Category: General Fluff

Characters: Yona, Soo-Won, Zeno, Jae-Ha, Shin-Ah, Kija

Requested By: Yiren (Ao3)

Yona breathed a small sigh of relief and sank back into her throne seated beside Soo-Won's as the harrowing Dragon Festival finally came to its conclusion. She knew that her dragons were only being paraded around for a political agenda, and she knew they were all strong and capable, but even they had their limits; though the fighting had concluded with only minor injuries, she still knew they were spent (and hurt) and that left her with lingering anxiety. She turned her head to her left to see that Soo-Won had already vacated his seat to go mingle, most likely to congratulate the two Generals on their victories. Yona pursed her lips slightly, remembering how the crowd had been so gleefully cheering about their supposed engagement. Yona had no idea what Soo-Won was planning… and that disquieted her, greatly.

Yona rose from her seat to be escorted by the Sky Tribe soldiers down from the arena bleachers to the preparation tents. She was about to indicate that they should just take her back to her room until she heard Geun-Tae's loud, booming voice mixed with Soo-Won's light, carefree yet somehow authoritarian tone. The Earth Tribe official was seemingly congratulating Soo-Won on their engagement as well. She sniffed haughtily; did everyone just assume that they were now an item simply because they were seated next to one another? This debacle was sure to throw kinks on Yona's cause to riddle out the complicated political environment of her home country and get to the bottom of the deadly night between Soo-Won and her deceased father… Abandoning the soldiers, whom she ignored as they scrambled about squeaking that Yona should not enter a tent unannounced, she marched right over to where the voices where emanating from.

"Oh. Hello, Princess Yona," Geun-Tae blinked in confusion as she literally stormed onto the scene- with all the grace and poise of a regal princess, of course. She dipped her head politely then straightened up to eye him like a hawk, until her red eyes were captured by the small-statured woman hovering next to him with a swaddled baby in her arms. Yona instantly brightened, because like many other people her age, she was not immune to the delicate charm of a baby. Her dawn-colored eyes sparkled with wonder as they beheld the little child, and the mother and father both took notice with matching amused smirks. "Would you like to come closer?" Geun-Tae offered. Yona nodded eagerly and scampered over to lean over the baby, gasping in pure delight.

It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Its cheeks were rosy-pink like the freshest of carnations, with plump little lips and doll-like eyes that peered up at her with similar enrapture. Its tiny hands grasped at the cozy blanket wrapped snugly around it, little wee fingers no bigger than mere garden worms, and atop its head was a fluffy tuft of hair. Yona giggled and wave at the baby, earning a delighted smile and endearing coo from the baby. She looked up at Geun-Tae with a positively radiant smile.

"What a beautiful baby!"

"Thank you," his wife responded jovially. She happened to look over at Soo-Won, who was watching her with soft eyes and an ever softer smile, and Yona immediately flushed red.

"What have you come here for, Yona?" the king asked languidly after a second. Stiffening because she really had no other reason for charging in besides asserting her dominance, she searched her mind frantically for a viable excuse.

"I-I want to see my dragons," she arrived at finally. It wasn't even a lie, either; she had not been permitted to visit them since their arrival in Hiryuu Castle, and she desperately wanted to survey Jae-Ha's and Kija's wounds for their severity. Being locked away in her bedroom with no contact with them was as close to torture as she could ever get, even worse than her imprisonment with Lilli. To her great relief, Soo-Won dipped his head in a courteous nod.

"Very well."

What Yona was not anticipating was that the entirety of Soo-Won's council would have to go with her. The king, as well as Geun-Tae, Joo-Doh, and Kye-Sook, all accompanied her to the quarters where her beloved companions were being housed for the duration of their alliance. Yona's lips were pursed in a very obvious pout, because although her top priority was ensuring that her dragons were safe and being well-tended, she also desperately wanted to discuss things that most definitely needed to be deliberated well out of Soo-Won's ear shot. Unfortunately, there was nothing for that. She announced her arrival and slid open the sliding door to be immediately greeted by Zeno's giddy smile and open arms.

