Thankfully all through the night I slept deeply and without dreams; maybe it was finally being able to sleep in a real bed after almost a week of nothing more than hard wood and a few blankets, or perhaps it had been the fulfilling dinner, but in any case I was glad of the reprieve. I woke up to distant sounds of rooster cries and as the last few day’s memories returned, my hard-won peace of mind was disturbed anew. I was still in the past.

Sunlight filtered in through the window, it’s brightness threatening to blind my eyelids that were hesitantly cracked open. But I didn’t want to lose its warmth and I turned my face towards the light, my lids lifted just the tiniest bit to allow my lashes to catch the rays. Looking through them, I took in the small pleasure of miniature rainbows dancing across my vision. I closed my eyes again when I’d had enough, a vain attempt to shut out all the strangeness around me, willing myself to remember the future.

I tried my best to see reason in the unreasonable, to gain an understanding of why I was here. In every time-travel novel I’d ever read, the main character had always been brough to the past for a reason. It could be something like saving a person, or even taking over a dead person’s body. Could I possibly be a replacement of someone else, meant to live their life in order to exact some type of revenge? Living through the reality of it now though, I couldn’t make that an excuse for my appearance in the past. There was nothing for me here; I was no assassin or deadly solider, had no memories of a previous life and this body was my own. So why had I been transported to Joseon and how could I go back to my own time?

No matter how long I thought on it, the strangest thing before I’d been lost to antiquity had been seeing the general outside of the palace. But how could a ghost trigger my shift through time? I was more curious than ever to find out more about the man dressed all in white; perhaps he knew what had brought me here. Maybe he was the actual cause of my presence here in truth and this was all a part of some devious plot. My musings carried me away for some time until I gave it up as a bad job; the only way to figure out why I was here was to get out of bed.

Many people in my situation may have felt fear and maybe I should’ve been scared as well, but my mind couldn’t grasp onto that feeling for long. Instead what I felt most was a burning desire to know this place, how the people lived here and to discover the things that they had done. More than those, my hands itched to pick up brush and ink, I wanted to bring all of this to life on paper.

I slipped out of my bed carefully, not wanting to make too much noise. I’d never been someone who left bed before eleven o’clock, but sleep was far from me now that I had a renewed purpose. Worry and anticipation made my stomach flip and hollow out in equal turns. I knew that even though I was stuck here, I had to begin to formulate some sort of plan. Being a pampered miss may have been alright for some, but I’d never been the type to want maids and butlers. I wanted freedom, the ability to do what I wanted when I wanted to do it. That need for control had ended more than one of my past relationships but it wasn’t something I was willing to give up on. And being into some long-ago history wasn’t going to change that.

With soft movements I left my bedroom, my head moving left and right as I scanned my surroundings. I strained my ears, listening for the slightest sounds of human life going on around me. I went through each room with carefully placed steps as I made my way into the outer chambers and past the dining room and sitting area. The wooden floors beneath me creaked traitorously but I continued on after every groan reverberated through my feet.

Caution and calm, I repeated the litany in my mind, willing my pounding heart to slow. But it was silent as I reached the front doors and I released the breath I’d been holding. Still unwilling to be caught out, I slid the door open ever so slowly, in the hopes that no one would notice my exit. My hands worked at the opening I created and I’d only managed a few inches when the door was pulled open the rest of the way. I jumped back in surprise, my heart in my throat. Taking quick steps back, I was near the writing desk when my maids entered. Dressed in similar clothing to the day before, the woman and girl bowed to me respectfully. I nodded in return, doing my best to avoid their direct gazes.

“NaRi-yah, bring in the water. It seems our mistress is an early riser.” Iseul had said this without heat or censure but I knew it for what it was, a warning. The girl left as easily as she’d come and returned more quickly than I’d thought she should’ve with several lower ranked servant girls in tow. It was clear they had been waiting outside, already prepared for my morning ablutions. They went back and forth to fill my large tub and I sat resignedly on the floor’s soft carpet, running my fingers lightly across the woven strands.

If I had gone outside I would’ve been seen immediately and I could think of no good excuse for my behavior. I couldn’t even speak well enough to defend my actions; what would they have done if I’d tried to run away? I watched my two maids out of the corner of my eyes, observing their actions as the waited for the servants to finish their task. Were they to take the place of the guards I’d had previously? A shiver went down my spine at the thought; surely I wasn’t a prisoner here in truth? I had to know for sure; after another bath and yet another hanbok, this time a cream top and green skirt, I declined the maids miming of eating and made my way outside. They hurried after me but didn’t impede my progress and I let out a pent up breath of relief.

