Ten year old Go Ha Jin kicked her feet as she sat on the edge of the quarry, trying not to listen to the sound of the other kids here shouting and laughing as they played. She could be with them, she should be with them; she could hear her little brother squeal as he splashed water with their mother. But no, she was stuck studying. Having gotten a bad grade on her history test, her mother said she had to study instead of playing. The only reason she doing it here rather than at home was she couldn’t be home alone and her mother said it wasn’t fair for the rest of the family to miss out on the eclipse just because Ha Jin didn’t study hard enough.

It wasn’t fair. There was so much of it! How was she supposed to remember all of those kings and dates and battles? It seemed like that was all grownups thought was important in history; who fought who, when it happened and who was king at the time. Boooooriiiiinnnnng. She’d be more interested if she could learn other things, like maybe what kids did for fun back then.

A scream that sounded different than the other noise around her caught her attention, and Ha Jin looked up to see a little boy struggling in the water. She looked around to see if any of the adults had noticed, but they were all doing other things. Nobody was paying attention. Surely someone would notice…any minute now….

…nope.

It looked like it was up to her. Dropping her history book, Ha Jin dove into the water. She was a good swimmer, and the water was frigid when she jumped in, which only made her go faster. I’d better not get in trouble for getting my clothes wet she thought to herself. That would be just her luck. No good deed goes unpunished, she heard her mother say once. At the time she didn’t know what that meant, but this would be a good example.

By the time she reached the little boy he was losing strength and starting to sink. Thankfully his parents had noticed by this time; she could hear their cries from an approaching boat. She grabbed him and tried to keep both of their heads above water, but she’d never had to swim while carrying someone else before and apparently in his panic he still had just enough strength to give her a good kick to the ribs as he thrashed.

He knocked the breath out of her, and she could feel someone lift him out of her arms, but it was too late for her. Ha Jin had no strength left, and as she sank into the water she could hear someone call out. The light was fading, and when she opened her eyes she could see the moon blocking the sun.

So that’s what an eclipse looks like…Mom was right…no good deed…the thought strayed across her mind as she lost consciousness.

...Soo…..

…wake up Soo….

“…Hae Soo you wake up right now!” a girl’s voice cried out, sounding panicked.

“..’m not Soo.” Ha Jin mumbled. She woke up slowly, feeling cold and wet and achy. What happened? Oh yeah, the lake. That cold water and the ungrateful little brat who kicked her. Somebody must have pulled her out of the water. But this was good, right? She was a hero now, she’d saved a life. Maybe Mom would let her stop studying for the day.

But who was that talking? Ha Jin opened her eyes, expecting to see a doctor or some other adult. What she saw instead was a girl maybe a year or two older than herself. Her clothes were wet, but she was dressed funny. Ha Jin looked around, expecting to see her mother hovering nervously nearby, but she didn’t see her. What was worse, she didn’t even see the quarry. She and the girl were alone by a rocky pond.

“Where am I?” Ha Jin asked, starting to feel a little scared. “Where’s my mom?”

The girl clutched Ha Jin’s hand. “Soo, she’s gone, don’t you remember? It’s just you and me and Papa now. We should go home now, I’ll make you some nice soup and you should have a hot bath, you’ll catch a cold if you stay like this.”

Ha Jin looked up in confusion. “What are you talking about? Who are you? And who’s Soo?”

The girl looked at her in shock. “What’s wrong, did you hit your head?” 

When Ha Jin didn’t answer, still confused, she continued.

“Your name is Soo.” She said slowly. “Hae Soo. And I am your sister, Myung Hee.”

0-o-o-o-0

Eight months later

Ha Jin peeked out between the curtains as the carriage rolled along. Behind it the scenery stretched out into the distance, and she could see for the first time the bigger picture of where she was. She hadn’t wanted to believe it at first, but somehow she had ended up in the past. It was the seventeenth year since King Taejo created Goryeo (so around 934? 935? She was proud of herself for figuring this out, but it was hard to keep track of the days since she didn’t have a calendar). As soon as she finished being pleased with herself for guessing the year, she was immediately more frightened than she’d ever been in her life.

