‘Yeonjung! Yeonjung!’ Hyunsu remained silent as she looked down at her journal but her lips curled into a small smile as she heard his voice calling out to her. ‘Sister, stop ignoring me,’ she could hear the pout in his voice as he threw his small arms around her neck. ‘You said we would play.’

 ‘Did I?’ Hyunsu’s tone was heavy with cheek as she placed her journal down beside her.

 ‘Yeah!’ Astar let go of her neck and ran around so he was facing her, his usual shy smile was replaced by an outgoing grin. ‘Let’s play!’

 For the past couple of months she had a hard time learning the language, her annoyance because she was unable to learn the language disappeared after Sungyeol took her to where the children spent most of their time. There were barely any children in her village, only a couple of babies so she never had a chance to see how well she was with kids; it was a surprise to all of them when she clicked with the kids immediately. After a while the children continued to follow her around and encourage her to play games, teaching her more about the language then Dongwoo had.

 ‘Alright, what do you want to do,’ automatically her hands found their ways to his cheeks as she greeted him in the Fae manner.

 ‘Sungjong said he was going to teach me how to whistle.’ Astar puckering his lips the way he thought Sungjong did.

 ‘So you want me to teach you how to whistle?’ She frowned wondering if Astar wanted her to teach him whistling, and what whistling even was, she may be able to communicate but she didn’t know everything in the language yet.

 ‘No! We’re going to play hide and go seek! Come on! Everyone’s waiting for us!’ Hyunsu’s eyes widened as Astar tried to pull her up. She barely had time to drop the reed she used for writing before he pulled her out of the room.

 ‘But my notebook!’ She looked back at the journal that was laying alone on the table she was sitting at.

 ‘Don’t worry about it sister! Nobody’s going to read it!’ Astar chirped as he dragged her right past Sunggyu, Dongwoo and L who stared after the two.

 ‘She’s going to be tired tonight,’ Sunggyu bumped shoulders with L before walking into the room Hyunsu and Astar had just run out of. It was usual to see the Fae children running around the village playing hide and seek, unlike in the human village where play was looked upon with deep frowns it was encouraged there. Especially because hide and seek taught the young children how to become invisible, use their surroundings to their advantage.

 ‘The kids like her,’ L observed as he caught sight of the journal she was always writing in.

 ‘She left her diary behind,’ Dongwoo walked up to her table and dropped down where she was sitting, ignoring L’s previous comment.

 ‘What do you think she writes in it?’ L sat down beside his brother and stared at her notebook that was written completely in human script. Sunggyu shrugged and looked at her journal, his thin black eyebrows pulled together as he stared at the unfamiliar words.

 ‘I don’t know,’ Dongwoo pinched the pages with a frown, ‘where did she get this notebook from?’

 ‘I don’t know,’ L shrugged and looked over Sunggyu’s shoulder as he started flipping through the pages. ‘Should we be reading this? Don’t Nymphs hate people touching their stuff?’

 ‘She was raised by humans,’ Sunggyu stated as he stopped at a random page. It was as if he was saying that being raised by humans made her any different from other Nymphs, it didn’t. No matter the gender or species not one soul enjoyed having anyone reading their secrets without permission. He narrowed his small eyes into slits as he attempted to read the paragraph.

 ‘What does it say?’ L blinked slowly as his lips pulled into a small smile, he knew full well his older brother could not understand a single word, despite pretending that he could.

 ‘Can you read it?’ Dongwoo leaned towards them trying to look at the book. He could feel his chest tighten as he stared at the book, he wanted to treat the late starter better but he, along with his brothers, felt conflicted about it. Hyunsu tried to fit in but they all knew she was holding back, they knew she didn’t trust them, didn’t want to be apart of their world. The truth was in that book, he just knew she would profess her longing for the human world. If she ever got back to the human world she would never come back, she would break the hearts the young Fae children that she was always playing with. Especially Astar, the young kid really liked her.

 ‘No,’ L sighed and dropped his head so he was staring at the wooden floor underneath their table. L’s mind was going in the same place as Dongwoo’s, these were some of the dangers that encompassed taking in new people, sometimes they just couldn’t let go of the past. Was that for the best? Maybe, maybe she was meant to go back to the humans, maybe she was just meant to be with the Fae for a season.

