Choi Yuri released a pensive huff and tried to decide which of the fruits looked their best and therefore would be worth to spend a small fortune on, her mind shifting between oranges and apples but couldn't bring herself to choose. Both were equally delicious, but on the second thought oranges were less common to be found from an ordinary British market of a small town she'd settled to, and she hadn't had the taste of them since leaving the Caribbean years ago. In the end her giving in under the temptation of both and turning to her left to gain some assistance from her son who was loitering a few paces away, keeping a watchful eye of the townspeople like it would've been the first time he accompanied her to the market.

"Which ones do you want San? Apples perhaps? You haven't had a decent pie in months now have you?" she called out, jesting as was fully aware of the type of food the sailors were served during long voyages at sea without a chance to acquire fresh ingredients. Her frowning as she watched the young man to start tossing her newly acquired ball of yarn in the air repeatedly as a sign of boredom after rolling it in his hands, San making an indifferent shrug as a response.

"I'm good with anything you buy, mother. Anything is an improvement from the food I've been eating lately", he stated, giving her mother cause for amusement by thinking the exactly same thing as she just a moment ago, throwing the yarn in the air once more until Yuri walked over to him to confiscate the item. Her eyebrows rising for vexation as she directed a chiding look into his eyes after a fleeting smile.

"Be careful with that! I had to save money to buy it."

San lifted his hands apologetically but almost instantly sighed, the low breath coming out jaded as he kicked a rock on the ground, watching Yuri to return back to the fruits. His palms now finding their way into his pockets. "You, save money? Sure mother, whatever you say…But will this take much longer? I wish to get to bed, I didn't catch much sleep last night."

"A few hours back and you're already complaining?" Yuri remarked quizzically, letting out a sigh herself as next waved her son to come closer, shoving the purchases into his arms for his evident surprise.

"Make yourself useful. You after all are here to help your mother to shop", Yuri responded patiently, her attention once again drawn by the fruits until her eyes caught a sight of rather good looking carrots. Her taking one in her hand to evaluate it, as San gave the ingredients an incredulous glance.

"What is with you women? You always buy too much, mother, and it is I who has to carry it all", San told her, as well partly joking as his voice was well-meaning regardless of its caviling edge, him taking a peek into one of the packages as much as his full arms let him. Yuri making a matter-of-fact expression as ended up choosing a bunch of those carrots and added them to her purchases.

"You do want to enjoy some cooking of mine after those terrible weeks spent on nothing but dry bread and salted fish, don't you? You just got back, so I thought it would be enough reason for a small celebration...And besides if I buy more at a time, I don't need to visit the market all that often. That said, act your age and quit whining. I'll be ready to leave soon."

San held back his objections and obediently resumed his wait by the nearest stall, the fabrics it sold actually then gaining his mother's interest and she stopped to admire their colors and textures for his frustration. Like any woman would imagining the several possibilities into what kind of gowns those diverting types of designs could be sown, where San bettered the position of the purchases as focused to eye at the crowd that had filled the marketplace again. After wandering about aimlessly among the sea of familiar and less so faces suddenly his attentive gaze however hitting on a strange lot of people that had taken over the other side of the square. San soon assuming to have reached an accurate conclusion of their nationality by the sight of their clothes and dark skin along with instruments several of them were holding. It not taking long for music start to play that was extremely distinctive to their tribe, violins and guitars accompanying a beautiful female voice that now rose above the murmur of the townspeople, who all turned their heads to the direction of the merry melody. Leading these out of place people to a lively dance as soon as the song caught up and the tempo evolved to faster paced, it soon becoming evident that they were celebrating. Their camp like residential area decorated with rich fabrics and flowers, and as San followed the riveting merrymaking he noticed a young couple to be at the center of the dancers. One look at their showy clothes informing him that it was a wedding.

"Gypsies? How long have they lived here?" he questioned in astonishment, lifting his brows as looked to his mother in wonder before his irises trailed back to the women who had taken over the dance, twirling around in wide circles as clapped their hands together. Scarves vibrating in colors and adorned with bells filling the air as new voices joined the rhythmic tune, San finding himself to be rather fascinated. This was the first time he'd seen these kind of people and even more witnessed their culture with his own eyes instead of learning about them from a book of some sort.

Yuri followed her son's gaze and dropped the turquoise fabric she'd been admiring, smiling a little. "They've been living here for years, son", she clarified, San blinking in surprise as they then both watched the bride and groom to return to the center of the dance floor, two elderly women then binding their wrists together with a pure white sash. "They've just stayed out of sight mostly. Gypsies tend to get on better amongst their own kin and don't mingle with the natives. I was honestly surprised myself once I learned them to have relocated to town."

