His heart jumped straight to his throat, and each beat was another painful, quick beat, and yet, the heart can't change things. And he's by the cliff, looking for her. Where is Yona? She was just here a minute ago, a minute before the water dove up and after her, a minute before it could rush her out to sea, and Jae Ha is already getting ready to make that plunge into the ocean, to pull her back up, to bring her back to the cliffs.

And then he sees her. She's clinging to the cliff, holding tightly, and whether she has the herb or not is irrelevant, as he reaches down and pulls her up, another wave coming quickly back at them, and so, he acts fast, more dragon than human, and it crashes overtop them, leaving them soaked as if they'd just taken a swim.

Yona feels cold in his arms, and so, so small. He holds her close, having braced her against the crashing waves, and she's so close that Jae Ha doesn't know whether his heart is beating this fast, because of the rush of saving her or because of something else. This little girl, young and reckless, courageous and trembling is in his arms, temporarily held close against his embrace.

And he's many things, and a man interested in a romantic relationship that lasts more than a couple hours is not one of them, and yet, yet, he doesn't want to let go, when he does. He's prepared to save her from more crashing waves as they separate, prepared to almost stay up here, though he knows better. He isn't as fleeting as he sometimes appears.

And he walks back with her, and she's worried that she won't pass, that the captain won't think she's ready. And yet, she's honest even now. Jae Ha tells her to not mention it, to not mention how he'd pulled her up from the cliff's edge, saved her from a likely fatal fall into the ocean, and yet she does anyway.

And maybe he wasn't prepared for King Hiryuu's descendant to be a strong yet weak woman, nor was he entirely prepared for the way that somehow his heart only seems to know her.