Botan had attempted to get them to stay as Kija, Zeno and Yoon went back to fetch their things, but since they were too deep into investigating the nadai, they left the inn in order to protect him.
He had shoved several blankets for them to use while they camped outside, worriedly fussing over them like a worried uncle and the three accepted it to give him peace of mind, promising to bring it back as soon as they could.
He told them not to worry about it though.
Shin-ah and Jae-ha had set up the tent last night near the forestry edge of the river that cut through the town, close to the addicts who were still lined up in a row on the street.
Calista and Zeno took turns ensuring that they didn't get too cold, draping the blankets Botan lended to them over the men, and encouraged them to drink as much water as possible despite the half-conscious people refusing it over and over again.
Yona helped too, even though Hak didn't want her getting too close.
He didn't voice it though, choosing to keep an eye on her from a distance while she caringly tended to the addicts tied up.
A small fire flickered a few feet away, Yoon fast asleep along with Hak after Yona insisted that he get some rest. The princess followed suit not long after, unable to keep her eyes open after the day that she had.
Kija fell asleep propped up against the same brick wall that the men were sitting against so that he could stop them if they started rampaging again.
Zeno, to the three who were still awake, were surprised when he volunteered to take the first watch. He sat just outside the tent, staring off at something Calista couldn't see, relaxed and patient.
Around the dwindling campfire, Jae-ha took the opportunity to fill her and Shin-ah in on what his current plan was once daybreak broke and Calista's brow furrowed uneasily, something not sitting right with her.
"So, let me get this straight. You're going back to the place where they took the nadai to see if you can find out who's selling this stuff?" She emphasized, crossed her arms over her chest as Shin-ah let Ao nibble on the blades of grass beneath them.
"Terrible idea." She hissed.
The bite in her tone made Jae-ha wince even though he was older than her, the night chill turning frigid as she confronted him about his plan.
"Hak has already agreed to come with," Jae-ha told her quietly so he didn't disturb the other members of their party slumbering. "And Kija as well."
Calista huffed, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly.
After a few beats she let out a heavy breath in resignation. "I still don't think it's a good idea."
The light of the fire made it so that she could only see the shadow of Jae-ha's face and his eye twitched when he realized where she was going with this.
"If you're really going to do this, I think I should come with." Calista suggested, throwing Shin-ah an apologetic look as his head whipped around towards her.
Despair clawed its way into Shin-ah's heart as he heard her say that but before he even had a chance to react, she continued to speak.
"At least, that's what I was going to say." Calista finished, leaning back on her hands to rest as she sent Jae-ha a small smile. "But I'm sure the three of you are enough to handle an undercover op without me going along."
Jae-ha chuckled, raising a tiny cup of water to toast her sentiment. "That, we are."
Alcohol had been prohibited for any of them to drink by Yoon until he had a way of confirming that there was no nadai laced within it.
Calista's hand covered Shin-ah's trembling fingers, caressing it in a silent apology for scaring him for a second. She wanted him to know that she hadn't forgotten their talk, nor had she believed that this was a mission they needed her for, even if her expertise qualified her for it.
When she first heard that they were planning something like this, her first instinct was to go without question.
But Shin-ah's plea for her to help them ease her burden echoed in her mind and as she tried to take a step forward in the crossfire, even though there were already several layers of shields in place protecting the people she cared about, she found that she couldn't.
He was holding her back and preventing her from sacrificing unnecessarily.
They would be enough for this mission. And besides, Yona wasn't going either. So she could look out for her while they were stuck here for the time being.
As Jae-ha gave her more background and details on the place they were going to, Calista's brow furrowed in thought.
"Two women, huh?" She mused, a finger on her chin as she mulled over the setup that the red-light district that he had experienced. "I suppose that's nothing strange but it is a little underhanded for this particular situation."
Shin-ah tilted his head to the side in confusion now that he was no longer worried about her going off with them tomorrow. He didn't understand.
Calista inclined her head, elaborating on what she was talking about in response to the question she could tell he had. "Well, usually in those kinds of places, by making two women of different personalities tend to a customer, it allows for at least one of them to entice them based on their preferences."
