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Chapter Text

The news had come at midnight when hardly any couples were left on the dance floor. Dang-Gu had managed to ask Cho-Yeon to dance, and from time to time, he smiled excitedly at Seo Yul, who responded with little nods. His friend was dancing with Naksu with considerably less nervousness as if the music was made for them. Dang-Gu admired how those two moved subtly and accurately in the dance and the battles. They were Songrim's two most gifted students, and, of course, they only had eyes for each other. Their love story seemed to be written in the stars, while his with Cho-Yeon... Although there, the fault was entirely Jang-Uk's, who had set Cho-Yeon against all men. Only Seo-Yul was spared, and that was probably because he was the one who had taken Naksu to her house when they were much younger. 

“Have you seen Jang-Uk?” Someone interrupted.

Heo Yun-Ok saw her chance when one of the twists brought the two couples closer, and she asked about their friend. Dang-Gu shook his head. 

“Wasting time, probably," Naksu said, taking control of her partner and leading him away. 

“Or flirting with some clueless lady," Cho-Yeon added. 

“Try at the courtyard," suggested Dang-Gu, seeing Yun-Ok's displeased pout.

“You shouldn't encourage her," Cho-Yeon censured. "You know Jang-Uk will manipulate her until he realizes she's no use to him. He's cruel". 

"He just wants to be allowed to do magic," Dang-Gu tried to excuse him, but as the music faded, he knew it was a mistake. 

Cho-Yeon broke away from him, and after a slight bow, she searched for her sister. The two girls were not family as such, but they loved each other madly. They were close in age, and even their names sounded similar, so Cho-Yeon got with her the complicity she did not find in her older sister's seriousness. While Bu-Yeon acted from a very young age as the heiress of Jinyowon, Naksu seemed eager to please others. Over time, they became so inseparable that Jin Ho-Gyeong let them study at the Academy, trusting that they would protect each other. 

Therefore, Dang-Gu was surprised when he saw three Jinyowon women approaching them and catching Cho-Yeon's attention. Although the young lady greeted them with a smile, her animosity vanished fast, and Dang-Gu took a step forward when he saw Cho-Yeon stagger and fall to the ground. Beside her, Naksu knelt down to stand up again and rebuked the three women. They retreated but did not move too far away. 

“What's the matter?” Seo-Yul asked when they both reached the sisters. 

“Bu-Yeon has disappeared," Naksu muttered, frowning. 

“How?" exclaimed Dang-Gu.

“I'm sure it has something to do with Jang-Uk," Cho-Yeon declared as she stood up and shook out her dress. 

“Jang-Uk is no match for anyone here, and at the Academy, no one can beat Bu-Yeon. No, it had to be someone more powerful. 

“He's right, unnie," added Naksu with a regretful voice. “But don't worry, we'll look for her. We will find her.” 

Cho-Yeon's eyes filled with tears, but she tried to hold back. 

“How? Mother said I have to go back, that in Jinyowon, there must always be an heiress”. 

“I will go. I'll ask Master Heo's permission, and if he doesn't give it, I'll run away”. 

“I will go too," Seo-Yul assured them, and Dang-Gu nodded, joining the retinue, but Seo-Yul had not finished. “You should stay. It may be that those who have kidnapped Bu-Yeon want to get rid of Cho-Yeon, too”. 

“If they come near me, I will lock them in the relic chamber," she replied spitefully. 

The music had started to play again, but the four youngsters collected themselves. As Naksu helped Cho-Yeon pack her belongings, Jang-Uk appeared with his perennial smile and a group of girls a few feet behind him. He sat with them on the landing, and his expression quickly changed as he heard the news. 

“I want to go with you.” 

Dang-Gu and Seo-Yul looked at each other, unable to find the right words. 

“Cho-Yeon won't like it. She didn't like it when you courted her sister, and now she even thinks you're to blame”. 

“Of course, we've told her it's impossible," Dang-Gu tried to clarify. 

“Dang-gu," said Naksu, and the young man closed his eyes, not knowing how long the girls had been there, "take my sister home.” 

“Are you leaving now?” Jang-Uk was surprised. "It’s quite a hurry.” 

“There is no time to lose," she said, stepping briskly across the courtyard. 

“But I can't go looking like this," complained Jang-Uk. 

“You're not coming.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because you'd be a burden, and I won't take care of you while my sister is in danger.” 

“I won't be a burden.” 

“You don't know how to fight, and neither you know how to do magic.” 

“I have great potential, and, besides, unlike you, I know how to make friends.” 

“Look, I beat you in beauty, ability, charisma...”

“And modesty, as I see. 

“And in determination. If I had been robbed of something that rightfully belongs to me, I wouldn't be crying to people to give it back. I'd be doing something”. 

“And what do you want me to do? It's the others who can do something, like, for example, open my energy channel. I can do nothing”. 

“Well, if you can't do anything, it's better for you to die.” 

“How drastic is your girlfriend, Seo-Yul.” 

“If you can't take the pain of getting something, you don't deserve it," she said before kicking the ground and propelling herself over the rooftops. 

The group looked at each other in silence, but before Dang-Gu could think of anything to lighten the mood, his uncle's men crossed the courtyard in pursuit of Naksu. One of them, Sang-Ho, stopped to inform them that the gates of Songrim were closed, and no one could leave. 

“I must go home," Cho-Yeon protested. 

“Your bodyguards will accompany you," said Sang-Ho, "but Dang-Gu must stay, as well as Seo-Yul and Cho-Yeong. It's dangerous to be out of here”. 

“Then I should stay too, shouldn't I?” asked Jang-Uk. 

Sang-Ho didn't bother to reply and waved them back to their rooms. Seo-Yul and Jang-Uk obeyed, but Dang-Gu took Cho-Yeon's hands and said goodbye. 

“They'll find her, you'll see," he assured her. “We'll do as much as we can.” 

Cho-Yeon shook her head, trying to get rid of the tears that were already running down her face, and swallowed saliva. 

“I know," she said and, to Dang-Gu's surprise, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. 

As he watched her walk away, guarded by the soldiers her mother had sent, Dang-Gu thought how beautiful and devastating the flower that grows among nettles of anguish was. 

Chapter Text

In Go-Won's Daeho, there were three places where rumors were always going around: Chwiseonru Courtesan House, the Palace, and Songrim Academy. Not that Go-Won cared much about gossip, but he couldn't escape them. Partly because every day, a bunch of students tell him the news. Like how Jin Cho Yeon and Park Dang Gu had been caught walking around without gooseberry; how Cho Yeong, nicknamed Naksu because she spared nobody in fights, had tried to sneak into the astronomy tower; or how Jin Bu Yeon had disappeared. Stories used to come to him embellished and hard to believe, but Go-Won knew how to rescue the truth from such a skein. On the last one, however, he needed help figuring out how to do it. 

"Did Jang Uk commit suicide? Is he dead?"

"No!" replied Cha Beom.

"Well, not yet. But Master Heo is distraught". 

"Master Park thinks he got poisoned, that someone wanted to kill him." 

"Doesn't he think it was Jang Uk himself?" 

"The fellow was found in the infirmary last night, and it looked like he had been mixing herbs and various drugs." 

"What was he doing there?"

"They say he confronted Jin Bu Yeon's kidnappers." 

"No, no way; he just went to check on Naksu after she fought with the guards." 

"Why did Naksu fight with them?"

"She wanted to escape from Songrim. She probably had something to do with the death of his older sister." 

Go Won gave it up as impossible, raised his hand, and the students walked away, leaving him alone. It was unusual to hear rumors about those four, though Go Won was always delighted to hear from them. Not because he wished them any ill will but because they were the only ones who did not approach him. They didn't seem interested in his friendship, making Go Won want to be friends. He was sure their friendship would save him from a court of sycophants. 

Go Won had admired them since before he got into Songrim. He had heard all kinds of things about them, but what fascinated him most was their symbolism. They were called the Sons of Nature because they represented the four seasons. Park Dang Gu was the summer, always pleasant and with a smile ready to welcome anyone who felt lost. He was probably the person who had talked to him the most in all the years of training. Seo Yul was the autumn, a little moony but always upright, despite the inclemencies that the weather and fate had in store for him. He only seemed comfortable among his friends, the birds, and Cho Yeong. She was the lady of winter, lethal in combat and in words. He had seldom seen her laugh, and whenever she did, she always changed her face immediately, as if she was ashamed of having let her guard down. Her sister, Jin Cho Yeon, was the perfect image of spring. Calm but firm and steady. She knew all magical creatures and controlled many of them without batting an eye.  

Of course, there was also Jang Uk, but the boy's lack of magic made it harder for him to fit in with them. The prince had heard many stories about his birth and doubted they would ever find out what had really happened. With his father gone and his mother deceased, only suspicions and malicious remarks remained, remarks that Master Heo censored with an iron fist. The same master who now paced nervously in front of the infirmary, not knowing what to do with Jang Uk's illness. 

Go Won saw Heo Yeom as he collected himself in his favorite part of the garden. Most teachers and students usually respected the secluded spot, though the prince had never forbidden them to pass. His only companion was an elderly tortoise to whom Go Won would tell his worries aloud, convinced that it really could guide him as the gods did his ancestors. That day, however, there was someone else there. 

He didn't see them until he was too close, so close that he could hear their conversation. They were both from the side, and neither seemed to notice him. 

"It was reckless," Seo Yul was saying to Naksu at the time. "You could have killed him." 

She took her time to answer, but when she did, she didn't seem embarrassed. 

"Did he make it?" 

"They opened his gate of energy if that's what you were worried about." 

"It's what he was worried about. Don't chastise me for being the only one who took his dream seriously."  

"You know no one will want to train him. He'll be a pariah!" 

Naksu shrugged his shoulders and walked away from Seo Yul. She knelt next to the turtle, and Go Won wondered if she was also using it as a confidant. 

"If you want something, it doesn't matter how much suffering it brings you." 

"You always say that, but what are you suffering from?"

Naksu turned to him with a frown, and Go Won knew she had discovered he was there too. 

"My father," she began, but Seo Yul shook his head. 

"Your father decided his fate, but his decision did not affect you. You could enter Songrim and study like any other son of the aristocracy." 

After this, the young man walked away, and Go Won wondered if he had witnessed a love breakup. He squirmed uncomfortably, berating himself for his lack of decorum, and decided to give Naksu some space. He took a stroll around while witnessing the hustle and bustle of the Academy. Although Jang Uk's condition had startled them, much of the concern was still focused on Jin Bu Yeon. Master Park had gone in person to talk to Jin Ho Gyeong, but it seemed that the Jinyowon matriarch had decided that she did not want Songrim's cooperation. Surprised by her rejection, Park Jin and Heo Yeom had called a meeting with their most prominent pupils, a meeting that Go Won knew he was not invited to. 

By then, night had fallen. Convinced that Naksu would have left his turtle alone to attend the meeting, the prince retraced the morning's path, but the young woman was still there. Unlike him, she did not speak softly to the animal but seemed reassured by its presence. Go Won approached them both and cleared his throat to get her attention. Naksu didn't seem to notice, so Go Won exaggerated the gestures until, when she looked up, the prince had to disguise such gestures so as not to look ridiculous. 

