Okay, I relented~ Here is episode 18! I wanted to wait until Nanowrimo finished, but I really wanted to update a few more chapters. I'll put up episode 19 in a day or two. 

 Sunggyu crossed his arms, staring seriously out at the trees surrounding him. The plan that Dongwoo had created had been rushed. The caravan that they were able to let through had been on a tight schedule. The leader had been hard to convince, he had his own plans and didn’t see the situation the same as them. It hadn’t taken long for them to encourage him to agree with them, and allow some people to join him. The leader of the caravan, Hwijae, was not a Fae. But neither was he a human. He was one of the few Nix’s that mingled with the humans. Even if the repulsive creatures were unaware of his species. It was the reason why his caravan survived, because his own kind did not seek to destroy him.

 In the end, Hwijae had agreed to only take two people with him. That narrowed down the selection to who could speak the human language. In the end, the two had been L and Hoya. Sungyeol had spent the night laughing. The two that learnt the most of the human language, were two of the three Fae that hated humans the most out of the group of seven. Sungjong had fought to go, he insisted he wouldn’t say a word. Sunggyu scowled and shook his head. The youngest was still hiding out in his room, he was refusing to come out.  

 ‘You’re out here.’ Woohyun stepped up beside Sunggyu. His angular cheeks seemed to twitch as he held in a sigh. ‘What’s wrong.’ It was easy to tell that his elder brother was stressed.

 Sunggyu had been nagging his brothers all morning, when Sungyeol was practising his formations for fighting, Sunggyu had hounded him for every miniscule misstep. When Dongwoo was using his bow, Sunggyu had constantly stopped him and corrected his methods for aiming. Even Sungjong hadn’t avoided his oldest brother's words. Sunggyu had lectured him through his door on how he was not acting mature, and that blocking out the world would solve nothing.

 ‘It’s not just the kids that are responsible for what happened.’ Sunggyu sighed heavily, his small eyes narrowing further. ‘We should have also ensured they would not cause trouble.’ His jaw clenched, then he tightened his arms that were crossed over his chest. The black shirt he was wearing rubbed against his pale arms, irritating the bandages. He had challenged the kids when they found them. Sungjong and L also had bandages across their bodies, they had fought out their frustration.

 It was one of the differences between the Fae and their peaceful counterparts. Nymphs and Nix’s commonly settled their problems through well-placed words and peaceful interactions. The Fae settled their problems through well-placed words, and fights. They didn’t seek to kill their opposites, instead they fought until they were tired or found their point was made known. It was an odd change to their culture, and to outsiders it seemed to make no sense. But they found their resolution in their methods.  

 ‘Where is Dongwoo?’ Sunggyu asked. His body felt heavy from the muggy air that was trapped within the leaves of the forest. Their village was set at the top of the forest not to avoid the humans (they had no reason to fear weaker beings) but so they could escape the suffocating humidity of the forest. The closer to the top they were, the more wind could make it’s way to their village. But Sunggyu’s spot wasn’t near the village, it was close to the bottom of the forest floor.

 ‘He is being spoken to by the Balancers.’ Woohyun ran a gloved hand through his hair, making the neat hair lose it’s place. When the Balancers had discovered what happened, Dongwoo had been in trouble. It didn’t matter that it was his little brothers that had caused trouble, because he was Yeonjung’s guardian, it was his fault. He should have been watching her, it was his job. But he had barely spent any time around her for the past six months. He had almost stopped speaking when she learned how to understand them.

 ‘I see.’ Sunggyu’s lips curled into a frown. It would be good for Dongwoo to be scolded, despite being the second eldest, he had let his biases cloud his judgment. ‘Yeonjung made have been raised a human, but that’s no reason to hate her.’

 ‘He doesn’t see it that way.’ Woohyun frowned, his eyebrows that were usually arched in an amused manner looked scrunched and confused. ‘He said she was a human. He doesn’t believe that she is one of us.’ A bird called out from above them before swooping down in front of them, disappearing into the bushes.

