(970 AD, 21^st year of Gwangjong’s reign)

“You need to go find Uncle Jung and let him know you are alright.” As Soel’s eyes widened in panic again, Ju squeezed her hands and continued, “Just tell him that you are not feeling well and want to sleep early.” He stood up and pulled her up with him. “Then go to your room, lock the door, sneak out and meet me near the west gate.” “Eh?” asked Soel in shock. “Wear something warm…. The warmest clothes you have……” With that he let go of her hand and walked away with a smile without waiting for a response. But half-way to the door, he turned around and instructed a dazed Soel, “By the way, clean up your face before you meet anyone. It’s getting dark outside and……. let’s not overwork the grim reapers any more today.” And with that, he was gone.

Soel made her way towards the west gate with the moonlight guiding her path and realized very quickly that she was like a fish out of water. She had a lot of experience in sneaking away from where she was supposed to be, and going where she was not supposed to go. It was easy enough to do during the day. All she had to do was not be noticeable and walk confidently as though she was exactly where she was supposed to be. But sneaking out at night was a completely different ball game and she realized that she’d need a completely different approach. She stood out like a sore thumb at night when only soldiers and maids in uniform were up and about. No amount of confidence was going to convince a soldier that she had business roaming around in a bright white fur coat like a ghost at night. So she hid behind pillars and trees and ran from cover to cover with her back bent, looking and feeling ridiculous, as she wondered just how Ju does it. As the west gate with the large number of soldiers guarding it, came into view, Soel started freaking out and wondered whether it had been a very bad idea to listen to the errant crown prince. Was he actually serious? Would he even show up? How was she supposed to find him? Where should she wait? Somehow, walking up to the guards at the gate and chit-chatting with them while sharing a drink around a bonfire until Ju showed up didn’t seem like the best approach. That was when she heard a low whistle from atop a tree nearby. Huh…. of course….. that’s how he does it. He probably doesn’t set foot on the ground at all when he sneaks out at night. She could picture him running along the roof tops in his black cloak and jumping from tree to tree. In a fit of envy, Soel resolved that she would find a way to learn how to climb, unladylike or not.

She walked over just as Ju dropped down from one of the branches and landed on his hands and feet. “How good are you at scaling walls?” he said pointing to the fort wall that separated the inner city from the outer city. The question caught Soel off-guard but she recovered quickly. She had anticipated that a night out with Ju would involve at least a little climbing. She would be lucky if it did not involve a full-fledged fight with masked assassins while running along rooftops and displaying elaborate martial arts moves. Under her winter coat, she had wisely chosen to wear the practice gear that she usually wore during her morning exercises and when practicing with dad. But unfortunately, her dress did not magically give her the power to climb over fort walls. “Not without support”, she admitted. “But if you have a rope….” “You can climb with a rope?” Ju asked in surprise. “That’s a relief…. You’re not as useless as I thought” he noted as he walked away from an infuriated Soel. “We’ll need to make a pit-stop on our way then” he said casually as Soel bit back a retort that was at the tip of her tongue. Soon, they came to a dilapidated storage shed where the roof had fallen in at places and the outer wall was broken on one side. Ju bent down in front of the door, lifted a loose stone on the threshold and pocketed something. Then he headed to the most damaged section of the outer wall where what remained of the wall was only shoulder high. “Always with the climbing…. Even when there is a perfectly good… well, slightly worn out…. door right here”, Soel muttered to herself as she put her hand on the knob. “Nooooo”, Ju screamed. “Are you trying to bring down the whole building? Can’t you see that door is what’s holding up that section of the roof?” Soel withdrew her hand in panic and walked over to him, looking subdued, while muttering under her breath about how visually calculating the load sharing among the walls of dilapidated buildings was not one of her specialties.

