“Qian? Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in fate?”

Qian put down her half-empty teacup to look at the girl in front of her. Qian had been very surprised when Jia started to enable her emotions, or her “armour” as the girl called it. Now, the past few times Jia had come around for tea, she seemed normal, smiling and laughing instead of her previous icy silence.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I believe that FeiFei bringsus together for her own reasons, and that she sets us on our path in life. As for love, I’ve never experienced love at first sight myself.”

Jia pressed for more. “Have you ever been in love?” she asked, setting her own cup down on the table.

Qian nodded slowly, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. “When I was younger,” she said.

“What did it feel like?” Jia’s eyes were focused on Qian, and she was leaning forward slightly, eager to hear what Qian had to say.

“It felt…like the highlight of my day was that person. No matter how I was feeling, whenever I saw him I brightened up, even if we were arguing.” Qian narrowed her eyes. “Why are you so interested in love all of a sudden?”

Jia looked down, silently adding a cube of sugar to her tea as a pale pink flushed her face.

Qian raised an eyebrow. “Is there someone…?” she trailed off. Qian wasn’t sure if it was suitable for a person like Jia to be in love, not when she was risking her life. It would be too easy for those savage Wolves to use love against her. Although Qian preferred the emotional Jia to the expressionless Jia, Qian knew that FeiFei wanted emotionless soldiers. Qian was a little worried, in case Jia’s new feelings cost the girl her life.

“Well…” Jia began, finding interest in her fingernails. “A while back, when I had my armour up, I met somebody. We were talking and suddenly, something he said caused a reaction in me. Whatever he said, my armour came crashing down and I washed with emotions. After a moment I managed to put the armour back up again, but the same thing happened a few minutes later.” Jia looked up.

“Ever since, I’ve had my armour down a lot. When I’m scared, I fight even better! But around others…” Jia chewed her lip. “The others aren’t nice. They call me things like “emotionless monster” and the like, and although I know I shouldn’t pay any heed, every word is like my own arrow in my heart. FeiFei said that my feelings are all magnified because I haven’t had them in years. But the feelings when I’m around the others are so painful, I always end up putting my armour up. So I only have my armour down in three situations, when I’m with you, when I’m fighting and…”

“When you’re with the boy who caused it to come down in the first place,” Qian said, frowning. She didn’t find this progress exactly…encouraging.

Jia nodded. “And seeing as my feelings are magnified…I think I might be in love with him. I thought maybe that…that I was destined to fall in love with him, and that is why he managed to make my armour fall.”

Qian’s frown deepened. “That could be possible…I guess. But keep these feelings to yourself, if one of the Wolves found out they wouldn’t hesitate in using it against you.”

Jia’s face darkened. “The other thing is…I don’t know if I can trust him. I try not to, I try to be cautious, but in my heart I know I trust him. What should I do?”

Qian shrugged. “I don’t know much about love, Jia. But if your feelings are this strong, I guess the only thing I can tell you is to trust your heart. Who is it anyway? I know a lot of the villagers, I might know him.”

Jia picked up her cup and trained the remaining tea. “Thanks for the advice Qian, I have to go,” she said, standing up.

Suspicion reared its head in Qian’s mind at Jia’s attempt at avoiding the question. “Jia,” she said, sterner this time. “Who?”

“Thanks again!” Jia donned her coat, walking out of the cottage door down the path to the forest track. Frowning, Qian called after her.

“It’s not one of them is it?” They both knew who they were.

Jia just kept walking.

Mir was leaning against an oak tree when Jia arrived at the clearing.

They had found the clearing the previous week. It wasn’t anything special, but it offered a little privacy and it was ideal, only a ten minute walk through the woods north of the track. There was less chance of them being spotted than if they kept meeting on the path, so the clearing became their new meeting place.

Mir wore the same dirty, tattered clothes, he wore every day, but his shoulder was incased in dirty off-white bandages. Seeing them sent a knife of guilt twinging into Jia’s stomach.

“Sorry,” she said by way of guilty.  She was both excited and nervous; she loved seeing Mir, but she couldn’t help blame herself for the injury he gained the previous night.

Mir tried his usual smile, but it was replaced by a wince when he moved forwards to greet her.

“Did you shoot me? No. So stop apologising Jia.”

“But, you did it so I could get away.”

“I’m aware.” Mir sat down at the bottom of the tree trunk, he patted to the space beside him, gesturing for Jia to sit.

“Maybe…maybe we should stop meeting each other.” Jia didn’t want to say those words, but they needed to be said. She sat beside Mir.

Mir, for his part, looked genuinely hurt. “Why would you say that?”

Jia sighed. “It’s wrong for you to be sabotaging your tribe. I know it saved my life, but you shouldn’t have to hurt them to save me. They are your kin after all. We haven’t known each other a year.”

