Returning to the camp, Ke Xin didn't know what to expect. Hak had probably seen them too, if his actions when they entered camp was any indication. She chuckled to herself. He still as innocent as he was in Saika.

To be fair, it was that innocence that let him hold onto Yona the way he had. There was no selfishness in his love for her, as long as she was happy, he could resign himself. She knew that. She also knew it was that innocence that hurt them both in the end. Love needs selfishness. It needs to be fought for. You can't step back and resign yourself until after it's become clear that your affection is unwanted. Hak never fought. He simply stepped back.

And now he's becoming selfish, slowly yes, but he is. And hopefully Yona will be able to answer him honestly when the time comes. Both of them as adults, with a mature love that'll last.

Of course, this was all only what Ke Xin could hope for. It could also blow up in everyone's face and destroy their little family.

This was the fear that was going through Ke Xin's head when she walked into their little camp and saw Jae-Ha and Zeno waiting for her by the fire. Jae-Ha seemed worried, but was trying to hide it, while Zeno wore a bemused expression.

"The others are asleep. Everything alright?" Zeno asked, raising an eyebrow. Ke Xin answered him with a small smile.

"Everything is fine; the Highness was just worried about her swordplay. It was worse than she had hoped it would be."

"Still better than the miss's hand to hand though," Zeno commented.

"To get her to a level of hand to hand that we need her to be at in the amount of time you would find acceptable would mean teaching her to maim and slay her opponents bare-handed. Hak would actually flay me alive if I taught her that," Ke Xin responded.

"Please, just admit it. The lass is bad at teaching," Zeno smiled.

"I never claimed to be a good teacher, just the only one she had."

"The lass has a point. Miss might want to focus on the sword," Zeno said before yawning. "Zeno only stayed up to make sure everything was alright. Zeno's going to sleep. Good Night Lass, Good Night Ryokuryuu."

"Goodnight Zeno," Jae-Ha and Ke Xin responded in concert. After Zeno entered the hut to sleep, Jae-Ha turnd to Ke Xin.

"It was really the lessons? She didn't see anything?" His face displayed just the right amount of concern as would be appropriate for keeping one's private life private. And if it was anyone else, Ke Xin wouldn't have thought twice.

But this was Jae-Ha, a man one step away from exhibitionism at any given time. If he didn't want Yona seeing them, it was because he didn't want Yona seeing them. Ke Xin could ease her friend's mind, even if it was just a lie.

"She didn't see anything, no worries," she comforted. The relief that splashed over Jae-Ha's face was short lived as he quickly changed his expression to one of confusion. He thanked her, but he was lost in himself. Ke Xin studied him for a moment more, and it clicked. "C'mon, it's late," she said as she motioned him inside.

They found a spot near Shin-Ah, with Ke Xin facing the wall and Jae-Ha in between. He wrapped an arm over her waist and brought her close for warmth, rather than fighting for a blanket he'd lose to the rest. They looked the part of a couple, and Ke Xin might have enjoyed the pleasant presence of a partner in her bed if it weren't for the singular thought ringing through her head.

Jae-Ha is in love with Yona.

Yona felt slimey as she lowered herself into the lake. But not in a bad way. She had never felt like that before, and all she could think about is why that feeling was hidden from her for so goddamn long. Sure, it might not be "dignified", but she was never that dignified of a princess anyway. Maybe they just all thought she discovered it on her own. After all, Ke Xin hadn't told her the specific instructions, but Yona managed to figure out some stuff for herself after she left. Yona felt herself blush at the thought and dunked her head under the water to cool herself.

It would be irresponsible of her to use up more time and energy on that acitivity. Not tonight, it was already so late. She needed to bathe and head back to camp. Tomorrow they are going back to the village. Too many of her people needed help. Recalling the state of the Fire Tribe was more than enough to sober her thoughts. The starving, the sick, the young, the old, they were all left alone to die. And then the soldiers…

She couldn't help but remember her first conversation with Yoon. The way he claimed to hate royalty. If he grew up here, it wasn't hard to imagine. The purpose of the monarchy was to rule the country. That was what her father had told her. It was becoming more and more apparent that her father wasn't very good at that. He was good man, she knew. And Hak knew. Anyone who had ever met the man knew that.

But he wasn't a good ruler, was he?

Was that why Soo-Won did what he did?

Did he know?

Why didn't he tell her?

Did her uncle know?

Is that why he died?

Did he really kill his brother?

Does Hak know?

That was question that she always came back to. She might have been Soo-Won's cousin. And she might have loved him, but he was Hak's best friend. She knew she could trust Hak absolutely. So if he knew, that meant that her father had a reason for killing his brother. Because there was no way he would respect her father that much if he didn't.

