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."