TW: Blood and violence, character death.

Later that night, they set camp at a small gladder hidden between tall rocks. The light mood from earlier had slowly vanished as they couldn’t find a proper place to sleep and would have to spend another long night in the open, vulnerable to attacks. The mercenaries from earlier might have been a duo of idiots, but they couldn’t count on others being the same.

At least now they had clean clothes, some food and thick blankets to make the cold night a little more bearable.

Chaewon had dug a hole into the ground and Minjoo helped her to light up the fire to create a small bonfire to keep them warm during the windy night, hopefully the tall rocks would block the light from being seen from up far.

Minjoo snuggled up to her general, allowing her sensitive senses to take in nothing but Chaewon’s familiar scent and calming presence. She just knew the general wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight, but hopefully she could keep her company for a while. “How is it? In the battlefield.” She asked, glancing at the brown-haired woman’s sharp profile, noticing how soft and gentle Chaewon always looked, regardless of her life as a soldier.

“Like that night, but colder.” The older woman answered after a while, her voice deep and pensive. “You just do what you can to survive, even if it also takes part of you.” She knew since she was a kid that her destiny was to fight for this nation, however, nothing could ever prepare someone for the battlefield – the smell of iron and blood, the dirt covering their bodies and souls, the ghosts haunting her mind. As a strategist, her job always involved trying to reduce the damage made, to save lives, still there was only so much one could do at war. “It’s not something I take pleasure in doing, but something that is unavoidable at times.”

Min took her words with seriousness, she could understand it well. Being raised as a princess, she knew from the start that peace wasn’t always an option, and now she had witnessed it for herself – for the second time. “That’s why you became a strategist? So, it doesn’t have to happen all the time?”

“A warrior is only as good as their sense of honor.” If there is no honor, a warrior is nothing more than a dirty mercenary, a blind person guided by greed and bloodlust – just like the men that worked for the Lee’s. “It’s the same for a queen. Your decisions go beyond you.”

The princess sighed, playing with Chaewon’s left hand as they intertwined their fingers together. “I wonder if I am that honorable.” She may have been raised to do it, to rule the kingdom someday,, but there was no way to know if she would be good enough until the time has come, an idea that had always scared her a little bit. “My father sacrificed so much for his honor and this country, I’m not sure I’m ready to make such sacrifices.”

“I have no doubt you will be a great queen someday.” Chestnut eyes tinted with silver stared at her, Chae’s lips greeting her forehead lightly. Minjoo was many things, but a greedy and ruthless person who would lead her country to disgrace, wasn’t one of them. “The fact that you are thinking about it shows how much you care.” Squeezing their hands together, Chaewon smiled at her. “You were born to be a queen and the gods above make no mistake.”

“I wonder…” Minjoo gave her a hesitant smile, Chae’s words were full of sincerity, still it was hard to not doubt herself. She still had so much to learn about their kingdom and the politics behind it. There wasn’t an easy way to rule, an easy way of protecting herself and her people – she knew it better than anyone. “My mother was also a perfect queen, yet not even the gods could protect her.”

“The incident…” The general lowered her eyes to their jointed hands, bringing her other hand to caress Minjoo’s. Even as a kid, hearing about the queen’s death was tragic, although now she knew the official story was probably far from the truth – a truth that could only be even worse. “She was a fox like you, wasn’t she? It wasn’t an animal attack.”

“Calling it an incident makes it look so small and meaningless…” The princess let out a bitter chuckle, memories of dark days coming back to her. She was only a child, yet she was forced to face the world as a princess, keeping to herself the secret of what happened to her own mother. “I was there, I saw it. Foxes can’t heal like you do.” Her voice was low as she dived into the memories of what should’ve been a magical night for the young princess, but became an endless nightmare.

Minjoo felt the breeze hitting her face as she ran through the forest, the spirit of the fox right beside her like an extension of her soul – and it was. The fox spectrum was small, just like Minjoo, still a baby that would grow up alongside the girl and one day become an imponent nine-tails fox like the one her mother carried.

“MinMin, go slow. You know, I get tired easily because I’m getting old.” Her mother’s voice sounded, a soft laugh accompanying it – her mom’s laugh was always so funny to her, it was clear and loud, filling the ambient and Minjoo’s heart with warmth. The little girl turned around to see her mom who was walking slowly to meet her, the woman’s golden eyes bright under the moonlight, black hair and white skin giving her an ethereal glow that was almost as magical as the imponent fox that followed her.

“Mom! Did you see what I can do now? I can summon her!” The young princess ran back to meet her mom, her small face with a smile that resembled so much her mother’s – not only her smile, but the elegant and beautiful traits, left no doubt the princess was indeed the daughter of queen Yura; the fox blood she had inherited from the woman was just another proof.

