Midori's POV
Surprisingly, I was seated at the same table as the King and his Generals. I don't really care where the others went though - I apparently hadn't known them.
I also had a cup of tea that I was drinking from, "Wow!" I glanced over to my left, as Soo-won had his outburst. I was sitting to his right, Joo-doh to his left, and Geun-tae straight across, "This tea has a very good aroma."
Geun-tae's face lit up at the King's complement, "It's tea that was taken from my wife's plantation that she takes so much pride in." Ah, that's cute, I thought as I looked down into my flower-scented tea with a small smile on my face, He takes so much pride in his wife's work. "I don't like it too much because I think the scent is too strong though. My wife invents things as a hobby, so please excuse the weird flavor as well."
"Is that so?" Soo-won spoke with enthusiasm, but tried to discretely glance over to me. I say discretely because I caught him, raising an eyebrow and with a smirk, causing him to look away quickly to the General in front of him, a red tinge visible, "I like it!" I assumed he was a bit embarrassed to be caught, so he turned to Joo-doh, "Right, General Joo-doh?"
A frown was on said General's face, as he spoke up, "I don't have any particular complaint about the tea's flavor, but Geun-tae . . . " I let out a small sigh, catching only the King's attention. He let it go, though, as Joo-doh finished talking, "How could you even for an instant serve the tea your wife failed in making to the King?"
A frown now graced Geun-tae's features as well, "Huh?"
Trying to diffuse the situation - at least a little bit - I spoke genuinely, "Well, I for one think that this tea is wonderful." Geun-tae smiled at that, "I'd think it'd be more a success than a failure."
"Thank you, Lady Midori," I slightly flinched, but otherwise kept a smile on my face. "And as the Lady said - Joo-doh - it's not like anyone said it was a failure. You're a stiff man as usual." Ah, this man really wanted to fight, but at least I got to complement his wife - as she was really good at what she did, "It's because you furrow your brow like that all the time . . . that you can't even get a woman to serve you tea."
"You Bastard!"
The look of pure glee at winding Joo-doh up was painfully obvious on Geun-tae's face, "Oh, you wanna go?" I was having a hard time containing my laughter at Joo-doh's pure rage, so I took to sipping on my tea while trying - and failing - to keep back a smile, "Hey Chul," he spoke to his ward, "bring my sword."
"You just want to fight, don't you?" I was snickering softly as my thoughts from earlier were confirmed.
Of course, we couldn't have our visit cause a fight, so the King swooped in to save the day, "General Geun-tae!"
I glanced over to Soo-won, he had dropped his childish demeanor for a moment, and it caused the General in question to stop in surprise, "Wha-What?"
. . . It had been a solid five seconds of tension before the King reverted back to his previous personality, "It was delicious!" The complete 180 and back must've done a number on Geun-tae as he began to sag as Soo-won finished, "Please let me see the plantation later."
I finished off my tea with a smile as I glanced between Joo-doh and Soo-won as the later began his lecture for the day, "It is because of your absentmindedness that you're not taken seriously! Show more dignity and awareness as a King!"
I met Geun-tae's gaze as Soo-won answered, "Okay, okay."
He raised an eye brow, but I just shook my head and smiled - this kind of interaction was so nostalgic, I really didn't know how to react.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not sure how we went from drinking tea to getting a tour of the castle here in Chi'shin, but we did, so we - being Joo-doh and myself - were following the King and Geun-tae along with the ward, Chul.
"I've been to Capital Fuuga and Saika Castle often," Soo-won began while looking at our surroundings in awe, "but I've never been to Chi'shin Castle before, so I find it very interesting."
Geun-tae looked around reminiscently, "Well . . . it's worn out here and there. I've wanted to refurbish it, but we just don't have the resources to do that."
Chul had made some remark about Geun-tae lashing out at the castle in his early years, but was quickly interrupted by an older man, "Lord Geun-tae!"
"Hm?" The man in question turned to his elder, "What is it, Hee-dae?"
The elder, Hee-dae spoke solemnly, "There was another cave-in at the Udo Mines."
Almost immediately, Geun-tae dropped his 'I could care less' demeanor that he had when showing us around and got down to business, "What?! How many are injured?"
I frowned, it wasn't everyday that a mine caved in, but it seems that this was an important mine for those in and around Chi'shin, "There were ten-or-so young ones." While it was a good thing that there weren't any elderly that got hurt . . . around ten people getting injured is nothing to bat an eye at - rather, it is a serious problem if that many got hurt.
