Masters of the Sea

010

By the time Hye Ra awoke from her nap, the sun was almost setting in the sky. She was still running a fever, but her head felt significantly less heavy than it had been earlier in the day. Slowly, she got up from the bed and walked towards the door. There was no one outside—Sunghyun and Nayoung had yet to return from the market.

Why are they so late? They should be back by now...

"Hwayoung, what are you doing outside? You should be resting indoors!" Grandma Im hobbled over slowly and chided, a look of concern in her tired eyes.

Hye Ra smiled weakly and said, "I'm feeling much better, Grandma. It's really stuffy staying indoors all the time. Some fresh air will do me good." It was the truth. Stepping outside and taking a deep breath of the cool evening air, she felt her spirits lift considerably.

"That is true, nothing like a breath of fresh air to cure all illnesses," the elderly lady said contentedly. "Sunghyun and Nayoung should be back soon. I'll go heat up the dinner."

"Let me help you," Hye Ra immediately said.

Grandma Im shook her head. "Don't worry about it child, you stay right here. I'll only be a minute." Without another word, she walked off towards the kitchen, leaving Hye Ra by herself in the front yard. Knowing that Grandma Im would not let her do anything in her current condition, Hye Ra had no choice but to listen to her advice and stay put. She walked over to a tree stump not far from their little wooden gate and sat down upon it, looking up at the rustling leaves in the treetops above.

I wonder if things are going alright back in Goguryeo... She sighed. Go Yeon is probably alright, isn't he? She hoped that he was, and that he was happy. She couldn't think of any reason why he wouldn't be.

She had been feeling slightly guilty of late because her thoughts about Go Yeon and the Black Knights had been gradually fading as time passed. She didn't know if it was because of Sunghyun's presence by her side, but she was beginning to feel consciously aware that her heart no longer belonged to just one person. It was a conflicting feeling—a tug-of-war between her past and what was likely to be her future. As someone who had the ability to see into the future, Hye Ra had tried several times to peer into her own yet no matter how hard she tried, everything was simply a foggy blur. She had visions of the rise and fall of nations, but she could not see even a couple of days into her own future.

It was frustrating sometimes.

A wisp of something white suddenly darted past her and into the bushes opposite.

What on earth was that? A fox? Hye Ra squinted to see if she could get a closer look at what had just shot out in front of her. It had been moving extremely quickly, but she was almost certain that it had been a white fox. But foxes aren't supposed to be white... The only white foxes she had ever heard of were those in the legends of gumihos, but those were only legends, stories in the pages of books, tales that were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Nine-tailed foxes didn't actually exist in real life—or did they?

There was a slight rustling coming from the leaves of the bush.

Out of curiosity, Hye Ra stood up and walked over, bending down to get a better look at what was hiding inside. Using her hands, she pushed away the twigs and leaves, sticking her head into the bush. Sejoon always said that she was foolhardy, and a moment like this would be exactly when he would use that remark on her. Foxes were not known to be as menacing as wolves, but they weren't exactly friendly creatures either. Sticking her head into a bush to search for one was definitely a foolhardy thing to be doing, but right now there was no sign of anything white, fox or not, hiding within the bush.