I am was stuck inthe woods with no internet or this would have been posted on time.

   Poison. How in the world could they have been poisoned? They had moved the three of them into a semi-circle around the fire pit, each of them had their own person looking after them. YongSun could not believe it, not once in her life had she even met someone who had been poisoned, now this was the second time Byul had fallen to it, clearly her life in the palace was more sheltered than she thought. 

Byul, it hurt YongSun to see her on the ground, sick. How could it be that only an hour ago she had been kissing the girl, for the first time ever, now hopefully not the last time. WheeIn looked so soft as she attended to HyeJin, whispering to her as she brushed wet hair from her head. TaeOh had Luna, he tried to make it seem like it was only because she was the only one left, but YongSun could see the pain behind his eyes, he was worried for her. 

Each of them assessed the person they were charged with. TaeOh was the most knowledgeable about poison, WheeIn had some experiences, YongSun only knew the limited things she learned from Ernesto’s books. From what YongSun could see Byul was covered in a sheen of sweat, her face was pale and a slight shade of green. She had a temperature, but that was the end of the symptoms. 

A half hour later the three conscious people were sitting by the fire discussing what they had found. “Unfortunately, it seems like a normal sickness; it could be any of a number of poisons.” TaeOh said concluding the session. 

YongSun sighed. “Then what are we to do?” IIt could be any number of poisons, they don’t know how to treat it, nor do they know the progression of it, it could get a lot worse over time. 

WheeIn, who was barely an inch from HyeJin, answered. “We go back to the party and we question them.”

TaeOh snorted. “I doubt the wedding party is going to be happy about the strangers who crashed their celebration, threatening them for answers.”

WheeIn leveled him with a look. “Who said anything about threatening.” 

Another snort. “There is no way you are going to level headedly walk in there and just ask a few questions.”

YongSun wanted to laugh because she could picture it. “But someone should go and ask questions, there is no doubt they got poisoned from the party.” 

They nodded at her words. “I think I should go.” TaeOh volunteered. “I have training in such things.” His eyes danced over Byul, then to Luna, he even looked at HyeJin. “At least being one of Henry’s soldiers will pay off in some way.” He must have known the skill he and Byul possess from their years in the army, could now be used for good things rather than Henry’s bidding, they had already paid off for the both of them in more ways than one. 

WheeIn sat up straighter like she was bracing for a fight. “There is no way I am going to let you go without me, not when it is my people on the line.” The way she said it sounded as if she considered Byul to be one of those people. “And I will not sit by while HyeJin is like this.”

It dawned on YongSun that her role in this was going to be an insignificant one, she couldn’t question people, even with her confidence in her powers and with Byul’s training, she wasn’t intimidating enough to get answers. “I will stay here then.” They looked over at her. “Someone has to stay here and take care of them.” They looked guiltily at each other, TaeOh went to open his mouth but YongSun raised her hand. “I have power, but it won’t be useful in this situation. I have some training in medicine, I will hopefully be able to keep them healthy enough until you come back with answers.” 

“We can’t just leave you undefended to take care of three people.” TaeOh said like he was hoping WheeIn would wield and stay behind, neither of them seemed to want to go with the other, but none of them wanted to sit around and play nurse while there were answers to find. 

YongSun wanted to roll her eyes at their childishness. “I have Arcadia.” She said gesturing to the wolf who lay at Byul’s side, watching her carefully. “I have the fight training Byul has given me, and if all of that fails, I do have my powers, though that would be a last resort.” 

They looked at her, then at each other, again as if they were waiting for the other to fold and stay behind. When neither of them spoke up, it was agreed. TaeOh and WheeIn would go back to the party and find some answers, and YongSun would stay behind and keep an eye on the others. 

Taking care of the others proved to be harder than originally thought. Especially when the vomiting started. HyeJin was the first one to start, rolling on to her side and spilling the contents of her stomach onto the ground beside her. YongSun steeled her own stomach and cleaned the residue from her face and hair, pulling her matt slightly away from the puddle, she couldn’t do much else, she feared it was not going to be the last time she vomited and she did not want to cover the camp in it. 

