IX. Encounters

“Everything you encounter is your life.”

                                                      
                                                = Kosho Uchiyama

Modern Day Seoul South Korea

Hae Jin stood outside the coffee shop folding her umbrella.  The rain had come suddenly.

She tried to enter the building to keep her shoes and herself from getting any wetter.  She stopped once inside the shop, looking around trying to spot the person she was meeting.

He sat at the back of the shop in a table next to a window and saw her enter the building. Rising from his seat, he walked to where she stood frozen for a minute inside the door, feeling chilled.

“You look cold. We should get you something warm to drink first.” He said as he approached her with a smile. Taking her umbrella and letting her walk to the counter to place an order.

“I’m sorry for making you wait. My bus was late. Probably due to the rain.” She said in an apologetic voice.

“No need to apologize. I enjoy watching the rain.” He gestured towards the table where his drink waited.

They sat next to the window.  Hae Jin sipped her tea trying to gather her thoughts. She was at a loss as to where to start.  None of this felt real yet.

Seeing the exhibit in the gallery, and the images of her life in Goryeo had brought back all her memories and feelings of the past. 

She had thought time travelling was hard.

It was nothing compared to having 10 years of memories rush at you at once. 

Especially when those memories involved tragedies and mistakes made in those 10 years and so many of those memories had copious quantities of regret.

She had arrived in Goryeo trying to learn how to live like Hae Soo and keep everyone from learning about Hae Jin.

Now, she was back to being Hae Jin, but after the gallery she now found Hae Soo’s memories and life super imposed and trying to fit into Hae Jin’s modern life.

Those drawings were intimate portraits of moments she shared with the princes.

She could think of only one person who could find out about those moments in detail. She recognized his drawing style. The answer led to Prince Baek-Ah.

The memories regained at the gallery  had shifted  her reality violently again.

She no longer just had concerns about getting back to work and reestablishing relationships with friends and family. Living a life every modern person experienced.

She had lived a life as Hae Jin before Goryeo, broken by love and friendships.

Her second life had started in Goryeo as Hae Soo.

She had learned about love that was strong enough to withstand betrayal and attack on all fronts. The word friendship had acquired new meanings.

She had started her third life as Hae Jin, after a year in a coma. Returning to work, starting a life after drowning.

Today, she began a fourth life.  She was now Hae Jin and carried Hae Soo’s experiences and memories. She was a time traveler. 

It seemed the unexpected encounters in her life were starting again.  These encounters defied logic, and the laws of Physics.

She should not be having these encounters. Meeting them again and again…but here she was.

How deeply her life had just changed would be determined from this meeting.

She stopped gazing into her tea cup and looked outside the window.

The rain left drops clinging to the large window, sliding off slowly as they hit the glass.

Leaving traces of their path as they slid into their inevitable fall, pulled by gravity. She used her finger to trace their path.

She felt just as fractured and fragile as those drops clinging to the glass.

She only had one certainty now.

She would not be swept away by circumstances, just waiting for each day to unfold for her the way she had done in Goryeo.

King Taejo had advised her to close her eyes when things became too much to bear. Do nothing. Be a witness.

She couldn't be just a witness anymore, always afraid of changing history.

She would not follow that path again.

She would not think so much about consequences anymore. 

She understood now, that forces were at work that where beyond her control anymore or full understanding.

This was the modern world. Her world. 

She had the home court advantage this time.

This time she would be an active participant not just an observer.

He sat watching the wheels turning in her head.  

Determination filled her eyes. 

Sensing her discomfort, he spoke first. “This has come upon you suddenly. You must still be trying to make sense of it.”

She looked at him trying to read his thoughts. Not satisfied with what she read there. 

Questions flooded her mind one on top of the other. She couldn’t stop them from filling her head and didn’t know where to begin.

Why am I travelling back here?

And you?

Why are you here?

Is anyone else travelling too?

Why is this happening?

Breaking the silence, looking at her, he said, “What is it you are trying to ask me?”

Finally, with mounting frustration, she asked, “Who are you?” 

