Sungjong walked leisurely through the forest towards where he last saw Hyunsu. Honestly he did see Hyunsu run off, she really didn’t get that far, but he was getting tired of the village and there was no better way to get out than to get rid of his brothers. Sungjong lifted his head from the ground, pausing as he listened to the rustling of leaves, he stiffened as he heard a faint thump then the sound of scraping. Wise enough to remove himself from his surroundings he pulled himself onto a branch. His lips pulled into a smile when he saw Hyunsu’s head bobbing further away.

 Immediately the strong vile scent of mud, body odour, and rot assaulted his nose, silently choking he yanked his mask off his belt, putting it on. His shoulders relaxed at the instant relief from the putrid smell. He watched as a dokkaebi stumbled through the bushes, the dokkaebi was a revolting green, it’s skin was rough and cracked, looking almost like an old dry leaf. There were large black horns sticking out of it’s head, where they erupted the skin was red and irritated.

 Sungjong wrinkled his nose, shuddering in disgust as his gaze moved to the flaps of tattered dirt stained cloth that hung loosely on it’s body. The dokkaebi’s large meaty hand was clutching a wooden club that it dragged behind itself, despite having the strength to carry it normally.

 Sungjong crossed his legs patiently waiting for it to leave, he had no problems with waiting as long as he had to he just knew that it wasn’t wise to cross paths with a dokkaebi. Then again perhaps he needed to offer it thanks for giving his clan for such wonderful ideas on how treat humans, not that he got any chances to enact them being restrained in the village was rather inopportune when it came to meeting humans. He watched the dokkaebi wander, stiffening as it raised it’s head looking towards where Hyunsu was wandering around.

 ‘Well that’s unfortunate,’ Sungjong mused watching as the dokkaebi walked towards her, it in a loud breath before it lifted it’s large club, resting it on it’s broad shoulders. He supposed that he would have to help her. The dokkaebi walked through the bushes that were separating it from Hyunsu, Sungjong leisurely climbed along the tree branches, leaping to another one that boarded on the clearing Hyunsu was in. Sungjong watched as Hyunsu turned, only to see the dokkaebi’s large circular eyes staring at her.

 Hyunsu felt a shudder run through her body from looking into the pitch black eyes, it was as if she was looking into an abyss that led nowhere, and contained absolutely nothing. ‘H-hello,’ her voice came out as a squeak as she clutched the bottom of her dress, stepping away from the dokkaebi.

 ‘Hello,’ her eyes widened as she heard the low gravelly voice emit from it’s thick throat.

 ‘H-how are you today?’ Her voice pitched higher at the end as she tried to keep her calm. Hyunsu had seen pictures of creatures like this in the Elders hall, she could vaguely remember the horrific stories that accompanied it.

 The dokkaebi’s translucent lids closed over it’s eyes as it blinked, ‘what are you doing in the forest, human.’

 ‘I'm lost,' she played with the bottom of her dress, unable to find a single string to pull anywhere. Sungjong watched the two communicate with a frown, for once he was the one in the dark, he couldn't understand a single thing said. He could have sworn he heard human, it's the one word from that language he understood.

 'Lost, in Fae clothing,' the dokkaebi stared at her with it's soulless penetrating eyes, to her the dokkaebi looked extremely wise and knowledgeable, unlike the Fae who would have easily said it was as dense as the object it was animated from.

 'I was captured!' Hyunsu was not planning to spill her heart out to such a creature but she needed all the help she could get to get home again, even if that meant going to a monster. 'My friend gave me her necklace and told me to put it on, and then they captured me and they're trying to change me!' She could feel her eyes starting to grow warm from the tears that gathered.

 'If you defeat me at a wrestling match, I will lead you home.' Hyunsu stared at the creature, gulping as she took in it's hulking form. It easily towered over her, if it came any closer she would have to look up to look it in the face, she had no idea how or even if she could defeat it.

 'I don't think I can win,' she looked at its legs in wonder, she could practically see the muscles bulging out of its leg, the other leg however was covered in cloth, and not visible to her prying eyes. Hyunsu lifted her head to stare at the silent dokkaebi, he was staring at her in anticipation, clearly awaiting her consent.