Luna was next. Lucky for YongSun it was not much that came out. YongSun went to each person, continuously cleaning the sweat from their faces and necks, trying to keep them on their sides so they didn’t choke on their bile as she attended to someone else. Byul seemed to be handling it the worst. Where Luna and HyeJin only seemed to be getting sick a few times, Byul would not stop, her fever was higher than the other as well, YongSun had no idea why. She felt a great urge to just stay by Byul’s side, making sure she was okay, but she could not neglect the others because of her feelings for Byul, lucky for YongSun, Arcadia stood watch and whined when something seemed to be going on with Byul. 

About an hour or so after the other two had left, YongSun was so tired from running between the three of them, but they all had seemed to settle into a sleep as their bodies tried to burn away the poison. YongSun just hoped that TaeOh and WheeIn would make progress on finding the cure. 

TaeOh was debating whether or not he needed to hold WheeIn physically back. When they got back to the party area, it had been turned into a makeshift medical camp. Cots were everywhere, a rope fenced off the area and there were people TaeOh considered to be doctors or something of the sort, attending to the people laying down. One look at the beds and WheeIn jolted forward, TaeOh grabbing her by the arm. “We can’t let them know we were at the party; it will cause too many questions.” She looked at TaeOh like she wanted to punch him in the gut and rush over there, but she chewed it over and nodded.

They approached carefully, gaining a few looks from the locals. TaeOh ignored them, he walked at a normal pace sensing WheeIn holding herself back, wanting to run ahead of him but she was keeping pace. TaeOh walked up to the bride, she was standing on the edge of the rope, face red and lined with the dirt that stuck to the tears on her face. “What happened here?” He asked her as if they had just stumbled upon this mess. 

The girl took a moment to realise she was being spoken to, she turned to see TaeOh, wobbled. “An attack.” She said between sobs.

Something told TaeOh, like him, WheeIn was trying not to roll her eyes. “An attack?” TaeOh faked shock. “Is everyone alright.” He needed to seem like a passerby, even though he wanted to get to the point. 

She shook her head. “They were poisoned.” Her eyes looked over to her new husband. “M-my ex-boyfriend, he put poison in the food.” Well that explained how they got dosed. 

TaeOh tried his best to look like he was concerned for others, not that he didn’t care, he did, if it meant helping his people. “Oh God, poison?” He looked into the bride’s eyes with as much emotion as he could. “Do you know what kind? I am slightly knowledgeable on poisons; I could lend some information if needed.”

The bride’s eyes welled up and she grasped TaeOh’s hand. “That is so kind.” She touched her heart. “My Raymond is just like you.” A glance at the man in the cot. “They said it was the Ivanian poison.”

TaeOh’s blood went cold, he knew of the poison. “Do they have the antidote?” He glanced over to the people working on the sick.

She shook her head. “They have people out looking for the ingredients but they don’t have any of them yet.”

TaeOh nodded. “It sounds like they are in good hands, my sister and I are staying in the local Inn if you think you need any more assistance.” The woman thanked TaeOh and he and WheeIn walked away.

WheeIn allowed him to get about ten feet before she stopped dead, yanking him back by the sleeve. “What is the Ivanian poison, and can we cure it?” It was impressive that she could look both sad and angry at the same time. 

TaeOh nodded once. “There is a cure, but the main ingredient is a rare blue flower that blooms on the mountain side.” WheeIn looked at him like she wished he would get to the point. “There are mountains near here so we should be able to find the flower there.”

“But…” WheeIn added impatiently. 

“But we have about twelve hours to find and make the antidote, or they will die.” 

WheeIn could not sit still. She had seen HyeJin sick a few times over the years but nothing like this, add on top of that this could kill her, she was about ready to pick a fight with anyone who could stand in her way. They were back at the camp, YongSun looked exhausted from taking care of the others. The morning sun broke out over the horizon, making the sweat on HyeJin glisten. WheeIn continuously the side of HyeJIn’s face as she tried to fight off the poison. 