Ju lifted her on to the wall and Soel jumped into a dark room full of dust and cob-webs, littered with rotting wood, metal splinters and all sorts of junk. The place had a musty, uninviting smell. She could only see the part of the room that was illuminated by the light coming in through the broken section of the wall and the missing roof. The rest of the room was swathed in darkness and from within the darkness ominous looking shadows peered out. “Follow me and watch your step. There’s a whole lot of stuff here that you don’t want to step on from rusted metal to snakes. I would hate to be the one explaining to Uncle Jung why you turned up dead.” If the purpose of the warning had been to scare the hell out of Soel, it worked. She considered staying put where she was as Ju started moving towards the darkness. But the fear of being alone and the unwillingness to acknowledge that she was scared drove Soel to follow him. After a few steps, Soel struggled to keep up as she couldn’t see Ju anymore though he had to be somewhere right in front of her. Darkness enveloped her and she was about to panic when a sliver of faint light appeared before her. By some magic, or maybe just a whole lot of practice, Ju had opened a door in the far wall and stepped into a room illuminated by the moonlight coming in through a broken part of the roof.

At the threshold, Soel stopped to marvel at something white and crystalline shimmering in various hues right below the broken roof. As her eyes became more accustomed to the dim light, she realized that the moon light was being reflected off the snow gathered on a metal sheet suspended below the broken roof. The edges of the sheet were bent upwards and it sloped away towards a dark corner of the room and Soel realized that it was a drainage system for the rain and snow falling into the room through the broken part of the roof. She turned to see Ju pulling a rope out of a large wooden box placed on a raised platform. He was about to close the lid with a “Let’s go” when Soel showed up beside him and grabbed the lid to peer inside the box. “Is this your treasure chest? What else do you have in there?” Before Ju had a chance to reply, she bent in and pulled out a cross-bow. “Cool…. Do you also have some arrows that go with this?” With that, she let go of the lid to lean back in and rummaged inside the box as Ju grabbed the lid before it came crashing down on her back. “Here it is”, she surfaced with a quiver of arrows. “You are definitely partial to swords, aren’t you? You have quite a selection there.” She wore the quiver on her back before turning around with a cheery “Let’s go”. Ju was too stumped to come up with a snarky comment as they retraced their steps back to the low wall. As he returned the key to his treasure box under the loose stone, he remarked, “You do realize that what you are holding is a crossbow, right?” “We need a way to get the rope to the top of the wall”, Soel retorted. Ju raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You do know that the fort wall is made of stone, right?” he said in a patronizing tone. “But the parapet is made of wood, right?” Soel responded, mimicking his tone.

They stood a few feet away from a portion of the wall that was not patrolled frequently, hidden under a tree. Soel checked the weight of the rope again and adjusted the tension on the string. As she moved forward and took  aim, Ju aked cautiously, “Are you sure about this?” Soel ignored him and released the arrow. She looked around to check that no one heard the sound of the release as the arrow flew up, pulling the rope along and found its mark on the lowest rung of the parapet. With a triumphant smile, Soel moved quickly to the base of the wall and reached for the end of the rope. But Ju beat her to it. He tested the rope, pulling on it, climbing a little and swinging lightly. “That’s quite impressive”. But before the words could sink in, he walked away from the wall saying, “I will see you at the top”. He stopped a few feet away from the wall, took his stance and ran. Soel watched in stunned silence as he used the momentum to propel himself up and forward and began a graceful ascend, propelling himself off of the jagged stones along the way.

