‘Alright,’ Woohyun led Hyunsu to a small area that had a strange scent that seemed strangely familiar to her. Immediately she recognized the hides that were stretched out on wooden frames. ‘We are going to make some parchment paper,’ he grinned as he tugged her to one of the frames. ‘We enjoy writing out history, keeps from certain things from getting diluted over time, unlike your story songs.’ He waved his hand flamboyantly before picking up a bowl full of a grainy powder. ‘Today we will partake in the creation of our paper!’ He shoved the bowl into her hands before picking up another one.

 ‘R-right,’ Hyunsu gulped and looked down at the powder, she had no idea what he said and well she had already gotten used to his speaking without reason. He seemed to think that if he spoke more, without telling her what he was saying, she would somehow become fluent.

 ‘You have to rub the powder into the hide, it’ll make it smooth,’ he picked up a damp cloth, dropped it into the bowl to collect the powder then started rubbing the pumice into the hide. Sighing she copied him, she had tried to help with creating parchment paper before but she always got held back. The only time her village made parchment was in the summer and that was when the Lord of the village would pay those who were not well off so they could gain some money to buy supplies from the caravans before winter. Since apparently her family was too far up the social chain she was unable to assist, even if she refused pay.

 ‘I know what this is,’ she dipped her finger into the powder and rubbed it between her index finger and her thumb. She could feel the thick granules pressing into her skin before she lifted it to her nose, immediately the faint scent of rock, dirt, and ash filled her nose. ‘This is pumice!’ Pumice was a kind of volcanic stone that was often ground into a powder, it had a number of uses, it could be used to rub the hair off of hide, scrape off dead skin, as well as create bricks. Whenever the caravans made it they always bought all of the pumice left, her father always used it for medicinal purposes.

 ‘Pumice,’ Woohyun lifted his bowl pronouncing the Nymphean version of the word slowly.

 ‘Pumice,’ she repeated after him before roughly rubbing her cloth against the hide. ‘Pu-mice, pumi-ce,’ she practiced saying the word with every single scrub of her cloth.

 Woohyun watched her before laughing lightly, she really was like a child, a determined child. He didn’t understand what was going on with her, one second she was shaking on the bridge the next she was calm and following him wherever he led. He was even mildly shocked to watch her jump over multiple gaps with ease; almost as she had been doing it her entire life. But he could already see the hardened glint in her eyes starting to fade, by the time the others met up with them it would be gone and he wouldn’t be surprised if she was back to her imagination once again.

 ‘We taught the humans how to make parchment paper,’ Woohyun helped her scrub the hide as he talked. ‘We taught them a lot, but they only gave back terror.’ Hyunsu glanced over at him, her hair was tickling her ears as it started slipping out of the braid it was in. Her scrubbing slowed as she watched his brown eyes darken with a depth she never wanted to see, anger. ‘You aren’t happy that you’re gone from there, but you will be soon.’ His lips pulled into a hesitant smile as he looked at her, ‘trust me.’

 Hyunsu blinked slowly as she stared at him, he sounded like he was lecturing her so she timidly nodded her head before scrubbing the hide again. She still had absolutely no clue what he was saying.

 ‘We actually make crafts with our parchment, we never showed the humans that. I’ll show you later, it will be like nothing you have ever seen.’ The previous negative glow of his eyes had been replaced by the usual excited glint. Hyunsu rolled her eyes and ignored him as she ran her fingers on the hide she had been scrubbing. She smiled as she felt the smooth surface beneath her fingertips.

 ‘Now we put this on it!’ He picked up two bowls with a strangely coloured paste inside. ‘This will make the parchment white!’ He handed one to her then washed his cloth off in a small bowl of water then dipped it into the paste and started rubbing it against the hide.

 ‘What is this?’ Hyunsu’s back straightened in pride at the happy look that flashed across Woohyun’s face at her question, she had asked it in Nymphean.

 ‘Paste,’ he dipped a finger into it and wiped it off onto her nose. She could feel herself going cross eyed as she stared at the dairy smelling grey goop that was on her nose.