"Aren't you going to greet me?" asked the prince. 

"Hello." 

"You're in my garden," he said, wanting to take it back the moment he said it. 

She looked at him with raised eyebrows. It wasn't his space, and they both knew it. 

"Well, if you're trying to avoid your friends because of what happened to Jang Uk, I can let my company protect you from prying eyes," he said, trying to look dignified. 

"Thank you, Your Highness," she replied in what Go Won suspected was a mockery. 

She continued to stare at the turtle while Go Won racked his brains, trying to find a topic of conversation until someone else interrupted them. 

"Jang Uk!" the prince was surprised. "You look pretty good for someone who was about to die." 

"Naksu," he said, ignoring the prince. "I came to talk to you." 

"To thank me?" she smiled. 

The young man nodded, and something on the girl's face made Go Won think she did not expect that answer from Jang Uk. 

"I want you to be my master." 

"I can't be your master. I'm still an apprentice." 

"You're the best warrior of any student here." 

"That is if she's not kicked out," the prince muttered and stepped back when both youngsters looked at him. "There will be consequences, you know." 

"Why would I want to be your master?" asked Naksu, with her incredulous and disdainful laugh. 

Jang Uk hesitated; at that moment, Go Won knew what he had to say. 

"I'll take you to the astronomy tower if you accept." 

Jang Uk frowned, but seeing that Naksu was now considering it, he nodded several times. That made the girl suspicious. 

"And what would you gain?" 

"A partner," Go Won pointed at Jang Uk. "You would have to become my friend." 

Naksu and Jang Uk exchanged glances, and Go Won understood that he had not been wrong with his instinct when neither of them pointed out how pitiful it was that the prince had to buy their friendship. 

"What do you say? Will Naksu be my master?" 

"When will you take me to the astronomy tower?" 

"As soon as you fulfill your other promise." 

"Well, then," she said urgently. 

She walked over to Jang Uk and pressed his shoulder, forcing the young man to kneel. Thus, with the prince and his turtle as witnesses, Cho Yeon and Jang Uk swore to obey and protect each other in a promise that would open the way to many others, as solemn and beautiful as this one. 

Chapter Text

It had been a long since Cho Yeong was to the astrology tower. At that time, her father was still alive and sometimes brought her from their home in the village to the city. On those occasions, he could drop her off at the Jang house, where the young Do Hwa pampered her while pining for a child of her own, or at Jinyowon, where, with small, clumsy steps, she would follow Jin Bu Yeon as she talked to her about the world she could glimpse if they closed her eyes. Her father's death had changed everything. The man had fallen prey to a curse that no one had bothered to explain to her, even after so many years in Songrim. She was sure Seo Yul knew something, but the boy was too cryptic, too calm at times. It was as if typhoons calmed down in his presence, which her schoolmates said was a good sign for a couple. She was an unbeatable force, and he was the beach on which to rest. But she didn't want to rest; she wanted to throw herself off the highest cliff and have him follow her without hesitation. She wanted someone who would not look at her sadly when her heart was filled with vengeance. 

Her revenge, however, would have to wait a little longer. She had come up with a plan, a plan that, if it hadn't been for the prince and Jang Uk, she would have already put into action. The idea was simple: find Jin Bu Yeon (which she had no doubt she would succeed in doing) and use her as a lure against her mother so that the Daeho families would tell her where Jang Gang was. She would never return her daughter to them if they didn't tell her. She hoped in her heart that she could convince Bu Yeon to cooperate, but she would steel herself if she didn't. Naksu would not starve Bu Yeon to death or beat her, but she knew that Jin Ho-Gyeong was terrified of letting Jin Bu Yeon go and losing the most powerful priestess Jinyowon had had since its founding. If the woman wanted to, she could convince the Assembly, the Palace, and Songrim to search for Jang Gang. 

But before taking action, Naksu wanted to say goodbye to the last place she and Cho Chung shared. To touch the water in the basin and look up at the stars her father had once taught her to read. Unfortunately, when Go Won let her in, while he stood at the door so that no one would enter, she discovered that she was not alone. She recognized the man by his voice: it was Jin Mu. 
He was a minor nobleman, an unacknowledged son of the Jin family whom Jin Ho-Gyeong had despised countless times. Naksu had often pretended not to know him, and he had acted the same way, but Naksu would never forget that he was the first face she saw when her father was killed. From the ruins of her house and the fire that had swept through it all, Jin Mu pulled her out. His hand held her and led her to Danhyanggok; he taught her to hunt, fight, and recognize the names of all the noble families who had participated in the slaughter of her home. He also smiled Machiavellianly at her once and told her that her revenge could no longer be perpetrated because everyone knew her face. He was a strange man, whom Naksu did not know whether she could trust, but her childhood memories screamed at her to trust him. 

"What did you want to see?" she heard Jang Uk's nonchalant voice. 

He didn't have time to add anything else because Naksu grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to hide behind one of the shelves with her. 

"Was this what you had in mind when you agreed to be my master?" asked Jang Uk with a mischievous grin. 

Naksu smacked him dryly in the side, and when he protested, she clamped a hand over his mouth and glared at him. Entry to the tower was strictly forbidden. They could even be expelled from Songrim if they were caught, though if Naksu was honest with herself, she shouldn't particularly care. She had squeezed the teachings of her masters to the fullest, and the path ahead entailed cutting ties. 

"What are they looking at?" Jang Uk whispered as the young woman relaxed her grip. 
They both stuck their heads out from behind the bookshelf, trying not to be discovered. Jin Mu must have opened one of the celestial tablets contained in the archive, and the stars it contained had been scattered around the basin of water in front of where Jin Mu was talking to a pair of assistants. 

"Is this the famous Cho Chung tablet?" one of them asked. 

Naksu swallowed and tried to ignore Jang Uk's suspicious eyes. 

"That's right. To witness the birth of King Ko Sung's only son costs dearly to Cho Chung. Master Jang didn't want any witnesses to his sin and..."

Naksu felt his neck and cheeks burn. She knew that story, of course, but without the details of the heir to the throne. Everyone thought the old king had died without offspring. Her father knowing who the person who had been born under the king's star was and getting eliminated because of it made sense. But that made him innocent of any accusations the nobles might have made at the time. 

"Sir, do you know where Master Jang is hiding?"

"Not at all, but that's not what I'm interested in. You said you lost Jin Bu Yeon. 

"The young woman fell into the water while we were trying to reach the harbor. I'm afraid, without her, our plans will get hard." 

"If she is dead, they will not." Jin Mu replied without altering his voice. "I always keep an ace up my sleeve." 

"The girl from Danhyanggok?" 

"Cho Yeong? It's enough that she's not a nuisance. Perhaps we should charge her with Jin Bu Yeon's disappearance because she considered Jinyowon guilty of her father's death... Come on, pick up the tablet; I must speak to the queen".

"Sire, who was born under the king's star?" 

"If I told you, I would have to kill you," said Jin Mu as he walked towards the door, followed by the two servants. 

"He could have told them and then killed them," remarked Jang Uk. "I wouldn't have minded knowing." 

"You're a cretin," said Naksu. 

She took a step back, separating herself from Jang Uk, and savored, for a moment, the possibility of skewering him with her father's sword. The master's oath protected him, but what if she released him? If she killed him, she could claim it was to make amends for Jang Gang's wrongdoing towards Cho Chung, family affronts, and fights of honor. It was her right. 

"Why, that man was one of Bu Yeon's kidnappers!"

"True," Naksu admitted, sheathing her doubts and walking towards the basin. 

None of Jin Mu's servants had bothered to put away the astral tablet, and the stars still danced in the middle of the room. The stardust, blue and pink at some ends, reflected in Naksu's eyes, drawing colored flowers. 

"You have beautiful eyes," Jang Uk commented. 

Naksu analyzed Jang Uk, trying to figure out what to say. Jang Uk had always struck her as the kind of person who, if a friend asked, would jump off a bridge; or climb the highest tree if a loved one asked him to carry them up there, no matter how much effort it took. Of course, as long as the young man had not had access to magic, she had not thought of him as a possible companion, but now... But what was she thinking? She had gone there to say goodbye, to promise the stars that she would avenge her father and finish off Jang Gang. She would avenge her family, even if she had to wipe out Jang's family, even if she had to take Jang Uk's life. She could not be fond of him now. 

She cleared her throat, turned on her heel, and headed for the exit. 

"I'm off. If you want to guess what that secret king is, learn the position of the stars," she said goodbye, not giving him time to follow. 

She found the exit empty, but she didn't care. Jin Mu was the crown prince's advisor, so whatever he wanted to talk to the queen, he might as well have told him. She was not interested in machinations, only in what she had been training for. When she arrived in Songrim, she packed her bags and informed the guards that she was returning to Jinyowon. It wasn't true, but it was the only way she could leave the Academy. She went into the thicket and walked all night and part of the next day, following the course of the wide river to her old home, a place even Seo Yul did not know. As she slept in the open and refilled the water canteen, she wondered if the presence she felt in her footsteps was his, if he would miss her when he realized she was gone, if he would call the birds to come and look for her, or if he would let her fly away, trusting that sooner or later she would come back to him. She also wondered whether there would be a way to return or whether it was better to nip all those hopes in the bud, to cut them as one cuts a flower. 

What had been her father's house was now a carcass of weather-beaten timbers and wild animals. A few closed doors made her wonder if peasants or travelers might have used it to protect themselves from wolves or store sacks of grain. Death seemed to claim every corner of the place, admitting none of Naksu's childhood memories. A child couldn't have run there or have been happy. Naksu swallowed and dropped to her knees in front of what was left of the house. She stopped being Naksu when her eyes filled with tears and became Cho Yeong again: a frightened child crouched inside a pantry as her world crumbled. 

She suddenly heard the sound of footsteps behind her and drew her sword, recovering, returning to being Naksu, the invincible, the unbeatable. 

"Hey, hey, be careful." 

"Jang Uk?"

Naksu narrowed her eyes, but only when the moon escaped the clouds' grip could she see that the shadow that had followed her was her pupil. Something inside her relaxed that it wasn't Seo Yul. 

"Do you mind?" asked Jang Uk, trying to smile. "I don't deserve to die so young, yet so handsome." 

"No," she answered his question without changing her posture. "I owe your father a debt." 

Jang Uk's smile dropped to a sadder, duller tone. 

"I know, I understand," he said, "I do too." 

"You don't understand," Naksu replied. I'll kill him as soon as I find him. 

"I thought you wanted to find Jin Bu Yeon. 

"So did I," Naksu looked away and gritted her teeth. "She'll help me." 

"Do you trust her like that?" 

"Yes," Naksu said, surprised to realize it wasn't a lie. She was sure that her older sister would help her find this evildoer, that she'd cooperate as soon as Naksu told her what she'd discovered. 

"Then why don't you trust me too?" 

Naksu frowned. Had she heard correctly? 