They tried to devise another plan. TaeOh knew what to get for the antidote, some they already carried, some they could collect around the camp, but the rare ingredient was going to be the problem. They would have to leave YongSun alone again, they were not really okay with that. Well, no, WheeIn was not okay with travelling with TaeOh. She didn’t think they could get along well enough with him to make it to the mountains, but for HyeJin, she had to. YongSun might not have the best task, but it was important, and she could handle it. 

WheeIn had seen a lot of growth in YongSun since she first met her, actually she had seen a lot of growth in all three of them, they were all stronger, not that she would admit that about her brother. Brother, she almost scoffed at the word. SoMin married her father when she was nine years old, she didn’t love her at first but eventually the woman had grown on her, took care of her and her father. WheeIn knew about TaeOh very early on, it was known that SoMin lost her son and husband when she came to the Knight, so it was only natural she would hear about him when SoMin married her father. He was someone WheeIn used to wish she could meet, an older brother who was kind and caring, that was not the TaeOh she met months ago. At first, she thought maybe they could get along, she wasn’t stupid enough to think he could be her real brother, but he saw the way he was with Byul, their whole dynamic, and she had to admit she was a bit jealous of it. But of course, there was the incident with TaeOh and YongSun that made her rethink her initial conclusion, but he was still a good brother to her. The more WheeIn got to know TaeOh, the more she was sure they would be nothing more than casual acquaintances. 

Even now as they walked toward the mountains, WheeIn wondered if they would be able to build any sort of relationship, even if she really could not stand his cocky personality, it was like having two Luna’s around, though WheeIn also knew Luna was softer than she appeared. She also knew there was something brewing between her third in command and her stepbrother, she wasn’t sure what it had amounted to, they were harder to read than YongSun and Byul.

WheeIn decided to take this time to try and decide whether or not she could ever have a relationship with TaeOh beyond this trip. “Do you think YongSun will be able to get the antidote ready for our arrival?” She had no doubt in YongSun’s abilities, she was just trying to break the ice. 

TaeOh glanced back at her, he had been walking a step ahead of her the entire way from camp. “I left very clear instructions, and she has been working with Ernesto, and she has always had a good hand for healing.” He said matter-of-factly. 

“Perhaps it has something to do with her powers.” At TaeOh’s look she elaborated. “Healing is among the talents of a Solarous, each one’s powers manifest differently. HyeJin and I figured her healing ability was her being able to retain the knowledge about medicine.” She tilted her head. “There is a chance it could become more but…” She shrugged.

TaeOh gave her a real look now. “And you’re the expert on YongSun’s powers.” He said it sarcastically. 

WheeIn chewed her cheek. “No that would be HyeJin. But I educated myself on the subject to help her.” HyeJin had spent many years as Ernesto’s pupil, learning all about magic to better control her’s, that is why she and WheeIn were charged with training her. Well it was HyeJin who was charged with it, she had the patience, but she and WheeIn didn’t do much without each other. 

At that thought WheeIn’s eyes started to mist. She needed to find this stupid flower, there was no way she was going to lose HyeJin. “Are you okay?” TaeOh asked, his voice softer. 

“I’m fine.” WheeIn snapped. “The sooner we get the flower and get back, the better.” 

He paused for a moment, taking in her face, even though she tried to hide it she knew he saw more than she wanted him too. “We will cure them WheeIn, don’t worry.” She wanted to snap at him again, it was easier to get anger, but she could not feel her flames within her. “YongSun will have the elixir made for when we arrive, and we are having a good time.” Yeah, they have about eight hours left until they die from the poison but the longer they were sick, the worse they got so time was sensitive. When WheeIn didn’t answer, he continued. “I am worried too, I am just as motivated as you, my sister’s life is also on the line.”