Those of Us Alone

Chapter 72: The Bad Idea

Soo-won's POV

"I'm honestly surprised, heika," the irritated voice of Geun-tae echoed softly through the common area of the suite he, Joo-doh, Mundok, and I were given to lodge in whilst we were in Awa.

Everyone was antsy around the table as I spoke, "And what exactly are you surprised about, General Geun-tae?"

"Weren't we all contacted by Midori? It seems quite odd that one - she hasn't arrived to see us, and two - that we all ended up running into each other before we even reached to port city?"

Mundok sighed - most likely in annoyance with the situation, "I was not contacted by Midori." Everyone turned to face him, as I was the only one to know how he actually came to be here, everyone else was surprised by this news. "His Majesty kindly informed me that he was headed to Awa to help my granddaughter, who apparently left me out of the party."

"What?" Even Joo-doh was surprised to hear that Midori was selective on who she sent letters to, and clearly, she chose to leave her family out of it.

One of Dante's maids came in with her head down - likely under orders to gather any information that she could without being rude. She had brought in some sort of alcohol, and went to pour each of us one as Mundok continued.

"Why would she keep something like this from me? Does she think that she can't come to me for help?" An almost inaudible huff came from the maid, but as I was the only one to hear it, Mundok continued, "I guess I'm glad that she'll go to someone for help, but still . . . part of me also wants to be relied upon by her."

"There was a reason that you were excluded - and it's not that I think I can't rely on you."

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Midori's POV

The room was quiet as I sat on my knees, everyone's eyes were set on me. Clearly, by the astounded looks that I got, no one was expecting that I would arrive randomly, "Is this what you do with your free-time - bash me and my decision making?"

It was sort of funny to watch two generals and my grandfather opening and closing their mouths like fish, though I was quite surprised that Soo-won seemed calmer than the other three.

"MI-mmph!" Just as jii-jii was about to undoubtedly lecture the life out of me, I had darted across the table, covering his mouth with my hand - effectively muffling him.

If the others weren't surprised before, they were now, as I spoke quietly, and almost urgently, "You do realize that I'm not supposed to be here, right? You can't just yell my name out - not unless you really don't want to see me again." I pushed myself back across the table into a sitting position as I continued, annoyance slipping into my voice, "I thought I made it clear in the letters that I really needed you all to be inconspicuous."

As I looked around the table accusingly, Soo-won tried to speak up, "Uh . . .  well, we . . . couldn't show up . . . unannounced?"

I turned to him, not even looking at anyone else's reactions, "Says the person who decided to go undercover to try and solve the Nadai problem in the Water Tribe."

"How did. . ?" Joo-doh spoke up this time, and I glanced to him, in order to gauge his reaction.

When it was clear that I was not about to be accused of treason, I spoke up, "Nadai's a problem here too, y'know." I could tell that someone wanted to speak up, but I continued, "Dante was having it imported from some man named Hiyou, but, seeing as how none has been delivered in the past few days, I think that it's probably safe to say that you all are the ones that took care of that?"