VIII. Travel

Year 968 (19th Year of King Gwangjong's Reign)

“The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.” =Buddha

The fields stretched out in front of him. They always did. More than home, palace, friends or family, it was the fields that where his companion.  

13^th Prince Wang Baek -Ah sat under a tree recording the words to a new song he had heard in town that morning. 

 The song was hummed and sung by a mother to her child as she rocked the baby to sleep and he drew them. 

The song was now in his head and he knew until he recorded the words and tried to replay the tune it wouldn’t leave his head.  He was grateful for the quiet and the lack of interruptions. He wanted to practice playing the tune.

The words to the many simple songs he had heard over the years sung by the common people, spoke of their suffering, their fears, their resilience and sometimes as did this song, their hopes for their children. 

King Taejo, his father, had set him on a quest to record his people by drawing them when he was younger. Little had he known then, that this path would become his salvation. A place that allowed him to live with some measure of freedom.

As a Prince, living inside the palace, he had witnessed the death of family and friends in pursuit and defense of a throne.

He had known the rise and fall of kingdoms. Including his own royal house in Sillas. 

Kings rose and fell trying to strengthen and unify their kingdoms.

As an artist he traveled and lived among the common people.

He recorded their hearts, through songs, and drawings.

He knew now, that true unification in any Kingdom relied on a King understanding their own people.

His own brother, King Gwangjong ruled with the same hope.  He had once stood by his side. In the time before she was gone.

Her face came back again filling his mind. Every shape, curve and outline. He remembered her, all of her.

She had been too young to carry the full weight of her people and their fallen kingdom.  He had been too young to understand, she carried the weight alone.

Until it was too late.

Until his arms had filled with her fallen, broken body.

He knew loss, it traveled with him every day.

Thoughts of the palace, and of her made him stop recording the words to the song. Instead, he picked up the book he used for his drawings and opened its pages.

The King had asked to meet with him and embark on a new mission. 

Ji-Mong’s death a year ago had raised new questions for the King concerning Hae Soo.

A part of him had understood the King’s request. 

His heart understood his brother.  The King had wanted more than a picture drawn of her, to remember.

He wanted to capture her heart as well in those pictures. The moments she had shared with them, the Princes.

She had brought out the best in them. She had changed them.

Those times had been a spring for all of them, when brothers had met as brothers. 

Time would change them all.

His own memories of Hae Soo had been narrated to the King when he returned to the palace and they had met.

Ji-Mong  had seemed to think Hae Soo came from a different world.  He had said that thinking back, there where many instances that showed this.

The King had asked him,“Baek- Ah, you knew her well. Do you know of such instances?” 

As a result of that meeting, he had spent part of the last year traveling.

Meeting his brother’s.  Visiting their homes.   

In doing this he was also recording his brother’s stories of their time before the all out fight for the throne.

Her story involved his brother’s too.

8^th Prince Wang Wook had been able to provide details of her life outside the palace and the time she had lived in his household.

14^th Prince Wang Jung had returned to his home after an earlier stay at the temple while recovering from an injury. He too had added a story of an encounter between him and Hae Soo in which she had come to his defense.

He had drawn a few sketches of his own.

Memories of moments shared with his brothers. As his own testament to those days.

He looked through all the sketches in his book. He planned to turn them into full color paintings.  He would add his signature signet once they were finished and send them to the palace.

He turned the pages to the sketches stopping when he reached the sketch of Prince Wang Wook carrying Lady Myung Hee on his back in her last moments. Hae Soo had walked right behind him.  

The sketch triggered a memory of him and Hae Soo drinking after Lady Myung Hee's death.

Every day they had drunk, and drunk.

Hae Soo and him, caring only about how to drown the pain and loneliness they both felt after her death.

Both of them might not have started out as friends but Lady Myung Hee's death had changed that too. 

He had tried to explain to her customs any royal family member understood,

but Hae Soo never fit, or seemed to know what should have been second nature to her station in life. 

