Binding Fate (An Akatsuki No Yona fanfic)

[1] Leaving So Soon?

The fact that guards were escorting me to the throne room should have been the first sign that something was off. Buuuut lucky me, I'd noticed the abnormality of the palace a literal mile away.

Yay for my powers of perception.

There were far too many armed individuals in the palace. It was all wrong, and the moment I stepped inside my stomach had dropped into my toes. Something WAS amiss. Very, very amiss. Yona's birthday had been just yesterday hadn't it? Where were all the nobles that should have stayed an extra day or two to try and secure connections in the palace, or just relish their time at court?

Neither Hak, nor Yona had come to greet me, and the overall air of the halls was tense and dark, the guard's faces too set and serious. Plus, I didn't recognize any of them, and no one recognized me.

Rude.

With a sigh, I folded my hands behind my head and followed after my little entourage, missing the weight of the swords forever present at my hip. Currently, one of my lovely attendants was carrying my swords and travel pack, eyeing me cautiously as he hefted the deceivingly heavy weapons. I stuck my tongue out at him and blew a piece of pale hair from my face with a disgruntled puff.

He could spend all his spare brain capacity trying to figure out if or how a wiry person such as myself could actually handle the blades in combat. I wasn't going to offer an explanation.

Finally, our little group made it to the large doors of a meeting room reserved for the royal family. One of the soldiers opened a door and jerked his head, indicating I should enter. I arched a brow at him, and strolled past into the space beyond. Like much of the palace, it was elegant, but not overdone as many nobles preferred.

There was a table at the center, and I looked around. I was alone, at least for the moment. Shrugging, I picked my way to the table and plopped down, my legs crisscrossed, folding my arms. How long would they make me wait... The tension was killing me, so it had better not be long.

It wasn't. But the figure who opened the door was not who I expected to see.

Soo-Won entered and slid the door back into place, before turning back to me, that weirdly cheerful smile I remembered still on his face.

"You are the informant friend of King Il and Princess Yona, correct?" He asked, tone light as ever. I cracked a grin and lifted one shoulder, "Aye, so glad you remembered me, Lord Soo-won" I replied, rising and cutting a little mock bow, "Aron, wandering mercenary, at your service".

"Where is the King? I have some news that might interest him. The palace is so strange right now... I'd like to see Hak and Yona. I have souvenirs~" I said, then realized the soldier still had my bag.

I was being rather oblivious then, wasn't I. Or maybe I was just in some serious denial. My instincts had been wrong once before, as it turned out

Soo-Won's expression didn't waver, but there was a definite, if short pause. "The King is unavailable, can I carry your message?" he smoothed over, not mentioning anything about the Princess, nor her bodyguard.

I eyed Soo-Won's unreadable smiling face for a moment, then smiled and approached him slowly. "Of course, I'm sure the King is busy. It's just that there was some unrest in Awa as I passed through, and I thought he might want to look into it. I can trust you to carry my message to the King as soon as possible, right?" I asked, extending a hand.