Whether the patron preferred someone who had a seductive and confident nature or one who was more innocent and naïve, one was almost certain to ensure that the red-light had another paying customer that night.
Biting back a grin, Calista turned to the eldest. "That's what you based our dance on, isn't it?"
The fact that he used both her and Yona to dance meant that he knew of their strengths and how to best put them to use. He had used that strategy back at the bar.
Jae-ha hummed noncommittally. Admittedly, he thought that it worked a little too well, given that she and Yona had both gotten restrained by force. Which is why he was not, under any circumstances, letting her go on this one.
She was lucky she had Shin-ah to bring her back down to reality and wrap her in a blanket of peace and comfort to calm her down.
Calista popped up to her feet, interrupting his thoughts as she grabbed her daggers and headed a little bit away so that she was clear of both him and Shin-ah.
Jae-ha and Shin-ah watched as she ran forward a couple paces, the shadow of her figure moving stealthily as she slashed the open air with the deadly steel, practiced precision smoothing her movements until there was no hesitation between her attacks.
Calista panted lightly as she bent her knees, taking up a defensive stance against an imaginary enemy.
As she continued to train so that she didn't think about what had happened before Shin-ah had saved her earlier that night, the blue dragon got up, leaving Ao with Jae-ha as he ambled over to her.
Taking a seat at the foot of the tree that let him see her clearly but was far enough away so that he didn't get in her way, Shin-ah settled on the dirt and got comfortable.
"Don't you want to get some sleep?" Calista called breathlessly to him as she blocked an invisible counter to the head.
Shin-ah stubbornly shook his head no. He wanted to watch her. She was always such a vision when she got into the groove of training seriously. Flowing with such elegance and grace, it was almost deceptive how much power was delivered behind each arch of her arms.
Besides, he wanted to make sure she was safe. Night had fallen rather quickly and although he sensed that she wasn't quite ready to sleep, he wasn't going to go to sleep without her.
Fixated in his position, he watched over her until his eyes started to feel heavy and it wasn't until he couldn't keep them open anymore that he nodded off.
A soft smile curving on the edge of her lips, Calista paused in her training to rearrange him more securely so that he didn't fall. His gentle exhale tickled her cheek as she covered him in her cloak so that he wouldn't get cold and she pecked the crown of his head before returning to her stance.
Calista wasn't sure when she finished but sweat gleamed on her skin even in the dark and she was dying of thirst. Jae-ha had switched out Zeno, who had been on watch, ages ago so she took his place so he could get some rest.
She didn't know that she had drifted off, falling asleep on Shin-ah's shoulder, until the next thing she knew was that she was being shaken awake, the blue dragon gently rousing her to consciousness and pointing to something over her shoulder the minute she came to.
The others were already up and wreaking havoc on poor Yoon, who looked the most drained despite getting the most sleep.
Twirling around, Calista almost lost her balance when she stood up too fast as she spotted Lili, Ayura and Tetora from the other day.
Shin-ah was quick to steady her, his hands warm on her shoulders as he braced her against him for support. She sent him a grateful smile in return before confusion overtook her features.
Lili was on her knees, with what looked to be a small conifer in her hands, dirt smudged on her dress.
"Oh my," Yona said as she stepped out of the tent, hiding a yawn behind her hand. "You're the girl from yesterday."
Calista snickered and broke off from Shin-ah's side as she left to stray by the princess as she flounced over to where the three of their new acquaintances were at and he veered off to go check on Kija, who was checking on the conditions of the addicts.
Lili looked like she had been caught red-handed and had gone as white as a sheet. Her attendants were behind her, watching in amusement as she floundered for a reasonable excuse to tell Yona as to why she was suddenly here again.
"What a coincidence, we seem to run into each other a lot." Lili sweated nervously, clearing her throat when that didn't dissipate Hak's visible suspicion.
"You're the suspicious one, Lady Lili." Tetora smiled brightly, contrasting her words with a smile that rivaled Zeno's.
Pushing off her knees, Lili made a show of dusting off her clothes before planting her hands on her hips. "What are you doing, gathered in a place like this?"
