I am a day late but it has been one full year since I started this story, twelve months twelve chapters, that is a chapter a month... which means I do not write enough. Thank you for all of you who have put up with me for a year, and to all of you newer readers, I appreciate eacha and evey one of you <3

TaeOh woke early, the sun was still on the horizon. His head hurt, so much information swirling around, so many emotions fight in his head. Trying to pretend he didn’t care about his mother as much as he did, hearing her heart breaking story. But then still hating her in some way, feeling like he was forgotten, abandoned, and then replaced. He felt uncomfortable being here, he didn’t want to be in this village any longer, he wanted to take Byul and run, go back to the forest, fight for their place in the army, but he knew YongSun needed to be here and he wasn’t about to abandon her. She had become an important person in his life. 

TaeOh finally got out of bed. He felt like it was a statement that he walked into this room last night and closed the door, but he just needed time to think alone. He cracked the door as quietly as he could, knowing the girl’s needed rest. When his eyes found them, there was a short pain that went through his chest. Byul was laying on the floor, curled up very close to the couch YongSun was sleeping on. YongSun was laying on her stomach, face pieceful, arm dangling from the couch, within inches of Byul. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much, it is not like he caught them cuddling, but the closeness of their bodies radiated some sort of connection he was not apart of. He took a quick breath, shedding the feeling from his heart, remembering the pack he made with Byul about letting YongSun choose what her heart wanted, even if it wasn’t either of them. 

He exited the house and stepped into the morning chill. Even though it was early, the village was not asleep. Many people were already bustling about, he could smell fresh foods being cooked. A group of people were chopping wood nearby. He could hear the steady clanking of a hammer on metal, no doubt from the armory he spotted yesterday on his quest to find the girls when he woke up alone. He made his way to the mess hall. It was vacant of people, WheeIn did mention that most people ate at their own home. The back wall had some counters with baskets of fresh fruits, he grabbed an apple and a slice of bread from the loaf sitting there. He considered sitting at one of the tables to eat but it felt sort of lonely, and his body did not want him to stop moving. He went to the bathing rooms. It was a long building, sort of. There were two sets of doors, one for men and one for women. He walked into the men’s side, door swinging closed behind him, he walked the small hallway, it took a left turn and then opened up into a large room with no back wall. The first part of the room had four bathing tubs, all still steaming from whoever had filled them. The back part of the room was the most breath taking part, a full waterfall and small body of water made up where the back wall should have been. A large wooden fence separated the two sides of the baths. The waterfall was lined with rocks. TaeOh wasn’t sure how it stayed warm, he has a suspicion is was some sort of magic, but he didn’t really care. He took off his clothes and slide into the rushing waters. The heat penetrating his skin and relaxing his muscles. He grabbed a nearby bar of soap and began to wash away the long night he had. This was definitely the best part of the village so far, it was way better than the day old water they had at the castle. The water seemed to wash away his worries, making everything so much more bearable.

TaeOh left the bathing rooms feeling so much better. The sun had finally left the horizon and was making its journey across the sky. On the way back to the house, he felt a thousand times better than when he left it. He decided to take a different way around, trying to get a sense of the village layout, Byul had done this yesterday on her search of YongSun when they woke up in the house alone, comparing the layout later on. Always know your surroundings. 

He passed a series of houses not unlike the one he was staying in, some were larger, some were smaller. He walked past a bonfire pit that was blocked off with two walls of wood. Finally, he walked by a garden, it was full of every type of plant you could think of and more. He stopped a moment to look at the buds forming on a nearby branch in the shapes of stars. He touched it with one of his fingers, it was fuzzy to the touch. “It’s a Starburst flower.” TaeOh spun fast, blade from his sheath and pressed up against the neck of the person who came up behind him. His eyes met a set of emerald ones, challaning him. Red hair framed her face that held a look like she was bored. She slowly held up her hands. “Easy hot shot you could have threatened a child.” She slowly lowered her arms and crossed them over her chest, waiting.

TaeOh held on for a second longer before lowering it. “Sorry.” He said not really meaning it as he put his weapon away. 

The girl didn’t step away. “Don’t worry, I understand that a warrior is always on guard, I am just saying watch out because pulling a blade on a child is punishable around here.” She shifted her weight on her feet. “Actually no one but the guild is meant to carry weapons.”

Her eyes still challenged him. “Joon gave us permission.” She nodded slowly. “Was there something you wanted or…” 

“No not really, just keeping an eye on you and your friends.” She said it without humor. 

TaeOh smiled humorlessly. “Do I at least get to know my stalkers name?”

She gave a short laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself hot shot, I am on orders from WheeIn to make sure you all stay out of trouble.”

He figured as much, WheeIn didn’t seem to like him very much and it was not like he was trying to get on her good side. “So you don’t have a name?” He smiled for real now, in his charming way that always made girl’s fall. 

She laughed and his face fell a bit. “Was that supposed to impress me or something? She patted his shoulder. “You’re not my type doe eyes.” 

“Luna?” They both looked back, a girl that looked around ten, stood there holding a basket of vegetables, hair like the sunset.

The other girl, Luna turned to him. “Catch you next time hot shot.” She saluted him and jogged toward the little girl. TaeOh watched as they walked away, anger growing in his veins, he really didn’t like her, or any of WheeIn’s friends. He gave one more look at the garden and then walked off.

Byul and YongSun were awake when he got back. They were sitting at the small table laughing about something as he walked in. They were sharing some fruit and bread and the scene made him feel sour once again. “There you are.” Byul said as he walked in. “We were wondering where you went.” Not worried enough to come looking. He shook that thought from his head.

He pulled out the last chair and took a grape from Byul’s plate. “Where did you get the food.”

“SoMin dropped it off not long ago.” YongSun answered, TaeOh caught himself staring at her again, she was a very beautiful girl. 

TaeOh nodded as he ate, he wasn’t sure how he felt about SoMin yet. “Did you know we are being watched by WheeIn’s minions?” He asked Byul, the look on her face told him she knew.

Byul sliced some more bread and handed it out. “Which did you have the unfortunate fortune of running into?” 

“I think her name is Luna, red hair, green eyes, attitude problem.” 

Byul nodded. “That sounds like Luna, YooRa and JiSun are the ones to look out for, they are particularly not nice. Krystal seems okay. HyeJin hasn’t spoken enough to get a full reading on but i’d put her more on the side of friend rather than foe.” TaeOh nodded along with her analysis. 

“I think we should steer clear of all of them as much as we can.” he added. 

Byul shrugged. “That might prove to be difficult and not the message we want to send to the village, that we don’t get along with their protectors.” He hated when she was right.

He leaned back in his chair. “Fine but we should try to keep our distance, we are here for one reason and that is for YongSun.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw her cheeks turn red and that made his heart flip. 

Byul brushed the crumbs off her hand. “Agreed.” She stood up. “We should go see Ernesto, it had been almost a full day since we last saw him, I want to know his progress.” They all agreed and got up from the table. It was time to see what Ernesto had figured out.

Ernesto had is own house in the village despite not being here a lot. The trio knocked and was called in by him. His living room was a mess of tables and tools. Some held books, some open, some closed. There