 ‘Come on Yeonjung, you can do it,’ Sungjong climbed along the trees so he had a better view of the two. Since the clan mother had dubbed Hyunsu as Yeonjung he was immediately calling her that, Hyunsu was apart of her past self and no longer necessary. Sungjong didn’t need to know the language to know what the dokkaebi was asking, they loved wrestling and judging from the dubious expression on the poor Nymphs face that’s exactly what he said.

 ‘Al-alright,’ Hyunsu nodded stiffly, regretting her decision as soon as she saw it’s slimy green lips pull into a monstrous grin before it dropped it’s club on the ground.

 ‘Push him to the right, the right,’ Sungjong clutched the branch, narrowing his eyes as he watched Hyunsu grasp the dokkaebi’s hands. He winced as he saw Hyunsu immediately pushing him to the left. ‘No, the right,’ he hissed silently at the look of helplessness that flashed across her face, at this rate she was going to lose.

 Hyunsu had the exact same thought process as Sungjong, she could feel her arms shaking from the amount of strength she had to used to keep the dokkaebi from pushing her over.

 ‘Is that all you have, human?’ She sneered pushing harder against the dokkaebi, Hyunsu knew this was her only chance to get away. If she failed this she would have no way home, she was lost she couldn’t even climb a single tree to try and see the direction home. She was far too weak, she was unprepared, she was taught to take care of the house and make a life for herself inside the village Hyunsu was not taught any of these strange new outer world things.

 ‘The right, Yeonjung!’ Sungjong sighed and slouched against the tree he was sitting on, pulling one of his legs to his chest, letting the other one dangle in the air. The spectators instructions failed to reach the clearing which was a good thing for him, Sungjong had no idea she was grappling for a way out. If he knew that was her motivation he would have gladly screamed as loud as he could that the left was the best choice.

 Hyunsu clenched her jaw as she stumbled back, the force of the dokkaebi’s strength was sending her to the ground. She felt her legs shake as she struggled to hold herself up, she knew what was going to happen, she pushed once more before she collapsed, falling on the ground. ‘You lost,’ the dokkaebi bent down and grabbed it’s club. ‘The Fae is waiting for you human, it would be wise to not run, unless you want to get ripped to shreds.’ The dokkaebi laughed, it’s laugher was cold and rough, lacking any emotion. Slowly the dokkaebi left the clearing, leaving Hyunsu on the ground, shaking.

 Sungjong moved, crawling along the branch towards the clearing. He was prepared to drop down and enter the clearing, but Hyunsu’s quiet sniffling stopped him. Sungjong tilted his head, watching as she clutched her legs to her chest, burrowing her head in them and hiding her face from view. He could feel his eyebrows furrowing making creases in his forehead as her sobs grew louder, filling the clearing. He fell down on the branch, sitting as he listened to her heartfelt cries, he could hear her torment and fear, he could feel her emotions for himself.

 Closing his eyes Sungjong looked away from the clearing, but her sobs were louder than the nature around him. There were no birds and no wind to mask the noise, it was completely silent, the forest around them was mourning with her. Sungjong weakly pushed himself up, he stared at Hyunsu, all previous excitement of beating his brothers was drained from his very being replaced with empathy for the lost late starter.

 Shakily breathing in Sungjong ran his fingers through his hair, closing his eyes he breathed out deeply. Turning away from the clearing Sungjong gripped the tree, pausing as he clutched the rough bark, he had never been one for dealing with emotions, he was the one who had them. Tsking he rubbed the sole of his shoe against the branch, turning around he looked back at the clearing, slowly walking down the branch. He stopped moving as he watched L appear on the other side of the clearing, staring at the crying Nymph as well.

 ‘Good luck, Hyunsu,’ Sungjong dipped his head to her, his whispered words were lost overwhelmed by her cries. Glancing at his elder brother, Sungjong shook his head, trying to release himself of the depression that weighed down on his body leaving his chest tense and his shoulders drooped. Silently Sungjong climbed up the tree towards the village, feeling absolutely no pride for discovering the lost Nymph first.

 L shuffled as he stared at Hyunsu, his chest constricted evoking a wince on his mask clad face. No matter matter how much he hated where she came from his heart susceptible to empathy and she was tugging on his heart strings as hard as she could. L walked into the clearing and knelt down beside the Nymph, without a second thought he rested his hand on her shoulder, then wiped her tears with his other hand.

 Hyunsu stiffened when she felt a warm hand touching her cheek, she slowly lifted her head, expecting to see Sunggyu beside her. Hyunsu jerked away from L, her back slammed into the tree as she stared at him, her red eyes were wide with confusion. The last memory she had of L was him pushing her off a ledge, every other memory that involved him had the exact same negative influence.

