Chapter 21. The Fugitive and the Pirate

The green-haired man jumped - almost floated - down to the ground. The cocky smile, the folded arms, light shining on his face. It was like having a sense of deja vu for someone I know I've never met before.

Both the guards and I stared at him, for very different reasons.

"You're the green dragon." I said.

The smile dropped off his face like a valuable vase and shattered all over the floor. "How did you - er. Dragon? Green? I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean."

"Your hair is green. Did you just - decide to dye it one day? Is it fake?" I asked.

He made an offended sound. "First of all, how dare you -" he stepped out of the path of one of the guards, and sent the man stumbling into a trash can a few feet away. " And second of all, everything on me is one hundred percent natural."

"Stop fucking ignoring us!" One of the guards snapped.

Without looking I reversed my hold on my staff and brought it back with a sharp jab.

The guard slumped, wheezing and clutching between his legs.

The green dragon cringed. "Oh, ouch. You don't pull your punches, do you?"

I shrugged.

The remaining men lunged at me with a snarl - And with that, the time for talk was over. The alley became a whirl of motion. We managed to take them down between us, but not quietly. The noise attracted attention.

"Over here!" A voice called, from the mouth of the alley. There was the sound of many, many feet over the cobble, armor clanking and swords being unsheathed. The mouth of the alley filled with yet more men, all heavy and mean looking.

Of course. "Guards are like cockroaches. There's never just one."

It wasn't like I couldn't handle them, but it did get annoying.

He laughed. Apparently the violence restored his good mood. "It does feel that way sometimes, doesn't it?"

I glanced at him. "You take the ones on the left, I take the ones on the right?"

"Fun as that sounds, I have a better idea. Shall we?" He held his arm out for me, like I was some sort of princess.

I looked back at the mouth of the alley. I could take them - but not without popping my stitches. Yoon would never let me hear the end of it.

I took his arm with an internal shrug. It was the lesser of two evils.

The green dragon gave me a wicked grin. "Going up." Then he pulled me in, wrapped an arm around my waist, and jumped.

The ground disappeared.

My good hand clenched on the green fabric of his over robe. My stomach dropped out of my body. The world grew smaller and smaller - we went up and then further still, until the sky loomed overhead like a tapestry I could touch if I just stretched a little further.

Then we were falling, wind curling around us with the force of a typhoon, buffeting my clothes, shaking my hair loose almost instantly. Wind bit into my face, stinging my eyes. It was a roller coaster,

only the belt was a strong hand wrapped around my waist.

My mouth curled up.

Before, I was fond of roller coasters - and even that didn't compare to the breathless feeling of absolute free fall.

We were flying, just ahead of the snap of bowstrings.

He saw the look on my face and laughed, and the sound was pure joy.

He jumped again, bouncing off someone's roof without leaving so much as a footprint in the grime. It took us less than three minutes to lose the few guards who managed to follow us, and by then we were across town. I could smell brine and hear the creak of old ships on the water as we passed the docks - and then beyond it, bounding of ships like stepping stones, open water under us more often than not.

Finally, there were no more ships; there was only a heavy fog.

"This is our stop," He shouted over the wind, grin on his face. "Brace yourself!"

A huge shadow appeared out of the fog - a ship.

He landed like he's never even heard of the concept of gravity before, like it's something that happened to other people. His green hair fell over my shoulders, tangling with my own. He sets us down on top of a small platform high in the air - the crow's nest.

I let go of him the second we touch to onto wood and frown. "Why'd you bring me here?"

Ships are one thing that I've never had to face in battle. Most of Xing's enemy were landlocked. The pirates of port Awa's ship is large. Probably. I don't actually know anything about ships. It's full of people, all of them looking up at us and I can make out the gossip of the crowd.

He smiled. "You're strong."

I glanced at him. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He only shrugged and held out his arm again in a silent offer.

I glanced down at the deck. I could make the jump, sure, but there was still a part of me that screamed 'no way, you'll break your fucking legs, you moron' that I couldn't get rid of. I take his hand.

One stomach dropping moment later, he sets us both down on the deck. The landing doesn't even send twinge of pain up my leg. From down here, the crew of the ship is easier to see. Most of them are older men, rough and scarred, with smiling eyes. They only seemed curious, not hostile or even worried. Friendly for a bunch of pirates. The odd one out was the slight figure lounging at the helm. She was an older woman, silver hair trailing down over her shoulder and an elegant looking pipe at her mouth.

