Sungjong instantly gripped , covering it as some Fae glanced in their direction. He could see Hoya’s back arch out of annoyance as his elder brother resisted the urge to lunge towards the late starter and silence her himself. ‘Be quiet,’ Sungjong hissed, his eyebrows furrowing as Hyunsu fought against him by shaking her shoulders violently to try and get him off her. ‘Settle down, Hyunsu!’ Sungjong nearly sighed in relief as Dongwoo and Sunggyu jumped onto the branch in unison, both staring at the frantic nymph.

 ‘She needs to get out of here before the humans are attacked,’ Sunggyu’s narrowed eyes flickered to the ground where a Fae was holding a human against the ground, binding the frail mans arms. Sungjong deflated, his pout covered by his mask, as always he would be sent out. He wanted to watch but as always something had to come up. ‘Dongwoo, get her out of here.’

 Dongwoo’s eyes widened and his full lips parted in surprise. ‘Me?’ Although his face was hidden his tone conveyed exactly what he felt, disbelief and of course, deep set annoyance.

 ‘Yes, you,’ Sunggyu’s voice was clipped, the harshness in it made Hyunsu freeze. The Sunggyu in front of her was not the same one that laughed at her for being scared of a gerbil, the Sunggyu in front of her reminded her of Hyoheon, arrogant, self-assured, and dominant. The Sunggyu in front of her would not accept any conflicting views, and would only allow submission.

 Hyunsu’s views of the Fae were constantly changing, warping with each second she was with them. She thought Sunggyu was nice, but now he seemed dark and terrible. She thought the Fae were all corrupt and unable to feel emotions, yet their community seemed so tightly knit, and she thought they ate humans, well there was nothing yet that disproved that fact.

 ‘You are her guardian, she is your responsibility, so get her back to the village before the clan mother finds out we let her see the start of the hunt.’

 Dongwoo clenched his jaw and roughly grabbed her arm, ‘fine.’ With a final look at the clearing he pushed her to the trunk of the tree, trying to make her climb up.

 ‘What are you doing!’ Sunggyu gripped the pendant hanging off his belt as if reminding himself as to how he dealt with his burdens daily. ‘Get down so she can climb on! She’s too weak to climb herself!’ Hyunsu lifted her head immediately recognizing a select few words, thankfully Dongwoo was going to carry her.

 ‘Alright, alright,’ closing his eyes he knelt down, allowing Hyunsu to climb on before he jerked up, throwing her off balance. She flung his arms around his neck and tightened her hold. She could feel the muscles in his neck tense, causing her to lighten her grip. ‘I can’t believe I’m stuck with you again,’ Hyunsu sighed feeling his agitation towards her, Dongwoo rolled his shoulders uncomfortably as her warm breath tickled the back of his neck.

 ‘What are they going to do to them?’ Hyunsu’s voice wavered as she thought back to the humans.

 ‘Stop talking,’ he scowled, feeling annoyed by the disjointed sound of the human language.

 ‘Down,’ Hyunsu demanded, speaking one of the few words she knew in Nymphean.

 ‘What?’

 ‘Down! Get down!’ She moved one of her legs away from his waist and hit the side of his knee with her leg. ‘Get down!’

 It didn’t take much for Dongwoo to catch on to what she wanted, she wanted to wreck havoc and stop the Fae from attacking the humans. This was why he didn’t want her to come in the first place, she was still stuck in the same mindset as the annoying irrational humans. Hyunsu still wanted to step in every puddle she could, and make as many ripples as possible so that she could destroy the peace that once stood. The only thing that kept him from lashing out was the confidence that eventually everything would return to normal. Every body of water that was disturbed eventually returned to it’s calm and serene state as the ripples disappeared.

 ‘Dongwoo!’ Hyunsu gripped his neck tighter as she glanced down, trying to see if she could get back on her own if she simply let go of him.

 ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he growled out, Hyunsu could feel her body weaken at the harsh sound of his voice. Her resolve flickered, she couldn’t decide what to do, if she went back to the humans they might slaughter her too. She still had no idea why the Fae even allowed her to live. But what was the point of her living if she never made a difference? She could almost feel her mind going numb at all of the different ideas that flew through it. The fact that if she went down there and got slaughtered the humans would still be killed was the most daunting thought. She could never make a difference, especially not there, not then.