It seems that Geun-tae and I were on the same train of thought as he spoke, "So that one is no good already, huh?" He then looked up to the elder, "Did you manage to collect everything completely?"
Geun-tae and the elder continued talking, but I decided I didn't want to hear anything else depressing, so I tuned into the conversation that Soo-won was having with Chul, "It must have been something important you needed to talk about? For Your Majesty to come all the way here in person?"
Soo-won shook his head dismissively, "Oh, no. I came for a little sight-seeing."
"Honestly," I muttered whilst slightly whining after hearing his answer. However, I decided that there was no way - no matter how daft this King wanted us to think he was - that he came all the way here just to sight-see. I caught the King glancing at me, I could see that he understood that I caught onto his game.
As Chul began to - ah - lecture Soo-won, the two of us shared a look. I must've known this guy a whole lot more than I originally thought because with one look, I began to realize what we were here for. " . . . we just don't have the resources to do that." - Ah, I understand. The tribe's economy, maybe? I guess I can just ask later.
Not too far into Chul's lecture, Geun-tae came up behind his ward and hit him in the back of his head, "Watch your tongue. Don't talk to him like you talk to me."
Soo-won spoke up - apparently clearing up something that Chul spoke about, "In Awa, Lord Yang Kumuji was caught red-handed in human trafficking and has gone missing."
"What?" Surprise overtook both Geun-tae and Chul, but it was the prior who voiced his confusion, "That man was exposed, you say?"
Chul, who seemed to think that no matter what a King was only somewhere to do something profound, spoke up again, "Your Majesty, did you go in person to punish him?"
Suddenly, I was having flashes of hazy memories appearing before my eyes. I shut them (my eyes) in attempt to try to decipher what the heck any of them meant, but all I could gather from those flashes were the fact that it was dark, and dank, and there was an overwhelming amount of fear that I got from those memories.
When I re-opened my eyes, I found that I was being steadied by Joo-doh, but there had apparently been no lull in the conversation, just a concerned glance thrown my way as Joo-doh kindly helped me until I got my footing.
" . . . It seems the ones who did it were the local pirates," said as the King seemed to wave off the importance of what he was saying.
A grimace covered the Earth General's face as he muttered, "Pirates."
I looked down and away from the conversation. Though I couldn't completely remember much about my last visit to Awa, I was very close with those pirates, and I wouldn't hesitate to warn them should something happen to get them in trouble.
Seeming to sense this, Soo-won spoke quickly, "It appears there were pirates who played an active role to stop the human trafficking," cue a glance over to me, then back to Geun-tae, "so don't punish them very badly."
Geun-tae began to speak to Soo-won about King Il, but there wasn't anything good to say, apparently. Deciding that I didn't want to hear any of this, I walked over to the edge of the walkway and sat with my legs dangling off the side as I took in the greenery.
Unfortunately, seeing as I was so close to the conversation, I couldn't block everything out, " . . . I might have been the one to rebel."
I snapped my gaze to the conversation. That . . . That almost sounded like an accusation?!
Obviously, I wasn't the only one to think that as both Chul and Joo-doh yelled at him for such claims.
"Oops," there was a smirk on Geun-tae's face, "I meant I might have been the one rebelling." That got even more yelling from the two previous people. To be honest, they were right, it didn't really sound any better, but at least this didn't sound as much like an accusation as the last wording. "What I mean to say, Your Majesty," said Geun-tae, "is how are you different than King Il?"
Honestly, though he seems to be taking a direct approach, I too wondered what differences were there between the current and previous King. Just because I apparently knew the King rather well, I know that from the years before I was introduced to him, I thought the worst of the man that did nothing to save those in Awa.
Geun-tae continued, refusing to let Soo-won off the chopping-block, "At this time you are sight-seeing, and you are tiptoeing around the subject of the pirates. Will this country be saved by that?" There is a lot of doubt in Geun-tae's explanation, and while I admire his honesty, I'm not quite sure this is his best move, "At the coronation ceremony, you said you would restore this country to the great power it was under the King two generations ago. Can you say for certain," the two of them - Geun-tae and Soo-won - were staring each other down, "that you weren't lying about those intentions?"
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Hello, again!
I am sure by now you guys are surprised I am still writing, but I have gotten some inspiration and I am running with it.
I sort of did this arc in my other Akatsuki no Yona fanfic, but I am going into a bit more detail about it here. I hope that you are enjoying it so far.
I should warn you, if you are a little confused on the dialogue, I didn't want to type out everything that they were saying, so if you want to read what the dialogue was that I skipped, I advise you to read the manga - chapter 44.
Okay!
Hope you liked it,
~Ashley