XII

Yongsun has not eaten in days. The nurses scold her for not being able to take care of herself, but Yongsun feels she does not need to be yelled at right now, she is not a child any more and does not need to be told off by nurses who are (most likely) younger than her. As she recovers, Yongsun is condemned to lie on a cot with ragged white sheets in the nurse’s tent.

There is someone sitting on a wooden chair beside her, but Yongsun does not move her head to see who. She closes her eyes and listens as the pages of a book are being turned, the soft thumps of a boot tapping the ground, the heavy breaths of someone exhausted and tired. The mixed sounds compose a lullaby in Yongsun’s mind and she easily drifts off to sleep.

When she wakes, she sees Wheein with a red pencil in and a blue one in her hand, drawing something on a leather-bound notebook. Wheein rips her gaze away from her notebook when Yongsun raises herself on her elbows. Wheein smiles with the red pencil still held in her white teeth, eyes crinkling. Yongsun smiles as well, feeling the guilt, from having to ‘decorate’ so many soldiers, on her chest lifting when Wheein’s warm eyes bore into her own.

Wheein exclaims how worried she has been for Yongsun, telling her that she was dehydrated and lacked proper nutrition, all without berating her. Wheein says her superior found Yongsun clinging to a wall, trying not to fall. Yongsun’s eyes travel from Wheein’s face to a shadow standing by the tent flaps. «Sergeant Moon,» Wheein barks, saluting her superior officer. Yongsun inclines her head at the sergeant, a silent thanks.