 ‘What do I do?’ Dongwoo ignored her feeble question, doing what he did every time she spoke in that horrendous language; he blocked it out. He would not ever acknowledge her when she spoke it, she was never going to learn if he pampered her. He wasn’t quite like L where he would push her off a platform to make her get over her fears, but he was not the kind of give leniency where none should be given.

 Hyunsu weakly gripped onto him as she stared down at the branches, watching as they gradually got further and further from the hunt. Her decision was made for her; she wasn’t able to help them. Even if she managed to somehow get away from Dongwoo, she had no way to know how to get to the clearing or back home for that matter. Was she a terrible person? Hyunsu felt like one, she felt like a weakling, pathetic, and she felt disgraced. Was it possible for her to be honourable and allow someone to remove her from a situation that she should be preventing?

 Dongwoo pulled himself onto the bridge and crouched. Hyunsu slowly got off him, her limbs were weak and unsteady as she stood on her own. Dongwoo watched her with an annoyed grimace, why must he always be left with the emotionally sensitive people? Could he never just be able to handle the easy stuff? As he was the second eldest Sunggyu always deposited half of his problems onto Dongwoo, and the problems were usually the emotional ones because according the small eyed leader Dongwoo was the best at it.

 ‘Look, larva,’ Dongwoo gripped his mask, wincing at how unsuitable the name sounded in the situation. ‘Late starter, this is life, people die, and they deserve it. You don’t know what they have done,’ Dongwoo was by no means going soft on the girl, it was just his instinct to try and unburden the heavy hearts before him. Just seeing her standing on the bridge drained of all energy was making him weary. ‘This is what bringing you into our clan means, depriving the whole place of energy,’ he scowled and crossed his arms across his chest.

 Hyunsu looked down at the wooden planks of the bridge, his voice was started to annoy her. She was not stupid, she could hear how negative he was, she knew he didn’t like her and she knew he wouldn’t any time soon. But what does that matter? She doesn’t need him, if anything she could last without him. Woohyun and Sungyeol were decent with her, she could just spend time with them. ‘Goodbye,’ she walked by Dongwoo heading towards where she thought the room was she had slept in.

 ‘Where are you going now?’ His thick lips pulled into an annoyed snarl as he followed behind her quietly.

 Hyunsu ignored his hissed question, however, she didn’t understand it so she didn’t have too much of a problem with blocking him out. She could feel the burning desire for answers growing as she continued walking down the bridge. Why did they kidnap her? Why had they not killed her? And why did her own village betray her? She walked to the edge of the bridge and stopped as she looked over the rails. The green sea of leaves was terrifying, she had been told her whole life not to leave the village, not to go near the forest, so the fact that she was here felt unnatural. She felt as if the world would implode, she was breaking the rules.

 Dongwoo sighed and scratched his cheek, what was he supposed to do now? He had already talked to her far more than he ever wanted to in his whole lifetime but leaving her alone was making the whole situation worse. Her emotions were tangible to him, her emotions were tangible to the whole forest, if any of the Fae come close enough to her they would be assaulted by her emotions as well. This was what humans did, they fought against their emotions so much that they didn’t realise they were amplifying them. It was one of the worst things to do and they had taught a Nymph how to ruin herself as well.

 Hyunsu sat down on the bridge, forcing her palms into the wooden planks as she slowly put her feet over the edge. How was one meant to deal with the problems she had? Nobody had ever told her what to do, they said it was impossible, it would never happen, but, they were wrong and now she was suffering the consequences. She looked at the mass of branches, her eyes caught a small animal crawling along. ‘Dongwoo! Dongwoo!’

 ‘What?’ He dropped down beside her, looking pained.

 ‘Look!’ She pointed at the fluffy animal with a faint smile. ‘It’s adorable!’

 ‘What? Dongwoo scanned the area she was pointing at till he saw the small palm civet that had climbed up the tree.

 ‘What is it?’ Hyunsu had never seen such a creature before, it was as long as her arm, tail included. It’s fur was a light brown but had splotches of dark brown along it’s main body. It had the cutest small rounded ears and tiny little long paws that were tapping silently on the branch as it walked around.