As they continued to trudge up the hill outside the fort, Soel asked for the hundredth time, “How much longer?” Ju had stopped responding right around the 30^th time. He was dragging along a wooden box that he had retrieved from atop a tree at the base of the hill. At long last, they reached the top of the hill and Ju plunked the box down on the snow and gestured to Soel, “Get on”. “On this?” Soel raised her eyebrows partly surprised and partly suspicious. “What for?” “So I can bury you in the snow” Ju responded without missing a beat. Soel eyed the box that was about 3 feet by 1.5 feet and around a foot deep, standing on two narrow strips of wood running along the entire length of the box. “That box is not big enough to hold me” she remarked as she got into it and sat down gingerly with her legs stretched out in front of her. “See, it’s big enough. Now, hold on to the sides” Ju walked around the box and stood behind her.  “But it isn’t deep enough… and you don’t have a….aaaahhhhhhh” Before she could finish her sentence, Ju gave the box a shove. As the sled sped down the slope, Soel screamed at the top of her voice and held on for dear life. Just as she realized that she could navigate the box by leaning to the sides, a mound of snow loomed large in front of her. Soel panicked and leaned so much to a side that she was almost hanging out of the sled but it was too little too late. The sled hit the mound at a slight angle and the impact threw Soel off of the sled. Soel tried to push herself up but her hands sank into the snow and she was beginning to suffocate. With effort, she rolled off the mound. She was on her knees, coughing and sneezing to get the snow out of and nose when Ju showed up. “How did you like it?” “Are you trying to kill me?” Soel sputtered. “What? It was a small, gentle slope with no obstructions and I even made a mound in advance to break your ride.” Ju protested as he turned the box around and shook off the snow. “Were you scared?” he inquired with his trademark smirk. “No…… of course not. It’s just that…. you didn’t give me any warning.” Soel countered, shaking her head to get the snow off of her hair and to keep her face from freezing. Ju helped her back to her feet and she followed him in silence, brushing the snow off her coat, as he headed back up the hill.

When she got to the top, she found Ju lying on his back, his hands folded over his chest, looking at the stars. Soel sat down beside him and looked up. The sky had cleared up and the stars looked beautiful in the dark sky. “I liked it. Takes a little getting used to, but it was fun”, she acknowledged. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a smile forming around Ju’s lips and before she knew it, it spread to hers as she leaned back and watched the lights that defined the city stretched out far below – the large flames from the palace towers and small flickering lights spread out around the outer city. Ju sat up and followed her line of sight. “Those small flames you see, those are community gatherings where people get together around a fire to stay warm and share a meal or a drink. Those gatherings are a lot of fun. You get to hear the latest gossip around town. You can also join them in leveling the choicest abuse against the nobles. Surprisingly, they don’t usually curse the King even though they are terrified of him…... Maybe, because they are terrified of him.” Ju stopped to wonder. “You mean you have been there? No way….. Why would they let you join? You don’t belong there….” Soel’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion but her voice sounded more curious than disbelieving. “I do belong – I ensure that I dress like them, I look like them and I even talk like them. But more importantly, anyone with some food or drink to spare is always welcome in those groups. Even on days when I have nothing to offer, some groups would still let me join. They would just assume that I’m one of the wretched folks wandering into Songak every day, looking for employment and a way to survive. The most fun I’ve had though is when I went with Uncle Baek Ah. People fall over each other to invite him to join, give him the warmest spot to sit on and the best of the food and drink they have, just to hear him sing.“ His expression changed as he said wistfully, “If I could sing like him, if I weren’t the crown prince, that’s the kind of life I’d want to lead. Travel all over the world, meet all sorts of people and hear their stories and sing those stories in songs that people would gather to hear…” Ju sighed.

“Hey, you get to go where ever you please within Songak and you get to hear the stories and songs of the people coming in from all over Goryeo. You should look around you at those less fortunate before sighing and acting like a victim” Soel said pointing to herself. “It’s your own fault. You can’t even scale a wall without a rope.” “No, it’s not. No one would teach me. They just go tsk-tsk and tell me that it’s not lady-like to scale walls and climb trees. You have no idea how hard it was to get Dad to teach me rope climbing.” Soel responded with a huff. “I could teach you” Ju said off-handedly, staring intently at the city. “Would you?” Soel asked, suddenly excited. “But not for free” he added resolutely. Soel’s excitement ebbed as she tried hard to think of something she could offer. But what could she offer the future King of Goryeo? “What do you want?” she asked tentatively. “Will you give me whatever I want?” Ju asked with a sidelong glance, a sly smile forming around his mouth. “Yes…. if it’s within my power to give”, Soel replied cautiously. “Good… then I’ll come up with a plan. We’ll need a place to practice with a sturdy wall and not too many people around”, he mused. “When you are in the palace next, go to the library. You remember the corner where you were sobbing this morning, right? I will leave a note for you in the last book on the lowest rung in that corner. No one reads those books, so it should be safe.”With that he got up, shook off the snow and proceeded to position the sled for the journey back to the the city. “Up for a longer ride? If you are scared, you can just walk all the way down. I will wait for you at the base.”

