haven - zb1

24

Even after lunch was long over and evening loomed, Jiwoong remained unconscious. They managed to chase Quanrui off to take a bath and rest after he had been in the lake for far too long and they all took turns to watch over Jiwoong.

To pass time, all they could do was wander about, train on their own and read.

Zhang Hao was evidently troubled, combined with Hanbin and Woohyun's own worries, the stormy sky was promising rain soon. The trio were content with sitting by the lake, chatting in hushed tones and manipulating the water as practice and amusement, occasionally carefully churning the sizzling water surrounding Jiwoong to keep his temperature constant.

Gunwook and Taerae took this moment to spar, which was cute as they were both long range, crouching among greenery and trees where they exchanged shots of arrows from. Occasionally a stray vine will shoot out unexpectedly but the other will always quickly react and block the plant.

Gyuvin and Yujin chose to retire to their room, Gyuvin had to clean off soot and grime from his skin after the match. Yujin snuck to the dining hall for a bit, which puzzled Gyuvin but ultimately he walked it off.

After he returned to their room to search for Yujin, he saw Yujin sprawled strangely on the ground. The youngest was propped up by his elbows as he offered grains of rice (supposedly stolen from the dining hall) to a few glowing spirits of a luminescent green.

"What are you doing -"

"Shh, you'll scare them," Yujin chides without turning around to face Gyuvin. The spirits nuzzled his fingers as they nibbled at the offerings.

"Are you feeding them?" Gyuvin asked the obvious incredulously.

"They like fruit the most but they'll take rice."

"What."

Yujin scrunched his nose up as he finally twisted to look at Gyuvin, "I'm feeding them. Even if they're small and seemingly useless, I think it's important to be kind to them regardless."

He seemed to have nothing else to add, so he continued to gently scoop rice onto his extended palm as the little strange critters cooed.

-

It took a couple hours but Jiwoong's body temperature finally dropped to a healthier level and Quanrui deemed him fit to be hauled out of the lake.

They brought him to the House of fire heirs' room, the others marvelling at the warm red decor as Quanrui unceremoniously dumped his senior onto his bed. As he rotated his wrists with a sigh, the others stood there in awkward silence. "Does this happen often?" Hanbin finally asked worriedly.

Quanrui shook his head. "He was doing really well for the past few years. This hasn't happened for a while. He's been undergoing treatment. Now all his progress..." He trailed off, anxious and uncertain.

"Our House of Water specialises in healing, or at least, I've never heard of any House using their ability to heal. We can help, if you'd like."

Quanrui was deep in thought. "Maybe a different treatment will work. What we've been doing is only suppressing the pain but if we directly treat the cause...He might get better."

A few beats of silence, before Quanrui said, "You've done a lot. We'll be fine for now, it's getting late, you guys should rest." Woohyun chose to stay behind just in case, and the rest went off.

-

Jiwoong woke to his body screaming in pain, his skin feeling raw as if it were being peeled off him. It was so excruciating his mouth could only form into a soundless scream, before he heard a muffled far-away voice yell, "Woohyun, please -"

Then the agony numbed slightly but his vision cleared slightly and his body felt cooler. Quanrui was standing over him, worry written across his face.

"Scale of one to ten?" Quanrui asked nervously.

Grimacing as he struggled to sit up, Jiwoong replied, "Seven."

"Liar."

A wicked grin from Jiwoong, "Eight point five then."

After Quanrui helped him sit up propped against a stack of pillows, and Woohyun siphoned some water off him, Jiwoong exhaled shakily before asking, "How long was I out?"

"Not as long as the last time," Quanrui replied, handing him a glass of water for his chapped lips.

The eldest stared at his hands, pale and slightly wrinkled from the soak in the lake. He seemed pensive and disappointed, so Quanrui quickly said, "We have water users around, we might be able to have better treatment than you did previously."

"Are you saying our form of treatment was poor?" Jiwoong joked, in an effort to lift the mood.

Quanrui raised an eyebrow, before saying, "We'll let you rest for a little. We'll probably be in Taehyun's room, so you can meet us there if you want."

"Quanrui."

"Yes?"

"Never mind. Let's talk later."

To allow Jiwoong some rest, they left quietly, Quanrui closed the door behind him and walked a few paces to reach Woohyun who waited a distance away. "Thank you," Quanrui said quietly, "For being willing to treat him."

Flashing his signature grin, Woohyun replied, "No worries. But Zhang Hao's the best at healing among us all. He's the strongest after all."