"Princess! Zeno missed you!" he trilled with sheer elation as he jumped at her to envelop her in a tight hug. Yona laughed lightly, already cheered by his bubbly personality, and lovingly rubbed the top of his blonde-haired head. Not a moment later, Ao came skittering across the floor to climb her dress and sit chittering on her shoulder, to which she responded by using her index finger to stroke his soft brown fur. To her amazement, however, he soon abandoned his perch to leap the distance between herself and Soo-Won, clawing up his robes to sit on his shoulder instead. The long-haired king looked in bewilderment at the tiny creature which had set up camp on his shoulder before blinking and tapping the top of its head repeatedly in an affectionate gesture. All four of the dragons and Yona were all staring it uncontained shock at Ao's seeming indifference to, and daresay approval of, Soo-won. After reveling in the pets being showered down upon him, the chipmunk hopped down to run back over to Shin-Ah, who scooped him up and stroked his striped back.

Yona crossed the room to sit in the space between Jae-Ha and Kija, who were lying on their backs swathed in bandages and wearing identical embarrassed grins on their face.

"Are you two all right?" she asked them worriedly. Jae-Ha smirked and gave her a dismissive wave of his hand, while Kija nodded eagerly and asserted, "Of course!" It wasn't very convincing as he cringed and grabbed at one of the areas that was covered with binding. Yona inhaled deeply, then exhaled even deeper; all these boys of hers, they were all so reckless and overdoing it all the time… A small smile crossed her lips as she stared down at them both with nothing short of pure love. She would never have it any other way, though. She turned her head as Soo-Won crossed the room to seat himself a fair distance away from her. Geun-Tae and the others settled themselves against the wall, arms crossed and watching their interactions with interest.

"Your performances today were very riveting to watch. I appreciate you two giving it your all out there. I trust your injuries aren't giving you too much trouble?" Soo-Won smiled innocently. Jae-Ha and Kija exchanged side-eyed glances before the both of them sat up, the blankets falling around their bare waists. Jae-Ha was confidence incarnate, smirking as he ran a hand through his jade-green hair.

"Of course. This is nothing!" His beaming smile was laced with challenge. Kija, on the other hand, was blushing lightly as he looked off to the side and tried to seem unbothered.

"Indeed. Yoon is very talented at what he does. We're in good hands," he answered calmly. Yona heaved another small sigh; their dislike and mistrust of Soo-Won was certainly palpable. To the king's credit, he maintained an entirely unperturbed aura, nodding eagerly as if he we very relieved at their pending swift recoveries. The two of them suddenly looked to the princess.

"With the princess here, we're liable to recover even faster, right, Kija~" purred Jae-Ha suggestively with a wink at the bashful white dragon. Yona giggled; she had come to miss even his unabashed flirtatious jibes. Kija fidgeted and clawed at the sheets nervously, already sweating. He stammered some quiet mumble that made Jae-Ha laugh heartily in victoriously embarrassing him, and Yona smiled at the two of them. She could almost fool herself into thinking that things were the same… but as she eyed the three military officials out of the corners of her eyes, she was sadly aware that it was not. Yona was currently sitting behind Kija and Jae-Ha such that their broad, strong backs were to her. With a small, stifled sob, she suddenly lunged forward to wrap her arms around them and pull them both two her. She had her head down to hide the tears brimming in the corners of her eyes, but she could feel their surprised glances boring into the crown of her head.

"You two… Please don't overdo it, okay?" she asked in a hushed whisper. She managed to force back the tears and looked up at them with a small, broken smile. "You know that I couldn't stand… to be without any of you." Kija instantly went as red as a basket of tomatoes and began gasping reassuring remarks like a fish flopping about on water, while Jae-Hae managed to maintain his collected composure, though the blush dusting his cheeks betrayed him. Zeno jumped at her from behind to wrap his arms around her middle and nuzzle her shoulder affectionately, and Shin-ah even came up to her to stroke her dawn-colored hair soothingly. The importance of her words was not lost on Soo-Won, who was staring at her with wide eyes, but Geun-Tae seemed to miss it.

"Ah! Look at how he's blushing! Eh, do you have a crush on the princess, Whitey?" he guffawed good-naturedly as he crossed his arms and threw his head back in laughter. Joo-Doh and Kye-Sook seemed largely unamused in comparison.

"I-I do not!" Kija gasped, abhorred and giving the Earth Tribe General an affronted look. Jae-Hae smirked wryly and leaned forward to peer teasingly into his face.

"Oh? How unbecoming of you, Kija, I thought you were supposed to be the princely one, and yet here you are getting handsy with the princess…" When Yona had hugged him, he had reached around her back to settle his hand reassuringly in the middle of it, the perfect place to be proper, but with a hiss he hastily retracted his hand. Jae-Ha began laughing raucously until he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and grasped at his chest, having tweaked his wounds.

