Banryu was a royal prince born in the safety of the palace walls in the Kingdom of Silla.
Meili was a simple handmaiden who lived inside a Princess's estate in Chang'an, China.
What could happen between a simple handmaiden of a lowly background and...
Dipping my fingers into the dark pond water, I entered into a world of my own... unaware of anything else that was happening outside of it.
I moved my hand back and forth in the water, causing a small disruption in the water as the lily pads rocked back and forth before they all floated away, revealing what was hiding underneath.
I watched the vibrate and bright colors of red, orange, yellow and black dance around in the water as the koi fish swam around as some came to nibble on my finger, greeting me happily.
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Reaching inside the wide sleeve of my dress, I grabbed a napkin that contained soft and sticky rice, and began to throw some in the water, to which the koi fish took delight as they scrambled to eat the rice, and opening their mouths agape for me to feed them more rice.
After feeding all the rice, I got up from the edge of the pond and began to walk back to the outer corridors of the large mansion... where I spotted Daiyu, heading towards the kitchen.
I caught up with her, and helped her carry some baskets of dirty plates back to the kitchen.
"Did you hear that the Princess's brother, Prince Banryu is coming here in the next week?" She asked me excitedly, but I shook my head.
"No, I didn't hear about that." I say, and she gave me a look.
"Really? Everyone's been talking about it," She says and chuckled. "maybe it's because you always have your head buried in a book."
"What's wrong with learning?" I ask her back, and she just laughed.
"What for? It's not like we're ever going to need it. We're just lowly servants in Princess Eun Hae's household... probably until we die." She said with a sigh.
I could not remember a time when Daiyu did not sigh when she spoke of her life... but as her friend I tried my best to uplift her spirits from thinking so negatively.
I grabbed her free hand in mine, and faced her.
"Although it is true that we are in fact, servants to Princess Eun Hae... our lives could've been much worse if she hadn't taken us in. She has been generous to us, and I am grateful for that."
She lowered her head, and nodded without saying anything.
"To live is the best gift of all," I say as I turned my head, and smiled at her. "that's what my mother always told me before she fell asleep in death during the outbreak of a disease that killed many people in our village. I was in the few people that survived it, and I am always grateful that I hadn't died, because I would never met a good friend like you... Daiyu."
