1 Month Later 

Yoohyeon chest heaved heavily while droplets of sweat slid down the side of her face and forehead. She kept her eye on her opponent who was one of Siyeon's many students from the royal guards. He was also breathing heavily as her. She noticed that his sword shook within his hand but he did not falter his stance. 

"Come now, Princess...don't tell me you're tired already?" mocked Siyeon from the sidelines. Yoohyeon glared at Siyeon for her remark.

Her attention now turned back at the student now rushing forward student, who was also letting out a loud, war cry as he laid out a flurry of attacks. Yoohyeon dodge each slash that came at her but once the attacks finished, she felt her knees buckle. Silently cursing at herself, she realized she had to end this quickly before her body gave. The student barely gave her a second to rest, as he came towards her again, this time lunging straight forward. Yoohyeon prepared her stance as the student came closer. As soon as he was close, Yoohyeon parried the student's swords and quickly stepped into the student's body. The student, surprised at the move, was quickly disarmed by Yoohyeon, and had a blade close to his neck. Along with their heavy breathing, both warriors heard clapping. They both looked around and saw a small crowd of spectators gathered. The student stepped away from Yoohyeon and bowed completely, seeing as he has lost. Yoohyeon acknowledge him with a bow also. 

"Alright you two, that enough for today. Good job everyone!" Siyeon announced.

The captain of the guard gave out a few more announcements but Yoohyeon didn't stick around to listen since it didn't pertain to her in any way. She slowly made her way to Gahyeon who was waiting at the side. Yoohyeon gives Gahyeon a small smile as she exchanged her weapon for a towel that the young maid had prepared for her. 

"Yoo!" called Siyeon from behind, "Are you okay?" 

Yoohyeon let out a small laugh, "Yeah I'm fine! Just trying to give a show that's all." Patting Siyeon on the shoulder. 

Siyeon observed the young princess with a worry face as her frame started to disappear into the castle. Siyeon knew that Yoohyeon could of easily beaten the student in less than five minutes, but the match took longer than that. During the match, she noticed Yoohyeon was slightly using more force than usual with each attack, which also made her sloppy. Of course only Siyeon would noticed since she had trained Yoohyeon for a long time. Siyeon could also sense Yoohyeon's aura felt slightly off. 

"Maybe perhaps..." trailed off Siyeon, obviously lost in her thoughts. 

"You know if you furrow your eyebrows more like that, you'll end up with wrinkles." 

Siyeon quickly turned and was met with a smiling short-haired blacksmith.

"Yubin!" exclaimed Siyeon, giving the mentioned a hug, "Let's go to my office." Yubin gave a confused looked as she was dragged away by the wrist.

~

Siyeon quietly closes her "office" door and motioned the young blacksmith to take a seat. Her "office" was actually her living quarters that was big enough to fit a table that was considered her "desk". 

"Wine?" offered Siyeon as she pulled out two cups and a bottle hidden away in several books within her bookshelf. She poured some wine into both cups. 

"I was wondering why you had so many books. You don't read." joked Yubin.

"Well this stuff is considered contraband still but I know everyone has a stash somewhere." disclosed Siyeon, handing a cup to Yubin. They made a toast with each other and drank. 

"So brings you here? I thought you only come when the king summons you." asked Siyeon.

"Handong is here." Yubin simply replied.

"Handong is here?" 

Yubin nods. Siyeon thought this was strange. She did not see Minji's carriage around so that means Handong must have come on her own terms. But for what?

"She's not here for me if that's what you're wondering." said Yubin. She could see the gears in Siyeon's head turning trying to figure out what was going on. 

"Ah..." Siyeon gave Yubin a sorry smile. The captain knew that Yubin had been pining for Handong for a long time now. They even both confessed that they had feelings for each other. However, it was Handong that said that they should wait till Minji and Yoohyeon were married since Minji was Handong's main priority currently. And so Yubin continues to wait for the maiden. 

"She's actually here for Yoohyeon." Yubin reveals.

"Huh? Why Yoohyeon?" questioned Siyeon. Her worries are yet to be alleviated. 

~ 

Yoohyeon walked quickly back to her room. She could feel her chest tighten with each step, making her sweat a little more. 

"Unnie, are you okay?" asked a worry Gahyeon, who was tailing Yoohyeon from behind. The princess's quick pace surprised the young maid but she figured it was because she was tired from training. 

"Yeah, I am" reassured Yoohyeon, "Gahyeon you can go attend to your other duties. I know the event is tonight so I don't want to keep you." 