She blew out a long puff of smoke. "So nice of you to finally turn up, brat. And with company."

The breath is knocked out of me so fast, I feel dizzy.

Grandmother.

The woman looks nothing like her, but the tone is so familiar I want to die. It's rough and exasperated and, under all that, was a dizzying amount of affection. I should say something, but my tongue felt like stone. I should present my case, because she's clearly the one in charge, but all I can think about is how much I hurt; like being kicked in a still healing wound. Like being speared through the chest. It dragged something I didn't want to think about to the surface.

I will never visit her grave again.

I can't think about that.

I can't.

Her sharp grey eyes fall on me like a mountain. "Introduce your friend, brat."

"Well," The Green Dragon said, stepping forward with a grand sweeping gesture of a bow. It puts him in front of me, draws her attention. "This vision of loveliness and prospective crew member is ..." He paused, then turned to me, face sheepish. "I don't think we ever introduced ourselves."

I crushed the grief down. Let cold spread over me. The past is gone, over and done with.

Keep moving.

"We didn't." I kept my attention on the captain. She's the one I need to convince.

He bowed with a flourish and a flirtatious grin. "Jae-ha, at your service. Charmed to meet you."

"Baram." I said to the captain, ignoring him.

She was the bigger threat.

Jae-ha seemed like the honorable type; he wouldn't stab me in the back with a smile.

I had a feeling that the old woman was smarter than that.

She hummed, studying me. "A crew member? Impulsive as usual, brat."

Jae-ha rolled his eyes, but he still turned towards her like a flower towards the sun. "You're the one who said that we needed more people. I'm just trying -"

"I don't want to join." I said. There's no point in being indirect.

Jae-ha squawked.

She leaned back in her chair. Took a long pull of her pipe. "Is that so?"

"I only want him." I said, jerking my head at the green dragon. "In exchange, I'll take care of your Governor problem."

Jae-ha laughed. "I'm flattered."

Her face didn't change, but my nerves screamed at me. Danger! "I don't trade in people, child."

Oh.

I wave my hand. "No, not like that. I only need to borrow him."

She blew out a smoke ring, and the abrupt sense of heavy intent was gone. "Hmm. For what?"

"There's someone he needs to meet. Then he can stay or go, I don't care which." The gods may have said that I need to deliver the dragons to Yona, but they never said I had to make them stay.

"You're talking about - that person. King Hiryuu."

I turned to look at the green dragon, who finally stopped smiling. His amused look vanished, replaced

by the wariness of a wild animal presented with a cage.

I exhaled, calm, ready, no matter what move he makes. "Yes."

"I won't. I belong to no one but myself." He said. "I'll never go back to being trapped."

I tilted my head. "Were you not listening? I don't care what you do. I don't even care if you stay for more than five minutes. I only care that you meet her."

Yona could do the convincing all on her own.

Jae-ha hesitated. "Her? A girl?"

That's what gets his attention?

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. Her. She's -" Proud and spoiled and so kind it breaks my heart; Filled with so much potential; A flame that kept me warm through one of the worst times in my life. My beloved little sister.

My enemy.

" - she's something else." I said, voice quiet.

Jae-ha must have seen something on my face, because his eyes narrowed. "Than why are you here, and not with her?"

I felt my mask break for a split second and I turned away, looked out into the water. Tried to keep the words behind my teeth.

Words like 'If I had my way, I would be and I never wanted to leave and I'm so tired of running and Why didn't he just tell me-

I exhaled.

Later.

Always later.

Jae-ha didn't know and he was right to be suspicious.

But I didn't owe him anything, much less my life story.

When I had my temper back under control, I looked back at the captain. "Do we have a deal?"

She studied me, smoke drifting up. Her eyes were unreadable in the lantern light. "I don't even know

what you can do, child."

"What do you want to see?"

She smiled. "A match between you and Jae-ha. You win and you take him with you after the governor is dead. You lose, and become crew."

"Excuse me?" Jae-ha sounded offended. Neither the captain or I looked at him. "I'm not a piece of meat -"

"Deal." I said.

The old woman's smile was satisfied. "Done and done."

Jae-ha looked at his captain, then at me. "I'm not doing it."

I shrugged. If he wanted to give up now, that just made it easier on me. "Is that a forfeit?"

"No, it's a 'I think this is stupid and refuse to participate'."

"Tell it to your captain."

The old woman smirked. "If you refuse, it's a forfeit."

