Two more years passed by. Sooyeon had truly begun to look forward to her next birthday, which was a little less than eight months away now. She truly hoped that all the promises that Lord Yul had given her would turn out to be true. He would often stop by the shop on the excuse he needed a new outfit, but the artist knew his true reason was to come stare at her while she drew something for him. His eyes always made her blush. ...And the feeling he was not really who he said he was had slowly disappeared the more she saw him.

Still, she had her doubts about a nobleman really wanting to court her. She was just a lowly commoner, after all, and it was a rarity that noblemen, even the lower ranking ones, would marry someone of her status. She did enjoy his flirting with her every time he came to Hyoyeon's shop, though, because it made her feel special. She was certain, too, that if he did court her she would enjoy that even more.

One hot summer afternoon, when she got off work early, she decided to take a trip up to the meadow of flowers on Taeyeon's mountain. She had started going up there more and more frequently, partly on the hope she would see her dragon in his true splendor again. The flowers seemed to change more regularly, unlike the time when lavender was the only ones blooming there. She would always wonder if Taeyeon knew she came there and changed them for her.

Sooyeon did, however, find it rather strange she had never once been spotted by any of the townsfolk going up the mountain. She could only assume that it was her luck that allowed her to slip up to the flowers so regularly without being seen. But Taeyeon had also never confronted her – whether to be angry at her or to just visit her. She had often thought of going to peek into his lair but never did because she did not want to possibly make him truly upset with her. She enjoyed being on the mountain close to her guardian, for he still protected her each night against the dreams, and she did not want to chance having him stop watching over her.

By the time she had gotten to the flower field, she was sweating profusely in the summer heat and was feeling rather miserable. She almost wished she had not made the trip. It was one of the hottest summers they had had for quite some time. As she dropped to the ground by the rock, happy for the shade of the oak above her, she wanted nothing more than to strip out of her sticky, sweaty clothes and go take a bath. But she was a long way from where she could take a bath – and they took so long to prepare. She gazed at the stream, wishing she could bathe there but knew it better not to. Even though she could not really be seen from town, she would feel strange in so open an area with no clothes on. It was not deep enough anyway.

Then an idea popped into her head. She pulled herself away from the shade of the tree. She walked to the edge of the stream and took off her shoes. She stepped into the flowing water and splashed through it as she headed even further up the mountain. There had to be a spring or something similar up on the mountain somewhere that was the source of the stream. It was probably a hot spring since there were several others on the mountains around the town and across much of that part of the kingdom. Though the sound of bathing in hot water in this weather seemed horrible, she was sure it would be much nicer than staying in her sweaty clothes.

The young woman had always seen the waterfall farther up the mountain where the stream cascaded down over the rocks, but she did not know what was above it. She looked around for a way to climb safely up them, hoping that there was a pool of some sort up there. Finally she found what looked like a safe spot and clambered up the rocks. When her eyes could see above the fall, she could not believe what was there.

The small lake that greeted her was filled with some of the purest water she had ever seen. On the far side was another waterfall that she was sure was not climbable as the rocks around it were far smoother and well over forty feet high. The water spilled down over a large stone that seemed to invite her to come to it. All around were low trees of different species, some of which oddly had blooms still on them, and lush grass. It was completely secluded and the thought of bathing here was the most wonderful thing she could imagine.

Once she had set down her drawing pad and pencil, she quickly stripped off her sweaty dress and undergarments. She felt a little embarrassed about being out of doors, but no one was around. She was the only one that dared to come up to Taeyeon's mountain. But as she walked to the edge of the water, she was completely unaware that a pair of silver eyes were watching her with an extremely shocked look.

As she slipped into the pool, wading through the waist-high water towards the waterfall, Taeyeon, in his true form, wa