 Instead of speaking Sunggyu remained silent. It was true that Dongwoo refused to accept her, but the idea that she was truly a human was impossible. He couldn’t think of a single way that a human would be able to make the necklace light up like she did. As he thought, his fingers drifted to his own amulet that was hanging off of his belt. His gloved fingers glossed over it as his eyebrows furrowed. It was simple fact that the pendant would not light up with her touch if she were a human simply because it reacted to the Nymph essence. Without the essence they had, the pendant would simply be a rock hanging off of a chain. Granted, it would be a sacred rock hanging off of a chain, but a rock nonetheless.

 ‘Do you understand it?’ Woohyun’s lips pulled into a tired smile as he crossed his arms. ‘Nothing short of inheritance can change the outcome.’

 Hearing Woohyun’s words, Sunggyu scoffed before smiling. ‘That is true, brother.’ He went silent again, closing his eyes as he listened to the rustling caused by the little animals that scurrying through the foliage. ‘You have heard the story of the old man and the dokkaebi, correct?’

 ‘Where the old man starts turning into one because he had tea with it once a day?’ Woohyun’s lips pursed as he sounded a hum of affirmation. ‘I have.’

 ‘Do you remember what the old man did when he looked into the lake and saw his transformed figure?’ At the small shake of Woohyun’s head, Sunggyu continued talking with a quirk in his lips. ‘The man got angry and ran home, when the dokkaebi he had befriended knocked, the old man yelled at it and denounced its relationship. Because he had not yet completely changed, he returned to normal after a long wait. The change had started on the outside, and had not yet made it’s way in. If he had changed inside first, it would have been too late for him.’

 ‘What are you saying?’ Woohyun let out an airy scoff as he looked at his elder brother.

 ‘Nothing,’ Sunggyu said with a sigh. His brown eyes lifted to the sky that was covered by layers of branches and leaves. He could feel a burden he hadn’t known was pressing on his chest dissolve as his caught the tiniest sliver of blue.

 ‘Sure.’ Woohyun laughed and shook his head. ‘How do you think they are doing?’

 ‘Well enough. They can’t fail this.’ It could have meant that the duo had no choice but to succeed, but Woohyun was surprised when instead of threatening certainty, Sunggyu spoke with assured confidence, as if there was simply no way they could fail.

 ‘Right,’ he said softly before looking up at the covered sky as well. Unlike Sunggyu, he didn’t have the same overwhelming confidence in his brothers.

 Hoya exited the caravan with a mix of emotions. He felt a sense of resolution, he had given her an ultimatum that he knew she needed, but, he also felt empathy for her. Yeonjung had gone through a lot over the past six months. His lips twisted as he remembered the first day she had been with them, how broken she had looked. He couldn’t have been more glad when she had run away.

 Sighing he picked up a bowl and poured some water in it before quietly pushing it into the caravan. Hoya focused his eyes on the people walking around, trying to ignore the sobs that she was trying to stifle. He pulled his hand out of the caravan as soon as he placed a cloth beside the bowl. He had left the bowl of water so that she could wash her face. He doubted she would want to walk around with tear stained cheeks.

 'What did you tell her?' The friendly trilling sound of Nympheon brought his attention to L who had stepped up beside him.

 'The truth,' Hoya said as he ran his hand through his hair. He caught the worried look his brother had when he looked at the caravan, no doubt hearing her crying. 'What happened with her brother?'

 'I resolved the issue.' L’s lips curled into a smirk as he looked at Hoya. 'He said you’re no longer welcome in their house.'

 'Yet he’s letting you stay.' Hoya commented. L was always good at getting on people’s good side, so Hoya wasn’t surprised that he had managed to change the older brother’s mind.

 'I didn’t attack him.' L shifted uncomfortably when some of the people in the caravan looked at them. 'Hoya, what truth did you tell her?' His eyebrows furrowed with worry as he listened to her quiet, badly suppressed, crying.

