Not long after the sun starts to rise above the horizon and the sound of birds chirping soothingly and steadily is when she opens her eyes. A groan resounds in the room, stretching her body for a few seconds before sitting upright. 

 

A few blinks and a yawn before she gets out of bed and finally making her way downstairs where she's greeted by the usual sight.

 

A bread, a utensil, and a middle-aged man sitting on a chair, sending her a warm smile before opening his mouth.

 

"Sleep well, princess?"

 

The girl smiles, merely nodding her head as she sits on the vacant chair across from him, still very much sleepy. The bread was burnt slightly, like how she always like and the tiniest smile creeps to her lips when the bread enters . 

 

She hums in approval.

 

"Why are you smiling like that dad?" she asks, noticing how he has been wearing that smile throughout the meal. The smile on his lips only grows larger than before, before he lets out a chuckle. 

 

"No, it's just that I feel like time passes really quickly... I still remember how small and cute you were, how you grow up and now you've gotten to this age and.. I don't know." He shrugs.

 

"I'm just proud of you, Seulgi."

 

The raven-haired girl's face softens, smiling a warm smile accompanied by a tad bit feeling of sadness weighing on her chest at what her father said. She wants to hug him but if she did that she's pretty sure that he will just bawl his eyes out based on his expression right now, so she choose just to give him her reassuring smile as best as she could.

 

"I'm going to miss you dad, but it's not like I'm going to be away forever, you know" Seulgi lets out a chuckle, wiping at with a tissue for the crumbs left on her lips.

 

Maybe 1-5 years away, that's guaranteed, and after that..?

 

Seulgi understands his feeling though. Losing his wife at just the early age of their marriage is not easy, especially when your child is still small. He has been working hard making money solely for Seulgi to grow up as happy as she can, and for that Seulgi is forever grateful.

 

Growing up without a mother is not easy too. It's not seldom that Seulgi would feel a little bit jealous, even just by something simple like how the children on the street would be spoiled with the street foods, bought by their mothers. But it's not like she can do anything about that.

 

"I know, and I'm sure that you'll have fun there." He puts away the now empty plate from the table and put it on the sink before running the water.

 

"Now go pack your stuff. the transportation will be here in an hour"

 

 

•

 

 

"Moki! come here"

 

A small creature that looks like a mixture of ferret and meerkat pops it's head before jumping out of the bush and runs on its four-leg onto her lap. Seulgi presents a few nuts on her palm and like always, the creature takes one, bite it for a few seconds before moving onto another nut, eating it like how a squirrel would.

 

Seulgi can never get enough of this cute creature. 

 

Since she was young, a certain small creature came to their house's backyard. On one particular day, when small Seulgi was playing on her house's backyard with her dad was the first time Seulgi saw this creature, at least with her own eyes, that is. 

 

At first, it only stared at Seulgi curiously, tilting its head side to side as if questioning Seulgi what species was she and vice versa for small Seulgi.

 

"That's a Moki," Her dad said as they watched amusedly at the small creature among the bushes. "I've never seen them with my own eyes before"

 

Small Seulgi looked up at her father.

 

"Why's that?"

 

"They usually live deep inside the woods because they know it's dangerous to live near humans."

 

"Why's that?" small Seulgi asks the second time, earning a chuckle from her father. He ruffled her hair affectionately with his palm in which made small Seulgi broke into a wide grin.

 

"Not all humans are good, Seulgi. Mokis are hunted for their furs. A long time ago, we lived alongside them but humans turn greedy, forcing them out of their habitat and resulting them to run away deep into the woods."

 

Seulgi frowned at that.

 

"Now, it's very unusual for them to be wandering around here," Her father interjected, after noticing his daughter's silent and sullen face. 

 

"But look, it's here now isn't it?" 

 

Small Seulgi looked up at the lone Moki and nodded.

 

"And it doesn't run away, do you know what that means Seulgi? that means it knows we're not a threat and that you're a good girl."

 

Small Seulgi's eyes lit up and she glanced at the Moki before looking up to her dad.

 

"Really?"

 

A big smile adorned his lips at the look on her face. 

 

"Yes, princess."

 

Seulgi smiles at the recollection, suddenly feeling sentimental as she continues to the creature's head. 

 

How long was it since then? 10 years ago?

 

She loses her train of thoughts when her dad calls for her, waving his hand from their house's gate signaling for her it's time.

 

Seulgi gently pats the Moki head, stands up, brushes off her pants before making her way to her father. A smile graces upon his eyes when their eyes met and Seulgi wraps her arms around his body. Tight. As if that act holds everything she wants to convey to him. 

 

They hug for a while and he pulls away when a carriage came into his view. It's time for her to leave.

 

"I'll see you"

 

His father smiles and gives her a nod. Ruffling her head like he always does before fixing her bag strap.

 

"I love you. Always remember to take care of yourself and make sure to have fun there yeah?"

 

"I will." Seulgi nods.

 

"Don't push yourself too hard, okay? That's the most important thing."

 

He holds her palms, facing them upwards as if making sure that she gets the point. Making sure that she knows what he really means. 

 

"I will."

 

"..okay" 

 

He lets go of her hands, patting her back with his hand as if to reassure her when in fact Seulgi thinks it's for himself.

 

"I love you too dad. See you on break then."

 

"Yeah"

 

The carriage slows it's speed when it's already near and eventually stops perfectly in front of their house. It is quite a big carriage, the kind that Seulgi never seen before in her village as from her observation maybe can hold the capacity of 6 people inside it. The carriage, as per usual, is pulled by two enormous wolves known as howls. Their size can be up to 6 times larger than normal wolves, so do their power so it's no wonder they can pull a carriage ( even this big ) easily.