 ‘What is it,’ he repeated in Nymphean.

 ‘It’s called what is it?’ She questioned, what he had said sounded like the questions she had learnt to say and certainly not like the name for an animal. Dongwoo sighed heavily as he resisted the urge to growl out of frustration.

 ‘Palm civet,’ he pointed at it just as it stopped to stare at them with it’s small round obsidian eyes.

 ‘So it’s not called, what is it?’ She repeated the Nymphean question at the end, as she stared at the creature confused.

 ‘It’s called a palm civet, palm civet.’

 Palm civet?’ She tilted her head mimicking the creatures name. ‘It’s cute,’ she stared at it watching as it looked back at her before going on its way again. ‘Bye little palm civet!’ She cooed as she waved her hands at it.

 ‘What is wrong with her?’ Dongwoo’s lips were curled up in disgust as he took in the conundrum that was the late starter. She was just extremely upset and now suddenly after seeing a little civet she was fine and excited again.

 ‘Cute, like a child, right?’ Woohyun suddenly dropped down beside Hyunsu, surprising her.

 ‘Woohyun!’ Her eyes brightened and she smiled at the Nix.

 ‘What are you doing here?’ Dongwoo was immediately struck by how strange it was for him to have left the hunt. Woohyun was more of a lover of the hunt than Dongwoo and even he had been hesitant to leave.

 ‘I got bored and noticed you two leaving,’ Dongwoo frowned suspiciously at his younger brother. Woohyun never just left a hunt especially not because he was bored, he doesn’t get bored.

 Hyunsu tapped her boot clad feet together as they spoke, she could hear the what in Dongwoo’s question and that gave her an immediate sense of pride. It had barely been a whole day since she had come here and she already started understanding a decent amount of the language Perhaps some people would have been faster but she could care less, all that mattered to her was that she was one step closer to not being left in the dark.

 ‘And so you abandoned the hunt to follow us?’

 ‘Alright fine, Sunggyu sent me to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid to her.’ Woohyun shrugged and smiled at Hyunsu. ‘But you look perfectly happy,’ he patted her cheek, making her stiffen in surprise. ‘I guess Dongwoo did something right, huh?’ He beamed at her feeling proud of how he was able to make her react even if it was because she was uncomfortable.

 ‘She doesn’t know what a palm civet is,’ Dongwoo sighed and snapped his hand in the air as if trying to make his tension leave his body by doing so.

 ‘How do you think she would know what a civet is? She’s been locked up in a human clan her whole life, I’d be surprised if she even knew what a snake was.’

 ‘How could she not know what a snake is? They could get across the meadow.’

 ‘Yes, but they are active most at night and that is when their gates are closed so they won’t just slither into the village. And the protectors would kill the snakes as soon if they saw one trying to enter.’

 ‘The humans are so unnecessarily protective. Their children should not be coddled so much.’ Dongwoo scowled, not needing to acknowledge his brothers nod of approval.

 ‘It’s ruining their children.’

 ‘Precisely, just look at her,’ Dongwoo nodded to Hyunsu who had her eyes closed as she listened to the twinkling songs of the birds singing.

 ‘I think she’s fine, isn't she adorable?’ Woohyun cooed as he mimicked her and started swinging his legs as well.

 ‘Palm civet,’ Hyunsu spoke slowly with a heavy accent as she pointed to the civet that had just stepped out onto a branch closer to them.

 ‘Look she said it right!’ Woohyun smiled and lightly pinched her cheek looking as proud as a father whose child had just charmed their first flower.

 Hyunsu huffed and rubbed her cheek glancing at him confused before she looked back to the civet. ‘It’s so cute.’

 ‘Do you want it?’ Woohyun sat up straight, his eyes glistening in excitement as what he thought was a wonderful idea sparked in his mind.

 ‘Why are you asking her? She can’t understand what you’re saying.’

 ‘You’re right,’ Woohyun frowned in thought for a moment, within seconds he had pushed himself off the bridge and down into the foliage.

 ‘Woohyun!’ Hyunsu’s eyes widened in fear as she looked downwards, trying to see if she could see his body plummeting to the ground.

