Broken Glass - Taekook

26

By the time morning comes, our plan is much more thought out. Seokjin and Yoongi leave the room at dawn, on a mission to find us some method of bringing Namjoon along with us. Hoseok and Jimin find the animal furs that they managed to process during our week in their valley, and work together to figure out a way to create a comfortable bed for Namjoon to lie upon.

If needed, they can add wooden planks to the bottom to create a stretcher of sorts, which we can drag across the ground, but it soon becomes apparent that transporting Namjoon will not be an issue. The two elementals return an hour after they'd set off, reporting that they've got a horse and cart secured outside the house we're staying in. 

Carefully, the newly created bed of furs is transferred to the bottom of the cart, and then the six of us cautiously carry Namjoon out to lie on it. As I step outside for the first time in a few days, I'm struck by the brightness of the daylight around us for a second, before my eyes readjust, aching slightly,  and then I can see the remnants of the damage done to Rushgrove in the attack. 

Some houses are burned shells of their former selves, crumbling in on themselves. There are some places where the entire dwelling has been destroyed, and the only evidence of their presence is a spot of blackened earth.

There are families sat out on the street, the children thin and hungry, the adults pale and withdrawn. Some stare in the direction of the ruins of their houses, others focus on our mission to get Namjoon into the cart, the nervous sidestepping of the horse, which clatters in the startling quiet of the early morning. 

Eventually, however, we get it all sorted. Seokjin turns to our host, bows in her direction. "I must thank you, for everything you have done for us. I know it hasn't been easy, but if it wasn't for you, we would've lost someone very dear to us. We cannot offer much in the way of money, I'm afraid, but-"

The woman makes a dismissive gesture. "Don't you worry about money, my dear. This was my way to pay you lot back for saving Rushgrove from those hooded strangers. You saved a great many more lives than I ever did, I can tell you that."

"They will come back, I think," Hoseok says uncomfortably. "We cannot guarantee that they will never return. All we have done is bought you some time. And I should warn you: there may be another group to the northwest, from the Cursed Tower up there." 

At his words, the woman frowns, worried. "They've come a long way from home, then?" Hoseok pauses, thrown by her automatic understanding, and then a sad smile crosses his face, and he nods slowly. 
"I'm afraid so. It's nearly been a century now, after all. I think he's become restless, scared of what may be fated to come," the alchemist confirms, delicately, and the woman raises an eyebrow at him, inclining her head slightly in my direction. 
"Or what has already arrived, perhaps?" 

At the alarm in our faces, she smiles. "I'm no fool. I saw the way you were unaffected yesterday, and I know what it means. But don't fear. I won't say anything to anyone." She steps forward, towards me. "May fortune smile upon you, young man." 

"May the sun shine over you," I respond, and the smile grows slightly, wistfully, perhaps a recognition that I know the correct phrasing despite my lack of familiarity with Eithyr. She inclines her head at me. 
"And may happiness live in your heart." 

As she finishes the saying, Yoongi's throwing the last of our bags into the cart beside Namjoon, making sure not to let any of it hit his partner. "Good luck," she murmurs, turning around and re-entering her house, as my friends group together and start to head towards the southern entrance to Rushgrove. 

On this side of the village, the forest is wider, and the main road is covered by leaf litter and little ferns. Once we've gone partway through the trees, the way is obscured almost entirely. From where he's lying in the back of the cart, Namjoon watches the patterns of the sun as it slowly moves across the sky, giving us directions every so often based on his memories of the map he carries in his pack.