Rensa's P.O.V.
The sky, so close she could almost touch, was permanently burned into her mind. The colors were so vibrant, the air so cool, Jae-ha's arms so strong and warm, and trustworthy. She wished to see that all the time. Though the ground was where she belonged. They quickly found where their friends were working. They were moving through the trees faster than the other villagers.
"Oh, look who decided to finally join us." Yun greeted sarcastically.
"Where have you two been?" Hak asked nonchalantly, like he didn't really care.
"Jae-ha was showing me how to fly!" Rensa stated, throwing her arm up to point at the sky. She laughed excitedly, it was kind of uncharacteristic of her, but she could not contain the joy she still felt. Yun and Yona stared at her with strange expressions on their faces. "What?"
Jae-ha laughed. "I'm the only one who can fly around here, sorry Rensa."
She felt a little hurt because he was right. But she wouldn't pity herself, and let it kill the joy from their airy excursion. "You're right." She laughed.
"So what were the two of you doing then?" Kija stopped gathering fruit to join the conversation as well.
"Jae-ha took me up into the sky." Rensa explained.
"He did that when he rescued you too." Yona piped in.
"Really?" Rensa didn't remember because she had fallen asleep. That's how comfortable she was with Jae-ha.
Jae-ha laughed self-consciously. "Yes, but you were unconscious."
"Well, I'm glad I got to see what you see with my eyes wide open." She grinned up at the sky. "But we need to focus on The Harvest now." She nudged Jae-ha's side with her elbow. "Will you work with me again?"
"Yes." He replied and took the empty basket from Hak's hands, the man protested but Jae-ha just laughed as he lifted her into his arms once more. He launched them both into the top branches of a pear tree. He set her on a branch and they both got to work. Zeno joined them after a few minutes as the others began working again too.
"Zeno couldn't help but notice how much happier you are, Miss Rensa." He smiled at her.
"Yes, I feel so much happier. Like I have… not quite a purpose… but a reason to work hard." She placed a few fruits into her basket.
"Zeno is glad to hear that." He sighed with contentment. "No doubt it is because of the Green Dragon." His tone turned teasing.
A hot blush warmed Rensa's cheeks against the brisk air. She lightly swatted Zeno's shoulder. "It is not just because of him, it is thanks to all of you that I have become stronger." She declared.
Zeno chuckled.
"Besides, I may have learned to accept help, but because of that I need to learn how to become self-reliant again. Except this time I will be more effective." She leaned up, stretching for more ripe pears.
"Zeno thinks you're a little dramatic." He pointed out, also picking fruit as he spoke.
Rensa stopped. "What?" She was confused. Dramatic?
Zeno laughed. "Yes. Zeno sees that you take things close to the extreme. You hated the village for hating you, and judged people for how they judged you. Now you feel like you know nothing simply because you've learned to like people again." He explained.
Rensa thought about his observations, and ultimately decided that he was right. She didn't necessarily need Jae-ha, she could find a way to build relationships with the villagers once again. But she wanted him to be with her.
That was not to be, though. She would not ask Jae-ha to stay with her when he had a purpose to fulfill. She decided to start then. Her basket was filled and needed to be emptied. Instead of asking Jae-ha to take it, she asked Zeno to help her get her feet on the ground. The boy jumped from the tree and helped lower her until she was steady on the ground.
She then made her way to the quickly filling baskets of fruits and combined her harvest with that of the others. As she was turning to go back to her group of friends, another woman was making her way over to the larger baskets with three filled ones of her own. Rensa recognized her. Her name was Ja-ri, she was one of the mothers of the children that used to antagonize her. She was sure she was actually Shion's mother.
She sighed and set down two of the baskets so she could pour one, then set it down and reached for another.
"Excuse me, but could I help you?" Rensa asked politely.
"Yes, that would be great." The woman sighed and handed her a basket of oranges. She gently poured the contents into the orange container.
"Here you go." Rensa handed her back the basket.
"Thank you." The woman raised her eyes to see Rensa and gasped.
Rensa smiled. "You're welcome. Would you like help carrying the baskets back to where you're working?"
