(969 AD, 20^th year of Gwangjong’s reign)

As she walked across the palace grounds, Soel’s eyes automatically gravitated towards the astronomy tower by force of habit. A smile spread from her eyes to her lips as she saw a lone figure resting on the railing of the 10^th floor balcony, his robe swinging gently in the breeze. From where Soel stood, he was visible as little more than a speck, but that was enough to make her heart leap. Over the past year, every time she was in the palace, she looked for ways to sneak out and walk the grounds and every time the astronomy tower came into view, her eyes searched for this particular speck. A clattering sound woke Soel from her trance as she realized that she had bumped into a maid walking in the opposite direction and sent all the dishes the maid was carrying crashing on the ground. Apologizing profusely, Soel quickly helped the maid gather the pieces despite said maid’s protests that it was her own fault. When Soel looked back up, the elusive speck was no longer on the 10^th floor. In a panic, she swept her glance down from the 10^th floor balcony and caught the speck sliding down the ledge outside the 9^th floor balcony. “Why doesn’t he ever use the stairs?” Soel grumbled to herself. But as she looked around, she realized that her dad had walked on, deep in conversation with some minister, while she was helping the maid clear up. She gave a whoop of joy as she realized that she was free to go exploring on her own. Dad wouldn’t notice that she’s gone until he reaches the throne room and Uncle So asks for her. Uncle So - maybe, it’s time she called him Dad. But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do that. It seemed like a betrayal to her adoptive father whom she would then have to call Uncle Jung.

Soel shook herself out of her reverie. If she hurried, she might be able to catch up to that speck as it dropped to the ground in front of the astronomy tower. She ran like the wind hoping to finally say hi to that annoying little speck. By the time she reached the base of the astronomy tower, Soel noticed that the speck aka crown prince Ju was nowhere to be found. After some frantic searching, she found him strolling calmly towards the lake. “He must be going to the prayer towers”, Soel mused happily. “That would be the perfect place to confront him”. After all, that was where she saw him for the first time, years ago. Her mother had built the piles of stone that formed the prayer tower and she made it a point to add to them every time she visited the palace. For years, she had noticed that the piles of stone grew between her visits and then around 3 years ago, she finally caught a glimpse of the person (a boy around the same age as her) who was messing with her tower without her permission. She’d never have guessed he was a prince, let alone the notorious crown prince who drove his mother crazy by challenging his teachers based on books no one else seemed to have read, and picking fights with soldiers and thugs twice his age. His clothes were covered in so much dust and grime and were so frayed in places that you could no longer guess what color they had been when his mother had lovingly put it on him that morning. His hair was loose and unkempt and the jeweled hair band that was holding together a few strands left of what had once been a ponytail was missing a few stones. Soel was about to confront him when she noticed a lone tear roll down his cheek as he bent low in prayer. He looked so forlorn and lonely at that moment that all the fight flew right out of her. She had wanted to go sit with him and comfort him but just then Uncle So had come looking for her and the boy had panicked and fled at the sound of the King’s voice.

Soel quickly hid behind a tree as Ju stopped to take in the view of a shower of beautiful white flowers falling gently into the lake. As she continued to follow him stealthily, Soel hoped that Ju would go to the prayer tower again. That would give her an excuse to talk to him. “You have no idea how difficult it is to get an audience with you, Your Majesty”, Soel grumbled in mock anger. Sneaking in on her dad and Ju during their dueling sessions hadn’t helped any. Her father would refuse to let her stay and would rush her away without giving her time to say so much as a hi to his favorite student. That reminded Soel of the second time she had seen Ju. About 2 years ago, she had seen dad having a full-blown sword fight with a scrawny kid, barely a teenager. Her dad was beating him black and blue but the boy refused to give up. At 12, he could beat most soldiers twice his age but his goal was to beat erstwhile Grand General Jung. He took a moment to wipe the blood dripping down his eyebrows on to his eyes from a cut on his forehead. His hair had come loose and hung limply around his face and on to his shoulders, covered with streaks of red and brown. His shirt was covered in blood and in tatters. His mouth was set in a grim line. As he took his stance, his head raised, Soel saw the sharp lines of his proud face in profile and read the pain written all over it. The sharp jawline covering the set jaw and grinding teeth, the high cheek bones and the hollow cheeks where some remnants of baby fat should have remained and those eyes like burning embers, filled with anger and resentment. He had pounced with the ferocious grunt of a wild animal and attacked relentlessly. He made no attempt to defend himself and was soon covered with even more cuts and bruises.  Unable and unwilling to watch the thrashing anymore, Soel had called out to her father who came running to lead her away, leaving the boy in a broken pile in the middle of the practice ground. Soel had chastised her father for almost killing the boy and enjoying the fight too much but her father had simply responded that you don’t make someone a great warrior by cuddling them. As for killing the boy, he would never do that to a crown prince because he preferred to keep his neck where it was.

Ju stopped to pick a twig off the ground and twirled it around his fingers as he quickened his pace and Soel hurried to keep him in view. The closest she had come to talking to Ju was in the astronomy tower. Around a year ago, Uncle So had taken her to the tower to show her Ji Mong’s inventions that he had preserved. While Uncle So was going through the books in the 9^th floor, lost in his memories, Soel had continued on to the next floor, eager to see the model of the flying machine. That was when she noticed someone sleeping peacefully sitting on the railing of the 10^th floor balcony. His back leaning against the wall, he sat with his legs bent at the knee and feet planted on the railing in front of him. A book lay open on his lap. The position looked so precarious that Soel worried that a strong gust of wind would knock him down 10 stories to the ground below and to his imminent death. Soel was tempted to wake him up and fume about his suicidal tendencies but as she got closer, she was stunned at how peaceful his face looked. A few strands of stray hair fell in soft curl enveloping his face which shone like porcelain in the soft glow of the sun. The ends of his hair and his eye lashes caught the sunlight and shone with a golden glow. The light softened his sharp features and made them look almost warm. The lips that had been in a perpetual snarl in their previous encounter now looked tender as he smiled in his sleep. His hair was tied up in a neat pony-tail but there were cobwebs sticking to the ends from sneaking around the astronomy tower. Soel was about to reach out and remove the cobwebs when Uncle So had ruined the moment by calling out to her as he came up the stairs. Ju’s eyes flew open and the book fell on the balcony with a thud as he slid off the railing in the wrong direction. Soel screamed in alarm and bent over the railing trying to catch him before he slipped and fell to his death. But he seemed to know what he was doing as he jumped off, landed on the ledge below and climbed into the 9th floor before disappearing from her view. Since that day, every time she was in the palace, Soel looked for ways to sneak out and walk the grounds and every time the astronomy tower came into view, her eyes searched for the lone figure sitting precariously on the balcony railing, his coat swaying in the wind.

Soel hurried forward as Ju took a turn and disappeared behind a row of trees. But by the time she took the turn, he was gone. Soel looked around frantically trying to figure out which way he could have gone. “You” - Soel jumped out of her skin in alarm when she heard the voice. She turned around to see Ju looking at her accusingly as he snarled, “Why are you following me?”