“The weather is nice today, isn’t it?” Soo remarked, dropping her knitting implements and getting up to stretch. Myunghee had spent all morning trying to teach both Soon Deok and Soo how to knit, to general unsuccess.

Soon Deok, who had been seconds away from completely dozing off, straightened up with a start and blinked around. They were sitting atop a small hill overlooking a field of blood red poppies, surrounded by woodland on all sides but behind, where the fortress was. “Yes, perfect weather to go hunting.”

Myunghee gave them a few minutes to slack off before calling them back. “We need to make as many of these as we can, while we can,” she repeated firmly for the nth time. “The days are getting colder which means the monks will begin their winter retreat soon. We have to be back on the road before then.”

“Unnie,” Soon Deok cried, getting on her knees to beg, “I can’t do any more, I have the attention span of a sparrow.”

Myunghee sighed. “That’s because you’re not trying hard enough. If you can spend hours lying in wait during a hunt, you can very well spend an hour or two working on these! Now get back to work… the both of you.”

With identical pouts, Soo and Soon Deok sat back down.

They had been staying at Taehung a little over a week now, and while the men spent hours plotting their next move, the women took to making winter clothes and gathering supplies for their continued journey north.

Thinking they would need to eat something sooner or later, Soo got up and declared she was going to the kitchens, upon which Myunghee sighed resignedly and said they would all go.

“My kitchen has become much livelier with you young ones around,” the elderly kitchen master chuckled, watching Soo’s attempts at the firepit with great amusement. “Used to be just me and the young boy cooking for everybody. He doesn’t talk much. When he first came here, he hardly talked at all. I thought he was mute.”

“May I help you, my lady?” the young boy offered, hovering nervously over Soo’s shoulder.

Soo held up a hand. “I can do this.”

Myunghee sighed and bowed to the kitchen master. “I thank you again for accommodating us on such short notice, master, and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience our presence has brought all of you here.”

Master Ok Tae Hyung waved away her apology. “We made a vow to do no harm, and strongly reject the violent, harsh policies of King Jeongjong. We only wish we can do more to help you.”

“You already risk much just for giving us shelter. We cannot ask for more than that.”

Just then, a triumphant voice rang through the entire kitchen, “I did it!” Soo emerged, blackened with soot and sweating from her efforts, but smiling happily at her success. Myunghee had to smile.

“Good. Now, take the tray on the shelf behind you and deliver it to sanggung,” she ordered, to Soo’s discomfort.

“I’ll do it,” Soon Deok offered quickly, taking the tray, but Myunghee was adamant.

“Soo-yah, Oh sanggung is a wonderful lady and you have a debt to settle with her. Remember that she saved your life.”

“Unnie,” it was Soo’s turn to beg on bent knees and clasped hands, “I’ve tried my best… gave her my best dumplings, my best cakes, my best foot warmers… but she’s so scary. She criticizes everything I do and is always punishing me.” At her cousin’s withering stare, however, Soo wished she hadn’t spoken at all. Shrinking away, she mumbled, “Yes, unnie.” and got up.

Walking through the narrow walkways, past the modest dwellings within the fortress, Soo sighed. She always dreaded her meetings with Court Lady Oh. It wasn’t really that the woman was strict, blunt and constantly punishing Soo, but rather the fact that she expected too much. She expected Soo to know how to read and write Hanja, how to behave and speak in a more ladylike manner, and know about and how to do things that 21st century Hajin had never even been exposed to.

With every meeting, she worried sanggung might find out her secret and tell everyone the truth… that she was not, in fact, 19-year-old Hae Soo, but an imposter from the future. Soo was sure sanggung hadn’t believed her when she’d said she’d lost all her abilities when she lost her memories.

Just thinking about the situation made Soo’s head spin. She never liked science fiction… and now here she was, actually living it. She should’ve paid more attention to the time travel movies her ex liked to watch.

“Okay, breathe, everything’s fine,” she told herself firmly, “back straight, delicate steps, stern expression. Everything she is, everything you aren’t. Unlearn, relearn. You can do this, no problem.” At least, she thought glumly to herself, she hasn’t told anyone about you being illiterate.

So deep in her thoughts, Soo almost didn’t see Prince So until it was too late. Almost.

With a yelp, she stumbled to a halt, and with lightning-fast reflexes, Prince So caught her tea tray and pulled her upright.

