{Somewhere in Baekje City, around past midnight}

 

Tae was on her way to meet with Yuri. She still had her arms and legs wrapped like a mummy; only eyes, mouth, nostril and fingers were not banded. She had one arm straighten out. She used it to push against the wall and that the bouncing movement would move her up. Her walking was like a penguin, balancing left and right.

 

 

She sweated.  Such a trouble! Tae thought.  She paused a few seconds to breath. 

 

 

She could have asked Miyoung to remove the bandage but that meant she wouldn’t be able to make Miyoung feed her.

 

 

She sniffed her underarms. curved in haft moon shape because of the odor. It smelled a little bit. But she had decided to not remove the bandage even if she would stink again. 

 

 

What the heck is wrong with me? How come I create trouble to myself? I’m getting stunk again and again ever since I got into this city. Haizzz. Tae sighed. She had to make do with her new costume.

 

 

Next time, I need to ask Yuri to come around the courtesan house instead so I don’t have to walk this much. Tae thought.

 

 

She opened her eyes widely. She blinked a couple of times. She inhaled to take some encouragement before continuing to walk. 

 

 

At the meeting location, while waiting for Tae, Yuri was walking back and forth with her hands clasping behind her back. She seemed to wonder about something serious.

 

 

The duck was watching Yuri moving left to right. He shrugged because it made him dizzy. Then he saw something moving from far. His head inclined slightly to the left. He wondered what the heck was the moving thingy. He turned head to the right, trying another angle to identify the object. Silly him, he decided to move toward.

 

 

Yuri was too busy to care about the duck.

 

 

Then she heard the duck yelled *QUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK*QUACKK* QUACKK* QUACKK*

 

 

Immediately, Yuri turned around. She saw the terrified duck running like crazy toward her. Then she saw a white silhouette moving up. “KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYA” Yuri couldn’t hold her fear. 

 

 

Yuri and the duck ran chaotically

 

 

“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTT” Yuri heard from far.

 

 

“GOSHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Yuri shouted to the air.

 

 

“SHUT UP!” Yuri heard from inside the house, it lightened up. She stopped running.

 

 

*SLAPSHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

 

 

“Plerkk” Yuri spited out the water she just receive from someone inside the house.

 

 

The house turned dark again.

 

 

The white silhouette stood still. It was fortunate that it stopped walking before the water got splashed out.

 

 

It moved closer and poked Yuri.

 

 

“KYA!” Yuri left out. She immediately covered afraid of being watered again

 

 

“YA! It’s me!! Taeyeon. Your Tae Master”

 

 

Yuri frowned. She put face closer to observe Taeyeon’s eyes. “Master?! MASTER! How come you become like this?”

 

 

*Quack*

 

 

Tae looked down. She saw the duck but she ignored him. She lifted head to Yuri “It’s a long story to make it short I need to wear this for a while”

 

 

Yuri nodded dumbly. “Ohhhhh. Okay. Is this a new armor to protect you when fighting?”

 

 

Yuri took Tae’s arm and spun in and out to observe the strange outfit.

 

 

“Hey Hey hey Don’t rip off my wife’s costume”

 

 

“Your wife’s costume? Your wife made this for you? Huh? What is wife?”

 

 

“Well she is not my wife yet but she would be.” Tae talked to herself

 

 

“Huh?”

 

 

“Well wife is someone you love and you want to live forever with”

 

 

Yuri mouth formed an “Ohh”. She nodded

 

 

“Is there someone you love?”

 

 

“The nuns! I love them and want to live forever with them. They love me too” Yuri said. Somehow she got the feeling of missing them. She wondered how they had been living after she left them, if anybody helps them to gather woods, carrying rice bags and doing the prayer book transcriptions.

 

 

“Nuns?!? You live with nuns? I thought you are coming from the Guard house”

 

 

Yuri looked at Tae and nodded “Yup, they raised me up since I was born. But I have to leave them in order to become a guard and catch thieves. I want to find my parents too”

 

 

Ahhh so she is an orphan. Tae felt pity for Yul. She understood Yul because Tae also had never known about her parents since she was born. But she had an uncle to care about her.