The woman opened and closed her mouth a few times before nodding and handing her back the basket. She lifted the other two into the crooks of her elbows and started walking off. Rensa struggled a little to keep up. Ja-ri stopped in front of a tree just as Shion jumped from a branch, he landed on his feet, but wasn't able to keep his footing and fell to the ground with a grunt.
"I told you to be careful."Ja-ri scolded as she set down one basket and tossed the other up to her husband who was high in the tree.
Rensa reached down and offered a hand to help him up.
He glanced up and grinned when he saw it was her. He took her hand and she helped pull him back to his feet.
"Have you come to help us, like you said you would?" He asked, maybe a little louder than he needed to. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a few other townspeople watching their interaction.
"If you would like the company, of course I would love to work with you." She smiled and messed up his hair as he laughed.
When she glanced up, Ja-ri was staring at them with wide, bugging eyes and an open mouth.
Rensa ignored her reaction and turned her attention back to the boy. "Would you like to play a game with me?" She asked after having a sudden moment of inspiration.
"Yeah! What kind of game?" He asked enthusiastically.
She handed him the basket she still held and led him over to the lower branches that had not yet been harvested. "See those?" She asked, pointing to the oranges.
He nodded.
"I can't reach them with my hands, and I bet your family won't help me into the tree, since they still don't like me." She laughed and shook her head slightly. "But I can still touch them. Do you know how?"
Shion thought for a moment then shook his head, his slightly shaggy dark hair swayed as he did so.
"When I lift my crutch I can reach higher." She explained, raising her crutch up so that it almost touched the fruit. "However, I can't just let them drop into a basket, now can I?" She wasn't able to keep the laughter from her voice as she spoke, and Shion's enthusiasm became excitement. "So, I want you to catch them when I knock them from the branch." She finally said.
He jumped up and down. "Okay! Let's try it!" He shouted.
As a test she nudged an orange and watched as it fell. Shion jumped for it and caught it with two hands.
"Good job!" Rensa laughed as he put it into his basket. "Want to try for two?"
She continued to knock the fruit from the tree and Shion bounced around catching them with ease, even if it was more than one. He did miss one or two, but for the most part he caught them all. The basket filled quite nicely, and Rensa continued to reach up to branches with her crutch as far as she could, until she could no longer nudge any with her tool.
"Alright, you know what to do now." She gestured for Shion to take the basket over to the larger ones set at certain intervals throughout the orchard. He took off running towards them.
She took the opportunity to lean against the crutch, resting. It was still hard to balance for a long time, and her shoulder ached from the upward motions.
A hand touched Rensa's shoulder, and Ja-Ri came into view. She looked as if she had many questions to ask, but only settled on one. "How did you do that? I have never seen Shion so excited to work."
Rensa watched the boy bounding back, now accompanied by Han-wi. "I don't know, I just asked if he wanted to help me."
"Yeah well, get away from my child." Ja-ri's husband shouted from above them, and an orange pelted against Rensa's back, she lurched forward and her shoulder stung from the force.
"I won't." She turned to look up at him with defiance plain on her face. "And you can't make me."
His face scrunched and reddened and he began to climb down. "Now you listen to me you… you cripple." He spat, but before he could continue, Shion skidded to a stop in front of her, reaching his arms around wide as if to block his father from her.
"You had better not touch her." He shouted at his father, who glared down at her. "She has done nothing wrong!"
"You believe the lies she has been telling you? Shion, I have told you that she steals resources from the town, she's living off our hard work!" By then, Rengi was on the ground in front of them.
"No, you're the one telling the lies, Father. Both you and Mother have." Shion stated. "Rensa works hard, but you don't let her. You and the other men are mean to her, and taught us children to be the same."
"He's right!" Han-wi stated, and two gasps sounded from behind them, most likely his family. He reached over and took Rensa's left hand. She glanced at him, and he was looking at the man with a defiant expression as well.
The glare remained on Rengi's face, but it was not directed at Rensa, instead he was looking at Shion with the anger filled expression. "Get back to work." He ordered his son.
