Cha Eun Sang swirled the yellow cape around her shoulders. "It's so pretty, mother." She beamed.
Her mother, a weary looking woman in her mid-forties—too young to look so old—smiled with pride. She had no words, and never had, but her heart was always in her eyes, and that was enough for Cha Eun Sang. Our Eun Sang makes it look twice as beautiful.
"Ya, such foolishness. It's all your hard work—all that care."
The pride vanished momentarily from her mother's eyes to be replaced by anxiety. Will it impress Lady Kim?
"Of course it will." Eun Sang took her mother's hands, worn from years as a seamstress, and rubbed them comfortingly. "How could she not think you the best at your craft in the entire region? She'll hire you for certain, and then there will be steak for dinner every night."
Park Hee Nam nodded, still uncertain. She was indeed an excellent seamstress, one of the best in her daughter's opinion, but there was little scope for her skill in the country. Cha Eun Sang loved their home, a sturdy wooden house her father had built in the early days of his marriage, set back from the road and framed in cherry trees. In spring the world seemed made up of blossoms. But in winter, as in now, skeletal branches scraped against the walls and the odd draft barreled through chinks. And it was such a small settlement—when her father and brought her mother back from the capital where he had found her, it had been even smaller. He hadn't thought she'd need to use her skills to support herself. But then he had died, leaving his wife and two daughters to wrack their brains to find a way to survive in what was predominantly a farming community.
The best solution would have been for Eun Seok, Eun Sang's older sister, to marry a strapping farm boy to take over their farm lands. But Eun Seok had refused quietly, saying she'd never marry any of the crass boys who lived around them, and had instead left for the capital, swearing she'd rather work as a housemaid. Eun Sang had been too young to marry in her place, and so the lands had been sold off to stave off debt collectors.
Eun Sang told herself she didn't resent Eun Seok. After all, she wouldn't have chosen to marry any of the neighboring boys she knew as well. Not even Yoon Chan Young, her best friend.
So they had done the best they could on their own, she and her mother. Until the news had come a month ago that the great house out in the woods was being re-opened, the local lords returning from their stay at court after years. It was perfect. All they needed to do was show the lady of the house that she could have quality, stylish dresses at her very door, and their fortunes would be made.
So Park Hee Nam had made this dress-pink and yellow and full skirted, embroidered with flowers that looked so real you could almost smell them, with a silken yellow hood. Beautiful and sophisticated, and far beyond the usual homespun woolens that were the norm in their house.
All Eun Sang had to do was present herself in this dress at their house to pay the customary respects due to lords, complete with a basket of the finest food she could prepare, and hope her beautiful dress would be noticed and asked after. And of course, it would be. No one made more stunning clothing than Park Hee Nam. She'd had a growing reputation even in the capital before her marriage.
Eun Sang gathered her breath, and her basket. "It will all go well, mother. Don't worry."
Her mother nodded, grave. She gave her daughter's hand one last squeeze. Go carefully. She cautioned.
Eun Sang laughed, stepping out of the door and pulling her hood up. "What's there to be afraid of?"
He leaned back in his chair, feeling the old hunger surge over him. "What indeed, little Eun Sang? What indeed?"
Casually he wiped his fingers across the mirror, and the image of the beautiful girl stepping into the snow faded into blackness, leaving his cave lit only by the fluttering candles. Their sweet beeswax scent mingled with the faded flowers strewn across the floor, and he stood, crushing yet more with his long, narrow feet.
The full moon would rise tonight, the first of three such nights during the Kim's return, which made tonight a very important night indeed. And Cha Eun Sang would be abroad.
Fortunate coincidence?
Or destiny?
All things considered, Choi Young Do would have to think the latter. He stretched, feeling his muscles stretch taut, already hungry for change. Not yet, he thought, urging patience down his bones. He had some errands to run first.
He padded to the cave entrance, and leaned against the solid stone wall. It was a wintry late afternoon like many he had witnessed from this vantage point. But it would, thank the gods, be one of the last. Soon he would be free to move on.
But he firmly believed Cha Eun Sang owed him something before he left, for all the pain and grief of the past fifteen years. A powerful debt. She would help him rescue what was his.
He ran a thoughtful tongue along the edge of his mouth. She was an interesting woman, this Eun Sang. He had watched her grow up, seen the icy walls she built around her heart. Something about those walls piqued the wolf in him. She was going to be a challenge.
She would defy him every step of the way, run so cold it would take every vein of his heat to warm her, but in the end, she would lose.
He smiled, and turned. He loved challenges.
It was good to be a wolf.