I still remember the way his lips felt against mine when he kissed me goodbye. The call to war had come and we knew that there was nothing he could do to avoid it.  He must go, and I could not follow. 

 His lips. At once, they tasted of love.

Of regret, fear, overwhelming sadness...

But mostly, of love. 

"I will come back. In the spring,  you'll see. The war won't last long, you know how this goes. I will be home before the roses even bloom."

He dropped a kiss to my nose then, a gesture that reminded me of all the things I loved about him, then he picked up his pack and left. I watched him go from the doorway of our small mountain home, the knowledge heavy in my heart that I would never look upon him again. 

"I love you, Jiyong!" I called after him,  to which he turned to blow me a kiss. And then I watched after him until he was out of sight. 

The rest of the summer passed quickly enough,  with me tending to the garden in our backyard as well as helping the neighbors with theirs. All able bodied men and women had gone to fight in this newest war of the king's progression, and that left the infirm, the young, and the old behind to care for the crops. 

Harvest was hard, but I didn't mind... I got a letter from him just as the days were getting short and the nights were getting cold. He told me all that he had seen and done, and he told me that most of all, he longed to be at my side. It was wonderful to hear fro