But if he didn't know, then that meant she only had Soo-Won's words to go by. Yona rose from the lake and fetched the small wooden box that was buried under the pile of her clothes. Sitting beside the torch, she opened it to do what she always did when her thoughts travelled back to that day. She stared at her hairpin. He had treated her so gently that day, giving her such a beautiful gift. All the while knowing that he was going to kill her father that night.

She didn't know Soo-Won; she couldn't read him. He could be lying and she would never know. If Hak didn't know the truth, then neither would she. And that scared her more than anything. So she kept the question locked in the box with her hairpin and her past. Only to be opened when she was alone and couldn't change anything.

Her conversations with Ke Xin and Ik Soo rang through her head. On one hand, there was Ke Xin, who was telling her not killing Soo-Won was her saving her own soul. And then there was Ik-Soo, telling her that she shouldn't abandon all love for him and should forgive his transgressions.

"I was going to marry him. I would have, too, if I hadn't witnessed what I did," she said out loud. "Marry him?" she questioned, thinking back on the activites she had witnessed that night, and on her own actions. She felt herself laugh. "Lord, I can't imagine myself ever being able to do that with him. The Soo-Won I loved would never have even…" Something seemed to click for her.

Yona slammed the case shut and rose from her position.

"The Soo-Won I loved would never have been able to love me back." She dressed herself, hiding the hairpin under her garments. She felt light. If there was one thing that was good about this night, it was this realization. Walking back to camp, she couldn't keep a smile off of her face.

She entered the quiet cabin and was pleased to find that the only open space was next to Ke Xin. She smiled seeing Jae-Ha's arms wrapped so clearly around Ke Xin. Yona lay down next to them, and snuggled close to Ke Xin, letting the warmth spread to her own person, taking comfort in her big sister's kind presence. She buried her forhead in Ke Xin's bosom and told her mentor the most important lesson she had learned that night.

"It was only a child's ignorant crush," she breathed. Her voice was barely a whisper. And while she still hated herself for being that ignorant for that long, and for being so immature, she was still relieved that it wasn't love, at least not an adult's love. He was still her family, still her friend, and it still hurt, but it didn't hurt as much. And while he had taken so much from her, hurt her in so many ways. This, at least, wasn't one of them. This part of her wasn't corrupted.

She felt Ke Xin's arm pull her closer, and Yona smiled. "Knew you weren't asleep," she whispered playfully as she let herself drift into the most peaceful sleep she'd had in months.

The next few days went pretty well for everyone.

Well, they were all surrounded by the sick, starving, dead and dying. And the first of what would be several dead villagers that they helped bury wasn't too great, but on the whole, nothing catastrophic happened.

Soldiers tried to arrest them, only to be easily defeated by one or two of the bunch. Which two it was depended on the day and who had the displeasure of most recently burying a child. The first time they did that, Hak had to stay Yona's bow from piercing a soldier's eye. Zeno had to stop Shin-Ah from slashing the man's neck. Neither were able to stop Ke Xin from shattering his wrists. They would never heal, and she told him to enjoy either living or dying by other's mercy.

But after a week, two weeks, they all got used to it. Anger became exhaustion. They were too tired and too hungry to give into their anger. They only had so much energy, and they couldn't waste it on petty vengeance. There was too much to do. Too much water that needed to be carried and cleaned, too many sick that needed medicine, too many children who needed a friend.

There wasn't a moment of rest save for the sleep they forced eachother to take. After Ke Xin's convincing impersonation of a mob enforcer, Yoon didn't let her work until she slept for a full night. When they realized Yona hadn't stopped working for 3 days straight, all four dragons plus Hak conspired in stealing Ke Xin's chain and tying her up. They hoped if they kept her still for just a little while, she'd sleep.

She fought them for almost 45 minutes, until finally she felt herself drift away.

The only thing they didn't lose was hope. Where they should have felt despair, they found themselves finding more drive. And their determination was infectious. Specifically, Yona's was infectious. They'd enter a new village, and within hours Yona's influence would spread. Her strength would pour into her patrons. The able would help the disable; the healthy would help the sick. No, the problems didn't go away. Starvation was still only one bowl of garlic water away, and medicine was still in short supply. But words of "only for now," began to circulate.

One of the villagers said it best when he was talking to Hak and Ke Xin, watching Yona feed a gaggle of children with a smile.

"It appears Hiryuu does have one of God's powers- hope."