 'I refuse to take her back.' Hoya said bluntly as he walked away, distancing himself from the girl that only served as a distraction. 'I know you told her the story of the clam and the rock. Right now, she’s the clam that refuses to open. I won’t take her back if she doesn’t want to go, she’ll just hurt the people around her, you know that.'

 'I understand,' L said as his eyes clouded. They almost didn’t go to the village to get Yeonjung at all. Sunggyu was pushing for it, but the balancers were wary for the same reasons as Hoya. And him, if he were to honest, he didn’t want to see his family hurt. But he had supported Sunggyu, even when Woohyun sided with the balancers, despite liking her, even when Sungjong hid himself in his room, refusing to comment. She belonged with them. 'We’ve gone this far, I don’t want to go back with nothing to show.'

 'I know,' Hoya said, 'I just want to be out of here as soon as possible. Being around so many humans.' He scowled and gave a faint shake of his shoulders, as if trying to get residue off of him.

 'Is the girl okay?' Hoya and L both went quiet as Hwijae approached them. The caravan leader adjusted his glasses as he looked at the two boys.

 ‘She is,’ Hoya answered. He walked further from the caravan, eager to put enough space between himself and the late starter.

 ‘Howon,’ Hwijae said. As the young adult turned to look at him, Hwijae sighed while his eyes bunched in worry for the girl. ‘The others can hear her crying.’

 ‘She’s fine,’ Hoya responded, his voice was short clipped. He didn’t want to talk about her, he didn’t want to think about her, all it did was remind him of the hopeless looks she was giving him.

 ‘Let’s go talk.’ Hwijae sighed, clicking his tongue as he led the two Nix away from the caravans. ‘Women.’ He heaved another sigh. ‘Women are complicated, you cannot talk to them as abrasively as you do with men. They are emotional, so they value it when things are explained to them respectively.’

 ‘You want me to go in circles?’ Hoya’s thick eyebrows furrowed, then he looked at L who looked just as confused.

 ‘No, no, most appreciate things being straightforward.’ They approached a long rectangular building that felt more like an afterthought than part of the village. The entrance was at the side of the building, and along the width of it, where the door would usually be, were numerous windows.

 ‘You just said not to be blunt,’ L said as Hwijae lead them into a building. As soon as they entered the building the heavy scent of smoke and baked bread surrounded them. The smoke came from the countless candles that surrounding the room, giving off faint balls of light that danced through the ever-intruding shadows.

 ‘No, I said not to be abrasive. They don’t like things being dished on them heartlessly, instead things should be said with sincerity.’ Hwijae guided them to one of the two tables in the room One was in the corner beside the door, the other was at the end of the room on the other side. To get to their table they had to walk along the length of the bar that had six chairs, only two were filled, and contained strangers to the trio that had just walked in. ‘How sincere were you?’ He asked as they sat down. As the table was circular, the three sat facing the door as much as they could without looking odd.

 Hoya remained silent, he did not know how to react. He felt he was sincere, but at the same time, he had a feeling that his sincerity was not the type Hwijae was speaking of. ‘I told her what I thought. I answered her questions.’

 ‘So, you told her the truth harshly, and didn’t try to reassure her in anything?’ L questioned with a faint quirk to his lips. Sighing, with the knowledge that he couldn’t get out of it, Hoya nodded.

 ‘You cannot do that with women.’ Hwijae shook his head as the man from behind the bar approached them.

 ‘What do you want?’ Minhyuk stared at them with a bland expression. The scar that ran along his cheek stood out in the candle light.

 ‘We’ll take three drinks, and some bread.’ Hwijae looked at the two Fae in front of him, physically dismissing the scarred human.

 ‘I don’t see why not,’ Hoya said with a scoff. ‘Women are not so different from men, I see no reason to treat them differently.’ It didn’t make sense to him, he always treated the Nymphs at home the same way he would treat the Nixes. They never complained.