 ‘He’s fine,’ Dongwoo pressed his arm across her shoulders and made her sit up. With how far she was bending he wouldn’t have been surprised to see her fall of the bridge and break her neck. ‘Just wait.’ Hyunsu jumped in surprise as Woohyun suddenly popped up right in front of her.

‘I have a gift for you,’ he smiled at her, before he lifted up the palm civet that was on the branch in front of them earlier.

 ‘Is that?’ Hyunsu froze when he dropped the small animal onto her lap.

 ‘Surprise!’ He grinned watching as she cautiously laid her hand on it’s back and lightly it. Her eyes widened and her lips pulled into a smile as she ran her fingers through it’s soft fur.

 ‘It’s so cute!’ The civet lifted it’s small head to look at her, it’s tiny black nose bumped against her chin as it sniffed her.

 ‘It’s going to attack her,’ Dongwoo mused quietly, he wasn’t opposed to the attack at all in fact he was looking forward to the look of surprise on her face when it happened.

 ‘No it won’t,’ Woohyun frowned at Dongwoo as he pulled himself back onto the bridge. Dongwoo shrugged impartially and stared out into the forest, listening for signs of the other Fae returning. Hyunsu remained oblivious to them as she laughed quietly at how adorable the little civet was. She noticed it stiffening so she gently picked it up and placed it on the bridge, letting it run off into the wild. ‘Why did you do that? It was a present,’ Woohyun frowned, staring after the fleeing animal.

 Hyunsu stared at him, incapable of telling him why she had dropped it or even understand herself his words. There was no way she could enunciate herself.

 The silence hung around them, weighing down on their bodies as it stifled all the energy that they had produced earlier through joking and chattering. Dongwoo sighed and pushed himself up, ‘well I guess you can take care of her now.’ Dongwoo ran and vaulted at a branch above him, he grabbed it and pulled himself onto it with an elegant ease that stupefied Hyunsu. With a flick of his finger the mask was covering his face, then he crouched and lunged into the foliage disappearing.

  Woohyun gaped at the empty space then looked at Hyunsu and moved away from her a little bit. Woohyun thought she was decent, he didn’t mind her nearly as much as his other brothers and he enjoyed seeing her but to take care of her? The very idea was shocking in itself, he did not want to be blamed if she got hurt or died. ‘Well,’ Woohyun brushed his fingers through his hair, making his bangs fall onto his forehead with a messy order to it. ‘We should do something,’ he tapped his foot against the bridge in thought before he clapped his hands together. ‘I got it!’

  Hyunsu played with her fingers as she watched him think animatedly, being alone with him was slightly frightening she had never been alone with him and she had idea what to think of him. She noticed he seemed to be jovial, joking around a lot, and he seemed to be an ardent lover of touching people. While his acts were innocent and not bad in the least Hyunsu did not grow up in such a physical culture and the idea was intimidating for her. Would she have to reciprocate his actions? Would he feel offended if she didn’t, or would he understand that it was just because she was unused to the whole touching thing she witnessed them doing.

  Woohyun slung his arm around her shoulder and lightly patted her arm, ‘let’s go!’ Hyunsu glanced at his arm, a grimace crossed her face as she looked down at the bridge. She could feel his body heat warming her body as he hummed happily, taking her past her room to a part of the village she had never seen before. ‘What do you want to start with? I personally enjoy, working with clothes.’ He looked at Hyunsu expectantly before sighing. ‘Right, there is a language barrier between us.’  

 Hyunsu’s eyes widened in curiosity as she watched him start to hum a song. There was really not that much she could do with him except follow, she didn’t know him very well at all. In fact, she was hesitant to admit that she really didn’t know any of them. She had realised because of the hunt that she had just come up with an illusion of who they were because that was the only way she could pretend she was okay. If she pretended she knew them then she wouldn’t feel so hopeless and alone. Hyunsu could have kept up the charade but when she compared the sadistic glee that erupted in their faces at the prospect of hunting some humans with the juvenile playfulness she had started to portray them as; she realised that they were very different. The Nix she was with were not juvenile, they were mature, serious, and so, so terrifyingly dangerous.