Everyone blamed this on her memory loss, but he could see it was more than that.

During one of their many conversations she had taught him about the importance of freedom and she had said to him,

“Please stop talking about taking people. This place always treats people like they are property. Just wait a thousand years.   There is no one above you. There is no one below you…..How long is life anyway?

Your status is this, the Prince is that……

Listen to me Baek -Ah.

You could be living well, and still just end up dying someday.

You can fall right out of the sky.

Then end up living in a place like this;

so, just follow your heart and live.

Do everything you want to do.

And live however you want to,

OK?”

13^th Prince, turned the pages in his book.  The last sketch he had drawn he would keep for himself.

It was of Hae Soo walking in an open field.

Her hands outstretched to touch the tall sunflowers.

He had used lighter tones to represent the moment, letting light stream into the drawing.

The drawing showed him the young Hae Soo he remembered. 

Still hopeful, still following her heart, before loss too would fill her days.

Above her he had drawn an open sky.

He spoke to her drawing as if she could listen, “I hope you find your open sky. 

1,000 years from now, with no one above or below you.

I’ve tried to keep your secret, friend,

but time is unfolding the truth. 

Perhaps this too is just another part of all our fates.”

                                                                                                                                                                                         

VII. The Lantern Festival II. Maze.

“To walk safely through the maze of human life one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.”                 =Buddha

                                                                            

Lady Seol poured water from a basin over her hands.

Someone handed her a soap. It was round with an embedded dried flower.It was a gift from her father.

She held it in her hands hoping to gain strength from her mother’s soap recipe which was still used to make soap in her home.

The faint scent of fresh pine needles in the soap, washed away the strong herbal smell of oily ointment and blood on her hands.

She had extracted the arrows with the help of Geosa and another monk. They had managed to stop the bleeding and clean and bandage the wounds.

She was glad to have assistants. Extracting the heads for the arrow required precise work to avoid causing further damage to the muscle.

She was grateful the temple had such a well-stocked infirmary in place.

One of her ladies-in-waiting handed her a cloth to dry her hands.

Her worry now was over fevers and infection, but most important, the coloring in her father’s skin.  

It was wrong and she couldn’t pinpoint the reason.

Her father was strong and healthy. She knew this would help.

She tried to focus on the things she needed to do, but her mind kept thinking about what had just happened at the feast.

Geosa, had saved her father’s life.

He had been standing behind them alongside the monks accompanying the Queen and had a better vantage point to see the archers positioning themselves.

He had kicked both her and her father’s chair legs out from under them knowing the weight would land them quickly away from the arrow’s path.

Despite this, one arrow had managed to hit her father’s arm and another, his shoulder.

The assassins had been targeting her father.

A burst of anger filled her at this realization.

It hadn’t been the King, who everyone would have expected to be the obvious target.

This assumption, had made Prince Jung more vulnerable.  They had reached the King indirectly.

In the aftermath, she had heard that the monks accompanying the Queen to the feast had surrounded the King and Queen during the attack.

Lady Seol was beginning to think that perhaps the monk’s presence at the feast may not have been a casual arrangement after all.

Some of those who were responsible for the attack were captured and were being held by the garrison commander. They were being questioned. He had just left, after reporting to her father that he was awaiting the King’s orders.

Lady Seol approached her father’s bed.

He looked at her and said lightly, “They could have at least waited until after the food had been served. The dancing already seemed endless to me.”

Seeing that she did not smile, he added, “Seol. 

Stop looking so worried. This is the life of a General.” trying to sound casual.

“I’m glad you won the argument to join the Daebi-won. After all, you’ve received good training there.”   He told her, as he examined the bandages on his arm.

He still felt groggy from the herbs she had given him to help numb the pain.

Sitting next to him on the side of his bed, she gently placed her hand on his forehead to check for fever. Reaching for his hand, she examined his fingernails and the coloring in his skin.

“Drink this, please. It’s to help with the healing and fever.” She extended a cup to his lips, but before he could drink his arm suddenly shot out, gripping the covers in pain.

