o13

Gamble

Hei knocked on her door a little while later, and, a bit unwilling to get up, Jinqiong yelled at her to come inside.

She poked a head in. “Luhan just set down the anchor,” she said. “We’re leaving soon.”

Jinqiong would’ve been lying to say that she didn’t know, because she had felt them lower the anchor and what she had been planning to bring lay in a small bag next to her bed. Nevertheless, she was still having trouble sleeping at night, and despite having thought she was used to it, apparently it was still bad because Jinqiong found herself tired during the day.

“Give me a moment,” she mumbled to Hei before pushing herself to her feet. “Do you know where we’re going in Xiyuan? And how long are we going to be there? We’ve managed to stay ahead Junsu for a long time, but I doubt… if we stay in Xiyuan, it won’t be that long before he catches up.”

Hei waited patiently as she shouldered her bag before heading towards the door. Jinqiong knew they’d be back in no time, but still, the cabin was beginning to feel like a home—or, perhaps, in better words, at least familiar and safe—and she felt slightly reluctant to leave it. She made the mistake of glancing one more time at the room, and, in her peripheral vision, she saw Hei smile ever so slightly.

“Don’t want to leave?” she asked.

Jinqiong blinked, glancing up at her sister. “No—” she started immediately, then broke off. “Well, it’s the only place I get actual peace and quiet.”

The only thing she got in return was a slight laugh. “I think we might put you with Yuxuan in Xiyuan,” she said. “So you’ll get peace and quiet for sure.”

“At least there’s no Jongdae,” she joked back, and Hei laughed again.

It took Jinqiong approximately another two seconds to realize that they’d had a relatively light conversation that had included more than three exchanges without any awkwardness or snapping, and the realization made it awkward yet again, so she shifted slightly stiffly, feeling more aware of the situation. “Let’s go,” she said quickly to Hei.

The other girl didn’t seem to be the least bit fazed by the sudden change in attitude. “How’s your side?” she asked instead. “I don’t know if Yuxuan actually knows medical knowledge, but if Yixing can make poultices that might help it heal faster if we have supplies. Baekhyun says he should be going with us from Xiyuan.”

Jinqiong shrugged. “It’s already healing,” she said. “We should be fine. Where are we going?”

“Oh, right.” Hei trailed after her as she slipped out of the cabin and closed the door behind her. “I think we’re splitting up for now—Luhan says he’s going to lead you, me, Yuxuan, Jongdae and Junmyeon to where everyone else is apparently staying for now—he mentioned something about trying to figure out more about the gem you have—and the rest are going to stock up on the supplies we need. Then we’re supposed to leave as soon as possible, but…” she winced. “Don’t know how long of a time that encompasses, but it shouldn’t be too long?”

“Who’s going to be joining the ship again?”

Hei reached the top of the stairs, pushed open the door for Jinqiong, and she squinted at the sunlight. “Baekhyun told me that there would be three for sure,” she replied. “Jongin, Chanyeol and Yixing. We don’t know yet about Minseok and Sehun, because Baekhyun hasn’t really had contact with them.”

As if he’d been summoned, said man rounded the corner from the stairs that led up to the helm. Jinqiong was pretty sure his eyes positively lit up when he spotted Hei, and then a not so discreet expression swept across his face when his gaze landed on her after, though Baekhyun was quick enough to cover it up before heading over. Then, blatantly ignoring her, he turned to Hei instead. “Ready to go?” he asked.

She adjusted the straps of her backpack before frowning at her husband. “Are you sure trying to get supplies in the middle of the day is the smartest idea?” she asked instead. “I mean, this is Xiyuan. People are bound to recognize you.”

Baekhyun offered her a slight smile. “I’ll be careful,” he said, and, as if it weren’t awkward enough already, both Luhan and Jongdae came from below deck.

Jinqiong hadn’t spoken to Jongdae properly for days—in fact, the last time they had really talked was back in Himaeri the morning before they left, which had left so much unsaid that Jinqiong didn’t really want to go back to it. Having her own room made it easy to avoid Jongdae, but, for the first time in a while, she was going to have to travel in a relatively small group with him in it. Briefly, she wondered if she could avoid Jongdae if she continuously talked to Hei, but that would mean holding a conversation out for at least fifteen minutes, and Jinqiong still had to decide which was worse.

