Merry Christmas, Limefeathers! Honestly, the few times that we have talked, it's always been really fun! And I know you enjoy the friendships in Yona Of The Dawn, so here's a Jae-Ha and Shin-Ah fic that's just that! (Part of the reason I chose them is as I slowly read your fics from this month, this friendship is what bowled me over, I guess I can call it. Shin-Ah and Hak's friendship did too, but there was something about Jae-Ha and Shin-Ah that made them the friendship I wrote for your Christmas giftfic.) I really hope you enjoy this, and that your Christmas is amazing! Happy New Year as well, because that will be approaching before we know it. XD But I really hope this fic will bring a smile to your face and make you happy. (I'm pushing it close and gifting you a fic on Christmas Eve, whoops. Very close indeed.) I hope you have a lovely day as well and that your week goes well too. :)
There was a certain vulnerability in not saying much, a certain honesty, where your few words are taken to mean more than the many words of another. There's an honesty to Shin-Ah that Jae-Ha has slowly been learning to appreciate in his Dragon Brother.
Jae-Ha uses his own words carefully, make them pretty, make them long, make no one see between the lines. Until someone inevitably will at some point. He's honest most of the time, and in spades, but he masks it with everything else. While Shin-Ah doesn't ramble, doesn't pretty up his words, but speaks the truth when he needs to speak.
Jae-Ha is impressed, even with their long silences. It's not like he has all the answers, nor the thousands of years of experience that must enable Zeno to interact so easily with silence or even get a reply. Zeno's a people person, naturally great with people or one who has learned how to interact better with others; Jae-Ha's not sure what best describes their oldest friend. Because Zeno keeps his lips sealed pretty tightly on his past.
And Jae-Ha knows some things are not the stuff to ask about. He'll wait for answers, waiting for whenever people are ready. Age has taught him that much, though he knows he isn't what anybody would call old in human years, in the lifespan of a Dragon Warrior however that is not the case.
Shin-Ah's silent as his namesake, and Jae-Ha watches the moonlight flicker overtop the tree lines, brightening them in shades of green. The others have long since went to bed or are keeping themselves busy at somewhat of a distance. But Jae-Ha can't think of a word to say that will break the silence.
"You're good with words." Shin-Ah says, breaking the silence, doing exactly what Jae-Ha had not expected.
"Not really." Jae-Ha answers.
Shin-Ah goes quiet, as if he can't think of the proper response, one that would say just what he means or won't get lost in a neverending sea of circles, a conversation that won't get anywhere.
"Captain taught me." Jae-Ha offers the night, leaning back, peering at his companion out of the corner of his eye.
"She did?" Shin-Ah almost seems to struggle with the two words; the way he speaks can often be uncertain.
"Yeah. I was less careful back then." Jae-Ha looked away, catching the moonlight glimmer and the stars of the night, "I was reckless."
Shin-Ah nodded, taking Jae-Ha's word for it, not asking anything of his friend, just letting Jae-Ha speak what he wanted to say.
"Captain took me in." Jae-Ha smiled, "She pretty much raised me."
"A mother?" Shin-Ah asks, the like not needing to be said.
"I guess so." Jae-Ha shrugged, standing back up, "The closest person I ever got to one, if you don't count Yun." He was too far enough away, mending Zeno's torn clothes again, to even hear Jae-Ha. There's a warm place in Jae-Ha's heart for the whole group, a place that Jae-Ha is getting more and more comfortable basking in.
Shin-Ah looked over at him, and Jae-Ha wished he could see his friend's eyes, get an idea of what the other is feeling with just a look. But he won't pressure him right now; it would only disquiet the night around them. And Jae-Ha doesn't have much energy for the noise.
Shin-Ah looked away, up at the sky, perhaps he found memories within the moonlight. And Jae-Ha walked away; perhaps he'd call it a night now rather than later.