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

A/N: Longer chapter this time! Let's visit the random Fire village! From here on out, the plot will probably vaguely include some plot points from the manga. It won't be exact, of course, and it might veer totally away from the manga plot, I'm not sure yet, but there shall be some spoilers.


Chapter 20

"I'm going."

"Princess, you should stay."

"No, I'm definitely going this time."

"It's not safe."

Shin-Ah turned his head back and forth between Hak and Yona as they argued. He wasn't sure why exactly Hak tried to argue with Yona when she got like this. He always ended up giving in. When Yona decided she wanted to do something, she would figure out a way to make it happen, even if her way was unconventional. In this instance, she would probably just say she was going to go until Hak stopped trying to dissuade her.

It was early morning, and they were getting ready to go back to the village. However, no one was really sure who was actually going to the village just yet since Yona had decided that she was going. That usually meant that everyone would be going.

He munched on the flat biscuit that Yoon had made for breakfast and pulled another piece of it off for Ao. She snatched it up and stuffed it into her mouth, puffing her cheeks out. Gently he rubbed her head, a silent reminder to chew her food and not choke. Once she finished eating, she jumped out of his hands and dashed over to Yona, climbing up her cloak to sit on her shoulder.

On the other side of the fire, Zeno and Lien were doing something that involved clapping their hands together at different times, keeping a rhythm between the two of them. Shin-Ah didn't understand what they were doing, but they seemed to be having fun. Was it a game? They kept repeating a pattern, changing the speed from time to time whenever one of them called out an animal name. They kept getting faster, and every fifth time they said an animal, they struck the ground before continuing.

"Crab," the yellow dragon said, and they sped up.

"Boar," said Lien. This time they slapped the ground in-between them, both hands hitting the dirt before they continued, again going a little faster. Shin-Ah popped the rest of his biscuit into his mouth, trying to figure out the point of the game.

"Rabbit."

"Trout."

"Tiger."

"Rabbit—wait, oh no!" Lien laughed, quickly pulling her hands away, but Zeno grabbed her hands and tugged her back toward him, grinning.

"Kirin lost!" he declared, shaking his head at her, "Zeno gets a prize and Kirin gets punished! It's the rules of the game."

Even though she had lost, Lien was still smiling. "All right, but we have to play again. You keep winning."

"Zeno knows a lot of animals," he said. Releasing her, he gave the tops of her hands a very gentle slap before turning his face away from her, humming pleasantly. "Zeno claims a kiss as a prize. Fork it over."

"You scoundrel," Lien said, her tone teasing and light, "You're picking up bad habits from Jae-Ha." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before sitting back. "Come on, let's play again." Holding up her hands, she tapped Zeno's fingers, eager to start playing.

Oddly enough, Shin-Ah found that he was more interested in the rules of the game now.

Beside him, Jae-Ha leaned over and nudged him in the side, his sharp elbows digging into Shin-Ah's arm. "Don't you want to play? That's a rather nice prize, after all."

Shin-Ah shook his head. He had no idea how the game worked, except it involved animal names and slapping people's hands a certain way. If he went over there, he would only be a bother since they would have to teach him everything. He didn't even know that many animals…

"Shin-Ah, sometimes you have to live a little." Jae-Ha grabbed him by the arm and suddenly he was being pulled to his feet and dragged to the other side of the fire. He tried to dig his heels in, but Jae-Ha's tugging was very insistent. Lien and Zeno both stared as Jae-Ha pushed him down next to Yoon, who had been watching the other two. "Let's teach Shin-Ah how to play their game so he doesn't feel left out."

"Zeno and Kirin could—Ape—teach him."

"Eagle—I wouldn't mind, we could stop."

"Eel!"

"Lizard!"

"You guys go too fast," Yoon said, making a face at them, "And you get too excited, he would never be able to keep up." He looked at Jae-Ha and raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know how to play?"

"I think I understand most of it," Jae-Ha said, sitting down. "You clap out a pattern and every time you reach the end of the pattern, you have to say the name of an animal." He held up a pointer finger. "However, the name of the animal has to begin with the last letter of the previous animal name. Correct?"

"Right, but you have to go faster with each name, and every fifth name, you have to slap the ground before saying the next animal," Yoon said, "If you lose, you get slapped on the hand, but if you win, you get to ask the winner to do something."

"Can I play, too?" Kija said. He had walked away from Hak and Yona's argument and over to them, looking interested but a little shy. "I played this game with my grandma sometimes when I was little."

