Securely, he draws the fabric further around his body as he observes the landscape rise in its colors from the night's long slumber. The weather is still grey and dew lasts in the grass down the hill. Yeosang cannot see far away from the mist that blurs the early morning scenery.

Even though he trembles in his slightly wetted clothes, he finds himself stuck to the place underneath the apple tree. Yeosang has not slept this night of running thoughts haunting his drowsing state of mind, and at some point, did he find himself wandering down the dark corridors and leaving the building to the world of shadows. His sole steps across the cobblestones had resonated oddly silent under the night sky, but to his dismay, were no stars showing themselves for his eyes.

The boy does not regret his earlier choices of leaving his chamber to find discomfort in the wet grass, now that he views the pretty light there now glints through the layers of mists. He has been thinking of the Knights Templars who will leave those lands this day. With a sigh leaving the boy's lips, he stares down at the sword that lays by his side, untouched for a while. The sight seems peculiarly strange and Yeosang tilts his head questioning at the seemingly whispers of unknown words that shroud around it. He reaches out and wraps a hand around the grip and pulls it into his lap while he lets his legs fall crossed. Slowly, he lets his eyes wander down the ricasso and examines the sword's sharp blade, made for killing. Carefully, Yeosang twists the sword and moves a finger to touch the sharpness with a slight pressure added against the weapon.

He widens his eyes in fright and a gasp slips from his mouth when something pulls at his hood. Yeosang looks right up into a pair of eyes while he drops the sword against his thighs.

"Is this your spot now, novice?"

Yeosang desperately wants his breath back, but the man looking down at him has stolen it by only standing there. He is not capable of forming any responsive words, and he stays mindly troubled. The knight wrinkles his brows at the lack of answer and he looks down at Yeosang's hands for a short moment. Yeosang does not dare look down.

"What are you doing out here at this hour of the day, anyway?" the knight asks, as he crouches down to the boy's level of eye but Yeosang is only staring befogged at the man without any question being heard, "Are you even permitted to leave your chamber?"

He is close when the boy lets his gaze trail from the different eyes to the round lips speaking, bending delicately at the soft tones escaping his throat. He swears he feels a hand lifting his chin when he is looking into those two different colored eyes again. But the knight is not touching him, except for his eyesight.

The knight spells his sentence with an almost invisible teasingly undertone, "Am I not allowed to know your name, novice? I am sure you know who I am, so let us be equitable here."

Yeosang's eyes are screaming in a rising panic spell, and he has no power over himself anymore, "I-I am no important."

But it is easy to detect his lies in his wavering voice, and the knight does not believe his answer as well. Yeosang squeezes his hands tightly together, he blushes. Choi Jongho is not making any grimaces but stays silent and expressionless until Yeosang can feel his whole body heating.

"Perhaps, you want me to earn that gracious designation of your name, novice. What shall I do?"

It surprises him, that the knight is this keen to know, and Yeosang bites the inside of his cheek as he bends his head to see the knight's attire. He wears thick, black leathers underneath his grey long cape and he can see all the weapons hanging in his belt. Jongho's face is beautifully illuminated by the sunrise and Yeosang can count strains of hair that he wants to push out of the knight's eyes. "You are going to war?" he asks as he brings his eyes to look into the man's.

"I am," Jongo says calmly, "That is my serving for God, and I should do anything but be grateful for this life He has granted me. May that be the cost of that said life, I am not scared."

Yeosang draws in a breath and feels how the air fills his lungs with a coolness. He is cold. He observes the soulless tint to those words that he still has difficulty with comprehending its significance. It never seems as if the knights even understand them themselves.

His thoughts falter and his fluttering eyelashes come to a stop. There, this knight is only seeing him with a so mildly studying face that Yeosang feels something surprising twirling in his insides and he sees colors.

"If you return to those lands again, I shall tell you my name, if not, you will never know it," Yeosang declares with a steady voice. He wishes for the knight to dart his eyes away from his own appalled appearance and seeks a route away from the unknown feelings spilling down his insides. He cannot keep torturing himself like this many whiles more.

Jongho places a cloth around his freezing hands and Yeosang stares startled down at the touch of the knight's hands holding around his own. They feel warm and right.

"Alright," he says and raises himself from crouching down, eventually letting go of Yeosang's hands, "I will come back, may I promise that, novice."

And by those lingering words, the knight leaves him sitting under the apple tree in the dewed grass, a cloth covering his trembling fingers doleful. The knight has disappeared long before Yeosang's mind has cleared and instead, he trails his orbs down to the cloth as he wonders. The boy lifts his hands until the piece falls off. His hands are smeared with blood from a clean cut across his palms. Yeosang does not know when this should have occurred, but while he stays in a shocked mind, he suddenly sees the blood-red color gracing the sharp blade of his sword that lays against his thighs.

