It had been a few days since their journey began, and Olivia was absolutely shocked that things were going so smoothly. 

Yerim, of course, was inevitably getting on her nerves, but not nearly as much as she thought she would. In fact she had largely been a big help, much more than the princess, who although older than Yerim by a few years had done practically nothing in her extra years on earth but study. She had even known a little about the plant life in these woods that Olivia did not. Now that they had run out of food, and were far too deep in the woods to purchase any, it had really come in handy. Olivia's hunting abilities could only get their little fellowship so far. 

Chaewon too was not as much of a bother as she had appeared on the first day of their journey. The complaining had quickly ended and although Olivia noticed she did not sleep all that easily, she never said a word about that or the food. 

Olivia had to admit, though, she hadn't been sleeping easily either. Although, she was sure it was for different reasons than Chaewon; she could sleep in almost any weather and on almost any surface. No, it was her thoughts that kept her awake at night. Thoughts that made her blush and turn away from the sleeping princess. Thoughts of holding the tiny girl, kissing her plush lips, telling her how she made her heart thump deeply in her chest.

Olivia quietly groaned to herself and shook the thought from her mind. If she got any more attached to the princess than she already was, then their journey would fail. 

Olivia was contemplating these things as the trio prepared for their lunchtime rest, sitting on rocks as Yerim handed them some fruit. They refilled their water canteens from the river beside them; the stream they had been following since the beginning had greatly grown in size. 

Yerim chattered quite a bit during their walking times but Olivia and Chaewon were typically silent, trying to save their energy (which Yerim seemed to just have an abundance of). Now that they were stopped though, Olivia needed to talk to them. 

"We have been lucky thus far. It doesn't seem like there's anyone in these woods. But we never know. Everyone knows bandits live in woods that look abandoned." 

Chaewon shuddered at the thought of bandits, and Yerim pouted at the ground. 

"And when we do stumble upon towns, or at least other people," Olivia continued. "We will have to be very careful. I'm sure the news of your disappearance has spread across the kingdom, and there must be reward money involved, for your discovery and for our capture: and maybe even death." 

Yerim gasped at this news and Chaewon swallowed thickly. 

"What can we do?" Yerim cried. 

"Keep a low profile of course," she answered. "And be prepared if we do face attack. Let's do a weapons inventory, then continue on our way." 

Yerim pulled out her small blade as well as a knife for cooking. Olivia pulled from her belt a long sword and two daggers. Chaewon just sat there, staring at the metal glittering in the bright summer sun. 

"Where's yours?" Olivia asked. 

"Me? I-I don't have a sword." 

Yerim and Olivia gasped. "You don't have a sword?" 

"I..I always had guards before..." 

"Do you at least know how to use one?" 

Chaewon slowly shook her head, and Olivia and Yerim gasped again. 

"What would happen if someone made an attempt on your life?" Olivia cried angrily. 

"I don't know!" 

Yerim sighed. "Honestly I thought castle security would be stronger, I mean...the ceiling trap doors...not teaching the princesses how to use a sword, or even giving them one..." 

Olivia sighed, trying to push down the irrational anger and fear building in her chest. Now was not the time to worry about Chaewon, or think of what could have been of her before they had all come together. The fate of her mission, and of her two companions, was now at stake. 

She leapt to her feet. "Okay. We will go no further today. We must teach Chaewon how to wield a blade." 

"Yes! It'll be so fun!" Yerim said cheerfully, unsheathing her dagger. "I'm no master like Olivia, but I am decent. I'd love to get more practice in!" 

"I...don't know about fun...I...I'm not sure if this is for me." 

"Chaewon, this is for everyone. At some point on our journey, we will be in danger. If you cannot defend yourself...I don't know if you'll survive. At the very least, survive unscathed." 

Chaewon stared back at Olivia, fear in her eyes, until Yerim rubbed her arm. 

"Come on! We won't have to walk anymore?" Yerim bargained. 

Chaewon sighed. "Alright. Fine. I... I guess it's an important skill. Where do I start?" 

Olivia pulled one of the sheathed daggers from her belt and after a moment of hesitation, handed it to Chaewon. 

"Here is one of my daggers. Well...it's yours now. You can start with this blade." 

Chaewon looked into Olivia's eyes, noticing what this sort of gesture meant to the former knight. It made something...strange bubble up in Chaewon's chest, something she had never felt before and could not identify. The two girls just looked at one another, the sheathed dagger in Chaewon's hand. 

"Olivia, where's she gonna put it? Chaewon still has her nightgown on and neither of us have an extra belt." 

Chaewon shook her head and Olivia cleared . "Um..." She said, looking over Chaewon (only partially out of self indulgence) before finally perking up. "Put it in your shoe?" 

"Okay," Chaewon answered, putting the sheath and sword into her shoe before withdrawing the blade, waving it close to Yerim's face. 

