Iiiii keep forgetting to update this because every day of the week is blurring together... Maybe I should start setting alarms.

Thank you Miss Gold for the review! Sorry for the late update, hope you enjoy the chapter :D

CHAPTER FOUR
Slowly, slowly - it starts to change.

Castle life is routine, but Aeri doesn't quite find it monotonous. At least, not when she has the opportunity of antagonising Sang-chul in new ways everyday. She likes to think he's warming up to her.

It's been a few years since her close brush with danger, and nothing similar has arisen since. (Still, every once in a while, her mind wanders to that day - Father never told her what happened to her attacker afterwards. And in the first place, why her? - So, she finds out.

It's not exactly a place for a day trip, but it could be worse. Far worse. She doesn't understand half the things she hears, but one thing is for sure: This isn't her fault. She breathes in the stale air and leaves the door open behind her.

Joo-doh is very busy for the next few days.)

Her father apologised for his absence during the incident and after, and she forgave him without even having to think about - he is the King, after all, and the second Princess is of little importance to the kingdom while she is safe and healthy. (And Father does care for the kingdom, he cares for it like he cares for her and Yona and Hak and Soo-won, cares for it in the sacrifices he makes, cares for it in the days spent praying to the Red King, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Her father is not a coward.)

Sang-chul is somehow kinder and yet more aggravating than he was before. His pretences of formality are abandoned and a casual tone identical to Hyun-woo's and Duri's takes it place, with more of a hint of insubordination. In return, she stops making a point of avoiding him as she had before, when his eyes held only hatred and none of the begrudging affection in them now (he denies it still, of course, but Hyun-woo agrees with her, and the old man's judgement is rarely off the mark).

The recent infrequency of Soo-won and Hak's visits has Yona moping about the castle almost more often than she is causing the maids her own brand of trouble, but Aeri is more than willing to pull her along on her little escapades and be their temporary substitute, and she finds she doesn't quite mind the company. Yona is always welcome into her little world.

Hyun-woo and Duri are constant friendly faces within the castle walls as well her best source of knowledge of the outside world, and they delight in regaling the eager Princess with tales of their families in Kuuto and beyond (and some days, if she's really lucky, Sang-chul will pop in with comments about his own family, and perhaps the offhanded promise of introducing them to her in the near - probably far - future).

Castle life is routine and she wouldn't have it any other way, she thinks. Who knew change would come in the form of a young woman with earthen tresses and enough scars for even Sang-chul to wince and hold his tongue?

Sun-hui is young.

A bit too young, in fact, for someone who has so much of her General's faith. Joo-doh knows she would not be the first young talent to catch Geun-tae's eye, but he can't help but wonder if it really is alright for a child with the eyes of a wild beast to be allowed within castle grounds. He doesn't trust her, and he knows his misgivings aren't ill-placed. Geun-tae should know better than this, and why is the King always so lenient?

Joo-doh has a responsibility, to the Sky Tribe and to Kouka.

...No, dealing with Geun-tae's eccentricities is not his responsibility.

Sang-chul can only despair as, yet again, Joo-doh's least favoured tasks are dumped on him. ("Training isn't quite challenging enough for you, is it?" He doesn't even try to conceal the vindictive edge that creeps into his voice. "If you really have such an abundance of time on your hands, the least you can do is contribute enough to make up for the resources being plundered on keeping you here." It's killing two birds with one stone, and the entire castle can see the weight lifting off his shoulders as he leaves.)

Sun-hui is young; even younger than Sang-chul is, in fact. The thought makes him cringe, especially when they spar experimentally and he notices crisscrossing white lines along her hands and the roughness of her palms. She was born into a soldier's life, the same way he was, he thinks. Then her scarf shifts and a jagged scar peeks through momentarily and he sighs. (It's like looking at his reflection but - angrier. A freezing kind of anger, trapped beneath the layers of servility necessary of a foreign soldier. He wonders if this is what the Princess saw in him, that made her so very wary of him.)

He would rather deal with the obnoxious prodigy of the Wind Tribe, and that sure says a lot.

"Ah! Sang-chul, you're frowning again!"

"How kind of you to notice, Princess," he retorts almost instinctively, not even glancing away from the sword bearing down on him. He blocks the blow and steps back. Laughter breaks the tense atmosphere as if it had never been there.

Bright robes clash with the dull colours of the soldiers, accentuating the peculiarity of such a small figure grinning boldly in the training grounds. As always, Princess Aeri is the very image of fearlessness and he sighs, again.

Sun-hui is silent, as she always seems to be. Barely a word has passed from her lips in the time since Joo-doh ushered her here, but her eyes glow with curiosity when they settle on the child Princess. Aeri stares right back. Reflexively, he steps between them, masking his mistrust by beginning introductions.

"Princess, this is Choi Sun-hui of the Earth Tribe. She will be serving as a castle guard." He cuts himself off before his doubts regarding the length of her service can be put into the open. "Sun-hui, this is the Second Princess, Aeri. You should be seeing her older sister, Princess Yona, soon enough." He turns back to the suddenly solemn Aeri. "So, should I be expecting any maids running around on a wild goose chase today?"

He talks more when he's uncomfortable, he knows; and uncomfortable is exactly the word to describe how he feels now, stuck between an aggravating young Princess and a suspicious young soldier foreign to the Sky Tribe.

Aeri pouts, whatever moment of somber deliberation that had grasped her gone as soon as it came. "I'm not running away this time! I told them where I was going!"

"Right before you bolted out the door, I bet."

"I said that's not true!"

Curious eyes linger on their bickering forms and Aeri stares right back. Sang-chul feels like he's aged a decade as the current most suspicious member of the royal guard very obviously becomes the Princess' latest object of interest.

This is the first time the Princes has seen a woman donning the typically masculine attire that is the soldier's uniform, and that, too, with the confidence befitting a warrior such as the Earth Tribe's General himself. Even then, Sun-hui is hardly a woman - she couldn't possibly be any older than sixteen at most. If nothing else, Aeri is unbearably curious.

In the eyes of a ten-year-old Aeri, Sun-hui is change that she will gladly welcome in a castle of static routine.

And Sang-chul is already so tired of the inevitable mayhem to follow.