The seven-year-old woke before dawn, just as she had planned. She slipped out of bed, not wanting to wake the vision of her guardian sleeping there. She quietly got dressed in her old, slightly too small tan and white dress, the one she did not care about getting dirty. She bit her lip as she looked back at her bed, Taeyeon's dragon form still there sound asleep. She smile and suppressed the laugh that nearly escaped her. She had a present to get him!

Sooyeon crept out of the house as she wrapped her brown shawl around herself to ward off the cool morning air. She was doing her best to not wake her parents. She did not want them to hear her or see her. They had already told her that she was too young to be leaving the house by herself when she tried to slip out once before. And considering the time of day, what day it was, and where she was going, if she was caught she would be in big trouble. So she had to be as quiet as possible... and as quick as possible.

The little girl hurried down the dark streets, glad her shoes had soft soles so there was not clacking noise as she ran down the cobbles. She did not want to alert anyone to her presence. She glanced up at the sky, seeing that it was steadily growing lighter. It seemed to be racing her, teasing her that the sun would rise before she could complete the task she had set for herself. She had to hurry. She wanted flowers... This time of year the only place flowers bloomed was up on the mountainside near Lord Kim's lair. But that was a long way to go for her short legs in such a short amount of time. She should have left the house earlier!

By the time she had reached the edge of town, she was running as fast as she could. Her long, golden brown hair bobbed up and down in its pigtails that were tied up by white ribbons. She hurried to the stream that cascaded down the eastern mountain – the mountain that was off-limits to everyone in town. But she had to go up there. That was where the flowers were. She hurried up the edge of the stream until she reached a small field of lavender flowers under the presence of a gnarled oak. She smiled at the flowers and went to the center of them. She quickly set about picking the most beautiful ones she could find.

As dawn drew ever closer, she gathered the purple flowers faster and faster. Each had dozens of the small flowers abloom on them, even though it was just the Spring Equinox. She smiled, though. She hoped Taeyeon would like them. They were going to be his offering from her for protecting her for the past several months. But, she could not tell him why she gave them to him. Her parents would question her about that if she did. She knew he would understand why she gave them to him, though.

When she could hold no more of the flowers in her little hand, she stood from the field and began to skip happily down the mountain at the edge of the stream. She was not thinking that she needed to rush before other people in town saw her. She was not thinking her parents might be awake already and looking for her worriedly.

It was when she was nearly at the bottom of the slope when she stopped and felt suddenly very sheepish. Her mother was standing not far away with her hands on her hips and looking furious. The child frowned. She had been caught. Now she would be in trouble... She slowly walked to her mother.

"Sooyeon! You know that's Lord Kim's mountai