"what happened, you look dazed." A village girl asked causing Tzuyu to snap back into reality.
"Nothing" she said in a low voice and went back to boiling the herbs to create medicine.
"Bring me some honey will you?" Chaeyoung asked the girl giving her the glass bottle which contained honey. The girl nodded and went back to bring it. But she could bring only half a bottle.
"Only this much was left." She said handing over the bottle.
"What about other houses?" Tzuyu asked.
"Um...we don't do bee farming in this village, our neighbouring village supplies us honey in return for manure." She informed "but this time the manure production was low due to all this going on."
They hummed, thinking hard. "When will the honey come? I mean, it's sufficient for now but we might need more in future." Jungyeon asked.
"The chief is supposed to return today." The old lady whom everyone knows as 'the wise' said walking towards them.
She sat on a bench with a slight groan before asking "It's been almost a month since I saw that other girl, the one who spoke with a bit awkward accent. Is she alright?"
They exchanged glances, suddenly remembering about the Indian Princess. They had been so busy lately that they did not have any time to think of her.
"She is visiting her mother, her mother is a bit unwell." Nayeon said suddenly appearing wiping at her forehead, Dahyun following behind.
"Oh poor girl"
"How was the check up?" Momo asked
"One person had severe stomachaches, I gave him the medicine, but he would be in pain until the effect starts." Nayeon informed.
"What about a pain killer?" Chaeyoung asked.
"I looked into it, we don't have a particular plant to make it." Dahyun said
"Not even-" Chaeyoung was about to say..in the palace green house but one sharp look from Nayeon saved her the mistake.
"Which plant ? There are a variety of herbs in the forest."
"Clove, the plant has red tiny flowers, the flowers once dry become brown in colour and we use the dried clove. It's kind of spicy." Dahyun explained.
The old lady said something to a girl standing next to her, she suddenly ran and after a while brought some plants.
"Yes this is what we need." Dahyun said
"But.." she plucked the flower from the branch showing it to others "we only need this."
"We need to pluck the flowers and dry them up in the sun." Jungyeon explained.
"That will take a day at least, for now can you bring some more of these so we can bring the medicine" Nayeon asked.
The girl nodded and with two of her friends went to pluck some clove flowers
"We will teach you how to make the pain killers here only, by tomorrow the honey will also be available " Tzuyu remarked.
"By the way grandma..." Momo asked "was this village once settled near the river?"
The old couple suddenly gave a shocking look. The old man chuckled "where did you hear that? It was a long long time ago..." He sighed looking at the sky.
"I have only heard about it, from my mother. It was when she was a kid."
The old lady Chuckled "We used to listen to it a lot as children, for us it was like a story of a hero."
"They say it was the curse of the island." He said.
"The curse of the island?" All of them asked together
The old couple laughed a bit "We also liked this part of the story very much "
"The first generation of settlement came here some 200 years ago, they ran away from their country due to the atrocities of their king, apparently the king was a mad person"
"Yeah, he tortured his own subjects. One of the most horrific story was that when a child accidentally came in front of the king when he was hunting, he stomped the child with his huge horse"
"Not only did the child died, when his parents came to mourn the king decided to set fire on the whole village" the old man completed with spite.
The old lady breathed "Anyway, so then a group of people decided to leave the country and they fled on boats, and eventually stumbled upon this island. They decided they did not want a permanent ruler so they lived happily among themselves, growing the seeds they brought with them. And eventually took up many more jobs"
"And what about the Island curse?" Momo asked
"Yes, they were thankful to the island, they believed that the god of the very island guided them here, it gave them a new life. They started worshipping the island god with all their dedication."
"I have heard that there used to be a cave in the very middle of this jungle. The people used to go worship the god once every month, they celebrated on a large scale. Then one day they saw a royal ship sailing towards the island. A deal was made, they wanted to build a castle there and in return the villagers would earn a lot of profit."
"But the area they required overlapped with the cave temple, a debate was held on what to do, in the end no body could resist the temptations of profit and it was not like they had any options. The king had an army with him and they were just a few villagers who fled from their country."
"As soon as the foundation was built for construction, a huge flood came across the island, the village got destroyed completely, a lot of the king's workers drowned and all the construction material was destroyed. When the king decided to try to resume the construction, his ship got lost in the sea."
"They say the island was angry and did not want any disturbance, and despite that it was the island that saved the villagers. All of them took refuge in the mountains where they were safe from the water. They started a new life there. But after a few years a group of people decided to go back to the plains, but this time a bit farther than the river. Over the years everything came back to normal."
"Then after almost a hundred years this University was built. By a union of different kingdoms to promote knowledge. And to avoid the curse the area where the cave temple was, it was left undisturbed. It's still inside the university gates but well hidden in the forest."
All of them listened to the story quietly. Even the villagers sat around the old couple as they narrated it. It was almost like a fairy tale at the same time a bit dark. They had an unsettling feeling about it. But then they decided to get back to work. It was nearing the sunset and they had to return.
Thus after a long time of hardwork finally they set out for University. Since it was nearing sunset they rode by fast not giving much attention to the surroundings nor stopping at that isolated hut.
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The Nine Dancing Princesses (TWICE FF)
FanfictionA story about nine princesses who were enrolled in an University of Royalties. Reluctant to even talk to each other at first they realise that they find a soothing comfort in each other. The university which they hated the most, gradually becomes th...