 L sighed and pulled her towards him, hugging her, she was frozen in shock as he did what he saw was the most natural thing. L was the one that had to deal with the sisters the most when they got emotional, he alongside Dongwoo were their go to people. And if there was one thing he learnt no matter the gender or personality skinship helped dispel the tears. ‘Don’t think about it,’ he was just as stiff as her as he awkwardly patted her back, ‘just relax.’

 Hyunsu could feel her tears flooding out again, instantly warming her cheeks as soon as she heard his whispers. She by no means heard acceptance from his sympathetic words, if she were in a better state of mind she would have realised he was awkward and acting out of habit and obligation rather than mutually liking. However what she needed was a release, she didn’t even notice how robotic and rigid he was all she saw was someone who was willing to put aside their own views of her so that they could help her. This sudden realisation of hers only lead to more crying.

 He could feel his chest tightening more as he watched her clutch his shirt with her small fragile fingers, her tears were soaking into it, the water hitting his skin cool and uncomfortable. Unwilling to say a single word more than he already did L patted her back, he wasn’t surprised at all that she had reacted the way she had at first. He had been fully expecting a physical response like jumping away from him, he supposed he should have been surprised that she had readily taken his comfort from what he had observed of humans, they rarely ever touched each other.

 ‘I don’t want to go back,’ Hyunsu simpered as she sniffed, gazing up at the Nix. She couldn’t see his expression from behind his mask, she would never have guessed that his forehead was furrowed with worry lines. She certainly would have never imagined that even if she could see his frown, that it was because of how he was relating to her emotions and was trying to ease her worry.

 ‘I know,’ despite their languages being so diverse and unintelligible to the other they could in that moment understand each other perfectly.

 ‘Please, don’t make me go back, please,’ L looked away from her pleading eyes, focusing on a flower that was blooming on a twig in the distance.

 ‘You have to,’ he stood up, extending his hand towards her offering her his assistance. She reached out her hand to his, before she could change her mind he grasped her wrist and pulled her up.

 Hyunsu stared at him, she looked broken, betrayed, he almost felt dirty from the look she was giving him. In his eyes she was like a child her innocence practically radiated out of her and every single thing she did. He felt almost as if he himself was corrupting her by doing what he knew was right, the humans would only destroy whatever essence of purity was left in her innocent soul. It was his duty as a Fae to be the guardian of all the Nymphs, and Nixes that were in danger of being tainted by the vile humans that roamed the earth, looking to devour any virtue that appeared before them.

 ‘Let’s go,’ L slowly moved his hand along her wrist until he stopped at her hand, entwining their fingers so that he could ensure that she wouldn’t run off.

 Hyunsu breathed out heavily, her chest shaking from the strain of her heavy sobbing. She wanted to scream, stomp her feet, act out like the children in her village but she knew it wouldn’t do anything. If anything she was scared that he would snap and revert to his former self, which she knew was inevitable, but there was something soothing about his current demeanor. For once she felt safe with him, his grip was a constant reminder of his presence.

 ‘Yeonjung,’ Hyunsu stiffened, hearing that horrible name escape from his mouth. He could feel the change in her immediately, but he didn’t know what else to call her, he knew her name was originally Hyunsu but the clan mother changed that, and she had to accept that. None of the Fae would call her anything but that, and she needed to learn to accept it, no matter how hard it was to accept that her old life was behind her, she had to.

  ‘Hyunsu.’

 L remained silent instead he stared at her, his lack of motion was quickly unnerving her, she was worried that she had ticked him off, that he was just about to relapse. L however was considering how he was going to get her up into the village, sighing he released a high whistle, signaling to his brothers that he had found her. He turned to look at the tree, grimacing as he considered throwing her over his shoulder, he could anticipate her violent reaction.

 Hyunsu watched him turn away from him, immediately she assumed that he was going to tell her to get on his back so she went up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘Down,’ she spoke in slow Nymphean, to L she sounded exactly like a pouty child. He turned his head to look at her.

 ‘What?’ He reached his hands up and touched her arms that were wrapped around her neck.

 ‘Down,’ she repeated, hopping slightly, L smiled and bent down allowing Hyunsu to lift her legs and wrap them around his waist. L slowly stood up, he put his hands under her legs and lifted her to adjust her so she wasn’t choking him.

