Awaiting The Dawn

19: Saving Time

For the most part, there weren't any bandit ambushes or other incidents as they looked for the blue dragon's village. But, there was something bothering her.

It was obvious enough for even Hisa to notice that the princess in particular was sneaking peeks at her. 

With this sparkling look in her eye, no less.

And then there was Kija. He generally put all his attention to the princess, but he was never mean to others. 

At some point, that dragon warrior started to outright ignore Hisa.

Their odd behavior was definitely because of the conversation they had earlier at dinner, after she opened up to Yoon. That was all Hisa was confident of without using her power. She had no idea of what they were thinking though.

Yoon was the one to summarize what the two of them talked about to the others. There was a little confusion with how visions would...manifest? Appear?

Anyway, Hisa had to clarify some things about vision floods and ordinary visions. And she had to explain that weird case that happened in the white dragon's village.

Hisa guessed that her power reacted to Kija, since she felt fine up until she saw him.

The question was, would it happen every time she met a dragon? If so, why not with Princess Yona? They were all related to the prophecy. The king, the sword, and shiel—

'No! Stop thinking about it!' Hisa mentally screamed at herself.

Whatever happened after the sixteenth birthday, it was better not to look! The future from that point on had too many knots and paths to be taken.

It was too broad. Too confusing. Think tiny, specific things!

'White dragon is afraid of getting married. Blue dragon has a cute squirrel. Green dragon gets caught by getting his butt stuck in a barrel. Yellow dragon can juggle. Princess Yona has her mother's eyes. Soo-Won takes a bath wearing semi see-through robes.'

Not like she wanted to look though!

She'd never do it on purpose! Even if he was really, really handsome! Wait, no! That's not what she meant!

Distracted and not aware of her surroundings, Hisa accidentally got slapped by a tree branch to the face.

It was at the following moment that she also tripped, landing on her butt with no less than five curses to the gods who invented trees.

She really needed to pay more attention, not think about a half-naked Soo-Won, and focus on the blue dragon.

Everything would be confirmed after meeting the blue dragon. If she heard that voice initiating the ancient pact and got a vision flood, then it'd probably repeat with green and yellow.

The only issue was the actual searching of the blue dragon's village. Hisa knew they'd get to it eventually, so she planned to silently walk along with the others.

She wasn't sure if it'd be okay to help them find the village.

Hisa wanted to, since walking through every spot marked on Yoon's map would likely tire the princess out since she wasn't used to lengthy travel. And she really wanted to know if her theory was correct.

Hisa's interference would be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, too.

Her fear was what held her back though. Because Hisa wasn't supposed to get in the way.

Even if it meant forcing the wounded thunder beast to walk farther than he had to, making Kija sad, and frustrating Yoon.

Yoon, the brilliant young man who she owed a debt of gratitude. With apricot hair, those adorable eyes.

So adorable.

"..."

Then again, a priest like herself wouldn't be smited by the gods for sparing the crimson dragon some fatigue...probably...

...hopefully.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kija. He didn't get a wink of sleep last night.

He seemed a little down as he stared at Hak telling Yoon about the nearby Fire Tribe's military training ground, which Yoon quickly crossed out from potential places to go.

Hisa stared at them too, but probably not for the same reason as Kija. Yoon was chewing on his lip, concentrating on the map.

After some...mild debate, Hisa gave away a short hint: "He's in rocky mountains."

Yoon perked up and quickly traced his finger on the map to point out the location. He looked at her and immediately turned away. Smiling, his cheeks flushed with a focused expression.

Cute.

It made her insides swirl and heart speed up, no regret in her decision.

They still had to walk, but the unnecessary detours were cut out once they figured it out where to go. It aligned with the direction Kija was pointing to, and Yoon mentioned that Ik-Su once told him a story about how some war refugees lived in those mountains.

"Hey Kija—"

"He's here." The white dragon interrupted Yoon. His eyes focused solely on the mountains in front of them. "The blue dragon is here."

"Are you sure he's in there, Kija, Hisa?" The princess asked, eying the tall rocks.

"Yes. This is it." Hisa took the first steps forward, internally hoping that Kija didn't get them lost.

It'd be awfully [funny] dispiriting if this turned out to be the wrong entrance.

She wanted to get the blue dragon quickly so that they could leave the caves as soon as possible. 

As they walked, she was a little paranoid of receiving the gods' punishment for speeding up the journey. Spending too much time underground where she could be trapped in the caves would not be fun.

When the group found the village, an elder denied knowing the blue dragon's existence.

He was definitely wary of them, but they were allowed to stay for the night and told not to explore as the place was a labyrinth.

Yoon resolved to find the dragon by exploring against the elder's warning and tried to draw a map immediately after being told not to wander the caves. They still couldn't find the blue dragon warrior.

After a while, Yoon stopped in his tracks with frightened eyes darting around. "Listen, I think we should head back. I'm getting a bad feeling."

"What?" The princess paused.

"Someone's watching us. Really intently..." He shivered, looking terribly pale.

Hak and Hisa agreed that they felt a strange presence, so the group made their way back to the room they were given.

Not long after, Hak and Kija realized that the princess had gone missing.

She reappeared as they searched for her, along with a young man wearing a mask over his face.

Hisa recognized him. That was the blue dragon.