To Jia’s astonishment, Mir laughed. “Please Jia,” he said. “They’re my tribe, I’m related to some of them by blood, but they are not my friends. I’m like…I’m the guy who you act polite to, because he’s good with an axe, but behind his back, you . For his size, for his appearance, for his age, whatever. You’re one of my only friends Jia, I don’t want to lose you.” Mir (with a slight wince) took Jia’s right hand in between the two of his. Jia bit her lip, wondering if Mir could hear her heart thundering.

“My shoulder hurts a lot. I can barely breathe without it throbbing, if I move it’s like being stabbed, and every time I’m still I can imagine the arrowhead piercing my flesh again,” he said, dead serious. The fact that Mir was serious was something else; usually he had laughter in his eyes and a joke on his tongue.

“But Jia, I would do it again, if it meant sparing you. I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable with attacking Huang Shi – I never saw the point in hurting those people because their ancestors wronged our ancestors. I secretly thought to myself before I even met you, that scary as you seemed, you were on the right side. The only reason I attacked you, was because I was afraid; if the others had found out I’d had a chance to kill you and didn’t use it, they’d hurt me. Being with you though… it made me brave. It gave me the courage to lie to the Wolves, it gave me the courage to try and save you last night.”

Jia sat in silence, not meeting Mir’s chocolate eyes, which were trained on her. In truth, she was moved by Mir’s speech, and she felt strange inside. No one had ever spoken like that before, and she was a rush of emotions, affection for Mir, gratitude for his words, and shame at not being to tell him how she felt. Finally, she looked up.

“You don’t seem to like them much,” she said, her voice soft.

Mir nodded. “They’re horrible. What did I do to get born amongst them?”

An idea sparked in Jia’s mind. “If you hate them so much, come with me?” Jia moved so that she was kneeling in front of Mir.

“Huh?” Mir looked confused.

“Come with me, back to the village!” Jia leaned forward slightly, the idea sounding better and better the more she spoke. “I’ll tell them you’re with me, and at night you can help me fight the Wolves off. Then you won’t have to be with them, and I won’t have to be lonely anymore and-“

“I’m sorry Jia, but things aren’t that simple.” Mir sighed, and for a moment he looked tired, and a lot older than he was. “They would never welcome me Jia. It has happened before. I would be hanged.”

Jia’s sudden of brilliance deflated, leaving her with hot tears pricking her eyes. “It’s not fair,” she whispered. “You’re the only one I trust, but you have to be the enemy.”

“Hey, don’t cry!” Mir hastily whispered. “It’ll be okay Jia. We managed to be friends all through this time, we can stay together. You are my best friend after all.” Mir leaned back slightly, watching Jia hastily wipe any spilt tears away with the heel of her hand.

“You know something, Jia? I haven’t known you for very long, but I feel as if I’ve been with you my whole life. I think we were destined to meet that day, and that we were destined to become friends.”

Jia raised her head, slightly confused. Hadn’t she said as much to Qian not an hour ago?

Mir realized his throat was dry, and he gulped loudly. When Jia spoke of going to the village with her, he had realized how much he wanted it. He wanted a new life, he wanted a safe future, and he wanted to spend his days with Jia at his side. He bit his lip for a moment, before doing something neither of them expected him to do.

He kissed Jia.

It was a light kiss, just a mere brushing of their lips together. For Jia, it felt as if her stomach just pirouetted right out of sensibility; she felt as if she’d swallowed butterflies. A warm sensation seemed to flow through her body, and her cheeks turned as red as her cloak. Without even realising, a smile tugged at her lips.

For Mir, one thought formed in his head; “what took you so long?”

They sat in a pleasantly surprised silence for a moment, both grinning at each other. Mir brought his good hand up to cup Jia’s cheek. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before leaning in towards Mir.

For a second time, their lips met. This time the kiss was longer, but just as sweet. Mir’s thumb gently caressed the Red Riding Hood’s cheekbone, as Jia placed her hands on the Wolf’s shoulders.

Jia wasn’t sure how long they stayed in the clearing, just kissing and holding hands and talking and kissing some more, but her heart was filled with happiness. She felt as if it was her and Mir against the world, she felt nothing would break her delight, and she felt she was unstoppable.

Meanwhile, another pair of eyes watched from the trees.

Seungho had called a war council of the Five Warriors, but Mir was nowhere to be found. Joon was sent to look for him, and he started his search where Mir was last seen; the well.

Mir wasn’t at the well, so Joon searched the nearby woods until he reached a clearing. And what did he find there?

Young Mir himself, with the Red Riding Hood in his lap, kissing as if there was no tomorrow.

Joon felt betrayed. He hadn’t known Mir well, but the fact that one of his own, one of the Five Warriors was fooling around with the greatest enemy they’d faced in years? Well that wasn’t good.

Joon left the two in the clearing, a plan already beginning to form in his head.

A plan where he would use Mir against the little Red Riding Hood.