 ‘Maybe Hoya knows,’ Sunggyu muttered to himself as he lifted the book higher, bringing it closer to his face. Unlike his brothers he had faith in Hyunsu, he knew she was holding back but he knew something would happen that would bring her out her true self to them. Every chick had to fight their way out of their shell to prove they could survive in the world, it would be the same for her. In order to survive in the Fae world and to truly grow, she had to fight to get rid of her prejudices for her species, she had to fight so she would no longer be longer for the past. Those things were some the makings of her shell, and the sooner she knew that the sooner she could break free and mature.

 ‘Maybe I know what?’ As if mentioning his name called him to the room, Hoya approached them then sat down beside Dongwoo.

 ‘Can you read this?’ Sunggyu handed the book to Hoya watching as his younger brother’s eyebrows twitched together, making his forehead crease as he concentrated.

 ‘I think, father taught me this writing, he said it was important for one of us know it.’ Hoya flipped through the pages, stopping to one passage she had made a few weeks ago.

 ‘What did she write?’ L supported his head with his palm as he stared at Hoya.

 ‘She’s wondering if they are coming back for her, she’s worried about some guy called Hyoheon.’

 ‘He sounds like trouble,’ Sunggyu flipped the pages then pointed at a random paragraph, ‘what does this say?’

 ‘This is her diary,’ Hoya frowned at it, ‘don’t you think this is private?’ They all looked at each other then simultaneously laughed and shook their heads. ‘Alright, I’ll read it.’ The all seemed to lack the common sense that came to touching other peoples things, if Hyunsu had caught them they would say it’s cultural differences but if that was true then the seven of them would have to have their own civilisation for themselves.

 Hoya went silent as he read the passage before nodding to himself and speaking.  ‘She thinks she’s human, says she likes our village and apparently we can learn the human language using her journal.’ Hoya’s eyebrows rose as he started shuffling through the pages, stopping when he came to her writing that described the sounds of Nymphean, which the two figured out quickly worked backwards as well.

 ‘Human sounds weird,’ L his lips as he read it before saying hello in the human tongue.

 ‘That’s not how you say it!’ Hoya straightened and smirked at his brother before saying hello in human, sounding equally as terrible as his sibling. L scoffed and grabbed the journal from him.

 ‘Yeah right, I bet I know more human than you.’

 ‘Training sessions. You win I’ll teach her fighting and saving, you win you do both.’ L met his brothers eyes and they stared each other down. It was inevitable really that the two of them would strike up a bet, there was not a day that went by without them challenging the other. They bet with each other almost as much as they sought out completely uncalled for fights.

 ‘You’re on,’ Hoya smirked and pressed his palm against the side of his younger brothers head.

 ‘Be prepared to lose,’ Hoya patted his head, his smirk only growing as L stared seriously back at him, challenging him silently.

 ‘Who’s going to be the moderator?’ Sunggyu frowned at the duo before looking at Dongwoo for ideas. ‘None of us know the human language so we can’t judge you guys.’

 ‘Yeonjung can’t moderate, then she would know we have been looking through her book.’ Dongwoo sighed and shrugged, referring to Hyunsu by her Nymph given name. They all nodded their heads in agreement, their very affirmations of his comments showed that they knew that she wouldn’t like what they were doing, but as long as they were curious they certainly didn’t care.

 ‘I’ll give you a head start,’ L closed the notebook and handed it to Hoya with a smirk planted on his lips, fixing his brother with his serious glare, ‘you’ll need it.’ Hoya scoffed and dropped the book on the table, not saying a word to his younger brother. There was no point, he was confident he was going to win.

 Hyunsu gripped the vine and tugged on it, she could hear the rustling of the leaves overhead with it she noticed the sound of uncertain footsteps on the branch above, the kid that was hiding up there was moving. Grabbing a branch she hoisted herself up with a sharp intake of breath, she hadn’t even noticed how little effort it took her. She would have been completely unable to pull herself up if she had tried to the first week she had come but after months of the boys forcing her to run circuits around the whole village she could do it easily.

 The village was far bigger than what she had thought, it had at three levels and extended along the trees for a long ways. It used to take her five hours to run around the whole village, run the circuit of the first level, climb up, run around it, then climb up the next one. Hyunsu still hadn’t gotten to half an hour like what it took the boys but she had made it to one hour. She simply didn’t have the endurance yet, but she was getting better, she was well enough that she could beat the children easily.

 ‘Sister,’ Hyunsu smiled when she heard Astar whine as she patted his shoulder, catching him. ‘That’s not fair, you always catch me,’ he huffed and crossed his arms following her to the central area of the village. Whenever they were caught the children went to the meeting area and played small games amongst themselves.

