“Tae! Welcome.” Min hugged Tae as she walked into the Horvejkul’s parlor room a week later. “Here, this is Nichk’s friend, Lu Han. Lu Han, this is Tae.”

They smiled at each other, bowing and curtseying and examining one another. Lu Han was much more willowy than Tae had expected of a member of the royal guard, and much more attractive as well. She couldn’t help but wonder how much he knew about her and her family, being in such a prestigious position and her family being, well, her family.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

The king and his royal guard had been in town for almost a week, hunting almost every day. Suzy had spent quite a bit of this time doing some hunting of her own, but the king never seemed to notice her. At the end of the day she’d find either Min or Tae to complain about this for a little bit, but then somehow talk herself back into believing that it was still a good idea, and that she still had a shot at getting his attention.

“I’m guessing from your name you’re from the east?” Tae sat down in one of the only two chairs in the room as she asked this question, having bad experiences with sitting on the couch where the men could sit too closely next to her.

“Yes.” Instead of sitting down in the other chair or one of the couches, he stood near Tae’s chair, his hands folded together neatly behind his back which was a perfect perpendicular line to the ground.

“But you’ve lived in the capitol now for, what, ten years?” Nichk, also remaining standing as Min took a seat. Nichk typically liked to relax in his chair during the evenings as he spent so much of his day standing. Min shared an amused smile with Tae when she saw this.

“Almost. It’s closer to eight, really. While I was at the academy I traveled so much between there and Yaechao that I didn’t really feel like I was living anywhere.”

“Even at eight years, that means you were mostly staying in the capitol before the Zhang battles began, the ones that started the famine, right?”

Tae wondered briefly if Lu Han knew this was a set up for her and him as Min had previously not informed other men that she tried to pair Tae up with. When Tae looked at his face, though, he seemed relaxed and unbothered by the casual perusal of his history. Tae hoped that meant Min had actually warned this one, as it had proven a bad idea to keep Min’s intentions hidden every time so far.

“Yes. I still wasn’t a full soldier when the battles started, though, so I couldn’t go defend the boarder. I unfortunately had to make the decision to move my family up to the capitol as well so I could be sure of their safety. I had only been at the academy a couple of years but it was enough to tell me there were good soldiers and there were soldiers who really just liked the power the title gave them. I wasn’t sure which kind were stationed out there, and I didn’t want to take any chances. It was a good move, too, as my parents farm and home was one of the many to be razed.”

“That’s good,” Min said, smiling and looking at Tae in a way that said, “Speak up, join the conversation.”

“The king’s men aren’t that bad type, though,” Nichk said, now leaning against the armrest of the couch his wife was sitting at. “You guys are the best of the best, aren’t you?”

Lu Han smiled at this. He tried to play it off as a smile of humility, but Tae caught a hint of pride when his lips first stretched. Tae didn’t think there was anything wrong in him taking pride in what he did, and she wondered why he felt the need to hide it.

“Theoretically, yes.” He turned his eyes to Tae. “And what about you, Ms. Kim? Are you from here?”

“Yes, still living in the house I was born in. It’s just on the outside of town, close by a river.”

“A river? Isn’t it usually pretty warm out here?”

“Yes, it is. Me and my friends go swimming in it a lot.”

“Swimming?”

“Yes, we went skinny dipping all the time,” Min cut in smiling

Lu Han’s eyes flashed with something Tae could not identify.

“Did you really?” Nichk asked his wife, more curious and less affronted than Tae would have though he’d be.

“No, there was no skinny dipping. At least not that I was aware of,” Tae denied quickly, shooting Min a pointed look. Both of the men’s faces fell a little.

“Tae wouldn’t let us.”

“It’s not proper.” Tae was blushing at this point.

“Sometimes what’s proper isn’t always right,” Nichk said.

“Or fun.” Tae was surprised to hear the words as they came from Lu Han. She wasn’t even sure she was supposed to have heard them; he had spoken them so softly.

“Tae has always been a bit of a goody-two shoes,” Min said, smiling playfully.

“You mean sensible. You do remember all the times you guys had gotten yourself into trouble that I had to rescue you from, don’t you? Like the time you all got drunk and decided to play hide-and-seek among Mr. Im’s animals? He heard you guys and thought you were trying to steal the chickens and had his bow and arrow drawn and ready to fire before any of you guys noticed him.”

“He didn’t shoot any of us.” Min waved her hand in the air, as if the whole incident were no big deal and it couldn’t have possibly ended with someone getting seriously injured or even killed.

“Only because I, the only sober person, managed to see him and stop him before anything happened.”

