Chapter 2
"We should keep this from Yona for now." Hak decided as they headed back.
"Why?" asked Jaeha curiously.
"She would go straight out to the freezing cold weather and wouldn't stop until she found this girl." Hak said.
"That does seem like something she would do." Jaeha agreed.
So it was decided not to do anything for now. As they walked back, the snow began picking up again. They were thankful for the lack of wind in the forest as they trudged through the deep snow. When the three of them got back, everyone was in the tent, out of the cold.
"Where were you guys?" Yona asked as soon as they entered the tent.
"We were having trouble finding anything." Jaeha said holding up two of the rabbits they had caught while Hak did the same.
"Still, don't make us worry like that you guys." Yoon said, irritated.
After Yoon made them dinner, they all fell asleep huddled together because of the cold. That night, they had an unexpected visitor. When they had finished their goal, they vanished into the freezing darkness.
The next morning, they all awoke and noticed immediately that something was different. The top of the tent didn't look like it would collapse under the weight of the snow. Plus, it seemed a lot warmer than the previous night. They each went out to see what had happened. The first thing that the seven noticed was the lack of snow around the tent. Looking up, there was a large white sheet acting as a canopy over their heads. There was also a pile of dry firewood and a sack filled with other supplies. It seemed that someone had cleared the snow, hung the canopy over their heads, and left extra gifts without anyone noticing.
Hak and Jaeha were the first out of the tent. As soon as they had taken it all in, Shin-ah took them aside. He had been on watch when the visitor had come, and knew exactly who had done it. So, as soon as everyone had come out, and Yoon had started the fire, they decided to make an announcement.
"Does anyone know who did this for us?" Yoon asked.
"It wasn't when Zeno was on watch." Zeno announced.
"Then, Shin-ah do you know who did all this for us?" Yona asked.
"About that…"Jaeha began. "You know how we were a bit late last night?"
"Yes." Yoon said.
"We ran into some trouble during that time." Hak said.
"We're in a huge forest in the middle of the winter and you ran into trouble." Yoon complained. "Can't you circus freaks go anywhere without trouble?"
"Calm down, mother. It wasn't our fault." Hak consoled.
"There was a young girl being chased by a bunch of soldiers." Jaeha explained.
"When she was cornered, we took out the archers." Hak told them.
"She was very impressive and was able to defeat the rest of the soldiers alone." Jaeha marveled.
"Afterwards, we got the soldiers that she had tied up to tell us what they knew." Hak finished.
"You didn't follow her afterwards?" asked Yona.
"She would have sensed our presence." Shin-ah told them.
"She probably would have attacked us." Hak added.
"Still….." Yona trailed off.
"Yona dear, the soldiers told us that she had been chased for a long time." Jaeha
"So that's who did all of this for us?" Yoon asked.
Hak nodded and said, "Shin-ah says that he saw her doing it while he was on guard duty."
"I would like to meet this girl." Yona announced, "Shin-ah, can you find her."
Shin-ha shook his head.
"Why not?" asked Yona, crestfallen.
"It's snowing very hard right now." Shin-ah explained.
"I won't allow you to go out right now, Princess. You'll get a cold." agreed Hak.
For the rest of the day, they stayed under the canopy. The snow kept falling but, they were all comfortable. Hak got a fire going and Yoon and Zeno used some of the rations they received to make food. Yoon also made some medicine from many of the herbs that were in the sack. Yona kept looking at the area around the canopy to see if the snow stopped. Eventually, the sky darkened and they went into the tents to sleep.