"How? Why?"
"I, too, have unfinished business with my father: debts, outrages for which I should be held accountable. My energy channel, my mother... Let me ask him about them; I won't come between you and him." 

"He's your father," she muttered, unable to believe the disrespect with which Jang Uk spoke of her father. 

"No, he is not. He didn't recognize me as his son, and I don't recognize him as my father." 

After these last words, he rapped his fingernails on the sword, and Naksu finally withdrew it. They looked at each other once more in the moonlight, with the moon plunging them into its mantle of light and shadow.  

Chapter Text

They reached Jinhae village a couple of days later. Naksu had a hell of a pace, and he tried his best not to fall behind, but he couldn't help complaining. He felt the flow of energy churning inside his body, and only the teachings of his previous masters kept him serene. He had always thought that concentration was not one of his strengths, but he was beginning to believe that he just hadn't been able to show it until then. "Can we get something to eat?" asked Jang Uk when they reached the little seaside village. "I'm dying for some roast chicken." 

"A good warrior doesn't indulge superficial appetites," said Naksu before pointing to one of the officials requisitioning the port goods. "We need to find out if they are here." 

Jang Uk felt the hint of a smile tingle his lips as he heard the plural, but then Naksu's gut crunched. She coughed loudly and waved her hand to let it go, but Jang Uk was unwilling. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the tavern. 

"How do you know this is the way?"

"I studied here with Master Tae Min Ki shortly after you entered the Academy."

They sat at one of the tables outside the tavern, crowded at this hour with locals discussing the news and gossip of the town amid shouts and bottles of soju. 

"And, of course, you would come here more than to your training, wouldn't you?" snorted Naksu. 

"My training consisted of meditating every single day. It was for a monk, and I'm not cut out to be a monk."

"I don't see why not," said Naksu, and with a bored gesture, she took the bowl they had just served to her. 

The smell of the soup made Jang Uk's stomach growl, but he wasn't about to let that affront pass him by. 

"Such a loss! Don't I look like a perfect potential husband to you?"

He had said it half-jokingly, half-seriously, but by the look on Naksu's face, he knew the conversation was about to end. 

"No, you don't. And finish that quickly; we have things to do," the young woman said, getting up to pay and putting distance between them. 

Jang Uk sighed. It seemed incredible to him that he and Naksu had become a traveling couple, not so much because of him but because of her. Naksu, Cho Yeong, had always been a challenging person to talk to. It was as if she was friends with everyone but him, although it made sense from what Jin Mu had said in the astronomy tower. If Jang Dang and Cho Chung had been friends and the latter had ended up dead, it was only natural that she would hate him. Although he hoped she hated the Jang family more than he hated him, he couldn't avoid belonging to the Jang house. Now that Jang UK knew the past that linked them, he understood that Cho Yeong would never have been prone to teasing him, spending time with him, or teaming up with him at the Academy. She avoided him, and the more she did, the more attracted he became to her. Of course, he knew she was the lady of one of his best friends, but he couldn't help but feel her grave spirit tugging at him as if they were both holding two yin-yang jade rings instead of swords.

"You haven't seen him then?" he heard Naksu ask a woman who was trying to sell her some honey biscuits. "And what about a young girl with long hair and a ribbon over her eyes?" 

The smile from earlier reappeared on Jang Uk's face. Naksu had assured him that they were after his father, that her revenge was all that mattered to her, but, just as he did, she couldn't get out of her mind the idea that Bu Yeon was alone and lost in some port city. For all they knew, which was nothing, Jang Dang could be hiding in a mountain village or even in the lushest forest, but instead of going to the most rugged and remote places, Naksu preferred to try the places where she could find her sister. 

"Ah, honey biscuits," said Jang Uk when he reached her side. 

"Oh, are they for your husband?" asked the salesgirl. 

"What? No, what are you talking about!" said Naksu, her cheeks flushed. 

"Aren't you a couple?" asked the saleswoman with a confused look, "Sorry, you looked like it."

Naksu opened her mouth to answer exactly what the two looked like, but Jang Uk grabbed her shoulders in time and pulled her away from the stall, apologizing to the salesgirl. 

"Remember what you said about having charisma and making friends," he admonished her without holding back his laughter. 

The young woman slapped him to loosen her shoulders and turned to him, ready to unleash some cruelty, when someone interrupted them. 

"Excuse me, are you the ones looking for an ancient wizard?" 

The two students looked at each other, stopped fighting instantly, and asked for more information. 

"I don't know his name, but a few years ago, a man came here. He's neither old nor young, probably around your parents' age. He usually lives apart from the community. There are rumors that he caused the waters to churn in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho a few days ago, although no one has spoken to him about it." 

"How do you know him?" 

"My son runs some errands for him in the village. He tells me things. He has an imagination, the boy, so he may not be the man you're looking for. 

"We'll try," said Jang Uk, taking a coin from the pouch on his belt. 

They walked to where the man had told them to go, but as they searched for the small hut where the supposed Jang Dang lived, Naksu gave vent to her worries:

"Do you think it was him the one who stirred the waters of Lake Gyeongcheondaeho? What if it was my sister?"

"We'll soon find out," said Jang Uk. 

It was a sober hovel surrounded by a small stone wall, next to which a small vegetable garden grew. At a glance, Jang Uk knew that its owner, whether or not he was Jang Dang, was a methodical man. They walked to the entrance without taking off their shoes and knocked on the door. No one answered, and after allowing a couple of minutes to pass, Jang Uk pushed open the door, forcing it open. The wood creaked as it gave way under their weight, but to their surprise, someone was waiting for them. As the local had pointed out, it could well be his father, for his face looked as aged as Master Park's, though younger than Master Heo. Naksu entered the house elegantly behind him, and Jang Uk looked at her with a questioning gesture: he had never seen any image of his father, so only Naksu would know how to recognize him. 

"Jang Dang," she said, her voice laden with contempt. "The years haven't done you any favors." 

"Who are you?" asked the man without bothering to stand up. "What are you doing in such companies?" he added, turning to Jang Uk.

He frowned. Had the old man just insulted him? 

"Don't you recognize me? Your old friend Cho Chung would be very disappointed. Although, of course, what does it matter that you don't know his daughter after you betrayed and murdered him?" 

"Cho Yeong is your name, then," he said almost to himself. "Why do you seek me out?" 

"To repair my family's honor," Naksu said, unsheathing the sword that gleamed in the semi-darkness of the room. 

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Not yet," said Jang Dang and raised his hands. 

Naksu stepped forward, swinging the sword so close to Jang Uk that the boy thought it was just a ploy to kill them simultaneously. But his father finally stood up and waved his hands toward them. Jang Uk saw two green and copper spheres emerge from his hands. They hit them, and Jang Uk closed his eyes and clutched at Naksu to keep from falling, hold her, and keep from separating. When he opened them again, the hut and his father had disappeared; instead, they were in a lush forest in the mountains. 

"What is this place?" asked an elated Naksu some time later. 

They had wandered around the place, swords at the ready in case Jang Dang attacked them after blinding them with an illusion, but the site seemed solid. A little beyond the clearing where they had landed, the waves of the sea kissed the stones of a beach and, a few miles to the right pounded the shallows of a cliff. 

"I think it's a prison," said Jang Uk. "It looks like Gwido, the prison where they sent sorcerers who had flirted with black magic." 

Naksu watched him out of the corner of her eye as the two of them inspected the interior of a cave. The hollow was wide enough that they could improvise a makeshift camp to shelter in for a short time while they figured out how to get out of there, though they would probably have to sleep together if the nights turned cold. 

"I didn't know you attended class." 

"I know a lot of stories about warriors and fantastic creatures. It's just that you never wanted to talk to me because I couldn't do magic." 

He said it jokingly, but when Naksu turned and started talking about the cave's features, he knew he'd hit the nail on the head. He sighed. He knew they couldn't go on like this, especially if they had to work together to get out of this magical place. Besides, if there were no honesty between an apprentice and a master, the bond would rot, and sooner or later, they would break their promise to protect and respect each other. So he reached out to take Naksu's hand and, with a gentle tug, forced her to face him. 

"We should make peace, don't you think?" 

"I don't know what you mean," she resisted, "I have nothing against you." 

"Except my lineage."

"You already said you had nothing to do with your father." 

"Then why don't you treat me like we're friends? We've grown up together, Cho Yeong, and no one but you has been able to understand how desperate I was to be able to handle magic. But I wish I could still trust you and believe you can understand me. I admire and respect you, I really do, and while I don't expect you to have the same feelings for me, perhaps a little affection would be nice. I'm not asking you to look at me the way you look at Seo Yul or to tell me the confidences you tell Jin Cho Yeon or to come to me for advice like you did as Bu Yeon, but not to feel you have to be defensive with me would flatter me a lot. 

Jang Uk finished the sentence with a feint of a smile, which he didn't know whether the girl like it. The young woman gave him a long look without a single comment, which Jang Uk decided to accept as a victory, and didn't press his luck. 

"I'll investigate what things we can eat around here, master. I'll put what you've taught me these days to the test," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. 

When he had moved far enough away, he snorted and moved his arms and neck, trying to relax the tension building up in him as he spoke. The words had come to him because he was like that: honest, generous, and kind. He liked people to feel at ease around him and did not hesitate to tell them precisely what he expected of them so that no one would get their hopes up. What Jin Cho Yeon used to say about him was a half-truth because, of course, he had courted Bu Yeon, but the priestess had always known what he was looking for. She had rejected him, and he had no choice but to give up on her. But his proposal had been clear from the beginning: he needed no gifts as a dowry, only a little bit of magic, a trivial spell for Jin Bu Yeon's power. 

He found some berries next to some trolls, and while picking them, a rabbit crossed his path with the misfortune that Jang Uk craved some meat. Although he had not learned to use magic, his teachers had taught him different survival skills in the various enclaves where he had lived. He knew how to hunt, gather, heal wounds, and hike long distances, though he had never felt the urge to walk fast. He did it only when he needed to, but Naksu did it as if she needed to prove to others that she was the best, that she was someone others needed to trust, to admire, to love. 

He wondered how much this had to do with the open wound she had carried from her childhood and which, if you looked carefully, still bled. 

Suddenly, he heard a roar and turned fearfully backward. He strapped the rabbit to his belt, though the animal's blood stained his tunic, and unsheathed his sword. He called out to his friend several times, but his only response was the appearance of a spirit made of black swirls of air, with a red circle glowing in the center, warning him to run for his life. But where to run to? Back to the cave? In the opposite direction? What if Naksu wasn't able to stop it? Wouldn't it be better to kill it? He threw the rabbit back, but the spirit didn't seem interested in that prey. At last, he decided to face it and slowed down, digging his heels into the ground. He was ready, but Naksu leaped in front of him, and with one sword thrust, she knocked the creature off its feet. 

"Are you alright?" was the first thing she asked, and Jang Uk smiled, grateful that she hadn't reprimanded him for running away as a first choice. "What was that?" 

"Probably a soul hunter," Jang Uk explained as they returned to the cave. "This place must be populated by those who did soul alchemy or tried to summon the ice stone." 

