"HUH?!"

Tae-woo very damn near turned the house upside down when he heard about it. He tripped over a raised plank and emptied a basket of dirty laundry on top of Han-dae.

"Yep," Ayame folded her arms as she promptly repeated, "she-- he, is definitely a boy."

Tae-woo and Han-dae looked utterly confused, so she repeated.

"The girl we picked up is a boy," she clarified, counting off her fingers as she listed other definitions of the word, "a guy, a male, a man, a dude, a not-female..."

Tae-woo flushed, "how on earth did you find out?! Did you see?!"

Han-dae covered his eyes without his fingers, "did he have it?!"

They freaked out, running circles around each other. Ayame blushed bright red, sputtering as she justified herself. Seriously, these boys always teased her!

"You absolute perverted cretins!" she swore at them, embarrassed, "of course I didn't! I wanted to help her-- him, change, then she, I mean he told me himself!"

Everything stopped.

"He told you?" Tae-woo's confusion calmed him down. He put a hand under his chin as he contemplated, "so, she-- he can speak after all?"

"Is she-he just shy?" Han-dae asked.

"Ah, no," Ayame told them, shaking her hand, "he didn't talk to me. He signed it."

Another moment.

"You know sign language?!" Tae-woo and Han-dae responded in disbelief.

"Geez, you two!"

-

It was decided that Tae-yeon, in all his adorable glory, would be the one to ease the newcomer out of their shell.

"Hey, pretty big brother, how old are you?" Tae-yeon pestered as the boy got changed into decent clothing, classic wind tribe male civilian clothes.

Noo-ri found the child endearing. Raising five fingers, one on his left hand and four on his right hand, he showed them to the child.

"One, four," Tae-yeon read them out, then brightened up when he understood, "fourteen? That's like Tae-woo and Han-dae!"

Noo-ri couldn't help the smile that bloomed onto his face.

Crouching down, still half dressed, he gestured toward Tae-yeon. Tae-yeon blinked back curiously-- then understood.

"Tae-yeon is four years old!" he declared proudly, raising four fingers.

Noo-ri patted him on the head for a job well done, then stood up to continue tucking in his inner wear.

The most simplistic wind tribe clothing-- a long sleeved inner shirt, a pair of trousers, and a coloured vest for those with a ranking. They were stiff, not the most luxurious, but were warm and easy to move in.

"Hey pretty mister big brother," Tae-yeon spotted something intriguing, "why are you covering your eye?"

Outside of the bath, Noo-ri replaced the makeshift bandage on his left eye with the waist sash, just to cover it up temporarily.

It had already healed, but it was ugly. That was the point, after all.

He peeled the cloth away from his face, and watched when Tae-yeon gaped. Was it out of horror or in awe? It was a little hard to tell.

He tied the sash around his waist. There, changing done. Now to look for something else to hide the scar. Noo-ri found a mirror, and looked into it.

Directly under his left eye was a scar, a horizontal line that stretched from the base of his nose before disappearing into his hair.

It was an ugly cut, marred with what looked like infection aftermath-- there were wrinkles scrunching up its surroundings, spreading into his eye and heading downward toward his chin.

Perhaps due to the infection, his eye had changed shades. The bottom half of his left eye was a very light blue, almost white, whilst the rest remained the green of his natural eyes.

"Hey pretty mister big brother," Tae-yeon approached Noo-ri, lifting his arms asking to be lifted up. For a child, he had a painfully compassionate expression on his face when he asked, "does that still hurt?"

Noo-ri picked the boy up, noting how light he was. He shook his head, and let Tae-yeon touch the disfigured skin, promising it wasn't painful to him at all.

Tae-yeon didn't look convinced at all.

-

He crouched down in seiza on his knees, and set his forehead on the ground.

Even without words, it was a clear gesture of gratitude, and he hoped they understood.

Lord Mun-dok was a wise, insightful man. He sat on his spot, but it was casual. He did not mean for there to be any sense of royal formality present-- he wanted Noo-ri to be comfortable.

Noo-ri set his hair so the left side of the fringe would cover up as much of his face as it could, to hide the disfigurement and the discoloration of his eye. They were repulsive, after all. He shouldn't show it off to people he wanted to respect.

The doors were open, and a few people looked inside, curiously.

Tae-woo and Han-dae stood by their grandfather, and Ayame sat between the two parties, patiently. Tae-yeon had deposited himself somewhere else.

"Don't worry about it, we pick up strays all the time," Ayame said cheerfully, breaking the icy atmosphere.

I really couldn't be so rude, Noo-ri signed back in response. You've clothed me, treated my wounds, and given me a bath... I must repay you somehow.

"What's he saying?" Tae-woo cut in a little impatiently.

Noo-ri flinched. Ayame glared.

"He wants to show his thanks," Ayame translated, then turned back to Noo-ri, "I think the most polite thing you can do right now is to simply accept it, right?"

At that, Noo-ri fell silent.

Kindness was something he wasn't used to. Not in this life where only hardship has had him since birth. It's strange to think that people as warm as this existed.

"He can stay, right, Lord Mun-dok?" Ayame asked.

"That's right! He was dressed in girl clothes and was injured all over, we can't throw him back out," Han-dae added.

"Wait, we still need to know a lot of things," Lord Mun-dok held a hand up to calm the crowd, "what's his name? Where did he come from?"

Noo-ri straightened.

The world probably knew his name as a fugitive. There was no telling how the relationship between the tribes are now, with all the censorship that was in Fire Tribe lands. Noo-ri was blind to the current world, and so he didn't quite know how to act.

Would they be angered if they knew he was from the fire tribe?

Would they be kind enough to house him, knowing he was a fugitive?

My name is, he signed, then hesitated--

My name is Noo-ri.

"He says his name is Noo-ri," Ayame interpreted.

When Han-dae flinched, the others looked confused. Noo-ri fisted his trousers, nervous.

They were going to kick him out, weren't they? They evidently know him after the fire he'd caused... if there was a bounty, it'd be more profitable to hand him over to the Fire tribe to prevent war. He should've introduced himself as Sang.

"You know him, Han-dae?" Tae-woo asked when Han-dae looked positively freaked out.

"Wha-- of course I do! His face is all over the walls of the Fire Tribe's borders!" Han-dae gawked, "he's the crazy pyromaniac that set fire to a Fire Tribe armory last month!"

The entire room goes quiet.

Noo-ri felt himself die inside.

Then Mun-dok burst into strangled laughter.

"Is that true?!" Ayame asked, and at the same time Tae-woo went "seriously?!" They looked at Noo-ri like he was a caged demon.

Noo-ri pursed his lips, looked away-- and nodded.

Mun-dok roared with laughter.

"This is a riot!" he guffawed, "hey, everyone, let's have a feast! We've got another crazy one with us! We're celebrating!"

...what?