Sowon smiled a little as the village came into view, there were still a few ladies walking around outside, taking care of laundry or moving things around, packing things back inside until the next day. Spotting the village's chief, Sowon walked over quickly, pulling Eunha along with her.

"Chief!"

"Sowon unnie!"

Sowon dropped the wolf on the ground and caught the shorter girl in her arms, she jumped right into a hug. Eunha quietly watched from the side, still eyeing the dead wolf on the ground.

"It's been so long unnie! Did you bring another member?"

"Yerin ah, about that, she....she's Eunha."

"Eunha? That's a cute name, hey, I'm Yerin."

Yerin, the current chief of this village was well built, easily seen by her strong but slender shoulders revealed by her tattered tank top. Sowon assumes that this wasn't the original state of the article of clothing, as most likely Yerin had probably torn the sleeves off in her work as part of the guards of the village. Even as a chief, she didn't hide from dangers.

Eunha blankly stared at Yerin, this place was weird, people were dressed slightly more primitively compared to the village she was raised in, and....everyone was a woman.

"Welcome to the village of women rejected by Sowon unnie!"

"Hey! I told you not to call it that way!"

Yerin just giggled as Sowon bonked her head lightly. The lliteral meaning of this name was because Sowon had rejected their blood, not actually a bunch of concubines in a palace wasting away, not that Eunha would know. Yerin's bright smile unnerved Eunha, why was everyone here so smiley? They seemed so powerful as well, their rough appearances despite being women, and sharp weapons that they toted around made it hard for Eunha to believe that there was truly only women here capable of defending themselves.

"Eunha, are you mute?"

Eunha quickly looked back to Yerin, wanting to answer, but also needed to confirm with Sowon that she was allowed to speak, but Sowon just sighed and nodded. Even if Sowon was sighing, Eunha had permission to speak. Though the sigh itself was making Eunha more and more nervous, it felt as if Sowon was getting frustrated and perhaps would explode in rage and possibly kill her for disobedience, like the dead wolf on the ground.

"I can speak."

"Hm, I see why Sowon unnie brought you here so quickly. So, unnie, what do you want me to do with this wolf?"

"You can just eat it's meat and use it's pelt, I don't need to drink it."

"You sure? I can arrange a pot, but well, never mind."

Sowon who had originally thought to take the drained blood away, decided not to, drinking it or carrying it when Eunha was around would only scare her more.

"Eunha, I'm leaving you here for several days, when I come back for you, it's only to ask you if you want to learn anything that they cannot teach here, or whether you want to leave this country."

Yerin puffed her cheeks, which Eunha was starting to get worried. Was she getting abandoned? Sold off to the next person already?

"Unnie, you can stay here for a few days right? Those scum don't even listen to you, I don't understand why you have to live near them at all!"

"I told you before that it's the middle of my territory. It can't be helped."

If she stayed too close to another vampire's hunting grounds, a fight would be unavoidable and a pain to deal with, especially because Sowon didn't have as many nutrients as a regular vampire did. If she were a human, you could say she had a vitamin d deficiency or a condition similar to that. It didn't bother her lifestyle too much, but in a fight, she could lose. She also never raised a sword to a human, so her sword skills were only polished to kill animals.

"Buuuuut a few days is fine right? Rightttt??"

Soown sighed, relenting to Yerin's pleading eyes, Eunha softened a little, Yerin didn't seem like a bad person.

"Fine, I'll stay a few days."

So long as there wasn't a strong northern blowing wind, she would be safe. Sowon offered her hand again, holding it still in front of Eunha as Yerin watched. Eunha looked to Sowon first, before looking down at the hand. Then she hesitantly placed her hand in Sowon's cooler hand.

"I'll take you to my villa."

"Oooooo Sowon unnie, could she be the one? You said 'I'll take you to my villa' after all~"

"I never meant it in such a erted way, stay away from me you ert."

Yes, Yerin was one of the offerings from years prior who wanted Sowon to her blood. She had already had an odd obsession with mythical beings and the unknown that she had taken the chance to save her childhood friend's impending offerage, and volunteered as tribute. Once alone, she had practically shoved her neck to Sowon's mouth to which Sowon freaked out and ran away. It was really a hilarious situation.

But, Eunha didn't know that.

"Does that mean you all were offered as sacrifices to S-S......."

Eunha couldn't help her inability to say Sowon's name, if she had addressed her father wrong, she suffered a beating. If she tried to speak with him without permission, it was a beating. Sowon could feel Eunha's hesitation in her stiff hands.

"You know what, Yerin ah, let her stay at your place for a night."

"As you wish."

Sowon let Eunha's hand go, retreating to her lone vacation home, several meters away from the village, though Yerin had already cleared the forestry leaning to Sowon's house, so you could see it, just buy looking down one of the village's many streets.

Yerin watched Eunha who looked after Sowon's retreating back.

"You know, she isn't lying when she said she wouldn't kill you."

Eunha bit her lip, a part of her knew, but the rest of her, her survival instinct, wasn't letting Sowon through. Yerin sighed and wrapped an arm around Eunha's shoulder, pulling her towards another house.

"Even though she didn't ask me, I'm probably going to ask you about your past."

The inside of Yerin's home was plain, but warm. The worn down wooden floors and straw mats for her shoes were neat.

"It's not like I'll force you to talk about it, but it would help us learn about you."

"Why would you want to learn about me?"

"Good, you finally asked a question. Well, when you want to be friends with others, isn't it natural to be curious about them?"

"Natural?"

Yerin looked Eunha in the eyes.

"Do you not have any friends?"

"Can you eat them?"

Yerin slapped her own forehead. Now it was clear why Sowon had brought Eunha here without the girl having any ambitions. She lacked the usual common sense, and didn't know what it meant to live for herself.

"I seeeeeeeeeeeee....we're going to have a lot of things to talk about. But rule number one, is to stop being so afraid of Sowon."

"....."

"Rule number two, if you have anything you want to say, you must absolutely say it, because Sowon unnie can't read minds."

"Can I say something?"

"You don't need to ask, but anyways, what is it?"

"The rule number one, I....I'm...not afraid of her."

"You aren't? Then why are you all meek?"

Eunha hesitated, but this was a village hidden in the mountains, far far away from her hometown. Her father....that monster...couldn't find her here, or learn from here, could he? Yerin noticed and hummed.

====================

next up, background building!

and look! Eunha isn't afraid of Sowon, rather, I think she doesn't know how to deal with Sowon!

i really should get to finishing my 7 page essay...