She was more than a thousand years in the past, and she was no longer Go Ha Jin. Somehow she’d woken up in the body of a girl her own age named Hae Soo. Her ‘sister’, Myung Hee, had explained that their father, General Hae, was a long-time friend of the King. She and Soo’s mother had died a year ago and the General moved his family back to his hometown to raise his daughters and help keep the peace in that part of the country.

Myung Hee was very nice. She’d helped take care of Ha Jin, coming to her at night when she woke up crying for her mother. It was Ha Jin’s own mother she cried for, but since the General’s wife was deceased Myung Hee naturally thought it was her that the tears were for. Ha Jin tried to explain once or twice who she was and what had happened, but Myung Hee just called in a doctor who gave her nasty-tasting medicines and said a spiritual healer might be needed if those didn’t work.

Finally Ha Jin realized that nobody was going to believe her and she was stuck as Hae Soo. Apparently Soo had drowned in the pond and Myung Hee saved her life. Ha Jin used this to her advantage, claiming the experience made her lose her memory. So now she had a new name, a new family, and was trying to learn how to live in a different century. But her new sister was willing to help her with whatever she needed, and her father the General was confused but concerned about his daughter, so he treated her kindly. Ha Jin’s own father had left the family when she was little, so having a father was a new experience for her, one she decided she could get to like.

Life with the General was a little unconventional, at least from how Ha Jin understood things of this time period (or thought she did, she was realizing she should have paid more attention in history class). Living in the countryside, her education included not just reading and writing (Chinese characters were hard. She wished she’d started that already in school) but also plants, both edible and medicinal, and how to take care of animals. She even got to learn archery!  

They even got to travel with him sometimes, which is why she and Myung Hee were in the carriage. They were going to somewhere called Shinju. Ha Jin was excited to see a new place, but she was nervous too. Would she do okay? Would people think she was weird for not knowing anything she should? Her new family was still getting used to the changes in the girl they thought of as Hae Soo, how would others react?

“Close the curtain Soo, you’re letting the dust in.” Myung Hee complained, and Ha Jin obeyed, falling back to rest against the cushions.

She wondered how weird her sister would think her if she tried to explain about road trip games.

0-o-o-o-0

Shinju seemed like an okay place, at least what Ha Jin saw of it; and the family they were visiting, the Kangs, were polite. After having tea, she and Myung Hee were shown to the room they would share with their governess while the General went to discuss whatever business brought him here. Ha Jin spent a little while exploring the room and looking out the window, but soon she got bored. Myung Hee was working on her embroidery, but after sitting in the carriage for so long Ha Jin wanted to get out and explore. After getting permission to relieve herself (boy did she miss modern plumbing) she left the room and soon found herself outside.

Not wanting to be spotted by a grownup and get brought back to that boring room, Ha Jin ran for the forest. This was her first chance to be truly alone since she came here to this time and she didn’t want to miss out.

It was beautiful here in the woods, something she didn’t get to experience living in the city back home, and she wandered among the trees until she came upon a rocky spring. Testing the water, she was delighted to find it was a hot spring. She’d been to one once with her mom, but it was so crowded that it was hard to enjoy it. This she could have all to herself!  Ha Jin shed her shoes and outer robe, and stepped into the water. It was so nice and warm, and looking down, she could see her face. You’d think that waking up in someone else’s body, you’d look different, but she’d been surprised the first time she looked in a mirror that she looked the same. Her hair was longer, but that was about it. It was a relief though. With everything else in her life changing, it was nice to keep her own face.

Wait….what was that…her reflection blurred and another face appeared, rising out of the water. Stumbling backward, Ha Jin was surprised to see a boy stand up in front of her. He seemed just as surprised to see her, and for a moment they stared at each other in shock. He seemed perfectly ordinary, except for a scar that peeked out under his wet bangs below his left out. He must have realized that she was staring, because he suddenly covered his eye with one hand and looked away from her.

“Did you see it?” The boy asked.

“Huh?” Ha Jin wasn’t sure what he meant for a moment.

“Did you see it?!” He demanded, sounding angry and scared.

“What, the scar? Yes. So what? Did you have an accident?” Ha Jin asked, not seeing what the big deal was. She’d seen worse ones on some of the homeless guys in the city back home.

He didn’t seem to expect this reaction, and paused for a moment, looking like he didn’t know what to say.

