Tzuyu’s hound survived the night and after a week was able to return to the forest. Keeping that information from one of the disciples was difficult but Tzuyu roomed with Momo so there was no fear of her roommate ratting her out. Chaeyoung ended up popping by during the week to check on the hound that had saved her life, or at least that was her excuse. Chaeyoung put it down to not wanting to see Mina and Nayeon together, the idea of watching them be a couple in front of her salad did not appeal to her.

The rare times Tzuyu joined them for meals were better, Chaeyoung was able to sit with Tzuyu, Momo and Dahyun who quickly took her mind of everything. But hanging in Tzuyu’s room alone watching her nurture her dog was different. It had been awkward her first visit, she and Tzuyu were both quiet by nature and so it was silent in the room. The shorter girl found herself watching how tentatively Tzuyu looked over the animal, the very real pain that flashed through her eyes whenever the poor thing whined.

The second day Chaeyoung went over Tzuyu confessed she liked animals more than people, Chaeyoung didn’t know how to take that. But given Tzuyu hadn’t asked her to leave (or gotten Momo to kick her out) she assumed her presence was welcomed.

Each day the longer Chaeyoung sat there, the more both girls would bring up random topics to make the silence less awkward and break the tension that suffocated them that first day. Tzuyu found the easiest way to get Chaeyoung talking was to bring up a topic she was interested in, like art. Her eyes would shine so bright Tzuyu worried Apollo would arrive to drag them across the sky and she’d talk with her hands making large gestures to make Tzuyu understand the gravitas of what she was saying. Even if Tzuyu had no idea what she was going on about, seeing Chaeyoung talk so animatedly made her smile and hang on every word. Every visit they got better and better at talking to each other, conversations went from gently discussing the weather between awkward pauses to deep discussions on life as a whole.

Tzuyu learned that Chaeyoung couldn’t wait to be released from this camp, she wanted to travel the mortal world and see everything. She wanted to look upon the creations of both the Gods and man with her own eyes, take in the beauty of the real world outside. But Tzuyu was shocked to learn it wasn’t just the beauty Chaeyoung wanted, the Gods made sure their children only saw beautiful things (as the child of a top tier Goddess, Chaeyoung had been raised on Olympus).

The daughter of Athena wished to see the real world as it was, imperfect or chaotic. She wanted to find beauty in the imperfection, see the places the Gods had not touched with good fortune. Chaeyoung had been raised in a world that was pristine and marble, but she wanted more than anything to experience dirt and cobblestone. The desire was to explore the unknown.

Chaeyoung learned that Tzuyu had been very sheltered, with just herself and her mother in the forests until Momo and her mother came to visit. It was the reason for the duos closeness, Momo was one of the few people Tzuyu would see in the forest and at that was the only one her age. Tzuyu divulged her mother had taught her young that people (Gods or mortal) could not be trusted, only the few she allowed passage through the woods were safe enough for Tzuyu to associate with.

She told Chaeyoung that the origin of this was the quest a lot of males had to be the one to de-flower the Goddess of s. When the men would come to the forest to woo her the animals would often defend them, if not the archery skill both women had would suffice. The camp was the first time she had been around so many people so of course she came across rather anti-social. When Chaeyoung asked what Tzuyu would do after the camp, the tall girl shrugged - she supposed she would return to the forest her mother resided in. Chaeyoung didn’t know how well she liked the idea of Tzuyu going back to living in fear of outsiders, she was too sweet for that.

Soon the time came to take the hound back to the forest, his wounds had begun to heal nicely and now he just needed to get his strength back with his brothers. Both girls were somewhat sad about this, sure it was great that he had recovered so well but Tzuyu was going to miss spending time with her crush as selfish as it was and Chaeyoung was going to miss Tzuyu…….Tzuyu being her excuse to avoid Mina and Nayeon of course. The next day Tzuyu thought everything was back to normal and so went back to skipping breakfast in order to go into the forest with her bow. It had shocked her when Chaeyoung appeared to join her, more so when the black hound barked at his brothers for growling at  her presence.

Then everything became normal, Chaeyoung would join her every day still under the guise of avoiding Mina and they would either talk about everything and anything or just do their own thing in one another’s presence. Chaeyoung liked to draw the forest, from the random animals that would pass them to the flowers that spread across the woodland floor, while Tzuyu either read her book or practised her archery.

It was a day like this everything kicked off.

