Chương 30: A New Birth

Sin-gyeong-jeom," Chae-ha breathed.

"Nerve Strike: Axillaris Terminus." Mu-cheon paused and swayed awkwardly on a single foot, trying hard to maintain his balance. His left leg was off the ground, his wooden training sword was raised, and his hips were slightly twisted. To make matters worse, the young girl's finger was jammed directly into his armpit.

"Okay, I guess you got me. Uh…what does this one do?" Chae-ha also remained frozen in position.

"If I did it right…it should mostly disable your arm."

"So I just…let my arm hang?"

"If you would." The young man relaxed his muscles, letting his hand and arm fall to his side. As he did, the training sword fell from his grasp, clattering loudly against the stone tiles.

"Alright, then. Can we get back to it?" Chae-ha spun away from him. Mu-cheon quickly regained his balance and feigned like he was following, but his real aim was to recover the fallen weapon. After picking it up with his left hand, he squared off against her again. The young Inspector resumed her Phantom Steps. The hypnotic sway of her hips caused the separated panels of her robe to billow out, masking her true position.

Mu-cheon tried to guess where she was headed and swung, but fighting with his left hand proved awkward – for both of them. His slash was off target, which ironically made it more accurate. The tip of his training sword almost scraped the end of her nose. Thankfully, the strike still missed, giving Chae-ha an opportunity to try out another of her new tricks.

Undeterred, she pivoted on her toes and spun inwards behind the wooden blade, using the edge of one foot to push the left front panels of her robe out as she did. If this worked, it would become the new twelfth step. But although the raised front panels were combining to obscure her upper body, the maneuver gave Mu-cheon a rare, unobstructed glimpse of her feet. The young man knew where they would be going, and a spark of inspiration took root.

Immediately before her toes hit the ground, right as she was beginning to transfer her weight, he kicked her new lead foot out from underneath her. Chae-ha's leg flew to the side as she crumpled, falling onto the tiles in a surprised heap.

"Are you okay?" Mu-cheon called out, all pretenses of sparring suddenly overridden by worry that he might have hurt her.

"Ouch," the young girl hissed, rubbing her thigh. She looked up at him.

"That's the first time you've done that. What was it?"

"Just a basic sweep. It's one of the first things they teach us when we're learning grappling. Trying to move a leg when all of someone's weight is on it is hard. But if you aim for the moment right before their foot hits the ground, when there's no weight on it, it moves really easily." Chae-ha's stood up, dusting herself off.

"Show me again." The Inner Disciple shrugged and did as she asked. He demonstrated the basic concept of the sweep, and the timing required, a few times.

"Why are you so interested in this?" he eventually asked.

"I don't really recommend trying to grapple, given your…stature."

"It pairs nicely with another idea I had. Watch this," she said. With a confident stride, Chae-ha stepped past him. Her left hand flicked a side panel as she moved, causing the fabric to float out and wrap lightly around Mu-cheon's ankle. The weighted hems helped it to curl around his foot slightly. She tugged, and Mu-cheon could feel a light pull on his ankle before the fabric slipped away.

"The problem with this technique has always been that I don't weigh enough. I thought maybe I could pull someone's leg out from under them, but if I tried it against someone like you, I'd just pull myself off balance. I could never find a way to make it work, so I sidelined it." Understanding grew in Mu-cheon's eyes.

"Want to try it out?" When she was ready, the young man took a few repeated steps, giving her several opportunities to find the right timing. It took several attempts, but she eventually got all the pieces to line up. With all her might, the young girl yanked. She was very surprised when, unlike their previous attempts, she proved to be using far too much strength. Mu-cheon's leg was pulled wildly off course, and he collapsed comically onto the ground, one leg high in the air.

"Ouch," he mimicked, grinning as he pretended to rub a sore thigh.

"I think you got it that time. Shall we try a few more?" The two continued to practice the new technique until Chae-ha's stamina ran out and she began to flag. Two hours of daily practice was usually her limit, and they had been going for almost three. Mu-cheon could see how much her chest was shaking, and called for a break. The young Inspector sat down with a thump, breathing heavily.