 She hesitantly looked at Woohyun whose lips were curled up in his usual charming smile, on the surface she could see the dream she had made up but the closer she looked, the more she saw. She could see the confident stature he walked with, the way his hands were casually in his pockets, yet in the perfect position to grab the knife he had hung on his belt. She was aware of the way his eyes took in their surroundings with a serene paranoia. He was well aware of the dangers of the forest, he knew that despite being in his own village something could still happen. He didn’t look the same, the playful nature she had cast upon him suddenly fell apart, she could no longer force the image of innocence upon him because there was nothing left.

 ‘What?’ Woohyun’s happy voice shook her reality, threatening to plunge her back down into the mirage of security.

 ‘What?’ She was unaware of the severe shaking of her hands as she gulped, attempting to force down her thoughts, as if her thinking them would make him aware of her thoughts.

 Woohyun wasn’t unaware, he had noticed her staring, he had noticed her strange actions, he had noticed her shaking. He noticed everything, they all did, they knew that she was on a fragile plane of reality. The Fae were always aware of the mind, of mentalities, and the dangers of new situations. He knew that what she was going through was detrimental to her progress, he knew that she had casted an image of existence upon them. It was the only way she could have been so calm during the ceremony. If she were truly aware of the reality of the situation she was in he knew it would have turned out differently, chances are she would have tried to run off again. But she had gone through with it, and whether she knew it or not she was now permanently apart of their clan.

 His looked at her pendant that was resting against her bosom, he doubted she had even noticed that the silver tribal lines had mutated to match the designs upon the rest of his clan’s pendants. He didn’t know what he should feel but he knew that he felt anger bubbling up within him, she had thrown away her past so naively. Being apart of a clan was serious, his whole life revolved around his clan and no matter how interesting he found her, he would never be able to forgive her if she betrayed them. And Woohyun knew, he knew she would. She had no allegiance to the clan that had just incorporated her into their lives. While his people would accept her, and do anything they could for her she would remain detached, unaware. She would never know just how special the ceremony was, or how rare. It wasn’t often that a clan could welcome another of their kind; they were usually too late, forced to watch as their fellow Nymphs unwillingly gave up their very essence to the humans that enslaved them.

 Hyunsu entwined her fingers, steading their shaking as she looked ahead of her. The way he was looking at her amplified every emotion that was already fighting for dominance within her. It was as if with a single look he was confirming everything she thought, it was if he was telling her that she was lost and that the only way she would find her way was if she ignored everything that was and live off of what is. She felt condemned. It was as if he was telling her that she was going to fail, that he knew she would wallow in her memories, that she would lose herself to what will never be. But was he really wrong? She didn’t believe he was, what was she even to do? This was not anything she had ever prepared for, she was where no human had ever wanted to be. It felt wrong and the thought of making the most of it, trying to enjoy it? It was as if she was betraying her own kind, turning her back on her own species.

 ‘Yeonjung,’ Hyunsu could hear her heart screaming in anguish, because her body acknowledged the name that stripped her of her humanity. Hyunsu stared Woohyun down, letting herself for once meet his eyes, the eyes that shone with a violent harmony of sanguine skepticism. ‘Let’s go make something,’ he reached out his hand towards her, Hyunsu hesitantly reached her hand out towards him. Her hand shook as she held it above his hand, fighting within herself about whether or not there was some deeper meaning behind this whole thing. If she herself accepted him and his guidance; would she start to lose herself? Her other hand clenched at her side at the moment that the hand she had reached out towards his stopped shaking.

 Did it really matter if she lost herself? What was she before but a mime? All she ever did was mimic the people around her, she was never truly herself. She grabbed his hand and looked up at him with a strong defiant aura that threw him off momentarily before he smiled at her. When she was at home she was terrified to be herself, it was as if she were surrounded by zombies, if she acted like herself then they would know that she was different and they would attack her. But here? She was going to die anyways, so she may as well leave her own impression. Not the one that she had be forced to be since her childhood, but the true her, the her she had never unleashed, and if they couldn’t handle it? The moment Woohyun tugged her hand to run she matched his pace, refusing to be left behind. Well that wasn’t an option, she knew they could handle every single part of her but she would try her best to overwhelm them because that’s all she had left, the challenge of destroying them like they were trying to destroy her.