Jae-ha spluttered. "Captain -"

"You gonna argue all day, boyo?"

He sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

The old woman's smirk deepened.

"Let's get this over with." I said. Being in her presence was… difficult.

The burning coal on the end of her pipe was a firefly in the dim light. She waved her hand, regal as a king, and the coal danced in the night. "Clear the deck!"

It only takes about three minutes. Barrels are rolled, ropes are coiled, people shuffled out of the way. Underneath the well oiled machine of the crew working in tandem is a hint of something more lively.

No matter what age I live in, everyone loves entertainment.

Jae-ha and I end up in a clear circle about fifteen feet wide. I hefted the pole in my hands, gave it a couple swings and made sure there was enough room. I had a feeling that the captain would object to one of her crew members being accidentally brained in the middle of a fight.

I meet Jae-ha's eyes and he gives me a rueful smile.

"Sorry about her."

I shrug.

The captain stands up fully, all traces of her smile gone. Her eyes are dark and serious. Assessing.

My skin crawled.

She wasn't a woman that missed much. I had a staff, not my knife. Would it matter? Would she recognize my fighting style? Would she know Baram, mercenary, and Jeong, king-killer, were the same person?

Too late for regrets now.

He hasn't stopped smiling, but his eyes are dark and focused. "Ready?"

It wasn't really a question, I ignore it in favor of keeping my eyes on Jae-ha.

The old woman brings her hand down, the coal cutting through the night like a knife. "Begin!"

Jae-ha blasts off the deck, taking to the air like it belongs to him. His smile gleams white in the dark. I have vivid flashbacks of watching Alice in Wonderland.

I wait. No matter how light he seems, what goes up —

Jae-ha pushed off the mast and spun, sheer momentum turning him into a human bullet.

- Must come down.

I step back, staff held loosely in one hand, the other tapping on my leg. The vicious attack misses, slams down into the deck with punishing force. The sound of splintering wood is far away.

Behind us, beyond the calm quiet beat of my heart, I hear someone shout: "You brat, don't put holes in my ship!"

Neither of us is paying her any attention.

Jae-ha, glanced up the few inches between us through his long lashes, a small smile on his lips. He's standing close enough that his heart is a drum on the inside of his throat, so close I can almost taste his pulse. It beats perfectly in time with my own: neither fast, nor slow.

Calm.

His eyes, his shoulders, the splintered, heavy wood under his feet, they all ask the same question.

Scared yet?

Not quite.

I flipped the staff over the back of my hand and arc it at his head.

His eyes go wide and he bends backward to let it whiff through the air where his head would be.

I've been dealing with fights nearly as long as I've been in this world. Not much phases me anymore.

I follow up with a flurry of blows at his head - to the point where I can feel my shoulder twinge with pain.

Need to finish this fast.

If I don't, he might actually beat me.

Time always shifts when I'm fighting, becomes something that stretched to a crawl. I sank into myself and all my emotions sank with me; they disappeared further down, leaving me with only quiet.

Nothing mattered, except the next moment.

A lull in the fight came; we're locked in parody of an embrace.

Jae-ha, mouth in a smile, eyes unfathomable. "I do love a strong woman," The green dragon said, straining against my staff.

I can feel my mouth twitch. He was a shameless flirt.

I shove him away. "Not a woman." Best cut that off at the root.

"A strong person," He agrees without hesitation.

He's good. Maybe as strong as Hak, even. On a good day, I could take him without breaking a sweat.

Now?

Something warm and wet spread over my side. I kept the grimace off my face. Popped my stitches.

Again.

Yoon was going to freak out. Again.

I was never going to hear the end of it.

Enough.

Finish this.

I lunged forward, ducking under the long sweep of his leg and barreled into his chest and knock him off balance. We both hit the deck with a bone rattling thump.

I pin his arms above his head with one hand.

He jerked once - and then stilled.

My other hand is somewhere more… delicate.

I leaned in closer, teeth bared. "Yield."

A shiver traveled up his body. The green dragon cleared his throat. "I...I yield."

I pressed down on him for a moment longer, just so he wouldn't kick me. He remained motionless. I stood up with darkness eating at the corner of my eyes. My mouth tasted like copper and I rubbed my jaw. He hit like a truck.

He stayed on the ground, staring up at the sky. His face was the color of Yona's hair. "You play dirty."

I don't look down. "If you're going to hand opponents your weak point, don't be surprised when they take advantage of it."