 ‘Thank you,’ he grabbed the tree and started pulling himself up.

 ‘Th-thank, thank what?’ She trailed off confused, what he had just said seemed familiar but she couldn’t remember what it meant.

 ‘Thank you.’

 ‘Thank you,’ she repeated, Hyunsu was surprised with how comfortable she felt speaking Nymphean, it felt more natural and comfortable on her tongue.

 ‘Good job,’ L congratulated her before pulling himself over the final ledge, climbing onto the main bridge. He crouched down, letting her get off of him before he straightened himself as Hoya and Dongwoo approached them.

 ‘You found the late starter?’ Hoya scowled at her, his face obscured by his mask.

 ‘Of course he did! I was betting on him!’ Sungjong dropped down from a higher bridge, with a large over exaggerated smile on his face.

 ‘I was betting on Woohyun, he has a thing for wimps,’ Dongwoo spoke up as he crossed his arms over his chest.

 ‘Really? I thought that was you,’ Hoya smirked at his older brother, he pulled off his mask and hooked it on his belt.

 ‘Tch,’ Dongwoo started walking down the bridge, his footsteps silent against the thick wood.

 ‘Where are you going?’ L turned his head lazily, his head naturally tilted as he stared at his brother. ‘Caregiver,’ L smirked, watching as Dongwoo turned and faced him, ‘she needs a place to sleep.’

 Dongwoo threw his head back, sighing heavily, ‘just take her to the sisters.’

 ‘Don’t you think she should sleep in your room?’ Hyunsu watched the boys interact curiously before she looked over at Sungjong who seemed keen on not meeting her gaze.

 ‘My room?’ Her head snapped immediately to look at Dongwoo when she heard his sharp tone.

 ‘Well she isn’t going to sleep in my room,’ L took off his mask, vaguely noticing Hyunsu staring at it. He sighed and gave it to her, not reacting at all to the way her face lit up in curiosity as she twirled it in her fingers.

 ‘And because I’m the caregiver she has to be in my room?’

 ‘Exactly,’ Sunggyu leapt onto the bridge, understanding what the conversation was about immediately, ‘we don’t sleep when they do, and she needs a bed tonight.’

 Hyunsu tuned them out as she stared at the mask, when looking at the mask she couldn’t see the eyes or mouth at all, but when she flipped it and held it over her face like how they wore it she could see out of it clearly. Her eyebrows furrowed as she spun it to look at the black mass shielding the eyes, then flipped it again staring through the eye holes.

 ‘Look at her, she doesn’t even understand how a mask works!’ Dongwoo snatched it from her and hooked it onto L’s belt, ‘what if she goes through my stuff?’

 ‘Then you’ll know, everything is in impeccable order,’ Sungjong grinned at Dongwoo who sighed mentally agreeing with that because he had his room organised a specific way he would notice immediately if she moved something.

 ‘Take her to your room and let her sleep,’ Sunggyu folded his arms across his chest and stared down at the shortest brother.

 ‘Fine,’ Dongwoo glared at her before walking towards his room.

 ‘You’re not taking her with you,’ Hoya chirped, a smile growing as he saw how uncomfortable his brother was. Dongwoo turned around grabbed her hand and started dragging her away.

 ‘Where am I going?’ Hyunsu frowned looking back at L who nodded to her then walked over to Sunggyu, whispering something to him. Dongwoo remained silent, he figured that the best battle tactic for combating her use of the human language was to just not respond. ‘Hello?’ She huffed and went quiet as she stared at his back.

 ‘Quiet,’ he placed a finger to his mouth before looking back ahead of him.

 ‘Quiet,’ she repeated what he said slowly, ‘what does that mean?’ She put her finger to , mouthing what he said. ‘Oh,’ opened in a small o as she nodded, ‘it must be silent, quiet!’ she repeated the last word in Nymphean smiling in pride at her quick understanding.

 Dongwoo on his teeth as he resisted the urge to snap at the girl, ‘keep calm. She’s just a child,’ he sighed and clenched his fists, rubbing his thumbs against his index fingers. He almost laughed with delight when they arrived at his platform outside of his room, soon he would be free of the late start and he could finally get started on having fun. He leapt across the platform quickly, softly bouncing from one foot to the other as he watched her eye the gap again, like she had every other time she approached one.  'Come on, you slid down a vine without seeing where you were going, you can't be anxious about jumping over a small gap.'

