The Pheasant, that fell from the Sky || Hwarang

- 18 -

Yeseul, Yeowool and Hanseong went to the Hwan's. They stood in the courtyard when Yejong stormed out of the house.

»Yeseul!«, he shouted and hugged her, »And Yeowool! And who are you?« Her little brother looked at Hanseong confused.

»Hello, little friend. I'm Hanseong and I'm also a Hwarang«, Hanseong introduced himself.

»Hello, Hwarang Hanseong«, Yejong greeted him and bowed slightly.

»Were are mum and dad?«, Yeseul asked curious. Normally they would've already come out of the house if they heard Yejong shout this loudly.

»They're out with friends«, he explained, »Why is there so much blood on you?«

»We had to fight«, Hanseong explained as he squatted down to be on Yejong's eye-level.

»Wow.« Her little brother was amazed by what he had just heard.

»Could you get us a bowl of water and towels as well as ointment and bandages, Yejong?«, Yeseul asked. He nodded and quickly went back into the house.

»Your little brother?«, Hanseong asked as the three sat down on the pyeong-sang.

»Yes.«

As quickly as he left Yejong came back with the things they had asked for. They started by taking care of Hanseong's cuts. He had gotten a few. All of them shallow, luckily. When he was taken care of it was Yeowool's turn. Meanwhile Hanseong told Yejong the whole story. It was amusing to see how the young Hwarang made big gestures to emphasize on certain parts of what happened. Yeowool only had another cut underneath the one he had gotten the other night.

»You're a good fighter I see«, Yeseul said.

»How come you notice just now?«, he asked cheeky.

»Because I only have to take care of one wound«, she explained and finished bandaging.

»Where did you get hurt?«, he asked. Yeseul took her hand off her waist showing him her wound. Only for the past hour, ever since they arrived at her home, she had felt the pain of the wound. Before the adrenaline must've let her forget about it. Now it hurt every time she moved too much.

»Alright, let's see«, he said, »Lay down.«

She laid down on the pyeong-sang and pulled apart her hanbok a bit to reveal the wound. Yeowool gently cleaned the wound, still she had to wince a few times and breath in sharply as every touch hurt. Putting ointment on it didn't make it any better except that she got used to how it burned making it easier to react less sensitive. He started bandaging her trying to avoid causing more pain as much as he could. Yeseul helped him as it wasn't easy to get the bandage around her waist.

»Hanseong, let's go back to the Hwarang House«, he suddenly suggested.

»Right, I want to know if there are any news from the Baekje Mission«, Hanseong agreed. Yeowool finished bandaging and helped her up.

»Is it alright?«, he asked and Yeseul nodded, »Then let's go, Hanseong.« The two Hwarang stood up. Yeseul was a little sad that they left. She had grown accumulated to them being around her the past two days. And now that she had confessed her feelings to Yeowool she wanted to be near him.

»Bye, Yejong«, Hanseong said to her little brother and waved his hand at him before also doing the same in her direction, »See you, Yeseul!«

»See you soon!«, Yeowool bid goodbye as well.

»Yeah, see you«, Yeseul said goodbye. She watched once again how they left the Hwan's courtyard and disappeared on the streets of the capital.

Two days later Yeseul went through the streets of the capital. She had nothing to do this time, she just wanted to go for a walk and look around. The sun was shining and most people seemed to be in a great mood. Her parents had not asked about where she had been that one night, which made her happy as she didn't have to explain the situation to them. That would be too complicated for her at the moment. Luckily, they just went on without asking.

»Look there she is again. Kim Yeowool's concubine«, she suddenly heard a female voice say.

»Oh yeah, rumour has it that they meet every evening«, another female voice said and laughed. Yeseul looked over to them. They were the same girls again. She would've loved to go over to them, but there were so many people around and she didn't want to cause a scene.

Bitter she went on with her way. Her feet lead her to the Hwarang House. Suddenly the gate opened and the Hwarang as well as their disciples ran out. Surprised she searched for Yeowool. Yeseul spotted him in the moment he saw her. Quickly he came over to her. Her heart beat a little faster as he stood in front of her again.

»What's going on?«, she asked curious.

»We have to help out the Baekje Mission group. They saved some Silla citizen but now are being followed by the Crown Prince«, he quickly explained, »See you!«

He ran over to his fellow Hwarang before she had the chance to say anything to him again. Hopefully everything went alright.