"How on earth did you come here if you don't have your own horse?" Wooyoung asks as he smoothly hops onto his horse, grabbing on the reins. He says in a slightly sarcastic tone, "Did you ride the black panther here?"

Sara rolls her eyes, ignoring the tendency of her wanting to unlock Micko's cage and instruct him to accidentally maul this guy alive. She hasn't even spent that much time with Wooyoung but she has lost count how many times she feels annoyed by him.

"We teleported, of course," she deadpans, looking like she's joking and is serious at the same time. "I believe people like you won't know what it feels like."

Wooyoung only stares at her sharply, huffing before turning his head away, gripping on the reins. Yeosang is sitting behind Mingi, while Hongjoong has his own.

Sara looks from one to the other, wondering how she's going on this journey with them, glancing at Wooyoung before changing her mind - she probably won't stand it being near him. She sidles up to Hongjoong, looking expectantly to the blacksmith before the latter tilts his head to the back, allowing her to hop on. Smiling, she takes the blacksmith's hand before hopping on behind him.

Hongjoong's horse gallops first, passing by Wooyoung before Sara takes the opportunity to stick out her tongue at him, which makes him curl his fist, looking as if he's about to punch her.

"How is it even possible for someone who has probably lived a hundred years to even be so childish?" Wooyoung grumbles.

"You're the same, except that you're only in your twenties but still so childish," Yeosang comments as Mingi's horse gallops behind Hongjoong.

"All of you are really looking out to be against me now, aren't you?" Wooyoung complains before he guides the horse out of the stables, the horse breaking into a gallop so that they're all side by side.

Sara tries to stabilize herself behind Hongjoong without having to hold on to anything, looking slightly funny how her arms are spread out trying to find her balance. It's like she knows better than to hold on to Hongjoong, so she's trying anything but that.

"You know..." Hongjoong utters over his shoulder. "I don't mind you holding on to me as long as you don't fall."

"Is that how you do it?" Sara says nonchalantly as she holds onto his shirt using her fingers. "I've never gotten on a horse behind someone before."

Hongjoong chuckles. "If you feel awkward you can hold my shoulders. That way both of us won't be too close but you won't fall off either."

"Ah, thank you," she breathes, gripping his shoulders a little bit too hard that he shouts out in sudden pain.

"Not that hard," he utters with a painful smile.

"Sorry," she manages, loosening her grip. "I have no idea I had this much strength."

After making sure that she has a somewhat firm grip, he speeds up with the other following closely.

They arrive at the central forest, and Sara is the first to hop off first, bringing out the list that she needs from under her robe. She doesn't actually need to read back every single thing on the list since she has everything at the back of her head, but it is as if it gives her the assurance as she sees each one of it. Before she reaches the end of the list though, someone has snatched it off her hands, and she looks at the stealer grudgingly.

Wooyoung goes through the list, some easier to find, some just plain weird... although doable. When he reaches the final item on the list, he looks up at her, slightly frowning. "The blood of someone from Ileara?"

She takes the list back, muttering, "That's one of the components for the potion to work on your beloved brother."

He crinkles his nose. "That's weird but, whatever the witch says. Shall we?"

The central forest is a large canvas they need to cover, and they agree to split up into two groups where Mingi and Hongjoong will cover half of the list while Wooyoung and Yeosang will cover the other. Again, Sara finds herself split into deciding which party to follow, but as she sees Wooyoung crossing his arms while glaring at her, she finds herself slowly walking over to Mingi and Hongjoong.

"We'll meet here in around two hours?" Wooyoung asks, consulting his watch. "We'll try to do everything as fast as possible since," he glances over to Sara, "we don't have much time."

They separate into their respective groups as Sara prefers to walk ahead, with Hongjoong and Mingi pulling their horses as they walk on foot. The two men watch as the witch seems to skip around on the forest floor, humming and looking happy as she greets the plants and animals there, seemingly absorbed in her own world.

"Awfully familiar, don't you think?" Mingi utters as their eyes follow her around. "Reminds us of someone we know."

"Hmm," Hongjoong hums in agreement, tilting his head to the right. "You know..." he trails off as he pulls out the list of stuff they need to find, "do you think there's a possibility that Seonghwa might be from that kingdom?"

Mingi sniffs. "Why? Because he has all those abilities that we don't?"

The blacksmith nods while shrugging. "It's possible, isn't it?"

"But his blood is as crimson as it can get." Mingi puts a finger to his chin, "Those from Ileara have gold."

Hongjoong doesn't have an answer to that, so he simply keeps quiet even though his mind can't stop thinking about the possibility that Seonghwa might not be originally from Nyla like they thought.

