ears felt like they were burning as she finished.

He bit his lower lip as if to stop a smile and nodded in agreement. Chorong stepped to the back of the shelter and he stepped close, lifting the blanket overhead to both cover her and block his view of her. She heaved a sigh as she thought of what she was about to do, and how her mother would be so upset with her for doing so. And yet, she had no choice. Her dress was filthy; she hadn't had the chance to change since first coming on this journey, and after a week of getting wet and drying off again and again, she could smell it. The beautiul black garment smelled like mold and as she finished undoing the buttons and dropped it at her feet, she gave a sigh of relief.

Now her lower undergarments and stockings, those she had been able to change, using the privacy of her skirts to do so. She took the chance now anyway, and slipped out of her now-torn corset and underthings and into fresh ones from her pack, setting the map to the side. She realized with dismay this was her last clean bit of clothing, and knew that she would have to wash them soon so she could have more. Maybe even now, actually, she thought, looking out at the still pouring rain. She couldn't imagine Himchan was searching for them in this downpour.

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