A thin line of sweat ran across her forehead, reflecting the final rays of light from the setting sun as it began to dip below the western peaks. Mu-cheon hesitated before heading over to a decorative granite column and pulling out a fabric bundle he'd hidden there. Cradling it gently, he walked over to Chae-ha and sat down next to her, hoping the beautiful view would help calm his nerves.

"Senior brother…what is that?" Chae-ha asked, a note of suspicion in her voice. The young man handed the Bojagi to her.

"It's for you." When she looked at him in askance, he motioned for her to open it.

"Go on." Chae-ha paused a moment, but no sharp pang of fear presented itself. Curious, she pulled at the knot. With a gentle whisper of silk rubbing against silk, the bundle fell open. Sitting in the center of cloth was a small, martial hair cuff. It was meticulously crafted into the shape of a phoenix, whose wings curled around backwards, forming a C-shape. Two small holes had been drilled into the wingtips to allow a pin – or a bookbinding needle – to secure it.

Chae-ha recognized the soft shimmer the metal gave off in the dying light. Silver. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. She looked up at him, grateful but confused.

"Senior brother, this is…?" Mu-cheon kept his eyes pointed towards the setting sun.

"Do you remember when, a couple of months ago, you saved me from that assassin? And lost your hairpin."

"Of course. But what…?"

"You left the shattered pieces all over the floor. What did you think happened to them?"

"I guess I always assumed some attendant cleaned them up." Mu-cheon winced.

"Some attendant? That's hurtful, little sister." He followed the dramatic expression with a grin.

"I know how important that hairpin was to you, so I saved the pieces. I added a bit more silver, and had the whole thing reforged to make that. What do you think?" Chae-ha looked down at the silver phoenix cuff, feeling suddenly dizzy. Her mind was reeling; her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and her breathing quickened. She closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for the pain she was sure was about to come. But the emotion that rose up instead took her by surprise. Gratitude.

The young Inspector picked up the intricate silver phoenix, so much larger and better crafted than the one at the end of her hairpin had been. She looked at it from every angle, and for a moment she thought she could see it flying again, like she had when she was a child. Racing through the skies, trailing shimmering ribbons of light. She looked back at Mu-cheon, the complex upwelling of emotions rendering her almost entirely speechless.

"Why…?" The young man shrugged.

"You give up on yourself too easily, Chae-ha. You're so anxious to just…throw everything away. But your past isn't all bad. There's good in it, too. And I didn't want you to forget that." He finally met her eyes.

"I know you're trying to put the fragments of your life back together, but it seemed to me like you might have missed a piece. And I wanted to help."

"I don't know what to say," Chae-ha replied, looking down.

"I can't believe you actually did this. It's…beautiful. Can you help me put it on?"

"Of course," Mu-cheon said. He took the silver phoenix cuff from her hands and waited for her to remove the needle holding her top-knot in place. Kneeling beside her, the young man slid it into place, making sure its wings wrapped around the tight coil of hair. He held it in place until she inserted the needle through the holes, pinning everything together. When it was done, he stepped back.

"How do I look?" Chae-ha asked, tilting her head from side to side to provide various angles. Mu-cheon chuckled.

"It's no gwan, but…with those scholar's robes, and that hair ornament? You finally look like a strategist." Chae-ha reached up, her fingers tracing the intricate silver wings now holding her hair in place.

"I can't express how much this means to me, senior brother. Thank you. Although…it does feel like a bit much for someone with no social status to be wearing."

"Yeah, I know. That part was deliberate." Mu-cheon sighed, his smile fading into a more serious, protective expression.

"Chae-ha... remember how you said we were going to war?" The young girl nodded.

"Have you ever actually been inside a military encampment? It's not the safest place for girls." The Inner Disciple looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

"Especially commoner girls, without the backing of a strong house." He took a deep breath.

