Chapter 15: Moving Forward

I woke up without feeling rested at all. My body felt sore all over, like I just ran a marathon without a single minute of exercise. I groaned as I turned on the bed, I opened my eyes to see a dark stone ceiling, a white light bulb providing decent illumination. The atmosphere felt peaceful and friendly enough.

"You're awake," a voice to my left spoke, empathetic but detached. I turned to find Sakura, she seemed to still wear the coat she wore last night, only now it was unbuttoned, revealing a cream top that highlighted her curvy figure despite her petiteness. She also wore black slacks and boots, the combination shouldn't have worked, I thought, but Sakura made it work, in a professionally domestic kind of way.

She stood by a small high window, the sun looked to be high up in the sky. I suddenly thought that I forgot something important — like I should be somewhere else today rather than resting on this bed after an extremely draining rescue mission. I forced it behind my head, hoping not to regret it too much when I finally remember.

"You're Sakura, right?" 

Sakura smirked in amusement, "You also asked that last night."

"Oh, sorry," I said in embarrassment.

"It's fine," Sakura waved. "It's just amusing, that's all."

She walked towards me, pulled a chair that was beside the bed and sat. "What do you remember?"

"I remember that we succeeded," I replied.

"That we did," Sakura coolly confirmed.

"Where am I?" I asked as I finally scanned the room. It was cozy, one bed, a desk with a pitcher and an empty glass on top of it and a chair beside it, the wooden dagger I made was also on top of the desk. Now that I'm seeing it up close and without a Rider of the Hunt trying to kill me, I can see that even though it had the general shape of the dagger Sullyoon handed me, the one I made was a lot less polished, the handle was rough and the blade jagged. That was all there was in the room though, nothing much — nothing that wasn't needed.

"Headquarters," Sakura replied. "The upper portion, the part we allow others to see."

I nodded, "So underneath us —?"

The werebeast nodded, "Underneath us is the catacombs where the Triarchy meets."

The Werebeast Catacombs, I thought. Another object of discussion and theories at campus, its location in particular. No one has ever found it, and those who did and came back alive only do so because the Triarchy deemed it so. And for some reason they are all pretty tight-lipped, never once revealing the location of this fabled werebeast seat of power.

But they're not important to me right now. I took the pitcher and poured on the glass, emptying it in my mouth before turning back to Sakura, "Where are they?" I asked. "All of them."

Sakura sighed as she shifted on her seat. She leaned forward slightly, giving a teasing view of her cleavage. I immediately looked up to her face, which actually didn't help. She was prettier up close, in a serious and elegant cat-like way, there was sharpness in her eyes, but also a friendly gentleness, the contrast was disarmingly distracting — in a good way.

Sakura noticed, of course she did — she's an intelligence operative after all. She gave a quick smirk before answering, "Yuna and Sullyoon are safe at an undisclosed location. The reunion was sombre I was told, though nobody was allowed inside their chambers to respect their privacy."

I nodded, smiling at the thought of both of them wrapped around each other's arms. 

"Do you want to see them?" Sakura asked. "They'll probably be transferred sometime today, and they might also want to see you."

"Transferred where?"

"The Pale Princess was apparently in contact with the Lady of Spring to allow Yuna and Sullyoon asylum in her realm. That might be better considering they're faekind—"

"What about Oberon's court?" I interrupted.

"Handing them to the Court of the Fae King when they served Orion is a bad idea," Sakura replied.

"Oh, right." I replied, nodding my head slightly.

"Would they be safe with the Lady of Spring?" I followed.

Sakura pursed her lips and nodded, "It's the safest place they could be. The Lady of Spring is, generally benevolent, unless provoked of course. She is an enemy of Orion and only Orion, though she was known to hunt down other Night Folk and humans with connections to the Wild Hunt. She was also known to have taken defectors from his cause, even if they're not fae so... it's not exactly a new arrangement."

I smiled and nodded, "Good."

"So do you want to see them? We can have it arranged," Sakura asked again.

I contemplated the thought for a few seconds, then smiled, "No, maybe not today. Let today be theirs and theirs alone. If they're safe with the Lady of Spring, there's always time and opportunity for us to meet again."

Sakura gave a soft huff that might have been a chuckle. I looked at her, puzzled by her reaction, "Why? Did I say something wrong?"

She smiled, gentle and with a hint of pride, "On the contrary, Seren."

I smiled back when the door opened slightly. Sakura and I snapped our heads to find another girl, dressed in a simple white shirt and black track shorts. Her gentle feline face seemed familiar yet I can't quite place it.

Her eyes fluttered and blinked between me and Sakura, as if processing what is happening. "Oh. He's awake," she finally said.

"What is it, Haerin?" Sakura sighed.

"Haerin? The one who drove the minivan last night, right?" I asked.

Haerin took the whole of five seconds and two quick blinks to answer with a simple nod and a vacant look on her face.

Sakura then released a soft giggle. "Pardon her, Seren. She's still young and," she gave another soft sigh, "sometimes it seems that the world moves faster than Haerin can perceive it."

Haerin dipped her head, her eyes seemed to be searching something at the floor, a slight flush blossoming on her cheeks — cute, I thought.

"This is why she's assigned to the Intel and Recon Corp," Sakura continued, "top brass hopes it would... make her catch up with the world without putting her in the front lines."

Haerin started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I'm trying my best, Sakura," she whispered meekly.

"I know," Sakura replied. "I can see it. Just... take your time."

Haerin smiled faintly, the blush on her cheeks going noticeably redder.

"So why have you come?" Sakura asked again.

"Oh," Haerin jumped cutely then turned to her side, like she was looking at someone outside the room. "I'm sorry, I... uh... spaced out again, ma'am," she stuttered, bowing profusely, and I heard a familiar giggle from outside the room.

She turns back toward the room, "Uh, a huntress wants to see you, Mr Seren... I mean uh, Mr Vale... Mr Seren Vale..."

"Seren's fine," I chuckled, raising a hand to calm her down. "And who's the huntress?"

"Uh... mistress Lee Chaeryoung... Se — Seren," Haerin stuttered and Sakura and I were now visibly trying not to smile.

"Let her in, Kang Haerin," Sakura said, almost failing to hide a giggle.

"Yes, ma'am," Haerin nodded and opened the door wide.