"You wish for the contrary, mother?" San asked, his expression tantalizing but his question had been serious. He didn't know his mother's stand when it came to nomadic people such as gypsies who'd been generally considered outcasts all over the world for hundreds of years. But Yuri only shook her head as took San's arm.

"Not at all. I don't regard them as negatively as many do. They bring needed life to our town with their unique culture, and they are just people who try to fit in with the rest of us. No different from you and me."

They then shared a concurring smile, San squeezing his mother's knuckles until he started to stare at the cheerful gypsies again carefully, sighing.

"They're amazing to watch, their lifestyle and plain exuberance. It's out of this world...It must be wonderful to be free like that, to be able to wander to whatever place you desire without anything holding you back."

"Or is it the beautiful girls and their charms that have ensnared you so?" Yuri inquired in amusement, letting out a snicker as saw San to actually blush as he turned to return his mother's stare in denial. Although clear smile caused the corners of his lips to twitch, giving him away, which told Yuri to have been at least partly right, as there truly were several fair gypsy girls who would've caught any man's eye while moving about in their wide skirts, their each move purposefully sensual and alluring to the point that it had the power to attract everyone's attention as the guitars rang in the air magnificently. Not even spearing Henry who was staring at the dancers, male and female in a stunned awe, the vibrant mix of drums and guitar filling him with excitement and turning him notably joyous as his body wished to become part of the music as well. Yuri watching his lips to spread into a full smile as he noticed a group of local children to join the dancers, some of them receiving small instruments like tambourines and bells from the gypsy women, who danced them around in a grand circle before their indignant parents pulled them away.

But as Yuri was then eyeing at her grown son more and realized him to remind her so much of her older son Suho by the way he looked and acted, all the time more by the years that passed, she was filled with abrupt but all too familiar melancholy and yearning that not even the presence of San could dispose of especially now when he was away from home so often. Feeling however the deepest pride and joy, her then sweeping a lock of black hair away from his face, the young man glancing at Yuri questionably.

"What's wrong?"

Yuri broke into a loving smile in turn as he looked deep into San's eyes that also were exactly like her late husband's, with that same look of worry in them that almost caused her to laugh. Her then letting out a breath as inclined her head. "Just thinking about how much I love my son. And wish me to be as dear to him."

San smirked at her reassuringly. "Don't worry mother. Even if I'll meet a girl who'll sweep me off my feet, you'll always be the most important woman for me."

Yuri bent her head in agreement, laughing. "Good to hear that. But I believe you'll find yourself breaking that promise when the right girl crosses your path, perhaps sooner than you think. You're after all already nineteen. Ideal age to fall in love..."

San gazed up to the distant church-tower in ponders. Yes, maybe someday...but he couldn't imagine a love so powerful that it would go before everything else in his life, including his mission to save his brother from the curse that kept him tied to the Exodus. That had kept him away from his mother and him as long as San could remember…

He'd met his brother only two times, first being long time ago when he'd been but ten years old, and that meeting hadn't been a long one. And he was now old enough to fully understand the story his mother had told him to explain why his brother had left so soon before the following morning had even dawned and never returned since, but the older he became he found himself start to detest his brother's assignment. Even if it had saved his life and made sure San to at least have a sibling, the curse the Sea God Poseidon had placed upon him had so far lasted over eight years, with no sign of disappearing and allowing his brother to return back to them. Because of this him starting to find out everything he'd could about his brother's fate and about three years later since last meeting him San had sought him out himself and sworn to find a way to save him from his curse…Such determination to have carried him all the way to the day about two years past when San had decided to finally act, with twice as much drive continuing to dig out all the information he'd found about the legend of the Exodus and the curse, scouring the seas preparing for a solution, prepared to even summon the God himself to somehow free his brother from his power when his continuous aspirations to find the only object he'd believed to be able to bring an end to the curse hadn't been successful. The Trident of Poseidon that was considered naturally to be but a mere myth and plain superstition that couldn't be found, like his brother had also warned him before sending San away from the Exodus on that particular night San had pinpointed the ship and revealed his plan to his brother…But like all those other tales his own parents had proven true, San knew the trident was real…As real as his brother's curse, and he was prepared to do anything to bring him back to them…As San wasn't at all as oblivious as Yuri at times deemed, knowing her to miss his brother even more than he did.

"Wait here with the purchases, San. I just remembered we're out of flour. I'll be right back", Yuri said unexpectedly, San's eyes darting to the woman's direction, him making a face while shaking his head as watched Yuri walk into the surrounding crowd.