“You’re not…scared?” He asked finally.

Ha Jin shook her head. “Should I be? It didn’t look that bad, but I only saw a little bit of it. Were you blinded?” She reached up her hand to brush his away so she could take a look, but he swatted it away.

“Stay away! Forget you saw me. Forget you saw…this.” He insisted, sounding very arrogant, but still with a bit of fear. “What are you doing here anyway? This is MY pool.”

Ha Jin snorted and looked around. “I don’t see your name on it.”

“It doesn’t have to. Everyone knows it’s mine.” He proclaimed.

“Oh? Well I’m not everyone. And who are you who thinks he gets to own this?”

The boy drew himself up. “Stupid girl. Don’t you know a prince when you’re talking to one?”

Ha Jin was not impressed. “No.” She thought he was playing a prank on her.

“I’m Wang So, Fourth Prince of Goryeo.”

Nope, still not impressed. Ha Jin blinked. “Right. What does a prince need with a hot spring in the middle of nowhere? And what are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be home at the palace with the King and everyone else?” 

This seemed to make him angry. “What do you know? You’re just a stupid girl, too dumb to know when she should be scared. Who are you anyway?”

She was almost going to introduce herself as Go Ha Jin, but stopped just in time. “I’m Hae Soo.” She declared, and for the first time in all the months since she woke up here, the name didn’t feel strange on her tongue.

“…SOO!”

“Lady Soo! Where are you?!”

From the trees she could hear her governess calling out, and Soo turned to see the woman approach the spring.

“What are you doing out here? And in the water like that? Do you want to catch a cold?” Bak Na Ri demanded as she came up to the water. She looked at the boy standing next to Soo, then at a pile of clothes nearby that Soo hadn’t noticed at first.

“Your Highness, forgive me.” She said, bowing to the boy. Her tone was completely different now, respectful. Soo didn’t understand.

“I lost sight of this child. Lady Soo has been severely ill, which made her lose her memories. She has forgotten the courtesy she owes a Prince of Goryeo. Forgive her please.” Na Ri dragged Soo out of the pool and picking her outer robe off the ground, wrapped her in it.

“Stupid, stupid girl. Do you want to get us killed?” she whispered furiously as she yanked Soo along back towards the Kang estate.

Soo was confused. That rude boy really was a prince?? “Who was that?” she asked, stumbling along after her governess.

“That is the Fourth Prince, Wang So.” Na Ri whispered back. “The official story is that he was sent here as a consolation to Lady Kang for the loss of her son, but they say the King sent him away because he’s bad luck. The maids say he’s got a scar on his face, vicious and ugly, and he’s a vicious boy, no better than an animal. Look at him, hiding in the woods like that? You need to keep away from him.”

“But he…” Soo looked back at the spring. Prince So was still standing in the water, staring after them as they left, with a strange look on his face. Funny, he didn’t seem vicious. Nervous and rude, but not vicious.

“Hush! You’re not going to get yourself or me in trouble. You’re coming back with me. I have to get you bathed and dressed for dinner. General Hae wants you and your sister to look nice for your hosts tonight. Myung Hee is already getting ready like a good girl. Why can’t you be more like her anymore? I swear, ever since you got sick…” Na Ri continued on, muttering to herself as they left the woods.

At dinner that night with the Kangs, Soo was dressed in her best clothes and sat quietly as she ate with her adopted family. She looked around but didn’t see Prince So anywhere.

“Where’s the Prince?” she whispered to General Hae.

“Who?” he asked, looking up from his meal.

“Prince Wang So. I…I heard he was here.” Soo corrected herself, remembering that he didn’t know about her escape this afternoon.

The General shook his head. “You shouldn’t listen to gossip, Soo. Yes, the Fourth Prince is here, but you most likely will not see him. The Kangs do not let him appear in company. It is a shame. I met him once or twice when he was younger, before the King sent him away. He was a kind, playful boy.”

With that the older man turned away and began talking to one of the other adults, leaving Soo to eat her dinner.

The next day after breakfast, Soo snuck away while Na Ri was helping Myung Hee with her hair. She made straight for the hot spring, but there was nobody there. Oh well, it wouldn’t be likely for somebody to bathing two days in a row, right? This was a good thing though, right? She could play without being bothered. With her luck, that arrogant Prince So would probably claim the woods as his too.