"Sure," Yoon said, gesturing for Kija to sit across from Jae-Ha, "You can help teach these guys."

"Kija, don't slap me with your claws if you win," Jae-Ha said, "I like having hand attached to my wrist."

Shin-Ah quickly caught only the clapping part, but the animal names were a little more difficult. He knew them, but it was hard to say them quickly enough. However, Yoon was a patient teacher and didn't enforce the punishment rule, saying they were just practicing.

"What're you all doing?" Hak stood behind Jae-Ha, his foot on Jae-Ha's back. "Isn't that a kids game?"

"I'm indulging the young ones," Jae-Ha said, smirking up at Hak.

Yoon rolled his eyes. "You're the one that wanted to play."

The green dragon looked unperturbed. Nearby, Lien and Zeno cut off their game to turn their attention to Yona, who was looking particularly victorious.

"I'm going to the village today with whoever else is going," she said, folding her hands together in front of her. Ao climbed down her arm and made a flying leap from her to Lien, where she curled up on top of the other girl's head.

"But there are bandits," Yoon pointed out, getting to his feet, "And soldiers from the Fire Tribe might show up."

"I'm going to wear a cloak," she said, "And Hak said he'd go as well."

"Obviously," Hak said.

"If the princess is going, I'm going, too," Kija said.

Jae-Ha stood up, a hand on his hip. "Count me in."

"Can I go?" Lien asked, looking at Yona, who nodded immediately.

"Of course," she said, and she held out a hand to Lien. She helped Lien to her feet, smiling at her. "We can go together! We'll just look like two girls going to the market."

"There's not a market," Hak said, "And where were the rest of us going to be while you're out play-acting?"

"Watching from a distance," Yona said.

Judging by the look on Hak's face, he didn't like that answer. Actually, Shin-Ah didn't either. They weren't helpless, but he didn't like the idea of Yona and Lien wandering through the town by themselves. It wasn't a nice place.

"We're going to stand out," Yoon said with a sigh. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second and then looked at Hak. "We might as well stand out in a group. Do you think soldiers will be there today?"

"I don't think so, since they were there yesterday," Hak said, "It might be calm there today."

"I want to see it," Yona said, determination in her voice, "Let's go."

After breaking down camp, the group headed off to the village. The closer they got to the edge of the settlement, the quieter everyone became. It was like an oppressive air dropped down on them, taking the earlier mood and squashing it. Shin-Ah could see the villagers in the distant, skinny and pale, most of them either elderly or young children. Hak had said that all of the men had been taken by the Fire Tribe to be in the army, which didn't make sense to Shin-Ah. Wouldn't the villages thrive and produce better things for the capital if there were men to help work the fields and take care of their families?

As they reached the edge of the village, the dark feeling became worse. Everyone here seemed hopeless, and that clung to the village. He saw Lien's expression crumple, her eyes wide as she looked around at the desolation. She was walking between him and Jae-Ha, and Shin-Ah wondered if he should take her hand, if that would make her feel a little better. Maybe he should let her borrow Ao.

"You look surprised, Lien," Jae-Ha said.

"I am…I heard it was bad in the Land of Fire and you guys told us last night, but I didn't really realize it was like this," she said quietly. She reached up and anxiously toyed with her necklace, the one that had belonged to Shin-Ah. "We only ever stopped in Saika."

"The capital city is very pretty," Jae-Ha said with a nod, "And the night life is spectacular. But the Fire Tribe general doesn't care very much for his citizens."

"We'll fix it," Yona said, "We'll help them out." As if to show just how sure of herself she was, she marched off toward one of the elderly people sitting outside and knelt down beside them, talking softly.

"I'll make sure there aren't any soldiers or bandits about," Jae-Ha said before taking off into the sky.

Yoon sighed. "These people need food, water, and medical attention. Shin-Ah, Kija, can you two go get water? There's a river not too far from here. Lien, help me cook, would you? That way I can take a look at some of the sicker villagers."

"What about Zeno, kid?" Zeno said.

"Even if I give you a job, you'll just do you own thing," Yoon said.

"True, true, Zeno will play with the kids," he said with a soft smile and trotted off toward the group of kids who was staring at them. Shin-Ah glanced over at Lien who gave him a shaky smile before turning and following Yoon.

"Let's go, Shin-Ah," Kija said, "Or wait, we need to find buckets first…"