"You want to tell me why you're crying?"

Yona gasped, making Ao jump and land on his back at her feet. She put a hand over her chest. "Jaeha… I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Her eyes widened. "Did I wake anyone else?"

He simply shook his head and sat down beside her, leaning back on his hands. He looked out over the grassy hillside lit beneath the moon and stars. After a moment he asked, "Well?"

Yona tore her gaze away from him and looked down at her knees. Ao sat up and shook off his disorientation, crawling up onto Yona's knee, directly in her sight. She smirked and pet him on the head with one hand. She smiled faded when she squeezed the object in her other hand. "It's… complicated." She furrowed her eyebrows.

Jaeha sighed heavily. "It's from before all of this, I presume?"

Yona closed her eyes in thought. Then she lifted the hand he couldn't see, and held out the object before him.

Jaeha was a dragon by nature but a pirate by nurture. He knew this hairpiece was valuable. The pin itself looked to be pure gold with the ornaments made of porcelain. It was definitely hand-painted with great care.

But when Jaeha looked at the watery gaze in Yona's eyes, he realized it was not the monetary value that mattered to the Princess.

He pursed his lips, but before he could formulate a question, Yona spoke instead. "Soo-won… the new king…. He gave this to me just a few hours before…." She sucked in a breath as she curled in on herself. She re-tightened her grip on the hair pin and hugged her knees. A small, tearless sob escaped her, shaking her small frame.

Jaeha didn't ask questions. He didn't make a snide comment or laugh or pester her. He didn't flirt or claim to be better. He just looked on and listened. That was enough to encourage her.

"When the guards had cornered me… Soo-won was there… just staring… and watching it happen. I couldn't read his emotions at all. It was like… our whole lives together didn't matter to him." She sucked in a fresh breath of air. "I didn't call for Hak… I called for Soo-won." She abruptly buried her face in her hands. "How… could I have not… not known…?" she asked between sobs. "Soo-won didn't care… wanted… did… he killed him…. Why did I ever trust him, Jaeha? …I thought… I thought I loved him…. And now…. Hak…."

Jaeha gently rested a hand on Yona's shoulder. She stopped her rambling long enough for him to say, "I don't think Hak is the one you need to be worried about."

Yona opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. She looked back down to Ao. He cocked his small head at her and let out a little "Pukyu?"

"This may come as a surprise to you," Jaeha started. Yona looked up with a sniffle. "But Hak hasn't doubted your affection for him… not once."

Yona furrowed her brows again, trying to formulate her own question. She settled on one. "Why?"

That question in particular surprised him. He hadn't realized that Yona was more aware of what they were feeling than he originally thought. That being said, he recomposed himself and answered. "Because his loyalty for you is unwavering, dear. As are the loyalty of the 4 dragons."

Yona gazed away from him and out over the hillside once again.

"That being said," he continued, to Yona's surprise, "holding our power means amazing opportunity for you. But why now? Why bring the five of us together once more?"

Yona answered much faster than Jaeha expected. "I was thrown out of my home. The one place I knew my whole life. My entire family was torn apart…." She paused, and he could feel the specific names that went included in the unsaid statement. "But the one thing I still do have is who I am. I am still the Princess of Kouka kingdom. And I realized after fighting alongside you and the others that I owe my people the freedom they deserve. They deserve freedom from sickness and poverty and fear…. They deserve a good leader. Unfortunately, that means Soo-won right now, since I'm still just 16. And I'm okay with that. From what we've gathered, he is trying to turn things around from the position he is now in. My job is to do that on a more personal level. Does that make sense?"

Jaeha smiled and rested a hand on the red-haired princess' head. "I don't doubt for a second that you have the best interest of the people in mind. And that despite your... differences with the current king, you allow him to rule in the best interest of the people. I also have a deep respect for you, Princess Yona."

Yona smiled down at Ao, and smoothed his fur, making him happily coo into her touch.

"I hope you know that the rest of the dragons and I will follow you and Hak to the ends of this world. And Hak… well his loyalty to you may as well make him one of us dragons."

Yona's cheeks flushed, but to Jaeha's surprise once again, she did not fluster or deny it. She just smiled again. And that was something Jaeha could respect: confidence in her comrades.

Jaeha decided he would ask the question burning in his mind through a brief explanation. "Pardon my not-so-subtle change in topic…" he started, side-eyeing her for a reaction, of which, she gave none. "I know from tonight that you have strong feelings for both Soo-won and Hak… albeit much different ones." This made Yona visibly tense, but he continued, leaning back once more. "I've seen your bravery… your cunning… your wit. I've seen you in action. You are lethal when you want to be. So this begs the question…. What will you do when it comes time for you to reclaim the throne? When you feel you can rule the people as having lived life like a citizen to truly understand them? What then?"

Yona bit her bottom lip before sighing. "Soo-won has spared my life… recently…." She had said it slowly, deliberately. Jaeha's breath caught silently. She continued, "I owe him my life for that. And yet… had it not been for Hak that first night… he would not have spared me. Why he chose now to spare me is against my understanding of him… if I ever truly knew him… but since the two times contradict one another, I would say we're even."

Jaeha's eyes widened, but Yona continued to look out over the hills, her expression dark but unreadable. He could tell she was struggling to be cold when referring to him, but she was trying.

He noted the way her grip on the pin tightened and then loosened again.

Jaeha released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "If that is your decision, then we will walk the path with you to the end, our future Queen of Kouka," he said with a halfway bow from his seat.

Yona looked to him then with a watery gaze. She leaned sideways to him and pecked him on the forehead. "I will forever be grateful for all of you."

When Yona settled back into petting Ao with a new smile on her face, Jaeha chanced a look toward the trees where they had been camped for the night. He nodded.

And just beyond the tree line, Hak smiled, leaning against a tree and nodded back to his closest friend.

…

I loved writing this so much! Merry Christmas to shinah-the-furball ! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! The title is kind of a play on words but I'm corny like that :D