Chaeyoung was in a contemplative mood and so sat quietly, drawing pictures in the dirt, deep in thought. Tzuyu was next to her, the grey hounds head nestled in her lap as his brothers played together nearby, she had a book in her hand having noted the weird tension but too awkward to address it. She would come to find out Mina had accosted Chaeyoung on her way to the forest, asking why she had been avoiding the group - it was noticeable, especially to Mina whom Chaeyoung used to follow around like a second shadow.

Sure, the older girl had been spending more time with Nayeon but she had still noted Chaeyoung’s absence, as well as her sudden take towards the daughter of Artemis. It was strange, Mina cared deeply for Nayeon and that wasn’t in question, however she was beginning to feel somewhat jealous that Chaeyoung’s attentive behaviour was no longer on her. As selfish as that was, Mina had grown used to having Chaeyoung at her beck and call, for her to no longer do the small things Mina would leave for her to do became noticeable. So that morning before Chaeyoung had gotten to the forest, Mina had intercepted her and demanded to know why Chaeyoung was avoiding her.

Now, Chaeyoung was nothing if not honest. Not in the adorably blunt way Tzuyu would blurt out whatever she was thinking due to awkwardness, but in her careful from-the-heart manner that was so Chaeyoung. She explained that she was still recovering from her crush and so thought some space between them would do them good, Mina had pouted and begged Chaeyoung to join her for breakfast. She said she missed her best friend and Chaeyoung found that none of those actions hit her the way they used to.

The pouting didn’t make her heart flutter, the begging didn’t make her want to yield, the label of best friend not crushing her heart in a vice as it once did. Not wanting to leave Tzuyu hanging, due to it being impolite of course, Chaeyoung refused but alas - she was no woman of stone and so promised Mina that she would join her tomorrow morning. That had sated the older girl who hugged Chaeyoung before practically skipped to the cafeteria, her hug was colder than Chaeyoung remembered, no longer filling her with warmth and butterflies.

“Tzuyu?” Chaeyoung said breaking the silence,

The girl in the question didn’t look up from her book, but did hum to show she was listening.

“Have you ever loved someone that didn’t love you back?”

ALERT! ALERT! SHE’S ON TO YOU! GAY PANIC INITIATED! ACT NORMAL! REPEAT! ACT NORMAL YOU GAY MESS!!

Tzuyu cleared , now refusing to look up, “Maybe once.”

“I have.” Chaeyoung sighed, the defeated sound in her voice prompting Tzuyu to look up,

She looked sad.

“You okay?” Tzuyu asked, shuffling over a little to her and ignoring the whine of the grey hound as he lost his head rest,

Chaeyoung sent her a tight lipped smile before looking back down at the dirt at her fingertips, “I don’t know if you know this but I used to have crush on one of the daughters of Aphrodite - Mina.”

Of course Tzuyu knew, she had EYES.

“Who doesn’t?” Tzuyu decided not to embarrass her,

“True,” Chaeyoung chuckled, “I was so in love with her I thought it would kill me, literally she could have requested anything of me and I would have done it. No questions asked.”

Tzuyu’s gut twisted.

“Isn’t she with Nayeon?” Tzuyu asked somewhat insensitively,

Chaeyoung nodded, “That’s why I’ve been avoiding them…”

Ouch, Tzuyu felt her chest ache - so Chaeyoung didn’t want to hang out with her? She just had no other options….fair enough.

“I thought Mina was the one; beautiful, kind, from a good lineage--”

Sana was right…

“---but she loved someone else and it hurt, a lot. So I stayed away.”

Tzuyu hummed again, now focused on not letting the tears in her eyes leak out. She would be strong as her mother taught her, not showing her weakness.

“I ran into her earlier, I’d been scared everything I’d worked hard to get over would come back. But it didn’t, I didn’t feel anything. But how could I get over something like that so quickly, I thought she was the one. The one! And I got over her that quickly.”

“There’s no specific time it takes to get over someone,” Tzuyu said in the monotone voice Chaeyoung recognised as being for strangers only, “It could take years or days, you probably accepted long ago that nothing would happen between you, the recent pain just came from confirmation that you and her weren’t meant to be. With the hope you clung to taken away you can truly move on.”

“You’re right. Besides I promised to join her at breakfast tomorrow so we’ll see if I hold up.”

Tzuyu said nothing.

“You okay?”

