Their New Home (Yona Of The Dawn X Oc)

Chapter 4

"Just a little acorn hanging from a tree," Aiko sang, hanging upside down from a tree. It was later on in the day and she felt extremely bored, therefore she did what every normal girl her age would do and chose a tree to climb.

She was comfortably lounging on her spot for a few minutes when she heard some commotion from down below.

With a sense of urgency, Aiko climbed down the tree and rushed to where a large crowd of wind tribe members stood.

"Hey, what's going on?" The black-haired girl called out to no one in particular.

"The river's dried up somehow. Lord Hak's trying to figure out what's going on," one of the older women explained, causing Aiko to sprint to the river in alarm.

The wind tribe's only water source was vital for its survival and Aiko had no clue what they were supposed to do without it.

Horror twisted in her gut at the sight of the empty chasm in front of her in place of the glistening water.

Spotting Hak and Yona, the girl ran up towards them and spoke to her brother, "Hey, lemme see what's going on upstream."

"Han-Dae's already gone off," Hak replied, "And either way, I sure as hell wouldn't be sending you there. You'd get distracted and befriend a tree."

Rather than protest, Aiko pouted at her brother, knowing all too well that he was right.

"Lord Hak, this isn't the time to be joking around!" One of the tribe members cried, blatantly panicked about the dire situation they were in.

"Nothing good comes with getting worked up. If we can't use the river, we can always buy water from the merchants - it's not the end of the world," Hak replied, effectively able to get everyone to relax just a bit.

"Am I dreaming or is Hak of all people acting responsible?" Aiko snarked, giving her older brother a bewildered look.

Hak whacked the girl on the back of her head, causing her to protest loudly, threatening to tell their grandpa about his abusive nature.

As if summoned by the girl's wit, Mundok arrived on his horse. Yona and Hak immediately dashed towards the old man, whereas Aiko hung back. After all, she saw her grandpa 2 days ago - unlike Hak who was away from home for 3 years.

"Gramps!" Hak called out and, although he was trying his best to hide it, Aiko could tell he was happy to be reunited.

What took the girl by surprise, however, was the way in which Yona dove into Mundok's arms, seemingly familiar with his embrace.

The two clutched onto each other as if the world was ending and Aiko could've sword the redhead was crying.

Whilst Mundok, Yona and Hak were having a quiet conversation, Han-Dae returned to the group, looking worse for wear.

"HAN-DAE!" Aiko exclaimed, rushing over to her blonde friend along with Tae-Woo.

This caught the attention of the others and Hak, along with Mundok approached Han-Dae urgently, asking what happened.

"Ah, you see, when I went up the river, I saw a bunch of guys from the fire tribe blocking the river. They looked unarmed and I was pissed so I picked a fight with them... They beat me up though," Han-Dae explained sheepishly.

With matching scowls, Tae-Woo and Aiko poked at Han-Dae's injuries in order to silently tell him off for being so reckless.

"What the hell do they think they're doing?"

"Are they trying to start a war with us?"

"Who do those bastards think they are? Lord Hak, lemme go up there and teach them a lesson!"

The members of the wind tribe were clearly worked up over the blatant disrespect, all prepared for a full-blown war.

Mundok, on the other hand, disagreed with their sentiment and merely told them to wait.

"Why?" A bold tribe member exclaimed, "They blocked the river and killed Han-Dae!"

"Uh, I'm not dead though-" Han-Dae mumbled, only to get poked once more by his two best friends.

"Yeah, grandpa, they're acting as if we're gonna quietly let them walk all over us. It's bad enough they destroyed our only water source let alone killed one of our own. Who cares about peace? We're not exactly a weak tribe either, we can take them on," Aiko added.

"Still not dead," the blondie butted in once more. He was, of course, ignored.

Mundok sighed tiredly, rubbing his haggard face, "Now's not the time to worry. Just focus on getting Han-Dae some medical attention."

"Yessir," Tae-Woo saluted, dragging his friend across the ground with a deadpan expression.

Meanwhile, Mundok quietly explained to Hak, "This is a warning from the fire tribe."

"A warning?" Hak inquired. Aiko faced her grandpa in anticipation of his answer.

"They're trying to make Lord Soo-Won king."

At that bombshell, Yona and Hak tensed. Aiko merely tilted her head in confusion, not quite sure who he was. After all, Hak never referred to anyone at the palace by name.

Despite her confusion, the black-haired girl could tell Yona was distressed and silently patted the redhead's back to try and calm her down.

Yona shakily smiled in return, mumbling a quiet "thank you".

'Wait... If they were trying to make someone else king then that means King Il must be...'

Aiko's thoughts trailed off at the realisation. It was the only explanation that made sense: whoever the hell this Soo-Won person is had killed the king and chased Princess Yona out of the castle.

It may have taken her 2 full days to reach a logical conclusion but Aiko felt very proud of her accomplishment. Once this wore out, apprehension blossomed in her chest.

With a new king comes major changes and for a king to rise to power in such a violent way, Aiko couldn't help but feel uneasy at what was about to come in the future.

A/N
The fire tribe always ticked me off, especially with what they did to the wind tribe. What is it with fire and being antagonistic? Besides that, Aiko's using some of her few brain cells to act like Sherlock Holmes this chapter and actually figured something out. Good on her. As always, thanks for reading and have a nice day. <3