The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 82: Ik-soo's Wisdom

They crossed the border between the Fire Tribe and the Wind Tribe without any problem.

KIja opted to watch the perimeter while she collected what she needed. Along with the letter to be delivered to the priest, Yoon had also given her a description of the herbs she needed to pick from his garden.

She found it easily. After all, it was the only thing that was flourishing in the valley. Picking what she thought were the right ones, a smile graced her lips as she heard the clumsy footsteps come closer and the clattering of objects as they were knocked over by the less-than-graceful individual.

"Ik-soo." She tilted her head towards the sound in greeting, not looking up from her work.

The quiet, sheepish laugh that followed made her grin, and the attempts of him trying to fix what he had bumped into made it widen when it crashed back down to the ground.

Standing up, she wiped the sweat off of her forehead with her arm, tucking the freshly-picked herbs into a wide, tan sash around her waist. Zeno had somehow found it and gifted it to her a few days ago, and she had discovered it was very convenient to have after her last one ripped.

The priest had his hands clasped together in front of him joyfully when she turned around.

"Calista! It's good to see you again."

Bowing respectfully, she greeted him warmly. She gave him Yoon's letter and once he saw the handwriting, he started dancing around happily, waving his arms around wildly. Her eyes grew fond at how overjoyed he was, but her hands shot out to steady him as he lost his balance just before he could careen into another stack of pots.

He invited her inside to have some tea and her eyes flickered towards Kija's figure in the distance.

Ik-soo was confused at her lack of response but it cleared once he saw her expression soften.

Ten minutes later, the three of them were all sitting in the priest's hut, sipping casually on some tea that Calista helped brew while she caught him up to speed on everything that they had been up to. But judging by the gleam in his eye, she was fairly sure he already knew most of it.

Still, he didn't stop her as she continued to tell him tales of their adventures.

"When Shin-ah and I got back, I'm not sure I ever recovered from such a tongue-lashing, Yoon was so mad at us!!" Calista wiped tears from her eyes, remembering how his face reddened in anger once he realized they endangered themselves.

It was the night that she had confessed to the blue dragon.

"I'm not sure I've ever seen someone scatter like that at the mere sight of his wrath." Kija laughed, more relaxed than he had been all day.

She didn't dispute it, knowing it was true. The boy was quite scary when he wanted to be. "Of course, I deserved it, running off and all without telling anyone."

Kija shook his head slightly in disbelief. "We understood it. He was really only worried because of your wounds, and then more so when Shin-ah went after you."

"His paralysis honestly shouldn't have worn off that fast." Calista pointed out, raising the teapot to pour more for them first and then her. "I still can't believe he was able to move around so much that quickly."

The white dragon fell silent, gaze training on the floor.

Her eyes narrowed at the uneasy action, and scrutinizing silver contrasted the innocent tilt of her head. Prompting him with a steady call of his name, her chest deflated as she watched sweat trickle down his face.