Fair is for people who want to die in battle.

Laughter distracted me.

I glanced up at the head of the ship to find the captain nearly collapsed with mirth. Half the crew looked scandalized, the other interested. All of them looked entertained.

I ignored them. Shame is for other people.

"Do we have a deal?" I asked the captain.

She snickered. "That's the funniest fight I've ever seen. Very well. Deal's a deal, kid. Welcome to the crew, at least for now."

"I won't be here long." I said.

The old woman gave me a once over, her smile fading. "You better get that wound looked at, Kid. We can discuss it when you're recovered."

The green dragon blinked. "Wound?"

"Ah! Found them!" A familiar, cheerful voice called out.

Jae-ha flinched.

"Good for you." A grumpy voice said from over the side.

Zeno cheerfully ignored that, perched on the railing like a large, happy seagull. There was no evidence of how he got up the boat. "Zeno knew that Baram would find one of Zeno's brothers! Because they're a trouble magnet!"

I looked at him and sighed. For some reason I wasn't even surprised. I got up and looked over the side of the ship.

Yoon glowered up at me. "I hate you."

I rolled my eyes and offered him a hand up, pulling him over the side of the ship. He's light. "What are you even doing here?"

I can almost see the veins standing out in Yoon's forehead. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" He hissed. "We had to go to the red light district to find you - and you weren't even there! People were talking about a bunch of guards! Fighting in your state - of all the stupid - Come down here so I can hit you!" He jabbed his finger at the ground, ignoring the stars from the crew. "Sit!"

I do.

Zeno laughed. "Pretty boy is angry."

"The doctor is angry!" Yoon jerked the bag of medical supplies off his back. "Of all the stupid things, this is just... the dumbest. Lift up your shirt, you imbecile."

I roll my eyes again, but do as he says. It's not worth a fight.

The entire ship inhaled.

"It's not that bad." I said.

Green whistled. "How are you even walking around?"

Yoon went into doctor mode. His complaints never stopped, but it all went sub-vocal in the end, bitching under his breath.

I looked up at the sky, careful to not look at the needle going in and out of my skin. It goes against my training to let people stick me with pointy bits of metal. If I started dodging Yoon, I'd never hear the end of it. I had no choice but to endure.

Jae-ha leaned over my shoulder. "You don't like needles?"

Too close.

Shut up.

It's never safe to have anyone behind you. Just look at what happened with Soo-won -

Shut. Up.

I relaxed my hands. Yoon was fine, because Yoon was safe. He didn't have the skill or the personality to hurt me. At his worst, he was a stern housewife.

The green dragon was a different story.

Jae-ha paused, and then moved back, just far enough that my brain relaxed.

I glanced at him and he gave me a small rueful smile. Neither of us mentioned it again. Instead, his smile faded.

"You got a raw deal. The governor is paranoid, and rich." Green Dragon said with a low voice. "He's been stuck in his mansion, surrounded by guards for the past month. The defenses are insane. I can barely scope it out from above without getting caught."

Yeah, well. I'm not planning a stealth mission.

It's more of a 'burn it down and let the gods sort it out' situation.

(Those assholes deserved some work anyway.)

"I can do it." I said with a shrug.

"You'd die."

Yoon glanced up sharply. "What are you doing?"

"I can do it." I said again.

"Good." The captain's voice reached us before her shadow did. My hand tensed up and Yoon looks from me to her, and his mouth goes thin. Her long coat fluttered in the wind, and fog curled around her shoulders. For once, she looked her age. The lackadaisical woman from before vanished like smoke. "We can't wait."

Jae-ha frowned. "Captain, they're injured -"

"I know. But our contact just sent word. There's a shipment going out tomorrow night."

Jae-ha's mouth shut with a click. He ran a hand through his hair. "And once the girls get sold, it's too late to save them."

The old woman's smile was mirthless. "Exactly. If you're going, it needs to be soon. I don't want to lose any more girls."

Yoon's mouth was a thin line, but his touch is sure. Gentle. "Why am I not liking how this sounds?"

"Probably because Baram is going to do something stupid again. Like attacking a governor's mansion to save a group of girls from a slaving ring." Zeno said, voice cheerful.

I looked at him. How did he know that?

He gives me an unreadable smile. "People like to tell Zeno things! It's one of Zeno's superpowers."

I studied him - and then shruged. I know from the manga Zeno wouldn't help out scum like the governor. He was a good person.

