Disclaimer: I don't own Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki no Yona!

Chapter 6

"Let's see, if we marry them, they can't go anywhere."

"Oh, now I like that plan. I choose that green-haired Jae-Ha, he's so hot you could fry eggs on his chest."

"I'm on board! I think Kija is a catch. So pure."

Lien smiled to herself as the other dancers stretched and chattered amongst themselves during their rehearsal break. They were in another one of the winter buildings that the clan used, a more spacious one that included an area that had been tunneled out of the mountainside. It created a nice, open space where they could easily perform, whether it was acting, dancing, sing/ing or acrobatics.

In one corner, the musicians were practicing under the strict eye of Garuda, the music master of the clan. He was could be quite a harsh task master, though his techniques were effective even if the musicians lived in respectful fear of him and his staff. While Lien watched, someone played a sour note and out whooshed the staff, catching the errant pipe player on the shoulder with a warning tap.

"No one can pick the blue-haired one though," one of the other girls said loud enough to recapture Lien's attention. She turned to find her friend Pax giving her a wicked grin. "That one belongs to Lien."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lien said, though she could feel her cheeks growing hot. All right, so yes, Shin-Ah was attractive and brave and loyal, but she didn't know much about him besides that. On top of that, her mother and father would be crushed if she left the caravan, even though Mama Ro had warned them for years that people like Lien usually eventually left. It was in their nature. "And you shouldn't claim them, they're people…"

"We're just joking," her other best friend Keri, said as she tossed her long brown hair and smirked. "But you have to admit, he kept staring at you yesterday."

"That's because we were dancing," Lien protested, "You usually look at the person you're dancing with."

"That's another thing," Pax said. She poked a slim finger into Lien's shoulder blade. "You're the only one he danced with. I asked him to dance with me, and he ran right back to his group. So cruel, I'm forever heartbroken."

"He was probably tired." Who wouldn't be, after spending so much time in bed and then being tossed into a dance? "I dance with Zeno too, and I've danced with him more often."

"Aww, Zeno!" Keri and Pax chorused together, making the other girls laugh.

"He's so adorable, but if we have to give you away, we prefer to give you to Shin-Ah," Pax said with a solemn nod. "He seems more reliable."

"Our sweet little Lien, all grown up and moving on with her life." Keri pretended to brush a tear away. "We haven't even started stitching her wedding dress."

"You were just talking about how you didn't want them to go, but now you're getting rid of me?" Lien said. She picked up one of the scarves they danced with and fluttered it in Keri and Pax's faces. "You're awful, terrible friends."

"Nooo," Pax said, pretending to be defeated by the scarf. She dropped languidly to the floor and twitched, her eyes half-closed. "My last wish is for you to marry a tall, beautiful blue-haired man and have gorgeous teal-haired children, you green-haired killer."

Lien nudged her with her foot. "Sorry, your last wish is denied."

A second later, Pax reached up and yanked Lien down so that she could tickle her mercilessly, with Keri joining in. "Say you like him!" "Admit your undying love!" "Be truthful!" "Say it!" Their dance costumes waved around, creating a blur of silver and white, with Lien laughing and trying to escape while Keri held her down and Pax tortured her.

The door to the building flew open, letting in the harsh frozen wind. It swirled inside, bringing snowflakes, ice, and Kyung. "Lien!" he called, interrupting the laughing and the music.

She was instantly on her feet, recognizing the urgency in her older brother's tone. She stepped over Pax and Keri and rushed to his side. "Come on, Mama Ro needs you. It's Xau-Xau and Daen, they were out in the snow too long," he said as grabbed her cloak and tossed it to her while she hurried to take off her dance slippers and put on her boots.

Worry and frustration showed through his expression, and she knew there were multiple reasons for it. For one thing, he was probably concerned for Xau-Xau and Daen. The two of them must have snuck off that morning to try and find food for the clan; they were only eleven, but they were always trying to help out in the most reckless of ways. On the other hand, he didn't like it when she used her gifts, which was doubtlessly what Mama Ro wanted her to do.

Behind them, the others were listening intently, practice put on hold for the moment until Master Garuda waved his staff around. "Get back to work!"

Kyung pulled Lien's hood up around her face and ushered her out into the biting wind. They dashed across the small courtyard, moving toward their home. Their mother and Mama Ro, who happened to be their aunt, were the healers out of the group, dealing with injuries from the line of the work they were in as well as any other issue that popped up. Frostbite was common while they were at their winter quarters, and to heal that more quickly and efficiently, they almost always brought in Lien.

The room was full of worried noise as they rushed through, and Xau-Xau and Daen's parents were hovering near the back room where the boys had been taken. Lien gently touched Daen's mother's arm and gave her a small encouraging smile before stepping inside the room, leaving Kyung at the doorway.

Her mother, Mama Ro, and Yoon were there, kneeling beside the two boys. Lien hesitated, seeing him there, but Mama Ro beckoned her over. "Come here, you," she said. Lien nodded and walked over, settling beside Yoon on Daen's right side.

With blackened fingers and toes, it was easy to see the boys had been out in the freezing weather far longer than they should have been. Most likely, everyone had assumed they had been in a different building when in fact, they were outside. She wondered who had found them out there.

"Sorry, Lien," Daen mumbled, a sweat breaking on his forehead, drenching his dark golden hair. He tried to wriggle his fingers, which got him a gentle swat on the wrist from Mama Ro.