"Serves you right!" Kija snorted in derision. The room burst into raucous laughter, but from the way they were all looking at her from the corners of their eyes with small smiles, she knew that her sentiment had gotten across. She just wanted them to be careful, because she had no idea of what was to come. She let the two go as they continued to squabble with one another, finally breathing easy. My strong, capable dragons… Whatever happens, we'll get through it together. As she opened her eyes to look across the room, Soo-Won was still staring so intently at her. She had no idea what was running through his mind at the moment… Ever since that dreadful night, she really had no idea what he was thinking or plotting at any given time. Not even an inkling…

She cried out in alarm as she suddenly heaved a large sneeze. All the conversation in the room ceased as she abruptly began sneezing in rapid succession, hands held up at her body rocked back and forth with the force of the gales leaving her body. I- What? What's wrong with me all of a sudden?! She thought wildly on about her fifth sneeze. Had a sudden draft brought dust in the room? She was too busy ailing in sneezes to notice that Soo-Won had gotten up and crossed the room; when she finally stopped and rubbed at her nose with her sleeve pitifully, her head was suddenly jerked upwards so Soo-Won could press his forehead to hers. She stared owlishly at him for a moment, and then her face turned the color of her hair.

"Eh?"

"Sneezing like that, surely you have a fever," he mumbled. Jae-Hae and Kija were sitting on either side of her, both staring at him slack-jawed at the very intimate display. Soo-Won straightened up and shrugged out of his outer layer of robes, spinning them around to delicately drape them over Yona's comparably small shoulders. Still reeling in shock so hard that her vision was spinning a little, she looked at the three soldiers to find them all wearing the various stages of grief on their expressions- Geun-Tae looked confused, Kye-Sook seemed like he was angry, and Joo-Doh was stony-faced but his body posture implied that he was already on the tail end of the spectrum of emotion. Yona flushed further. Soo-Won had checked her temperature that way since they were both very little, and it just saddened her greatly, because now, it was under such different circumstances… As she looked down at the wooden floor miserably, drawing the robes around her with one hand, his hand suddenly appeared in her field of view. "Princess, you may be falling ill, so you should probably return to your quarters so you can be tended to." Yona wanted to argue that she felt just fine and she wanted to sit there with her dragons, but that just wouldn't do, she knew. With a small sigh, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"Do you have to go?" Zeno sulked with watery eyes as he scampered over and hugged her arm. She forced a sweet smile on her face and leaned forward to nuzzle his cheek, like he so often did her.

"Don't worry. I'll be back very soon. Take good care of the others, okay?" Zeno nodded eagerly and raised a hand to his forehead in a salute, making her chuckle. She really couldn't be down for long with his sunshiney personality so bright and uplifting. Yona bore farewell to the others- and Ao- before Soo-Won accompanied her back out, followed by his entourage. Silence settled between them as they walked alongside each other, with his robes about her shoulders dragging behind her because they were simply too big.

"What are you planning, Soo-Won?" she asked him finally as they arrived at the door to her chambers. She rounded on him with an almost feral ferocity, face hardened like the mountainside. He looked down at her levelly, betraying nothing at all.

"'Planning'? Nothing at all. I'm just seeing… what will become of all this," he answered cryptically before bowing his head lightly to her. "Goodnight, Yona," he murmured softly. It was the two of them alone, as the others had split off as soon as they had entered the castle proper, and when he looked back up at her his eyes were glimmering with something she couldn't name. She instinctually went to shrug out of the robes to return them to him, but he held up a hand in refusal. "Keep them." He whirled on his heel and off he went, with Yona's perplexed gaze trailing after him. She lingered there in the doorway for a moment, simply wondering…

What will become of all this? Of us? Herself, her dragons, Yoon, Hak, even her country as a whole. She didn't have the answer to that, and that revelation made her shrink into herself, Soo-Won's robes swallowing her deeper like they were drawing her into false security. For the first time since her father died, Yona felt truly alone and defenseless.

The smiling faces of her dragons, Hak, Yoon, and all her other friends she had made along the way flashed before her waking eyes, bringing the tiniest of smiles to her faces as reassurance flooded through her quivering body. No, Yona was never alone, and never defenseless.

Not when she had so many people behind her. Whatever was to come, Yona would face it all with an army at her back… And that was the most reassuring thought in the world. Smiling despite it all, she retreated into her room, dropping the robes at the doorway as the setting sun gleamed from the window. The sun set, but yet she still blazed as brightly at the dawning sun.

It was far from over.