“Oh, I remember this now,” Nichk said, smiling down at his wife. “He was so angry that he refused to sell any of your families meat for a week. The only reason he didn’t hold off long was because he was loosing too much money to keep it up.”

“Did he ever forgive us?” Min asked him.

“Yes. Well, eventually, after I married you and he had to.”

“So you were the responsible friend, then?” Lu Han asked Tae.

“Well, yes.” Tae could feel her smile becoming more strained as she avoided his eyes. She was not ashamed of the kind of person she was and still is, but not many men find this character trait very interesting. The ones who like it, on the other hand, typically turn out to be snobs who look down on Tae’s friends, and that’s something Tae doesn’t find very interesting.

“Tae’s always been like a mother to our group,” Min supplied, smiling affectionately at Tae, not realizing she was probably nailing the lid to the coffin of any chances Tae had with Lu Han.

Yet when she forced herself to look back up at Lu Han, he didn’t seem disinterested in her, rather amused. Once she saw that look she remembered that this man was a member of the royal guard, and probably as a result preferred women who weren’t as wild as Min and some of the others had been. Maybe this could actually be a good match, she thought.

She kept this thinking about this all throughout dinner, and was able to remain friendly and optimistic. Lu Han was also friendly, and Tae was glad to find he was easy to get along with. He seemed to be enjoying her company as much as she was enjoying his, and that only served to make her even happier, and scared, about this match with him. The simultaneous joy and fear nestled inside of her, making her unable to finish her dessert, which Min about, as Tae was usually the first to finish hers, while they walked back into the parlor.

Not too long after dinner, the maid walked into the room.

“Ah, the tea must be ready,” Min said.

“Actually, ma’am, it’s a messenger.”

“Must be for me, then,” Nichk said, standing up straight again.

“I beg your pardon sir, but it’s a royal messenger.”

“For me?” Lu Han asked.

“No, sir, the messenger is for Ms. Tae.”

Everyone was silent for a moment from surprise.

“He says he’s been sent by the king to retrieve her.”

“Retrieve her for what?” Min asked, suddenly concerned.

“He didn’t say, ma’am.”

“Well, if it’s the king I’ll you,” Lu Han said. “If you don’t mind, of course. I’m as confused and curious as you are.”

“I would very much appreciate that. Thank you.”

Tae was still trying to gather herself together as she said the words and followed him, but she wasn’t able to before she exited the house.

*

The messenger led the pair to the local bar, much to Tae's surprise. She had issues picturing a king in the shabby old building with its rotting wood and horrible service. When she walked into the dingy building, though, she had no issues locating him among the crowd.

King Jong In was dressed in bright shades of red layered over whites. He was the only person in the room that could wear anything besides dark colors like black, brown, or maroon. Even his royal guard wore more black, though they also had some of the lighter red shades on their uniforms. It was necessary, as it was the color of royalty in Chilrion.

Another reason he was so easy to spot was because he was the only one seated, surrounded by a crowd of people, and almost all of them were standing up. The king was in a chair from a table turned away from it so he was now facing a man who was also in the circle, though a noticeable distance from the king and wearing dark shades of brown.

Tae had seen the king before, but only from a very far distance, and it was many years ago when Tae was still in the last years of childhood, before she debuted. He was not much older than she had been, probably only about two or three years, at the most. He had stopped by their hamlet a few years ago, before his father died, as well, but that was back when Tae had only just learned of her family’s debts and was too ashamed and busy trying to repay them to spend much time in public, let alone near the king.

Tae had thought he was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen, that last time he had been in Alrin, though, and she thought he definitely grew into his features well. He was much more masculine now, having fully grown into adulthood, but he was still obscenely attractive for a king. There was something about him having that much power, that much wealth, and still being handsome that felt wholly unfair to Tae. She couldn’t help but frown at him.

Thankfully, though, he hadn’t noticed her when she first walked in. As Lu Han lead her closer, she glanced over at the other man who was standing in the circle, and stopped moving when she recognized her father looking back at her. His cheeks were flushed, tattling of his drunken state. His face was so rugged, though, and the room so dark that she doubted anyone else but her could tell.

When he noticed Tae, he shot her a pleading look that she didn’t quite understand, and didn’t have time to figure out as she felt a hand on the small of her back, guiding her to stand beside her father. She glanced over to see Lu Han, still as bemused as she was by the whole thing. Once she reached her spot, she glanced at the king again before curtseying low and bowing her head, hoping it was enough, that it was the proper way for a woman of her station to great the king. She had never met anyone of royalty before, and was unsure of the exact social etiquette and rules for it. When she glanced back up to the king, she was not reassured. His face was stoic, thoughtful, really. He nodded a response, but only slightly.