 ‘That’s because you don’t hide well enough,’ she smiled as his nose flared and he puckered his small lips in distaste.

 ‘Next time you won’t find me,’ he nodded his head determined scowling as she ruffled his hair affectionately.

 ‘Yeonjung,’ Hyunsu looked up to see L walking towards her, his fingers slipped through some of the loops on his belt.

 ‘I will see you later Astar,’ she patted his cheeks before walking up to L. ‘Is it time already?’ L nodded and started walking with her so they could make it down to the ground level. Each of the boys took to teaching something about their way of life and L’s was teaching her how to scavenge for food. He had started teaching her stuff in the trees only recently he had started showing her stuff on the ground of the forest. She had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be taking her down there because of the annoyed look Sunjong always had planted on his face when L mentioned he was taking her down.

Hyunsu gripped the branch she was sitting on tightly, watching as L stood silent on the ground his face covered by his mask. Her nose twitched against the soft fabric of the mask covering her own face. She was indistinguishable from the Fae beside her, if the humans saw her they would not guess it was her. That was the whole point, Sunggyu had sacrificed his mask for her hoping that it would keep any humans from seeing she wasn’t a nymph while she was out. It was too big for her, ending below her chin but it was interesting. She was fascinated with how she could see out the eye holes that were from the outside of the mask covered by a thick black fabric.

‘Yeonjung,’ Hyunsu tilted her head as she heard L call out to her, his voice barely reaching past her own ears, intercepted by the whispers of the trees around them.

‘Yes?’ She shifted uncomfortably on the branch she was crouching on, her thighs still ached from time to time from crouching but she ignored it. She had to if she wanted to be efficient. There was no way she could make her way around the forest if she had no arm or thigh strength. She needed to be able to use her arms to climb, and her legs to jump, Dongwoo made that much apparent with the amount he pushed her.

‘What does this do?’ L picked a flower, it’s petals seemed to cascade out of it in multiple bright yellow paddle shaped petals.  

‘Make your tongue numb,’ she smiled as she heard him scoff. He lifted her mask and stuffed the stem in making her glare at him.

‘What does it do?’ He repeated as he ignored her smacking her lips trying to rid of the bitter milk from the stem that was already numbing her tongue.

‘The milk can be used to heal,’ L stood silently listening to her speak, ‘the leaves are edible, the plant is of great use as a whole. The roots can even be ground to make a nourishing hot drink.’ Hyunsu spit out the chewed up stem on the ground and accepted L’s offer of his flask. The red clay of the flask was slick and cool to her touch as she pulled the stopper out of the top then drank the water inside. She sighed in aggravation as she felt the water move slowly along the dry numb crevices of . She swore she was allergic to some things but he always ignored her complaints.

L, like his brothers, taught things hands on. So whenever he taught her about the land around them, how she could scavenge for food and tea leaves he like making her taste them. Some needed to be cooked to be properly eaten so she was often left with the unpleasant after taste like the one she currently had. She tried to answer all of his questions immediately but sometimes she couldn’t help herself, then she found overflowing with said plant.

‘What is it called?’ L picked one of the leaves of the plant and started chewing on it, enjoying the bitter taste that filled his mouth.

‘It’s a dandelion plant,’ she handed him back his flask and he hooked it on his belt as he nodded in approval.

‘Do you hear many Fae myths?’ L gripped the chin of Sunggyu’s mask, pulling it back over her face.

‘No,’ Hyunsu shook her head and looked at the ground a strange sense of paranoia flooding through her as she considered touching the ground. She had been trying to follow all of the rules she could and one of the many was that no Fae was to touch the ground of the forest without first going through their coming of age ceremony. She had already done one in her village, but apparently it counted for nothing there.

‘Jump down, nobody will know,’ L’s smile went unseen behind his mask as he watched her shoes rub against the rough wood of the branch.

‘I thought you encouraged rules,’ she dropped her legs into the air, sitting firmly on the branch.

‘I encourage what is right for the time, all of nature has it’s rules. Things that remain constant forever, never bending despite the pressure of time, but other rules change over time.’ L lifted his bare fingers and lightly scratched the base of his neck as he spoke, ‘I doubt anyone would mind you touching the ground you came from.’

Nodding Hyunsu dropped down to the ground ignoring the inkling that his comment was as much a statement as an insult. The hidden reminder that she wasn’t one of them, that he and his brothers had not accepted her into their folds like their village had. ‘What is the myth about?’