"But, with that silver cuff in your hair, you no longer look like someone poor. It implies you have a wealthy patron – and warns everyone that there will be consequences for messing with you. I know it's not much…but it's all the protection I can offer when we're apart." Chae-ha blinked. She had never even considered her own safety. Feeling inadequate, she looked down at her feet.

"I owe you so much already, senior brother. How can I ever repay you?" Mu-cheon grinned at her in response.

"I knew you were going to say that." The young man coughed conspicuously, before starting to repeat a few lines that sounded rehearsed.

"When you saved my life by destroying the Hundred Ghost Pavilion, you moved a big asset into the 'credit' column. My life is quite valuable, you see, since I'm the Tai-shan heir and all. So now there are more assets in that column than liabilities. So now I need to give you some things to debit, in order to even it all out." The young man beamed proudly.

"Isn't that how accounting works? I asked Elder Gwak to teach me." Chae-ha just stared at him for several moments, before bursting out in laughter.

"No," she chuckled, unable to contain herself.

"None of that is at all how accounting works." She smiled at him with genuine affection.

"But I appreciate the sentiment." The two of them sat and watched the sunset together, and for the first time in a long time, Chae-ha felt a few short moments of peace. Kang Hyeon-je was a man who kept his word, and his promise of an apology to Chae-ha's mother – Im So-hee – was not forgotten. Two days later, the peaceful afternoon routine of the Im family estate was forcefully interrupted by the thundering of twenty sets of iron-shod hooves.

Patriarch Im hurriedly adjusted his silk robes as he practically sprinted into his own front courtyard. As a minor noble family that had fallen on hard times, the arrival of almost two dozen heavily armed Tai-shan cavalry was a heart-stopping event. The riders formed an imposing wall around the courtyard, their oxblood silks billowing in the wind. At their center, the man who appeared to be in charge of the group dismounted. Two soldiers immediately flanked him, carrying a small but weighty cedar chest.

When they set it down on the stone pathway, the metallic thud it produced was loud enough to make the Patriarch's mouth go dry.

"Greetings, Captain!" Patriarch Im called out, bowing so deeply it pained his back.

"To what does our humble estate owe the honor of a visit from the Tai-shan?" The envoy pulled a thick, wax-sealed scroll from his belt.

"I bring a formal decree from Sect Leader Kang Hyeon-je. The Tai-shan sect officially recognizes the late Han Sa-ryang as a fallen hero. His cause of death has been reclassified to a war casualty, and his remains are being relocated to the main sect burial grounds." The Patriarch gasped, struggling to process the sudden reversal of a five-year-old scandal.

"Furthermore," the Captain continued, gesturing to the heavy cedar box, "the Sect Leader has sent this offering of silver, along with his personal, written apologies for the burdens placed upon the Im family." Patriarch Im stared at the chest, his eyes widening with pure, unrestrained greed. That much silver could pay the estate's expenses for several years. The stain of taking back in his disgraced sister had finally paid off!

"The Sect Leader's generosity is as vast as the heavens!" the Patriarch beamed, stepping forwards and reaching his hands out towards the chest.

"We humbly accept." But before the Patriarch's fingers could so much as graze the wood, the envoy stepped into his path and blocked him.

"This silver is not for you. My explicit orders are to present the offering, read the Sect Leader's apology, and deliver a funeral invitation – directly to Lady Im So-hee." Patriarch Im paused, his hands still awkwardly hovering in the air. He let out a short, tittering laugh and lowered his arms.

"Captain, I am afraid your information is a bit out of date," the Patriarch explained, his words punctuated by a nervous giggle.

"So-hee is not here. We arranged a new marriage for her nearly three years ago." The envoy's eyes narrowed slightly.

"A new marriage?"

"Yes! To a reasonably successful silk merchant down south. She has a new house, a new husband, and a beautiful new baby to look after. She is no longer here at the Im estate." The Patriarch stepped sideways, reaching for the chest once again.

"But rest assured, you can leave the silver with me! I will see to it that word of her first husband's vindication reaches her ears." A greasy smile consumed the man's face.

"Along with the entirety of the Sect Leader's offering, of course!"