"Stay still," she said, and her eyes flicked from Lien to Yoon and back around before she turned to Lien's mother. "Sandara. We could use the boy's help. But you know what that means, so it's your choice."

Lien's mother looked over at her. "Lien?"

"It's all right, Mama," she said, bowing her head for a moment. She had never shown her gift to anyone outside of her clan, but something inside of her told her to trust Yoon. The four dragons trusted him, and so did Yona and Hak, so he must have been good at keeping secrets.

"What's going on?" Yoon said, raising his eyebrows, "Shouldn't we be working?"

"Go ahead and help us take off their wet clothes," Lien's mother said, "Lien will tend to their frostbite."

"And don't tell us what to do, boy," Mama Ro scolded as she started yanking off Xau-Xau's hooded vest.

"Ro, be a little kinder," Lien's mother said as Xau-Xau flopped about, looking like an ill-handled puppet.

Mama Ro tossed his vest to the side. "He shouldn't have been so stupid and wandered off in the snow."

"Got lost," mumbled Xau-Xau, "Sorry…"

Yoon was working on removing Daen's soaked shirt, but Lien could see him keeping an eye on her out of the corner of his keen eyes. There wouldn't be any hiding it from him, but years of being told to shield her gift from outsiders and knowing the consequences of them finding out was hard to overcome. Still, Daen and Xau-Xau needed her.

Closing her eyes to concentrate and also to ignore Yoon, she took a deep breath and called on the heat, the fire, that resided in her blood. It was a strange, unnatural power, one that Mama Ro had explained multiple times to her and the others in her clan. It moved beneath her skin, rushing down her veins and into her hands, causing them to warm up as she took Daen's blackened toes in her hands. Her hands turned white and gave off as subtle glow as they grew warmer, and internally she struggled to maintain the same temperature. She seriously didn't want to accidentally set Daen on fire, which was possible if she wasn't exercising control.

She felt something move close to her hand, and she slitted one eye open to see Yoon letting his hand hover over hers. "You're giving off heat."

Lien squeezed her eyes shut again and nodded. There was a flash of old memories, people calling her names, ropes around her wrists, her mother's warnings repeated over and over again.

"How?" Yoon's tone was curious, not at all disgusted. He tapped his finger against the back of her hand and immediately lifted it away. "How is that possible? The room's getting warmer, too."

"We'll explain later," Mama Ro said, "Right now, let's focus on the boys."

As a team, they worked on heating up the two little hooligans, eventually getting the story of what had happened out of them. They had thought that the clan was low on meat, so they had gone out that morning looking for game. They had been scouring the mountainside when they accidentally crashed through the ice over a little brook. While not in danger of drowning, they had instantly been at risk of freezing to death. They had been on their way back when Jae-Ha had showed up out of nowhere. That's all they remembered before being back at the village and in the back room of Sandara's home.

"Shin-Ah saw them," Yoon said quietly, "From the village." The two boys were wrapped up in blankets with warming rocks settled around them, and the room was already toasty from Lien's gift. Their parents had been in to check on them, but when they saw that the boys were out of danger and doing fine, they had gone back to work, leaving the two under Mama Ro's careful gaze.

"It seems we all have a lot to explain to each other," Lien's mother said. She reached out and touched Lien's hand for a brief moment.

Lien gave a tired smile. She was sitting in between the two boys, giving off heat like a furnace. She had shirked off her dance costume and was wearing just her undershift, to Yoon's slight embarrassment. That was the heat simply exuded from her instead of getting trapped in her dance costume. Using her gift for this long made her sleepy, since it drew energy out of her.

"We want to thank Mr. Jae-Ha and Blue Hairy Sleepy Man," Xau-Xau muttered. His dark eyes were peeking over the edge of the blanket.

"You can thank them later," Lien's mother said, brushing Xau-Xau's hair out of his face. She looked up as the cloth was pushed back from the doorway, revealing Jae-Ha and Shin-Ah behind him.

"We don't mean to intrude, but we did want to check on them," Jae-Ha said, staying in the doorway, "And since I hear our names…"

"Thank you, Mr. Jae-Ha and Hairy Blue Man," Xau-Xau said, waving his hand.

Shin-Ah gave a small wave back, and then glanced at Lien. A blush suddenly dashed across his face, and he back-pedaled into the main room, disappearing from the doorway. Oh. Right. She was in her shift. Lien knew she should have been more embarrassed, since it was one small step away from her underwear, but she was too tired to care very much.

Jae-Ha, however, didn't seem fazed by her attire. He just smirked at her and turned his attention to the boys. "You're welcome, kid," Jae-Ha told Xau-Xau before looking at Yoon. "You look tired, Mother."

"I've been working," Yoon retorted, "Somebody brought me something to deal with immediately, so now I'm here."

"You should get some rest," Lien's mother said, "You too, Lien."

"I'd rather have answers," Yoon said.

Not her. Lien would rather fall asleep right where she was. Ugh, getting up was a chore. Lien nodded and stumbled to her feet, but before she could take a shuffling step, she was swept up into firm arms.

"I'll take the lady to her room," Jae-Ha said, and he grinned down at her, "It's only the chivalrous thing to do for such a pretty girl."

"If you try anything, I'll skin you alive," Mama Ro said.

Lien didn't hear what Jae-Ha replied with since she was already asleep, her arms wrapped around the green dragon's neck.