His sudden movement knocked the cup out of her hands, landing on the floor and breaking.

The liquid wet her sleeve, quickly absorbing into the fabric.

“What’s wrong?

He sat in silence. His head was down. His hand tightly gripped the bed cover.

A soldiers’ voice outside the door announced, “The Queen is here to see the General.”

Lady Seol turned her eyes to the door.  Geosa walked in with The Queen by his side.

As Geosa raised his hand, Lady Seol saw that he held one of the arrowheads they had removed from her father’s shoulder earlier.

“Lady, the General has been poisoned. The Queen is here to help.”

Later that night, Lady Seol stood grinding herbs, her thoughts traveled back to the night's work.

They had worked non-stop most of the night, staying one step ahead of the poison seeping into her father’s body.

The Queen had known exactly how to identify the poison.

She had knowledge of more than medicinal plants. She understood the effects of poison. 

It had been a long night of assistants entering and exiting the infirmary.

Lady Seol, had worked by the Queen’s side as she directed their steps.

Lady Seol sat in a chair and kept her hands busy wrapping bandages. The task was calming. Its repetitive motion gave her time to think.

She had needed this silence to bring order back in.

She stopped, watching the shadows cast on the wall by the flickering candle next to her.

Morning would soon be sending its first rays of light dawning a new day.

The Queen had finally retired for the night. 

She thought over the Queens words,

The antidote had at last been prepared and given to her father.

She had placed a hand on her shoulder and told her, “Watch over him, Lady Seol. Keep the fever down. He is weak from the effects of the poison. The antidote is working but he will have a very slow recovery. He will have to stay at the temple and not be moved, until he fully recovers.”

As Lady Seol listened to the detailed instructions, her mind had also filled with questions.

She felt like a boat floating and unable to see the water's depth. The Queen’s part in all this made her seem less and less a casual bystander.

“You arrived just in time, your Majesty. How did you know?” she asked.

The Queen stood quietly, as they watched her father sleep.

The medicine she had given him had finally allowed him to rest.

Walking to the side table and pouring water into a cup the Queen broke the silence.

“Sometimes wisdom can be found in the strangest places, Lady Seol”

“My exile to a monastery seemed like a curse at times, but King Gwangjong’s virtue and wisdom saved me, when I needed it most.”

When the cup was filled, she walked to her father’s bedside. Lady Seol helped support her father as they tried to help him drink.

“He married, a child to save her from becoming a hostage.”

“It did not come at a small price for him…or your mother.”

The Queen’s mind took her again to the past.

A place she frequently tried to not visit, yet her attempts always failed.  

Before my father died, he frequently visited the Damiwon. 

Your mother, Court Lady Hae Soo, was giving him treatments.

 Sometimes, I would accompany him on those trips.

 Even with your mother’s help, his illness   seemed to get worse.

        

       He would get angry frequently and he was   

       always scared.

               

       He seemed to think everyone around him was         

       trying to hurt him.

Lady Hae Soo, always seemed to know when I was feeling scared.

While my father was at the bath she would sometimes take me to the gardens and spread out one of the bed covers. She would set out Yakgwa cookies and tea for us under the shade of a tree.

Together we would drink the tea and talk.  It was our secret place to meet and have, what she called a pic-nic?

I always felt better, afterwards.

On one trip to the Daminwon, I remember my father was feeling very ill. His temper really scared me.

 I had tried to stay quiet, but despite my best effort. I still managed to anger him.

By the time we arrived at the Daminwon I was trying to hold back tears,

 Lady Hae Soo took me to her room and wrapped a cover around my shoulders. The warm drink she prepared for me also helped.

That day, we had read poems, together.

Lady Hae Soo had shared her favorite poems with me. She said it gave her hope and strength to read poems when everything seemed too scary.

       

       Even then, I could see why the 4^th Prince               
       loved her.

In the quiet and darkness of the infirmary the Queen’s peaceful voice added light to the shadows.

“Out of the loneliness of time comes the understanding that virtue can still be learned and kindness felt in lonely places….and sometimes that virtue can help light the darkest corners.”

