Awaiting The Dawn

10: Jade Of Thanks

Later that night, when Yoon was making clothes, Hisa approached him. She held her hat out to him.

"You're giving me this?"

Visibly horrified by the prospect, she pointed to the hole.

"You want me to fix it." He said in a dry tone.

She nodded.

"What a pain. As if my hands weren't already full," Yoon complained, but put down the thread and cloth, taking the hat. "This isn't for free you know."

Hisa bowed her head, then took something out of her bag. It was a small jade pendant, hung on a black silk braided cord.

She set it on the floor beside the cloth, out of the way of his work. "You want this fixed too?" He asked as he inspected it in his hand, looking for a flaw.

She laughed and shook her head.

"Then you're...giving it. To me?"

Hisa nodded. In case he was about to refuse for whatever reason, she darted away and laid down, ignoring Yoon's grumble of complaints while he continued to work.

"It's pretty. Thanks." He mumbled so quietly Hisa almost thought she imagined it.

She smiled to herself, and fell into a calm sleep.

.

She had a dream. No, it was a vision.

She was an elder lady, watching her granddaughter-in-law sew clothes for her soon-to-be baby. It was peaceful. Quiet.

The room shifted.

The pittering of rain could be heard. She stood by the door, placing a gift in the hands of a kind stranger who saved her grandson's life. An old jade pendant from her dowry back when she married.

She told the woman with long black hair to trade the pendant if she ever needed to.

Her hope was that one day, her gift would help her somehow. She looked at the woman, thinking how a lovely gray her eyes were, then bade her farewell.

The young girl smiled, carefully wrapped it around her neck, her voice quiet against the rain. "Thank you."

Her eyes shot open. Hisa had to touch her face for wrinkles as a reminder to herself that she wasn't a grandmother.

She was Hisa.

She was a priestess.

She was in Ik-Su's house.

She needed to go back to sleep. Or else she'd be tired the next day. Visions drained energy, whether they came while she was awake or not.

She mouthed out the words she wanted to say. 'Thank you madam. Your gift helped me today. May you have a good rest.'

.

The next morning, Hisa woke up late. While she was still half-asleep, Yoon and the princess were having some sort of conversation.

"—if you're leaving on your journey, you should get going. I don't have time to look after you." Yoon said to the princess, then turned to Hisa, who still felt groggy. "Hey. If you're done sleeping, go change. I made you something too."

He walked away with an old book and left herself and the princess alone in the house.

'Change?' Hisa tilted her head. She didn't tell him she had a spare change of clothes, did she?

Then she saw a small folded pile of clothes and her newly fixed hat next to her.

'Oh, that's what he meant.'

She stripped herself, unaffected by the princess' shy stare. Before wearing whatever Yoon made, she took out her water-skin and used it to wet a cloth.

Washing her face first, she wiped all the dirt and sweat covering her body and changed.

It was a light green sleeved gown that stopped just above her ankles and cut to the side. She wore it over a pair of black pants that she found in her bag. Over the dress was also a blue vest similar to the one the princess wore, as well as a black sash.

After taking out the comb in her bag and brushing her horribly tangled hair, she was in the cleanest condition possible.

The only issue was that there weren't any hidden pockets for her knives, unlike her old clothes.

Hisa sighed, sifting through the battered clothes she wore when she fell off the cliff. She could hear the princess gasp when a pile of knives thumped onto the floor.

"You...have a lot of weapons." She paused for a moment, eyeing one particular knife. "Can I hold one?"

Hisa nodded, welcoming her to look at her collection and letting her hold one of her hunting knives. She laid them out so it was easy to count; five throwing knives, two hunting knives, and a short dagger. Hisa usually kept three throwing knives and a dagger on her person at all times.

"Um, Lady Priestess?" The princess turned away from the blades and looked into Hisa's eyes. "Ik-Su told me you aren't supposed to talk, but could I ask you something?"

She nodded, fastening her short dagger to hang on her waist.

"Why were you up on the cliff? Did you see Hak and I with those Fire Tribe soldiers? Are you going to stay here from now on? Oops...I meant to only ask one thing at a time." She lowered her eyes and smiled to herself. "But something about you just makes me want to get to know you."

Hisa came closer to her and gently took the princess' hand.

She traced on her palm, pausing between each answer. 'Throw knife away. Yes. No.'

Her answers seemed to confuse the princess, so Hisa rewrote them until she understood her 'yes' and 'no.'

The princess nodded her head in return. She squeezed Hisa's hand. "If you're not going to stay, then do you have somewhere to go?"

She thought for a moment then shook her head. Hisa didn't want to go back to her village yet, and there wasn't anywhere that she really wanted to go.

All she cared about at the moment was to continue the fun she was having with the people she had only seen in visions, so Hisa pointed to the princess.

"Do you...want to join us? Really?!"

Hisa smiled, causing the princess to copy her expression. She couldn't help but stroke the princess' head, even though she knew how important the girl was to the future of Kouka.

After a while of chatting and welcoming Hisa to travel with her and Hak, Princess Yona left to go find Ik-Su and tell him about their plans.