"Maybe something happened while he was a baby," Mingi suggests. "Something that made him gain all those abilities." He pauses, mulling. "But it's all in the past. Does it even matter anymore if he was from Ileara?"

"Mingi, Hongjoong!" Sara cups her hands around her mouth, shouting, then waves her arms to catch their attention. "I found the gingko tree," she excitedly points towards the huge plant.

Hongjoong and Mingi instantly give thumbs up with awkward smiles, feeling like she's the only one excited at the prospect of finding the items she'd need for her to work on. Maybe it's the fact that they know only one would get to heal, while the other would still need more work. They take measured steps towards Sara, carefully approaching her and looking at where she's pointing.

"I'd need the root though," she utters as she looks around, trying to find something that can help her to dig.

"How are you planning to take it?" Hongjoong frowns before he crouches next to her in front of the tree, taking out a heavy curved knife.

"I'll do it," she says, gesturing towards the knife.

"Uh..." the blacksmith trails off. "Pretty sure it's a bit hard to unroot, especially for a deep-rooted tree like this."

"Trust me," she says as she beckons towards the knife again. When Hongjoong hesitantly hands the knife over to her, she takes it swiftly as she grips the handle. "Stay back," she reminds them. They obey, and as she whispers something to the tree as she puts down the knife, putting her palms together and slightly tilting her head forward. She picks up the knife again, patting a part of the root with the blade of the knife.

The two men blink as they see that a part of the root gets detached easily, without even her needing to exert much force. They slightly flinch when she shows it to them, looking as if she's about to beat them with the root. Instead, she hums in satisfaction before dropping it into the bag that she had brought together. She stands up, throwing the bag over her shoulder before looking at each of their faces.

"You just need to ask for permission," she adds. "Save the trouble and it doesn't hurt them."

"I see..." Hongjoong glances at Mingi.

"But we don't understand them," Mingi says. "Unless it's Seonghwa," he adds unhelpfully.

Sara only stares at the ground, thinking about the same fact that Wooyoung had told her when they went to the Ileara palace; how the Lucida king can speak to animals and plants. Her suspicion about him being from Ileara grows stronger, but there's one thing that she can't understand. She knows that the man is crimson-blooded, which means he's not from Ileara... and that he wasn't born from parents of different ranks.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Hongjoong says as she pops out of her thoughts and she shakes her head.

"Nothing, I just think that-" She splays her palm open, shocking both of them as a bow appears out of thin air, before an arrow materializes. She twists her body, immediately firing the arrow and they follow the trajectory as it hits a deer, enough to mobilize it. She throws the bow in the air and it disappears, followed by the arrow that had hit the deer's body. "Sometimes I do feel bad though, because nature's cycle is always there." She trudges over to the deer, whispering something into its ears before it completely stays still, already dead. "Like how I'm about to feed my black panther; the deer will be a victim." She lifts up the deer on her shoulder, citing, "Sometimes I try not to meddle in too much, because this is natural for them."

"How did you even-" Mingi starts, "realize that the deer was passing by behind you?"

She winks, "I told you I'm a witch." She walks over to the horse, silently apologizing that it'll have to carry a dead animal. After securing the meal for her pet, she turns to the other two. "We still have a few items on the list, and I'd be grateful if we can find all of them today."

The three of them spread out over the small area to look for the items that they'd need, enough to work on their own, but still visible to the others in case they need help. Once the time is up, they gather at the promised place, with Sara humming happily as she puts down the sack of acquired items near her feet, waiting for Wooyoung and Yeosang to come back.

"Someone's happy," Hongjoong comments. He wants to add something about how she looks so happy while the other men look distressed, but goes against it. He doesn't want to create more friction, but it does slightly weird him out how she looks calm. But then again, it's not like the curse has any effects on her; it's just a matter of her being the only person who knows the cure to the curse.

"Met a lot of friends today," she says, referring to the animals and plants. "I thought that they'd be hostile to someone who's not from around here," her eyes dart to both Mingi and Hongjoong, "and that's why I wanted to get help from the four of you in case they're being unhelpful. Turns out they're really friendly and helpful. Obviously way friendlier than that particular someone." She grumbles before turning around to fix the items to the horse.

"My senses are tingling," Wooyoung says as he approaches the party, inhaling exaggeratedly as Yeosang follows behind him, bringing the items they found together. "That someone is talking bad about me."

"At least your senses are working," Sara says casually as she tugs on the rope, tightening the knot.

Wooyoung gasps. "Is that a deer? Do you actually need it for the... spell or whatever witchcraft you're doing?"

