episode 4

Reuyen brushed the dirt off her

hands, checking that her easygoing

brother, who took after their mother,

was heading to the pile of chopped

wood and hay under the fence.

Sidan's voice came in from the yard.

"Hey, genius sis. Don't you think it's

taking too long for our big brother to

return? When do you think he'll be

back? It's already fall and it's going

to get cold soon."

"I wouldn't know."

"Why wouldn't you? You know

everything. C'mon, say something

smart again. You're good at that

stuff."

She scrunched her face and glared at

him, but he didn't notice. A sigh escaped her mouth.

Reuyen, the genius of Gyujern. She

had heard enough of it. But she felt

completely indifferent to being

called a genius.

She didn't not know why people

called her that. It was true that she

was more erudite than anyone else in

the town. But a genius had to have an

extraordinary ability to accomplish

something out of nothing. She was

not a genius in that way.

When she was young, Reuyen was as

much a troublemaker as any other

child. But the year she turned seven,

she realized she was different from

the others.

***

It was the day her father first gave

her a filly as a birthday gift. The filly

was only a few years old, and was

beloved by the girl for quite a while.

The moment she climbed on the

saddle with the help of her father,

she was elated at getting the horse

she loved so much.

The sky felt closer from atop the

horse; she could see the world from a

higher point, changed. That was the

only time Reuyen ever fell off a

horse

swan Sekalrid Rarkalia.

When she came back to her senses,

her surprised mother was clutching

her hand and crying, and her father

was blaming himself for letting too

young a girl to ride a horse. Her older

brother was talking to the local

doctor, who had come running after

hearing the news.

"Why did you let a seven-year-old get

on a horse? Are you even thinking or

what?" Her parents started arguing

louder and louder after the doctor

left, and her younger brother started

crying. It was total chaos. Reuyen

broke into tears in the midst of all

the commotion too.

A strange man's voice ringing clearly

in her head made her cry even

harder.

Swan.

Her mother was surprised by her

tears, and rushed to embrace her.

Her trickles of tears turned into

weeping, and Reuyen's father

stomped out to sell the horse at the

market. But for what? She could not

stay focused with all the sorrow

crashing into her like waves. She

stumbled out of the room to stop her

father.

"Reuyen!"

"Sweetheart!"

Over the startled voices of her

brother and mother, a distant

memory appeared.

The world we've longed for is right

ahead ofus, dear sister.

Before her father could unsaddle the

horse, the little girl dragged up a step

stool and got on the horse by herself.

With tears and snot running down

her face, Reuyen screamed at her

surprised father and brother, who

came running out of the house,

almost breaking the door. They

awkwardly held out their arnms in

case she fell again, but dared not put

their hands on her or the horse.

Why can you not live outside of here?

The heartbreakingly clear and

sorrowful voice clawed at her ears.

through she knew it was wrong, she tightened her small fists around the reins. her instincts kicked in. she realised at last that she could ridethis horse without learning from

anyone.

A higher point of view than ever

before.

It was the first moment in her life

when she felt her fears extinguished.

Her father and mother screamed with

fright at the sight of her by on the

horse.

The girl precariously held on to the

unfamiliar reins and rode on. She

only wanted to shake off the scary

voices echoing around her.

For our highest honor.

Her hands holding onto the reins of

the galloping horse felt empty, like

they had just let go of something,

and the forest and the field were absent of people who should have

been there.

Anything for my dear sister.

ghastly voice whispering close by

her ear unveiled foggy memories.

Carry out the execution.

She shrieked like her own head had

just been cut off by the hallucination

of a frightening sword. The pampered

little girl did not know fear of swords.

She should not have known. As if her

world had just turned upside down,

she kept on screaming like a

madwoman and riding on until she

lost her grip on the reins, then the

mane, and finally fell on the small

trail right outside the town. Her

beloved horse ran away.

She sat on the deserted trail, shaking like a leaf,then dropped her head to the earth.

Swan Sekalrid Rarkalia, you are...

The girl who had been howling

fearfully knew who she was.

You are the great queen of Rarkalia.

Not long after darkness fell, her

father and older brother, along with

the townspeople, found her. The

distraught girl was brought back to

her home and was looked after with

great care.

The filly that dropped her came back

after two days.

She gave the horse the name

"Dekallia," meaning "of Kalia." She

was forbidden to go anywhere near the horses for a while, but that didn't

matter. She knew how to ride without

being taught, knew how to wield a

sword without a teacher, and knew

the geography outside the town

without a map.

