Minjung lays down on the dock and sighs. Though she knew that life as a princess was really not that hard of lot, continuous meetings with potential suitors and their families had left her exhausted. A family had not arrived so the afternoon that should’ve been spent sitting quietly in the corner of a room has instead been given to spend at her leisure. Her escape of choice? The hot springs. It’s her favorite place in the Summer Palace. Large trees create huge curtains of flowered vines for sunlight to peak through in warm pink rays. She lays on her back, letting the small amounts of sunshine bathe her in warmth as she tries to nap.

Below her, in the water, bubbles rise from below. A head pops up, peaking at Minjung’s sleeping  form through the cracks in the dock. The form moves out from underneath, coming up beside the dock, trying to get a better view of her. The way she’s laying, it can see her face, so it splashes the tiniest bit of water up, hoping she’ll turn. She doesn’t, merely wiping the water off her face. It splashes her again and she sits up. Though her hair is still covering her face, the form shyly moves back under the dock. It moves to the very end of the dock when she lays down again. Minjung rolls over, letting a hand hang over the side of the dock. She draws little designs into the surface of the water. The form blows bubbles towards her fingers and Minjung laughs. She rolls back over, intent on napping again. Blossoms start falling from the trees and the form gets an idea. Blowing bubbles against them, they turn into little fish, which it tosses one by one up onto Minjung. She shrieks, but in odd delight. As she feels around her gown, trying to pull them out to put back in the water, she can’t help but laugh. There’s a odd noise and she turns around to see what the source of it is.Right in front of her, at the end of the dock, is another girl. Her hair is white; big brown eyes staring right back at Minjung. There’s green and purple colored patches of scale like forms on her skin. Though Minjung is terrified, she finds herself drawn to the girl. She drops the fishes back into the water before crawling close to her.

“Who...who are you?” Minjung asks.

The girl tilts her head to the side, resting her chin on the dock.

“What’s your name?” Minjung tries.

The girl’s mouth doesn’t move but an answer is still given.

Gwiboon.

“Gwiboon? My...my name is Minjung.”

Minjung? That’s a pretty name.

Minjung finds herself blushing and the girl smiles.

“How...how did you get in here? Are you from outside the palace?”

No. I live here.

“Here? But I live here. I’ve never seen you here before.”

No. But I’ve seen you before.

“How?”

I live in the spring.

“How...how long have you been her?”

A long long time. I’ve watched you grow from a pretty child to a pretty girl to a beautiful woman.

“How do you live in the spring?”

Gwiboon reaches her hands up and pulls herself up onto the dock and Minjung’s shocked. She’s wearing robes like Minjung’s own, though the color is faded from being soaked. Her body is covered in increasingly more scales, her legs and feet almost completely covered.

“Are...what are you?”

Come now, Minjung. We both know you’ve heard of mermaids.

Minjung reaches out a hand, touching Gwiboon’s cheek. She’s warm and her skin is softer than clouds. Gwiboon covers the hand with her own, turning to press kisses to Minjung’s wrist. Minjung’s breath catches in .

I know you’re tired of princes, Minjung. Tired of stuffy veils and etiquette and being described like some prized piece of porcelain.  I’ve watched you grow up, watched you sigh. Why don’t you let me take your mind off these things for a while?

Minjung nods, though she’s not fully sure what she’s getting herself into. Gwiboon puts a hand up to Minjung’s cheek and pulls her in. Gwiboon’s lips soft and inviting and Minjung can’t get enough of her kisses. They stay still for a while, but soon enough Gwiboon is pushing Minjung back to lay down. Minjung does her best to stay quiet as Gwiboon kisses her way down her neck. She brushes Gwiboon’s hair out of the way, her cheek with her thumb. Drunk on Gwiboon’s affections, Minjung can’t help to close her eyes. Every time she opens them, the sun moves further across the sky, across the trees, to the other side of Gwiboon’s face. Time is slipping through Minjung’s hands and she grip Gwiboon’s gown with all her strength as if it’ll make time slow down. All too soon, her name is being called and Gwiboon’s trying to pull away. Minjung begs her not to leave, but Gwiboon’s too strong for her to hold and soon she’s in the water again.

I’ll always be here. Come see me again.

Minjung reaches as far over the dock as she can without falling in and Gwiboon gives her one last kiss before disappearing below the surface. Minjung’s mother and a flurry of attendants come in as soon as Gwiboon’s out of sight. They chastise her for her soaked gown and messy hair -- how can she ever receive the magistrate who has finally appeared for his meeting looking like this -- but Minjung can only focus on the ripples left on the surface on the water.

 

---

 

It doesn’t take long for rumors to circulate around the kingdom. About Princess Minjung, who liked to lay under wisteria trees and the way the hot springs at the summer palace made her lose her mind. How -- on the same day she was engaged to Magistrate Kim -- she left her gowns and jewelry and future on the dock and disappeared into the hot springs. No goodbyes, no letters, no body ever found. The king seals the room off, declares it illegal to visit the place where his daughter died, but the servants claim for years later that on days when the water is high and the sun is warm through the trees, her laughter still drifts through.

Many many years and numerous kingdoms later, the story about Princess Minjung and the cursed spring stays strong. But Junghee is a curious girl and she wants to know what lies behind the wall. It takes her a year to carve a hole into it big enough to get in. The description of the room is exactly the same: red pillars, fine furniture and porcelain dishes, curtains of wisteria trees. All along the dock lie different pieces of silk fabric, the clothes that Princess Minjung left behind. At the very end of the dock, two sets of eyes watch Junghee. It takes her a while to notice them. On the left is a girl covered in purple and green, beside her another girl in blue and yellow. Junghee thinks of the mermaid stories her grandmother used to tell her and she wonders, as she wanders to the edge of the dock, if Princess Minjung was really lost at all.