‘Integration of cultures,’ Hyunsu watched him curiously as he led her through the heavy foliage of the land around them. ‘Do you know how two huldrefolk propose entwining their lives?’ The word Huldrefolk struck her again, no matter how many times they told her that the plural for their kind was in fact Huldrefolk her mind reinforced the human teachings that their species were called nymphs, but in fact only the females were.

‘No,’ she shook her head, their odd manner of speech registering pleasantly in her mind. Where the humans called marriage, marriage, the huldrefolk called it entwining. They saw the process like the binding of trees, how when their roots got too close they would entwine so deeply that it would be hard to tell where they melded. It seemed much more natural and enchanting to her, they made the process seem sacred, compared to the almost clinical view of marriage in her village.

‘They present each other with sacred gifts,’ L walked into a clearing, that held a river the same one she had been bathed in. ‘It’s said when the huldrefolk first came upon the land they were segregated by their elements. There were huldrefolk for the sea, mountains, forests, rivers, every area you could think of. But unlike today where each clan invites another into their land and is eager to blend first were secluded in the depths of their lands.’

Hyunsu sat down on a rock that was encroaching on the water, it’s flowing waters had already corroded a small gap into it’s base. Unlike her L had removed his boots and rolled up his pants stepping into the river with a sigh of relief. He removed his mask and set it by his boots before sitting down on a lower stone, enjoying the trickle of water that flowed along his pale feet. ‘Why were they secluded?’ She questioned watching him breathe out deeply through his nose, closing his eyes as he thought.

‘They were unaware of the benefits of integration,’ L said simply before putting his palms of the smooth stone top of the rock he was sitting on. ‘One day the daughter of the balancers came to the beach, as they did from time to time and met the son of the balancers from the mountains. The two got along speaking of their lands and cultures, amazed from the other accounts.

Over time the two became well acquainted and the young Nix started becoming infatuated with the young Nymph of the sea, but at the end of each visit he had to retreat into the caves of the mountains he came to.’ Hyunsu took off her gloves and ran her fingers along the top of the water, listening to L speak, ‘the Nymph retreated into the seas filled with a longing to meet the young Nix the moment he left her gaze.’

‘They fell in love,’ she looked up from the water waiting for his response. L looked into the water, his neck creasing before he lifted his head, showing off his sharp and elegant jawline.

‘You should hold your opinions until the end,’ he retorted before reaching his hand into the water and pulling out a rock. ‘In the days of old the Huldrefolk had their souls in objects that reflected their lands. The young nix came from the mountains so his soul was contained in a rock,’ L rubbed his thumb against the stone absentmindedly, ‘the young nymph came from the sea so her soul was contained in a clam. One day the nix out of great love and admiration for the nymph gave her his heart in a proposition of entwining,’ he tossed the rock to her and she barely caught it.

‘The nymph took the stone home,’ L continued as he looked into the water, ‘within moments of rubbing her fingers against it the rock crumbled into dust in her hands.’ Hyunsu’s eyes widened as the stone started crumbling in her eyes, ‘and in the middle was a beautiful jewel much like those that grew in his home.’ Like L had said there was a beautiful jewel left in her hands, she rubbed her fingers against the facets mystified that the object could have crumbled as it did to produce the same ruby coloured stones she only heard stories of.

‘The next day the Nymph brought her soul,’ what first looked like a stone that L had grabbed from the waterbed turned out to be a clam. ‘She gave it to the nix, keeping his jewel close to her heart. The nix left her with great joy waiting to see the beauty of her treasure. The moment he was safe within his room he started pulling at the opening of the clam.’ L rubbed his fingers along the clam, ‘but it would not open for him. But he continued trying until his fingers became raw and bloody from effort.’ Hyunsu’s eyes widened as she watched blood flow from his fingers, like crimson rain it fell upon the clam running down it’s deep crevices.

‘The nix truly loved the Nymph, so his soul was revealed to her with a single touch. His soul was so pure and loving that it shone like a treasure in her grasp. Yet the Nymph did not truly love him so her soul remained shut, to him. No matter how much she thought she was ready to entwine with him she wasn’t ready, and she never would be. When they met again the Nix gave her the clam, cleaned of all blood but never requested his jewel back. When the Nymph returned home she found her clam opened at the ease of a touch to show the shining pearl she looked at all her life.’ L went silent and looked at Hyunsu.

‘That’s it? Why did it open for her?’

‘The clam did not open for her,’ L rubbed the clam between his hands. Hyunsu blinked in confusion, it was a rock no longer a clam. ‘It opened for her village. Her heart was in her people, her life was for them. She was afraid to open to him because she thought she would have to leave her village, but if she had asked he would have left his clan for her.’

