Disclaimer: I don't own Akatuski no Yona!
A/N: This'll be a short snippet chapter, but I sort of just wanted a tiny bit of Shin-Ah/Lien fluff before jumping into more drama and action. POV will probably just switch back and forth between the two of them in this snippet. 3rd person omniscient!
Chapter 19
The moon was so round and beautiful, it looked as if Lien could reach up, pluck it from the sky, and hold it like a child's toy in her hands. She and Shin-Ah were sitting on the massive rock that the group's camp was tucked behind, keeping an eye on the landscape. Technically only Shin-Ah was on watch, since Yona, Yoon, and Lien weren't on the official rotation, but Lien was keeping him company.
Below them, their friends were asleep. Lien noticed that Ao was sleeping on Zeno, who was curled up around the space where Shin-Ah usually slept next to him. They really did act like brothers, as Kija always insisted that they were.
Back when they had been hiking out of the mountains, the white dragon had walked along beside her and told her the whole story behind the four dragons and King Hiryuu. While she already had the story memorized, her performer's heart loved hearing other people tell stories, and Kija said it all with such conviction. He truly believed in the purpose of the four dragons, and to her, that was endearing and admirable.
A soft, warm breeze ruffled through her light green hair, brushing it across her face until she pushed it back behind her ears. Tomorrow, she would ask if Jae-Ha had any extra bands to hold back her hair. It needed to be washed and braided, but there were no rivers nearby and they couldn't waste their precious water supply on such trivial matters.
Beneath her hands, the rock was scratchy and cold, but the sun had melted away the patches of snow that had clung to it that morning. It was difficult to escape the sun here in the Fire Tribe's lands, where trees were scarce and villages were far and few between.
Leaning back on her palms, she raised her eyes to the stars, basking in the soft silver light that lit up the few remaining bits of snow on the ground.
Shin-Ah looked away from staring at their surroundings to instead stare at Lien. She glowed in the moonlight, like she had been plucked from the heavens and placed beside him, a star turned human. She took his breath away.
While he was Yona's dragon, the way he was beginning to feel toward Lien was something…else. Something different. What was this feeling?
"There's the Doe," she said, pointing up at the sky, eyes reflecting the stars, "And the Stag." She leaned closer and made patterns in the air with her slender fingers.
He didn't see a doe or a stag around, and if they were nearby, they certainly weren't in the sky. Shin-Ah wondered if she was feeling well, but she didn't look sick. Instead, she looked quietly happier, much more so than she had that afternoon.
"Didn't you learn the constellations?" she said, turning toward him.
He shook his head rapidly. Ao must not have thought it was important, and the rest of his village never tried to teach him anything. It was only thanks to hard work and determination that he was able to read and write.
"You're missing out," she said, her tone gentle. "Follow my hand, we'll start with something simple." She pointed to a bright star, the farthest star in the North. "In my caravan, we call that the Clear Lady," she said, and then moved her hand down and diagonally. "If you connect her with these other stars, it forms the Seven Dancing Sisters. We perform a dance in the summer where we act like we're the sisters. I'm usually one of the middle ones." A shadow passed over her face and she lowered her hand.
Lien tried not to feel sad, but she was again reminded that things would be different from now on. She had no idea when or if she would return to her clan. If Yona became a true leader of the nation, she might never go back. That was the future and the fate of any kirin who followed their path.
"You promised."
She lifted her chin to find Shin-Ah looking at her. Oh, right, she had said she would tell him why she had been crying. Attempting a smile, she shook her head. "I miss home. I'm homesick. Do you ever get homesick?"
"It's…different." Did he miss them at all? He didn't miss being alone or living in a cave with only Ao or their stares and whispers and the insults spat at him. He missed his mentor, but he had passed away so long ago. "Home's here." He gestured toward the sleeping figures below them, and Lien smiled.
"Maybe they'll be my family, too."
He nodded rapidly, knowing they were swiftly adopting her. He could feel the others pulling her into their small makeshift family, adding her to the fold.
She grinned at her, a sudden bright expression in the darkness, and she laid down on the rock, gazing up at the stars. "I'd like that."
Shin-Ah had to pull his attention away from her to look back at the countryside around them, but it was hard. Much harder than it should have been. What was wrong with him?