They were both in front of Yoohyeon's door. Gahyeon wanted to help Yoohyeon into the room but Yoohyeon insisted that she goes. Not wanting to upset the princess, Gahyeon leaves. The young maid turns back before turning the corner and sees Yoohyeon slightly stumble into the room. Gahyeon's gut started to fill with worry but not wanting to disturb the princess, she goes to her other duties. 

~

Yoohyeon could feel her body give out once she steps into the room. She curses to herself and closes her eyes, ready to meet the ground, but she doesn't feel her body touch the ground. Yoohyeon opens her eyes and is met with a warm aura. 

"Handong..." relief took over Yoohyeon instantly. 

"Ugh you know, can you like call me after you've bathed or something. You stink!" Handong jokingly complained. She wrapped Yoohyeon's arm around her shoulders and as they made it to the bed. 

"You know I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't an emergency." Yoohyeon adjusted herself on the bed. Handong takes a wet rag that has been sitting on the nightstand and starts to dab away the droplets of sweat from Yoohyeon's face. 

Handong puts away the rag and lets out a heavy sigh, "You know you're going to have to tell Minji soon. I don't like keeping secrets from her." 

"I will, but for now..." Yoohyeon trailed off as she saw Handong preparing herself. 

"For now, I need you to be still, you've done a number this time."

Handong places a hand on Yoohyeon's forehead and another on her chest. Yoohyeon takes a deep breath as she knows the drill already. She feels warmth surge through her body as she hears Handong quietly chants out in another language. The language of the goddess, Vahena. The goddess who's high priestesses had trained Minji in the art of healing and special potions that either help or harm. Handong was one of those said high priestesses but is now slowly mentoring another young soul to take her place one day. It wasn't long till Yoohyeon now started feeling the pain she was anticipating. The more she was under this warmth, the more she felt the feeling of several pins and needles poking at her body. But she forced herself to keep quiet and endured the pain more. 

"Almost there." reassured Handong, noticing Yoohyeon's pained face. Yoohyeon gave a small nod to respond. 

A few more minutes had passed, and Handong thanked the goddess for her blessings. It was the way that priestesses had to end an healing sessions. Yoohyeon was panting heavily once more but felt slightly better than what she had felt earlier. She sits herself up and wipes away the sweat from her face with the rag Handong used prior to their session. 

"Thank you Handong."

There was silence the between the two of them. Yoohyeon understood that healing sessions take a lot out of the healer, but she could Handong a bit tired from this one. Yoohyeon slowly gets up and hands Handong a cup of water that was most likely placed there by Gahyeon before they entered the room. 

"Yoo..." Handong began,"What have your dreams been showing you." 

The same day that she saw Minji one month ago, Yoohyeon sent out an owl with a message to Handong. She described her dreams and since then, Yoohyeon would message her every time she had the dreams, which were becoming more frequent. And each time Handong received a letter, she would hide it from Minji, as per request from the latter to keep it a secret from her future wife to not worry her. 

"Do you think it has to do with..." Handong trailed off. Yooheyon knew what Handong was implying.

"I...I don't know." uttered Yoohyeon. Thinking back, made a shiver go down Yoohyeon's spine. 

"I suppose you haven't told her about that either?" asked Handong, who now was slightly annoyed at the amount of secrets they both were piling up. 

Yoohyeon shook her head. Letting out another heavy sigh, Handong gets up and fixes herself. 

"Tell her soon Yoo," Handong pleaded, "please." 

Yoohyeon gave a small smile and hugged the healer tightly. She thanked her one last time before Handong disappeared to the other side of the room's door. Yoohyeon let out a sigh herself, and walked into the bathroom. She splashed her face with water to maybe help clear her head. She looks up and sees a dark figure behind her via her reflection. Yoohyeon turns around quickly and sees that there was nothing. Confused, she goes out of the bathroom and back to her room. She scans the area diligently but doesn't see a single sign of a break in. Yoohyeon ponders at the figure she saw...because she could of sworn that the figure looked like her, but it wasn't her. It looked like the darker version of her. 

(A/N):

Hello everyone! Long time no update! I'm sorry if this one took a little longer. After my midterms, I was absolutely exhausted and didn't have much time to rest both physically/mentally due to more school work and actual work work. And clinical started right after midterms so I also had that. I finally had a enough this past week and decided to take on less work and focus more on school/clinical and some more self healing. I would like to thank those who have been patiently waiting this update. I noticed that I tend to divided each this by parts (as noted). That is because I am not used to writing very long chapters so the way I am currently doing things, I think that is beneficial. Again, I don't have a set schedule to when I post, so the date for the next update is TBD. It's late when I was writing this so if there any grammar/spelling mistakes please let me know. Thank you as always! And till next time! :)