 

A few seconds after the transportation halts, the door opens and a woman comes out of it with a clipboard on her hand. She looks down at her clipboard again before looking back at them.

 

"Kang Seulgi?"

 

Seulgi nods. "yes, that's me"

 

The woman lets out a smile, putting down her clipboard, and points her thumb towards the carriage. 

 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come in"

 

She walks towards the carriage, dragging her feets a little bit as she can hear the sole of her shoes grazes against the ground once or twice.

 

Before getting inside the carriage, she turns around and already found her father smiling at her as if encouraging her.

 

 

Seulgi spends her ride peacefully. 

 

Sometimes her mind wanders back to her father. 

 

Will he be okay alone?

 

Sometimes the tip of her fingers feels weird and tingling when she thinks about how she'll spend her time at the academy.

 

Will I be okay?

 

Or sometimes her mind fills with how beautiful the scenery is as stares in awe through the carriage's windows. She has never been to the north part of Niwon before, but she does hear a lot of stories from the people in her village. How it has the famous fairy bread there and how the people there live with their own elements, etc. 

 

Nobody ever mentions how gorgeous the scenery is though. The woods with their many colors in it, not just one. Red, orange, gold, and even blue! Seulgi smiles in awe as she watches how diverse the color of the trees are. 

 

Nervous. 

 

Excited.

 

Mostly excited, she concludes.

 

The carriage slows it’s speed and comes to a halt after about two hours after Seulgi rides it. Very similar to herself, the carriage stops in front of a modest two-story house. The front yard has a swing on the right-wing, while on the other side a girl seems to be a horse’s neck gently for a few seconds before she turns her head towards the carriage.

 

“Son Seungwan.”

 

Seulgi watches as the girl hugs a little girl and a woman that looks like she’s in her forties year of age. Exchanging a few words to each other, Seulgi doesn’t bother to eavesdrop as she instead stares at how the ground beneath where the girl’s standing seems weird, like how the mud looks as if it is avoiding her shoes with all its might.

 

And with each step she takes, every time her feet hit the ground, the mud made a circular shaped outwards until she reaches the carriage and goes inside. Her shoes, of course, is clean, not a dirty spot in sight.

 

Cool.

 

Sitting across Seulgi seems like the most ideal spot and there she sits. The first thing that Seulgi notice as soon as she sits down and faces her is her side braided hair, peeking shyly out of her red velvet hooded cloak.

 

Seulgi makes eye contact with her and without a second pass by, the girl throws a smile towards her, the warm kind. A bit caught off guard with the smile easily thrown at her, Seulgi freezes for a split second but manages to smile back nonetheless.

 

A bit rare to meet someone this friendly, Seulgi decides to initiate a conversation.

 

In the south part of Niwon, where her village is located at, everything seems to be monochromatic in terms of color palette, be it clothes, houses, or even hair color so the first thing that comes out of Seulgi’s mouth is;

 

“You have nice hair color”

 

The girl looks down at her braided hair, examining her own blonde hair with her index finger and thumb while Seulgi mentally slaps her forehead at her attempted compliment. 

 

But instead of getting a weirded-look from the girl like how she expects it to happen, the smile on her lips only grows wider, much to Seulgi’s relief.

 

“Thanks, yours are a pretty color too! I’m guessing you’re from Faymere..?”

 

Seulgi shakes her head slightly, grazing a small smile as she says:

 

“Close to Faymere actually, but no. I’m from Midvale”

 

“Ah, that was close” The girl snaps her finger and scrunches her nose, earning a light chuckle from Seulgi.

 

“I’m Son Seungwan by the way but I’m guessing you already know that. Just call me Wendy”

 

Seulgi smiles widen.

 

“Kang Seulgi.”

 

 

•

 

 

It took a total of 6 hours to reach their destination and by the end of the ride, the carriage is filled by 5 people, including Seulgi.

 

They exit the carriage one by one after it was announced that they’ve reached their destination. Seulgi’s the third one to exit and her feet wobbles at the first steps of walking out of the carriage. Seems like her foot had gone to sleep, and the other 4 seems to have the same problem too as they stretch their feet out to restore the feeling into their legs. 

 

“Okay kids, we’re going to walk a little and it’s not a really smooth path so be careful okay?” the woman with the clipboard says, re-adjusting her round glass up to her nose, not forgetting to smile at each one of them.

 

“Miss,” a boy with a mullet hair raises his hand. 

 

“We haven’t got your name yet.”

 

“Oh dear, I forgot about that” The woman chuckles as she puts down her clipboard.

 

“My name’s Sunny, and... I already know your names so let’s carry on. It doesn’t matter anyway, you guys will most likely know each other anyway in the future.” the woman named Sunny said, giving them a knowing smile while she begins to walk ahead.

 

They immediately scrambled to follow her. Like miss Sunny said, the path is not really smooth but they can still see the path ahead of them. When a massive architecture finally enters her line of sight, Seulgi lets out a relieved sigh. 

 

As they walk Seulgi notices how different their style of clothing is. While she herself only wears a simple white tunic with fitting black pants, the others around her seem to be wearing a fancier type of clothing. 

 

Like the guy walking in front of her, the mullet hair guy.

 

He’s wearing a short-sleeved, dark blue jacket which covers him to just below his waist, decorated with several