Ep. 2

       I go to change, after which I return to my mother to further prepare to go to the garden. I robed myself in a simple blue gradient dress with small and sparing gold accents. I try to fix the bells in my hair to better help show that they roughly match the color of my dress. I then run over into the common room to see my mother, she still fastening her belt.

       After securing her own coat she turns to me and drapes a long and warm silk and fur coat, her favorite coat and fastened it over my shoulders. She then corrected my botched attempt at tieing the bells she gifted me into my hair. Taking them and creating two large buns like the one she gave me for breakfast. She then turns for a moment looking for something.

She spent many moments rummaging through a small box of trinkets, she stops for a moment as if she's found what she was looking for. When she turns back to face me she has a small, heavy looking, lavender pouch in her hands coupled with a concerned look on her face.

       "Don't lose this, promise me!" Whist saying this she secures the pouch tight around the belt of my dress.

       "Uh, yes. I promise?" I say, though slightly confused.

       "Good, now let's hurry on before the pond freezes" She says this with a smile, but her eyes look disconcerted.

       We head out into the cold of the Tian Xue courtyard on the way to the garden. The soft, cold, yet comforting breeze kissing my face as we walk. Both the garden and the palace have been named after my mother Tian Xue (주 턴). My father had loved my mother so dearly, though this was years before I was born, I wonder what happened.

       On the way to the garden my mother seemed quite aloof. Even though she was physically there, She though, was clearly not.

       As we walked into the garden I could hear the soft crunch of the snow under my feet. My cheeks were made red by the sprinkling of snow that had been sifted onto my face and the palm of my open hands.

       I walk over to the pond, the gentle wind wisping my silver locks off of the cold ground. I squat down clutching my knees to my chest. Slowly inserting my warm hand into the cold water. I can feel the soft waves made by the wind and small ripples created by the fallen snowflakes resting into the ponds surface.

       The koi fish catches my attention with its shiny and glistening scales seeming to dance in the water. Shifting in ranges of red to yellow or purple to blue. Mesmerized by the beautiful fish I hardly notice that my mother had come to sit next to me. My gaze was broken by her tap on my shoulder, she passes me a piece of stale bread that she made 3 days ago.

        After taking the bread that she handed me I break off a piece and feed it to the fish. Dipping my hand in the pond once more I begin to take note of how clear and blue the pond is and how beautiful the koi looks when dancing in it. What if koi fish didn't such colorful scales? How beautiful could they be in a much clearer pond? Why have they always been in the pond?

        My train of thoughts were interrupted by the sudden thunder of several pairs of footsteps. They had somehow become more familiar when they grew closer. I couldn't be sure of who they belonged to. Before I could turn to fully look over, my mother had stood up and hid me behind her back. I'm sure of who this is now.

        "Hey Tian Xue, I wouldn't have guessed you'd be out here so early."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***