"Really, mother?" he stated with emphasis, sighing. He wished only to get back home and bathe before falling asleep into his bed, which was much more comfortable than a feeble hammock that had left him all tense. It had been tough last twelve weeks and his mother was nevertheless carelessly using him as a beast of burden... But there was no room for more complaints as Yuri had already gone, San letting out another sigh as leant against the stall.

But as he let his eyes roam about again for a moment they soon found something else worth of his interest at the outskirts of the gypsy camp. Him straightening his posture as walked forward to get a clearer look of that which had briefly come into view amongst the fluttering scarves, not anticipating how wrong he'd been just a moment before, as he waited the object of his attention to be revealed behind the dancers. His curiosity for some reason aroused so that he noticed to truly want to see that what was concealed from his sight with every convenient arch of a rising arm, him trying to see better through the cavorting people, until finally the curtain of scarves gave his expectant eyes way and he was presented a short glimpse of an another young woman. Standing at the sidelines, like him following the dancers.

She was no different from the rest of her kind by looks, her hair tied out of her face to a thick braid which fell over her shoulder once she bent down to take something from a basket she was holding, from which she then started to hand out food to a group of gypsies that seemed to know her well. Her overall appearance completely plain from that simple blue dress to her jewelry free bearing, nothing making her stand out from the people around her. Besides to him, as how and why he couldn't tell, like his mother had said it was in that utterly unforeseen moment that after examining the girl long enough to know her smile by heart as well as the grace he then found so compelling about her mediocrity, after watching her to laugh and sway to the beat of the song, he found himself wishing that smile that in an instant had enthralled him so to belong only to him. The simple but so swiftly snaring appeal of it causing him to break into a wide smile too the longer his eyes stayed focused onto this stranger he'd never met and yet felt so drawn towards, him eventually placing the purchases on top of a barrel by his side as without noticing his legs were taking him through the mass of people. Closer to the creature who drove his heart into a strange race without any rational explanation, him not being able to hinder the sensation of compelling admiration that had taken over him like the gypsy music before as he approached the source of this inexplicable marvel he felt, understanding only that he had to get close to her. Talk to her without even finding a reason for it... And so it had happened that even at the time unaware of it due to his dazzling rapture, Choi San had found himself in love, completely unwillingly and much quicker than he'd anticipated.

But even before he'd managed to exchange any words with the girl of his abrupt infatuation, in some part of him he already knew it to be too late to put out that spark of affection that had possessed him with a single look. Him now slipping behind a flower stall that stood but small distance away from the gypsy camp, just as his mother pushed through the mass of people.

"San, I managed to find those pastries you like so much...San?" Yuri rejoiced, only to frown in bemusement when she didn't see the boy anywhere, seeking her vicinity with confused eyes until her gaze eventually found their purchases that had been abandoned on top of a barrel. Yuri letting out a frustrated sigh as San was nowhere to be seen, the woman shaking her head at her son's disregard as then called his name several times. Yuri wondering where on earth had the young man gone in that short time she'd been away as he after all didn't appear, where at the same time San was spying on the girl who was conversing with a woman close to her age, the older one taking her hands and pulling her towards the dancers.

"Come now, Katya, dance with me! You haven't done so in ages, and today you have more reason than ever to join us. It's a celebration!" the woman urged, San's smile widening due to the sound of the girl's name as watched her to decline her friend's invitation with a headshake. Smiling also as freed herself from the woman's grasp.

"You know very well that I can't, Seola. I just came to visit and will be leaving shortly", Katya replied gently, inclining her head apologetically where Seola wasn't listening to her objections. Shaking her curly head vehemently.

"I'll have none of that. This is a wedding and no one to attend is not to dance. Katya, you're a great dancer, it's such a waste should you not join us."

San straightened his posture, a thought occurring to him that he truly wouldn't have enjoyed anything more than seeing Katya dancing with her sisters, but once more the girl expressed her denial with a patient smile. In turn taking Seola's hands as looked into her eyes.

"I'd wish nothing more, Seola. But I am not permitted, you do know that. I miss it as much as any, but have made my choice, and won't be breaking my promise even today. Go, enjoy yourself without me. I come to see you again soon."

At the sound of this Seola made a small resigned nod before claimed an arm of a young gypsy man and indeed did as Katya bided, joining the dancing with her partner as San's attention remained at the other girl. Him wondering the strange words she'd said to her companion a moment past and not understanding their meaning, then however starting to smile again as he reckoned the moment to have come that he had the chance to go to her. Him not feeling the least bit nervous about stepping right in middle of the camp of these "outcasts" like many would've, as so determined he was, San taking the first steps towards Katya whom he now saw to kiss the cheeks of the bride and groom who briefly passed her in the heat of the dance that had grown much more animated during the past minutes. Him however halting to pick a flower from the bouquets spread onto the counter of the stall beside him, letting out now slightly trepid sigh and pushed some of his hair out of his eyes. Making sure his regrettably not the neatest appearance was at least as groomed as possible before presenting himself to her.