“The King and your mother taught me that no matter who we are, or where we are, we can still make a difference.”

Her father started coughing as he tried to drink the water.

“Drink slowly, uncle.”

Lady Seol handed the Queen a cloth to wipe his mouth.

The Queen continued, “Spies reported assassins crossing the Northern border. Their arrival was not unexpected. I reported this to the King, upon your arrival.”

Lady Seol had looked at the Queen with surprise then.

 “Your father’s position as the King’s General in charge of keeping the Northern borders against invasion makes him a target. Hurting him, hurts the King.”

“I am the daughter of a King and despite the distance I am also the King’s second wife. A Queen should protect the King. In my own way, I can still make a difference.”

Even by the light of only one candle, Lady Seol knew her face showed her emotions. Chief among them, was gratitude.

With a smile, The Queen turned to Lady Seol before parting,

“Following my father’s death, learning about poisons and their effect has been my main motivation to learn about medicinal plants, Lady Seol.”

The Queen touched her father’s hand, then added, 

“One brother dead due to poisoning already.”

“We should work towards being better prepared next time; don’t you think ?”

Then the Queen added, “Your Mother, was always more than just a Court Lady.  In  many ways she did not really belong inside the Palace.  She had knowledge and understanding that others did not, but she lacked understanding of poisons and their effect.”

“The knowledge I brought today has arrived at the right time.It only works if we manage to stay one step ahead.” 

“I am glad you were here today Lady Seol, your skills were needed. There is still so much to learn.”

Lady Seol finished wrapping the last of the bandages and put them away in the basket next to her.

Thankfully, her father’s even breathing continued.

Her work thru the dark of night was over.

She needed to make arrangements for her continued absence from the Daebi-won. Her return would be much delayed.

As the first rays of light entered the room they marked the start of a new day.

Her father stirred from his dream. She tried to move his head back onto his pillow.

Then, she heard him calling her mother’s name.

“Hae Soo.”

Her name filled the emptiness of the room like a specter and left more questions in her mind.

She felt as if she stood at the doorstep to a maze starting to unfold in front of her.

The King, her father and now the Queen.

The past had not moved on fully for them.

Instead, it seemed to extend its grip into their present.

Their lives remained interconnected.

Time had passed, but her mother’s memory remained.

The realization made her want to know her mother more than ever.

How had she managed to touch the lives of so many?

Who exactly, was her mother? 

As Lady Seol, prepared to stand and stretch from her chair, a soldier's voice announced, 

"The King has arrived to visit the General."

VI. The Lantern Festival, Enlightenment.

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is  enlightenment.”   = Lao Tzu

 

Lady Seol watched the lighting of the lanterns during the festivities of the Lantern Festival celebrating the Buddha’s birthday.  Colorful paper lanterns lit up the night.

In the courtyard of the temple, The Path of Lights was laid out like a maze, with the simple paper lanterns in their many colors guiding the way.

People walked the path seeking enlightenment.  Lady Seol had joined them in the ritual.

She had walked the path alone that morning.

She didn’t know if the path would truly enlighten her or whether she understood its full meaning. She could identify with the feeling of travelling in only one direction, alone. Slowly moving forward one step at a time to approach its end. It’s one conclusion.

Many times, before she had felt  she traveled  a similar road thru life. Perhaps, in the end the only true enlightenment she needed  was to understand herself inside the path she walked.

Later that evening she returned to the courtyard to meet her Father, Prince Jung.  She stood next to him, at a high point inside the courtyard watching the festival goers walking among the lights.

Lady Seol, stood quietly in deep thought. She kept her eyes away from her Father and towards the fading sunset, afraid of giving her feelings away.

At the Daebi-won no two days ever seemed alike. 

The changes she constantly worked to achieve, the improvements she hoped for, suddenly made her feel greedy for wanting too much. 

There were days she didn’t know if she was doing the right thing, pushing so hard all the time. 

She could sense he watched her closely as thoughts filled her head.

