Touch and Entanglement
Hoeyeon let out a long breath, scrubbed at the corners of her eyes, and pushed herself to her feet.
"Let's run."
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah. I want to run."
"Then so we shall."
That day, they walked and ran from morning until night.
It felt wonderful.
Thinking back, it had been years since she could simply run like this. Ever since she had inherited the dojo, she had spent every day training her disciples; leaving for any real stretch of time had never been an option.
"How much farther to the next town?"
Hoeyeon asked as the sun began to sink.
"At this pace, half an hour to the provincial capital."
"And after that?"
"Another hour or so. Though the sun will have set by then."
"The moon should be bright tonight. Isn't that fine?"
"It is, but…"
Gayul spoke carefully.
"Truth be told, I forgot to make one particular preparation. It was my own oversight, so I kept quiet about it."
"What is it?"
"My chest keeps bouncing. It hurts."
"…"
"I've cinched my clothes as tight as I can and used a bit of magic to dampen the motion, but I really ought to have bound them properly with bandages… I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
"…Are you angry?"
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"…"
"You're not exactly small yourself. Isn't this a bit much?"
"…"
"I'm sorry."
"Fine."
Unlike the town where Hoeyeon's dojo had stood, the provincial capital had a proper commercial district. Once the sun went down, the streets filled with shops preparing to open for the evening, and to Hoeyeon the whole place felt like something out of another world.
She was still looking around when she suddenly went ah — an important thought had just struck her.
"Are we… getting a room?"
Come to think of it, they had never discussed how they would handle lodging.
The money Hoeyeon had saved while running the dojo had never been substantial to begin with. Most of it had gone toward refunding her disciples' tuition, gifts enclosed with the letters she had sent to those who would look after them, and travel funds for the disciples themselves.
What remained in her possession was precious little. If they paid for an inn every single night… depending on the room, it might be possible, but in that case camping outdoors would be—
Gayul immediately sensed what was weighing on her.
"Don't trouble yourself over travel expenses. This journey is for my sake, to Geumdo. Do you truly think I would ask you to pay your own way?"
"I-is that so?"
What one received from others ought to be repaid — but this road was unquestionably at Gayul's request. Strictly speaking, it was less travel money than operating expenses, wasn't it? And if it was expenses, accepting them was fine… right?
"Of course. Absolutely. First we'll secure a room, then come back out for supper."
"Okay! Hehe… what should we eat?"
"You — by any chance."
"Huh? What?"
"It's nothing."
What? What is it? Why? Did my face get too loose?
Hoeyeon cleared her throat. Getting carried away just because everything was new and unfamiliar was not a good look.
She had let her guard down during the day — had already shown that side of herself — but she must not do so again. Hoeyeon made herself that promise.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. We haven't a single room left."
"No rooms here either? Everywhere else said the same thing."
"Truth is, there's trouble on the northern mountain road. Folks who need to pass through can't, so they've all piled up here."
"The northern mountain road? A landslide, perhaps?"
Gayul asked. To reach Geumdo in the wasteland, she and Hoeyeon would have to take that same road.
"If it were only that, the merchants would have hired people to clear it somehow. It's a vicious beast that's come out."
"A beast, is it."
Fortunately for the two of them, there was no beast alive that could threaten Hoeyeon and Gayul.
But even if crossing tomorrow was no problem, having nowhere to sleep tonight still was.
"Is there truly no room at all? We won't be particular."
"Well… under ordinary circumstances I'd offer you something else, but…"
The innkeeper scratched his head apologetically.
"There is an attic room. It's quite small and cramped for two people, but if you only need a place to lie down, it should do. I'll give it to you cheap."
"Then that will serve. We'll go have supper and return. Hoeyeon."
"Ah — yeah."
Outside again, Hoeyeon was once more looking this way and that when Gayul asked beside her,
"Is there anything you'd like to try?"
"Uh… I dunno?"
A street still lively after sundown was a noisy place, a place where colors and sounds and smells all came crashing in at once.
Looking around too much is also letting my guard down. I should hold back.
With that thought, Hoeyeon put on a deliberately casual air and asked,
"W-what about you?"
"I have tasted most of the delicacies this world has to offer."
"R-right. Well, of course you have."
Gayul smiled and pointed toward a place that sold food and drink.
"Shall we try there? I've been wanting to share a cup with you."
"…You're not thinking anything weird, are you?"
"Hoeyeon."
Gayul's expression suddenly turned grave. Had her suspicion gone too far after all? Just as Hoeyeon began to panic, Gayul spoke.
"The finest things are best enjoyed sober. That is proper etiquette."
"I think about it a lot, you know. Just cutting you down."
Hoeyeon heaved a long, deep sigh and walked into the shop. Gayul followed behind her, chuckling under her breath.
