Those of Us Alone

Chapter 8: The Priest

Midori POV

I had made my way to the river. It was the middle of the day, and it was bright and sunny. The air was crisp and cool, it was as if this place was a shrine.

Well, it kinda was.

Just as I began to hear the rushing of water, a familiar figure face planted onto the hard ground. I blinked, tried to hold back my initial reaction to laugh, and quickly made my way over to Ik-su, "A-are you a-alright?" I was doing a very bad job of masking my rude reaction to this poor man's clumsiness.

"Ah~," the blonde said. He kind of gave me an air-headed vibe, "I think your friend is awake."

"Eh?"

A flower popped out of his head, "Yona-hime's so brave!"

I blinked and walked back towards the shack while supporting my clumsy savior, "How did you?"

"Kami-sama told me."

My eyes widened, "You're the priest!" He nodded with a joyful smile, "Ik-su, right?" Another nod. "Thank you for helping me."

"Of course!" I went to take another step forward when he stopped, "Midori-san?"

I gave a questioning look, "The Gods?"

"Hai," Ik-su gave me a serious and slightly sad look. "Midori-chan? The gods have told me you have suffered."

I inhaled sharply, "Kind of, b-but I'm fine! People have it worse off than me, so I should be happy with what I have."

A nod came from the priest, "Very noble, a good way of thinking." I looked at him, trying to see some hidden message, "I'm sad to say that you've still got to go through some more pain with old enemies and tough choices."

I inhaled in a little more calmly, "Of course. I wouldn't expect an easy life," I said trying to make a joke out of a possibly bad situation, "where's the fun in that? Besides, after facing something tough, something better comes out of it."

"Keep that," I froze looking at Ik-us in surprise. "That mentality. Keep it. It could keep you sane in bad situations."

I nodded, "I'll try." I sighed giving myself a childish disposition, "Ne, ne, let's go see Yona and Hak!"

As I dragged poor Ik-us back to his own home, I failed to notice his sad look of admiration casted towards me.

~~~~~

"Yoon!" I said popping through the door. "I'm back, and I brought Ik-su!"

Said man popped into the shack where Yoon and Yona were sitting, "Yoon, Yoon, Listen–"

"Hold it," Yoon said getting up to tend to the mud-covered priest. "Jeez! Why are you covered in mud?!"

I came inside and sat near Yona (it seemed as though she didn't notice me yet), as Ik-su tried to explain, "While I was praying to the heavens for everyone to be happy, I slipped and fell!"

"Ah!" I said drawing the strawberry-blonde's as well as my pink haired friend's attention, "He fell on his way back."

Ik-su teasingly stated, "You were trying to hold back a laugh as I fell, Midori-chan!"

"Midori?!" Yona asked realizing who I was and coming over to hug me, glad I was alive,

With a straight face, I looked to the priest and said, "I sincerely apologize."

"Apology accepted," said the airhead priest.

"What a pain!" Yoon exclaimed trying to keep the mud-covered Ik-su away. "The heavens have deserted you."