Feathers | Seokjin

Chapter 6 - Truth Behind White Feathers

For past three days Seokjin had been continuously walking back and forth between the stream and the cottage despite of his ankle pain, only expecting to meet the fascinating dove, but the luck was not in his side. She was never there in her usual hiding places. He needed to see her. He needed answers, even if he himself was not so sure whether she would be able to give them. More than anything, he was scared to return his old dull life. He got too used to the colours Sera brought to his life with her, that he couldn't imagine himself without her. He was scared to be left alone again.

That day was not so different. He came home in the evening with broken hopes after waiting for hours near the stream. Before he could close the door and drown himself in the painful loneliness turbulent voices stopped him.

"No! It can't go far. I'm sure I saw it got shot with my arrow. Search the whole valley."

Seokjin turned around, startled by sudden flurry.

"Man, we can't miss that thing. That one will surely earn us more than twenty gold coins. Did you saw those feathers?"

"This way John. It might have flown back to the forest."

Two villages with bows and arrows were looking around in a hurry. They stopped upon seeing Seokjin.

"Hey, did you saw a white dove shot a with an arrow?"

Seokjin's breath hitched in his throat, eyes widening.

"Did you?" The hunter asked again impatiently.

"N-no. I d-didn't." Seokjin finally muttered a reply after gulping down the sudden worry.

"If you ever see it take it to me. I will sure pay you well." With those words the hunters left to search for their new treasure, not waiting for a reply.

Seokjin stood there motionless in front of his door, still processing the new information. 'It can't be her? Right? It's surely some random poor bird,' he told himself, not wanting to accept the possibility that his beloved Sera might be in danger.

His flow of thoughts was interrupted by a bustle among the peach leaves. He looked up just in time to see his beloved companion falling to the dusty ground, a long arrow attached to her side, white soft feathers painted with blood. Seokjin wasted no time before hurrying to her and taking her in his hands, heart clenching at the sight in front of him. A sigh of relief left his lips when his gentle fingertips caught her erratic heartbeat.

"Hold tight Sera. I got you.." Seokjin gently whispered her before running back into the house and finding a comfortable cushion to place the shivering creature in his grandfather's room where the medicine box was. Then he quickly took the arrow out and applied pressure onto the wound, stopping the blood. He was glad to notice that the wound was not very deep, but for a small and weak creature like Sera, it will surely be painful. He dressed the wound, after applying honey and cerate*. By the time he finished, took a step back and admired his handiwork, Sera was sound asleep on the soft cushion.

"You almost died today. This is why I always told you to be careful. But you never listen. Don't you little one?" Seokjin scolded even though she couldn't hear him.

"Sleep tight. You'll feel better by morning." With that he carefully closed the door and went to his room for a well-deserved sleep.

Next morning Seokjin woke up early with the hope of seeing that his beloved Sera had gotten better. With a fresh water bowl in one hand he carefully opened the door of the room not wanting to startle the poor creature. But what he saw inside there caused him to gasp loudly and drop the water bowl onto the floor.

The most gorgeous woman he had ever seen was sleeping there, sitting on the hard wooden floor resting her glorious head on his grandfather's old dusty bed. Her skin glowed like gold in the morning sunlight. Midnight black hair with soft curls cascaded down, making glamorous pools on the floor making him want to touch them. Her pure white silk dress reminded him of snowy mountaintops in a cold winter.

When his water bowl dropped to the floor with a loud thud, she flinched slightly and slowly opened her eyes. It took her few seconds to adjust into the brightness of the room and recognize where she was. When her ebony eyes met with the man at the door she quickly stood up, eyes wide with fear. The sudden action resulted a sharp pain in her shoulder causing her to wince. Nevertheless she took a shaky step back, one hand clutching her throbbing shoulder tightly, now her back hitting the wall behind.

"W-wait. Calm down." Seokjin said, his dry throat making his voice hoarse.

"I-I'm not going to hurt you." He quickly added looking her in the eye and when he recognised those familiar black orbs with swirling stardust in them, it was his turn be surprised again.

*cerate - hard, wax-based solid consisting oil, lard and other medical ingredients, applied to the skin directly or on dressings.