"Yes, I'm choosing to go. Why are you three upset over this? Didn't you want me to come to Inspirit?" She asked them, standing up and rolling her shoulders back and forth to stretch.

"We're going with you." Hoya said adamantly. "There is no way you're going through the forest of Starship by yourself."

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but she needs to make this journey alone." Jieun said to them.

"Why does she have to go alone?" Hoya asked, "The forest of Starship is dangerous!"

"That's the point, isn't it?" Seomin asked quietly. After hearing the whole story about everything, she had managed to figure it out. "This whole thing is a test, to prove my worth." 

"That would be correct." Jieun answered.

"Then, I want to go alone." Seomin said firmly, "I can leave tonight if you let me pack now."

"Very well. Follow me." Jieun led the way towards the kitchens, where Seomin was given an empty knapsack and free reign over putting food and supplies into it. "Take anything you need." She said.

Seomin looked around and noticed that they had dried fruits, a lamp and some rope. She took all of them and stuffed it into the bag, she held the bag in one hand and tried to see how heavy the weight was. It wasn't that bad, she could handle it as the days went by, she would have less food in the bag and would need to find some sort of food on her own.

"I still need a weapon." She told them and the man from earlier came back, Myungsoo was his name if she remembered correctly.

"I've heard that your preferred weapon of choice would be this one." He said, handing her a bow and arrows to carry along on her journey.

"How did you know?" She asked him. She never told him or anyone else for that matter, Dongwoo didn't even know that she preferred it over hand-to-hand combat.

He gave her a wink, "You'll see soon." He said, before walking away coolly. Seomin turned to Jieun and she had a small smile on her face.

"Come on." Jieun said, leading towards the the entrance of the castle, "You may run into bandits and the dark magic that Princess Soyu possesses. But I am sure you will be safe."

"Why do you have such faith in me to bring your brother back? Black Magic is powerful, even Sunggyu has warned me about it." Seomin asked directly, forgetting about honorifics again.

Jieun just smiled at her once more, "Because you're special. I know you are, so you will definitely save him." She answered.

"I wouldn't trust me so much. You don't even know me." Seomin told her as they walked towards the gates. Dongwoo, Hoya and Sungjong followed behind as they whispered amongst themselves.

"You don't know anything." Jieun replied cryptically and smiled again. "Be safe!" She said as she saw Seomin to the gate and walked back into her castle.

The three boys all stared at her intently once Princess Jieun was gone. "What are you thinking?" Dongwoo shouted at her.

"Who is this Sunggyu person and how did you meet him?" Hoya demanded.

"You cannot go by yourself." Sungjong said in a tone with finality that they all knew Sungjong would at least see her off to the woods.

"You cannot accompany me to Starship, only as far as the woods." Seomin told Sungjong.

"You don't even know what you're going up against. All you know is that, there's dark magic there!" Hoya said, worry written all over his face. He had never let Seomin stay someone by herself without supervision. Even when she was 'alone' he always made sure to check up on her every so often.

"You don't know what could happen while you're there either." Dongwoo added. "You might get hurt. In more ways than one."

"I will be fine. All I have to do is go rescue him and then we'll be okay. I will come back, you know me. I won't allow myself to fail." Seomin assured them.

"We do know you. But we also know what you're going up against and it won't be easy." Dongwoo told her. 

"Just worry about yourselves here. Don't get into another fight with that guy." Seomin told them. "Are you coming, Sungjong?" She asked him.

There was still some light out and she wanted to at least get into her known section of the woods by then. Because she would feel safe there.

"Yes, I'm coming." Sungjong grabbed his pack and followed after Seomin. "I will come back after I know she's safe." He told Dongwoo and Hoya.

"I expect you to return safe, Seomin." Hoya said sternly.

She turned and smiled at him, "You know I will." She said before walking with Sungjong into the woods. Their walk was quiet, nobody disturbed them, it was as if all the nomads knew that Seomin was on a mission and they didn't want to get in her way.

"Be safe, noona." Sungjong said as they reached the point he would leave her.

"I will." She gave him a hug and pulled away, "Make sure those two don't get into any more fights." She replied.

"I'll try." He said, and with that they parted ways and Seomin was left alone.

Author's Note;
School started up again. But I will try to update this more often again.. lol.
Enjoy the chapter ^^V
There's more to come~