The story behind writing this chapter in a nutshell:

Sometimes you start writing a whole bunch of text. You're very proud that you've made it past the 2k words mark and are positive that you can upload fast this time. Life gets ahead of you, so you don't write for a few days. When you finally go back to the story, you read the written part that you were so proud of before, only to find it completely not in line with the story so far because the perspective is weird or a character behaves very different from how he should normally react in line with the story so far… You then end up removing everything and starting from scratch. Now copy paste that a few times and you can see what I'm struggling with here XD

This also applies to shorten segments of this chapter. I don't even want to know how often I've removed 2k+ and started over .... Or rewritten scenes. Deleted scenes, delayes scenes. Brought forth scenes. Etc. Ok rant over now; enjoy 😉

Chapter six: When the snow melts

Jihoon sighed contently as he looked at the little flowers scattered all over the hill side. Yesterday's snow had tried so hard to cover them up, but the flowers had shown their resilience and seemed to bloom even brighter against the flawlessly white backdrop. Spring really wasn't far off now, he thought as he took in the sight in front of him. Behind the mountains in the east the sun was starting it's ascend towards the highest point in the sky, drawing long grey shadows on the white mountain slopes. The clouds that had brought the snow last night had disappeared, leaving a clear sky behind that was slowly changing it’s colour to a beautiful blue hue.

Jihoon had missed walking around like this. This particular winter had trapped him inside the strong city walls, and he wasn't used to it. As soon as the air was full of the first indications of spring Jihoon had fled from the containment that was Grenhil. Away from Jeonghans ever watchful eye and seemingly never ending list of things that needed to be done. If only for a day, but if he was being honest with himself probably longer, he wanted his worries to be gone, he wanted to be free from the mental drain that came with preparing for the unavoidable war. Even the sight of Soonyoungs, probably well intended, concerned eyes, had bothered him lately. And the very idea that Soonyoung bothered him, bothered him even more. It had become a vicious circle. Everyone was getting on his nerves, leading him to lash out at people more often than not. At this point he was starting to become disappointed in his own ability, or rather disability, to control his emotions. Wasn’t he better than this?

But today would be different, he’d promised himself, today he would spend the day free of worry. Doing whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to. Letting go of all the concerns that had been piling up on his back. He could carry the weight, he really could. For now. But before he drowned in his own workload, he had to grab this little life boat that the warm spring rays would bring him. And that had caused him to climb over the slippery slopes that surrounded Grenhil in the break of dawn. If not now, he for sure wouldn’t have time to flee from his responsibilities.

The snow clang to his boots and even though the insides were filled with fur, he could still feel the cold penetrating all the way through to his feet. Just a little bit more, he thought, as he felt the pleasant sunrays starting to warm up his back. He went along paths that no one knew except for him. The sun would start melting the snow soon enough, effectively melting away his tracks so no one could follow him. Jihoon didn't care too much. The downside was that it would become even more slippery, but it's not like he had never done this before. He would manage. More importantly, anyone trying to follow him couldn’t. The melting snow provided the perfect cover.

He didn't really have a plan though, only a destination. His feet moved confidently over a path that no one else in their right minds would really call a path. Sometimes he had to climb over a few rocks or carefully descent down the steep terrain, his gloved hands holding on to every little rock for stability. He'd long since bound his crampons under his boots. The short iron spikes providing him with the extra grip, that his leather boots could never offer, but the spikes had become absolutely necessary on the icy, slippery underground. His eyes roamed the invisible path meticulously. He knew all the roads surrounding Grenhil like the back of his mind. But winter always changed the landscape of the mountains. Avalanches happened regularly in these desolated regions and every year the roads had to be cleared of new rocks and gravel. It was something that he'd learned to live with. There were plenty of people that had lost their lives in these regions while underestimating the dangers that nature posed. If possible he'd like to avoid becoming the next victim. Up ahead was the rock formation that he always used to navigate, the distance seemed so small, but experience had thought him differently. At least one more hour would be needed in order to reach the rocks, if the path hadn’t been altered to much. After that he'd need another two hours to reach his destination for the day. He let his vision drop down to his boots again, the dark brown material colouring darker as the snow slowly melted into the leather. Maybe he should start praying for his feet to remain dry...

The sound of a pigeon distracted him and he found himself looking at the sky. Not too high above him he saw the animal flying and an eery feeling crept over him. In the morning light he saw a shimmer around the pigeons neck. Without much thought he whistled the command that he'd thought his own little feathered friends, his eyes followed the bird as it turned around mid-flight and slowly descended towards him, until it finally landed on his extended arm. Messenger indeed, he thought, as he his free hand opened the little metal container around the pigeons neck and fished out a piece of paper. The little note was scribbled with only a few words.

"My luck has been quite bad lately, hasn't it..." He muttered softly as he put the note back into the container and carefully closed the lid. With a quick flick of his arm the bird took flight again. His eyes kept following it through the air, until the little dot disappeared from his sight. “What to do now?”

There was only one place that the bird could be headed towards. Jihoon stared at the mountain that he’d just crossed. Why now? Because spring has started, his mind provided the answer.  

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There were two quick knocks on the door before someone opened it carefully. "Jeonghan?" A pair of eyes stared into the dimly lit room. The two flickering candles on the desk were definitely not enough to light up the entirety of Jeonghans office.

"Hmm?" The man in question looked up from the papers that he'd been focussing on. For a minute his eyes had trouble readjusting and focussing on the man, alpha, his nose told him, standing there. He blinked a few times, hoping to speed up the process, and finally the blurry blob turned into a face. Soonyoung entered the room and his whol