"What?" laughed the girl. "Don't tell me you believe those tales!" 

"You'd be surprised how many such books there are in Songrim's library," he replied, "Though, of course, they're in areas not accessible to all students." 

"You snuck into Master Park's private library?"Naksu was shocked. 

The surprised tone of the girl, who didn't seem to be judging him, gave Jang Uk a clue that Naksu had decided to accept her offer. As they ate dinner and tidied up the place with what they had packed before leaving in search of Jang Dang, Jang Uk told her stories he had read in books when he was bored, and the others were training in the courtyard. At first, he had done it to prove he could, to rebel, but eventually, when he saw that no one said anything to him, his interest waned. 

"That's your problem: you're not consistent at all." 

"I doubt I'll ever lose my interest in you." 

They soon discovered that the place was crawling with wild creatures trying to steal their souls, bodies, and sleep, so as soon as they secured a food source, Naksu began training Jang Uk. The boy's movements were Manichean and hers lethal, but true to his word, Jang Uk refused to give up. When bumps and minor injuries made the exercise challenging, they searched and debated for a way out, but the magical world seemed infinite. They began to lose track of time because the only change they experienced was Jang Uk's improvement, and the constant battles between master and apprentice allowed Naksu not to think that, in this state, she couldn't help her sister. 

After teaching him the Ryusu technique, which, to both of their surprise, Jang Uk acquired in a short time, she showed him how to fight using Tansu. It was then that the dreams began. 
At first, they were feverish babblings at times when he was too tired to recollect what he had dreamt or said in his sleep. His friend listened to him worriedly, and Jang Uk could not but feel grateful for the care she gave him in such a condition. Gradually, the dreams became clearer. 

"She is a woman. She's blind, just like Jin Bu Yeon, but it's not her. She tells me about a bird; she tells me to be ready. I don't know what it means." 

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"Do you think she'll know how to get us out of here?" 

"Why do you think Jang Dang meant when he said he still couldn't let me kill him? Do you think he knew anything about that bird?" 

They agreed to drug Jang Uk and the next night, the young man fell asleep in Naksu's lap while she patted his back to reassure him that even though the drugs made him feel alone and helpless, she was there to protect him. The active substance put him to sleep, but the herbs allowed him to come lucidly to dream and discover what the place where he had so often met the woman looked like. It was the frozen lake surrounding Daeho. 

"Who are you?" 

"My name is Jin Seol Ra."

"Do you come to warn us, to advise us, or to ask for help?

"You speak in plural, but I only need your help, only your sword."

"And I need her, so let's speak in the plural." 

"It is a warning and a plea. Protect Daeho from the bird."

"What bird specifically? Is it real, or is it a metaphor?"

"It's a bird that fears the ice," she said cryptically and turned, walking away. 

"Wait, how can we help you from here?"

"Here?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. 

"We're not in Daeho, but in a magical prison."

"Walk to where the waves break and the foam kisses the land. The sea will never be a prison," Jin Seol Ra said and disappeared. 

"Do we have to jump into the sea?" asked a pissed-off Naksu when Jang Uk relayed the message. "Is she crazy or what?" 

"Probably, but just like another one I know." 

"When have I ever said anything so...?" started Naksu until Jang Uk made the gesture to drink something and die. "Alright. Let's jump. But..." 

"Don't worry, I won't let you go," Jang Uk assured her as they ascended towards the cliffs. 

Naksu didn't say anything, but neither did she take his hand when they reached the top. He laced his fingers with hers and allowed himself to be swept away as Naksu took a running start and plunged into the sea. They both sank until their lungs prickled and, finally releasing from each other brace, swam to the surface. 

"There's two of them here!!!" shouted someone a few meters away. 

Jang Uk tried to wipe the water out of his eyes to focus and saw a fisherman hand him an oar to hold on to. As he and Naksu climbed into the boat, he asked them if they were okay, to which Naksu responded by spitting out water and coughing agitatedly. 

"I don't know where you were sailing to, but you are now in Jinhae," the man explained to them. "Recently, there was a big upheaval on the lake, and from what we heard, several people shipwrecked. We rescued some, but we also found dead bodies in the water. You are the first two we found alive after the first few days." 

Jang Uk frowned. Had there been another earthquake besides the one his father had caused? Why? How even, since this was not an area where such earth and water tremors were common? He asked what day it was, and the weigher's answer surprised him even more: it had only been two days since they had crossed paths with his father, two days that seemed more than six months in the magical prison. He felt the adjustment of time dulling his senses, and when he saw Naksu leaning over the edge of the boat to vomit, he knew he was not alone. 

The fisherman dropped them off at the harbor and offered to accompany them to the tavern and pay for a bowl of soup, for neither of them had the luggage with which they had left Songrim. Naksu tried to refuse, but Jang Uk took the initiative for her, for the young woman could barely walk upright. He accepted the man's offer as the fisherman led them toward the group of rescuers 

"There is a young nobleman organizing search parties to rescue as many as possible. He doesn't care if they are dead or alive. He is very kind; we all like our loved ones to be able to rest and not be left swimming for eternity. Ah, here he is; good afternoon, Master Seo Yul; I present two new shipwrecked people". 

Chapter Text

Seo Yul had left Songrim the morning after they did, but unlike his friends, he had warned his elders. At Ae Hyang's Chwiseonru Courtesan House, he had discovered the tragedy at Gyeongcheondaeho Lake through several comments and had traveled with a small entourage that could help in the rescue efforts. Most of the coastal town's population had welcomed him, though some did more effusively than others. 

"We were robbed shortly after getting off the boat," Seo Yul explained to Jang Uk and Cho Yeong as they left the tavern. 

The three of them walk in a line, with Cho Yeong in the middle of the two, seeking privacy from the stares of the locals who turned away from their passing. 

"Who did it? Jin Mu's men?" asked the latter. 

"Are you okay?" asked Jang Uk at the same time as her. 

Seo Yul nodded before questioning Cho Yeong with his eyes. From the young woman's tone, it would seem that Jin Mu was one of her enemies, but, as far as he knew, the king's advisor had been one of the few allies Cho Chung had had when it was discovered that he performed soul alchemy. 

"Jin Mu was the one who kidnapped Jin Bu Yeon," Cho Yeong then explained to him. "And he will be sorry when I catch him." 

"I think I have a clue to her whereabouts," Seo Yul said. 

 From the inside pocket of his robe, he pulled out the silk scarf that used to cover Jin Bu Yeon's eyes and where Jin Ho-Gyeong had embroidered the family banner. The yellow-tipped rose stood out on a wrinkled cloth, demanding good ironing. It smelled of sand and seaweed, a scent he could hardly associate with Jin Bu Yeon. He held it out to Cho Yeong, and she took it in both hands and kissed it with reverence. 

"It still smells like Jynowon's roses," Cho Yeong muttered. 

"It was held by the thieves who robbed us at the port."

"I find it hard to believe they overcome you," commented Jang Uk. 

"When I say they robbed us, I don't mean it was me, but the servants who came with us." 

Jang Uk patted him on the shoulder, like a father proud of his son, but when he went to say something, a bunch of shouts and blows caught their attention. A few meters ahead, a group of villagers was fighting among insults and blows, and a group of onlookers was forming around them. Cho Yeong waved them away, but neither he nor Jang Uk took any notice. That was just how they were: while the boys would get involved in any fight, especially to separate the bullies from the weak; the girls preferred to stay out of it. 

"How despicable!" commented a shopkeeper to his friend, just inches away from them. "So much they dare with a poor blind girl." 

Seo Yul pressed on, but by the time he managed to break through the crowd, Cho Yeong had already stopped the fight with the handle of her sword. A group of large, sullen men stood away from Cho Yeong but pointed and insulted the young girl who was hiding behind his friend. 

"She's not Jin Bu Yeon, is she?" asked Jang Uk, who couldn't distinguish her from so many people. 

"No, she's the thief," sentenced Seo Yul. 

Minutes later, when the gawking crowd had already been shooed away, Seo Yul knelt beside her and greeted her. 

"Do you remember me?" 

"Of course," the girl replied, holding his gaze now that she knew she was safe. 

"You're such a phony," Cho Yeong was shocked. "I shouldn't have helped you." 

"I thank you for what you did," she retorted in an amused tone. 

"And now you are indebted to us," Jang Uk interjected. 

"What do you need?" 

"Information. Where did you get this scarf from?"

"Was it you who stole it from my sister?" 

"Don't draw so fast, master."

"Are you her sister? You don't look much alike."

"Are you? Like...? Are you speaking in the present tense because she's still alive?"

"Yes, she's being looked after by an old hag from the next town. She found her on the beach. If she had a sword like yours, she lost it." 

"Lead us to her, please," Seo Yul requested. "And our debt will be settled." 

"And what's in it for me?"

"I won't break your fingers for stealing from a noblewoman," Cho Yeong barked at her. 

"We'll take you with us to the capital. It seems that people here have already blown your cover." 

"All right, but I warn you, your sister may not be the person you're waiting for." 

Seo Yul frowned; what does it mean? No one but Jin Bu Yeon could carry around that scarf. The thief, called So I, led them to the village cottages that were a few meanders away. There, they met an old woman who immediately agreed to trust that Cho Yeong was Jin Bu Yeon's sister because, she said, they both smelled of roses. She took Cho Yeong by hand, but an involuntary sob made the young woman nervous. Seo Yul then took a step toward her, but, to his surprise, Cho Yeong turned not to him for comfort but to Jang Uk. 

"What's wrong, Grandma?" asked this one, his hand resting on Cho Yeong's shoulder. 

"The poor thing doesn't remember anything. She doesn't know she has such a beautiful name; she doesn't know who her family is." 

When Jin Bu Yeon came out of the humble house, the old woman called her Mu Deok, and leaning on a stick that acted as a staff, the heiress of Jynowon approached them. Cho Yeong then stepped toward her, but her embrace froze in mid-air. 

"I know you, don't I?" the blind girl said, raising her face towards her. "Your energy... I've seen it before." 

"Mu Deok," said Jang Uk. "We've come to take you home." 

They didn't go straight to Jinyowon but to Danhyanggok. Cho Yeong wasn't sure how Ho-Gyeong would react when she found out that Jinyowon's heiress had not only lost her memory but also her powers, and Jang Uk thought she'd heard strange and miraculous stories about a very powerful hermit who lived in the mountains of Danhyanggok. 

"I don't recall anyone ever living there," Seo Yul muttered.

That was where he saw Cho Yeong for the first time. He had fallen in love with her little by little as they shared their passion for the sword and nature, but she refused to speak to him when she found out who he was. Scorned and hurt, Seo Yul considered returning to his father's fortress and forgetting forever about that young woman who lived like a wild animal and walked among the trees, but the arrival of a particularly harsh winter made him ask for advice from his mother, who sent a retinue to save the young woman from her loneliness. 

