I am just going to casually drop this here as if I haven't forgot to upload in like a month....

The silence was so thick it was choking Byul. They all sat around a long table in the recreation building. The parents of all the children missing, the guards who were with them, WheeIn and her gang, and for some reason Byul, YongSun, and TaeOh. No one invited them, but then again no one stopped them from joining. Perhaps it was YongSun’s status as the Solarous, they think her important enough to attend the meeting, Byul and TaeOh are just part of her gang. 

Luna was impatiently tapping her foot, breaking the silence. WheeIn and HyeJin cut her a look, but it wasn’t until TaeOh clapped his hand down on her leg did she think to stop. Byul thought it odd, their relationship had grown since they were alone together so much? Byul originally thought that neither of them could stand the other, but it seems they understand one another more now, kind of like how he and Byul used to be, she wasn’t sure how she felt about this. 

Joon finally cleared his throat, he had been reading the reports from the guards about the incident. “It seems that five of the children were taken.” The families of those five tensed. “It is unknown why they only took those five and not the others.” There were over twenty kids who went into the forest for the trip. “The Guards they were with,” The two guards flinced. “Were knocked unconscious, to be discovered by another one not too long after.” Glares from the families shot in the direction of the guards. 

Joon went on to explain that half of the guards stayed to search for the missing children, the other half rushed the others back to the Knight before any more could be taken. Whoever took the kids were experienced because they got away fast and they left no signs of a trail to follow. “Let me go.” Luna spoke up. All eyes turned to her. “We can look for signs while the upper level guards stay to protect the Knight, there is no way you’re going to let the lower level do it now that there is a threat.” 

Joon looked like he was trying to think of a nice way to let her down without causing a fight. “I’ll go too.” TaeOh chimed in, that surprised Byul, Luna looked shocked too. “I am an experienced tracker.” His eyes flashed to Byul’s quickly and she knew what he was about to say. “We worked as bounty hunters for the King for a few years because we were young and blended in.” After their first war experience, the king took the younger members of his army and trained them, the ones who showed the most promise became bounty hunters, but the career id short lived, he trades them out after a few years so people don’t know who to look for. 

Byul got a shocked look from YongSun, looks of admiration from WheeIn and HyeJin and curious looks from Joon and the other elders. “I would be willing to offer my help as well.” Byul added. The village had done so much for them, the least they could do was try and look for the missing kids. 

“I want to help too.” YongSun said, her cheeks heating a bit when everyone looked at her. “I am not experienced with tracking but maybe I can get a vision or something from the scene, or from one of the guards.” She looked uncomfortable talking about her powers, Byul was sure she wasn’t confident that she could get a vision but she still wanted to help.

“It’s settled then!” WheeIn said leaning in. “The six of us will go back to the where the kids were taken from and see what we can find.” A few of WheeIn’s gang, Krystal in particular, looked disappointed about hearing the number. She shot them a look. “We can’t have too many people going. TaeOh, Byul and YongSun need to go, HyeJin and I have the most experience, not to mention magic, and Luna is the third most experienced, and it is her sister.” They all deflated at the facts.

The older members still looked uncertain. “New eyes could only help.” HyeJin said. “The older members are more experienced with protection and need to remain here to watch over everyone. We are all more than capable of looking after ourselves and one another. Sending not qualified adults will only waste more time.” WheeIn looked like she wanted to kiss HyeJin right then and there, Byul is almost shocked that she didn’t. “We all leave at first light.” She looked at one of the other guards. “We will require detailed instruction of how to get there.” He nodded. 

With that it was all decided, the group broke for the night and the members went off to prepare for the journey tomorrow. 

Arcadia almost knocked Byul down when she saw her. EunSook laughed as she tried to hold the wolf back. It looked as if her baby wolf had grown a bit over the last two days, or it was just Byul missing her. “How was she?” Byul asked EunSook as she started tying a rope around Arcadia to keep her under control as they walked. 

EunSook was leaning against her counter. “She was good, a little sad, she whined for you a lot, she even watched the door for hours after you left.” Byul’s emotion must have reflected in her face because EunSook raised her hands to reassure Byul. “Don’t worry, she was fine after a while, I brought my dog out to be with her, they seemed to get along.” 

Byul scratched Arcadia behind the ear. “Well I really appreciate it.” Byul made a motion with her hand, and told Arcadia to sit, then after a moment did it again, then showed the wolf what she wanted from her, Arcadia did the command. 

EunSook raised her eyebrow at Byul. “What in the world was that?” She made the motion with her hand.

Byul smiled a bit. “I was never allowed to have pets growing up, but my neighbour did, he taught me that it is good to have verbal and silent commands with your dogs.” She shrugged. “He said it was a good thing to have in a hunting dog, so you don’t have to speak the command for them to understand what you want.” 

EunSook nodded. “That makes sense, do you plan on using her as a hunting partner?” There was a look of slight disappointment on her face. 

Byul shook her head. “Definitely not, like the people here, I only hunt what I need.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “It is just I do not know what my future holds, and you can never be too prepared, if I can teach her to understand me with a movement of my hand, I think it would be a good thing.” 

“I in no way was criticizing you, some people choose to use animals as weapons, it is sick, I can tell you are not one of those people. It was just a question.”

Byul motioned for Arcadia to rise, and told her to do so, twice again before she showed her what to do. “I will be leaving the village again tomorrow morning, but this time I’d like to take her with me, do you have any tips for me?” She did. EunSook spent the next little while going over things to try and avoid, how many breaks they should take with her, and a proper diet to bring a long. Byul made mental notes of them all and thanked her once again for everything. It was getting late and if she didn’t try to get some rest soon then she would be too tired for their trip tomorrow and the Knight was counting on TaeOh and Byul’s tracking skills to help them locate all the children. 

When Byul arrived home, YongSun and TaeOh were waiting for her. TaeOh was sitting on the couch and YongSun was pacing the living room. YongSun looked very nervous and TaeOh looked confused. As soon as she got in, she let Arcadia go, the pup ran for YongSun, who absently patted her on the head. Byul looked TaeOh for an answer but all he gave was a small shrug of his shoulders. Byul w