 

 

“Anyway! The love that I’m talking about is not the same. Wife is someone you love. But that love is more special. You fell excited, nervous; you keep smiling like a fool while thinking about that person; you feel the warm blood running throughout your body; your heart beats like crazy when you see that person. That feeling is exclusively for that one and only person, not anyone else.”

 

 

Tae thought about Miyoung when explaining those feeling to Yuri. She remembered seeing Miyoung , kissing Miyoung, Miyoung eyesmile and the annoyed Miyoung when she got teased.

 

 

Tae smiled like a fool with her eyes closed when memorizing all those moments. "Kuyahahah" She laughed out loud. 

 

 

The duck noticed a tissue that popped out of Tae’s ankle. He looked at it. He blinked eyes. Then he bite it, trying to chew it in his beck.

 

 

Tae was too dreamy to care about the duck

 

 

“Master! Master!”

 

 

“Huh? WHAT?” Tae popped out her dreaming balloon.

 

 

“What if you feel like your heart is about to pop out of your chest when you think about that person?”

 

 

“Then you are insanely crazy about that person. You got to get married to that person or you will stay crazy for the rest of your life”

 

 

“What does getting married mean?”

 

 

Tae knocked Yul’s head. “You have to get married in order to make the person you love become your wife.”

 

 

“Ah I got it. So you are married Master? Earlier you said your wife made this costume for you”

 

 

“Well she will become my wife soon or later. It’s my wife to be. ANYWAY!! Too much random questions now back to the main topic. I’m not having all this walking troubles to teach you about love!” Tae said.

 

 

Well I can become a love master now! Love expert !! Kekeke. Err…It makes me sounds like a player. Tae shook off her thoughts. “Okay so how is your martial art actually? Have you been practicing what I taught you the last time? Ah right, I wanted to ask if you came yesterday night because I couldn’t make it”

 

 

“Ah don’t worry I couldn’t make it too because I fainted”

 

 

“You fainted?”

 

 

“Yes. The last time, I practiced with this wall until 4 a.m. When I got back to the dorm, I couldn’t go to sleep. I got called for a special training. Jo ….” Yuri went on and on with her story.

 

 

At that moment, Tae felt something at her foot. She looked down and saw the duck was chewing her bandage.

 

 

The duck looked blankly at Tae, with a piece of tissue in his beck.

 

 

Tae made a grimace to scare the duck. “Ya spit it out! Spit it out!” Tae eyed to the duck. She was afraid that he would un-wrap Miyoung bandage.

 

 

The duck didn’t even care to move. He turned head to clip another piece of tissue in his mouth.

 

 

The Mummy Tae tried her best to move. It wasn’t easy with all the bandages.

 

 

The duck spread his wings to chase after Tae.

 

 

“YA!!” Tae shouted.

 

 

“Then I chased after Sooyeon. She got surrounded by thieves so I saved her. Then I fainted because I was out of energy” Yuri finished her sentence. She saw the duck and Tae.

 

 

“Duckie no!” Yuri shouted. She chased and picked the duck up.

 

 

Tae frowned mouth and stared at the duck. “You make me hungry.” She lips

 

 

“Anyo, you cannot eat him. He is my friend”

 

 

“Your friend make me hungry” Tae moved head closer the duck “I see duck porridge”

 

 

*QUACK* The duck flapped wings.

 

 

“Quack What? You are scared of me now?” Tae said to the duck.

 

 

“Aishh Master please spare him. He is still very innocent”

 

 

“Dare to touch my bandage again, I’ll eat you!” Tae warned the duck. “So back to you, Yul Yuri. You are really jjang to catch those thieves. Tonight, I’m going to teach you something else. I see that you have brought your sword. It’s the same one as the last time?”

 

 

“Yup!”

 

 

“Great. As I have thought, you wouldn’t be able to change it. I will teach you how the use it despite its weight”

 

 

Yuri took out her sword. She held it with both hand.

 

 

“So because your sword is heavy it looks like a disadvantage when you have to fight with it. But if you know how to borrow the force, you will take the advantage in using it.” Tae explained. “Try to hit with it”

 

 

Yuri chopped in front and she got pulled over by the weight. She got unbalanced and almost felt. She rested the top of the sword on the ground. 

 

 

“Heavy right?”  Tae asked