Her memories and knowledge

became clearer and clearer as the

years passed by, flowing out of her

without her wanting it. She was both

praised as a genius and

misunderstood as a witch, but she

was not proud of any of it.

Had the woeful soul of the queen

possessed her, or had the unrelenting

queen come back from the dead? The

girl spent fifteen more winters with

the question she could not share with

anyone hidden deep in her heart.

Soon after sunset, the dark clouds

covering the sky started pouring

down streams of rain, thick rain that

seemed like it wanted to flood the

world. The cool sound of rainfall

covered the empty places of the

outsiders, who had become harder to

spot recently.

It was an evening when even the

twilight was fogged by the rain.

Senila, Reuyen's mother, came out

into the living room after finishing

preparing for dinner and started to

put away the leaky flower pots, then

suddenly stopped.

"I wonder if he's getting wet at all..."

"Go eat, Mother. I'll put away the

pots." Reuyen quickly took over the

task.

"Look, Reuyen, honestly... How could

your brother not send one letter?"

"These are hard times, Mother:."

Her father, Jess, who had extremely

good hearing, heard that from the

kitchen table and yelled, "Woman!

Don't even start about him. He's all

grown up anyway!"

"Now I can't even express concern

for my own child?"

Jess covered his ears at Senila yelling

right back at him. Sidan giggled as he

sat down at the dinner table and picked up a nicely roasted chicken

leg. The young man quietly put it

back down after seeing his father's

face.

"But it's already been, let's see...over

half a year since he left, right?" Sidan

asked. "No wonder you're worried.

Dekallia's babe's already.."

"He'll come crawling back when he

runs out of money," said Jess.

"But he didn't even bring that much.

It's about time he ran out of money,

and he's never gone this long without

sending a word back home. He

seemed quite hurt when he was

talking about joining the army

before, and with his temperament...

You don't think he would have gone

to the battlefields, do you?"

"Sidan, what on earth are you talking

about?"

"If that's so, will he come back home

with a title or something? Will we

become nobles then? Hmm..."

Sidan muttered and played with his

spoon, and Senila's face turned

white. Jesss smacked the back of his

youngest son's head without a word.

"Ouch!" Sidan moaned and rubbed

his head.

"Stop talking nonsense and eat."

With an even more depressed look

after Sidan's cheerful words, Senila

took the seat to the left of Jess. On

his right diagonal side were Sidan

and Reuyen's seats. And one last seat. That seat had begun to collect

some dust because its owner hadn't

returned in a while.

Senila stared at the empty chair and

suddenly called out, "Reuyen, just

put a bucket under there and come."

"Coming. You can start without me."

Jess glanced at his oldest son's seat

and then looked away. "Not an easy

one, that one."

***

For whatever reason, the oldest son

of the Detuas, Eivan Detua, had

announced that he desired to enlist

himself to fight in the Great Battle against Morgana half a year ago. That

was around when the royal army,

whơd bought nearly sixty horses

from the Detuas, was still staying in

town.

"I want to fight too," he'd said. "They

say that even commoners can receive

a title if they distinguish themselves

on the field, and I heard a soldier

from Deujen actually became a

knight."

Eivan's sudden declaration ruined

the whole family dinner. It hadn't

even been a full day since the Detuas

were overjoyed by the big sale to the

royal army. Even Sidan was surprised

enough to drop the piece of meat he

was about to eat. "Eivan..you've

really gone mad, haven't you?"

"I'm not as good as Reuyen, but I

know how to wield a sword and

fistfight."

"A war is no joke, you know. I heard

it's absolutely brutal out there. Is it

actually a place where everyone and

their mother who knows how to use

their fists goes and win titles?"

Jess threw his spoon and ended the

debate."No."

"Why, Father? With great risk comes

great reward."

"Listen to your father," said Senila

sharply."Eivan, don't even speak of

such a horrifying thing. We have a

comfortable living...and you're the

firstborn, our oldest son."

"I'm sure it will not come to that, but

if any accident happens, Reuyen or

Sidan will take over the family

business. Reuyen is an outstanding

individual all around, and Sidan

takes great care with the horses, so it

really doesn't matter which of us

takes over."

Whatever the royal army had told

Eivan, it had worked. Eivan had

already made up his mind. Jess finally

lost control and threw the table on

the ground, then struck Eivan across

the face. The table crashed with a

great racket, and Eivan stumbled for

balance. Shocked, Sidan clung onto

his father and tried with all his might

to calm him down.

to be continued.

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