He Walks Alone in the Moonlight

SPIRITS OF THE MOUNTAIN

Jihyun watched Eunbin quietly as she pulled out various papers and writing utensils. Her movements were calm, but her fingers trembled as she pulled the inkstone closer, carefully dipping the end of a brush in the black liquid.

    "I think we should resume where we left off," the princess said, drawing three large characters across the length of one page. Jihyun could recognize the first. Hwang. Eunbin set the brush down with a clack, her cat-like eyes, surrounded by half-circles of red powder, gazed at Jihyun calculatively. "I'm sure you can recognize Hwang. The other two make up the rest of my brother's name." Jihyun nodded, having already guessed that was the case. Eunbin pointed to the second character, two thick parallel lines, vertical to the paper.

    "First we have Do. This character means-"

"Path," Jihyun whispered, recalling the night he spent with the prince at Mugunghwa Pavillion. Then ducking his head in embarrassment as he remembered the hug. Would Jihyun feel the same way if the prince embraced him like that again? Would he feel disgust, or would something else take its place?

    "You know these characters?" Eunbin asked, tilting her head.

"He told me. I heard Chang say his name, and he explained what it meant. He said that the Queen wanted the name to help him find the one with which he will walk the moonlit path." Eunbin froze. Fighting to keep her voice steady she said,

    "He talked to you about Mother?" Jihyun could recognize the look on the princess' face. He knew what it felt like to lose your mother, and he wanted to take the princess' mind off of it quickly.

    "I could understand the path part, but I don't really get how allow relates to it," Jihyun prompted, pointing at the last character. Yoon. In many ways it looked similar to Do. The character consisted of only two lines, but unlike the stiff and unmeeting lines of Do, the lines for Yoon curved inward until they crossed each other.

    "Allow the paths to meet," Eunbin ran her fingers over the character fondly. "Do you believe it, Jihyun? That there is one person out there destined for you. Someone with which you will walk the moonlit path. Someone with whom you are destined to spend all of eternity."

    "Doesn't the blood-binding ritual prove that it is true? I have never seen it before, but my parents were fated to walk the moonlit path together, and they performed the ceremony."

    "How? Getting the water for the blood-binding ceremony is expensive. With your status, you could save for your whole life and never be able to afford it."

    "That's the thing. Most people think you can only buy the water, but the witches take other forms of payment. Or they will offer it as a gift." Eunbin listened intently. Other than speculative locations and unverified rumors, Fenghuang's intel on the witches was scarce. If Jihyun had information, she would be sure to remember it.

    "What do you mean?" Jihyun smiled sadly.

"Because I was so young when she died, I don't remember much about my mother. But I remember a story she told me. It was a story about her and my father, and I would always ask her to tell it since he died when I was a baby." Eunbin sighed through her nose, placing a bejeweled hand on Jihyun's forearm.

    "My parents were gifted the water. Apparently, when my mother had me, I was born blind. My mom was a servant and my dad a soldier. He'd climbed the ranks, but the man who ran the camp back then was very cruel. He said since I was born to a servant I would be one, and that there was no point in keeping me alive if I couldn't do the work. He didn't want to keep what he saw as a liability. My parents were desperate to keep me alive, but they didn't have the means to leave the camp. There had always been rumors that a witch lived in the same mountain as us, so one night, my parents took me and went looking for the witch. They begged her to cure me, but she told them it wasn't within her capabilities. Instead, she told them to go deeper into the mountains, where there lived a witch who could cure any ailment. She gave them the water then, saying that they wouldn't be able to meet the other witch without it."