the lacuna games | lee minho

four

IT was when Tia burst into her room the next day that Hanmi finds out the missing puzzle piece to her long-forgotten twelve-year-old history lesson.

Noon is fast approaching, the time tells Hanmi that it is around half an hour until lunch was to be served. For the time being, the princess is occupied with her botanical journal (something she had procrastinated on for almost months), hunched over her desk with dried plant samples all around her.

Hanmi leans back on her seat the moment her door was pushed open, tilting her head back to see who it is. When she finds Tia in the room with her, Hanmi breaks out into a smile.

"Tia! Good morning-soon-to-be-noon!" the princess greets the handmaid, placing down her ink pen down on her table and turning herself slightly on her seat to face the said girl.

"Good morning-soon-to-be-noon!" Tia replies just as cheerfully. "What are you up to?"

"My botanical journal," the princess tells her, closing her leather-bound book softly before turning around to fully face her friend. "Sir Lawrence wants it done by tomorrow. If it meets his expectations, he would consider taking me as his apprentice in the next sea expedition."

Tia hums. "That's wonderful! It would be great for you to go, travel beyond the castle walls sometimes," she points out, "would you like me to have a look over it?"

"Oh yes, you are very welcome to," Hanmi drags her chair back from her desk to let the handmaid peek over her shoulders.

She waits expectantly, biting her bottom lip a little.

With all the time she and Tia have spent growing up, Hanmi knew like the back of her hand that botany was her friend's strong forte. Currently, Tia's face is moulded into a serious expression as she goes over her scribbles on plant anatomy and labels. Did that spook Hanmi a little? Just a little, but if it's for that expedition Sir Lawrence offered to her a couple of months back and it costs Tia's endless lecture then it will be worth it.

She hopes.

"Well...?" Hanmi speaks up after letting Tia observe for a while.

The handmaid fixes her posture, tapping her feather duster against her hips. "Well... there's an improvement," she opts to say, "you can do better, Hanmi. The colours you used were perfect and you dissected the plants very well, however... what was the magnification of your microscope?"

"Uh... I don't remember," Hanmi says, reaching out of the light microscope on the other end of her study table. She lifts the object up, reading the measurement carefully. "Ten times on the objective."

Tia sighs. "I know it's hard to focus it sometimes and ten is quicker but you need at least forty to pass Sir Lawrence. It could take ages to meddle around with it but once you find the right focus, the objects you see under that would be worth it."

The Princess pouts, clicking the objective lenses on her microscope. "I wish he let me use the hundred..."

"You only just started using the microscope, Hanmi," Tia pats her back reassuringly, "try it again with the forty this afternoon, I will gladly help you out but for now, you need to start preparing for lunch. The Queen is expecting you in the garden, maybe to discuss a few matters."

Hanmi nods, closing her book softly before rising from her seat. "What do you think she needs to discuss with me?" she asks as she stretches her limbs.

The Princess hears the faint cracking in her joints, grimacing at the realisation that she may have sat for a little too long.

"I suppose it has something to do with the announcement last night," Tia says as she makes her way to the Princess' wardrobe on the other side of the room to pick out today's lunch outfit. "It is very big news, you know? All the maids were talking about it earlier."