The Secret

Daeboreum,

Gogureyeo, 534 A.D.

It was the festival the of the first full moon, or Daeboreum, of the lunisolar calendar. Dusk had just passed, and the night sky was beginning to bloom from the petals of the rose tinged evening sky. Ae-Ra sighed looking out the window of her home, she would not be able to go tonight. There were too many people and festivities taking place, there was no way she could sneak there at all. Though it had barely been a day since she last visited it, she already missed it. Her precious cherry blossom forest. She had discovered at the tender age of fourteen the splendid heaven of the night, the cherry blossom forest. Papa would have been shocked if he knew of nightly endevours, disgusted maybe. But Mama would have scolded her first, then given her secret praise for her courage. But both of them were completely unaware of her nightly adventures, she had managed to keep it a secret for four full years. Her secret. Her secret heaven. What could she do? She could never fit into the moulds of the other girls of her age, who were all married by now. Papa said she might die a spinster. But Ae-Ra did not care. Swordsmanship excited her more than embroidery, and strategy more than household chores. Perhaps there was a glitch, or an error in her making, and she knew most of the people in her life despised it. All except for Mama, she told Ae-Ra to always be how strong she was, both physically and mentally, so she had gifted Ae-Ra a Do, a beautiful single edged sword, with handle of carved of rose gold cherry blossoms. The sword looked as though it was made of moonlight and sunbeams, Mama said it looked like Ae-Ra. Papa did not know of its existance, Ae-Ra kept it hidden under the sixth wooden panel of her floor. She had name it Byeol, her star, the only star she would orbit, the only friend she needed. Byeol and her would go to the forest every night when the whole of Gogureyeo rested, when only hungry and cold peddlers and animals of the night prowled. They would visit the forest a little further from the back of her home every night, her sanctity, the place where the sweet pink petals fell on the back of the cool metal of her blade. It was like Byeol was an extension of her she could always be at ease when she felt weight of him under the many skirts of her pretty brocaded Hanboks. But going out tonight would be risky, considering the number of people who would be out celebrating. But if she had been able to do it for the past three first full moon festivals, why couldn't she do it now? She crept to the back door of her home, all the members of the staff and her family in deep slumber, and opened the sliding door, ready to go to her beloved forest, which gave her the sense of being a part of the greater world, the sense of freedom from the heavy shackles of decorum. But something ominous, in the back of her mind told her that tonight would be an extraordinary night.

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