The heavy rainfall had gone down to a light sprinkle as they returned to the mouth of the cave. The sun was starting to rise on the horizon and despite only getting a few hours of sleep, Felix felt refreshed and energized. Their companions had still not woken up and instead of going to sleep, Felix decided that maybe it was better to cook some breakfast.
Chan was sitting beside him the whole time, keeping an eye on him as he moved to get the small fire going again.
"Hey," Minho said, sitting up. His eyes were droopy, hair messy as he looked around the camp. "Is it already morning?"
"Yeah," Felix said as he gave the pot of porridge a stir. Minho grumbled and laid down again. "You didn't sleep very well?"
"No," Minho replied, turning his eyes up to the ceiling. "Where did the two of you go?" he asked after a moment of silence.
"Did we wake you up?" Chan asked and Minho hummed. Chan glanced over at Felix who just shrugged. Telling Minho where they went probably wouldn't hurt. "We just went further into the cave. It turned out to be pretty deep."
"Oh," Minho said as he sat up again. "Did you find anything interesting?"
"It seems to be an old temple," Chan said and Minho nodded his head slowly. "The language on the floor was a weird mix of old elvish and draconic, probably something else too," he continued and Minho hummed as he stood up.
"That's odd, but interesting," he said as he started to get dressed. As they had begun talking, Woojin had woken up and Jeongin and Seungmin had begun to stir awake.
"Has it stopped raining?" Jeongin asked before he even opened his eyes. "I don't want to leave if it's still raining."
"It's just a light sprinkle, you big baby," Woojin said softly as he crouched down beside Jeongin. Jeongin cracked an eye open, frowning as he looked up at Woojin. "Come on. We need to eat breakfast and get a move on," he continued, grinning as Jeongin got up, still grumbling as he got dressed and joined the others.
Felix gave the porridge in the pot another stir just as a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He wasn't the only one that noticed the movement just outside the mouth of the cave. He glanced down on the ground, the silver thread still resting on the ground and then back up to where he had seen the movement.
"Hello?" Chan called out carefully and Felix held his breath. There was a pause, a moment of silence where they all just waited for a reply. At the sound of a rustling bush outside the cave, all of them tensed up and stared as a humanoid figure stepped out into the light.
He was tall, taller than all of them with ash blond hair almost falling in his eyes. His face was small, heart shaped with wide, golden brown eyes. His lips were full, slightly parted as he looked like he was about to say something. Felix couldn't be sure what he actually was, with a white circle on his forehead, a vertical white line down the bridge of his nose and a short line just under his lip and small flowers, barely blooming, sticking out from his messy hair.
"I didn't mean to sneak up on you," he spoke, his tone soft and barely a whisper in the warm morning air. "I'm sorry... I heard you talking and..." he trailed off, rubbing his arm awkwardly. He didn't appear to be a threat to them and Felix glanced over his companions as all of them relaxed a little.
"Who are you?" Minho asked, eyes fixed on the stranger and eyebrows furrowed.
"My name is Hyunjin and... and I was just wondering..." His words were mumbled, eyes slowly shifting over to look at the pot over the fire. On a closer inspection, Felix noted just how skinny he was. He looked kind of young, maybe around Felix's age but his cheeks were hollow and made him look older so Felix couldn't really tell.
"Are you hungry?" Woojin asked just as Felix began to approach Hyunjin. He could hear Chan protest from behind him, but he raised his hand to signal to Chan that he knew what he was doing. Hyunjin nodded, eyes not leaving the pot.
"I think there's enough for you as well," Felix said as he crouched down beside the silver thread. He murmured the same words he had uttered the night before and the faint glow of the thread faded. He picked the thread up, quickly rolling it up to place it back in his pocket.
"You're welcome to join us," Chan said, still eyeing Hyunjin closely but his posture was way more relaxed than before. Hyunjin looked over them all, eyes darting around nervously before he approached the pot over the fire. He almost looked like a starving animal and Felix's heart felt heavy.
"You sure?" Hyunjin asked slowly, brows furrowed in worry but he sat down as Seungmin and Jeongin both nodded. He looked really hesitant as he let his eyes over the group. "Thank you," he murmured as Minho wordlessly handed him a bowl.
"Are you traveling towards... the dragon kingdom?" Jeongin asked after a moment of silence. Felix returned to sit down beside Chan, keeping his eyes on Hyunjin as he ate. There was a pause as Woojin began to hand out small bowls of food. Felix just settled to share bowl with Chan as they were one bowl short.
"I am..." Hyunjin said slowly between bites. "I... I was..." he trailed off, staring down into his bowl. "I'm from the Willow woods... and we've been left alone by the humans for a long time." He shrugged. "But a while ago the humans got to the woods and we had to- we had to leave," he whispered, his voice wavering. "They set the forest on fire. I got separated from my friends and I just... all I know is that I have to get across this mountain range."
"Do you want to travel with us?" Woojin asked after a moment of silence and Hyunjin snapped his head up, blinking. "That would be alright, wouldn't it?" he continued, directing the question to the rest of the group.
"I don't see why not," Minho replied, nodding his head a little as he let his eyes wander over the small group. "We're already a group of rather mismatched strays. We can take another, no?"
"Of course," Chan said, glancing over at Felix before looking back at Hyunjin. "Do you want to come with us?"
"I-I- yes," Hyunjin said, eyes wide and glossy. "I-If you let me... I'd love to."