To her absolute horror, he turned to speak to her. “How’s your side?”

Jinqiong blinked at him. Jongdae looked, surprisingly, more tired than she last remembered, which was strange, because she was pretty sure he hadn’t looked that exhausted even when they were on the run from Byun Junsu. He had a way of surviving off little to no sleep without physically looking like he was ready to crash, but at that moment, looking at him, Jinqiong wasn’t sure if he would even make it down to his cabin without collapsing.

Everything else forgotten, she frowned at Jongdae. “Why do you look so tired?” she blurted.

He somehow managed to give her a lopsided smile. “Haven’t been able to fall asleep,” he replied. “It’s nothing. What, are you worried?”

She scowled at him. “We’re supposed to get through Xiyuan in one piece, and you look like you’re going to die at any moment. I’m a bit worried that you’re going to get all of us killed.”

Jongdae nodded, looking wholly unconvinced. “Is that so?”

Before she could say anything else, Junmyeon and Yuxuan appeared. He was dressed in dark clothing, as usual, the cloak making him look more like a family member than a pirate, though Jinqiong supposed that had its benefits. He had the same sword strapped to his waist, and she thought that out of all of the crew, Junmyeon had to be the one person that still seemed like he belonged to the Kim family.

He glanced around the deck. “Are we ready to go yet?” he asked. “Why are we all standing here?”

***

Hei still stood by the fact that Baekhyun and what was left of the crew—which quite literally only included Kyungsoo—going to stock the ship for supplies was an absolutely stupid idea to carry out in the middle of the day, except he was still terrible at listening and insisted that it was the best time. It ended up being the rest of the six of them trudging through the city of Xiyuan after Luhan had cast a brief glamour spell on them, and they trudged through the streets of the outer city behind Luhan.

Xiyuan did live up to its name. While Hua did indeed have a lot of flowers, Xiyuan wasn’t just flowers but greenery too, lining everywhere in the city. By the time they were walking down what Luhan called the main street, she was surprised that the people didn’t live in treehouses. Even then, vines s around the buildings, ivy climbing the sides, coating it nearly with green and different spots of colored flowers. Most were brick houses, or stone, and the color went surprisingly well with the green all around. Hei found herself looking around, unable to focus straight, as she took in Xiyuan. All of the cities were pretty, but there was something about Xiyuan that felt a little different from the rest. The inner city, unlike Hua, Vasileia and Ezentia, wasn’t extremely visible—it was perhaps one of the only cities that wasn’t built on a hill, and therefore, the only thing that could be seen was the height of some of the buildings inside.

Jongdae fell in step with her. “You know, winter never comes in Xiyuan,” he said.

Hei glanced at him. “Am I supposed to be surprised?”

“Right, you’re from Hua.”

“Winter doesn’t come in Ezentia either,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “The only place where winter does come is in Vasileia, and it’s winter all year round there.”

“Yeah, well, Xiyuan’s a really tropical city, at any rate. It’s green all year round.”

Luhan seemed to hear him, because he turned around. “Baekhyun’s amazed every time he comes here. I swear.”

Hei laughed. “He’s left Vasileia for almost ten years. He can’t not be used to it.”

Jongdae was still looking around, though, despite all his talking, and Hei could tell that he appreciated the scenery around them. He had looked exhausted the past couple of days, and while he had been quick to brush it off when she had asked him about it, there was obviously something that had bugging him. Now, for the first time in days, he seemed to have cheered up a little bit as he looked around with an expression very close to wonder.

Yuxuan always seemed to stick close to Luhan, which wasn’t a surprise, but a couple of paces behind them, Jinqiong was talking to Junmyeon in a low voice. Or maybe Junmyeon was speaking—she wasn’t too sure in her peripheral vision, but whichever one it was, it wasn’t any less surprising.

She tugged Jongdae’s arm. “Is Jinqiong actually having a conversation with your brother?” she half-whispered at Jongdae. “What has the world even come to?”

As smart as he was, apparently discreet wasn’t in his vocabulary because Jongdae turned around to look at Junmyeon and Jinqiong before seemingly realizing what he’d done. He spun around quickly, sped up his pace a bit so he was right after Luhan and Yuxuan, and shook his head. “I don’t know,” he mumbled under his breath. “When did they start talking?”