“You’re doing everything you can already.” He said to her. 

He looked amused at her predicament, but before she could say anything, he turned and looked back towards the mountains and the slowly setting sun.

As the light hid behind the mountains, the temperature turned colder. Lady Seol shivered involuntarily.

Her Father, as well as everyone else traveling with them on this trip, had heard from Geosa, about how spectacular the sunsets at Haeinsa Temple were.  

He had chattered non-stop all thru the long hours of the journey, about how beautiful the scenery would be, and the splendor of the festival lights.

The monk was proud of his home temple.

Her Father’s hand touched her elbow bringing to her attention the intense orange and crimson colors of the sunset lighting the sky and bringing the mountains to life as they watched them from the courtyard.

A slight mountain breeze entered the courtyard.

The bright colors of the many paper lanterns glowing and swaying inside the temple grounds rivaled that of the sunset.

The combination of colors around displayed their full majesty giving her a sense of peace, as if she had suddenly tonight entered a different world. 

She held her breath for a minute as the last rays of sunlight slowly faded behind the mountain. The light of the world was ending today as dusk descended.

Her father’s words broke the silence between them,

“I admire your restraint. By now I thought I’d be called by the Abbot himself to restrain my daughter. I expected to find you knee deep and surrounded by carved wooden blocks, exploring the depository of the Janggyeon Panjeon.

I heard the floors are especially designed to keep the blocks dry.  You seemed interested the day you arrived here?”

Looking at him she answered with some frustration in her voice, “There hasn’t been enough time, Father. We’ve spent most of our time at the library.”

Then she added, “I am still interested.  The construction and materials used for the floors, it’s unique. We could use a drier room, even a small one at the Daebi-won, during the rainy season.”

A comfortable silence settled between them.

Taking one last look at the last rays still barely visible, Prince Jung prepared to leave. “In the morning, we will be riding together into town. We will join the King for the festival feast.” He announced.

He waited until she met his eyes, “Seol, call it an early night tonight, get some rest.”

He then added more softly, “Tomorrow will be a long day, expect a longer evening.”

Acknowledging his concern, she nodded slowly, “I will, Father. Good night. “

As she watched his retreating back, she thought to herself, “Thank you for understanding my heart and sharing the beautiful sunset with me.”

The next evening, the townspeople stood by the side of the road, watching as the temple monks walked in a slow procession carrying paper lanterns. Children followed with excitement as the monks walked down the middle of the road.

More lanterns were hung around the town from house door to house door adding yet more color to the road and their passage thru town.

When the monks reached a large pond, they set the lanterns they carried on the water. Slowly, they drifted towards the larger lanterns already floating in the center of the pond. 

The larger lanterns were shaped like flowers and already illuminated the water.

Walking thru a different part of the town, Lady Seol, Geosa and  two of her ladies-in-waiting were stopping at vendors stalls to look at their wares.

Despite her Father’s warning the night before, she had still managed to stay up reading.  She wished now that she followed his advice.

Spotting dried chrysanthemum flowers, she approached a vendor’s stall. 

The dried flower petals and buds sat next to silks in assorted colors and tea sets at one table.

She saw that the vendor had white and deep brown varieties. 

They could be used to treat head congestion and fevers. 

“Where have these flowers been grown?, she asked him.

From behind her, a woman’s voice answered, “These varieties are grown here, in these mountains.”

She turned to see Queen Kyeongwha approaching. 

The Queen picked up some of the buds crushing them in her hand to smell their scent. 

“The brown variety brews into a dark tea and has a sweeter and more robust flavor. “

Over the Queen’s shoulder Lady Seol noticed that she was being escorted by monks, as well as her ladies-in-waiting.

“It is the white flowers however, that are the mildest.  Also, their taste is enjoyed most by children.”

Lady Seol bowed to the Queen greeting her, “Your Majesty.”

“We are not at the palace, Lady Seol. It’s a simple market place and I have mostly been raised inside a monastery. The formality of palace life and royal households is most at odds with the simplicity of monastic life. I prefer it remain that way.” The Queen answered.