 ‘Talking about women?’ Minhyuk questioned as he placed down three large mugs of the new mead, as well as a plate with a loaf of bread. ‘They’re tricky aren’t they?’ His pale lips pulled into a smile, making the scar on his face move. ‘You guys know Hyoheon, right? He’s the blacksmith’s son. He’s engaged to Hyunsu.’

 ‘Engaged?’ L echoed as he looked over at Hwijae questioningly, it was another of the many words that he didn’t know the meaning of.

 ‘When will they be married?’ Hwijae asked as his calloused fingers wrapped around the handle of the mug. Unlike the word engaged, the two Nixes knew what married meant. L looked at Hoya with a panicked look, they couldn’t just take her if she got married, that wouldn’t be right. To take someone from their mate? He had no idea that there was someone she fancied here.

 ‘As soon as possible.’ Minhyuk rolled his eyes as if he thought of something humerous. ‘Nobody understands her, Hyoheon is the bachelor in town, but she acts like she doesn’t want to. Her parents accepted the marriage, but when she heard she ran around acting dramatic. It was the day she was taken by those monsters.’ His palm grazed over his cheek before he prodded it with a finger violently. ‘I got this from them, the first time we tried to save her. I got a scar and lost my cousin.’ He growled out the last sentence angrily, not noticing the shared looks between the Nix at the table.

 ‘Really? You fought a Nix?’ Hoya asked, his tone was clearly mocking. He knew what happened, the Fae didn’t actually fight anyone off, instead, they scared the stupid humans away.

 ‘Yeah, they really are monsters, you know that, right?’ Minhyuk shook his head as he crossed his arms. ‘After Hyoheon marries Hyunsu, he’s planning on storming their village, he wants to burn the forest to the ground.’

 ‘Really?’ Hoya gritted his teeth and gripped his pants with his free hand, the other was encased around the metal handle.

 ‘Of course, they don’t deserve to live. Monsters like that are meant to be destroyed.’ Minhyuk nodded as if agreeing with himself.

 ‘About Hyunsu,’ Hwijae said immediately after, ‘what’s going on with that? Does she not want to be married?’ It was obvious to L that he was trying to divert the topic before Hoya had the chance to jump the oblivious human and rip him to shreds.

 ‘She acts like she doesn’t want to get married, but she does. Every girl wants to marry Hyoheon, she just doesn’t know that she’s the same yet.’ As the door opened, Minhyuk instantly grinned and nodded to the male that walked in. ‘Enjoy your drinks,’ he said before walking to the door, instantly starting to talk to the new man.

 Hwijae sighed as he looked at the two disturbed males sitting at the table with him. That had not gone how he wanted it. He adjusted his glasses, watching as Hoya violently tore a piece of bread off of the loaf.

 ‘Is that how they view marriage?’ L questioned with a disgusted look etched into his features. For the Fae, marriage was something done between a Nix and a Nymph that were in love. It was an eternal promise, not something forced upon unwilling partners. That moment made something click in his mind, making him remember when she had run away the first time. he remembered the way she cried, how her emotions seemed to penetrate the air around her, how hopeless she had looked. In that instant he felt the same warmth that had fled through his body at that time, leaving it tense and stiff.

 ‘Who cares how they view marriage,’ Hoya growled out. ‘They want to slaughter our people. I can’t allow that.’ L sighed and tore off a piece of bread as he realised the origin of the feeling, it was rather simple, the feeling was protectiveness. He wanted to support her. After meeting her, she seemed to meld into his life perfectly as if she was supposed to be with the Fae. Not with the humans that disrespected something as honourable and sacred as marriage.

