Seumulahop
twenty-nine
The smell of the seas refreshed her lungs and with a smile, she inhaled her fill of it. Looking out across the spans of it, she sighed. The wind whipped her hair, unbound and unbraided, around taking with it the scent of sage and honey.
"Tiye," Turning, she found her husband behind her, dressed in a crimson and cream hanbok, gat hiding his face from the sun.
"I'm...I'm sorry that this...that we-" He struggled, eyes falling away from her, guilt flashing in them.
"Why do you feel guilt? You've not wronged me."
"I know...it's...it's just that we're heading back into hell when we've fought so hard to have the heavens." At the analogy, she smiled and drew close to him. Fingering the multicolored beads that hung down from the horse hair hat, she lifted her eyes to his.
"My heavens is anywhere you are. There...there will be fine so long as I remain in your possession." He swallowed thickly and took hold of her hands, pressing them against his chest.
"You left Goryeo enslaved. You will not return that way." Lifting on her tip toes, she pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, accepting a full one a moment later.
"I have trust in you dear one."
"Shall we return to the others?" He asked, a hand tenderly gliding across her hair.
"Mm." His arm encircled her waist as they drifted back into the ocean of people, the heckling and cat calling soon growing distant.
***
"So, the time has finally come when you shall leave us." Sitting there in the wait chambers, much like he did when first arriving he bowed his head below the Kandaka.
"It is with deep sadness and regret that I do so Queen Mother." The woman sat above them on elevated pillows, eyes drifting from him to her daughter. She said nothing for a while, simply observing them.
"Why? Why do you leave at all? Must you return to the land that cast you both into oppression?" Though she asked, she knew the reason...his sense of duty...homesickness....his desire and destiny to lead his people. She knew it all. And yet, a part of her couldn't help but be the tiniest bit selfish.
"My people need me Highness." The simplest answer he could give and it was one that she accepted. With a very small sigh.
"I trust your judgement on the matter. I trust your abilities. However, there is one thing I demand of you."
"Yes Highness."
"Give me your word that my daughter will not be placed back into chains." For a moment, he remained bowed but when he did lift his head, his eyes were fiery with conviction.
"I give you my word. Tiye will no more be an enslaved woman. Her destiny is greater than that." Understanding formed between the two and she clicked her tongue, signaling the end of that topic.
"I will be sending Anat and some other servants with you on this journey. She and Tiye are the same age, have been raised together and can attend to her needs. I doubt the women in your lands know how to care for her hair, body and well being. It is so ordered."
