What Matters - 1
The bitter-sharp scent of tobacco curled at the tip of her nose, twined with the now-familiar fragrance of Thousand-Day Plum Blossoms. It was a scent that set the heart at ease. A fragrance that settled the soul.
Perhaps that was why. The wine had left her head swimming in confusion, yet she felt not the slightest worry. There was only a deep, easing comfort — the very feeling she had envied so desperately back when she lived as a beggar orphan, the feeling she had only ever imagined whenever she watched other girls sheltered in an adult's care.
And where had she felt a comfort like this before...? Ah. That was it. It had been whenever a letter from 'Uncle' arrived.
And so, without meaning to, Sa Yun reached a hand toward that fragrance and murmured:
"...Uncle..."
She had never actually seen him, not once — but was this what Uncle's scent would smell like? Eyes closed, Sa Yun simply basked in that comfort. Then, as the fragrance faded away like a wisp of smoke, her consciousness slipped under for a time — and when she surfaced again—
"...Owowow..."
A groan leaked out of her at the splitting pain in her skull, and a familiar voice answered it.
"Good grief. First time drinking, and you just knocked back everything anyone handed you?"
"Ugh... Senior Sis...ter Yu Hui...?"
Her nose was stuffed and her head throbbing. As Sa Yun forced the words out through a husky throat, a bright peal of laughter rang out beside her.
"Ahaha. Never guessed that tiny bit would be enough to flatten you."
"Ah... Young Lady Chae...?"
"Weren't you calling me 'big sis' just a while ago? Back to 'Young Lady Chae' already?"
"Uh... d-did I say that?"
Sa Yun fidgeted, mortified, and Chae Ryeon gave a shrug.
"Actually, I lied."
"....."
"Hehe. Are you all right? Here — this."
The fox-like, black-haired girl of Moon Lotus Pavilion, all bright cheer and mischief, held out a cup with a smile. Sa Yun accepted it and took one careful sip — and whether it was the sweet, cooling taste or not, the whole thing went down in a single gulp.
"Pwaah... what is this?"
"Honey water. The Innkeeper sent it over. Now, take this too."
What she produced next was a dose of white medicinal powder. To Sa Yun's puzzled look, Yu Hui giggled.
"Sobering-up medicine, apparently. This is an inn, after all? He keeps it stocked at all times, what with all the drunkards that come through."
"Ah... the Innkeeper..."
Only then did her senses begin trickling back.
It had been her very first time drinking. She'd fallen for the sweetness of it and sipped away at whatever was offered. And then what had she done? Gone table to table, hugging the other senior sisters and thanking them, giggling, then wandered off somewhere else. And at the very end—
"Ah... aah..."
It had definitely happened.
She had gone to where her Master and Eldest Senior Sister sat. And to where Innkeeper Yu Wol was. Where she had giggled like a fool and whined for more to drink—
"Aaaaargh!"
The memory finally arriving, she wanted nothing so much as a mouse hole to crawl into. She wanted to kick the blanket clear off the bed. If only it had all been a dream.
To think she had committed such an outrage — against her revered Master and Eldest Senior Sister, and against the Innkeeper who had always helped her so unstintingly!
Trembling harder from shame and guilt than from the ache of her hangover, Sa Yun was met with Yu Hui's laughing voice.
"Don't worry. You never disgraced yourself badly enough to make the Innkeeper frown. If anything, you were almost cute."
"That's right, that's right. And the Innkeeper isn't the sort of man who'd take offense over something like that anyway."
If not only Yu Hui but even Chae Ryeon insisted — could it truly be all right? Like a frightened rabbit, Sa Yun poked just her eyes out above the blanket. Yu Hui pressed the medicine into her hand and rose from her seat.
"Besides, you haven't been asleep all that long. The banquet's still going, and the Innkeeper's still downstairs — go now and you'll catch him. If it's really weighing on your heart, why not go down and apologize properly?"