The captain leaned over him, placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Is that so? Why don't you tell granny all about it, hmm?"

Zeno yelped like a puppy and shrank back. It was no use. The captain's grip was iron when she dragged him off.

He looked at me with wide, pleading eyes.

I raised my eyebrow. If he wanted to spout off information he really shouldn't know, it wasn't my problem if he got in trouble.

The captain glanced over her shoulder. "You brats come along to. We have some things to go over."

Inside the palace training yard, the sound of clashing swords filled the air - and then three people hitting the ground.

Hak let out a deep breath, almost a sigh. "Again." He said.

The men on the ground exchanged a glance, eyes full of despair. "Commander-"

"Again."

They came at him again.

These three were some of the best he'd ever trained. Fast, skilled, clever.

Not nearly enough.

Hak disarmed one with a punishing blow to the hand. The other lost his footing to a well placed kick. The third choked and fell to a windpipe strike.

It was over before it started. The three guards returned to the ground.

A wave of frustration crashed down on Hak. Why couldn't they be better? Faster, stronger, smarter!

How was Hak supposed to improve when he possessed no one to go up against?

Jeong could have -

Hak let out a deep, slow breath. Swallowing the irritation, the words that wanted to escape, the grief. The guards were coated in sweat. They'd been at it before the sun rose, and it was noon.

A commander can't take out their inadequacies on his men.

It's Hak's own fault for not training them properly.

"That's enough for today." He said. "Dismissed."

The guard on the floor visibly brightened. "Yes sir!"

Hak waited until they were gone, before he turned and threw his spear. It embed itself in the wall.

"It's not nice to spy." He said.

A moment of silence, and then a figure detached itself from a long shadow two feet from the spear.

"My deepest apologies, Commander."

Two feet off. Hak needed to work on his aim. "You're one of the empresses guards. Fa?"

He - she - bowed, graceful as moving water. Familiar enough to take Hak's breath away. "Yes, commander Hak. Fa, of the king's hand. I am at your service."

Hak studied the way the other guard moved, trying to figure out why it looked so familiar. Something about the way they moved was... strange. An echo. The way they walked, soundless and sure. The movement of fingers through the air, quick and contained. No wasted time.

"You trained Jeong." The words left his mouth before he can think about it.

Fa froze, mid bow. They don't look up but Hak can see the way their shoulders go tense. "Yes. This one polished the blade that turned on it's master, to their eternal shame."

Somehow, the words seemed... rehearsed. Empty.

Fa rose fully from their bow, and fixed their dark eyes on Hak. It was like being dissected by something far bigger and more dangerous then he was.

This, too, was familiar. Hak will always remember being twelve and staring into Jeong's face, knowing - for the first time - that this wasn't a battle he was going to win. One exchange of blows is all it took to know she was above his skill.

Leave it to Soo-won to find the dangerous ones.

Hak bared his teeth. He wasn't twelve years old anymore. He could take Jeong in a equal fight, and this quiet guard didn't scare him.

Fa finally smiled - with their eyes, somehow. Weird.

Hak tilted his head. "You wanna spar?"

Fa smiled. "A wonderful idea."

Jeong's teacher. This wouldn't be an easy fight.

Hak smiled.

Fa bowed. "Please take care of me."

Hak didn't bother with the pleasantries, and rocketed out, spear drawn. It wasn't a slow blow and Hak had just enough time to watch Fa's eyes go wide. Shit, that may have been too much to start with -

Clang!

Fa stood braced, with a dagger in each hand, steel glinting in the light. Hak's spear caught on the cross guard.

They somehow conveyed a smile, even with everything but their eyes covered. "You're quite skilled."

Hak bared his teeth. "I could say the same thing."

Blow after blow, Hak followed them across the grounds.

They're fast, almost blindingly so. If it wasn't for years of experience with Jeong, Hak would have lost.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his shirt. The first time he's broken a sweat in... months.

Hak's heart twinged. Not since Jeong died.

"You knew Jeong." He said, looking up at the sky. Blue and clear, fat clouds rolling like marbles across it.

He senses Fa's eyes landing on him.

"Yes." They said, quietly.

"What was she like?"

Because Hak was beginning to think that he didn't really know. How could someone who messed up Yona's hair, who threw Soo-won over her shoulder when he didn't listen to her, who played countless hours of stupid training games with Hak, just... turn bad? How could he misjudge someone that badly? He can't talk about this with Yona. She disappeared into her head at the mention of Jeong's name, bit her nails until she bled. What if Hak can't get her back next time?

