"Master."
"Please, I told you and everyone else to quit calling me master. Let's not use these burdensome titles here."
"Sorry, Kang Mo-nim. Kang Taek-nim sent me to get you. Nothing dire, but nonetheless it does seem to be urgent."
"I'm in the middle of training!" The man whom they call the Wolf Master sighs that sigh that sends chills up the students' spine when they hear it, because it usually means they're in for an all-night practice. "All right. Thank you. Everyone! You've worked hard today! Take the rest of the afternoon off. Please take care of any injuries you may have."
"Yes, Sir!"
"HYUUUUNNNGGGGGG!"
"ALL RIGHT!" So bellows, then huffs in annoyance. "I'm coming!" He hurriedly puts his sword away and runs to meet his brother. There had better be a damn good reason for this.
And when he gets there, he can't blame the younger for being so urgent.
"What do you think, hyung?"
A year. It's been a year since they had last seen their brother standing in the distance, a year since they decided to leave the cage that was that palace. A year since he's seen his brothers, his father, his mother. A year since he's seen her, the one he still thinks of every time he looks at the stars one can only see in Goryeo. The one whose hairpin he keeps by his bedside. The one whose face he still remembers clearly as if it were the sun he woke up to each day.
"Well, it certainly looks like Moo's hand that penned it. Have you tested the medicine?"
Baek-Ah nods in affirmation.
"Still...Moo said not to show until he sent a person to us."
Baek-Ah deflates. "But - don't you think that merchant counted? Must we take his words so literally?"
"I would be cautious. People in the palace are cunning, cold from being lonely for so long. Let us not be the tail of the snake that keeps chasing itself, and be patient for a clearer clue. And stop pouting. We don't want all of Moo's efforts to go to waste."