As she jumped into Yura’s arms, warm arms coming to safely hug her and pull her closer, her heart was filled with nothing but careless happiness.

“You are getting good at it! And heavy too!” Yura said with a chuckle, a proud smile on her face as she fixed Minjoo’s hair with a hand before leaving a light kiss on her forehead. “She is part of you, treat her kindly and she will listen to your call whenever you need.” The wise words were said as the woman carried Minjoo to one of the rocks near the river, taking a seat as she kept the kid wrapped inside her arms.

Min snuggled up her mother’s warm embrace, as usual, it made her feel safe and comfortable. She loved these moments the most, in her short life of seven years, she was always surrounded by her parents’ love and care, but dad had been busy with some grown up stuff involving all those smelly old men that she couldn’t stand, and she couldn’t see him as often. Even mom was busy now, meeting people and helping dad, but she still found time for their evening walks.

Her powers just started to appear and Minjoo was eager to learn more about it – albeit mom always asked her to keep it as their little secret, bringing her to the forest so they could play without anyone seeing them. It was close enough from home, still it was almost like a new world for the child who could run freely and interact with the fox spirit, learning everything from her mother .

“Part of me? I’m a fox too then?” Minjoo’s excited voice echoed through the night and her mom smiled as she nodded.

“Yes and no. You carry the fox spirit inside you, like I do.” The queen explained patiently, bringing a hand to Minjoo’s chest, on top of her heart. “Right here. We are not animals, but guardians. It’s a great honor and duty.”

The young girl frowned her eyebrows, having a hard time to understand what her mother meant. “Does it mean I am like the guards back at the palace? But to the animals?” She tried to guess, her imagination running wild as expected from a child.

Yura left another kiss on top of her head, closing her eyes for a moment before answering. Explaining the legend to a child wasn’t easy and she knew time was the best teacher Minjoo would ever have. She wondered if the girl’s abilities would be different from hers, how the fact that she only carried a fourth of fox’s blood would impact it – judging by the way she could so easily summon her fox spirit and play with the wind, it wouldn’t be a problem. “Sort of, it means that as long as you live, this land shall be blessed by the higher power, that nature will be kind to you and our country as long as you are kind to them.”

Holding Minjoo with her right arm, she used her left one to caress the head of the huge fox that was now beside her, the spirit closing its golden eyes before slowly fading away as Yura thanked her for coming. Minjoo’s dark eyes watched in awe as her mother continued to move, reaching out to touch the slow waters of the stream, tinting it gold, the light spreading through water and land, making everything lively. Min let out an exclamation of surprise and admiration.

“Mom, can I do that too? Please!” The kid jumped to the ground, trying to grab onto the water painted gold and her mother just laughed, getting ready for today’s lesson.

A lesson that never happened.

The golden touch disappeared as Yura’s body tensed up, her arms reaching for Minjoo and bringing the unwilling kid back to a tight embrace – a bit too tight to be the usual one. “Mom-” The kid tried to argue, but her mother covered with a hand, giving her a warning look.

Minjoo was too young and naïve to notice what was happening, but the queen’s sharp instincts couldn’t be fooled. Yura could hear the sound of footsteps, the rush as people moved through the forest, covered by the blanket of the night.

Blinking, her eyes turned gold, growing sharper as she spotted the first of a group of many men. Her breath was caught on as she noticed their dark clothes and masked faces, the weapons in hand as they surrounded the woman and her daughter from afar. Words weren’t needed, she knew who they were and why they came. Moreover, she knew she needed to protect Minjoo at all costs.

“Baby, don’t matter what happens, stay with mom and do as I say, okay?” She asked in a whisper, her lips kissing Minjoo’s soft dark hair as the child watched her with a confused expression. “Close your eyes and think of your fox spirit, ask her to protect you.”

Minjoo’s ever so curious self wasn’t one to stay quiet, yet something in her mother’s expression made her understand it wasn’t time to talk, instead she felt the cold of the night embracing her and snuggled up to her mom, hiding inside her arms as she tried to summon the nature spirit once more.

The first arrow flew at the exact same time Yura’s nine-tailed fox spirit appeared again in all its glory, Minjoo’s smaller one growling as it assumed a protective instance as well. Minjoo didn’t dare to open her eyes, albeit her sensitive ears picked the sound of the next round of arrows coming their way and she felt her mom’s arms around her almost crushing her how tight they were now.

The queen didn’t make a noise, but a quiet groan of pain as she felt something landing on her back, the arrow perforating the elegant fabric of the white hanbok and reaching her skin and flesh. Yet, she didn’t move, keeping Minjoo safe as she felt her body burning like the flames of the fox, her golden gaze directed to the enemy as she ordered. “Destroy them!”

A circle of fire surrounded them as the nine-tailed fox latched out against the men, screams dominating the night as the men burned just like the forest. The river that was once painted gold, now turning red with the blood. Arrows and stones were still thrown at the queen and the princess, the enemies’ despair evident as they knew they had met their ending.