 ‘Ew,’ she wiped the goop off with her cloth then dipped it into the bowl again started rubbing the paste against the hide.

 ‘What? No rebuttal?’ Woohyun stared at her with narrowed eyes as he watched her continue working. ‘She must be planning something…..’ Woohyun was used to the competitive nature of his brothers and by now there would have been a full fledged paste fight, then they would have gotten thrown out of a public working place. Again.

 Hyunsu stopped and looked over at him before frowning, he leaned closer towards her and tilted his head as he looked into her eyes as he tried to determine if she was planning something. ‘What?’ She scoffed then rolled her eyes and started working again. She would never understand the Fae, for all she knew he could have been initiating some bizarre right of passage.

 ‘So you’re the planning type are you?’ He nodded and scrubbed the paste into the hide. ‘L is as well, most of us are spontaneous, Dongwoo is the most spontaneous. But the plans he creates are still clever.’ Woohyun nodded to himself somehow not bothered by the fact that he was just talking to himself.

 ‘What would happen if I just ran away again?’ Hyunsu dropped the cloth into her bowl and looked at him. ‘What is going to get me killed?’

 ‘What?’ Woohyun’s eyebrows raised, almost completely hidden by his bangs. ‘What are you saying? What are you asking? What are you planning?’

 Hyunsu sighed heavily, and stared at the hide that was absolutely covered in the paste, ‘communication is useless, You’re useless, I’m useless, life is useless!’ She sighed again and dropped her chin on her palm as she rested her arm on her knee.

 ‘Right….’ Woohyun looked around the area before grimacing, Dongwoo was nowhere to be seen and she was entering some kind of a depressive stage. ‘I can handle this, Yeonjung,’ he raised his hand over her shoulder awkwardly.

 ‘Yes?’ She tilted her head to look at him before her breath in through her teeth in aggravation, she had responded to that name automatically for the second time that day and she had only just gotten it yesterday.

 ‘Let’s have some fun!’ He dropped his hand onto her shoulder before jumping up to his feet. ‘We can finish the parchment another time. No better cure for negative energy than surrounding yourself with the good energy!’ Woohyun extended his gloved hand towards her, without a moment of reluctance she grasped his hand and let him assist her with getting up. ‘Or not,’ he trailed off as his shoulders slumped at the sight of his brothers. Hyunsu followed his gaze to his brothers who were staring at the two of them.

 ‘What kind of trouble are you causing, brother?’ Sungjong frowned and pulled a small cloth out of his pocket, dipped it into a clean bowl of water then wiped the dried paste off of her nose.

 ‘I’m not causing trouble,’ Woohyun slung his arm around Sungjong’s neck and started rubbing his knuckles into the top of his younger brothers head.

 ‘Yah! Yah!’ Sungjong dropped his cloth onto the ground as he grasped Woohyun’s arms then dropped into a crouch, using the momentum to throw Woohyun over his shoulder. Hyunsu’s mouth dropped in surprise as she watched Woohyun grin, suddenly looking more at ease than he had previously. Woohyun charged at his younger brother and leaned down, wrapping his arms around the younger’s waist so he could slam him into a tree.

 ‘W-wh- they’re fighting! Aren’t you going to stop them!’ Hyunsu stared at Sunggyu who avoided her gaze and watched the two fight. Language barriers were no issue in this situation, body language was more than enough. Hyunsu was shocked the two were fighting, but it was normal for the Fae to play fight.

 Hyunsu flinched as she watched Sungjong jump, pressing his shins into Woohyun’s chest before swiftly kicking his legs out making Woohyun stumble back, as Woohyun charged towards him Sungjong pressed his booted feet against the elders chest, pressed his back against the tree then used the force to kick Woohyun, sending him sprawling to the ground.

 ‘Wooo! Go Sungjong!’ Sungyeol ran towards Sungjong and entwined their fingers before laughing at Woohyun who was pushing himself off of the ground with a grin.

