Their New Home (Yona Of The Dawn X Oc)

Chapter 18

"Wh-what is this stuff?" Kija asked, glaring at his bowl of food in disgust.

The group had found a place to set up camp and Yoon immediately began cooking dinner along with the help of Sumi.

Their newest companion was surprisingly calm despite the whole situation and didn't question the blatantly suspicious group - she simply chimed in to their conversations every so often and kept her head down for the most part.

"Have you never been out travelling before?" Sumi retorted, "They're mountain vegetables. Pretty healthy so eat it all."

Kija frowned at her tone, "As a matter of fact, I have travelled before." She raised an eyebrow.

"Once..." Her blank expression was yet to soften. "When I was a child."

Sumi snorted at his weakened resolve and silently began eating her meal.

She was still dishevelled from the bandits' attack, her clothes tattered and her shoes missing, and yet despite this, Sumi was undoubtedly beautiful.

For a moment, Kija dared to picture what she may look like once patched up.

The dragon blushed lightly and hastily turned to face Yona, "Your Majesty, are you okay with eating such food?"

Yona nodded, "I'm not used to eating bugs yet, but I'm rather used to this. After all... I don't have room to say I don't like it."

She stared off into the distance blankly, recalling some dreadful memories, "When it was just me and Hak... It was a nightmare."

Aiko, who was seated next to the man in question waiting for him to wake up, nodded her head, "He's always been a nasty cook. Without Yoon's legendary food we would've been poisoned to death."

The pretty boy genius grinned at the praise, attempting to hide his satisfaction from the rest of the group.

"Oi, what did you say about my cooking?" Hak's gruff voice cut in, causing all heads to snap towards him.

He was awake.

Aiko stared at her brother for a few seconds in silence, her heart swelling with some intense emotion. She couldn't believe how close he was to death and now that he was conscious, she felt she could finally breathe.

Without a second thought, Aiko pulled back her arm, aiming to throw a strong punch at her brother's face. Clearly, the intense emotion in her chest was rage.

Yona stepped in before any real damage could be done.

"Hak, are you okay? How's your injury?" She asked with an innocent smile.

"Forget about my injury. What did you say about my cooking?" He returned.

Yona shook her head and held up a spoonful of food near Hak's mouth, "I don't know what you're talking about. Here, eat this."

Hak opened his mouth, elated that he was being spoon-fed by Kouka's princess herself. His moment was instantly ruined by Kija's interference, who took the spoon from Yona.

Naturally, the immature duo began arguing. Although it was irritating, Aiko felt relieved that her brother had enough energy to act like his usual self.

Yoon seemingly felt the same, tearing up as soon as Hak woke up. The pretty boy genius then narrowed his eyes in an attempt to hide his relief.

"Be quiet, you stupid beasts." He scolded, "And eat! If you come crying to me about being hungry later, I won't cook you anything."

The group chorused a "yes", familiar with Yoon's roundabout way of saying he was worried. 

"You guys seem really close. Are you old friends?" Sumi inquired, gently placing the bowl of food on the ground. It was the first question she had asked about the group of misfits and Aiko was confused as to why the woman found that to be the most interesting bit.

"Not quite," Yona laughed nervously, "I've only just met most of the others recently. Though I've known Hak for a while... Unfortunately."

"Oi, I heard that."

Ignoring Hak's irritation, Aiko chimed in, "Same here. Though I'm Hak's younger sister... Unfortunately."

The Thunder Beast grumbled a dozen of curses under his breath, angrily gobbling up his food with newly found vigour.

Sumi nodded and didn't prod any further, allowing for a peaceful silence to take over for a few moments.

Yoon then cleared his throat, "So, where did you wanna go? It's dangerous to travel alone out here, as you can tell by now. We can take you there."

The woman smiled sheepishly and looked off to the side, almost embarrassed by what she was about to say, "Um... I didn't really have a destination in mind. I wanted to get some shoes and other supplies from the nearest village and figure out things from there."

Aiko hummed curiously, "That so? Where did you come from then?"

"Awa. It's quite a long way away so you don't have to escort me there."

Hak nearly spat out his food.

"The Earth Tribe?" Aiko exclaimed, "How did you even get here?"

Yona and Kija titled their heads in confusion, neither of them familiar with Kouka's geography. Yoon, on the other hand, was stunned to silence, apprehensive of what Sumi's explanation might be.

A tense few moments later, she confessed, "I was kidnapped. Forced into a carriage with no idea where I was being taken to. Bandits attacked the wagon I was in, though, so I escaped. After that, I wandered around and nearly got kidnapped again. That's when you found me."

It took a while for the group to process such a grim story.

Yona was the first to recover from her shock and rushed toward Sumi, engulfing her in a tight hug. This caused the woman to freeze up as if such warmth was foreign to her.

When the redhead pulled back, she declared, "No matter how far away it is, I swear we'll bring you home."

Sumi shook her head rapidly, "No no no, it's okay. I wouldn't want to trouble you. Besides, all I need are some supplies and I'll be fine on my own-"

"Don't bother," Hak interrupted, donning his typical smirk, "When she has her mind set on something, there's nothing anyone can do to stop her."

"But-"

"No." This time, it was Yona who interrupted.

"But-"

"Absolutely not."

The woman sighed defeatedly and mumbled, "I guess I'll be in your care then."

At that, the princess smiled widely, a sight so blinding that Sumi had to look away for a moment to gather her wits. She couldn't believe she got roped in with such a group.

'I wanted a break, not another adventure, dammit.' She mentally cursed her luck but smiled nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Aiko and Yoon exchanged panicked looks, attempting to find a believable excuse about the dragon in their midst. They also didn't do a good job at hiding Yona's status, calling her "your majesty" multiple times.

How much could they reveal? Was it even safe for them to trust a stranger with such information?

Their thinking was interrupted by Sumi's words, "Oh, but aren't you busy looking for the other dragons? Surely you'd want to deal with that first."

The group collectively stiffened at that, not expecting to have their plans revealed so indifferently. 

Yoon broke the silence, his patience snapping, "HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?"

At least they wouldn't need to explain anything.

A/N
So... It may or may not be months later... Sorry about that... Hehehe... Yeah, I have no excuses. At least now Sumi's temporarily joined the group and we're a couple chapters away from seeing best boy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a nice day. <3