Yet the fire didn’t stop, but grew strong, burning and destroying everything it came in contact with. The heat was so intense that even the water started to become air. The fox’s rage was blind and lethal, taking all of Yura’s energy to make sure no enemy would stand.

Minjoo let out a muffled scream as she felt her mother’s arms becoming weaker around her as Yura tried to cover her better with her body, red blood now tainted Minjoo’s yellow hanbok as her mother bleed out. “Mom!” There were tears in her eyes as she finally dared to open them, seeing nothing but blood and fire everywhere, the small fox beside acting like a scared dog as it growled.

The screams of the men died down, bodies lying on the ground and the fire giving place to smoke as the big nine-tailed fox lay on her side exhausted, the spirit losing its golden glow just like the queen lost her blood – it was the end for both of them, having using the only energy they had to make sure Minjoo would be safe.

“Mom! Mother?” Minjoo clung onto her mother, calling for her name as the woman took several short, pained, breaths. The princess didn’t know what death meant, nor she understood what had just happened, yet her heart shrunk inside her chest as she realized her mother was hurt.

“My baby, you will be fine.” Yura managed to say, her pale skin turning grey-ish as she panted, the blood stain on her chest growing quickly as her life was drained. Using her powers had taken away any chance she had of healing. Still, she tried to hug Minjoo closely, cold lips kissing her cheeks stained with tears. “I will always love you, my little fox.”

The child couldn’t really hear anything, her eyes full of tears making it hard to see, she sobbed hard as her small hands came to cup Yura’s face, golden sparks painting her palms as she tried to help albeit not knowing how. She wanted to help her mother, yet, no matter how hard she tried, the golden of her palms never reached the queen.

Instead, she noticed the golden eyes of her mother turning back to chocolate-brown as her breath became shallow, and the woman leaned onto Minjoo. “Mom! Mommy! Please, mom!” She tried calling, her eyes burning and soul shredded as she cried even harder as the queen stopped responding.

What was left of the fire disappeared as the skies seemed to hear the sound of Minjoo’s heart breaking, dropping tears of its own in the form of a heavy rain that covered the land, lightning and thunder dominating the night as the kid continued to cry hugging her mom, and Yura’s body grew colder and colder.

As if taken by the rain, the imponent spirit of her mother’s fox slowly disappeared as the queen took her last breath, leaving behind a brokenhearted kid and her own little fox as the only remains of what once was a whole lineage of guardians.

After that night the princess e was no longer allowed to go into the woods anymore, instead of evenings with her mother, she now had an overly zealous father who would have a whole army watching over her at all times. She couldn’t blame him, at first, she felt so sad and scared she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the forest.

Those were the times when the plantations died and the drought plagued the country, the fury of nature taking revenge for the death of one of their own. It lasted for years, until Minjoo was ready to once more summon the fox spirit that lived inside of her and with it, the blessing of rain was once more given.

Slowly, as she grew older and taller, she was attracted to the forest and the magic it hid. It took her a while to understand that nature would always protect her and she couldn’t live without it, that her fox spirit was a blessing bigger than anything else and humans were the only thing she should fear.

“She saved you.” Chaewon said in a low voice, hugging Minjoo to her chest as the princess’ eyes were filled with tears. For Chae, it was very clear how similar the princess was to the queen, how noble their bloodline truly was – and it had little to do with any titles. “She was indeed a great queen and an even better mother. You took after her.” Kissing her head lightly, she rocked them back and forth, trying to comfort her.

Minjoo, on a rare occasion, didn’t have any words to say. Instead, she only clung to Chaewon tightly, trying to bury the memories once more. She had decided to learn to be stronger and braver, so that she could protect herself and avoid having the same ill fate her mother experienced – and she succeeded, however, it didn’t take away the regret of not having been able to help her mother back then.

As Chaewon rocked her back and forth, whispering sweet nothings and caressing her hair so lovely, Minjoo slowly relaxed. She didn’t survive only because of her training as a swordswoman, she was lucky enough to have the general’s protection and love guiding her all the way.

Chae’s presence eventually pushed away the bad feelings from Minjoo’s heart and mind, allowing her to be involved by the older Kim’s warmth. Nevertheless, it wasn’t able to erase a question from the princess' mind.

Now she was starting to wonder if the Lee’s were behind that first attack as well.

A/N: So now you guys know more about Min and it might help you understand her behavior and abilities. I don’t want to make it boring with too much lore, but it would be downright lazy to not make sure it was well explained, so here it is (and in future chapters we will see more about it).

Next update is a very special chapter for 2kim. Thanks for reading, see you on Tuesday.

P.S.: Minjoo’s mom here is Girls’ Day Kim Yura, I think they match really well as a family^^