She smiled at Lady Seol, extending her hand out to have Lady Seol smell the dried flowers.

“The scent is sweet, like honey” Lady Seol said. 

Then smelling a second sample of the brown flowers, the Queen offered her she added, “The smell of the white petals is milder.”

The Queen continued, “The scent is also indicative of the taste."

"When it comes to children, this could be overlooked, but it is important. It aids in medicine being taken consistently. Children will drink something they enjoy.", she continued,

"This is more effective than spitting it out.” The Queen said, with a twinkle in her eye.

Then with added mirth she said, “You might find this applies to adults as well. Although in my experience they seem to prefer the stronger flavor of the darker petals.”

“I have heard people say, it is better to be deprived of food for three days than tea." She paused in thought before continuing,

 “The tea is valued by many, as medicine if taken consistently, before they get sick, instead of afterwards. Perhaps children could benefit as well?”

Lady Seol completed her purchases of the tea flowers.

Her thoughts wrapped themselves around the Queen’s words, as they continued walking together.

Lady Seol watched the Queen discreetly. She was young, but not as young as her.

“I’ve read that mountain grown petals are of higher quality?” She asked.

The Queen answered, “It’s the mountain altitude at which they are grown.”

“Mountains have their advantages after all. They can make certain herbs stronger.”

 “They seem to have the same effect on children… even those of royal descent.” The Queen said in a softer voice and smiled.

As they approached the designated place for the feast, Lady Seol, bowed and the Queen and the monks accompanying her walked away to meet the soldiers admitting entrance to the King.

A large table sat on a dais.  It provided a good vantage point from which to watch the floating lanterns lighting the pond.  

A floor had been prepared for dancers to join the celebration. 

They would be performing for the King and the invited nobles and officials from the region sitting at the lower tables.

Queen Kyeongwha sat next to the King.  

Her Father met her eyes. Lady Seol approached and greeted him.  

She bowed to the King and Queen before sitting down next to her Father, at the end of the long table on the dais.

As their tea was served, the music started to play, bringing everyone’s attention to the dance floor.

Two lines of dancers emerged from the sides of the dance floor. They carried lighted lotus shaped paper lanterns in their hands.

The light reflected on their white Hanboks. 

Their soft graceful movements gave them an ethereal glow, representing the light of the Buddha’s teaching.

The white robes contrasted with the colored lotus lamps they carried.

The music reached a crescendo as the lead dancer stepped forward. The rest of the dancers formed two large circles on the sides of the dance floor in a quick rotation. 

Lady Seol’s attention was on the lead dancer.

She turned to look at her Father.  

He seemed more interested in his tea and the yakgwa cookies.

The lead dancer approached the front of the dais raising the lotus lantern high above her head. 

The light she cast out representing the Buddha's illumination of the world.

The sound of arrows embedding in the wall behind them interrupted the dance and shattered the moment.

Time slowed down for Lady Seol.

Archers stood on the roofs of the houses nearest to the dance floor.

Before she could see them fully her chair collapsed from under her.

They fired a second round of arrows.

She crashed onto the floor, still sitting in her chair.

A lady screamed.

The chair was now half on top of her.

She heard fabric from her Chimu skirt ripping, as she finally managed to free herself from the chair.

The sounds of chaos reached her.

Loud and panicked screams continued. The sounds of running feet were all around her.

Soldiers voices could be heard above the commotion, “Protect the King!!!”

She was on hands and knees trying to move away from the chaos.

The long white tablecloth draped over the table blocked her view of the archers.

She extended one hand trying to move away. She stopped seeing where her hand was about to land.

Blood stained the floor.

Crimson splattered the white tablecloth. 

With shaking hands, she tore away the cloth blocking her view. She reached one hand under the table following the trail of blood. It led her to two lodged arrows.

She identified the face.

Her Father had been shot.

A hand descending on her shoulder made her jump. Startled, she looked up to see Geosa’s face.

“We must go Lady Seol.”