Of course, Cho Yeong was not easily swayed. During the first few months of foster care, in which she felt like captivity, she ran away several times, but the men of the Seo family always captured her. Following her mother's advice, they tried moving her to the capital and enrolling her in the Jynowon School, where Jin Bu Yeon recognized her. The little priestess was the only person who calmed the girl down and gave her a safe space to mourn her father's death. The relationship between the two girls grew closer, especially when Jin Bu Yeon proclaimed herself the protector of the last heiress of the Cho family, to the point of treating her like a sister. 

During those years, Seo Yul always found an excuse to drop by to say hello, sometimes accompanied by his friends and sometimes alone. Cho Yeong did not always receive him, which filled the young man with sadness since he felt his love was not enough to stop the desire for revenge that still boiled in his friend's heart. He couldn't help but wonder if the three sisters' affection for each other would make Cho Yeong let go of her resentment towards the Daeho high families, especially now that she knew why her father had been killed. After all, the man had played with black magic, altering the laws of Nature and even threatening Cho Yeong's own life. Jang Dang had saved her when he plunged the sword into her father's heart. 

"His name is Master Lee, and he was apprenticed to Master Seo Gyeong," Cho Yeong informed them on the way. "The times I've come here, he was always here."

 "Such a beautiful tree!" exclaimed Jang Uk when they arrived. "I'd love to be able to climb it."

"When you finish your training, you can do it."

"Will you climb with me, master?" 

Seo Yul saw Cho Yeong nod and felt a pang of jealousy. Although the others often made jokes and references to the two of them being in a relationship, the truth was that they had never had that conversation. He had treated her with the same affection as his friends and kept his feelings under lock and key after that first failed declaration of love. She, for her part, seemed to enjoy his company but had done nothing to advance their relationship. When one of their classmates called her "Seo Yul's girlfriend," she just shrugged her shoulders as if she was used to no one calling her by her real name, the name her parents had chosen for her. 

Seo Yul had not intervened in those cases either, trusting that, at some point, those words would come true partly due to the inertia of time. However, seeing the way Jang Uk and Cho Yeong were talking to each other, he wondered if he had let too much time pass. His two friends, who barely stood each other yesterday, seemed to have hit it off as if they had been working together and sharing confidences for years. Had more happened since they left Songrim than what they had told him? 

"Ah, the daughter of shadows. This time you bring company." 

The famous hermit that Jang Uk had spoken of and who Cho Yeong said was Master Lee appeared before them. Leaning on a crozier, a dog with long gray fur was panting at his feet. The animal trotted up to them and rubbed its head against Jin Bu Yeon's legs, who petted it with a smile. 

"Unnie, does it ring a bell?" 

"Its energy is familiar to me, but I don't know from what. I'm sorry." 

Cho Yeong shook her head and left her sister in Master Lee's care, hoping that he could unravel the dark webs that had taken over her sister's memory. While the sage examined her, she began to cut radishes and peel chestnuts by the fire where water from a pot was being heated. Seo Yul put down his sword to help her, but Jang Uk did it faster. The young man took several rice ladles and poured them into the pot while joking that this dish might taste better than all the ones they had made so far. 

Seo Yul did not hear Cho Yeong's reply, although he did see Jang Uk shake his shoulders in laughter. Suddenly, Seo Yul had become a spectator of a play where he no longer had a role. With his heart heavy with melancholy, he went away to write a little missive to Jin Cho Yeon, and with a little melody, he called the bird that was to fly over Gyeongcheondaeho Lake to inform his friend that his sister was safe. 

Two days later, they received a letter from Jynowon, in which Jin Cho Yeon informed them that roses are already sprung, and she was now betrothed to the heir prince, Go Won. 

Chapter Text

Jin Cho Yeon had always daydreamed about her wedding. She had planned the color of her dress, the jewelry she would wear, the dishes served, and what music would be played during the banquet. She had even dreamt about the person she wanted to get married to, who was not at all the person she had as betrothed. 

The crown prince sat at the small royal mahogany desk and looked at her with the same confusion that seemed to emanate from her.

"I always imagined this as a series of interviews," he admitted. 

"Your mother, the Queen, honors me with such a proposition," she replied, hardly daring to move her lips. 

Honored her? Such a disgrace! She had nothing against Go Won, but she hardly knew him. She had seen him around Songrim, but the Prince tended to rub shoulders with a group of students too vain for her taste, so he was probably like them too.  A personality that would have nothing to do with Park Dang Gu. She sighed. Was it too late to tell Park Dang Gu how she felt about him? 

"Maybe I could postpone the ceremony until..." 

Go Won was only thinking aloud, but Cho Yeon raised her face with hope that gave her away. To her surprise, Go Won didn't get angry but laughed. 

"I should be offended, but I think it's not a good idea, don't you think?"

"Your Highness?" tried to dissemble Cho Yeon. 

"I'll message Jynowon to request an appointment with your mother. Maybe then we can get a truce from our elders," said Go Won before dismissing her. 

Cho Yeon left the Palace with a distracted gesture and made her way toward the Chwiseonru Courtesan House like an autumn leaf blown away by bad weather. It had not even been a week since her sisters had left, but she missed them terribly. Jin Bu Yeon's disappearance distressed her, and she could not help but think of the various scenarios where her elder sister might have encountered trouble. But it was an alien burden, resulting from empathy and the desolation of watching her mother lose the will to eat and get out of bed while her daughter was missing. At first, Ho Gyeong tried to place all responsibility for Jynowon on Cho Yeon's shoulders, but they soon realized that neither of them wanted to accept that Bu Yeon might be dead. Ho Gyeong had sent many of Jyonwon's female warriors to search for her eldest daughter and hoped that Yeong would succeed in her mission if they could not. 

But while the absence of her protégé gave Ho Gyeong strength, Cho Yeon regretted the absence of her friend and confidant. She didn't understand why Yeong hadn't even stopped by to say goodbye and was haunted by some of the phrases she had heard Yul say about her. Something about revenge, about the Jin sisters' love perhaps not being enough. When she had asked Bu Yeon about the wounds Yeong received from the past, the priestess confessed that she wasn't sure if they had healed. 

"She needs time and maybe some bloodshed as well. Let's hope the former will suffice." 

"May I invite you?" she heard Park Dang Gu's voice beside her. 

She turned around with a smile so broad that the young man blushed. He pointed with a trembling arm towards one of the rooms on the first floor that the five friends frequented when they went there. Cho Yeon nodded effusively, not caring that they were alone. If anyone wanted to spread rumors about her and Dang Gu, the Queen might think twice about the Prince's engagement with her. 

"I have something to tell you," Dang Gu said as the courtesans finished serving them. 

"So do I."

"Ladies first."

"I'm going to get married." 

Dang Gu's smile twinkled like a departing star, and Cho Yeon hated herself for being the cause of that loss. If only she had told him how she felt before... But she had only recently realized it. His presence, affection, and kindness to everyone permeated her days, and now that she knew she didn't want to live without it, she had to learn to say goodbye. 

"You'll make a beautiful bride," he mused.

"I would be more beautiful if I could marry who I wish," she murmured. 

They lapsed into a sorrowful silence, where they dared not touch their food until Dang Gu remembered that he had some good news. 

"Yul has found Bu Yeon. They're in Danhyanggok with Naksu and Uk." 

"Why is Uk there too?"

"Now that he can do magic, I guess Naksu didn't mind taking him with her." 

"If he's just started training, he'll be at a kid's level... But I'm happy for him. Now that he doesn't have to curry favor with anyone, we can find out who he really likes."

"I'd like to go and visit them." 

"Why don't they come? My mother will be so excited when she hears this."

"There's a... little problem; one or two." 

Cho Yeon frowned and invited him to go on. What could be wrong? Just as Dang Gu had said, they seemed safe and sound. 

"Bu Yeon doesn't remember who she is. And from what Yul wrote to me," he added, showing her the rolled letter that had come in a bird's leg, "she seems to have lost her magic as well." 

Cho Yeon felt the ground tremble beneath her and hugged herself. Was that true? If so, it didn't matter if she had been found; Jyonowon was without a priestess and future matriarch. Her mother would find comfort in finding her lost daughter, but she... The burden of the Jin inheritance would fall on Cho Yeon, who could never marry the heir to Songrim. Unless Master Park found someone worthy of being the Principal of his Academy... But what was she thinking? She was already betrothed to the Crown Prince. Her fate was sealed. 

"How is that possible?" she mused.

"From what Yul tells me, Jin Mu's men kidnapped her, and she must have been shipwrecked in Lake Gyeongcheondaeho."

"Jin Mu's men?"

"If Seo Yul says so, I believe it." 

Cho Yeon agreed with a nod, though the implications of such an act were ignominious to her. Jin Mu, a distant relative, a bastard relative, but a relative nonetheless, worked in the Palace, for the Palace. If he truly had kidnapped her sister and now the Palace was forcing her to marry his ward, the Prince himself, could Jin Mu have a secret agenda? What was he after? 

Those questions found an opportunity to be answered when Jin Mu appeared without his men at Jynowon's door the next day. With her mother confined to bed and most of the masters and first officers outside, looking for Bu Yeon, Cho Yeon had to take charge. 

"What are you doing here?"

"I've come on behalf of the Queen." Cho Yeon tensed her smile, fearful "The Palace doesn't feel safe if your mother isn't well." 

"She is recovering."

"It must have been a heavy blow, the loss of your heiress. Do you think she can downplay her absence with your gifts?"

"My mother is still young and strong." 

Jin Mu raised an eyebrow giving his face a mocking tone that made Cho Yeon furious. Part of her wanted to jump up and scratch the man in the front, but another part wanted to challenge him to a duel and demand an apology. But if she got carried away, she would be in trouble with the Palace. Was this really the man who was advising Go Won? Did the Prince know that his aide's hands were stained with blood? Would he take action if she told on him? 

"The Palace wants to ensure that the Jynowon relics are still safe, so show them to me, girl, don't delay."

He gave her an arrogant gesture and walked ahead of her into the inner courtyard. Cho Yeon watched with displeasure at Jin Mu's bombastic footsteps as he walked among the bushes whose roses had already begun to bloom. That man walked through Jynowon as if the place was his own when no man could control the Lyceum. This was the school for young ladies, where the daughters of wizarding families went to study not only courtly arts but also swordplay and magic. It was the place where every self-respecting woman wanted to learn, it was a place where only women could live and work, and therefore it had to be ruled by a woman, by a lady heir of Jin Seol Ra. 

Anyone else who tried to run it would be an intruder, an enemy. 

Jin Mu stopped in front of the door of the relic cave. He would have seen it open many times, but there was only a stone wall covered with bindweed this time. 

"Lock him inside," she heard Yeong's voice in her mind. "Let him discover why only Jin's women can rule this place." 

"Did you lock up Jin Mu?" 

Cho Yeon hid her face from Dang Gu's gaze. Would he be ashamed of her? But then the young man chuckled, and she sighed in relief. 

"Don't take it like that," he scolded her, "When they find out at the Palace, it will be terrible."

"If we explain the reasons to Go Won, I think he'll understand." 

"Are you so sure about your fiancé?" 