“I just thought we were friends,” Tzuyu told her bluntly, “I didn’t realise I was just a back up choice so you could avoid Mina.”

Chaeyoung looked horrified, “That wasn’t what I meant!”

Tzuyu hummed yet again and stood, retrieving her bow from where it leant against a tree. Chaeyoung followed, pulling Tzuyu by the shoulder to look at her.

“I’ve really enjoyed our time together, I promise. I value your friendship and believe me when I say I know what it means to have your trust. It’s an honour I don’t take lightly.”

Tzuyu looked at her with a blank expression, appearing to be searching her face for something. Lies, Chaeyoung would later come to realise. It took a lot to gain Tzuyu’s trust, one wrong move and she would lose it forever. Chaeyoung didn’t want that, she liked Tzuyu. Liked spending time with her even when they didn’t speak for hours, she refused to let a little mistake in wording ruin a relationship she had come to value. When Tzuyu’s face softened a little, the shorter girl breathed a sigh of relief - glad that Tzuyu realised Chaeyoung was not trying to mislead her.

It had been somewhat sad the following day when Tzuyu had gone to the forest alone that morning, having grown used to her crushes company. She wasn’t aware she was being watched until it was too late. She had been too wrapped up in her own little world as she fired arrow after arrow.

“Hi!”

Tzuyu whirled round in shock, her hounds growling at the newcomer. She said nothing, instead silently watched this woman approach. She was very pretty, the same way the daughters of Aphrodite were. It was like this ethereal thing drawing Tzuyu closer, beckoning her forward. Love me, trust me, devote yourself to me - all little things whispering in the back of Tzuyu’s now foggy mind.

“I’m Elkie,” The girl introduced when close enough, “I hope you don’t mind, I’m new and I’m struggling being around so many people.”

Tzuyu smiled, “I get that. You may stay if you like.”

Her hounds continued growling and she turned to them, “Stop it!”

Elkie giggled, “It’s alright.”

She walked forward and scratched behind the ears of the dark brown hound, he stopped growling and appeared to fall under her spell. One by one the other hounds followed except for the black hound who kept on guard, he didn’t like this person.

“Wow, nobodies ever won them over that quick!”

Elkie smiled kindly, “I have a way with people and…err…hounds I suppose.”

Tzuyu chuckled, “Anyway, you are welcome to stay just mind out for the arrows.”

As Tzuyu went back to focusing on the target she could feel Elkie watching her from her place on a fallen log. It made her nervous in a similar way being around Chaeyoung did. Except there was something else there that she couldn’t place. All she knew was that it got worse when Elkie placed a hand on her shoulder after a little while. Tzuyu’s stomach erupted in butterflies but she fired her arrow, hitting a ten. At least she didn’t lose her cool.

She turned to look at her new companion, trying not to buckle under an intense gaze, “What can I do for you?”

“Would you teach me to shoot an arrow?”

Tzuyu paused a moment, nothing wrong with a quick lesson. She handed Elkie the bow and showed her how to stand.

“Now notch the arrow.” Tzuyu told her,

Elkie tried but deliberately made a mess of it, going as far as nearly piercing her foot by dropping th arrow. Tzuyu caught it, luckily, but decided to help her out. She stood behind her and guided the strangers hands. She didn’t think twice about it, it was just an archery lesson. She rested her head on the girls shoulder so she could speak quietly in her ear.

“Draw back…”

Tzuyu helped position the bow a little.

“Aim…”

Elkie did so, pressing back into Tzuyu ever so slightly.

“Fire!”

The arrow released and hit a nine. Elkie began jumping up and down, “I did it!”

She turned to Tzuyu with a sly smile.

“You’re a good teacher.”

“Um…thanks!” Tzuyu blushed,

Chaeyoung watched from afar as Tzuyu stood so close to this girl. Something all too familiar hurt in her chest but she refused to entertain it. She had left breakfast when it was clear Mina and Nayeon were just going to flirt the whole time. Deciding not to intervene since Tzuyu was oh so busy, Chaeyoung crept back to camp. Something didn’t seem right, who was that girl? More importantly who was her parent. Something felt off and Chaeyoung didn’t like the idea of Tzuyu getting hurt if this girl had ill intentions.

She would have to do some snooping, she wasn’t dumb - she knew when she was feeling jealous.

But jealous of what she still wasn’t completely sure, but she’d figure it out.

And then she’d deal with the .