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It came.  Two minutes later.  Nani could hear the sound of an approaching army, and her heart instantly filled with dread as she pressed her back against that cold tree trunk.  The frigid ground beneath her seemed to be leaching its chill into her flesh.  It crept into her heart as she anticipated impending doom.

But then a warm hand touched her cheek as Jimin sought to still her fear with his gentle presence.  She glanced up at him, disappointed that she couldn’t see his sweet face in the darkness enveloping them.  However, that inkiness might be the very presence protecting them from detection.  So she decided to be grateful for it.  She reached up to touch his hand with her fingertips.  And she rested her palm over his fingers on her face. 

He felt her smile as she lifted the corners of her lips.  His own smile answered hers.

Suddenly, a gruff voice split the darkness.  “I bet they’re in the cabin.  Let’s surround it.”

A few chuckles sounded in response to that optimistic voice.  And seven men and one girl all held their breath while the troop surrounded the cottage.  A moment later, one of the soldiers kicked the door in.  And the remainder swamped the little cabin’s interior.  Only to find it abandoned.

“They’re not here!” roared their captain.  “I thought you said they’d headed this way.”

“I would’ve sworn they had, sir!” responded his shaking subordinate.

“Come!  We’ve no time to waste!  They must have journeyed on.  Surely, we’ll find them on the other side of this forest.”

The soldiers spilled out of the cottage, and one spoke up, “Should some of us stay here and keep watch, sir?”

“What?  So you can sleep while the rest of us work?  No!  Let’s go!”

Several minutes passed while Nani and her new friends remained perfectly still.  Fervently praying the soldiers would not change their minds and turn back.  When the coast seemed finally to clear, Yoongi uttered the opening sentence.

“Can we go sleep in the cabin now?”

“No,” Tae responded instantly.  “When they don’t discover us soon, they may turn back.  We need to head another way.”  He glanced towards their leader.  “Jin?”

“Everyone ready?” the eldest queried.

Soon, they fell into step behind him.  Nani and her trinity of protectors bringing up the rear.  Again, they walked for nearly an hour.  But finally, they emerged from that dense thicket to discover the full moon embracing a wide plain below.

“Some birthday,” muttered Nani as they slipped from the forest to cross that open meadow.  A cloud veiled the moon momentarily.  Shielding them from its gentle glow.

“What?” Jimin glanced down at her as his fingers tightened around hers.

She peered up at him.  Just then, the light of the full moon illuminated his precious face as that glowing orb broke loose of its cloud cover.  “Today is my birthday.”

“Is it?”

She nodded. 

“Which one?”

“My sixteenth.”

His mouth melted into a sweet smile then.  “So young,” he whispered as his eyes seemed to slide along her cheekbone tenderly.

She simply blinked up at him.  But then she gasped as her eyes strayed from his towards that dim ball in the sky.  “What’s happening?” she quizzed him.

“What do you mean?”  He glanced up at the moon. 

They both watched it together as they took note of its dark cast.

“It’s red!” she exclaimed softly.

“It’s a blood moon,” he uttered.

“A blood moon?” she queried.  “What’s that?”

“An omen,” he replied darkly.

“An omen?” she echoed doubtfully.  “Of what?”

“Impending doom,” Tae responded as he fell into step beside her.  He was gazing up at that ominous crimson beauty.

“But,” she responded, “it’s beautiful.  How can you think such natural beauty is a warning against coming evil?”

“Because the moon rarely bleeds,” Jungkook answered from behind her.

She shook her head.  “I think it’s a sign that something good is about to happen.”

“Why do you think that?” Jimin inquired curiously.

“Well, before I fell asleep, I wished that my sixteenth birthday could have been celebrated under a full moon.  And here I am, walking through the night with all of you.  Under a gloriously red full moon.  Don’t you think it’s beautiful?”

Jimin gazed up at it.  “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”

“Me neither,” admitted Jungkook.  “I always thought it promised calamity, so I couldn’t find any beauty in it.”

“And now?” she asked him.

“What does a blood moon mean in your day?” Jimin asked, thinking of three hundred years hence.

“In 2021?” she clarified.  She shrugged.  “In my day, where I live, moons don’t herald destruction.  Though, I do wonder if unusual ones like this hold some special significance.”

“What do you mean?” queried Jimin.

“Perhaps they serve as a reminder that we’re not forgotten.  But rather affectionately pursued.  That our Creator joyfully paints the sky for us in a grand display of love.  Not just at sunrise and sunset but also in the moment of our greatest darkness.”

Jungkook and Tae tossed a glance towards each other, but Jimin gazed down thoughtfully at the girl clinging to his hand. 

“Do you really believe that?” he whispered.

She nodded.  “I do.  I think this is part of a divine plan to capture our attention and our hearts.”

“Why?”

“Because He wants a relationship with us.”

“A relationship?  God?  With us?”

“Yes.  Fellowship,” she spoke softly then, but her beautiful eyes held his steady even as the little group continued to move across that meadow bathed in the gentle light of that darkening moon.

