the Twelve-faced Moon: A Loona fanfiction

Chapter XXV

Ara I

She dreamt she sat on the Bannerseat,high above them all.

Courtiers and proud ladies were brigthly colored of various shade and colors,the burgundy of the Ha,blue of the Jung,the red,orange and peach of the three Kims,green of the Jo and brighter eden green of the Park,the Jeon's pink,darker orange of the Im,purple of the Choi,the grey of Go and the black of the Son. All bow to the light red pastel color of the Hwang.

Bold knights and warriors laid their swords at her feet and plead for her favors and the queen smiled at them. Until a golden haired warrior appeared as if from nowhere,pointing at her with his swords and howling with laughter. The vivid court turned into only an ashen grey and engulfed in bright orange of fire. Blood ran down her hands and all the familiar face she knew,turned to corpses.

And all the while,her half-brother capered below,laughing.

She felt a light touch on her shoulder and woke suddenly. For a half heartbeat the hand seemed part of the nightmare and Ara cried out,but it was only Tingyan. The maid's face was white and frightened.

"Apology for interrupting your rest,my lady. But lady Seonnok insists." The maid,two years younger than her,high nosed,brown haired with sharp chin. Her family is the only one who followed the Hwang escaped from Fragrant Isles before Ara was born,settling with them in Jeju.

"on the contrary...i should've thanking you instead...waking me up from a nightmare".

Her father's bedchamber was dark,but for one lantern lighted illuminating the wooden statue of the Goddess of War her father so piously prayed to daily. For these past weeks,Ara needed more sleep than she usually needed,oft ended her day in exhaustion,looking after the realm in her father's absence,who currently leading his army marching north. Ara pushed back sleep-tousled hair and said "what's the spymaster want of me?" to which Tingyan replied only with a shook of her head. That was folly,of course a spymaster must discreet in her word

A man stepped into the light of the lantern and she saw the familiar robe wore by Ogusuku,the Nawakioan ready to escort her to where lady Seonnok is waiting. She rose from her bed and let Tingyan slip a robe over her shoulders to cover her sleeping cloth. Ara then belted it herself,her fingers still stiff and clumsy,still half asleep. She took a swallow of lemon water and sloshed it round her mouth to freshen her breath.

She walked beside the Nawakioan warrior and the Fragrant Islander maiden to the winding hall of Gyeongbukgung Palace into the Finger's Hall,a room just behind the great hall,hidden from plain sight through a secret underground entrance. As the name suggests,the whereabout of this room known only to the High King's Finger and Ogusuku was one of them.

Though before entering the Finger's Hall Ogusuku warned her and asked does Ara truly trusted Tingyan to which Ara replied "With all my hearts." Ara never doubted Tingyan's loyalty,she grew up with her and the loyalty of House Chong from which she came from is unquestinable in her mind. Tingyan and her family is the only remnant of the glorious days gone by when House Huang ruled the city of Kowloon down south of the Orient Vastland as their Magister. These bygone glory days are what Ara has been working for ever since she got her position as the Governor of Jeju,she intended to bring it back to her family and house,she's halfway there and more.

The Finger's Hall was dim and damp,scarce a light could penetrate.

eleven chair and stout wooden board carved in the likeness of Goryo peninsula with the rivers,mountains,castles and drawned border of the province in it lied right in the center of the hall.

on the walls hanged a tapestry with large two open hand,as if it welcoming her.

There had always been talk of many secret passages within the Gyeongbukgung Palace,but the passage to enter this hall was unknown to Ara and many other of her half-siblings