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

Chapter 35

"So who's going into town?"

The group was standing in a circle, looking at each other and considering Yoon's rather important question. The town he spoke about was a mountain village not too far from the border between Kai and Kouka, and it was where they were planning to get their supplies for continuing their journey into the empire. It was still winter, and some of their group needed more winter clothes while Yoon wanted to stock up on food and gear.

"As long as we all wear cloaks, we should be fine," Jae-Ha said, "It at least handles the problem of the unique hair colors." He glanced over at Shin-Ah. "Oh, except Shin-Ah needs to take off his mask..."

Shin-Ah blinked and looked at the green dragon apprehensively, one hand lifting to touch the bottom of his mask. Taking the mask off made him anxious, and he always felt like it drew more attention to him than the other way around. He knew that was probably because of how his own village had treated him, but there was a difference between recognizing that and being able to accept it. He shook his head at Jae-Ha and let his hand drop.

"You could wear something else," Jae-Ha suggested, "Like a blindfold? Or a veil."

"He can't wear a veil, that'll draw the same amount of attention," Yoon said, "People don't just wear veils."

"We could say he's in mourning," Jae-Ha said, rolling his eyes.

"Does that mean we all have to wear veils?" Kija asked, "What would we even be mourning?"

"Just him keep the mask on," Hak said, "We'll just say we're a performance troupe."

Yoon's eyes lit up. "That could actually work. And since we're short on money, perhaps our resident actual performer could do a little performing so we can bring in a few coins. We're low on funds."

Everyone's gaze slid to Lien. The girl looked around the group, an uncertain expression on her face.

"I mean, I guess I could do that," she said, "Jae-Ha, could you play your flute?"

"Certainly," he said with a grin, "I knew someone would appreciate my skills."

"Will that be enough though?" Lien said, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, "If we're all supposed to be performers, won't they except us all to do something?"

"Zeno can juggle!" The yellow-haired dragon beamed, looking completely confident in his abilities.

"Can you dance too, Yona?" Lien asked, turning to the princess.

"I think so," Yona said.

Besides her, Hak's eyebrows began climbing up his forehead skeptically. "I don't know. Maybe you should leave the dancing to Lien."

Yona whirled on him, red hair flickering in the sun, her eyes narrowed. "Do you have something to say about how I dance, Hak?"

"I'm not sure you can call what you do dancing, princess. That might be an insult to professionals like Lien."

Yona puffed up. "I can't believe you just said that, you miscreant! I've taken loads of lessons, and I'm not a terrible dancer!"

Hak smiled and dodged as Yona threw a stick at him, bending away from it. Grabbing a longer stick from the ground, she took a few more jabs at him, but he avoided each once nimbly.

Lien held up her hands. "I bet Yona dances just fine, she was trained at court."

"It's no use, they're not paying attention," Jae-Ha said, "Which is just as well." He rolled his eyes before turning to look at Kija and Shin-Ah. "I'm playing a flute, the kid is juggling, the girls are dancing, Yoon's probably going to take up money, what are you two doing?"

"I...I don't have a talent like that," Kija said, shaking his head. "I guess I could...lift things?" He frowned and considered it, his eyes narrowing.

Shin-Ah didn't say anything. He didn't have any kind of performing ability that would lend itself to helping the group. The best thing he could do would be to stay out of the way. He stepped over to Lien, slightly behind her, as if to say her skills would be enough.

"Ah, you have to do something, Shin-Ah," Jae-Ha said, raising a hand, "So you better figure out something."

"He could show off Ao," Lien suggested, "People love animals. If we asked people to pay a few coins to feed and pet Ao, we could feed Ao and make a little money as well."

"Ao would just love that," Yoon said. His eyes shone at the prospect of a new money-making scheme, er, idea.

Shin-Ah looked down at the squirrel, who was clinging to his coat. It was true, Ao would enjoy the attention. If she had been a shy creature, he would have been much more reluctant. "Just nice people," he said, reaching down to scratch the squirrel's little round ears.

"If they're not nice, we can make some more money by letting you show off your sword skills," Jae-Ha said.

"I think we'll lose money if we have to bail Shin-Ah out of jail for menacing people with his sword," Yoon said, rolling his eyes, "But yeah, we can be careful about who pets Ao."

With a vague plan in mind, the group headed off toward the village. Shin-Ah stayed near Zeno and Lien as they walked, the two of them talking about juggling and dancing. He kept reaching up to touch Ao as if the squirrel was suddenly going to disappear. He didn't like the idea of everyone feeding the squirrel, but he had to admit, it wasn't a terrible idea. It was market day, so luckily there were enough people hanging around that they didn't automatically draw all of the attention to themselves as the group claimed a space in the village square. They wanted to wait a little before showing the village what they could do.

Yoon spread out one of their blankets on the ground while Jae-Ha pulled out his flute and Zeno disappeared to go find some things to juggle. Shin-Ah stayed near the back of their group, wondering what he was supposed to do.

Lien appeared at his side, a small smile on her face. "You don't have to, you know."

He looked down at her. What exactly was she talking about?

Reaching up, she held out an open palm to Ao. The squirrel responded by leaping off his shoulder, landing on her hand and racing up her shoulder. "You don't have to let other people feed Ao. She's your squirrel."

"Free food," he said, giving a slight shrug. Ao did eat a lot, and it wasn't like she wouldn't enjoy the attention.

"As long as you're okay with it," Lien said.

"Okay, team meeting," Yoon called, catching everyone's attention. They gathered in a loose circle, and Shin-Ah could see that the villagers were starting to become interested in them. They were getting a lot of looks, which he wasn't sure was a good thing. Weren't they supposed to be keeping a low profile? But as long as Hak and Yoon thought it was okay, it must be all right.

Yoon put his hands on his hips and looked at the group with a searching gaze. "Let's get this straight, we're here to make money and get supplies. No one get into any fights with guards or officials and don't make anyone angry, and just...don't do anything stupid."

"You have so much faith in us, Yoon," Hak said in a deadpan, putting his hand over his heart, "It's touching."

"We won't fail you," Kija said with determination, shooting Hak a small frown.

Lien and Yona shared a glance and nodded. "You can count on us, Yoon," Yona said with a smile.

"Or at least you can count on Lien," Hak teased, not looking down at Yona as she glared at him.

Shin-Ah wondered if it was going to go well or be a disaster. Either was possible.