Soel looked down the slope which was a lot steeper than the one she rode down on the other side of the hill. It was also littered with trees and boulders along the way. Would she be able to navigate well enough to avoid those and get to the base in one piece? She gulped at the thought of banging against a tree or taking off into the sky off of a boulder but she just couldn’t bring herself to give up. So she got on the sled, grabbed the sides so tightly that he knuckles went white and waited with bated breath for the descent to begin. But instead, Ju came up to the side and said, “Scoot.” “What?” Without giving any explanation, he released her grip off of one side, pushed her towards the other end and climbed in to join her. It was a tight fit and Soel could feel her cheeks turn red. Ju seemed completely focused on the task at hand as he a sturdy piece of wood into the snow at an angle and pushed against it to set the sled into motion. He reached around her to grip the far side of the sled and leaned from side to side to guide it down the hill. Soel felt blood rushing to her face and butterflies forming in her stomach as the sled raced down the steep slope. She screamed in terror and grabbed Ju’s coat as they headed straight for a tree before veering away at the last moment. By the time the sled swerved a full 90 degrees at the base of the hill and screeched to a halt against a strategically placed mound of snow, Soel was hanging on to Ju’s coat with both hands, her face buried in its warmth, eyes tightly shut and lips uttering a prayer. She peeked out of her hiding place to check why they had stopped moving and was startled to hear a voice up close, “That was fun, wasn’t it?” Soel quickly let go of the coat and struggled to get off. Once outside, she sank to her knees and closed her eyes as she waited for her heart to stop racing.

Ju busied himself with securing the box in its hiding place atop the tree. When Soel finally glanced up, she found him standing by her side, waiting for her reaction, a look of concern on his face. “It was terrifying while it lasted. But now that it’s over, I want to do it again”, Soel finally confessed as she tried to stand. Ju smiled from ear to ear as he offered his hand to help her up. “It’s the rush that comes from conquering your fears, facing danger head-on and overcoming it”, he explained as he helped her up. “It helps you forget all your troubles. It’s the best medicine when you need to get away from all the death and gore that surrounds the palace.” He regretted the words almost as soon as they were out of his mouth. Soel’s face turned white. She closed her eyes and winced as the image of decapitated bodies lying in a pool of red snow flashed through her memory and a shiver ran down her spine.  Ju put his arms around her to steady her. It took a moment for Soel to collect herself. She shook her head to dismiss the memory and focused on the flames atop the palace in the distance. She filled her mind with pleasant images – the prayer tower that her mother built, her dad practicing with his sword, boat rides with Uncle So, feeding the fish in Lake Dongji with Ju. She then pictured the people gossiping around a community fire, free to share what little they had, free to curse the nobles who overworked and underpaid them, free because they were no longer slaves, because the King freed slaves - at least some of them, at least those that had been wrongly enslaved. In that moment, Soel realized that she was not alone. She was surrounded by those who cared for her, protected her and depended on her. “I’m fine. Let’s go”, she said. They were about half-way to the palace when she noticed that they were walking hand-in-hand. She glanced at Ju, striding along purposefully, eyes straight ahead, the rope coiled around a shoulder, holding the crossbow and the arrows on one hand and seemingly unaware of what he held on the other hand. She smiles as her strides became more purposeful and she headed for the palace with the resolve to face all her fears head-on.