 Hyunsu ignored him as she stared into the gap, she slowly walked towards it, then jumped down onto it, sighing in relief when she survived not plummeting towards her doom for the second time. Dongwoo ran his hand along the side and pressed down on a spot that looked exactly like the rest, resulting in the knobless door swinging open.

 Hyunsu ran her hand along the side of the tree like he did, trying to find any sign of an indent or button but she couldn't find a single indication of something that would open a door.

 Dongwoo grabbed her shoulder and pushed her into the room, 'time to sleep, larva,' he forced her to sit on the bed before looking around the room at his stuff. 'Don't touch anything of mine.' Hyunsu ignored him, she was too enveloped in his bed. She bounced on it slightly, fell agape as she pressed her palms down on it, only to have them bounce up from the soft comfortable material that was on his bed. 'What are you doing?'

 Hyunsu stood up and looked at his bed, the strange comfortable thing was thick and covered in the same strange thin cloth that her clothes were made of. Hyunsu sat down on the bed again and smiled at Dongwoo who stared at her blankly.

 'Just go to bed,' he opened a drawer and pulled out a fur blanket and hide pillow before tossing them to her. Hyunsu grabbed them, parting as she ran her hands along the blanket, they didn't have these luxuries at home. They had no separation between them and the floor except the worn blankets. The blankets were made of a scratchy wool that the caravans brought them whenever they managed to make it to their village safely. Their village just didn't have the means to make all they wanted to, it was rare that her brother ever brought a buck home. The most common animal brought home from hunting was rabbit and that didn't do much for blankets, her father always ended up using the hide for notebooks instead of blankets as well, so they depended on outside supplies.

 'It's so soft,' she picked up the pillow, she pushed her hands against it smiling at the feeling she got, it was like she was pushing on a soft animal hide bubble. Dongwoo scoffed and crossed his arms, not affected at all by her childlike curiosity,

 'It's like she's never seen a bed before,' sighing Dongwoo turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

 Hyunsu immediately looked up from the pillow she was staring at and glared at the door, 'how rude.' She looked down at the bed and bounced on it again, when she first woke up she was much too shocked and confused to take in the comfort of the bed she awoke on. 'How is it so comfy?' She picked at the cloth and rubbed the contents between her fingers, she could feel thin leafy strands between her fingers.

 'It's grass!' Hyunsu grasped the leather gloves slowly tugged them off, laying them on the bed before she collapsed onto the bed, staring up at the wooden ceiling above her. She breathed out, her eyes closing as she relished the comfort of the bed beneath her. She patted the bed until she found the pillow, she grabbed it and put it under her head. She barely had enough time to cover herself with the blanket before she fell asleep.

 Hyunsu woke up in the middle of the night, the room was almost completely dark except for a small jar that had been placed on the desk. There were small luminescent creatures flying in the jar, casting a golden glow across the room. She stood up and walked over the jar, on top of the jar was a thick brown notebook with a strange hollow branch looking thing that was wedged between two leather straps, keeping the notebook shut. Hyunsu sat down on the fur cushion and picked up the small jar on top notebook, it was filled with a strange black liquid, dismissing it she put it down and picked up the notebook, running her palm along it. The notebook cover was made of the same type of hide as her pillow except it was stained black.

 Hyunsu opened the notebook, the first page was a beautiful picture of a girl standing in a forest surrounded by trees, unlike the dark purple beet juice her family used to write it was pitch black like the liquid in the jar. She looked closer at the girl she gasped in surprise when she realised that the girl was her. She ran her finger along the picture, feeling the faint indent from the ink, she paused when she came to scribbles below the picture that matched the style of the books around her as well as the writing that was imprinted on Kwan's forehead.

 'Is this for me? But what do you use to write? There is no qwill...' Hyunsu frowned before she picked up the strange hollow branch that was sharpened at the end, in a moment of brilliance she flipped to a new page in the notebook and dipped the branch into the black liquid before practicing writing the date. She watched amazed as the branch wrote her name the same way that a qwill would, the strange black liquid was staining her name into the coarse yellow parchment. Smiling Hyunsu started writing down her memories, she didn't want to ever lose herself to the Fae, and she knew she would use the notebook to ensure that she always had a piece of home, of her past, whenever she forgot where she came from.