Calls You Home [Akatsuki no Yona ~ Shin-Ah]

Chapter 29

A/N: Just a quick reminder, this fic generally follows the plotline of the manga, but there will be quite of few changes, especially in details and side plots.

Chapter 29

Every day that their group spent in the Fire Tribe lands was long but fulfilling, giving each of them endless opportunities to help the villagers. No matter how much work they did, there was always new tasks in the morning. Chores, mending, repairing, rescuing, protecting, every day brought something new as well as more of the same.

Shin-Ah healed quickly, his wounds fading into new scars under Yoon's careful attention. Every day, he would exercise and go through sword katas while Lien sat nearby, working on sustaining her flames. She allowed the fire to dance over her palms, thread through her fingers, climb up her arms.

She had to avoid letting her clothes catch on fire, and Yoon took to sticking nearby while she practiced, a bucket of water sitting by his feet. Lien was careful since she had feeling that if she did catch something on fire, Yoon would douse her and then he and Shin-Ah would roll her around in the sand until all the flames were out.

By using Jae-Ha's ability, they were able to travel around their territory in the Fire Tribe and keep an eye on multiple villages. Sometimes they would split up and stay in different villages, but for the most part, they all would spend the night in the same village for safety and companionship.

Lien perched at the edge of a porch with a few village children sitting around her. She was braiding long pieces of dried out straw together, creating dolls out of the only thing she could find. There was a woman in their caravan who made dolls like this whenever they went through a place with long straw. She also had a tiny bag of scraps that the kids were using to make clothes and wraps for the dolls. Two little girls were comparing their dolls, which were basically bundles of straw that had been wrapped up like swaddled babies.

"Mine's named Eung," one of them said, cuddling the doll close.

"I'm naming mine Ti-Ti," the other girl said, patting her doll gently, "She's gonna be a bandit when she grows up."

Lien smiled and kept braiding, working on a more complicated doll for one of the older girls. They were all being very patient, probably because Lien had promised them these dolls if they stopped pestering Zeno about the ginger soup he was making. It was a weak, thin brew in any case, but they were running out of food in general.

Her stomach was empty, and she could've drained half of the pot all on her own, but she would wait until camp that night to eat. Yona and Hak were supposed to go hunting that afternoon, so there was a chance that there might be a tiny bit of meat for each of them, though the main portions would go to the villagers.

She leaned back against a rickety post, careful to not put too much of her weight on it. There were many repairs that needed to be made around the village, and she would have to make a note that this porch needed some attention.

With her fingers occupied, she took a moment to glance around the village. Everyone looked healthier than they had when the Happy Hungry Bunch had first shown up, and that had to be due to all the work everyone had been putting in, including the villagers. Everyone was working together trying to make life better, though she wondered how much things were going to change if the Fire Tribe itself wasn't willing to make some changes.

On the other end of the porch, Zeno was playing with a couple other kids and tending to the ginger soup. Soon he would start ladling it out for people, with the kids getting the first portions, then the sick and injured, and then anyone else. He would need her help with bowls and cups. He caught her looking and sent her a bright smile. "Make Zeno a doll. A yellow one!"