 ‘Alright, you won,’ laughing Woohyun knocked his shoulder against Sungjong’s before looking at Hyunsu and winking.

 ‘Now that you two are finished,’ Sunggyu’s eyes drooped as he looked away from Woohyun, ‘a storm is coming,’ he looked up at the leaves overhead, his keen eyes catching view of the clouded sky through the small gaps. ‘We must prepare,’ he looked at the hides that were drying, ‘Dongwoo get her to your room, we don’t want her getting sick, she’s still weak.’ Sunggyu walked past Hyunsu without sparing her a glance. He ran his slender fingers down the wood of one of the trees before he rested his gloved palm against it, opening a large room contained within the tree. ‘We must get all of the hide and supplies into their designated rooms before it is ruined.’

 ‘On it,’ Hoya immediately walked towards one of the stands, nudging L as he walked by him. L followed after Hoya and helped him lift the stand before the two of them carried it into the room Sunggyu had opened.

 ‘Woohyun stay with Sungyeol and help Hoya and L pack up the rest of the supplies. Sungjong, come with me, there is help needed elsewhere.’

 ‘Yes, brother,’ Sungyeol nodded and grinned at Woohyun, ‘I guess we should get to work then.’

 ‘I guess we should,’ Woohyun nodded and followed Sungyeol to a stand and the two of them started carrying it into the same room Hoya and L had deposited theirs earlier.

 ‘Dongwoo?’ Hyunsu called out his name as he started walking away. ‘Where are you going? Am I coming?’ She watched with satisfaction as he scowled, annoyed with her use of the human language.

 ‘Just get over here, larva!’ He snapped before turning around and walking away again. She ran after him, jumping over the gap to the bridge. Hyunsu bit her lip to restrain a prideful smile, she looked up at him and frowned at his lack of reaction. He hadn’t even noticed she had jumped over the edge so easily, he wouldn’t have cared either.

 Hyunsu scrunched up her nose as she followed after him, she was going to escape tonight, whatever they were preparing for must be a good distraction. All she had to do was figure out how to open the door.

Every once in a while luck fortunes the few that it sets it’s gaze upon, and sometimes the people that luck decides to assist do not have the right motives. Luck had, that night, seemed to have set it’s sights upon the group of humans that dared to enter the forest. Hyoheon was leading the group of men through the foliage, their booted feet pounded against the ground, the crisp sound of twigs breaking sent the surrounding animals scurrying away.

‘Be quiet,’ Hyoheon growled out, his low voice echoed through the forest much louder than their feet had been. The stupidity displayed by the men scouring the forest for Hyoheon’s supposed love was noticeable, the Fae knew they were there but did nothing. The Fae were instead watching the humans wander the forest like trolls. The humans were not even comparable to the Nymphean children that wandered the villages set in the trees.

‘Where are they?’ One of the village members, the son of an esteemed elder questioned as he feebly grasped his sword. ‘Shouldn’t they be here?’

 ‘Be quiet, Taehyung, you’re going to curse us.’ Minhyuk, Taehyung’s cousin, snapped.

 ‘Well then perhaps he should knock on wood,’ Zuko hissed. Zuko was reaching the end of his patience, the whole time he had listened to the boys scaring themselves half to death as they told stories of the Fae. The five young men had tied a strong rope to the top of the gate and climbed down the wall, once the villagers realised they were gone there would be trouble. But they were hopeful that they could return with Hyunsu. From the way the boys were acting he doubted they would make it any farther into the forest, everything would go to waste.

 ‘We must hurry, there are signs of a storm,’ Jinki rubbed his hands together, trying to ignore the unsettling feeling that was making his muscles tense.

 ‘A storm’s good, it will help us keep cover,’ Hyoheon snapped.

 ‘Not if it’s a monsoon, Jinki is right, we have to hurry,’ Zuko silently removed his bow from its quiver and hooked an arrow on it.