After a moment, Jimin glanced back up at that crimson orb.  “What a beautiful thought,” he murmured.  “All this time, I thought that kind of moon displayed His anger at us.  His impending punishment of our sins.  But you – you who have seen the future – believe it’s a sign – quite to the contrary – of His affection for us?”

“I do.”  She continued to peer up at him.  “You believe me?  That I’m from the future?”

He shrugged as his gaze brushed her outfit.  “It would explain your strange clothes.  And your accent.  Your appearance.  Your presence here.”

“My presence?”

“You’re not…like us.”  His eyes clung to her darker skin.

“Ah…no.  I’m from India.”

“India?”  He frowned.  “Where is that?”

“A long ways away.  To the west.”

Jimin wasn’t even sure which way was west anymore.

“But I don’t even live there anymore,” she continued.  “I moved across an ocean a long time ago.  Much, much further west.”

“So, how did you come to be here?”

“In another country?  In another time?” she queried, at a loss.  “I have no idea.  Perhaps this is all a dream,” she murmured.

“If it is, I hope it never ends,” he admitted as he continued to gaze down at her.  “For my own sake,” he breathed before loosing a sharper breath, “but for yours, I hope you wake up soon.”

“Why?”

His eyes grew wide.  “Why?  You were nearly pierced through with arrows back there.  This place, this time, is no place for an innocent girl.  I wouldn’t wish to see you hurt.  Or killed.  Or worse.”

“Worse?” she inquired, alarmed.  She didn’t like the sound of that.

He nodded.  “These are perilous times.  Women are seldom safe here.  Your only true protection would be found in being someone’s wife.”

“Someone’s wife?”  She gazed up at him out of round eyes.

His chin bobbed up and down.  “And even then…with the army on the prowl….”

She gulped.  “Some way to spend my birthday, eh?”

“I’ll say,” he muttered.

But she smiled at him then as she squeezed his hand.  “Except…”

“Except?”

“Except I’m here with you.”

Perplexed, he furrowed his brow at her.  “With me?  What do you mean?”

She swallowed.  “In my day and time, you’re a member of a famous band.”

“A band?”  His eyebrows moved closer to his nose.  “For what army?”

“Army?”

He nodded.  “You just said I was a soldier.”

She shook her head.  “No.  Not a soldier.  A singer.  A band is a group of singers.  You,” she glanced around, “and your friends.  You’re famous.  People all over the world know – and love – you all.  Me included.”

“I don’t understand.”

She sighed.  “No.  I don’t suppose you do.  But I’ve known who you were for a while now.  And you’ve always been my favorite of the seven.”

His lips flipped upwards then.  “Me?  Your favorite?  Why?”

She shrugged.  “You’re sweet.”

“Am I?”  His feet stopped moving then.  And he glanced back at his friends.  Only to discover they’d all passed him and the girl.  That’s when he realized….

“What’s your name?” he whispered under the light of that unusual moon.

“Nani.”

“Nani,” his tongue tried out those syllables.  “That’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you, Jimin.”  She was smiling sheepishly up at him now.

They stood gazing at one another for several breathless moments.  Then she spoke again.

“I think…you’re still sweet.”

He blinked as surprise rippled across his countenance.  “You do?”

Her smile grew.  And she squeezed his hand.  “Of course.  You saved my life tonight.  And held my hand.  Tried to comfort me.  And keep me in the dark concerning the danger.  You protected me.”

He simply gazed down at her.

Nani leaned towards him then.  And brushed her lips across his cheek.  Shocked at her own boldness.  Perhaps the fear of the last couple of hours had unleashed her.  Freeing her to pursue this tiny desire at least.

He released her hand to reach up and slide his arm around her waist, drawing her close to him.  And Nani buried her nose in the crook of his neck.  Inhaling.  Her eyes fluttered shut as she attempted to commit this moment to her memory.  Crystal clear and beautiful.  A souvenir to take home with her.  Whenever she figured out how to get home….

—

Tae glanced back at them.  Then he muttered to Jungkook, “Jimin’s going to have to marry that girl.”

“What?” Jungkook turned to gaze behind them.  His eyes widened as he noticed the girl’s face brushing his friend’s cheek.

“It’s the only way we can keep her safe.”

“But…he doesn’t even know her.  None of us do.”

“It doesn’t matter.  She’s clearly addled in the head.  Can you imagine how vulnerable she’d be to the king’s soldiers?  They’d pass her around….”

Jungkook blanched.  “Do you think we can find a priest to perform their rites?”

“This is a time of war.  Surely an abbreviated pledge will do the trick.  But, yes, we’ll need a priest.”  Tae glanced off into the distance.  “If I’m not mistaken, Jin is leading us to one even now.”

Jungkook’s eyes traveled back towards Jimin and the girl.  He couldn’t believe his friend was going to be forced to marry a stranger.  A foreigner.  The youngest of the men was simply grateful in that moment that he’d offered to hold her cake.  And not her hand.