_____

Though the sunrise this morning has been bright and beautiful, the skies have darkened into a powerful dance between embers and thundering. Yeosang stands close to San who, somehow, cheerily watches the many tales of goodbyes to the battling crusaders. The clouds shoot tainting lightning down toward the earth, having blinding light causing unrest among the crowds of men and women. The knight's horses step back and forth as their whinnies pierce the tense air. Yeosang watches the scene in silence.

The vassal is still standing on the ground when knights start to mount their destriers. Another man is holding his horse while Seonghwa longingly holds around Emma and kisses her mercifully, exposed to all others. Tears are rolling down her cheeks, and Yeosang sees how Seonghwa pulls back and gently wipes them away as he tells her something that he can not hear of the many sounds surrounding him. Suddenly, San pulls at his arm and they move closer to the pair that seems troubled with separating.

"Do not worry, sanguis cordis mei, I will be back to have my arms wrapped around your pulchra shape. Mea Emma, te amo, " Yeosang can feel the strenuous lifting of the voice into words, but Seonghwa makes it look so valiant that it is hardly seen.

The vassal gives the woman a last kiss and swings himself into the saddle buckled around his midnight black horse. Emma is still crying, but San has now replaced Seonghwa's hand with his own and lets his sister lean against him.

"I will ask the last of you to mount your horses now!" the commander has turned his horse around to face his knights while he yells orders out at them. By his side, a hooded figure sits on his horse, who rather calmly rests a hind leg while everything stills in pure panic. Yeosang squints his eyes when another lightning rumbles from above and he sees the outline of the man underneath the long cape. His eyes twinkle in recognition of who it is. Choi Jongho is gazing at him through the crowd of knights and women from the Healers quarters.

"Lets go!!"

Jongho turns his destrier and follows Seonghwa the path down the hill, the rest of the knights follow them, and soon the troops are only shadows thundering in the horizon.

"Come on, Emma, stop your tears from falling and get to work. You know how it is..." San says as he nudges Emma to step in the direction of the courtyard, "I have things to do as well, sister," he continues.

But Emma crosses her arms offended and pushes San off her as she glares at him, "You never understand! It may be easy for you, but not for me!" The female heaves in a deep breath of air and exhales it quickly again, "You tell me to stop acting up, but truth is that you are the unseeing here! I am not only in love, but I see how all those men put their lives in danger every time they take on those crusades. I am beyond terrified for Seonghwa's life."

Yeosang does not know how to react when the blonde knight hisses at her to keep her words from being so loud. San scouts around before leaning forward to Emma.

"This is not about being in love or not - it is far more important than that! And Seonghwa is fully aware of what danger he puts himself in when going to war. So do I. Therefore, you better keep quiet before others will hear of how Park Seonghwa's dearest thinks of the Knights Templars Order and its following duties."

And Emma keeps herself from saying anything by biting harshly down into her bottom lip before stomping away from San and Yeosang. The boy turns his head at the blonde knight when he hears a rushed out sigh.

"Let us go, Yeosang."

He follows the knight, finding a peaceful rhythm in the way his sword lick against his side for every step he takes. San is unusual quiet, but regarding the situation just before, Yeosang knows why. His sight flickers across the huge building, that San is about to open and for a moment he has to stop and think of where they are going. A heat brushes his face in smells of stable, and he is met by lonely greetings.

Even though his words are only a muttering, San still hears him, "What is this place even.."

"This is our stable for the destriers, the warhorses," the knight has suddenly a grin whipped around his face again, and Yeosang feels light-headed by the change, "Come, may I show you my precious mare and her beautiful daughter."

Yeosang observes the knightly handmade wooden materials used for the many stalls along the middle passage of the building with the capacity to shelter hundreds of horses. Most of the stalls are empty, but a few horses fill a couple of them that they pass. Presumably of their boots there clatter against the ground, something rumbles from behind one of the stalls and the head of a young man looks in their direction. The sight brings a startle to Yeosang and he jitters in the place.

His head perks up before his eyes lighten upon the view of San, and he rushes out of the stall, leaving the small stall door open for another man to stumble out, "Sannie!"

The blonde-haired knight is left in a large embrace of hands and arms and Yeosang can do nothing but fear those two gigantic men who jump around San like young dogs. They must know each other well, he thinks and leans backward onto his heels. While they greet each other, Yeosang spends seconds observing those two strangers and he comes to notice first, how many stalks of grain there stick to their clothes and hair. He sees that San is already combing out a couple of those from the one with the brown hair.

"It has been nothing more than a day since I last was here, how can you be this excited about my visit?"

The tallest man with dark hair smiles at San's words and pokes at the man beside him, "Even though Mingi cannot live without me, I know that he misses you a lot too. These days are a bit rough, I must say."

The knight looks at the brown-haired man and brings his hand up to run through his hair a last time. When Yeosang expects him to answer with words, he only sighs and lets his arm drop again. For some reason, the boy's heartbeat sinks as well.

"Actually," San says when his blue orbs land at Yeosang, "May I want your help for this."

⚔︎