“This is your daughter, then?” the king asked, eyeing Tae at first, but then moving his eyes to her father, whom he was clearly addressing.

“Yes, your majesty,” her father answered, shuffling from foot to foot.

“And you stand by your claim?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Your grace,” the royal guard who had been standing right next to the king said, “I cannot believe what this man says. His daughter looks nothing like a witch.”

“And what does a witch look like?” the king raised an eyebrow at the guard, but did not seem angry.

“Much more sinister,” the guard said after a moment of thought. “Much more imposing. This girl doesn’t look like she could scare a child even if she wanted to.”

Tae frowned a little, but tried to seem passive as they discussed her as if she weren’t even there. She wasn’t sure what any of this was about, and that added onto it only made her even more annoyed.

“You know as well as I do, Zitao, that witches and wizards look like everybody else. And there are beauty potions. She could use magic to make herself appealing.”

She had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Tae was sure there was a rule about eye rolling in a king’s presence.

“However,” the king turned back to Tae’s father, “that does raise a good point. Just proving that you have a daughter does not prove your main claim. Miller’s daughter, tell me, do you have any… hidden talents?”

Tae was simultaneously surprised to suddenly be addressed and have the king’s eyes directly on her and also by the question he asked. Tae was actually quite amazing with numbers, some even joked that she was a witch and that she could work magic with them, but nobody meant this literally. At least, she hadn’t thought so.

Unsure of what the king was really asking her, she glanced at her father in hopes of seeing a clue to the answer in his eyes.

“Go on, sweetie, tell him about how you can spin gold from hay.”

Tae blinked at him, unsure of what he had just said as it was so bizarre.

“Do not speak out of term, miller.” Zitao narrowed his eyes on Tae’s father, who promptly shut his mouth.

“Well?” the king asked, his eyes locked on Tae who could barely look back at him. “Can you do it?”

Tae glanced at her father again and saw the barely masked desperation in his eyes. She knew he wanted her to agree to whatever it was the king was asking, but she didn’t really understand what was going on or what exactly was being asked. What had her father meant by “spin gold from hay?” Wasn’t that magic? Tae was not really a witch, she couldn’t do magic, nor did she know anyone who could. She wasn’t sure that even with magic such a thing would be possible.

When Tae looked back at the king, she could tell that the answer was very important to him. She figured that he wanted her to say that she could as well, and she felt herself being swayed. She had probably either misheard her father or he wasn’t being literal. Whatever it was that the king seemed to want her to do, maybe she could learn to do it, maybe she could learn it quickly. It was an improbable hope given the circumstances, but she was too scared to deny the claim.

So, she nodded her head.

The king’s lips parted for a second, eyes widened. It was a subtle look, but his awe was not lost on her.

“And can you prove it?” Tae opened to respond, though no sound came out. It was all for the best, as the king hadn’t actually wanted her to speak yet. “Can you do it right here, right now? In this bar if we were to bring the supplies?”

Tae wasn’t entirely sure what do about this. She felt like she had just dug herself into a horrible situation

The doors to the tavern, which was currently overcrowded with a large chunk of the population of Alrin, swung open again as a new messenger came rushing in. This one had definitely been traveling, and was bringing important news from somewhere else. He was clearly a royal messenger, though, as he made his way to the king as if it were a perfectly normal thing to be delivering a message to him.

“Your majesty,” the messenger said, then handed the king an envelope, bowing.

He stepped back as the king broke the seal and pulled out the letter, reading it over, seeming annoyed that we had been interrupted. As he read the letter, however, his expression changed from annoyance to worry. The muscles in his jaw tensed and his eyes hardened by the time he finished. He didn’t say anything at first, simply refolded the letter and put it back in the envelope.

“It seems we must cut this short; I am needed back home. Miller, you and your daughter are to accompany us to the palace so we may look further into this. Be ready to leave at dawn.”

With that he rose from his chair and spoke in a hushed voice to Zitao, whom Tae assumed at this point was the head of his guard. Only the guards moved at first, closing in around the king. Once they had settled into rank, the others at the tavern began milling about as well. Feeling dismissed at this point, Tae turned to her father, about to ask him what this had all been about.

“I’ll explain at home,” he said, ushering her out.

Tae wanted to argue, but felt it wouldn’t be prudent while they were still in the tavern. So instead, she followed her father out of the tavern and into the night.