 ‘What are you doing?’ Taehyung’s voice shook as he watched Zuko, only Jinki and Zuko had ever left the village so the other three depended on their cues, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

 ‘He’s just being careful, it doesn’t matter,’ Hyoheon hissed, there was no need for the attention to be on anyone but himself.

 ‘No, he’s right,’ Jinki removed his bow from it’s quiver without making a sound. ‘I can hear something.’

 ‘I don’t hear anything,’ Minhyuk twirled dagger as he scanned the bushes surrounding them.

 ‘You’re never going to survive with a single dagger,’ Zuko muttered not sparing a glance to the youngest of the five.

 ‘I have expert aim, I have been practicing since I was a kid.’

 ‘It’s different in real life,’ Jinki stepped closer to Zuko falling in step with him.

 ‘What are you scared, Jinny?’ Hyoheon mocked.

 ‘No,’ Jinki rolled his eyes then ignored the immature leader. Jinki had started turning so his back was almost against Zuko’s as they walked in synchronisation. Unlike the other three boys they were covering all angles possible, and they were right to. A small group of Fae had heard the boys coming before they were even halfway across the field and now, they were surrounded.

 ‘Wimps,’ Taehyung stuttered out as his hands shook violently, making his sword swing from side to side.

 Zuko froze and crouched to the ground as the sound of thunder cracked through the forest. At the same moment as thunder he let loose an arrow just as a pitch black one mutely whistled through the air before impaling Taehyung’s chest, the sound gone unnoticed by it’s perfectly timed shot.

 ‘They’re here,’ Jinki rolled his shoulders and scanned their surroundings as he dropped to the ground, matching Zuko’s height.

 ‘What are you doing! We have to run!’ Hyoheon screeched as he stared at Taehyung in shock.

 ‘It’s too late for running,’ Zuko flexed his fingers before he grabbed another arrow. ‘We’re surrounded.

 ‘Dongwoo?’ Hyunsu pressed her ear against the door a moment after the thunder shocked her out of her sleep. ‘Dongwoo?’ She raised her voice as she started running her hand along the wood, trying to find the pressure point to open the door. ‘He’s not here,’ she breathed out softly in relief as she started pressing on the wall randomly. fell open in shock as the door clicked, opening. ‘I can get out,’ she gulped and stuck her head out of the door slowly before looking around at her surroundings. ‘Nobody is here,’ Hyunsu stepped out of the room timidly before pressing the door shut. As soon as she left the comforts of the room she could feel the humid air pressing down upon her. ‘There must be a monsoon coming,’ she shook her shoulders as if trying to shake the building pressure off of her. It was most certainly not wise to be caught in a monsoon, no matter the species. But it most certainly was worth it for her.

 ‘I’m getting away from here,’ she walked towards the edge and jumped onto the bridge then gripped a vine and started sliding down it as slowly as she could. At the end of the vine she was still far off the ground so she let herself drop into the thick branch directly before her. ‘You can do this, if you fail you’ll die. Dying is not good,’ she looked down at the ground, trying to steady her shaking breathing. In order to get down she had to somehow drop perfectly down onto three more branches. ‘Survival is key,’ her head was spinning as she stared at the next branch she had to get to, ‘survival is key.’ She dropped down, her eyes widening in terror as she missed the branch.

 She gasped in pain as she fell onto a branch further down. ‘Still alive,’ she managed to say in between gasping breaths. ‘I’m still alive,’ she closed her eyes and waited till her breathing steadied before she pushed herself up. She looked at the distance between her and the ground, all she had to do was drop and she would be there. Gulping she closed her eyes before slowly opening them and jumping. Her feet hit the ground first, sending waves of pain up her leg, ‘alive, I’m still alive.’

 The moment Hyunsu stood up she could hear the rain pounding on the leaves above her, the sound sent her body into a fearful shake. ‘The moment I get out of here I’ll be sane.’ She rubbed her gloved hands together as she scanned the surrounding area, the rain was already started to reach the ground, dripping infrequently onto her head. She jumped in surprise as she heard the bushes rustling behind her, immediately she gripped the knife that was given to her and held it awkwardly with both hands as she tilted the edge towards the bush.