"Y-yes!"
Sa Yun hastily swallowed the medicine. Chae Ryeon flashed a smile at the sight of her.
"You know, if you put your internal energy to work, you can blow the drunkenness right out of you. The Hongseong Divine Art has a technique for that too, doesn't it? Have you not learned it yet?"
Sa Yun looked to Yu Hui, and Yu Hui gave a solemn nod. Staring back at her with a face on the verge of tears, Sa Yun thought very, very seriously:
She needed to learn that technique, and soon. And she needed to steer well clear of alcohol for the foreseeable future.
Descending to the lower floor with Chae Ryeon and Yu Hui, Sa Yun shuffled along, not knowing what to do with herself. Chae Jin snickered at the sight.
"Hey, you doing any better?"
"Yeees... thank you for worrying about me, Big Sis Chae Jin... and, um... Master."
"Fufu. Our adorable youngest."
Face flushed a deep red, the Sword Saint reached out her arms. She pulled the hesitantly approaching Sa Yun into an embrace and ruffled her hair without mercy.
"It's hard, with a master as hopeless as me, isn't it? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."
"Uh... M-Master...?"
"Just let her be. Master seems to be in a good mood."
Hong Ryeon said it evenly, sipping from her cup beside them. She appeared to have been drinking for some while now, yet not a line of her expression had changed — Hong Ryeon, it seemed, could hold her liquor remarkably well.
"And remember, you only ever drink as much as you can handle. That's the rule."
Sa Yun found her gaze drifting to the Sword Saint despite herself. Nothing like her usual dazed look — Na Yerin sat there with flushed cheeks, smiling bright and easy. The Sword Saint so rarely smiled that the sight was lovely to behold, though it didn't quite square with what Hong Ryeon had just said.
"It's fine. Master's always like that after only a little. And if she wished it, she could drive the drunkenness off in an instant."
Watching the Sword Saint sway as she hugged her close and stroked her hair, that was a little hard to believe — but when her revered Eldest Senior Sister declared it, what grounds did she have to argue? Besides, for all her staggering, Na Yerin's form never once broke; at a glance she hardly seemed drunk in the slightest.
"Now then — you as well, our dear Ryeon. Say ahh~"
"Yes, yes."
At the Sword Saint lifting a piece of meat to her lips with her chopsticks, Hong Ryeon let out a soft laugh — and opened her mouth to accept it.
Evidently delighted by this, the Sword Saint patted Hong Ryeon's head, then rose from her seat.
"I must share a cup with each of my adorable, beloved, endlessly pride-worthy disciples..."
And off she went, weaving and tottering — yet somehow contriving not to collide with a single thing on her way. It was bordering on miraculous.
"Shouldn't you rest a little longer?"
"Ah — well — I'm more awake now... Um, where is the Innkeeper?"
"He stepped out to the back yard for a smoke."
"Oh! Then I'll go and see him!"
Flustered, Sa Yun hurried outside.
It was a night with the moon riding high. The air had turned cool at last, brushing against her skin with a pleasant crispness. And there, in the inn's familiar back yard, Sa Yun spied a man seated on the long bench.
A long pipe held between his lips, bathed in moonlight, arms crossed as though turning something over in his mind. She stood a moment, quietly watching the man whose sharp eyes glinted through the haze of smoke — then cautiously drew near.
"Hm? You're awake?"
The man — Yu Wol — lowered his pipe at the sight of her. As he waved his fan to waft away the smell of tobacco, Sa Yun managed an awkward smile.
"Ah — um — it's quite all right."
"You're sure? Rest a little longer, then."
"I-I've rested plenty already."
"I see."
A brief silence followed. Yet it felt awkward not at all. Wrapped in a strange, easing comfort, Sa Yun bowed her head.
"I'm sorry about earlier!"
"About what?"
He wasn't teasing — he genuinely seemed to have no idea. Sa Yun lifted her head carefully, racking her brain for what to say. Flailing both arms in a panic, she finally heaved a great sigh.