"Um... well we didn't have enough money to stay at the inn so we had to leave." Yona told her with a small shrug, leaving out their connection to the innkeeper since it wasn't relevant information. "We camped out here last night."
A horrified shriek from Lili shattered the morning silence and Calista groaned. Everyone was so noisy this morning. Her head hurt. But in her tired daze, she tilted her head back carelessly and the hood of her cloak fell off.
Jae-ha was the first to spot it.
"Calista dear, are those what I think they are?" He asked slyly, smirking at the discoloration scattered across her skin.
Shin-ah's fur and turtleneck covered the marks she made but she forgot that she wasn't as fortunate. Her eyes shot open as she realized what he had just seen and she slapped a hand over her neck but by then it was too late.
"Jae-ha..." She hissed, an underlying warning accompanied with it but it didn't deter him.
If anything, the gloating smirk on his face grew.
Jae-ha's violet eyes sparkled with mischief and he dropped his leisurely stance against the stone wall where Kija was resting. "Someone had se—"
"AHHHHHH!!!!" Calista screamed, clapping a hand over his mouth. "JAE-HA!!!!"
Her shriek caught the attention of Shin-ah, Kija and Hak while Yona stared at the two of them cluelessly.
Calista frantically waved her hands to fend them off before they could come within earshot but doing that enabled Jae-ha to use his voice again.
He yanked down her arms as she went to claw at him, grinning broadly at Hak as he wandered over to see what all the commotion was about.
The expression that flickered across Jae-ha's face could only be described as knowing. "Calista dear—"
"STOP IT!!!!" She protested, twisting her wrists free to flail at him again, only for him to push her head away and hold her at arm's length.
"—and Shin-ah had—"
"SHUT UP, WE DID NOT!!!!" Calista cried, hitting the back of his head with such force that he spun around, getting dizzying and falling over.
Hak pretended he didn't understand what Jae-ha was talking about when Yona asked him what that was all about. Regardless of whether or not it was actually true, he didn't want to hear about his friend and his sister like that. That was way too much information.
But Tetora giggled, her feminine features contorting good-naturedly as Calista repeatedly whacked the green dragon over the head. They were all so endearing.
Lili huffed, stating that they were all childish and Ayura bluntly pointed out how she was only seventeen, to which the blue-haired girl exclaimed incredulously at her bodyguard's audacity.
But all of that changed when a quiet voice broke through the fuss. Shin-ah's head was cocked to the side, a puzzled expression on his face.
"... What... is sex?"
Calista froze and she whipped around, a murderous aura surrounding her as Jae-ha scrambled back, not wanting to face her unparalleled wrath.
"Ahh!! I didn't tell him anything!!!!" He protested, waving his hands wildly at her as she advanced.
"Then where did he hear it from?!" Calista glared at him savagely, hitting him again and again. "And it doesn't matter!! You were the one who started this!!"
Yoon raised an eyebrow at the very one-sided fight, glancing at Hak out of the corner of his eye. "Thunder Beast, aren't you going to stop her?"
"Nope." Hak commented dryly.
It was amusing seeing his sister put the green dragon in his place. He was going to savor this.
"Ack, Calista, quit it!!" Jae-ha winced as she landed a particularly hefty blow on his shoulder. She packed quite a punch when she wanted to. "It's not my fault!!"
"Yes it is!!!"
Shin-ah stared at them in confusion as they squabbled. He turned to Yona, who was looking at them with just as much bewilderment as him.
"Did... I say something wrong?" He asked worriedly, fidgeting in place and Yona shook her head.
"I don't know..." She mused out loud. She was just as puzzled as he was about what this was all about. "Hak, what is se—"
"Aaaaand that's the end of that." Hak interrupted, steering her and Shin-ah away from Jae-ha just so that he didn't give either of them any more ideas.
There was only so much of this that he was willing to entertain and the princess asking about those things was something he was not going to explain.
Maybe he could convince his sister to inform her later.
Like fifty very long years later. Maybe that wasn't even long enough.
He would think about it later.