So that was something then, they wouldn’t hold me back if I choose to leave, if I didn’t want to stick to their schedule. A small freedom but one that I wanted to fully explore. How far could I push them, how far could I go? To get outside, I’d gone through the back doors of my housing and set off to go past the garden behind it. The shoes I wore were made of finely embroidered fabric and the very bottoms had a thickly padded sole. They weren’t meant for trekking through anything beyond shortly cut grass though, so I was careful of where I placed my feet when I stepped off of the stone pathway and out into the rocky field adjacent to it. The damp ground gave when I walked on it but not to the extent that I could leave footprints. I wondered how it would act after a rainfall and I cataloged the thought for later.

Iseul and NaRi were still following behind me, their faces pinkened from exertion. I didn’t care that they followed, I wasn’t planning on making my escape just yet but I needed to know how far this property went. I passed by a small pond filled with even tinier fish and though I wanted to take a closer look I continued on. The further in I went, the thicker the underbrush became until it was sweeping above my ankles. Ahead the General’s land continued and in the distance I could make out what seemed to be a tiny village of maybe twenty homes, all clustered together. I reasoned that this must be where the servants stayed. My heart dropped in dismay when I noted that the same stone walls that had enclosed the front of the estate were still back this far as well. The whole place was fenced in, I was fenced in.

I felt a small whimper slip past my lips, but I quickly stifled the sound. I was in deep , but I wasn’t willing to give in to despair just yet. I moved once again to continue my exploration and I’d long since stopped looking down, but a firm grab onto my arm halted my forward progress.

“Hey!” I complained, trying to shake off NaRi’s grip on me. For someone so small, her grasp was firm.

She ignored my struggle and pointed ahead to the steep slope that I hadn’t seen coming. A wrong step would have sent me rolling down the hill. Chastened, I thanked her in Korean and the girl beamed at my use of her language. She took this as an opening to take my arm with hers, linking the two of us together. With ease she steered me back towards my living quarters and I went unresistingly. There would be no way to easily leave this place and the going would be even harder if I could accomplish it. How would I live in this time with no skills and an extremely limited ability to speak and understand the language? I was well and truly stuck.

My meal was served to me when I returned and this time Iseul and NaRi left me to my own devices. I ate the lightly salted fish, rice and hot soup with much more gusto than I’d been able to last night, my stomach pleasantly full when only half of the food remained. As soon as my chopsticks were left on my plate, the maids once again returned. I didn’t know if they watched me or if they were just listening to the noises of my movements, but I found the whole process slightly unsettling. I didn’t know if it was proper or not but none spoke to me or even looked up, similar to the way the palace servants had avoided my gaze. I was curious but I didn’t want to cause trouble just yet. As they continued to clean, I left the room and entered into the study.

The room was brightly lit and glowing a warm yellow as candles burned hotly. The room was almost cozy as I lowered myself to the floor and pulled off my shoes. The thick carpet was just as nice between my toes as I’d imagined it would be and I had a sudden sharp longing for my phone. Mindless YouTube videos would have settled me, allowed me to detach from what was happening all around me. But without that option, I had trouble thinking of what I could do. In reality there was little to do in the past and my choices were limited to what I already had. Looking at the books that lined the shelves around me, I realized disappointedly that those were out, but my eyes fell on the paper that graced the writing desk in front of me. Scooting closer to the desk, I sat cross-legged in its matching wooden chair and tested the thickness of the paper in my hands.

The ancient material was a greyish-yellow and the fibers of it could be seen when I held it up in the light. The good news was that it was denser than I’d thought, and I cheerfully searched for the utensils of my trade. My search yielded only a few brushes and an ink block, the likes of which I hadn’t used before. In theory I knew I needed water to make the ink but I didn’t know how to ask. Thankfully the noise I’d made caused NaRi to enter into the room and with a pleading look in her direction, her creased brows eased with understanding. The girl returned soon after I’d retaken my seat at the desk and with careful movements she placed a wooden dish next to me. She filled it with maybe an inch of steaming water and then dipped the solid ink into the liquid. NaRi waited for several moments and then began to rub the block against the dish and back into the water.

This lasted for several minutes until the water turned into a deep black, the ink having been fully released. I gave her a smile in thanks and NaRi blushed prettily, removing her stained hands from my line of sight. I made the mental note to thank her more often, wondering if it was irregular to express gratitude to servants in this time period. I turned the page in front of me on it’s side, the landscape view better for what I wanted to depict. I assumed that using water colors weren’t too far off from using ink, and so I placed one of the smaller brushes into the ink and waited until I’d fully coated its bristles with the pigment. I scraped off the excess onto the side of the wooden dish and then touched my brush to the paper with excitement coursing through my veins.

