Sook-Joo was another harem girl that was to appear in No Sound of Water, but as I had to cut down the harem arc quite a bit, she never made it to the pages in the end. *insert sad face*
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Ling hadn't been sure what to expect of the latest addition to his little group. He'd actually never been to the Qiongyan province, though he knew it was on the very Eastern borders of Xing. So when this girl had been delivered to his chambers, tiny and round-faced with a stern expression, he'd been pretty excited to meet her. Not that he still wasn't excited, but now he was feeling a little less sure of things.
The long tangle of thin rope she'd brought with her was resting at the edge of the bed next to a folded bundle of linen. The girl was busy wrapping her sleeves back with a long sash. He agreed the sleeves would get in the way, but instead of tying them back, wouldn't it make more sense, to well, get undressed? He wanted to ask her this, but something about her made him hold his tongue - that was no small feat, and it sent shivers through his body. Tonight could either be terribly fantastic, or terribly, terribly horrifying.
Swallowing hard, Ling broke the silence. "So what is your name? I'm Ling, though you probably already knew that."
She tied off her sash rather violently and gave him the once over with her dark eyes. "They call me Sook-Joo." Her accent was thick and hard to understand. He still found it fascinating how different the many dialects of Xing could be. Then she said something he didn't quite catch.
"I'm sorry, could you say that again?"
"Your hands," she said tersely, stepping forward and taking hold of his wrists. He let her have them, and when she reached for the rope on the bed, he decided it would be better not to ask anything. It looked like this would be one of those scary nights after all.