 ‘They won’t be able to.’ Hwijae looked around the room cautiously before leaning in. ‘Lower your voice, if you speak too loudly someone might hear.’ The two Fae looked at each other with frustrated looks, both upset for different reasons. After a moment of silence L chewed on a piece of bread and Hoya drank some of the mead, before gagging. Hwijae pinched the bridge of his nose holding in a sigh when the Fae put his mug on the table and pushed it away like a picky child.

 And of course, because the two were so emotionally burdened because of Hyoheon, said human walked into the bar. Hoya stood up only for Hwijae to shake his head, encouraging him to sit back down. ‘Don’t do it, Howon.’ The Nix reluctantly sat down, looking over at L whose jaw was clenched as he stretched his hands out on his thighs, trying to ease the tension that was going through his body. ‘Don’t cause unnecessary trouble.’

 ‘Okay.’ L nodded and in a deep breath, focusing on calming himself. He couldn’t guarantee that Hoya wouldn’t attack the oblivious human male, but at least he could try and make himself at peace. Then, Hyoheon opened his mouth.

 ‘Are you okay?’ As soon as Hyunsu walked into the house, Zuko gripped her shoulders and looked her over. He sighed fretfully as he took in his sister's pink, swollen eyes. When she left, she got dragged away by the awful boy who had punched him. Now, she was coming back home with tear stained eyes. At this rate, he was going to have to kick Howon out of their house. He had told Myungsoo that Howon was no longer welcome, but he needed his parents permission to fully enact upon his feelings.

 ‘We need to talk.’ Hyunsu closed the door behind her and rubbed her eyes. ‘Is anyone else in the house?’ She didn’t want to have this conversation, but she couldn’t wait, not after what Hoya had said. She needed to know the truth, she needed to know who she was. Her parents had not told her anything, but Zuko had always told her what she wanted. She needed him to continue with that and tell her what she was.

 ‘No.’ Zuko paused before stepping away from her. He felt a rush of nervous energy go through his body as he looked into his sister's unexpectedly serious eyes. ‘Our parents are arranging the wedding with Hyoheon’s family.’ He didn’t miss the grimace that flashed across Hyunsu’s face. ‘What do you want to talk about?’ He walked across the carpet and sat down on the couch.

 ‘We all know that when people,’ Hyunsu spoke softly, choking on her words as images of defiled bodies flashed in her mind. ‘People get taken by the Fae, they don’t come back safe. They get abused. But, I’m fine. That’s not normal,’ she drew in a shaky breath as she spoke. Her eyes started to burn again, but she forced the tears down, she had cried enough.

 ‘It’s not,’ Zuko whispered.

 ‘Why was I so different?’ Instead of answering her brother looked away from her and ran his hand through his hair. ‘You know,’ she said. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at her brother as she spoke again, with more conviction. ‘You know why, tell me. Why did they not hurt me?’

 ‘I don’t know.’

 ‘You’re lying.’ Hyunsu stared in disbelief as his cheeks flushed in shame.

 ‘They won’t take you back if you’re married.’ Zuko hesitated before looked at his sister. ‘He’s not that bad, you know? At least if you marry him, we’ll get to see you.’

 ‘I don’t want to talk about that.’ Hyunsu flushed with anger. ‘I want to know the truth.’

 ‘The truth is that you need to stop fighting! We’re trying to help you survive. Hyoheon is the lesser evil.’ Zuko started shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he watched his sister stare at him with growing frustration.

 ‘Stop avoiding the subject! Am I, or am I not human!’

 ‘You-’ Zuko leaned back in his seat. ‘You think you’re not human?’

 ‘I don’t know anymore.’ She tugged at the collar of her dress, the longer the conversation went on, the more restricted she felt.

 Zuko remained silent and instead covered his face with his hands. What could he say? If he told her anything, she would puzzle it out and his parents told him that under no circumstances could she know what happened. If she knew, she might tip of the Fae then she would be killed. He wouldn’t let that happen.