He whistled and left while the two were left staring at eachother. That was the unspoken truth of their mission. They kept their identities secret from the soldiers, but not to the villagers. They tried at first, but the it wasn't worth the effort. And the people weren't stupid. It didn't take much for them to realize what Yona was. But no one ever said it out loud. They were afraid God might abandon them again.

Yona still denied any implication of her heritage, but no one minded it. Even she could feel her own resolve on the issue fade.

And so their lives went on. And they found new routines. Occasionally, especially after a funeral, Jae-Ha and Ke Xin would go off by themselves. But these moments were few and far between. More often than not, they'd just lean on one another when something went wrong. Both literally and figuratively. The others that didn't witness it mostly figured it out. And while Yoon wanted to give them the full lecture, all he was truly able to manage was "Just don't make it harder on the rest of us."

Yona, for her part, found herself seeking privacy more often than she ever thought she would. Maybe twice a week or so. She found the time invigorating, if a little self-satisfying. Sometimes she'd go longer without though, especially if something went wrong. In these activities, only half of the group knew what she was up to. Zeno and Ke Xin knew from the start and were encouraging, Jae-Ha, at some point, figured it out, started blushing, and then pretended like he didn't know. But it seemed he couldn't bring himself to joek about why Yona was seeking privacy as his "normal" self would joke in such a way that was accurate to the reality. In the end he just didn't comment, and tried to draw attention to anything except Yona's absence during such times.

Hak almost figured it out. In that he knew, but was in denial. Yoon couldn't give less of a shit, so long as suspicions were never confirmed. Kija seemed to think she was meditating, and never questioned it. Shin-Ah wasn't aware that there was another version of the story other than Kija's, so he accepted it. All Ke Xin's response to the exchange with Shin-Ah and Kija about Yona's absence was to pat Jae-Ha on the back and say "This one is your problem."

Zeno said he'd "help" when it was time.

Ke Xin stayed the hell out of it.

It was when Yona was on her own for a moment of privacy that she met an old acquaintance who would provide them the opportunity to find a true solution to the Fire Nation's wellbeing.

NOTES:

Fairly short this time, all things considered. But honestly I wanted to wrap up the whole "sex ed" thing.

Also one of my own reasons for the sex ed- the part about relationships. The difference between your first and your first love. And yes, I'm aware that sex is not necessary for love (asexuals, I see you). But Yona isn't asexual, she's uninformed and was kept at 4 year-olds maturity level until her father died. And she missed the "finding herself" stage where her definition of a relationship forms. And yes, this means that she didn't ever fantasize about Soo-Won. (yay) But maybe... sometime soon... Hak? (hee hee- me and Ke Xin would both be pleased. What? I've never written Hak/Yona smut)

Also the Fire Nation is one of my favorite arcs, and I really want to get into the meat of things. Plus - IDK, but I think that a good bit of it might be better served as flashbacks later on. At least the part before a certain fire nation prince comes back into the story.

Also- Yeah. I'm not changing the fact that Jae-Ha loves Yona. Look forward to that bullshit as it unfolds. (speaking of, I got a request- yes, I'm writing that scene)

And the sooner we get to Kai, the sooner we get to *my* story.

ALSO: HAVE YOU READ 227? AHHAHAHAHAHA IMMA USE THAT YESSERIE! 3 NATIONS WITH FEMALE LEADERS? HELL YEAH SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

ALSO ALSO: I HAVE A TATTOO! It's literally my avatar. If you all want the full story behind it, I made a whole post about it on my tumblr - saphie3243 (I've changed my URL, I'm gonna start posting more writing to it) I know my wordpress got neglected, but that's because I changed the format of the novel I want to write (again) back to a book instead of web parts.

Anyway - long story short, this year was hell, literally, 20 was my worst yet. From failed relationships, to school stress, to openly and tragically failing at my job, to having to move out of my apartment and back to my family's house because roommate made me feel that unsafe. (let's not forget the mother with the broken back and the pregnancy scare) A lot of it I've put in the notes, and a fair bit I will/have be(en) posting about in my tumblr (another reason that i made a new one, I needed one my friends don't know about) The only consistently good thing in my life has been this and you guys. That is not lost on me. I'm not lying when I say each and every favorite, follower, and review makes my day. There were points when the only thing I smiled about all week was one of your messages. From the bottom of heart, thank you for reading. If you are willing to stick around, I'm going to keep writing. I said this after chapter 1, but I'm in it for the long haul. (that's why I put it permanently on my body) I hope you all are too.

I love you all and As always:

Please Review, Critique and Message me! I want to get better, and while I might disagree with you, I love hearing different opinions!