"I... I was drunk."
"It's fine. You hardly committed some grave blunder."
"All the same..."
At her deflated little bow, Yu Wol huffed a quiet laugh. He rapped the empty end of the bench with two knuckles, and Sa Yun, hesitating, sat herself down there.
"Hong Ryeon was just telling me. She means to start teaching you to drink before long."
"Not my Master?"
"I imagine she'll be teaching you alongside her."
"Ahaha..."
Well — if Hong Ryeon had decided it, then so it would be. Silence settled once more. Just then, as though determined to break it, sounds came drifting from inside the inn: the notes of a zither, a touch unpolished but sweet to the ear all the same, and beneath them the singing of Moon Lotus Pavilion's Moonlight Squad members and Senior Sister Ryu Hyeon.
Sa Yun had been staring blankly toward it all, and in the instant she opened her mouth to speak, Yu Wol got there first.
"By the way — you called me 'Uncle' earlier, I hear."
Sa Yun's shoulders jerked violently. The memory finally surfaced, and her face — already red as a boiled beet — flared redder still as she floundered.
"Ah — th-that was — I'm sorry! The, the truth is. Um. This is terribly presumptuous of me, but... there's someone who has always watched over me. Someone who has always helped me."
"Oh?"
"Yes. A truly wonderful person. To me, he's been like a light, and... I must have mistaken you for him without even realizing, Innkeeper..."
"Haha. And then?"
"I was an orphan... apart from my Master and the disciples of the Hongseong Sect, no one ever loved me, or spared me so much as a glance. And then there was this person who worried for me. Without any reason at all, without a shred of prejudice..."
Gazing up at the night sky, Sa Yun thought back to the first time a letter from 'Uncle' had reached her. That happiness never dulled, however many times she turned it over in her heart.
"And so I just, without meaning to... I'm sorry."
"What is there to be sorry for? These things happen."
Yu Wol only smiled, easy and unbothered. At the sight of him, Sa Yun gave a sheepish laugh. Drunk or no, mistaking one person for another was a considerable discourtesy — and yet he received it without a flicker of offense. Truly, he could be nothing other than a man of remarkable character.
"A-and of course I'm always grateful to you as well, Innkeeper. I mean it, truly!"
"I know. And it makes me glad to hear. Now, off you go — back inside, and enjoy the banquet. Everyone seems to be having a fine time singing. There's happiness to be found in that, too."
"Oh... ah..."
"There's nothing shameful about being happy. And remember this well: words of gratitude are never enough, no matter when they're given."
"Yes..."
A song begun by one voice or two was swelling as more and more joined in. To miss out on that warmth, that thrill, that joy would be a waste.
So Yu Wol told her to go in, and as Sa Yun rose from the bench, she asked:
"And you, Innkeeper?"
He answered only by lifting his pipe. Sa Yun nodded, turned toward the inn — and stopped.
Yu Wol's words came back to her. Words of gratitude are never enough, no matter when they're given. And so she bowed, low and formal.
"Um... a-and. Thank you. For everything — always. Innkeeper."
Receiving her heartfelt thanks, Yu Wol packed his pipe with fresh tobacco and lit it, and simply went on smiling, entirely at ease.
Watching Sa Yun slip back inside, I smiled. The pride swelling in my chest was impossible to contain.
But it's still not enough!! More!! Give me more!!
That said — if Part One was truly over, then at least until midway through next year there would be nothing ahead but events with no bearing on the main story... which meant the odds of any special threat rearing its head were fairly low.
I turned over the Part Two scenarios in my mind — the ones set to follow once Part One ended, the ones we had researched and pieced together ourselves — and nodded to myself.
Good.
I would seize this chance to raise Sa Yun up even further.
And for that...
"...First things first: spirit elixirs."
Spirit elixirs. I had to get my hands on spirit elixirs.