"Woah!" The younger girl cried. "Be careful with that thing." 

"Agreed. It may look small, but I keep all my blades sharp. See," Olivia added, stepping in close to Chaewon and pricking her finger on the edge. 

Chaewon took in a small gasp, the air seemingly growing thicker between them. Again they made eye contact, and maintained it for so long that Yerim had to clear to get them to pay attention. 

"Sword fighting! Yes, using a blade," Olivia said mostly to herself, bringing herself back to reality. 

Chaewon coughed and stood tall, gripping the handle of her dagger so hard her knuckles turned white. 

"You can relax! We won't hurt you," Yerim cried. 

"Do...do I have to fight her?" Chaewon asked, gesturing to Olivia. 

Olivia scoffed and Yerim giggled, shaking her head. "No way. You know technically she's the best in the whole kingdom, right?" Chaewon gaped and Olivia smiled proudly. "No. You'll fight me and Olivia will show you." 

Chaewon gave a frightened look to both girls and they shared a giggle. "Don't worry! It's not too bad. Try to get me, alright?" 

The princess looked around nervously for a moment before she just started stabbing around near Yerim, her wrist shaking. Yerim easily dodged every attack and eventually, cast her blade up to Chaewon's. The metal clinked and glittered in the shining sun and Yerim dragged hers down, the sound of scraping metal filling the wood. The force of Yerim's movement made Chaewon's dagger fall from her hand and onto the forest floor. 

Chaewon sighed deeply and picked up the dagger while Olivia came behind her. 

"First you need to strengthen your grip. See how I hold mine?" Olivia unsheathed her own dagger and showed Chaewon how she wrapped her hands around the handle. Chaewon hummed and did the same on her own. She looked at Olivia for approval, who gave her a quick nod and flushed before standing back behind her. 

"Okay, now try what you just did, alright?" 

Chaewon the blade forward and although it was still far from direct, she already had more control. 

"Good job. Now...try like this." 

Olivia slowly wrapped her fingers around Chaewon's arm, pressing close behind her as she directed the princess how to use her muscles properly. Chaewon could feel Olivia's fingertips skitter across her skin, her breath over her shoulder, her tall frame pressing so close to her own tiny one. 

And slowly, she could feel her cheeks redden, and her grip turn shaky, and her heart beat deeply in her chest. What was this? It had been building since Olivia had given her the dagger, but now it was really intense. Like before, Chaewon had truly never felt like this before. 

Well, Olivia was pretty. Even with her stoney gaze and knight gear she was still very clearly pretty; Chaewon had thought so since they first met. Olivia was strong, obviously. Olivia was...interesting. But what did that have to do with these new feelings Chaewon found in her heart? She wasn't sure, and this flustered feeling only grew stronger in her body. 

And so...she dropped the blade.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Well...maybe you were right when you said it was not your thing," Yerim mumbled. The girls had been practicing for many hours and it seemed as though Chaewon's skill had not improved, even just a little bit. Everyone was tired, sweaty hair sticking to their faces and clothes dirty (except Chaewon's still somehow immaculate nightgown). 

"Maybe? I was definitely right," Chaewon answered. 

Olivia hurriedly shook her head. "No. You just need to work on it. You know, Yerim and I have studied this since we were very young." 

Yerim eyes bulged out of her skull; it was not usual for her to be so gentle with someone else. 

But Chaewon smiled, Olivia spluttered, and she confirmed in her head what her suspicions had told her from the beginning of their journey: perhaps, the great stoic girl knight Olivia Hye had a crush on the delicate princess. 

"Thank you," Chaewon finally, softly answered. "I will just need to practice." 

"And out here we have all the time in the world, right?" 

Chaewon gave Yerim a smile. "Right." 

Suddenly they noticed that the sky had fallen dark, and already the moon was beginning to light up night sky. Stars scattered around the indigo mass and Yerim's stomach growled. 

"Is anyone else hungry?" 

"Starving!" Chaewon cried, with a smile Olivia had yet to see her wear on their journey. Maybe now she was finally comfortable with their little group. 

"Let's get dinner together then, and rest for the remainder of the night. We'll need it; who knows what we'll face tomorrow morning." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: hello my lovely subscribers!!! how are you liking the story so far? i hope you're enjoying it. to be honest i know nothing about fencing/sword fighting so i bsed that entire section, lol. i also promise that the rest of the members are going to start showing up very soon, so be patient!

as an author, the thing that motivates me completely is comments! so if you have something to say, or a thought of any kind, or liked the story, please let me know! i think it makes the fic so much better <3

finally, i wanted to use this platform to speak up about #blacklivesmatter! enough is enough, and it's so important to spread information and donate if you can! here is some information if you want more info/don't know about it already, and it also includes links of how to support in many different ways! 

until the next chapter, 

-RainbowDonkeys