When you can't stick to your own upload scheduale...

 You think after three days in the woods YongSun would be getting used to the routine but she wasn’t. She would be woken up every morning before dawn to train with HyeJin, they walked for a significant amount of hours then when they settled for the night, she trained with Byul. She was glad to hear from the others that they would be slowing down as of tomorrow, they had made up enough ground. Her whole body ached and she was staring to dream of the bed she had back at the Knight.  

When Byul was finally done with her training for the day, YongSun practically fell to the ground with exhaustion. She knew that Byul was taking it easy on her, she knew that HyeJin had her up every morning. Byul sat down next to her. “Make sure you stretch.” She extended her legs out, showing YongSun how to stretch out the muscles they just worked. “If you keep it up at this pace, not only will you be wielding a weapon by the end of the week, you will be too tired to move.” There seemed to be a small hint of irritation in her voice.

YongSun moved to her left leg. “We can stop the practice for a few days if it makes you feel better.” 

A large sigh, she rubbed her hands over her face. “No, sorry. I just don’t want you pushing yourself to do all these things because you feel like you have to.” She pulled her legs in, sitting there. “I get tired from walking all day and our sessions at night, and I am a trained warrior. You add magic lessons on top of that. Not to mention you toss and turn most of the night.”

YongSun’s face turned red at that last part, she had been having some… interesting dreams since they left the Knight. “I don’t feel like I have to, it is because I want to.” YongSun also pulled up her legs “I want to get a better grip on my powers, I want to do this training. We are almost half way to Henry’s castle and I want to be as prepared as possible. I can rest while I am there.” Besides she liked the one on one time she was getting with Byul, the others stayed away from them while they trained.

Byul nodded. “I can understand that.” She looked YongSun in the eyes. “Just please try and take it easy, it should be better now that we are getting close, we won’t have to keep such a high pace.” 

YongSun was silent for a long moment, mostly because she was tired, but also because she was thinking. “Do you think we will be able to stay together when we get back?”

She could have sworn she saw Byul’s cheeks turn red. “What do you mean?”

YongSun rested her chin on her knees. “When you two were meant to come with me originally, you and TaeOh were going to be around, protecting me. Do you think Henry will allow that? I don’t think I could be separated from you…two.” 

Byul smiled for a second but it fell fast. “I am not sure, but even if he assigns us to the dungeons, we will make sure that you are not left alone. We have many allies who will keep an eye on you while we are not around.” YongSun tried for a smile, as much as she appreciated having people watch out for her, it wasn’t who she wanted watching out for her. “Do you trust me?” Byul asked, bringing her attention back.

YongSun gave her a look. “Of course.” She said without missing a beat. 

“Then you will be safe, even if I cannot keep my own eyes on you, I will make sure you have good ones looking out for you.” 

YongSun smiled for real now. “Thank you.”

“That is what friends are for.” That was a sharp poke to her heart, it sounded sour on Byul’s tongue.

“Byul!” TaeOh hollered. “Control your wolf.”

Byul put her fingers to and gave a short and sharp whistle. Seconds later Arcadia came bursting through the brush, bounding for Byul, one wave of her hand had the pup skidding to a halt and sat at attention in front of her. TaeOh came seconds later, looking from Byul to the now very tame wolf. “What was she doing?” Byul asked looking over at him.

He eyed the wolf annoyed. “She was trying to rip apart my bed mat.” 

Byul leveled the wolf with a look, she made another gesture, skinning the palm of her right hand over the top of her closed left fist. Arcadia laid down and hid her head, clearly getting the hint she had done something bad. “You learned the hand gestures too TaeOh, why didn’t you just tell her to stop?” 

He glared at her. “I tried, she wouldn’t listen to me.”

Byul shrugged.” Maybe you didn’t do it demanding enough.”

“Or maybe,” He said with his teeth clenched. “Your wolf doesn’t listen to anyone but you.”

Byul looked over at YongSun. “Make this movement at Arcadia.” The wolf perked up at the sound of her name. Byul tapped her first two fingers on top of the same fingers on her right hand. YongSun made a soft whistle, calling Arcadia’s attention. She made the motion, the dog got up from the ground and sat at attention. Byul smiled at her, then turned a glare to TaeOh. “No excuses now.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just control her.” He stormed off.

YongSun kept watching Arcadia for a minute, she was waiting for her next command. “Can you teach me the movements?” She asked looking back over at Byul.

Byul rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have enough to learn.” YongSun shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have another person know the commands.” She got up and helped YongSun to her feet. “Come on, I definitely think we earned our dinner.” They walked back to the clearing they were staying for the night. One on one time was officially over. 