But he after all couldn't make much out of his chance, as suddenly the music was cut like all the strings of the guitars would've been broken, and the square was filled with oppressive silence when San noticed a group of soldiers to march forth from the multitude of spectators. The festivities ceasing immediately due to the sight of the military men approaching the wedding venue, the marines spreading amongst the gypsies who by the looks on their faces were aware of what was happening, where San was completely confused as he saw Katya to gasp due to the sight of the commanding officer who was the last to emerge from the throng. San wrinkling his brows as followed her to glance to her sides as if looking for an escape route, everyone at her vicinity stiffened to their spots as Commander Lee, whom San of course also recognized, stopped at the other side of the venue to give it a tedious lookover before walked directly towards Katya. San filling with even greater bafflement as he retreated back into his hiding, Commander Lee intentionally kicking down a vase full of flowers as a clear sign of scorn as was then approached by a couple of gypsies, who tried to prevent him from reaching the girl. The soldiers however forcing them to keep their distance with the pointy ends of their muskets, where Commander Lee went straight to Katya, whose expression then turned from nervous to serious as she shook off the deterring hand of her presumed father to meet with the officer halfway. Half leering at the man.

"What right do you have to come here and interrupt this celebration, Commander?" she asked, in disdain herself as looked into the man's eyes. San measuring Commander Lee's bearing and finding it but annoyed, inexplicable smothered rage hidden under his calm expression as he then smiled at Katya significantly. Her cringing back once he explained himself.

"Your celebration is disturbing the public peace of this area, so I have every right to put an end to this deafening racket should I wish to", he responded, Katya letting out an indignant breath as the man now stepped forth. Causing San to flinch in turn as he grabbed her arm tight, bringing her closer a sudden dark look in his eyes. People around them attempting to intervene again, but were once more forced back by the marines.

"Regardless as you probably have already guessed, I'm not here for this petty little gathering, but solely for you. I received a word that you'd been seen skulking about this part of town, away from your sanctuary... Did you really think that without that sacrilegious robe of yours I wouldn't recognize you, even after two years, Katya?"

San was surprised as despite of her evident fear after leveling a swift glare at the man Katya slapped him across his face most readily, hard enough for him to release her as the townspeople who'd gathered to witness the unfolding scene released a shocked exclamation, not believing their eyes that this gypsy girl had the impudence to assault one of the most powerful men in town. However now freed Katya instantly turning around to run towards the tents she'd thought of escaping through, her intentions cut short by a pistol holding officer who stepped in front of her, San letting out an incredulous breath as emerged from his hiding again. Watching Commander Lee to yank Katya back, his steel hard stare drilling into hers after he'd swung the girl around to face him.

"As much as I've missed that temerity of yours, I will not keep playing this game any longer. Tell me where the boy is and I will gladly forget you ever laid your hands on me", he prompted sharply, pointing at the reddish mark on his cheek, where she simply stared back at him defiantly. Clearly not going to cooperate with him, this angering the man visibly as he narrowed his eyes at her bravery, feigning patience. "I only want the boy. Tell me where I can find him, and you'll be left alone along with your little flock."

San blinked. A boy? What boy were they talking about?

"I will never tell you where he is", Katya spat as a response, however turning scared the next minute the Commander straightened his posture even more enraged, his hate towards gypsies more than evident as he now shoved her into the awaiting arms of his subordinate as himself took hold of a small child that had ran too close to him while chasing a stray puppy. Katya's expression turning from resolute to utterly terrified as the Commander took out his sword, San not believing his eyes either now as he witnessed the man to use it to threaten the boy.

"One last time, or you'll be responsible of this child's entrails seeping to the ground. Where is the boy?"

"Commander, please", Katya pleaded, letting out a startled breath as the man's grip of the child tightened.

"Where?! Tell me where, and I'll spear him."

San gazed around the clearing, incredulous that no one would step in to stop this injustice, several voices simply begging the Commander to release the small boy. Henry then suddenly spotting his mother from the crowd and taking notice of her horror stricken face just before the voices of the gypsies finally rose to protest the Commander's all but proper behavior in unison. Also demanding Katya to stay quiet and not give up the location of the man he was searching for. And she did stay silent, but her extremely hesitant expression inflicted pity in San who behold her turmoil, gazing at the crying child compassionately herself as took hold of the rosary that had been concealed under her collar. Trying to decide what to do.

"I'll kill him", Commander Lee warned, placing the blade against the child's stomach before smiled at the girl victoriously, knowing that she couldn't further resist him