Daffodils and Hyacinths (3rd book in the Forgotten Truths series)

5. EARLY BIRDS

A/N: Check out our side stories, "The Society" Hebe's backstory, and "One Hopeless Wish Among the Many in the Starry Skies" Myeong-Jun's backstory to help explain more of their character!

——

(The next day...)

~Ken'ichi~

The morning's rays shone brightly through the window. Mostly everyone was still asleep. However, that random girl was already awake.

She swayed her hips from side to side. She was in the garden, and at first glance it was hard to tell who she was, from her dark hair clouding her face. A bundle of whatever she was harvesting lay in the billow of her skirt.

She didn't seem to mind that there were others in her house. If this even was her house, or just some random ruins that her and Mus decided to crash in.

How was she up so early?

"How are you up already?" I asked her—I think her name was, Hebe?

I found myself in a dizzied trance for a few seconds, my mind recalling the words Myeong had said the previous night. I shake her words away. As always, it was her making conspiracies.

"I'll keep guard!" I remember hearing her say, "We can't just trust them. They might ambush us any second."

The girl, who maybe was named Hebe, as Mus had called her it a few times, turned to him. She awkwardly gave her hand to give a handshake to him. She made it clear that she was not from here.

"Good morning!" Maybe-Hebe grinned. "I like to wake up early every morning. Sunrises are one of the prettiest things here,"

She sounded as though she was reliving some memory. She probably did hit her head. Perhaps where she came from had different customs than here.

I lifted my gaze to look at the sky. "You're right. They are beautiful." I murmured. The sunrise was long gone by now, however, my eyes just visualized the rising sun, the beautiful mix of warm colors, and how the rays filled the world with light.

I glanced over at Myeong. She was still sound asleep, as she had practically stayed up almost the entire night, guarding. I thought of how her looks countered her personality. She appears cute, friendly—like the younger sibling of someone. However, her personality doesn't add up with any of her looks.

I quietly prepare for the day, trying my best not to awaken her. I slipped out of the room, silently closed the door, and find my way outside to where I think she—Hebe—was at.

"Would you like some assistance?" I ask her.

"I mean, only if you want," She replied in a smaller tone from the excitement she just held. "Gardening and preparing food is usually just for women, and dirty-coats."

Hebe pointed to herself, and chuckled, "As you can see, I'm both of those, so I guess this is my role to play,"

Where did this girl come from—? What was a dirty-coat?

"Dirty-coat? What's that? What do you mean by gardening is usually only for women and dirty-coats?" I asked, confused as ever. Did this mean that fearsome Myeong should be gardening?

"It's not wrong of me to help, right?" I ask yet another question.

"You're a white-coat," She blurted, as if what she was saying was not obvious. "Sorry, I mean I guess you can. I did not mean to come off as rude,"

Hebe dipped her head in a small bow. So strange.

"Please don't bow." I stutter. I still didn't understand what a white-coat or dirty-coat was, nor did I understand why she was acting in such formal mannerism towards me. "I'm not used to it." I say.

Then, I hear Myeong's booming voice. "I'm awake world!"

"Sorry," Hebe said, before starting to laugh at Myeong-Jun's booming voice.

"Oh? Ken'ichi, you're already gone. Huh, I bet you want to play Hide and Seek. Don't you worry, I will find you!" I hear Myeong shout a few seconds after. "You can't run from me!"

By this point, Myeong could talk to people across the kingdom from her.

"Shhh," Mus grumbled. He put his arm in front of his face from where he slept on his mat.

"So many early birds!" Hebe remarked; she returned to her earlier excitement.

"I wonder how long it would take for Myeong to find me." I wonder out loud. I patiently wait for Myeong to find me, however, it took a longer time than I expected.

A couple of minutes passed, before Myeong came outside. "Good morning world! Now, where are you, Ken'ichi..."

I muffle a laugh behind her, as quiet as I could. It was quite hard for me to control myself.

"Good morning, Hebe." Myeong greets Hebe, "Have you seen Ken'ichi around?"

"No," She shook her head, and bit her lip to keep herself from giggling.

Hebe never seemed alarmed by the posters that said they were criminals. Either she was: naive, really trusting, didn't know what a criminal was, or just decided to see the good in them.

"Really? Alright, okay. I give up." Myeong-Jun said, resigning. "Where are you, Ken'ichi?!"

"I'm flying!" I yell, pretending as though the wind was buffeting my face. I wave my arms up and down behind her, trying to create as much noise as possible.

"Wha— You're flying?" Myeong-jun replies, startled. She wore a whimsical expression. Her eyes darted up to the sky, to see, of course, no one.

Hebe started to laugh hysterically; not able to hold it back anymore. "I don't see how you guys could ever be criminals,"

"We're criminals because the worker-bee-queen-wannabe, Edge, doesn't like me." Myeong-Jun says, still searching the skies for the flying me.

"Alright, Myeong, I think you should turn around." I tell her, and stand nonchalantly. I knew she will be aggravated the moment she realizes my location. I had to prepare myself, by acting as calm as possible. Myeong-Jun then quickly whips around, her hair hitting her in the face.

"Ow!" Myeong-Jun jumps. She shakes her head vigorously, and clears her vision. She sees me.

"Wha- How-?" Myeong-Jun fumbled out through the chaos.

The first bit of what Myeong said, completely flew by Hebe's head. She started to giggle again from how long it took her.

"Yes, she — definitely— was in the sky,"

Then, the not-early bird, came. He whispered something to Hebe, before pointing down at the gathered fruits and vegetables she plucked. Hebe gasped, and he nodded. She gasped again when she looked down at her harvest.

"Hebe? What is it?" I ask. Myeong gets curious as well, and turns around yet again.

  "They're..." She looked away from them, and then looked at them again, as if that would change them. "They're rotten. All of them!"

    Mus darted to the growing plants. Bugs crawled over what remained, but they were mainly just brown. Save for some with spider' nest-like designs on the sides.

  "We should go to the market," He murmured.