For Peace

5. Echoing Hearts

San tried himself at singing again to soothe the strained nerves of the group.

They had found some rest when the sun sunk beyond the horizon. Instead of a fire, they used Mingi's more subdued magical flames to heat their food. The night kept them warm enough that they left no trace. According to Yongguk, the savages were skilled hunters and readers of tracks. If the companions wanted to avoid their watchful eyes for as long as possible, they wouldn't want to alert them. Once the rumour spread that travellers had come to this land without proper protection, their every step endangered them.

After a night of startling awake at every rustle of a mouse in the grass, they returned to their wandering. Hopefully, by tomorrow, they would reach the intersection where Yongguk would part from them. It wasn't far from there to the ritual site.

Though Seonghwa still couldn't believe he would finally be healed, he looked forward to having no ache in his chest. Healing without losing something in return had become an unattainable luxury.

His staff accompanied Seonghwa through the tall grass as he spent his time thinking of a future he had never expected to regain. He dearly missed Cardend and its people, so his highest priority was his return there. Yet, he also didn't want to let go of his friends. While Hongjoong would accompany him to his cosy chapel tucked into the middle of nowhere, the others would spread out to continue their own lives. Seonghwa wanted to share those journeys, and he hoped to see them again, even after they split.

The first thing he would do upon coming home was to eat the sweet bread from their baker lady. Nothing tasted of home like it. He would assure his people, hold his service, and pray at the very altar that had witnessed both his curse and his first meeting with Hongjoong.

The memory awed Seonghwa. Back then, he had been so terrified of the gargoyle, so beyond words. He had tried to banish him with a cross like a fool. Looking back, it was incredible that Hongjoong had the patience to depart on the journey with him.

Then, there had been that dream... It had happened at the same place. The altar of his chapel in Cardend. The safest place on earth.

Seonghwa lifted his free hand to his cheek when it warmed, hiding his blush from the vigilant eyes following him around. He almost felt the amber on his skin as if it carried a different weight than the other stares.

Seonghwa prayed that the sinful dream wouldn't haunt his mind once he returned to Cardend. Everything else that had added to such fantasies about Hongjoong had become an addled mess in his mind, and Seonghwa was bashful to admit what else had gone down between them. For now, he block-headedly insisted that some magical spores Mingi oozed around him had fogged up his mind. The kiss he didn't deny, Seonghwa wanted it. Their secrecy in the Wool Mountains, however, he would take to his grave.

His body felt different since then. As if Hongjoong had awoken something in him that had been locked up in a sturdy chest until now.

In countless instances, they had been so close, only a hair's spread parting Seonghwa from submitting to a sin he could never forgive himself. If that rabbit hole were any less seductive, he would be concerned about how far he had given in already.

Hongjoong didn't lure him with sin, as some demons did. Neither did he push Seonghwa towards it like Mingi.

Seonghwa's walls crumbled all by themselves. Though his human faultiness eased his guilt, it made the situation all the scarier.

Steely to banish such thoughts from his mind, Seonghwa grasped the rough bark of his walking staff tighter. Wooyoung had tied the lucky coin he had given Seonghwa around the leftover stump of a branch near the top, and the charm jingled with every step.