Hei frowned. “You’re Junmyeon’s brother and you’ve technically known Jinqiong the longest out of all of us. Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re her sister and she, like, only talks to you now?”

“She’s obviously talking to Junmyeon right now.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Okay, but apart from now? When did she get close with my brother? How did she get close with my brother? Was it when they walked from Himaeri? I honestly can’t think of any other time they actually talked.”

Frowning at him, she hurried her steps to catch up too. “Why are you so worried about it?” she asked. “What, are you jealous?”

Hei half-expected an immediate no from Jongdae, though he didn’t say a thing for a good five seconds. A little bit surprised, she turned to look at him, surprised, to see him frowning, eyebrows furrowed.

“Wait,” Hei started. “Wait, do you—”

The rest of her sentence was cut off when Luhan turned around to look at them. “We’re here,” he said, and Hei paused. They were standing in what looked like an abandoned alley.

Jinqiong was the first to speak up behind them. “Where, again?” she asked. “Do we walk through a wall or something?”

She was right, though. There was no sign of a door, only the red stone walls on either side, all of which were covered with green crawling ivy. Even Junmyeon looked miffed, because he stepped forward from the back of the group with arms folded in front of his chest. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” he started.

Luhan spun around so he was facing the group. “Why do none of you have faith?”

Hei gestured at the wall. “Because, uh…”

He gave another dramatic groan, a very un-Luhan thing to do that Hei was certain he'd picked up from Baekhyun, before reaching to the wall closest to him and pushing.

Hei had half the mind on calling him out for being stupid, and then she heard the creak of something swinging open and nearly jumped out of her skin. Before her eyes, the brick part of the house literally shifted back to reveal a hallway.

Jongdae, too, was watching with wide eyes before he remembered to snap his jaw shut. He pointed at the wall that Luhan had just pushed aside as if it were nothing, then managed out, shaking his head incredulously, “What just happened?”

Luhan looked amused. “What do you think?” he asked. “I opened the door. Now are you all going to stand here waiting?”

***

Going through a brick wall was apparently not the most surprising thing of the day, because Jinqiong found herself soon after in a small room—this time with windows—again which she was sharing with Yuxuan (though Yuxuan chose to stick around elsewhere. Jinqiong still hadn’t quite figured out if the girl was scared of her or not). It was also apparently where Chanyeol, Jongin and Yixing were, though Jinqiong wasn’t keen on talking to more people and there didn’t seem to be any other place to go apart from staying in her own room, so she lay down on the bed and wondered briefly if a nap was in question.

It wasn’t, of course, and she had long lost the ability of falling asleep in the middle of the day. She could hear voices, faint but still there, outside of the door, and she figured they were all catching up. If Chanyeol, Jongin and Yixing were joining the crew, it was most likely inevitable that she would have to face them sometime, though that time wasn’t right then and Jinqiong was determined to avoid it for as long as possible.

Apparently a nap was really out of question, because a couple more minutes of lying still she found her thoughts drifting to Jongdae, then Hei, then Junmyeon (who had held a surprisingly pleasant conversation with her when they’d been walking through Xiyuan). Then, as if that interruption hadn’t been enough, someone knocked on the door.

Jinqiong sat up. Her first thought was that it was Yuxuan, because when they had shared a room in Himaeri, she had always knocked even when the door wasn’t closed.

“It’s Luhan.” His voice was muffled when he spoke up, and she blinked in surprise. “I wanted to see if I can figure out more about the gem right now, because if—if I can mask its magic, then we don’t have to worry too much about staying in Xiyuan, because it’s kind of risky right now given that Junsu can track you. Can I come inside?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at the empty side of Yuxuan’s room, then reached into her pocket. She could immediately feel the cool surface of the gem before she took it out.

The door creaked open and Luhan slipped inside, not bothering to close it behind him. He offered her a slight wince-smile before heading over, pulling a chair from the side of the room.

Silence followed for a good couple of seconds before he scanned the room. “This place looks… really flowery,” he finally said.

Jinqiong was inclined to agree, given that whoever had designed the place had decided with a light blue bed sheet decorated with different colored flowers and the curtains were of a similar pattern. Yuxuan had something matching, except the backdrop of the sheets were pink.

“It is,” she replied, then handed the gem over. It gleamed