Rubies and Rumors

Chapter Forty-six

            Junseo sat on the veranda outside the rooms he now shared with his nephew. The young boy ran back and forth with a miniature kite calling instructions to imaginary runners. Junseo's god-daughter rested placidly in a crib he kept rocking with his foot while he slowly sewed crystal beads onto a belt.

"I see your stitchery has improved," his father said as he sat down.

"I ruined and embarrassing number of silk rolls before I started to get the hang of it," Junseo admitted.

"You are in good company there. Now let me show you another handy stitch." Junseo silently passed over the belt and watch his father smooth it out and did a quick, running stitch with an extra wind around the needle to control the tension. "This works well if you need to pull a deep line," he explained as he passed the piece back to Junseo and talked him through the steps.

Junseo carefully practiced the new stitch but momentarily forgot to rock the cradle so his god-daughter started to stir. "Oh, sorry princess. Just relax there," he hummed a bit of a lullaby and the tiny girl settled.

"You have a knack with children," his father said with a smile. "We could use you at the lower-town clinic."

"But I don't have any crystal energy." Junseo objected.

"And I seldom ever use mine. Really, son, if someone needs that kind of attention you can call on another healer. You might as well clock some hours toward your next level while you are here. Unless you have decided to apprentice to the jeweler you have been working with. He has asked me if we would consider it."

"He has been very kind but you are right if I am going to take up a regular trade it should be at the clinic helping people."

"Not back at the Royal Academy?" His father asked.

"The capital is not a safe place. Not with different conspiracies and rumors floating around. You know when the palace healers saw my burn scar, they were all convinced I was a Lie. It had me sweating every time a Rainbow-Maker came by," Junseo's ears turned red as he admitted some of his fears.

"We knew there might be chatter when we sent you to the capital. Seems to me the northern priestess might have done you a favor. She was obviously trying to prove something but you evaded her plan and also helped the palace loose interest."

"You are joking, right? Living like this is like being half blind and deaf. Who knows if I will ever recover!" Junseo jumped up to leave.

His father gestured for him to sit back down, "I know it has been hard. You got used to your special talents but you also need to remember who you were before you won your first pair of crystals. It honestly hasn't been all that long so what happened all your determination?"

His father's question made Junseo snap. "Determination? More like desperation. Always hoping I might get to hear you or mom say well done. Even once. I tried so hard to prove I was good enough to be accepted as part of this family, maybe even loved. But you had your secrets to keep, didn't you?" This time when he got up to leave his father didn't stop him.

One thing that was still the same for Junseo, was how much he needed to run to clear his head. He was a little ashamed of his outburst but relieved to have things more in the open. He would always do his duty by the family who had raised him but starting to feel less connected to them. He wasn't sure where that left him, but his feet carried him to the Moon Temple.

He checked in with the gatekeepers to see if he might visit the winter gardens and they bid him welcome providing he help with any chores the new herbalist had in mind. Junseo could not help chuckling since it felt like anytime he got close to a garden he was put to work. The extent of the damage still showing in the gardens saddened Junseo. He especially grieved the destruction of so many of Master Wu's special miniature trees.

A familiar looking monk in dark green robes approached with a basket and some tools, "Ah, Young Master Junseo. I am glad to see you are doing so well."

Junseo bowed and then took a second look at the Monk, "Do I know you? Were you, perhaps, at the Sun Temple honorable sir?"

"Well spotted young man. Well spotted! I hoped you would start to recover from the attack and now look at you up and around and shining like a new coin. I trust you willing to give this old man a hand clearing a better path through to the miniatures over there."

"Those were Master Wu's favorites. He always said he liked their stubbornness," Junseo picked up the basket and selected a small rake. Soon he squatted beside the Herbalist, listening to the man recite a long poem about spring breaking through an ice mountain.

"I'm not sure I know that phrase," Junseo tried to repeat what he remembered hearing in the Chen dialect. The Herbalist corrected his pronunciation and gave a rough translation. "Thank you. Can you tell me the title again? I think I would like to learn it." Junseo suddenly felt at bit shy.

The Herbalist repeated the title but warned Junseo it might be hard to find. "If Granny Min doesn't have a copy, maybe you can help me transcribe it. I am sure my mother will love the poem. It kind of reminds me of one of her dances."

"I am happy to help but perhaps you should be on your way. It sounds like you have a couple of important ladies waiting for you at home," the Herbalist teased.

Junseo might have objected but he could see the sun was getting ready to set so thanked the monk and hurried home. He hoped he had time for a quick soak in their spring-fed baths so rushed in a grabbed up a new robe and a towel. His nephew sulked in the corner of their shared room so he asked the boy if he wanted to come. This made him a hero to his sister who had been trying to coax her boy into taking a bath all week.

Junseo carefully undid the boy's topknot and slowly tackled the worst tangles before working in some soap. He asked the boy to help with his own hair and tried to not yelp at the tugs from little fingers. He filled the buckets from the tubs to rinse off the soap before carrying the boy into the deeper water.

"Can you swim yet little fish?" he asked as the small boy clung to his arm. "How about floating on your back. Here I will hold your head up. Now can you be a starfish? No, how about a guppy?" Junseo demonstrated how to blow some bubbles but then went, "Glub, glub, glub."

"Uncle Junnie you are just a silly old stone fish," the boy laughed and pointed. Junseo looked down at his arm and saw his skin sparkled from the minerals in the water clinging to him.

"Oh, we better not stay in too long. What do you say, one more dunk for luck?" Junseo picked up the squirming boy and pretended to drop him.

"That's not fair!" the little boy shouted and climbed onto his uncle's shoulders.

"Okay, Okay. No little crab pinches either." Junseo caught his nephew's hand as it grabbed an ear. He got the boy dried off and dressed for bed and sent him along. Then he snuck back to the bath and dipped his arm in again. Sure enough, his skin sparkled, especially where his crystal bracelets used to rest. He shook his arm off and got ready for the family dinner with a lot on his mind.