Sara rolls her eyes. "It's for Micko." She stares sharply at him, "Unless you want to volunteer to become my baby's meal."

Wooyoung scoffs, but he slightly distances himself from her, hiding behind Yeosang. Yeosang only snorts as he walks over to Mingi, completely ignoring Wooyoung who's pleading for protection.

They had planned to use the same formation as when they came, but as Sara looks at the deer on Hongjoong's horse, she turns to walk over to Mingi and sees that Yeosang has already claimed the spot behind Mingi. She quietly turns to Wooyoung, which seems like the only option she has, but she stops when the man only glares at her.

"Do you hate me that much?" Sara utters. "Just give me a ride, don't be so petty." She reaches out a hand to grab the saddle, but Wooyoung huffs.

Mingi, Yeosang and Hongjoong look at each other quietly, almost chuckling at how the two seem to hate each other even when they've only known each other. Wooyoung is the type who makes friends easily and the people around him always fall for his charms, though it doesn't seem like the case with the two. They look like they would start throwing punches at each other.

"You can untie the deer and put it on Wooyoung's horse," Hongjoong offers.

Wooyoung makes a face. "I am not having a dead animal on my horse."

Hongjoong sighs as he turns to Mingi, while Yeosang is already preparing to unmount the horse just so Sara can take the place behind Mingi. However, even before Yeosang's feet can touch the ground, Wooyoung tilts his head to the back, inviting Sara to hop on behind him. Yeosang struggles to hold himself onto the horse as his legs swing in the air.

"You could've-" Yeosang struggles to say as he pulls himself back up with the help of Mingi, "-asked her to hop on before I decided to get off. You're just wasting my energy."

Wooyoung doesn't say anything to acknowledge the doctor as he keeps tilting his head back, waiting for the witch to hop on. "Get on," he deadpans. "Before I change my mind."

Sara looks at him, apprehensive, before she steps on the stirrup lightly and jumps on the horse. Determined though, she crosses her arms, not wanting to touch any part of Wooyoung as support.

"If you fall off I won't even look back and leave you behind," Wooyoung comments as he guides the horse to start moving, receiving a hit on the head from Sara. "What was that for?!"

"Sorry," she grimaces. "My hand slipped and hit you instead."

"Aish," he grumbles, but cannot do anything more as he's controlling the horse.

As soon as they reach the border of the Lucida kingdom, they're let to pass easily, even though the guards still look wary as they observe Sara. The guards follow her with their eyes, as if waiting for her to act out that could give them a solid reason they can kick her out of the kingdom. They have no idea what business the woman has in their kingdom, but it seems that the palace has accepted her well considering that she's now a part of the group that was trusted to be given access to the palace.

Sara doesn't pay any attention to them, knowing that even with the colour of her hair alone, people would stare. Of course she's not used to people giving so much attention to her since she had barely interacted with any humans for a long time, but that made her even more nonchalant as to why they're giving her slight weird looks. To her, they're probably not used to seeing someone from another kingdom, although she has no idea how they can tell.

Maybe it's the black panther tagging along, maybe it's not. It's not like she cares.

The five of them have their heads turn to the townsquare, where there seem to be a flurry of activities, as opposed to Nyla's town which could have passed as a ghost town. There seems to be a festival going on, and to the four men, it gives a sense of normalcy despite knowing that they're facing a storm in the palace.

Sara's mouth hangs slightly open as she sees the festival, with banners and stalls opened, selling all kinds of different items as some present performances for the visitors. She leans to the side, looking past Wooyoung's head as she gasps at the wonder - something that she has barely experienced. As she leans to the side, she almost falls off the horse but Wooyoung is quick to catch her with one arm to the back, without even looking.

"You're not dying of a fall until you cure my brother," Wooyoung says casually over his shoulder. "And somehow we can find a cure for San. I don't care if you die after."

She scoffs, slapping his hand away. "Why thank you, Mr. Annoying Butt."

"Mr. Anno-" he starts saying angrily, but gets cut off as they hear loud festival music blaring from the centre of town.

Their attention gets stolen by the festivity, and Sara looks at it with wide eyes, already leaning to the side again as they approach where the centre of attention is.

"Do people do this every day?" she asks nonchalantly.

Wooyoung chuckles, amused by her naivety. "You've lived your life too long away from people that you're starting to forget how life is? They don't usually do this every day, usually they do it for special occasions, like the time when Akira and Seonghwa were crowned as the rulers. This time around," he points towards the banner, "I'm guessing it's an annual activity in winter. It's a winter festival."

"Oh," she says, "that's so fun."

