Chapter 13

Hwayoung didn’t get a wink of sleep the next night, though it really was expected, because Han Soyi had decided to set camp at the very edge of the clearing, wrapping herself in the dragon-scale cloak. Kyungsoo muttered something about worrying she’d run away, though they ended up leaving Baekhyun to watch. She lay tossing and turning for a good hour or so before drifting off into a restless sleep, and by the time Baekhyun shook her awake for her watch, she felt even more exhausted than she had when she first fell asleep.

She wasn’t quite surprised when Soyi got up too, though the other girl was completely silent when she stood up and crossed the clearing lightly. She was disappearing around the trees when Hwayoung couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Where are you going?” she blurted.

Soyi froze in her tracks, then, without turning, called, “Grabbing food.”

That covered just about nothing, and Hwayoung stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

Soyi turned that time, fixing an angry stare at her. There was something visibly unnerving about her eyes that Hwayoung couldn’t quite pinpoint at the moment, though it was there—maybe it was the fact that the aggression was so visible on her face, or maybe it was because the lack of pupils in the blackness. It wasn’t the type of thing that one could really see at first glance, but after looking at Soyi longer, it really began to stand out.

“You don’t need to go,” she said shortly. “I’m not going to run or anything. We had a deal. I’ll keep it.”

It was still hard walking, but Hwayoung managed to balance her weight on the uninjured ankle and set off at a normal pace after Soyi. “I’ll go with you,” she repeated decidedly, “It’s not going to hurt to grab breakfast early.”

She was half expecting the other girl to object, but the only thing Hwayoung got was a stink-eye before Soyi stalked off at a pace a bit too fast for her to keep up comfortably, especially with the injured ankle. Ignoring the burn of pain she got, Hwayoung followed after her.

It was a little while later when Soyi finally turned around. They were nearing the stream—she could hear the rushing water not far in the distance—and the irritation on her face was extremely visible.

“What are you going to get out of following me?” she demanded. “I told you a couple of times already, I’m not going to leave. I left half of my belongings back there, and those things are way too valuable to leave even if it means getting away.”

Hwayoung shrugged. “As far as I know, I could be just taking the same route as you.”

Soyi bared her teeth at her. “Cut out the bull. You’re Windwalker, aren’t you? What are you even doing out here in this area?”

“I prefer Hwayoung. Oh Hwayoung.”

She was completely ignored (which Hwayoung was used too—Kyungsoo refused to call her by her name for quite a while, and both cases had been out of spite) as Soyi stormed forward, pace rapidly increasing. At one point, Hwayoung had to call on the winds to bring her forward—there was no way she could’ve walked fast enough in her state.

“I heard of all the stories about you causing havoc in the Second Sector,” Soyi continued. “Why haven’t you stayed there?”

“Our favourite prince tried to assassinate his brother before I could.”

“How tragic,” she sniffed, “All you people are the same. Chasing after meaningless revenge and justifying the blood on your hands with it. You kill people and tell yourself it’s making the world a better place, am I not right? But really, what are you doing to help? You’re condemning innocents while you kill those who you believe are wrong and it’s doing nothing but making the situation worse.”

Hwayoung remained silent for a while, watching as Soyi pushed through the trees, not bothering to wait for her. She couldn’t help but wonder for a moment—just a split second—if the other girl was right.

But there was Sehun, the flames, the royal guards. There was the village she used to live in, all slaughtered because of a couple of people deemed dangerous by the royal family, even though they were truly innocent.

“I don’t particularly agree,” she told Soyi lightly. “You’re Marked, too. How many Marked do you know that still have their family members all alive—actually, how many of them aren’t living in constant fear for their lives? Why do you live out here, Han Soyi? Is it because you’ve always been here, or is it because you’re more safe with dragons roaming around than being in the city? You’re Marked, and no one will ever accept you there fully. That’s the case for basically every single one of us.”

“I like my solitude.”

“Do you?” She stepped over a fallen tree branch. “Say what you want, but I’ve experienced it firsthand. There’s no way this problem is going to solve itself if we all remain silent and let the crown prince do as he wishes—it’s going to take much more than that.”

***

Both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were up by the time she got back to the camp. Kyungsoo was rolling up his cloak and Baekhyun still looked half lucid, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.

Soyi was a couple steps in front of her. She walked into the clearing silently, into the corner she’d seemed to have claimed for herself, and then settled down, still completely quiet. Hwayoung could feel Kyungsoo’s eyes trailing her as she limped her way back (she tried not to wince, but Soyi had walked quite a distance and it was a bit too much strain for her ankle to take).

Kyungsoo was the first one to speak up. “You shouldn’t be straining your ankle if you want it to heal faster.”

She sat down a lot harder than she intended. “It’s fine.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “It’s not fine. We’re never going to get moving properly if you insist on trying to limp around every couple of hours, and there’s a dragon on the loose. You’re going to be utterly useless when it comes to fighting if there is a dragon, and we don’t need any liabilities. So stop moving around and give it some time to heal.”

Hwayoung sat down with half the mind to snap back at Kyungsoo, though there really was nothing that she could say to him because technically he was right about it. She had been straining her ankle basically every single day, and while it had been understandable when they were in the Second Sector, there really was no reason for her to be doing so now.

“I’m fine,” was all she managed out at Kyungsoo.

Both of them obviously knew it wasn’t quite the truth, because he didn’t comment back. She watched silently as Soyi began sorting through the bag she hadn’t even realized the other girl had been