Cho Yeon lowered her head again, hurt. She hadn't told Dang Gu who she'd been engaged to, but the whole town was boiling with rumors of the two of them. 

"I think he's a good person," she said with aplomb. 

She hoped he was because if he weren't, as Dang Gu had said, she would have been in big trouble. 

"Of course, I'm a good person," Go Won said behind them, startling them. "What have I done?

"It is not what you have done, your Highness," said Dang Gu, "but what you are going to do."

"But you are generous and will do it... won't you?" 

"First, I would like to know what it is."

Cho Yeon and Dang Gu exchanged glances and held each other's hands for a moment to breathe strength into each other. 

"You have to know something first. It's about Jin Mu," Dang Gu began to tell him.

The young Prince was silent for a few minutes after Dang Gu finished as if sizing up all the options. Finally, he turned gravely to his betrothed. 

"Cho Yeon! You have to get Jin Mu out of there! My mother will kill you if she finds out what happened!"

"You won't give me away, will you?" she pleaded to him in a bundle of nerves.

At another time, she might have claimed that it was Jin Mu's fault for meddling, for gossiping, but now she could not give her mother such a headache. She knew Ho Gyeong despised Jin Mu for being a bastard son, but she couldn't condemn him for that alone. And as for his sister's abduction... If Bu Yeon had lost her memory, how could she give him away? How had Seo Yul even found out who it was?

"I won't." the Prince assured them. "But you have to release him." 

"Help me," she begged. "I will open the doors, but getting out of the cave is not so easy. And I must see to it that no relics escape."

Unfortunately, by the time the three mages reached Jynowon, the Unanimous Assembly was already there. The three crouched behind the place's walls, searching for the most auspicious moment to sneak in. 

"Follow me; I know a passage," Cho Yeon told them. 

She had discovered it by following Yeong shortly after Yeong had moved into Jynowon. At first, Cho Yeon had been wary of Seo Yul's new friend and even grew to dislike her when she saw how quickly she had hit it off with her sister. Bu Yeon, who hardly seemed to pay attention to Cho Yeon other than to criticize her for her lack of spirit and fickleness, immediately took Yeong as her protégé. At first, Cho Yeon wanted to complain to her mother, but Ho Gyeong dismissed her fears, unable to think that Bu Yeon could be wrong about anything. 

Yeong tried to escape that night, she was sure, so she followed her, determined to give her away. She had hoped that this would get her thrown out, but when she saw the girl walk up the hill to the graveyard of the soul changers, she followed her out of curiosity. The young Yeong knelt by a pile of stones and took out a liquor bottle that Cho Yeon wondered if it had come from Jyonowon or elsewhere. She watched the girl from a distance, and pity convinced her to turn back. When she reached the wall of Jyonowon, however, she dared not enter. She waited as the night closed and the darkness deepened until the cold numbed her arms. By the time Yeong arrived, she had memorized the steps taken by the officers guarding the door. 

"What are you doing here?" Yeong asked when she saw her.

Cho Yeon, who had knelt down, tired of waiting, stood up. 

"I was waiting for you. In case you came back..."

"I thought you wanted me out of your sight."

"I can tell my mother that you tried to run away. If you want to leave, she'll let you go."

"She won't. She'll put me on her gold leash first, so I can't escape from here again." 

Cho Yeon frowned. Was there something she was missing? Why would her mother be so eager for that girl to stay with them? Taking her in had only been an act of charity: she was a lady, a magician, and Ho Gyeong had been close friends with Jang Gang, Cho Yung's best friend. Nothing else united these two women. 

"My father committed a horrible sin," the younger Yeong came clean. "And they fear that if they don't control me, I will follow in his footsteps." 

"And what do you want to do?"

"I just want to know what happened. Why they killed him?"

Despite the sincerity and determination with which she spoke, Cho Yeon felt that the young girl's heart was an ocean of sadness. Without thinking, she squeezed her hand, sealing their truce. 

Now, as she walked through the same passageway they had walked together that night and many more nights, she couldn't help but think of what she would give to have Yeong back with her. 

"Isn't that your uncle over there, Park Dang Gu?" the Prince asked. 

"Come on, we're almost there," he said, pale at the sight of the Academy's headmaster. 

They stopped in front of the cave door, and Cho Yeon reached out her arm. She opened her hand, stretching out her fingers and emanating a web of silver threads that flew into the wall and opened the doors of Jynowon. The floor shook, and Dang Gu and the Prince held on, but the jolt did not faze Cho Yeon one iota. She had done this countless times, and if the gods had mercy, Jin Mu would not have touched any of the relics. When she saw a figure in a purpled robe stagger towards them, she breathed a sigh of relief. Go Won ran to his counselor and pulled him to his feet with Park Dang Gu's help. The man raised his head, and Cho Yeon knew he would take revenge if given a chance. She wanted to tell him that this was his punishment for kidnapping Bu Yeon, but she dared not go near him. 

She reached out her other hand to pick up the silver threads of her magic and close the door, but a second jolt caused her to lose her balance. The jolt was followed by another pair, alerting her. She walked towards the doors and motioned for her friends to stand back. The relics had seen their chance, and they would escape if she didn't hurry. 

"Help me!" she called out to them. 

"You're going to lose control," Jin Mu said to his side. 

"No!"

"And your mother will lose Jynowon!"

"No!" she howled, her voice besieged with tears. 

But Jin Mu was right. Park Dang Gu and Go Won's magic wasn't enough, and the relics had already started to come out. Her mother was going to kill her, that was if she didn't die of displeasure. With a shriek, she threw all her magic against the door just as Gwigu came out barking into the sky. Behind it, the white mouse Gwiseo was on its trail, along with the roar of a tiger and a vast red bird Cho Yeon had not seen before. Luckily, the noise and tremors had alerted Park Jin and the Unanimous Assembly mages, who came running up to them and closed the door. 

"This is unheard of!" exclaimed monk Ho Yeon "The Assembly... The Assembly cannot accept this out of control over Jynowon". 

Cho Yeon tried to apologize, to find an excuse, but Jin Mu interrupted her. The man seemed to have grown up at her misfortune, though he was still leaning on the Prince's arms. 

"You must hand over the Jynowon Plaque to us and answer to the Palace."

Cho Yeon looked at her friends in dismay and wondered how things could have gone so wrong in such a short time. 

"She will," Go Won then said in a calm tone, "won't you? She will come to the Palace to deliver it. But it's essential for her to rest now. There is no need to hurry. 

He started to walk outside, silencing the complaints of the elders. Master Park took his nephew by the arm and pushed him towards the exit, leaving Cho Yeon alone. Cho Yeon silently walked through the Lyceum's chambers, her soul dejected. She didn't want to tell her mother what had happened or hand over the Plaque without her consent. It was clear that she could not be the heir to Jynowon. The place had only been in her possession for two days, and she had already lost it. Without Bu Yeon and Yeong, she was no one; she wanted to be no one. Only with her sisters by her side could she be the lady of spring, the fourth most skilled swordswoman in Songrim, the most beautiful bride of all the marriageable ladies of Daeho. 

As she reached her mother's hall and opened the chest that held the Plaque, she realized that if she wanted to be with her sisters, there was a straightforward solution. Terrible for a peasant, but not for her, capable of defending herself with sword and sorcery. She kept the Plaque, and in the free space of the chest, she left a jade ring. Her mother had made two pairs for each daughter, trusting they would be wise enough to choose who to give them to. And though Cho Yeon was still unwilling to marry the Prince, she needed him to trust her. She wrote him a note, which she also kept in the chest, and fetched one of the officers to deliver the chest to the Palace the next day. When the woman went to bed, she tied her belongings in a satchel and slipped through the same passageway she had slipped hours before. 

To her surprise and relief, Park Dang Gu was waiting for her on the other side of the wall. 

"I don't suppose you planned to go to Danhyanggok alone." 

As her only response, Cho Yeon stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheeks.

Chapter Text

We chose to light each other’s paths when we need it the most

The news of Yinowon's accident soon reached every corner of Daeho, including Jinhae.

"They say the Palace has taken control of the Lyceum."

"Did the Jin matriarch fall ill?"

"It's because her daughter was kidnapped."

"But her daughter was the most powerful heir of the entire Jin lineage, wasn't she?

Rumors swirled around Jinhae's village as Mu Deok and Seo Yul finished shopping. They were led by So I, who seemed to want to avoid parting with young Seo Yul.

"He's so handsome..." the girl murmured as the young man walked ahead, and they waited for him a few steps behind.

Mu Deok could not agree or disagree, for she could not see him. He could hear his voice, soft and gentle, no matter how much was happening around him. There was a hint of sadness in his words, but she did not know where it comes. Maybe it was because of her. The other girl in the group, who answered to the nickname Naksu, had persistently asked her if she remembered them, but nothing came to her mind when she heard them. In the way they treated her, she understood they were acquaintances, but who was she to them?

"Someone dear to them," Jang Uk had answered but had given no further details.

"Her memory and her magic are intertwined," Master Lee had explained. "When one returns, so will the other."

But for now, there was no trace of either of them. After the accident, Mu Deok was sure of only two things: an absolute terror of boats and that her body needed time. The first few days, she had barely been able to move without help from the old woman who found her; later, her fingers clung to a cane that served her well enough to know how much there was around her. Now, it seemed as if her body could see beyond, as if the spirit of the living beings that walked beside her alerted her on how near or how far away they were. Soon she would not need the cane, although she had yet to perfect that last technique.

"Hey, you! So I! Thief!" someone shouted a few meters away from them.

So I jumped away and threw her towards Seo Yul with a shove. Mu Deok tripped over her friend, and they both fell on the pastries the merchant was selling. Seo Yul helped her to get on her feet while the salesclerk shouted at the three ruffians running across the market.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"My toes," muttered Mu Deok, trying to remove her shoes.

Seo Yul knelt down, but the floor was too dusty to be hygienic. He stretched out a handkerchief and carefully put Mu Deok's foot. The young girl did not dare to touch it with dirty hands, but one glance was enough for Seo Yul. He asked the sales clerk for a bowl of water and scissors.

"Your fingernails got stuck in the toe of your shoe and broke off."

"It hurts," she admitted.

Seo Yul trimmed the pieces and pulled them out of the handkerchief. Then he washed Mu Deok's feet and put her shoes back on. As the young woman returned the bowl to the stall owner, he picked up his handkerchief.

"Where is So I?"

They waited in case the girl returned, but the road to the mountain was long, and they had to leave without finding her. They arrived at the refuge hours later when the sun was already setting. Temperatures had dropped, and a cold wind was blowing, shaking the leaves of the trees and threatening to tear them off. Seo Yul led her to the big tree, and from the metallic noises that could be heard, Mu Deok knew that Jang Uk was training. Of the five people with her, only So I and Jang Uk had given her any information. So I told her they were old friends, petty thieves, but Mu Deok didn't believe her. So I's words had sounded like an unfunny joke to her, and although she had not refuted her claims, she had stopped trusting her.

