Chasing Liberty // Countryhumans North Korea fanfiction

House By The Sea

1919

     The clouds overhead were slate grey, stretching into the distance until they met the flinty blue water, a distinct dark line separating sea and sky from each other like forbidden lovers, fated to never quite touch.

    North Pyongan stood by the water’s edge, watching the whitecaps roll in, frothy white sea creatures eager to climb onto the sand and lap at his bare feet, nipping his blue skin with their chill. He didn’t mind the cold, content to absorb as much of the salty ocean water as possible before summer was over.

    “Getting your fix in?” South Pyongan asked, strolling over from where she had been turning rocks over to look for crustaceans for their dinner.

    He smiled at her remark. “It feels good to be back.”

    “Yep,” she agreed, stretching. “Home sweet home.”

    In truth, it had been a year since they had previously visited either of their provinces, and neither could really be said to be a home, considering that if the Japanese spotted them there, they would be arrested. No- for the Pyongan siblings, home was wherever the other was.

    “You going to jump in?” his sister asked.

    “In a bit,” he answered, watching a gull swoop into the water, coming up with a small fish. “I want to savour this.”

    “I know, I know.” South Pyongan rolled her eyes playfully. “You and your weird ocean thing.”

    “The woman who has a weird thing for getting into fights judges me for enjoying the few weeks of time I get to be by the sea.” North Pyongan smiled at her over his shoulder.

    “I don’t have a thing for getting into fights, I have a thing for winning them,” his sister corrected.

    He shook his head, smiling, and they stood in silence for a few moments, the gentle rush of the waves the only sound.

    “One day we’ll live by the water,” South Pyongan said abruptly. “By the sea or a river or something, far away from any Japs. I’ll build us a big house so you can go waterboard yourself every day.”

   North Pyongan raised a brow at that. “Isn’t the brother supposed to be the one building the house?”

    “Does ‘the brother’ have my superior sense of design or my muscles?” South Pyongan asked, then answered her own question. “No. You can go float around or whatever it is you do while I work hard. Catch us a fish so we can cook it up with rice and have a full meal.”

    “I’m looking forward to it,” ‘the brother’ said, though they both knew it would never happen.

    “Someone just has to do something about those damn Japs first,” South Pyongan sighed theatrically before slapping her hands on her thighs. “Well, I’m going to go hunt for dinner on more crabby parts of the beach.”

    “Don’t go far,” North Pyongan said, automatically scanning the shoreline. “Remember that farmhouse we passed.” While the bank that led down to the beach protected them from sight, it wouldn’t if some farmer decided today was a good day to fish.

     “I think I can take a couple farmers,” South Pyongan said dismissively. At his calmly insistent look, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, alright, I’ll just be over there.”

   She set off down the beach, North Pyongan following her with his eyes until she had disappeared around the bend of the shoreline. Then he stepped deeper into the water, keeping his balance as the stones shifted and rolled under his feet until he made it through them, digging his toes into muddy sand. He sighed in content as the cold water lapped against his calves, soaking his rolled-up pant cuffs.