 ‘I don’t want to go back,’ she could feel her eyes watering as despair started to well up within her. ‘I don’t want to go!’ Hyunsu breathed in shakily then ran, she ran as fast as she could. She was past the point of caring where she went, there was no specific path, she just wanted to go, she wanted to be home. She could almost feel the dusty path of the village beneath her feet as she slipped on the moss, and hear the sound of yelling at the tavern which blocked out the cacophony of the odd creatures hidden in the trees.

 To be home, it seemed improbable, impossible, but it was what she wanted. Hyunsu tripped over an erected root of a tree and collapsed against the ground. The moist dirt stuck to her cheek as she pushed herself up, coughing out a leaf she had gotten in . Hyunsu roughly scraped the dirt off of her face with a groan of disgust. ‘Yeonjung,’ Hyunsu frantically started patting the ground as she tried to find her knife, she dropped it when she fell. ‘Yeonjung!’ He was getting closer, she had to get away before he found her. Would the monsoon stop him? Was it raining enough to hide her tracks? Hyunsu could feel the rain running down her face, making her bangs that had escaped the braid stick to her face, however, it was hardly falling hard enough to make mud.

 She stopped breathing, she had found it, as the relief wore off she started breathing again. It hadn’t occurred to her that finding it was useless if she was going against a Fae. Hyunsu wasn’t incapable of using knives, she had actually taken her free time to tossing knives with Minhyuk. Both of them wanted to leave the village and both couldn’t leave so they banded together to get over boredom. Unlike Hyunsu who was banned from leaving because of being a female, Minhyuk was banned because of who he was, he was the son of a halfling so the village feared that if he left he may turn to the other side.

 ‘Yeonjung!’ Hyunsu shot up, fumbling with the knife. She could almost recognize the Fae calling for her, she knew once she could who it was that it would be too late. She had to go, somehow make it out before he caught up, she had to get home. She could hear the sound of branches rustling as the Fae dropped from his overhead position. Hyunsu threw the knife then ran, she didn’t check to see if it hit it’s target or even who she hit. She could hear her ragged breathing amplified in her ears as she ran, could he hear it too? Would he be able to follow her by the sound of her breathing alone?

 Hyunsu’s heart seemed to pound with the same intensity that fueled her thoughts, once she got home she could relax, she could put the hardships behind her. The world spun, it felt as if someone had just forced the air out of her, put the hardships behind her? It was hard being with the Fae, she didn’t understand what they said, their customs made no sense, but she had hardships at home. At home she had a fiance she never wanted to see, she constantly had to pretend to be someone else, and she had no freedom. But it was home, it was what she wanted. The Fae were not humans. The Fae didn’t understand her, not like her family does, not like humans do. She didn’t belong with the Fae, but did she belong at home either?

 Hyunsu’s running faltered, where did she truly belong? If she got home would she truly be happy? She didn’t have time to ponder her question, she had found a clearing, a clearing that would change her perception of the whole situation she was in. Within the clearing contained five humans, her brother was one of them. Her eyes burned with relief she could make it out with them. But she didn’t move, it was as if she had been charmed, turned into a statue. She could only watch as Zuko barked out orders, grabbing Taehyun’s limp body that had multiple arrows jutting out of it. Seeing Minhyuk forcing down his tears over his wounded cousin didn’t make her cry out to them, and seeing Jinki forcefully push Hyoheon who was frozen with terror didn’t make her want to reach out her hand and catch Jinki’s watchful eyes.

 ‘Yeonjung,’ when Sunggyu placed his hand on her shoulder the spell broke, and her along with it. Why didn’t she call out? Why wasn’t she trying? She could only watch with quivering breaths as her only chance of leaving disappeared into the bushes.

 ‘Why?’ Hyunsu, locked in her own troubles, missed the comical widening of Sunggyu’s eyes. She had spoken in Nymphean and she didn’t even know it.

