"Sook Joo, you should come and see what Prince Ling sent us!"
It was Lei, the girl with the young face, who was poking her head into Sook Joo's room.
"What is it?" she asked, setting down the cord she was braiding.
"Kites! We're painting them now so they'll be dry for tomorrow afternoon. His note said he'd take us out to the Lower Gardens to fly them!"
Sook Joo had seen kites before, but never up close, and certainly not to fly them. She had been a farmer's daughter, and there weren't many Qiongyan farmers - the land was far too rough for it. She'd known pigs and cabbage and chickens, but not kites.
Lei gave her an unreadable look. "Well, there is one for you if you'd like to join us - I think it will be fun."
"I'll be out in a minute," Sook Joo replied. The girl's face warmed into a little smile, and then she skipped out of sight.
It had been a little over a month since her arrival at the Yao clan palace, and Sook Joo still found there were a lot of things to get used to. The brothel her father had sold her to had been nothing like this - and she found she rather liked that about this place.
Neatly, she unfolded her legs, stood, and went to go paint a kite for the first time.