  For his part, Jang Uk had told her that the two of them had been engaged for a long time. What had broken their engagement? Jang Uk had not explained it to her; he only said his magic core was closed back then. Now that he could do magic, he got up at dawn to train with Naksu, and the exercises lasted until sunset. She could hear them now. Her steady voice and his panting. The jolts of the sword danced in the air, cutting through the water, and his feet trodden on the grass of the mountain. His body rose, spinning and creating air currents with his clothes, and he landed in a soft thump that seemed to close some kind of song.

"We're done," said Naksu, and Mu Deok knew she had seen them.

They gathered in the hut by the fire that Master Lee had lit. While Jang Uk and Seo Yul followed the master's instructions to cook the soup, Mu Deok told the news they had heard in the village streets. Naksu mumbled something against So I but said no more. Mu Deok suspected she would be making some gesture and imagined her frowning. She was tempted to reach out and touch her hand, but she knew Naksu would stir. Mu Deok felt that their relationship got tense in the lasts days, as if Naksu expected something from her that Mu Deok, at that moment, could not give her. Had it not been inconceivable, Mu Deok would have thought that he had also made a series of marriage vows with her.

The only time Naksu talked with her about the past, she was too cryptic.

 "How do we know each other?" asked Mu Deok.

"You lit the way for me when I needed it most," she said, hushing the promise that she would do the same for her.

Mu Deok wanted to inquire, but Naksu did not explain further, so Mu Deok had to learn to decipher their relationship by how Naksu behaved around her. The young woman kept her distance from her, focused on training Jang Uk, but when they sat down to eat, Naksu would try to be next to her. Mu Deok recognized her by her lemon and cinder scent. Also, by her rough, bossy voice, sometimes attentive, sometimes defensive. Only with her, it seemed to have a softer, gentler lilt. It made her think that Naksu admired her, but listening to her talking to Jang Uk... didn't those two have a relationship? Why would she admire her former love rival? It was indeed a mystery.

A chirp interrupted her thoughts on a call she already knew. One of Seo Yul's birds came back from Daeho with the news. The first time the bird came with a letter from Park Dang, Jang Uk explained to her what Daeho's magical schools were. Thanks to him, she had learned that she belonged to Jynowon Lyceum and that it was there that she had met Naksu.

"You were a great student."

"Because I was obedient or because I was smart?"

But Naksu would not let him explain any further. The girl wanted Mu Deok to remember on her own, and although she understood that she was doing it for his sake, she couldn't help but drown in the darkness of memory. If she didn't regain her memory, neither would her magic, but what did magic matter when her world and identity were both in darkness? When she couldn't lean on nostalgia for comfort because every corner of her mind was filled with mist and shadows?

"Your sister is coming to see you," Naksu exclaimed.

"My sister?" Mu Deok asked and regretted it when Naksu cleared her throat and stood up from the table, walking away from her.

She had a sister; who was she? Mu Deok tried to retrieve the name they had greeted her with when they found her, but nothing came to her mind. From then on, they addressed her as Mu Deok, convinced that calling her by her real name was like posturing memories.

"Jin Cho Yeon says that the creatures of Jynowon have escaped."

"How is that possible? Is Jin Ho Gyeong that bad?"

"What if it was Jin Mu's attack?"

The three youngsters fell into a silence where only the thermite could be heard crackling. Master Lee served the dishes and sat down next to Mu Deok. He tapped a couple of times with his spoon on the wooden bowls calling their attention, and they walked to the table. Jang Uk obeyed and refilled the rest of the bowls, but only he and Seo Yul sat down.

"Naksu, tell me you're not thinking of going after those creatures," said Jang Uk.

"You should be the one to propose it," she said. "It's excellent training."

"Jynowon has plenty of people to worry about."

"But now they're worried about something else," Seo Yul commented.

"Are we trained for it?" Mu Deok then asked. "To hunt the creatures of Jynowon?"

"Yes, but I don't know if it's a good idea for you to come," said Naksu. "You wouldn't be able to defend yourself and would be in danger".

"It could also help me remember," said Mu Deok. "If I have trained for this, my body is ready."

Mu Deok knew Naksu was weighing this because she immediately heard the young woman's footsteps pacing around the table. In a moment, Jang Uk pulled her to sit down to eat, causing her to slap his hand and spill some of her bowl of soup.

"Don't overthink it." Jang Uk said, "It's a good idea."

"How is it a good idea to go with a mage with no powers and a novice to hunt a Jynowon creature?"

"There's me, too," Seo Yul commented.

"But if you're coming, who will be left to tell my sister that we haven't left?"

"I can do it myself," Master Lee replied, but Naksu snorted.

"I'll tell you what," Jang Uk proposed. "We'll wait for Park Dung and Jin Cho Yeon, and when we are all together, we'll go get the creature. In the meantime..." Mu Deok imagined Naksu's worried face again, "In the meantime, we'll just go down to the village and see what they are saying. Without getting into trouble, just listen."

This, of course, sounded like a lie, and everyone knew it, but Jang Uk was counting on Naksu's eagerness to go hunting, so Mu Deok wasn't surprised when the young woman agreed.

The following day, they set off early and in pairs. Jang Uk and Naksu went ahead, with the former chattering about something to which his teacher responded with monosyllables. Following in their wake, farther behind, was Seo Yul, quiet but attentive to every step he took. He had asked her about her foot, but Mu Deok could not get the previous day's conversation out of her mind. She was sure the letter only spoke of two people, and only one of them was a woman. Naksu had said her sister was coming to see her, her sister, Mu Deok's sister, but then she had told me, my sister, Naksu's own sister, and if there was only one woman, did that assume they were the same person? Was Jin Cho Yeon a sister to both of them? Were she and Naksu sisters too? If so, it better explained the feelings that seemed to surface from Naksu's spirit when she talked to her. Was Mu Deok the older sister? Would she have called off the engagement with Jang Uk upon learning that her younger sister was in love with him?

Mu Deok sighed, cursing under her breath the oblivion she was subjected to, and Seo Yul misunderstood her gesture.

"Don't worry. Stay by my side, and I will protect you. You have nothing to fear."

 "How did we meet?" Mu Deok asked, but when Seo Yul hesitated, she tried another tactic. "Okay, how did you two meet?

"Jang Uk is the son of the Master Park Jin' master, so he used to come to the Academy even though he didn't have the spiritual core open. Naksu..." Seo Yul hesitated, and Mu Deok sensed that what she was about to reveal to her barely touched the whole truth behind the young girl. "She entered the Lyceum when her father died."

"Who was her father?"

"The master of the constellations. He worked in the "tower" of the stars."

Mu Deok wondered if the sadness he noticed in Seo Yul's words was due to Naksu's orphanage, to what he wasn't telling her, or that, if they were both sisters, that meant it was also their father who had died. Had the three ladies entered together at their father's death? And their mother, who was she?

"Hey, you two. Seo Yul, what are you telling her?" She heard Naksu's voice a few meters ahead.

"We're almost there," announced Jang Uk. Look, there stands the village.

Mu Deok could not look in the direction the boy was pointing, but she could hear it. A rumble of hoes lifting the earth, of wood beating against stone, of the rattle of wagon wheels, shouts here and there about the price of vegetables, and the water spilling out of bowls and hitting the bottom of the well. The village boiled with sounds and, once they were on the streets, also with smells. The stench of manure and piles of wet straw mellow the further into town they went.

"Are you going to get us into a tavern?" said Naksu when they stopped.

"It's the best place to find out what's cooking in a place," said Jang Uk as he climbed the stairs.

They followed him inside and sat down at a table with other travelers. The waiter beckoned to them, apologizing that the drinks would arrive late.

"We're swamped, especially after the Chang family incident."

"What happened?"

"Haven't you heard?" one of the men at the table on the right was surprised.

Jang Uk turned to him, and while the waiter continued his work, the man told them what he knew.

"The lake's waters had calmed down, and we thought we were all safe. Then the little Chang boy disappeared, a restless and somewhat absent-minded child. He is the classic child who likes to go and play in the bush and is always ready to run an errand to get around. The fact is that his parents were not worried at first. They asked their neighbor if she had seen him. That old woman said she hadn't, and then they asked the temple and port guards too."

"I found out when they came with the jars of soju," said the waiter, pouring several bowls." By then, half the village already knew he was missing."

"Have they found him yet?" asked Seo Yul. "How are his parents?"

"That's the strangest thing of all," said another of the men at the table. "No one has seen them since the night of the disappearance."

"The teacher's kid was supposed to go there this afternoon but has yet to return. The neighbor said she hadn't heard a sound in the house since last night. Imagine that. A house with five children and not a sound."

"It's bizarre."

"Could the parents have disappeared too?" asked Jang Uk.

"If so, it's not just a coincidence," said Naksu. "There's probably magic involved."

"Another curse?" The waiter shuddered. "Like the one at Gyeongcheondaeho Lake? Who have we offended so much?"

"Shouldn't we go and check it out?" asked Mu Deok.

From the sound of the chair joints, the young woman knew everyone had turned to look at her. She heard a couple of incredulous comments and a third that said she was probably a wizard too. Her friends' swords made her look like an influential person, and perhaps in a time gone by, she was. Now it was very likely that she would be no help when they went to investigate, but Mu Deok didn't want to stand idly by.

"We said we weren't going to do anything," Naksu said, picking up her bowl and gulping down the contents, "We'd wait for Park Dung and Cho Yeong to arrive.

"I don't think a peek is too dangerous," Jang Uk said, "especially in a house where there's no one left."

"If you are worried about Mu Deok, I can stay here with her," Seo Yul added.

Mu Deok wanted to intervene but preferred to wait. Naksu seemed determined to put her out of action, and, from how much it bothered her, Mu Deok suspected that her former self was not someone who usually needed protection. She might have to take action to remember who she was, but that would only do it away from Naksu. As long as her sister (she was her sister, wasn't she?) was around, she would never let her get close to danger. So she waited for them to leave to tell Seo Yul she needed to go to the kitchens, where her plans began.

"What do you need?" asked Seo Yul, standing up.

"I want to know if they have anything for female pain."

The young man blushed and looked away but did not sit down. Mu Deok patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the table, assuring him that he couldn't get lost from there to the kitchens. He didn't seem entirely convinced but didn't follow her. Mu Deok entered the kitchens and waited for the waiter from earlier to acknowledge her. She asked to speak to the cook, and the man shouted to make himself heard above the clatter of pans.

"What the hell is going on?" a woman asked, approaching them.

From the voice, Mu Deok imagined a lady with wide hips, wrinkles to match her gravelly voice, and, for some strange reason, a raised chin and a proud look.

"This young lady wants to..."

"And who is this young lady to ask for anything?"

"I'm part of Danhyanggok's gang, a disciple of Master Lee," she said, knowing that, deep down, she was not being untruthful.

"Master Lee? The hermit?" the cook wondered. "Does he have disciples?"

"Four," corroborated the waiter. Right now, two of them have gone to investigate the Chang family home."

"Praise be to them," said the cook, "at least one magician is coming to help us. And tell me, young lady, what do you want?"