‘Did she give him back his jewel?’ L shook his head at her smirking at her confusion when the stone she held was only a stone as well.

‘She never returned his soul, instead she kept it by her heart for the rest of her life; forever regretting her inability to bare her soul to him.’ Hyunsu rubbed the rock as she stared at L’s fingers, surprised to see not a single cut upon his pale fingers. ‘Yeonjung,’ her eyes widened as she heard the light playful tone of his words. ‘Have you never heard of illusions? It is an essential part of story telling.’

Silently she dropped the stone into the water, a dusty pink blush colouring her cheeks as well as any rich humans makeup. ‘What is the moral of the story?’ She shuffled on the rock as L’s eyebrows rose.

‘I think you know,’ L ruffled his hair with his wet fingers, smoothing the flyaway strands. Hyunsu dropped the stone into the river trying to calm the anxiety that was welling in her stomach. She knew exactly why he told her that story, she was in their village, their world, yet she resisted it. The Fae really were showing her their soul and she refused to show them hers.

‘We don’t have very many stories back home,’ she patted her hands against the rock to a tune that only she knew. ‘They are all in books, we’re not allowed to read the books.’

‘Why?’ L frowned as he repositioned himself, placing his feet on the rock so that they would dry before he put his boots back on. For the Fae withholding books was practically a crime within itself, it restricted freedom and knowledge with they coveted. Books showed the world through the lenses of others, taught, as well as enlightened the mind.

‘Most of the books are owned by the Lord of the village, they are not available for public consumption. The only others are owned by my family, the blacksmiths, and the elders. None of the elders share, the family of blacksmiths are greedy and nobody wants to read the books my family has. The only people who reads them are in my family, most of the village is illiterate.’ Hyunsu shrugged and forced a smile trying not to show her annoyance, ‘Hyoheon, the son of the blacksmiths, used to try and bribe me with books. I hated it.’

‘Do you like the human language?’ L questioned.

‘I miss it, I think well of it,’ she spoke softly as she stared into the water. L looked past her into the forest as she spoke.

‘Nostalgic,’ Dongwoo walked into the clearing his mask firmly in place. ‘The word for that is nostalgia, you feel nostalgic about the language.’

‘Yeah, nos-tal-gic,’ Hyunsu pronounced the word slowly.

‘We are having dinner soon, Sunggyu made me the messenger,’ Dongwoo grabbed L’s boots and mask and tossed it over to him, not surprised to see his water loving brother by the water again.

‘If you stayed by Yeonjung like you’re supposed to then you wouldn’t have to play messenger,’ L pulled down his pant leggings then put his boots on before replacing his mask over his face.

‘If you guys hadn’t betrayed me I wouldn’t be her guardian,’ he snapped ignoring how Hyunsu rolled her eyes. As soon as she learnt the language Dongwoo spent all his time telling her that he was unwillingly shipped with her.

‘If you hadn’t left your mask behind I wouldn’t have needed a guardian,’ she retorted, quickly shutting as Dongwoo glared at her. She went silent as the sound of rustling and snapping of twigs emitted from behind them.

 ‘Get up,’ Dongwoo hissed, Hyunsu listened to him and watched as both boys slid their masks over their faces. She followed suit and moved Sunggyu’s large mask over her face. They slowly followed her onto the branch, moving with the same lazy grace of the felines she had spotted in the forest.

 L tilted his head as if trying to hear better, but Hyunsu couldn’t hear a thing. She could hear a bird calling, she looked at L with a start, that was him. She looked at Dongwoo questioningly, he ignored her, leaning forwards to get a better view of whoever was walking along the forest. The two Nix started climbing up the tree as a bird call emitted from further ahead of them.

 ‘I-I don’t,’ Dongwoo shushed her, glancing down again before rushing up.

 ‘You speak too loudly,’ L’s quiet whispers were barely registered. ‘Wait until we get back to the village.’

 The climb back was silent, it wasn’t a morose silence, more like one of reluctant acceptance. She felt left out, it was as if they had been waiting for something to happen and it had just started. But what? She had long since given up on the idea of her village coming for her, perhaps given up wasn’t the right wording, she felt it was more of an acceptance that she didn’t belong there. Through that understanding she had lost the previous passion for getting home, even if the idea still warmed her with eagerness, she did want to go back if she could, belonging there or not.

 However, she had lost the confidence that they would come back for her.