 ‘Am I even your sister?’ Before he could answer the door swung open to show Hoya helping L in, who was covering an eye and had a bloody arm. The Nix duo were followed by Minhyuk who was helping Hyoheon in, the latter was holding a bloody hand to his nose. For a moment Hyunsu was in a state of confusion and completely forgot about her identity dilemma because it was L who had gotten into a fist fight, not Hoya.

 ‘We need help,’ Hoya said as he sat L down on a chair at the table. Instantly Hyunsu had grabbed an apron and put it on.

 ‘My fiancée will help me.’ Hyoheon’s words were barely understandable and from that alone, Hyunsu could tell that L had hit him well and broken the blacksmiths nose. His words caused L to glare at him and Hoya to rest his hands on his younger brothers shoulders to stop him from jumping up and attacking Hyoheon again.

 ‘What happened?’ Zuko questioned as he walked over to L to treat him. He sent a not so hidden look over to his sister, urging her to care for Hyoheon.

 ‘Hyoheon decided to celebrate his upcoming marriage, and that hothead decided to attack him.’ Minhyuk glared at L who scoffed in response. ‘Apparently he has a crush on your little sister. You do know that someone who runs around in a caravan won’t get a girl like her, right?’

 ‘I don’t want to marry her.’ L snapped. ‘I don’t mean to offend your character, Hyunsu.’ He looked at her before focusing on the wooden flooring below him.

 Hyunsu remained silent and instead picked up the bucket of disinfecting water they made fresh that day, and carried it to the table. She moved Hyoheon’s hand away from his nose before wiping it with a cloth. Her nose wrinkled as she looked at the misshapen nose. ‘I’m going to need you to keep still, don’t move.’ She mentally sighed in relief when he didn’t speak. Hyunsu gripped the crooked cartilage and with a fluid snap of her wrist she moved the nose into place. She ignored his cry of pain as he collapsed against the chair. She gently massaged his nose, ignoring his winces and groans of disapproval. It was important to make sure that the blood was flowing properly.

 ‘What are you doing?’ Minhyuk said.

 ‘Helping him, cut a potato as fine as you can, I need one and a half slices.’ Hyunsu gently wiped the blood that was starting to run again.

 ‘I’ll need some as well, make it four slices overall.’ Zuko called out from where he was looking at the black eyes that L was starting to get.

 ‘What’ll that do.’ Minhyuk scowled as he cut the vegetable.

 ‘It helps lower the swelling.’ Zuko answered as he stepped away from L. There wasn’t much to do for a black eye then decrease swelling and let it rest. Because it wasn’t winter, there was no way to get something cold enough to ease the swelling.

 It wasn’t until Hyunsu was laying the slices of potato onto his nose that she realised why he wasn’t talking. Hyoheon was arrogant, he thought he was perfect. He couldn’t stand the thought of speaking when he sounded so distorted. She could barely hold in a scoff as she wrapped a cloth around his face to hold both the potato slices in place, and help the nose keep in position. ‘Come back in thirty minutes, then we’ll switch out the slices. Drink as much water as you can.’ Hyoheon only grunted, glaring at L before he walked out of her house. Minhyuk followed diligently.

 ‘That was the most quiet I have ever heard him.’ She said to herself before wiping her hands with the apron. Hyunsu watched as Zuko washed the gash on L’s arm before putting the standard pumice on it and wrapping it. She wasn’t surprised to see he had wrapped the wound tighter than necessary. She also wasn’t surprised to see that L didn’t seem to even notice.

 She followed her brother into the kitchen when he started cleaning up the potato. ‘Can’t you just answer? Yes or no.’

 ‘Hyunsu.’ Zuko’s voice was strained, as if he pleading her to stop asking.

 ‘I need to know, I have to, please.’ Hyunsu grabbed his arm as he went to leave the kitchen. ‘Just answer that one question. Am I your sister, yes or no.’ Zuko looked out to the front room where L and Hoya were sitting close to each other whispering. ‘Zuko.’

 He clenched his eyes shut, grimacing. ‘No.’