It was mid spring when the Happy Hungry Bunch accidentally stumbled across the small and incredibly isolated village. Here, there were no signs of the advancements they had seen in Water country. Even so, everything was well maintained and the people were pleasant. The children in particular seemed glad to have new playmates, a role that Zeno and Yona happily undertook. The village was not nearly large enough to house an inn, but after much begging and complaining Yun agreed to camp just outside of the village for a few days. The commotion the children stirred up caused some of the older members of the village to exit their houses in order to investigate the fair sized group of very strange, armed, visitors. One, an elder for the village, approached the group without fear.
"What are you youngsters doing here," the man questioned, sounding every bit of the grumpy grandfather he looked. The three youngest dragons exchanged confused looks, Zeno and Yona were still off somewhere playing with some of the children, while Hak stood guard over the camp and Yun was trying to negotiate for supplies from one of the other villagers. At the gruff question, however, Yun quickly pulled away from his bartering to prevent the dragons from saying something stupid.
"Just traveling sir, we mean your village no trouble," Yun cut in as he saw Jae ha open his mouth. The elder seemed unconvinced but just then Zeno and Yona rounded the corner and came into sight; Yona walking with several small children around her and Zen with two or three of the older boys climbing all over him, both were laughing. Seeing their parents, the children bid goodbye to their new friends before racing over and excitedly exclaiming how fun their day had been—the entire group being oblivious to the tense atmosphere of the adults in the way that only children could be. The two missing members joined the rest of the group, Zeno being just as loud as the children and acting just as oblivious as he chatted happily at the younger dragons. Their appearance acted as a great diversion of attention, the tense atmosphere evaporating under the lightheartedness of the innocent. As the parents (and Yun) tried to calm down their excited children, Hak was the only person still watching the elder that had caused the problem—so he was also the only one who noticed how the elder zeroed in on Zeno. This was not the first time special attention had been paid to the smallest of the dragons, he was loud and very hard to miss unless he wanted to be, but for some reason the elder's appraising look caused the hair on the back of Hak's neck to stand up. The black haired warrior edged closer to the unsuspecting blonde, standing protectively to the side of where he and Yona were being berated by Yun for being out so long. There was a lull in sound as both the children and their parents quieted. Then unexpectedly for everyone except Hak, who had still not dropped his guard, the elder spoke up again,
"You, boy, what is your name?" The question was clearly pointed at the strange group, and all the dragons plus Yun looked at each other, worriedly. Out of all of them, Zeno and Yun were the only ones who looked like boys and Yun had already been there. There was a moment of realization when the Happy Hungry Bunch understood that the man was talking about Zeno before they closed ranks about him, hovering protectively. Said dragon blinked confusedly at suddenly being boxed in before pointing at himself and asking,
"Me?" At the elder's nod, Zeno smiled at him a replied, "Zeno's name is Zeno!" The small dragon's answer caused a slight change in the old man's eyes as he turned back to the house he had first come out of,
"Wait there," he instructed as he entered the home. No one moved as a minute massed before the man reappeared, now caring a small box. "You certainly kept her waiting for a long time," he commented as he approached the protective cluster around Zeno. Seeing the box, Zeno pushed his way past Hak and Kija to stand in front of the group—sending a calming smile to the tense warriors behind him. The elder held the package out in front of him, and after studying the man's face for a moment Zeno reached out and took the surprising light box. The box was small and light, covered in a nondescript brown colored paper that was tied on with strands of twine. As he was investigating the box, the old man spoke very softly, "I have kept that package for a long time, almost 70 years now," he paused, and Zeno looked up from the small box to see a fond look in the other's eyes, "She was quiet distressed that she could not give you that in person." Zeno frowned, his eyes betraying his true age to those few who could see them,
"70 years, huh," he questioned sadly, "Guess that means that I must be late again." The elder snorted, surprising everyone,
"Not quiet, you still made it in only one lifetime. She seemed fairly convinced it would take you several to get out here." Zeno smiled sadly, shrugging his shoulders slightly,
"She was pretty close though, 70 years is a long time. Did you, do you know what she left," Zeno asked hesitantly. The man gave him an odd look as he shook his head,
"Only she knows, I promised her that I would never open it." Looking from the box to the man in front of him, Zeno nodded to himself as he plopped himself down on the ground and carefully pulling loose the twine binding on the package. As it turned out, it was not a box at all but a stack of papers. Zeno started trembling, causing massive inner panic from his fellow dragons. Jae ha dropped down to be at eye level with the blonde,
". . . Zeno. . .," he asked softly, seeing the tears forming in the older dragon's eyes. One of Zeno's hands came up to mouth to prevent any sobs from escaping out as he shook his head slightly. Rubbing his sleeve against his cheeks to wipe away his tears, Zeno spoke in between hitching breaths,
"s-she promised . . . but I . . . she really . . . and I never. . . why did she not . . . oh Hime." Seeing that Zeno was about to start crying again, Jae ha looked to the others for help in pulling their usually happy dragon from his thoughts. Surprisingly enough, it was Shin ah who made the next move. Crouching down, Shin ah frowned at the papers that had caused his friend such sadness,
"what are they," he questioned calmly. Zeno blinked several times, pulling himself out of his mind and back into reality. Gently rubbing his thumb against the top-most paper, Zeno breathed deeply a few times before answering Shin ah's question,
"they are letters," he explained quietly, "I used to travel with someone. The two of us traveled together for a long time before she suddenly told me one day that she was leaving. She. . .," he paused—his grip tightening on the letters in his hands, "she promised me before she left that she would write to me everyday. I never got any letters, so I had assumed that something had happened. There was some pretty bad weather right after she left, and then I had thought that she just forgot."
"Apparently not," Hak drawled as he looked at the small, but plentiful stack of papers on Zeno's hands, "Are you going to open them, or just sit there and stare at them?" Poor Zeno looked shell shocked at the process of actually reading the letters.
"B-but . . . wha. . . where would I even start," he asked helplessly, spreading the letters out a bit on his lap.
"How about at the beginning," Yun commented as he began ushering the group back to their own camp, "the letters are numbered, are they not?" Zeno looked back at the letters, and sure enough there were numbers along the top of the male shift envelopes. The small blonde then allowed Yun to push him out of the village center and back into their camp. A hand on his shoulder brought Zeno back out of his blank examinations of the neatly folded papers. He looked up to see Jae ha looking at him worriedly. Reaching up, Zeno took the green dragon's hand in his own and squeezed it comfortingly, even managing to offer the other a small—heartfelt—smile. Satisfied that Zeno was fine, Jae ha turned to give him some privacy but was stopped. Turning back, he saw Zeno shake his head,
"No, please stay? Hime was. . . I do not want to do this alone." Jae ha nodded and instead settled on an empty log to his left. Zeno was now faced with the reality of what was happening, and one hand reached up to rub the golden medallion he had carried for so long in search of some comfort. After a while, a quiet shuffling sound drew his attention. While Zeno had been occupied, the others had gathered around him and now were watching him with concerned and at the same time expectant eyes. Turning his smile at the others as well, Zeno slowly shifted through the letters until he found the letter with the number one on it. He hesitated unfolded the paper and began the narrative of the lonely traveler that had such a huge impact on the world that had forgotten her.