Dinner was some of the dried meat. Unfortunately they were not successful in hunting dinner for that evening. There wasn’t much talking going on, everyone was tired from the long they had, Byul was almost surprised YongSun had been able to stay awake through dinner, she had to be more tired than the rest of them. Luna, and WheeIn were uncharacteristically quiet which meant they were also tired. 

As the night started to set in, Byul sought out HyeJin. She was with WheeIn of course, they never seemed to be more than a few feet from each other. Byul waited patiently for WheeIn to break her hold on HyeJin and left them alone to talk. They walked a few feet away from camp, nothing too far that they would be unseen, but far enough from the other’s ears. 

HyeJIn didn’t get much further before she leaned against a tree, studying her nails. “I suppose this is about YongSun.” Byul raised her eyebrows. “Oh come on Byul, we never talk and if we do it is because I am training YongSun.”

Byul let out a sigh. “I was hoping you would let her sleep the extra hour and skip out on practice tomorrow morning.” 

Now it was HyeJin’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Does YongSun know you are asking this?” 

Byul felt embarrassed, of course YongSun didn’t know, and she knew she had no right to ask either. “I am just worried about her, I think she is pushing herself too hard.” 

HyeJin watched her for a bit, and gave a slight nod. “I can appreciate that. I will promise to take it easy on her tomorrow but if I cancel the session, she will know something is up.” She thought about it some more. “Actually, I am sure we can take the next few lessons easier, and with the reduced pace, she should have enough time to get rest.” 

Byul nodded along. “How is her training going? From one instructor to another.” 

“Or from the girl who is curious about her crush, to the girl doing her magic training.” Byul’s cheeks burned. “Honestly at this point the only people who don’t seem to know about you two… are you two.” She smiled slyly. “She is doing fine, getting more confident which is good.” That was all the information she was going to give. “Why don’t you just ask her.”

She shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like my place.”

HyeJin rolled her eyes. “The sooner you two stop pretending, the easier it will be for all of us.” She started to walk off.  

“Pretending about what?” Byul called after her, she only got a wave of HyeJin’s hand before she reached the camp. 

Byul rejoined them all. Everyone was already on their sleeping mats, Luna was on guard for now. Arcadia was already laying next to Byul’s mat, YongSun was already asleep on hers. Byul plunked down her mat, watching YongSun as she slept. Her breaths rose and fell softly, she looked over worked but peaceful. Byul felt bad about the pressure they were putting on her, for everything Byul could lose on this trip, it seemed YongSun could lose a lot more. Maybe HyeJin was right, maybe SoMin was right, they had so little time before they reached the castle, that was where everything was going to change. Maybe it was time for her to finally confess her feelings for YongSun. HyeJin was right, it was not like it was a secret. All she had to do was tell the beautiful princess she was friends with that she was in love with her…maybe. 

Morning came before she wanted it to. Byul wanted to do nothing more than roll back over and get a few more hours sleep. She groaned and forced herself up. Everyone already had their rolls up and packed, all except HyeJin and YongSun, who were still out practicing. Byul started rolling YongSun’s mat along with her own, even if it was small, it was something nice she could do for YongSun. She just wished it was easier to show her feelings. The thought of confessing her love had kept her up most of the night, wondering how she could do it, and wondering how it could all go wrong. It was not like she didn’t have much else to think about. They were still too far away from the castle to come up with any real plan on what they were going to do once they go there, though TaeOh and Byul had started a few, with their knowledge of the castle. 

YongSun and HyeJin reemerged from the woods. YongSun looked more tired than she had last night, dark circles had started to set in under her eyes. It reminded Byul of when they first started travelling to Velcorn, how YongSun went along with everything without complaining about anything. Byul was sure that HyeJin kept her word and took it easy on YongSun, but even that wasn’t helping. Byul just hoped that could slow down enough before YongSun burnt herself out, the last thing they needed was YongSun getting herself hurt.  She wasn’t sure what she was going to do if YongSun got hurt from all of this travelling and training, this mission was not about pushing her to her limits. 

YongSun smiled up at her, stopping her heart for a beat. She thanked her for rolling up her mat for her. Byul watched as she took a large swig of her water skin, wiping the sweat off of her brow. Byul watched her stumble. She reached out to steady her, YongSun’s cheeks going red. Byul helped her to her feet. YongSun mumbled a thank you and continued to drink her water as she headed for her pack. Byul had a feeling she would be watching YongSun closely this entire day. 

YongSun was not feeling very well. She knew Byul was right last night, she was overworking herself, she could feel it with every step she took. She was also right about the pace being slower today, but it was not slow enough for her. With each step it was getting harder to take more.