He had a knack for doing this - appearing when least expected, scaring her out of her wits, but then catching her before she could fall and fully embarrass herself. “I’d tell you to be more careful, but caution doesn’t seem to want to stick with you,” said he with an amused glint in his eyes.

She straightened up at once and retook her tray. “Thank you. I’d tell you to stop startling me, but the word ‘stop’ doesn’t seem to be in your dictionary,” said she coldly, sidestepping him and rounding the corner to sanggung’s quarters.

Di- dic-... what?

Confused, Prince So could only watch as she walked stiffly but briskly away. He shook his head and began to head in the opposite direction, but then a crash and a scream made him turn around to find Soo hunched in panic over Oh sanggung’s unconscious body. She had dropped the teapot she had been carrying, tea now soaking the ground on which it lay broken beyond repair.

“What happened?” he demanded, reaching them in a few strides and inspecting Lady Oh for any signs of external wounds. Finding none, he nonetheless glanced around in search of a lingering assassin, or traces of one.

“I found her like this.” Soo shook as she felt sanggung’s breath and pulse. “She’s alive, but… she’s not responding. I can’t tell what’s wrong with her, if she passed out from exhaustion or if it’s something more serious…”

Seeing no sign of danger, no footprints, no misplaced objects, So turned his attention to the two women. “Let’s bring her in. I’ll call for Master Ok as he shares sanggung’s knowledge of illnesses and cures. He’ll know what to do.”

Together, they laid sanggung gently on her bed and made sure she was comfortable.

Soo puzzled over the situation, too caught up in what-ifs to notice the prince leaving. If exhaustion had caused this, she couldn’t think what sanggung could have been doing to make her pass out… but if it was an illness…

She thought back to the past week. Though there were times when she noticed sanggung sweating despite the generally cool weather, she hadn’t really thought much of it as the older woman had always been sharp, spry and strong. But now Soo considered the fact that sanggung was knowledgeable on herbs… could she have been masking a terminal illness this whole time?

When she heard a cough, Soo sat up straight to see that sanggung had opened her eyes and was blinking blearily around the room. “What happened? Why am I here?” she asked weakly, trying to sit up.

Soo laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We found you outside your room and brought you in… you were unconscious. Fourth Prince is fetching the kitchen master right now to look you over.”

Hearing this, Sanggung laid back down and sighed, resigned. “There’s no need. He can’t help. No one can.”

Soo had guessed as much. Though uninvited to do so, she sat on the edge of the bed. “You’re sick- no… you’re dying, aren’t you?” she asked softly.

Sanggung made no reply, but that was all the confirmation Soo needed.

“What-?”

“Cancer,” the reply came before the question could be said, “before I left the palace, the royal doctor told me I had stomach cancer. That’s why King Hyejong allowed me to retire… and why I’m here.”

To find a cure? Soo thought, herself wondering what she could do using her knowledge of 21st century medicine. She thought hard but nothing useful came to mind. If sanggung really was dying, then there wasn’t much she could really do with the technology and supplies available, except to make sure she was comfortable.

“That’s why you threw away the dumplings and cakes I made you…” Soo said softly. “Since when have you been unable to ingest dry food?”

Sanggung actually smiled. “You do know a lot more than you let on. It’s been weeks since I had a proper meal.” Seeing Soo’s teary eyes, she hardened her features. “Your pity is the last thing I want. I do not wish for this information to leave this room, do we have an understanding?”

Soo merely nodded. Sighing in a low voice, sanggung said, “It is not for the young to dwell on death. You have an entire future ahead of you. There should your thoughts be.”

Outside the room some time later, Soo was surprised to see Prince So silently waiting for her.

She took him by the arm and dragged him away. “Did you hear all that?”

“Yes.”

Exasperated, she crossed her arms. “She doesn't want you or any of the others to know. How could you eavesdrop like that? I thought you were going to fetch the kitchen master!”

“A young apprentice passed by and I ordered him to do it instead. When I returned, you were already deep in conversation.”

“And instead of doing the decent thing and walking away, you decided it was better to stay and listen.”

“She wants to go to him, does she not?” It was a rhetorical question. “My father's grave is three miles from here. Unless you were planning on walking there, you're going to need a ride and an .”

Soo stared. Was he actually volunteering to go with them? She’d be lying if she said she didn’t need his help… because they both knew she was abysmal at horseback riding, had no idea at all how to drive a carriage, and was possibly even more helpless at defending herself.