She had a fairly good idea of what Hoeyeon had been thinking about her unguarded moments and her expressions.
And that was precisely why watching the Hoeyeon before her now was so delightful.
In front of the dishes that kept arriving, Hoeyeon's gaze darted restlessly about. Judging by the way she kept gulping, if her mouth had been open, she would have been drooling.
Like a hound told to wait and not eat yet.
Had Hoeyeon heard that, she would have been genuinely furious, so Gayul kept it strictly to herself.
"That's everything, right? Yeah?"
If she had a tail, it would be thrashing wildly right about now.
Had Hoeyeon heard that, she would have gripped her chopsticks backward and glared, so this too stayed a private thought.
"Indeed. Dig in."
At Gayul's smiling words, Hoeyeon immediately set her chopsticks flying.
"It's good! This one too…! And this…!"
"Eat slowly. You'll choke."
Gayul filled two cups and set one by Hoeyeon.
"Ah, thanks."
Hoeyeon picked up the cup.
"Is this strong?"
"Not particularly. About one part in ten, I'd say."
Gulp, gulp — puhaah.
"It's good?"
"Slowly. You'll get drunk."
The cup was empty, so Gayul refilled it; Hoeyeon stared blankly for a beat before belatedly reaching out to accept it.
"Have you, by any chance, never drunk before?"
The half-formed motions of someone who wasn't entirely unfamiliar with drinking etiquette but wasn't practiced either made Gayul curious.
"Uh… I have drunk before… I think…?"
"…Is that so. It may be best to drink a little more slowly."
"Yeah? Okay."
Gayul felt a flicker of unease.
But it wasn't strong liquor, and sobering up was hardly difficult for someone as skilled with internal energy as Hoeyeon. Nothing untoward would come of it.
"But how come you can just walk around like a normal person?"
Hoeyeon asked out of nowhere.
What she had left unsaid was immediately clear.
Born into that station, raised in that station —
Gayul looked at her. The gaze held nothing but simple curiosity. That was all.
"Experience."
"Experience…?"
"Do you know this word?"
Gayul wrote incognito on the table with her finger.
They were separated by a partition, but it still wasn't a word one wanted overheard.
Incognito — when a person of power deliberately concealed their identity and walked among the common folk. Hoeyeon understood her meaning and nodded.
"I did it often, because it was enjoyable. That is why I am at ease in places like this… so do not look at me quite so intently."
"Ah, sorry—"
"It excites me."
"You are unbelievable!! Ugh…"
Hoeyeon knocked back her drink in one go.
"Heehee… heeheehee."
"Nngh…"
Propping Hoeyeon up with her shoulder, Gayul groaned.
It wasn't the weight.
It was simply a sigh at her own miscalculation. Judging by how Hoeyeon drank, she ought to have assumed the girl had no idea of her own tolerance.
"Come now, put a little strength in your legs."
"Eheh."
"Hopeless."
Circulating internal energy to purge the alcohol was perfectly possible, of course — but in a state of complete drunkenness, trying to move one's energy carelessly risked doing more harm than good.
Until she sobered up a little, it seemed Gayul would simply have to look after her.
"Honestly. If this body were still the imperial person, this would be grounds for execution."
"Heehee."
Hoeyeon's legs seemed to give out; she started to sink toward the ground. Even so, she twisted so the sword at her hip wouldn't be pinned beneath her — a swordsman's instinct, perhaps.
"Honestly — get on my back!"
Carrying her would be faster. Having decided as much, Gayul simply hoisted her up.
"Uweh? Hehe…"
As Hoeyeon grew accustomed to the swaying gait, her breathing began to ease.
"Hah… grounds for execution, grounds for…"
Grumbling all the while, Gayul walked carefully with Hoeyeon on her back — and then a small sound slipped from Hoeyeon's throat into her ear.
A sound she never would have caught if Hoeyeon's mouth hadn't been right beside her ear.
"……Mom…"
"………"
So this was what it meant for one's chest to grow endlessly heavy.
In all her years on the throne, she had never once regretted an action she had taken. She had lived in fierce deliberation so that she never would.
And yet, over the past ten years of thinking about Hoeyeon, a certain thought had occasionally lifted its head.
If on that day she had lured the ringleader out of the town instead of going in after him — would the town never have burned?
Or if on that day she had carefully confirmed where the ringleader was and struck off his head so swiftly he could attempt nothing at all — would the innocent others never have been caught up in it?
"…I am not your mother."
Why had that man plotted rebellion in the first place? The first of the Langlang people to rise to high office — what could he have lacked, what could he have wanted so badly?
That he left his own granddaughter to face the world alone like this.
Hoeyeon, face resting on Gayul's shoulder, began to breathe evenly.
"Fallen asleep, have you."
Gayul began to walk more gently still.
"Sweet dreams."