Soo left and went further into the woods. Here there were pretty flowers growing and she picked a couple to put in her hair, then spent some time building piles of acorns and watching the squirrels steal them away and race back up the trees.

“What are you doing back here?” Came a voice from above her, and Soo looked up from where she was sitting to see Wang So standing there. He was fully dressed today, with his long hair pulled back in a ponytail. A dark mask covered part of his face, with a hole cut out for his eye. From this she could see that whatever had happened, it had not blinded him. “Shouldn’t you be sewing, or whatever it is little girls do?”

Soo had determined that today she would try to be polite to him if she saw him, since he was a Prince and all. But when he started off by being insulting she just couldn’t do it.

“I hate sewing.” She said, glaring at him. “I at it. I’d rather be out here playing.”

“If you’re not good at something you should keep practicing.” He said in a lofty tone.

“Yeah, I’d like to hear you say that after you’ve pricked your fingers a million times and started bleeding on the fabric.”

The young prince scowled at her. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to talk to me like that? You really must have been sick, you don’t know anything.”

“Oh right, I’m supposed to be scared of you. I forgot. Do you actually want me to be afraid of you?”

He looked taken aback by this. “Umm….no.” he said quietly.

“Alright then.” Soo said, thinking she’d made her point.

“…alright…what?”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh.”

He wasn’t great at conversation, was he? Soo rolled her eyes. “So what do people do around here for fun?”

For the rest of the week that General Hae and his daughters stayed at Shinju, Soo spent most of her free time playing with Wang So. Na Ri had been concerned at first, but when consulted the General did not have a problem with it as long as Soo told someone where she was going and returned by dinnertime, and the Kangs expressed no complaints either. Myung Hee joined them once or twice, but she preferred to read or explore the gardens with the other girls their age of the household.

Wang So showed Soo his favorite places in the forest, like his favorite tree, which was so large it seemed like it went up into the sky forever. Naturally she had to climb it, and when she hung from one of the branches upside down and pretended to be a monkey she actually heard the young prince laugh. He laughed even harder when she almost fell out and had to cling to the branch. This is what got the acorn fight started.

One afternoon it rained; and after Soo begged a plate of treats out of the kitchen servants, she and So hid out in the library and stuffed themselves with pastries while watching the rain fall. So was surprised to learn that she’d ‘forgotten’ how to read, and so he read stories to her. When he didn’t remember he was a Prince and trying to pull rank on her, So’s voice could be very nice, and she happily listened.

By the end of the week, Soo was sorry to leave Shinju and her new friend behind. She knew it was likely that she would never see him again. There was no room for them to remain friends. This wasn’t the modern era where girls and boys could just write each other, and with him being a Prince there was no reason for him to associate with the younger daughter of a general, no matter how highly placed. As the carriage pulled away with herself, Myung Hee and Na Ri inside, she was lost in thoughts of how she would miss her friend and how she was supposed to amuse herself when she returned home, not knowing the impression she’d left on young Wang So.

0-o-o-o-0

Six years later

“You really wish to leave us, leave your family and travel like this?” The King asked of his thirteenth son. It would hurt him to see the young man leave, but to be honest, he was a bit relieved. Wang Baek Ah was a kind, playful, artistic man, and someone Taejo actually liked as a person, which isn’t something he could say about all of his children. He wasn’t interested in power, which was a good thing, since being from such a lower family it was something he’d probably never get. It was good that he was looking to strike out on his own, away from the poisonous political games of the palace, and make something of himself in his own fashion. Taejo wouldn’t admit it, but he was a little jealous. Ah, to be young again.

“Yes Your Majesty.” Baek Ah said from where he stood respectfully in front of his father. “I’m not a military man like my brothers; let me go and travel among your people, be your eyes and ears so you can learn and share their burden.”

The King of Goryeo nodded, pleased with both his son’s maturity and turn of phrase. “I will agree to this, on one condition. Write to me as you travel. Send me your pictures of the places and people you see; share the world I don’t get to see as often as I like anymore.”

Baek Ah bowed. “Of course Your Majesty. Thank you for your benevolence Your Majesty, I will make you proud.”