As for Soo-won...

He's not that cruel. Soo-won still looks like half his soul is gone, under the smiles and the charm. Still

Hak looks at Fa. "I... I want to understand."

He doesn't know what kind of look is on his face, but it made Fa flinch back. They look down and think, then they sigh and patted the ground beside him. "Sit."

Hak does. He set his spear on top of his legs, and traced the woodwork in it.

"I can't tell you everything." Fa said. "I can't even tell you most of it. It'd be more than my heads worth, and the princess doesn't need an excuse to kill me. But. I can tell you about Jeong, before they were forced into a choice they couldn't take back. No." They looked down. "Before I forced it on them."

Hak said nothing.

Fa sighed. "The first time I met Jeong, they were sixteen years old and just back from a war..."

General Joo-Doh pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your high - Young Master, if you keep stopping to talk to every stall owner we meet it'll take three weeks to reach Port Awa instead of three hours."

Soo-won adjusted his hood with a sheepish expression. It's rougher than he's used to, but still the quality of the rich merchant's son he's pretending to be. "Sorry, sorry."

The old man manning the grilled meat stall patted his hand consolingly. He had maybe three teeth, but his smile was good natured enough that no one would care. "Don't you worry, sonny. It's natural for kids to lose focus every now and then. You'll settle down before long, when you find the right lady. Take my Ae-ra, for example -"

Soo-won listens to the old shopkeeper talk for the next hour about his wife, deceased for ten years, like she was still waiting back at his house with his children, making dinner and ready to scold him if he made her wait. She always waited though. The affection was clear, but the pain was long faded. He told stories that had Soo-won laughing like he hadn't in months.

The old man pressed a skewer of meat into Soo-won's hand without listening to his protests, and shooed them away down the road.

Soo-won was still smiling when they approached their destination nearly an hour later. It was a good idea to investigate, to get out of the palace.

Away from the ghosts that lived in it.

Footsteps behind him, and Soo-won's heart leapt into his throat. He glanced over his shoulder - to find General Joo-doh looking back at him. Soo-won gave him a smile and turned back. The smile faded. Hak wouldn't let Soo-won leave without a bodyguard. The road was treacherous. Bandits and wild animals lurked in the forest along the path. Soo-won was working on it, but for now it was to dangerous to go alone.

That didn't mean that the prince was happy about it. It felt like pouring salt in a wound, one he'd rather forget. There wasn't anything wrong with the general. He was a hard worker prone to serious conversation and always did his best. It wasn't his fault.

He just… wasn't the right person.

Soo-won watched the ground fade away under his feet. Perhaps one day the name wouldn't hurt so much to think. Perhaps, one day Soo-won would forget the way they always spoke as if they knew a joke no one else did, their long hair, their calloused hands, their shadow at his back. How safe he felt in their presence. Maybe he'd become like the old shopkeeper and think about them, their memory, as something precious, something so good it had to be shared.

"No," he said to himself. "I don't think so."

He didn't have the right.

"My lord?"

Soo-won shook himself out of the thought, smile coming up automatically. "Just a thought, General. Nothing to concern yourself with."

Joo-doh nodded, and dropped the subject. "We're here."

The buildings of port Awa loomed above the treeline. Even from here, Soo-won could see the disrepair. His mouth pressed into a thin line. They went through the unmanned gates. Inside, the town was even worse than Soo-won thought it would be. None of the people would look at him, most of them even flinching back from his better than average clothes.

Soo-won's smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Perhaps he should pay a visit to the governor's house and have a few words with him, about power and exactly who granted it to him.

The more he saw of the town, the colder his eyes got.

This place, a town?

It wasn't even a slum.

"What happened here?" Joo-doh brows drew down. "It wasn't like this the last time I came through."

Soo-won snapped the wooden skewer in half and tossed it away. "I don't know."

But he was going to find out.

Yes. Soo-won would be paying the governor a visit, after all. Tomorrow night he and General Joo-doh would grace his house with their presence.

people have been asking me about jeong's gender - they're agender, but they'll answer to whatever pronoun you use. That's why some in some povs (like hak) they'll be referred to as female or male. it depends what the pov characters impression of them is.

thanks for the patience, lol, i had some Rough Weeks at work and got nothing done, on top of nano - this chapter just wasn't going to happen. now things are doing better though.

up next: It Gets Worse