Shion shook his head. "I won't work with you, for as long as you treat Rensa this way." He picked up the basket he had dropped and turned away from his father.
Han-wi pulled Rensa away too, following as Shion stalked over to where her friends were still working. They walked past many other villagers who were staring at her with many different expressions. Almost all of them were negative, glares, sneers. Others simply ignored her.
"Get back here!" Rengi yelled.
Shion ignored him.
"I saw you playing and wanted to help too." Han-wi said shyly, tugging on her hand.
Rensa sighed and smiled down at him. "That sounds fun. Let's all work together, okay?"
Both boys agreed loudly, and Shion selected an apple tree not far from where Yona and Hak were working.
"Ready… Go!" Rensa cheered and began knocking ripe red apples from the low branches of the tree. Shion and Han-wi bounded around her, catching the fruit like before. They filled two baskets with what she was able to reach. That was when she noticed Zeno climbing around the top branches, collecting the fruits above, and that the tree was harvested quickly.
They moved on, repeating the process. Even Jae-ha, Hak, and Yona moved with them. They harvested several more trees by the time the sun began to set.
Shion and Han-wi both sat at the base of a trunk, breathing hard.
"That was fun." Shion panted.
Rensa laughed. "I'm glad you had fun. Now go home, both of you." She shooed them away.
"Can we play together again tomorrow?" Han-wi asked hopefully.
"Yes. But you have to go home and rest. Be with your families." She said and helped them to their feet.
"What about you?" Shion asked.
She curiously waited for him to continue.
"You don't have a family to go home to. You're all alone."
Rensa felt touched that he was noticing and watching out for her. "That's okay. I have my friends there with me, for now."
Shion nodded like he approved. "Alright then, we'll see you tomorrow." He ran off with Han-wi not far behind. Jae-ha joined her in watching them until they disappeared.
"Well, that went well. You've already got two little friends, and protectors." He said after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah, it looks like I do." She started on the path back to the town.
"Looks like I'm out of the job, I'm hurt." Jae-ha teased with a hand to his chest and the other to his forehead.
Rensa laughed. "Don't worry, you'll always be the one I ask first." Except those words didn't feel true, because he wouldn't always be there with her.
"Oh good." He sighed dramatically.
He walked with her and sat beside her when they had reached the other side of Hoshu, where the others were already sitting around the fire eating.
It smelled delicious once again, and tasted even more so. After dinner, Rensa and Yona went to bed, though the men stayed around the fire talking for a while. Yona and Rensa talked too.
"You looked happy, what happened today?" Yona asked.
Rensa recalled all that had happened. Her talk and trip into the sky with Jae-ha. The acceptance of two villagers, twice, even if they were children. How she was able to contribute to The Harvest. Her grin widened as she thought of these things. "So much." She finally sighed, though it was content instead of exasperated.
"Want to tell me about it?" Yona asked, tucking her blankets around her and scooting closer like she was prepared to listen.
Rensa recounted all that had occurred, from the beginning of the day. Even including the kiss between her and Jae-ha while they were in the sky.
Yona seemed surprised at that, but she listened until Rensa was done.
"Wow, today was a good day, huh?" She asked teasingly.
Rensa nodded while laughing.
"I'm glad that you and Jae-ha are growing a relationship. It's hard for us to build strong ones, moving around so much and doing what we do. But when we build friendships, they are strong and built on trust." Yona explained.
"That makes sense. I'm thankful for Jae-ha. And I'm thankful that all of you came when you did. You have truly saved me." Rensa bowed before her. "Thank you."
"There is no need to bow to me. It makes me happy that we were able to help someone." Yona sighed happily.
Rensa straightened. "I know you and your companions can't stay for a long time, but there is still so much to harvest. Will you stay until it is complete?" She finally built up the courage to ask it. If Yona said they would stay, they would, because all of them would follow her.
"We need to move on soon, but we'll stay for a few more days." Yona assured her.
Rensa supposed that was alright. A few more days with Jae-ha was better than him leaving tomorrow.
After the conversation, both she and Yona went to sleep.