"You should really mingle with people," he utters. "People can be a headache, but sometimes they're fun to be around with."

"Like you," she offers. "Annoying."

"Huh," he says shortly before he shakes his head. "You know what, other people say I'm fun."

"I guess I'm not other people then."

He scowls, but doesn't say anything further before he halts his horse, her pointing at something.

"Is that a cloud? Why is it pink?"

He follows her finger, almost laughing out loud at her description before shaking his head. "It's a cloud," he says simply. "That you can pick from the sky then eat."

She gasps. "How do people take it? Do they have... a ladder?"

He clamps his lips, silently laughing at how he manages to make her believe him. "They fly, like you. I guess you should know that you're not special."

She stays quiet for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing as she can see his shoulders already starting to slightly shake with a hand over his mouth. She deadpans, "You lied to me didn't you?"

This manages to make Wooyoung burst laughing out loud, causing the other three with them to stop their horses too. They wonder why it seems that both of them have started warming up with each other despite bickering not long ago.

"You guys can go ahead first," Wooyoung addresses the rest. "I need to buy something first in town. No worries, I'll be real quick and I'll return in no time so that Miss Sara here can get on with her witchcraft."

Hongjoong, Mingi and Yeosang nod silently before they go away, leaving Sara feeling awkward now that she's alone with Wooyoung.

"What are you buying? You did get everything on the list, didn't you?"

"We did," he answers simply before alighting. He turns to her, putting up a slightly threatening finger. "Don't even think of running away with my horse. Just stay put."

Without waiting for her answer, he goes over to the central part of the festival, strolling around as he takes a look at the stalls.

Sara can't see where he's gone as he's absorbed in the crowd, so she slumps back, hoping that he won't take too long to buy whatever he needs. She resists the urge to join in the crowd, curious as to what they're offering. She wonders what they could be doing to gather in a group willingly; she can't tell whether she'd be willing to do the same, but she is curious. Her attention snaps back to Wooyoung who's finally making his way out of the crowd again, this time holding the stuff that he bought.

He approaches the horse, his face expressionless as he hands over the thing in his hand to her. When she's about to grab it, he slightly pulls back and shakes his head.

"Don't hold it at that part, hold the wooden stick," he instructs as he holds the stick with two fingers, giving space for her to grab it.

She takes it cautiously as she stares at it, while he hops back onto the horse, taking back the reins. They lurch forward yet one hand she holds the item while another subconsciously holds his shoulder, to which he doesn't say anything.

"You can eat it you know," he speaks up as they make their way through town. "The thing is called cotton candy."

"It's made of cotton?" she asks, lightly poking the sweet with her free hand, amazed at how it's so light. "Can you even eat cotton?"

He chuckles, looking over his shoulder as their bodies rock from side to side as the horse gallops steadily. "It's just the name, but you don't actually make it with cotton. You make it with sugar."

"Sugar... into this... cloud?" she blinks at it as she still can't fathom the synergism behind the candy. "What does it taste like?"

"That's why I bought it for you, idiot. Try it. You can pick a small chunk with your fingers and eat it."

Following his instructions, she carefully picks a small part of the candy, lightly gasping as it detaches before she brings it over to her mouth and clamps it shut. She gasps again as she feels the candy dissolving on her tongue, leaving behind nothing except for the sweet aftertaste.

"It's gone!" she says excitedly, elbowing his back and momentarily forgetting the fact that they were bickering just moments ago. "And it's sweet!"

"Sugar is supposed to be sweet," he says, finally turning back to the front as a small smile plays on his lips. "Have you really never eaten cotton candy before? All those years living?"

"I was just busy trying to survive," she utters as she picks another part of the candy out, immediately shoving it into her mouth. The cotton candy is quickly receding, but it still seems that she hasn't had enough enjoying it. "Living longer doesn't mean that I get to try all kinds of things."

There's a silence on Wooyoung's end before he utters, "It must be lonely. You know, living all those years as you see people around you go."

She stops eating, her hands lowered as she looks at the ground. "A little bit. But sometimes I'm too scared to go out of the island."

"So to have you coming here on your own... must be really a big honour then."

She shrugs. "I just didn't want to have other people experience what I did."

"Watching people get engulfed by the curse and succumbing to it?"

"Hmm," she hums, akin to an agreement.

Their conversation gets cut short as Wooyoung turns his focus to maneuvering the horse, but Sara trains her eyes to the ground, already slowly losing appetite over the sweet treat. She can only feel the slight guilt creeping up on her as she sighs quietly.

Lying to them... it won't hurt, right?

I'm only doing what's best.

For them... and for me.