‘Is there anything I can do for you, sanggung?’

‘I… want to see him.’

If this was sanggung’s dying wish, Soo had to see it through.

Her silence amused Prince So. “Do you even know the way?” The answer was no, as he very well knew. He smirked and turned to leave. “Inform me of the time and day in advance so I can think of a way to divert my brothers’ attentions.”

“Wait!” Soo called after him. “Does that mean you’re not going to tell them? About…?”

She wondered if his shake of the head meant yes. She thought it did.

The diversion, as Soo found out three days later, was simple enough… pointing out the fact that, apart from putting the monks and their students in danger just for secretly harboring a band of fugitives, the fourth prince also mentioned that they were staying for free at the fortress, without maids to do their laundry, cook their food, clean their rooms, feed their horses.

“I want your rooms spotless by sundown,” So declared, to uniform gasps of horror from his younger brothers. “The person with the dirtiest room can choose to either clean the stables tomorrow… or face me one-on-one.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” So scoffed when Soo confronted him about it while she watched him prepare the horses and the monks’ lone carriage. It was old, small, and creaking at parts, but So said it would do for their purpose and Soo decided to take his word for it.

“I just thought your grand plan would be a little more… grand,” she teased, chuckling at the memory of a panicking Eun rushing about in search of his ‘dutiful wife’ for help.

So rolled his eyes. “Next time, how about you plan while I judge?”

“I didn’t say your plan was bad. In fact, I was impressed by how simple and effective it was!”

He gave her a dour look. “Right. Make yourself useful. Go fetch sanggung.”

The weather was overcast when they left. Leaning against the carriage frame, Soo watched as thick grey clouds rolled slowly but steadily over the vast rice plains that lined the dirt road they were on. The cool breeze felt good against her skin, and as fresh air filled her lungs, Soo realized that though this era had poor toilets, no electricity, wi-fi nor hot showers, that it nonetheless had a charm of its own. She realized that she might be stuck in this land forever, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Neither of them talked, not until they neared the burial site of Taejo Wang Geon, Goryeo’s first king. Soo knew they had arrived when the horses slowed and eventually halted in front of a long, wide path paved with rectangular slabs of white stone that ended at an even wider staircase fronting the mausoleum. On this rested a large dome covered in withered, red and brown grass, matching the colors of the magnificent trees that surrounded the area, and on every corner stood the banners of Goryeo.

The entire place was deserted, eerily silent, the only sound the rustling of leaves as they swayed in the wind and scraped the ground by their feet, but Soo could feel it… a kind of power, majesty in the air. Standing there, she could almost see the day this man was buried - the armies of men gathering on the fields, behind the powerful families that controlled them, the masses of commoners come to pay their own respects from a distance. She could hear the drums, the marching of thousands of feet. She could even see all the princes in their white robes, leading the ceremony. She had stood here with the professor once… but the presence of this time felt stronger, nearer, fearsome.

Soo stayed behind with So, choosing to watch from a respectful distance as Lady Oh made her way towards the top of the stairs and began paying her respects.

Watching Lady Oh prepare and offer her king’s favorite tea made Soo feel like they were intruding on something private and oddly intimate and, taking So’s arm, decided they ought to admire the scenery in the opposite direction instead.

She had nothing in particular that she wanted to discuss with the prince, so she kept quiet, thinking that’s what he wanted… only he surprised her by asking, “What did you lose?”

“Pardon?”

“Before you passed out on our way to Taehung… it looked like you had lost something valuable.”

Since losing her father’s knife, Soo had tried her best not to dwell on it. Indeed, she spent most of her time pretending she’d never lost it in the first place.

“Just a little something that my father gave me before he d-died,” she replied, trying to sound casual but unable to ignore the fresh tears that sprung to her eyes at the last word. “I… I think I lost it the night you pulled me out of the water. I was holding it, you see, when I… you know, drowned.” Knowing it was dangerous to mention such a modern item, but failing to quench the bit of hope that rose inside her, she looked up at him and said, “When you got me… did you maybe see or feel a knife drop into the water?”

He looked puzzled. “Like the one strapped to your leg?”

“No,” she replied, “it was much, much smaller and… probably not something you’ve ever seen before. It’s unique.”

To her dismay, he shook his head. “I was too busy rescuing you to notice much else.”

Until that moment, she had no idea just how much she had hoped that Prince So would have it. Hearing that he didn't felt like losing it all over again.