Her tone had softened, and Mu Deok feared that what she was about to ask her now seemed too prosaic. It was a subject that had been troubling her for a few days and that she had not been able to discuss with Master Lee. She had asked Master Lee if it was possible to have dreams that seemed to be from another time and another person. He said that he had never heard of anything like that, that at most, among the women in the village, it was said that before giving birth, some pregnant women could dream of the past lives of their offspring.

"And can they understand those dreams?" Mu Deok asked.

She did not know how to interpret her night visions. In them, she found herself dancing and singing a song she had never heard before. The melody was revealed to her in short words that she barely remembered when she woke up, which seemed like a prayer to the heavens. What divinity was she praying to? Why was she doing it? Mu Deok had begun to write down some of her dreams, but they were not all the same. Sometimes, she would find herself in front of a basin of sacred water, and dipping her fingers in it, she felt she could play with the stars. They tugged at her heart as if trying to take her up with them to the heavens. And then, Mu Deok felt herself floating in the air and burning like fire... Until a terrible coldness ran through her skin and dissipated everything.

The only clear thing in that gibberish was that the ice stone numbed her. A sacred object, of that she was sure, that she had already had in her hands. Could it have been the reason behind her forgetfulness?

"Do you know of any infusion for seeing past lives?" she asked, touching her belly with intent.

The innkeeper frowned as if he didn't understand, but the cook quickly caught on. She asked her to enter the room adjoining the kitchen, next to the pantry. The place was dry, and as it was a little cool, the cook asked the man to fetch a shawl for the young woman.

"It takes time to cook, but I know the recipe because my aunt was a midwife. And she knew that you must know what evils you face before giving birth."

"I'm in a hurry, not only because of the baby..."

"Yeah, yeah, it happens all the time. It's not only what you will be but what you were. Who knows if the demons waited until they saw us vulnerable before attacking."

"Did you do it?" Mu Deok asked, and the cook nodded. "And what did you see?"

"You find that hard to believe, don't you, child? I dreamed I'd had no more life than the one I have now, but of course, you're unique. Who knows what dangers you face in another life!"

"Take this, child," said the man as he returned. "Keep this, and be careful. Be careful with this while you wait. You'll have to wait long because another group of travelers came."

"From where? From the river?"

"Yes, my dear, it looks like a group of officials. They must be magicians, although they didn't care what Nan Kim explained about the Chang family. They can't come to collect money, can they? No, no, those ones arrived less than a month ago. I hope they won't bring any more misfortune."

He shook his head, and his wife went back to her chores. Mu Deok's soup was slowly made in a small thermite, which the cook often took away from the fire to finish other meals. Since Mu Deok did not want to return to the living room and wait for Naksu and Jang Uk to return, she did not mind waiting. In the end, she was lost in her thoughts, even though the cook still conversed with her.

"Oh, you're still here! I thought you had gone away!"

"It won't last, I promise!" said the cook.

"But you can't keep her here all the time," complained her husband. "Look at her; she's freezing. Come out, come on, girl."

Mu Deok sneezed as she was confirmed what the tavern keeper said. She followed the man into the living room and discovered that Seo Yul was no longer there. Had he gotten tired of waiting for her and left? It didn't sound like him, but she didn't care. Now, she has a reason to wander around the town. She went into the street to find that the sun had already left the throne of noon.

"Could you tell me where the Chang's house is?" She asked the first person she met at the first stall.

A woman pointed to the side, but Mu Deok shook her head and pointed out her handkerchief.

"Go down to the river, and when you smell pork, that way. The Chang has, or had, a herd, so it is a recognizable area."

Mu Deok waited until she was alone to ask again where the nearest bridge was. One of the neighbors took her to a place where she could hear the river's flow hitting the stones piled up on the bottom. She followed it downstream until an unpleasant smell caught her attention. The house had an open door, and several amulets hung from it. Mu Deok picked her way through them, feeling them like small tokens of magic pulsing in her fingertips. Did she also have shaman blood?

Had she been able to see, Mu Deok might have been terrified. The darkness of that windowless house, full of broken furniture strewn about the floor, played with the scant light that had crept in through the open door and made unreal monsters of shadows lurking in every nook and cranny. Added to this was a dull silence that was only interrupted by an intermittent sound that was barely audible. Mu Deok could only catch the latter, so she sharpened her hearing to the curious conclusion that she was hearing someone chewing. Or was it gnawing?

She walked, tapping her cane on the floor to locate herself in the space of the house, and the closer she got to the noise source, the more intrigued she became. What person had that kind of teeth? Could it be some other kind of creature? At last, she hit a trunk attached to the wall, which began to shake as she put her hand on the lid. She lifted it in a slow gesture and waited. A brief glimmer flickered in her heart, and intuition told her it was a magical being. Naksu had been right all along: there was something supernatural about Chang's disappearance.

Then, she heard another noise, and without a second thought, she climbed inside the trunk. She carefully closed the lid, and while trying to square her feet with the objects that the Chang family had stored there, she hit the creature. It scampered over her legs, and its contact seemed as light as water. Mu Deok caught it with her hands, and energy surged through her arms.

She opened her eyes wide as if the shock needed a jolt to bring in the new memories. As she grasped the creature, she knew what it was, what it was doing, and where she had seen it before.

A rose garden, two girls running by a pond, calling to her.

"Bu Yeon, come with us!"

"Bu Yeon, come down!"

"Bu Yeon." Another voice, more serious, more restrained. A gentle voice laden with pride. "What do you learn?"

In her hands, a small ball of hair and light. A litany of teeth.

"This is Gwiseo mouse. It likes to eat people's fingernails and turn into those people. And when it infiltrates as one, it eats them all. Entire families have disappeared because of such a tiny creature."

"Does it look scary?"

"It gets scared; it stirs and attacks. The only safe place for it and the others is Jynowon."

The memory faded, and Mu Deok didn't have time to ask who the third voice was. She had only been left with one piece of information: her name.

"My name is Bu Yeon, and I suspect Cho Yeon is my sister," she said to the mouse. "What do you think Naksu's real name is?"

The mouse did not answer. Instead, Mu Deok heard the voices of those who had also entered the house, voices that came to him through the wood of the trunk.

"... to kill Bu Yeon."

Mu Deok covered her mouth when she heard his name, afraid to make any noise. The first voice was joined by another:

"You know it as well as I do."

Why hadn't she listened to Naksu? If they discovered her there, whoever they were, they would surely kill her. Now that she knew she had been a noblewoman until a few months ago, it was clear that someone had kidnapped her and abandoned her at Gyeongcheondaeho Lake. Who? For what purpose? Apparently, someone had returned to finish the job, a mission that didn't allow her to stay alive. She swallowed as she pressed her ear to the wood, trying to pick something more from her pursuers.

"I don't understand what we're doing here," complained the first voice.

"The locals are scared."

The tone of the second voice was fading, so she guessed they had both moved away from the room where the trunk was. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the mouse.

"Are they scaring you, too?" she asked quietly before an idea formed.

She bit down her nails to loosen the most protruding part of them. They were dirty, so when she was done, she ran the back of her hand across her tongue, trying to clean it. If she survived this, she won't wear her nails dirty again. She offered the mouse her spoils, and the creature pounced on them with a ravenous hunger. Then, Mu Deok lifted the lid of the trunk and let the mouse out.

"You're here!" she heard a voice exclaim, "You really have a death wish."

But no one drew a sword, and nobody was heard to fall to the ground. On the contrary, the house was silent. Intrigued, Mu Deok left her hiding place and found that the two intruders and the fake Bu Yeon had left.

She followed them to the street, and the smell of freshness and a gust of cold wind made her understand that it was getting dark. She retraced her steps back to the tavern, called out to the tavern keeper, and asked for Seo Yul.

"The young man went upstairs with his companions."

"Where to?"

"Didn't you hear him? I thought... Oh, I see; you came down for the soup, didn't you? Come on, I'll give it to you, and we'll go up since I need to ask them what they want for dinner."

The man took the tray offered by his wife and escorted Mu Deok to one of the rooms upstairs. When he opened the door, the man could not conceal his astonishment.

"Are there two of you? Are you twin sisters?"

Mu Deok entered and closed the doors behind him. She felt the mouse's heartbeat a few feet ahead, so she imagined that the rest shared the man's stupefaction. Why was Seo Yul with her captors? Where was her sister? She stepped forward but immediately noticed the edge of a sword under her neck.

"A single move and I..."

"Naksu," she gasped as she recognized her. "I am..."

"I know who you are or who you say you are." She answered in a bad mood. Apparently, I also met you this afternoon, and you said the same thing. And this morning, this morning, I also saw you, and..."

"This morning? But I haven't left the tavern," she complained.

"That's not true," Naksu replied. "Seo Yul says you left".

"What about my version from this morning? Where is it?" asked Mu Deok.

"Dead," replied Jang Uk. Apparently, someone wants to kill you, and someone is determined to multiply you."

"Who has...," she paused at the bizarreness of the word.

"Probably Jin Mu," said a new voice full of rancor that Mu Deok wanted to recognize but could not place."

"Relax, Cho Yeon. It wasn't your sister who was killed this morning," replied another affable voice.

"Are you Cho Yeon?" asked Mu Deok, advancing toward her.

From the sound of the clothes, Mu Deok knew the girl had stood up. Naksu sheathed her sword and snorted.

"I am Bu Yeon, your sister."

"Do you remember me?" Cho Yeon stammered.

"I remember some things," said Mu Deok. "And I can feel them, too. Like which one is the creature and which is the human."

"Isn't that something the creature could say?" commented Jang Uk.

"No creatures are that smart," Seo Yul replied.

"If in doubt, give it some of your fingernails to eat," proposed Mu Deok.

She waited and, at last, Jang Uk and the boy with the kind voice, who later discovered his name was Park Dung, knelt before her false self and offered it the former's nails. When the creature became her former fiancé, they all stifled an exclamation.

"Is that you, then?" asked Naksu.

Mu Deok nodded, but before she could do anything, Cho Yeon wrapped her in a hug and sobbed over her.

"I'm so glad you're okay. Can you go home now? We need you. Mom needs you. Jynowon is a mess."

"Wait, is Jynowon mine?"

"What do you remember?" She heard Naksu's distrustful voice. "Cho Yeon, no, shut up, it's better for her to remember by herself. Only then will the magic return."

The sisters went silent, and Mu Deok, now Bu Yeon, could hear how the boys tried to catch the mouse and put it in a jar. It didn't matter that it had no holes, Seo Yul told the others, because it doesn't need to breathe to live. But the creature threw itself against the jar's walls, trying to break it. Park Dung cast a spell, and everything was calm.

"What should we do?"

"Maybe hunt the rest of the escaped creatures," Park Dung proposed. "It's natural for Bu Yeon to feel them, so maybe if we search for the others, she can get more memories."

"That's what I suggested!" Jin Bu Yeon exclaimed. "But I don't think Naksu liked the idea."

"But we're all here now," added Jang Uk, clapping his ex-fiancé shoulders.” It’ll be okay: we’ll light each other’s paths when we need it the most”.