 ‘I don’t know,’ Sunggyu took off his coat, sliding it onto Hyunsu. ‘I don’t,’ he was shocked himself, not just for her speech but because she didn’t run to them. He had watched her stop just outside the clearing he could feel the pressure of her emotions that swirled around her, and he knew that she had run off to go home but she had stood at the edge of freedom, frozen.

 Hyunsu blindly grasped the edges of his coat and wrapped it around her tighter, ‘I don’t know,’ she repeated his words slowly with a peculiarly calm mumble. ‘I don’t know what-’ her words got caught of by lack of vocabulary before she let out strangled cry and pressed her gloved hands to her eyes to try and stop the tears that started flowing, mixing with the rain that was fell heavily upon the forest.

 Wordlessly he placed his hand on her head then hugged her, ‘you’re with us now, please don’t run anymore.’ Hyunsu sniffled and weakly wrapped her arms around him, who was she now that she denied herself of her freedom? What did that say about her?

 ‘Brother?’ Sunggyu looked up lethargically, his eyes immediately caught sight of Sungyeol who was staring at the two below him with a confused apprehension.

 ‘Go make sure they don’t come back,’ Sunggyu mouthed to him before looking down at Hyunsu to ensure she was okay. He let out a silent sigh of relief, he could hear her breathing slowing as she calmed down.

 ‘Of course,’ Sungyeol nodded, affirming his brother’s command before running towards the edge of the forest. He would do more than just ensure that they would never come back.

 ‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ Sunggyu’s whispered utterance caught Hyunsu’s attention causing her to look up at him with wide eyes that glistened with tears. ‘Let’s go back,’ he smiled restlessly as he gently wiped the last of her tears off of her cheeks. She nodded her head slowly before her lips twisted into a guilt ridden grimace.

 ‘I’m sorry,’ she reached out to his ear and hovered her fingers over the cut. The startling red blood was mixing with the rain and dripping down to the ground in small pink droplets. He pulled her knife out of his belt and held it out to her. ‘Why?’ He wordlessly grasped her hand, pulling it away from his ear before pressing the hilt into her palm. Sunggyu watched as her shaking hand pushed the blade into it’s designated place, the sheath hanging on her belt. ‘I’m sorry,’ the Nymphean phrase was spoken incorrectly but Sunggyu could recognise what she was saying, she was apologising.

 Sunggyu’s lips tugged into an amused smile as he ruffled her wet hair, ‘don’t be.’ It really meant nothing to him that she hurt him, she was defending herself and he was used to be the object of people’s frustration. All it did was remind him to be more vigilant, and to make sure that Hoya properly trained her. Her aim was terrible.

 ‘Let’s go,’ she walked by him mimicking the words she heard spoken by Dongwoo so frequently.

 ‘Let’s go, indeed,’ Sunggyu grinned and laughed, his laughter sounded beautiful to Hyunsu. Hearing the vocalisation of his emotions reminded her of the stories she heard of the Nymphs, who the Fae were meant to be. Instantly she could see formless bodies singing and laughing, being merry as they danced within the forest they thrived in. Her imagination provoked the formless Nymphs to reach out to the human travellers that happened upon them. Instantly they were welcomed into the fold, dancing with the ethereal spirits.

 But when her eyes opened she was reminded of the truth, that did not occur anymore, the humans had ruined it. The vision that played within her minds eye warped with her realisation, she could see the welcomed humans tying up the Nymphs, dragging them away. She could hear the wordless cries of anguish that erupted from the pure mouths of the Nymphs. She could feel the anger of those leftover, and see a select few break from the group, turning into vengeful spirits. Hyunsu watched helplessly as the humans rely to be slaughtered by the corrupted Nymphs, with one single pure emotion from a Fae she had envisioned the whole process that led his ancestors to the life of the Fae. And she felt sick. She felt so, so, sick. Her stomach twisted with disgust and for an instant, just one short moment, she was proud that she hadn’t gone with them. Because it disgusted her, they disgusted her, her own species made her ill.

 Then it was gone.