Disclaimer: I don't own Yona of the Dawn!


Chapter 9

"Ever since I was little, I've had this power," Lien said, looking at her hands instead of the others. It was easier to tell the story if she didn't have to look them in the eyes, especially when it was her first time ever explaining this to anyone. People in her clan were already aware of her gifts, they knew. This…this was different.

"I…I can control heat and fire. I can create it, too," she said, "This power had been in our clan a long time, but sometimes it skips generations. My grandmother was the last one to have it."

Lien could vaguely remember her grandmother, a spiteful, withered woman with short white hair and an annoyed expression. Mama Ro always said that Grandmother had missed her opportunity, and that was what had driven her to be so bitter.

"How did that happen?" Yoon asked, "Your clan getting the power, I mean."

"The story is that about a thousand years ago, there was a girl who lived in a land north of the Kai Empire." She pressed her fingertips into the leg, trying to gather the threads of the story so it would be coherent and easy to understand. At least it was a story she had been told many times, so it was familiar. "The land where she lived was a small nation but powerful and new. The leader who had created the nation was young and strong but couldn't lead the nation alone. The girl knew the leader, they had been friends since childhood, and so she asked the gods for the ability to help him. They heard her, and she was given the fire of the kirin."

"The fire deer?" Yoon stared at her, "The one that's basically wreathed in flame in legends?"

Lien gave a nervous chuckle at that phrase. "Sort of, yes. That's how some people describe them."

She looked back down at the ground. "The girl acted as an advisor and a protector to the young king, and her descendants helped in that nation for a long time. It was prosperous and happy. But later, one of the kings became cruel, and there weren't any more children born with the kirin's fire. The king became enraged and exiled all of the descendants of the girl with the kirin's fire."

"And those people became the Swift Song Clan?" Yona asked.

Lien nodded. "The descendants went south and became nomadic. They invited others to join them, and the clan grew. The kirin's fire would reappear sometimes in one baby or another, always before a strong leader rose to power in one of the countries they roamed through."

"So, let me get this straight," Yoon interrupted, "Whenever a good ruler appears, there's a kirin kid to go along with them?"

"They're usually born a couple years before the ruler, but yes, that's what happens," Lien said, "So when my grandmother was a little girl, King Joo-Nam was born." Then the powers had skipped a generation and come to her. Joo-Nam had been a powerful ruler and a good leader, mostly, but his sons…well…

"I don't remember hearing about a person with fire powers working for the king," Hak said.

Lien nodded. "That would be right. My grandmother didn't leave the clan. She stayed here."

"Okay, but wouldn't we have heard about other kings who had people who could create fire on their side?" Yoon pointed out, "It's pretty noticeable."

"Not everyone who's been born with the kirin's power can actually create fire," Lien said softly. An embarrassed blush colored her cheeks. "Most of the time they can just control heat, so it's not as noticeable. We're mostly useful because of our advising skills." She gave a shaky smile. "So I think I have fire skills in exchange for not being a good advisor."

"You might be a good advisor," Yona declared, "You just haven't had the chance."

"If you have the kirin's fire, that must mean you're supposed to help a ruler," Zeno said, his voice sounding calmer and more mature than usual. He looked over at her, and Lien's golden-brown eyes met his bright blue gaze. "Are you supposed to help Yona? Or Soo-Won?"

Oh. Lien honestly hadn't thought about that yet. If Yona was the princess, was she supposed to aid her? Or was it Soo-Won who had been born to be the strong leader? Lien had been born in Kouka kingdom eighteen years ago, so it likely that the ruler she was supposed to help was from Kouka. That was usually how it worked.

However, she couldn't imagine helping Soo-Won, not when he had murdered Yona's father and almost gotten her killed as well. If being an advisor or a protector to someone who had committed such a deep betrayal was her calling and in doing so make enemies out of Yona and the others, she wasn't sure if she could carry it out.

Helping Yona, though…Something inside of her glowed at the thought. Maybe that would explain why part of her, even though it was small, wanted to follow the princess and her friends.

If she ignored her calling, whoever it was to, she would wind up like her grandmother, regretful and full of bitterness. It wasn't what she wanted, but leaving her clan? She wasn't sure if she wanted that.

"You don't have to answer that, Lien," Yona said. She reached over and put a hand on Lien's arm, giving her an encouraging smile. "Maybe you're supposed to help someone else! I'd never force you to join me or anything, you know."

"I know you wouldn't," Lien said, "But I don't think I'm here for Soo-Won. It…he doesn't feel right." She twisted her hands together and took a deep breath before looking at the others, surging forward before anyone asked her to explain what she meant by that. "But anyways, I have fire powers and that's why."

"Yona, you keep finding every rare beast in the world," Yoon said, shaking his head at the red-haired princess, "How do you do it?"

"Luck?" Yona said with a smile. She squeezed Lien's arm. "I'm glad you told us."

She felt a little relieved now that they knew. It meant she didn't have to hide her power from them. Which, in turn… "So, does this mean we're going to stop pretending you four aren't the legendary dragons?"

"Are we that obvious?" Jae-Ha asked, flicking his thick hair back from his eyes.

"You don't do much to hide it!" Yoon said.

"It's impossible to hide such skill."

As the others argued, Lien turned to look at Yona. The princess was watching her with an intent gaze, and Lien blinked back at her. "What is it?"

"Well, here's the thing," Yona said. She bit her lip and her fingers tightened around a bit of her dress. "If I say I want you to be my kirin, that means I think of myself as a good leader, which I'm not. I just want to survive and keep my friends and this country safe." She shook her head. "So I don't deserve someone who is supposed to help great rulers. But I think it would be nice if you'd join us, if you wanted. You're strong, and I feel like I need to ask you." Yona laughed a little. "Is that silly?"

"No, but…Yona..." Lien stood up, suddenly feeling as if the room was closing in on her. Leave the clan? Leave the only home she had ever known and the family that she loved so much to travel with these people she barely knew? But that part of her that needed to follow was growing louder, demanding obedience. Was this how it felt to tear in two? "I…I have to go." She bowed to the princess and her friends and dashed out of the room, ignoring them as they called after her.