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Two weeks of rain, and as soon as the snow enveloped Haero Palace, the Empress was nowhere to be found. She came back, and then she was gone again, and then she returned – never pleased with anything her ministers had accomplished in her absence.
The ministers grumbled to themselves, very quietly. No one ever knew when the General of Haero Palace might appear around a corner.
“I wish Her Majesty would finish whatever business keeps calling her away.”
“It would be easier if we could ask questions about what exactly she wants…”
“All that work and Her Majesty threw it back in our faces!”
“At least Her Majesty didn’t set it on fire first.”
Several officials flinched and rubbed the stubble of their eyebrows.
“This time.”
The court ladies started The Rumor, quite by accident.
“Her Majesty must be looking for something very important.”
“It must be hard to find if even the Empress has to keep searching!”
“How could anything be hidden from a god?”
“What if it doesn’t stay in one place?”
“What if it’s not something, but someone?”
The soldiers spread The Rumor, muttering over their cups as they escorted the imperial investigators through every corner of Yeol.
“Whoever the Empress is looking for must be good at hiding.”
“With a temper like that, who’d want to be found?”
“Shhh! What are you saying, you drunk idiot?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If the Empress was looking for someone, the poor bastard would’ve been found ages ago.”
“What if he’s already dead?”
“Wouldn’t Her Majesty know that already?”
“What if she’s looking for his reincarnation?”
A brief and inconclusive discussion ensued. A barmaid brought another round of drinks.
“What do you think, sweetie?” a guard asked her. “Who’s the Empress looking for?”
The barmaid rolled her eyes and deftly swung her heavy wooden tray in the way of a reaching hand. “Maybe she’s combing all of Yeol for a decent man and hasn’t found one yet.”
Somewhere between the eastern seaports and the great market road, The Rumor grew wings and flew from one end of the world to the other –
The Empress searches for her lover.
On the edge of a festival crowd, a pair in traveling cloaks paused their journey to listen to a romantic ballad.
“And so she shall search the heavens and the earth until she finds him again!”
“Must we listen to this drivel?” Biseol muttered. “Master, it’s damaging the dignity of the throne.”
“The throne’s dignity is fine. Besides, they’re not quite wrong. She did propose to me, and I am looking all over Yeol for her.”
“Master!”
“It’s a joke. Besides, she took it back.” A look of sadness flickered across Jeok-yeon’s face before she smiled up at Biseol. “How close are we to the shard you sensed?”
“Another few hours’ travel.”
“Let’s keep going, then. This break refreshed me.”
Along the way, Jeok-yeon and Biseol kept coincidentally running into Doha and Baek-rang. More than once, the Empress hid a smile in her cup while a traveling singer performed yet another rendition of The Empress’s Search.
They’ve got the seeking lover’s identity mixed up, Jeok-yeon thought, as she faced Doha on a snowy mountaintop. I wonder what they’ll add to the song if I keep a man in the palace?
Having a lover in the palace dampened The Rumor not at all, for on the heels of the news that the Empress’s search was finally over - came word that Her Majesty was still searching.
Everyone knew the General of Haero Palace and the Tactician of Haero Palace did not get along with each other. But there was one thing on which they agreed – no one was allowed to breathe a word of The Ballad of the Seeking Empress within the walls of the palace.
It had become, of course, the most popular bawdy drinking song in the world, and though the many, many verses were varied and unprintable, the refrain was always the same.
Oh the roving Empress, never shall she stay at home.
Her loyal lover is cold and alone,
For through centuries she has roamed
And she has a husband in every town!