"I told you you shouldn't have used your power to light a single campfire. But look at you now after lighting every fire in camp." I berated Yunjin as she lay in her cot, white as the ash beneath the fires of our camp.
"I just wanted to help." Yunjin murmured quietly.
"And in the process, now you're the one who needs help." I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
"Give her a break, Seren. She just wanted to be useful, feel useful, just like all of us." Kazuha said as she approached us gracefully and quietly.
I sighed. "Where's Sakura?"
"At the central fire. The kids had her pinned down. They enjoy her stories." She answered while sitting down beside me and resting her head on my shoulder.
"She always liked children." Yunjin muttered with a smile.
"I didn't know that." I said.
"We never met a lot of children while we're traveling." Kazuha interjects.
"Fair point." I shrugged.
It's been three days since the Battle of Dazkora and we've been traveling southward with a refugee group of about a hundred. We've pitched in where we can, I helped forage and hunt for food and supplies, Sakura helped heal the wounded, Kazuha scouts ahead and watches our rear, and Yunjin always forces herself to light every fire in camp. The first two nights were hectic as we were settling in in our respective roles. This night seemed more peaceful than most, though I dared not lay down my guard. And all this time, the Compass remained silent, still in hibernation after I overused our teleporting ability.
Kazuha sat beside me as I chowed down on some fish we caught by the stream we camped on. "It's been three days." I said, remembering Chaewon's tear stained face after she kissed me.
"She'll find us." Kazuha said.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because she made a promise." Yunjin was the one who answered. "And because she loves you, like all of us."
I allowed myself a small smirk of amusement. "You love me too?" I turned to Yunjin.
"Can't you feel the heat of my love, Seren?" She answered sarcastically, opening her arms wide in mock adoration, making Kazuha chuckle.
"You act like Ignariel." I remarked.
"Bad joke, Solari."
"Yeah. Sorry."
I then doubled back to our previous subject. "Since when?"
Yunjin sighed in a rare moment of exposed emotional vulnerability, "Since you rescued me from that theatric bastard. I've felt it but chose to ignore it. Big mistake when you're the angel of passion and emotion. But the clincher was seeing, no... feeling how much you love my sisters."
I can't help myself but smile as warmth spread across my chest. "How come..." I started.
"I don't show it?" Yunjin finished for me. "I'm also the angel of fire, Seren. I can't be all soft over you like Zuha and Sakura. I have an image to uphold."
To that Kazuha and I laughed.
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