5 and Taewoo x Lili
5: moon
Lili used to love nights like these. Crisp, cool air, a soft breeze, the full moon high in the sky, and not a soul in sight. Alone, but for the distant sounds of soldiers in their camps.
And she couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder.
She gritted her teeth and braced herself against a threat that wasn’t there. This was Xing’s border, dammit! Not Sei. Not...that. Lili had chosen to come here herself—after Yona went on ahead, she couldn’t just turn back. So she, Ayura, and Tetora had accompanied the army, and here she was. The soldiers surrounding their camp were her people, her allies—
(even though they had almost killed Yona?)
—and this nighttime stroll to cool her head was not an escape attempt, and—
—and Lili used to love the moon at night.
A crack of a branch behind her, and Lili whirled around, hand flying for the knife she now always carried at her breast. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill you too!”
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m not…” A boy stood there, from the wind tribe by his headdress, vaguely familiar. He held up his hands to prove he wasn’t a threat. “Uh...too?”
“I’m not—that’s not—” Lili fished for words to explain herself.
“Please tell me I won’t find any corpses out here,” said the boy. “I really don’t wanna deal with something like that on top of everything else.”
“No.” Lili paused. “Come on, you didn’t really think—”
“You looked like you meant it!”
Lili had meant it. That was the problem.
“Hey,” the boy continued. “Aren’t you General Jun-gi’s daughter? Lady Lili?”
“...how’d you know that?”
“I saw you in Sei,” the boy explained. “I’m Tae-wu, of the wind tribe.” No way, this squirt was a general? Then the rest of what he’d said sunk in. I saw you in Sei. Crap. “I guess I don’t blame you for startling easy,” he added.
Ohhhh no he didn’t. “I’ll have you know that since that time I’ve stared down hardened criminals! I do not—” What was she doing? She didn’t know this guy. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Maybe he was a general, but not a really impressive one like Geun-tae. It didn’t matter what he thought of her.
It didn’t matter if he knew the truth.
“It was a night...very much like this one...when I ran away from Kushibi’s fort.” He could guess the rest.
For such a young kid, Tae-wu took it in stride. He stepped closer to her and reached out, and it took Lili a moment to realize he was reaching for her hand.
She was still holding her knife. He didn’t seem to mind.
What the hell. It didn’t matter what he thought of her. She’d probably never see him again, right? Lili quickly sheathed her knife, then took his hand.
“Sometimes it’s good to be alone,” said Tae-wu. “I came out here to think over some stuff, but...maybe tonight isn’t one of those times. We’re having a party at our camp. Do you want to come back with me?”
Lili glanced up at the sky, and imagined the cold and lonely moon fading away into a warm, bright campfire. If a stranger could accept the part of herself she couldn’t show her father, couldn’t even share with Ayura and Tetora...then maybe it would really be alright if she did, too.