I made a few test and then, understanding how much pressure I could apply for different color deposits, I began to paint. Relief flooded through me as I continued the familiar task, my usual mode of concentration falling over me. Nothing else could soothe me as well and I lost myself to my creation. Fully immersed, I don’t know how long I sat there as time ceased to exist to me consciously. My only way of knowing that time passed was that NaRi had to come and grind more of the ink block for me twice more until I was done. Exhaling through my nose, I placed the brush down and looked over my work.

I examined the finished painting with a critical eye, noting my lack of finer details. The brushes I’d used were meant for writing and their thick stems made it difficult to have consistent control, but still I found the branches of my cherry tree to be lively, the fallen leaves on the ground next to it giving an air of melancholy. It wasn’t bad for a first try. I sat back and away from the table, stretching out the kinks in my fingers gently until I heard a soft gasp of surprise. I looked behind me to see NaRi’s eyes lit with joy, her high cheekbones raised when she smiled. She stared at my painting in wonder and I felt a warmth infuse me, happy that she liked it. I dusted sand over the artwork and held it out to the girl.

With wide eyes, NaRi initially refused my offer, but I placed the parchment into her hands insistently. She held it in her small fingers as if it might crumble and bent a full ninety degrees to me in thanks. I patted her lightly on her head, unable to resist. I was ready to get up and moved to stand, but I had underestimated just how long I’d been in my previous position. My legs were numb when I tried to raise myself and I would have fallen if not for Iseul who came up behind me. Her hands on my arms held me steady.

“Kamsahapnida,” I said automatically and I watched as that same confusion and pleasure infused her features as they had done with NaRi’s. With slow steps until my legs woke up again, she led me outside to a stone bench, and made me rest there. The wind moved slightly through the trees and though the day had become somewhat overcast, every now and then sunlight peeked through the clouds. I enjoyed the fresh air and examined the patterns on my clothes, interested in the design. NaRi and Iseul spoke in whispers amongst themselves, but I wasn’t in the mood to try and understand what they said. I sat quietly until footsteps could be heard on the stone steps that led to my rooms.

Two men approached us, one seemingly leading the other. Both were dressed better than my maids, but not with cloth finer than my own, and in this way I reasoned that they were of a higher class than regular servants. The younger of the two had a stern expression on his face, the pallid tone of his skin clashing against the rich reddish-brown of his garments. The other man was much older, his hair already greying though his face remained mostly unlined. It was clear to see that at one time he had been handsome, the shape of his eyebrows and the arch of his nose the defining features that only enhanced the grace and patience that he wore easily.

He spoke to Iseul too quickly for me to catch what he’d said, but his tone was one of authority. She bowed her head to both of the men and then she and NaRi stood off to one side while the younger guy looked me over with a frank gaze. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, as if I was beneath him, but when the older man turned his way, the look disappeared as quickly as it had come.

The older gentleman waved his hand in a universal gesture to begin and they both turned to look at me. I wondered what they wanted until the younger man began to speak. Continuously he spat out sentences in different languages, each one different from the last. He would pause for a moment after each one, waiting expectantly for me to say something, but there were none I could recognize. I quickly understood what they meant to do and I actually got excited. If he understood English, I would finally be able to express myself. But time went on and still I heard nothing that was familiar. A few times there were something like French or Spanish and possibly Latin, but with each new questioning tone, I shook my head in the negative.

As he continued I felt my spirits sink; if he knew no English or any form of it that I could understand, then I’d have no choice but to explain my own slight understanding of Korean. I had wanted to keep my knowledge a secret but learning as much as I could from this man was a necessity, an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. No matter how I looked at it, even if I could leave the estate I wouldn’t be able to survive without being able to speak. Coming to this conclusion, I interrupted the linguist who hadn’t yet stopped trying.

“Seonsaengnim, Hangugo galeuchyeo juseyo.” Teacher, please teach me Korean, I had said in the most formal language I could remember.  My words made the man cease his chatter instantly, his mouth hanging open in surprise. The older fellow looked at me as well, but his face betrayed nothing. I couldn’t help but fidget under his intense stare and I wondered if I had done the right thing as he studied me, his eyes never leaving mine.

A/N: Hello everyone! Long time no see ('^_^) I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter although it was a bit slow, but as always you guys know I'm all about giving the good details! For those of you coming back to read this, much appreciation for your consistency. I'm currently trying to get my first novel published and looking for an agent is harder than I first assumed. I've had several denials, but some news is good news! I decided to go back to writing my other fics until I had something finalized and wanted to pick this story back up. I'm hoping to release more chapters soon, so tell me what you guys think about the story so far, what you liked and what you didn't and remember to UPVOTE, COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE for more updates. Much love, <3!