“Was it… very important?” he asked tentatively, seeing her nose redden in her attempts to suppress a sob. Instead of answering, however, she surprised him by switching topics. Her voice was thick with unshed tears, but her words were clear, “Why did you volunteer to help sanggung?”

He didn’t know what to make of this question. Did he really seem so heartless? So detached from normal human emotion? Or was it that...

“Would you rather it was someone else here with you?”

“No, it’s just… I didn’t think you cared about such things. You don’t strike me as being a sentimental person.”

He knew he should feel offended by this poor observation of his character, but, somehow, he didn’t. Still, he snarled and rapped her forehead with his knuckles, making her gasp in pain. “You are a medical woman. By concept of yin and yang, you should believe in balance, that people by nature possess both good and bad traits. I have enemies, I don't deny it… but I have friends, too.”

Soo was intrigued. “But I don’t see the world in black and white, I see it in shades of gray. I believe that anything can happen… that no matter how hard you try to do good, one way or another, you’ll end up making mistakes, some mistakes more wrong than others.” She looked up at him and it amazed him how honest her eyes were, how open. In those eyes, he felt he could read her entire life’s story, and more, if he only looked hard enough. If she'd let him. “Mistakes can be rectified and wrongs can be forgiven. I believe in second chances… if the person is deserving.”

“And murder?” he asked, wondering how she felt about the subject. “If I were to murder a dozen people right now, would you still think I deserve forgiveness?”

She was silent for a while, but eventually she said, “I suppose that depends… will you be murdering them for fun?” The question gave him pause and he watched, thoughtfully, as she turned her body to face him. She thought she knew what he was thinking… she felt she had to steer his thoughts in the right direction. If she could prevent this man from becoming a mass murderer, she would do it. “I don’t believe in status, wealth, and titles, wangja-nim. You may become a King of Goryeo and I remain a lowly servant girl, but your life will never be above mine, neither will mine be below yours. All life is sacred. If possible… I hope you can think twice before drawing your sword against other people… the sword is more than a murder weapon, it is a tool to protect what’s important, is it not?”

‘I taught you to fight so you can protect, not aimlessly kill.’

‘I stopped the royal family from turning on each other. In doing so, I protected the nation.’

The recollection came naturally, making him smirk as he looked away into the distance at the gathering storm. They would have to leave soon. “Unfortunately, hunting becomes your only option when you're constantly being hunted.”

Soo wondered what he meant by that. Surely he didn't mean it literally? He's a prince of a powerful nation, himself powerful, smart and strong. Maybe now that they're fugitives… but Soo felt somehow that he didn’t mean the present.

She wondered again how he had really gotten his scar.

“In this land, the more you have to protect, the more you have to kill.” He looked at her, dark eyes serious, stormy as the swirling skies. “That's the truth, Lady Soo.”

What did she have to protect?

Soo contemplated on the prince’s words as she and Lady Oh sat in the carriage and waited for him to finish paying his respects to his late father.

She had no family left in the 21st century to speak of, no real friends save her uncle's old colleagues… but in this time…

She found herself staring into the distance at the prince’s broad back and blinked.

In this time, she had friends… she was a sister, a cousin. To Lady Oh, she had become a confidant. She was needed, but what was her purpose? Why was she brought here in the first place?

She looked at Lady Oh and realized she could heal. She looked at Prince So and realized she could help in other ways.

Whatever her role may be… she decided she would make herself useful.

At the foot of his father's tomb, Prince So stood, clutching a tiny object in his hand. A knife, she'd said. He had been trying to figure it out since he got it, and now that he knew what it was, he looked it over again and tugged at the metal within. The first time he had done this, a strange, twisted, tiny rod sprung out and caused him to drop the whole thing in shock. This time, however, instead of the twisted rod came a tiny knife… then a tiny pair of scissors, and three other things that he had no names for.

He puzzled over the contraption. He had never seen anything like it in all of his travels.

Walking back towards the two women, he was surprised to see Soo smiling at him. A strange woman, one he didn't know could be trusted… but found himself trusting anyway.

He hoped his father had been listening earlier. Too many people depended on him to do the right thing, but until recently, he had never had to worry about anyone other than himself.

“Can I protect them all?” he had asked, wondering if he could succeed where his own father had failed. All he got in answer was a rustle of leaves, and a drizzle of rain.