CHAPTER 02- THE PRINCESS.
ONE WEEK LATER... IN THE HIRYUU CASTLE.
''Geez...where are they?we have been waiting here since...forever'',exclaimed General Lee-Guen-Tea.
"Really...we have only been witing here for five minutes,General Guen-Tea.I am sure that Kye-Sook will come back with the messengers any , shall we enjoy the tea while we is your wife's special blend general'',said king Soo-Won trying to calm down the noe red faced general.
'Humph!he sure does know how to make fun of everything.',thought general Guen-Tea as he sat down on his chair and settled to drink his tea.
"On that note your majesty,how is your relationship with miss Lily.I heard you two spend a lot of time togther?''asked the genral nonchalently.
the young king who was drinking his tea froze for a moment and the other generals smirked at general Guen-Tea's bluntness,except for the water tribe general.
"We are really good friends who appriciate each others company,but I do not understand what you are implying.",said Soo-Won trying to keep his poker face as best as he could.
''so you say that the two of you are nothing more than good friends.I don't think so!It is not good to lie,your mjesty...now,please..te-but before he could say much -Won held his hand up motioning for him to stop.
"Let's leave this conversation for later shall we?It seems like the messengers have come back.''
everyoneturned their heads towardsthe doorwhich was now opened as the messengers lined up in front of their king and payed hime their king effortlessly gave a signal which mentioned them to rise.
''From this moment,the messengers that have been sent to the kingdom of Teayoung have reaturned to their homaland,Kouka with a favourable reply.''said the leader of the envoys.
''Thank you for ypur hard tell us what happned in the negotiations in detail please''said Soo-Won.
''The negotiations have gone well your we failed tomake the alliance unconditionally,most of the conditions approved have been made for our representatives of Teayounghave given us some intial conditions and have accepted our offer for a visit after the next three weeks''said one of the men.
''Might I ask what these conditions may be?''asked An-Joon-Gin,the water tribe chief.
''The Teayoung representatives have asked to be one of the main exporters of finest quality herbs indigenious to Kouka and in exchange thay are willing to let us expand our trade new eastern island territories of Teayoungg as his majesty also said that further details about the military alliances will be discussed upon their arrival.'',answered on the representatives.
''Eastern islands?,when dis the Teayoung kingdom expand their territories to the east?"asked the sky tribe genral Joon-Do.
''It appears that two weeks before our arrival,the king had ordered their army's cheif commander and a small comapany to be dispatched to the eastern spite of the small number of soildersthe cheif commander had managed to gain six new island territories and had already built ports,fortesses and has now begun to civilize the entire the cheif envoy.
"The cheif wa salso part of the Teayoung representatives for the negotiations,in fact it was the cheif who proposed the conditions.'',he continued.
''Would you please specify who this cheif commander person is?"said genral Guen-Tea.
"That person is the guardian of Teayoung,the daughter of the king and the queenand the cheif commander of Teayoung's imperial army,the second princess of the kingdom of teayoung,Kou-Rin-Ha.''
the entire room stood silent for a moment,untill elder Mandok spoke up.
''Tell us more about the princess please'',he said clearly interested on the power the young woman held.
''To begin with the kingdom of Teayoung is now under the rule of king Kou-Lee-Shing,who oversees wife queen Kou-Ra-On is the one who manages the cultural and the religious affairs of the king and the queen have four first and the second princes,Kou-San-Nim and San-Nim is the one who handles the country's economy while prince Min-Rim handles the law first princess Kou-Jea-Kyoung is a scholar who is the headmistress of the national education and research but not the least is the toughest contender to the throne,princess Kou-Rin-Ha.''
"We have heard many tales about the princess's to what we have heard from the palace officials,the princess has been involved in both national and ineternational affairs since a very young finishing her education,she enrolled in the national institiute and worked together with the country's top scholars and also posesses experiance as a government official during her institute training her father's orders she joined the imperial army at the age of sixteen and become the commander just within 4 years and has been the protector of peace ever since.'',concluded the chief envoy.
"my!...what an accomplished ypung lady,but what did you mean by her being the guardian ",asked elder Mandok.
''According to the legends in most suited person to become the guardian of the country comes of age,the high priest will see the person in a said guardian will have to complete some tasks in order to be worthy of the title and then will be able to weild the sword of the first guardian of the the people of Teayoung it is a major honour to even become a guardians aid.''answered a messenger.
''SO...you say that if this alliance goes well,the fate of our army will be in the hands of a silly ywenty year old girl!No matter how accomplished she might be it is still early for someone that young to assaigned such a task,besides she's only a girl.''protested general Guen-Tea.
''Is the princess arriving as a part of the Teayoung representatives in following month?''inquiered Soo-Won.
"Yes,my group of representatives will be headed by her during the second phase of the negotiations"came the chief envoy's reply.
"well,we'll see about it then"said took a deep sigh and said,
"Since the information we needed is delivered,we shall now adjorn this may now leave.''motioning the messengers.
Just as the king and the generals were about to leave,Kye-Sook appeared with a box in his hands.
"Your majesty,this gift was sent to you by princess Kou-Rin-Ha"Kye-Sook said.
"Oh...Oh...his majesty seems to have a new admirer!"said general Guen -Tea.
Kye -Sook offered the box to Soo-Won,who motioned him to set the box on the table so everyone else could see it.
The box was made of Sandlewood and had the carvings of the five dragons of Kouka, on the -Won opened the case to reveal a sword,sheathed inside a metal sheath whoch depicted a -Won gently picked up the sword and unsheathed hilt of the sword was perfectly carved to suit any grip,the hilt was decorated with the carvings of the earth,wind,fire,water sky tribe emblems along with the emblem of the Teayoung kingdom he held the sword in his hand it felt weightless and well he held the sword and twirld it in his hands the sharp edges of the sword glimmered in the sunlight of the foriegn kingdom.
'Soo...dangerously beautiful,just like the girl whom I loved 'Soo-Won thought as he remembered about Yona.
suddenly snapping out of his daze from a coughting sound made by -Won quickly reverted the attention of the crowd towards the sword by asking general Guen-Tea his opinions on it.
''Well...Teayoung does stand up to its name as the best weapon crafting country around blade itself is sublimely created,well balanced and practically for his majesty."Guen-Tea said.
''It must have been hard for the craftsmen to create such perfect fitting gift for majesty,without seeing you once''said general Joon-Do.
''And to think such a symbolic message is left by the sword to''said An-Joo-Gin.
''what message?",asked Joon-Do.
''The sword encased in this specific case symbolises a dragons symbolises that the princess wishes for the king to be like king Hiryuu and lead the country towards its golden era which is represented by the golden sheath and the pheonix carved on emblems carved on the hilt says that that the must wield the five tribes and the friendship of Teayoung in order to do so."explained the water tribe chief.
"A very well thought message"praised elder Mandok.
While most of the generals were busy observing the sword Soo-Won noticed a piece of paper laid on the box.
Just as his hand reached for it General Gen-Tea who has took note of it even before him snatched the paper away and read it out loud.
TO HIS MAJESTY KING SOO-WON OF KOUKA,
I HOPE THAT YOUR WITS ARE SHARPER THAN THIS.
- KOU-RIN-HA.
'A battle of wits huh?well...princess let's see who will win'thought Soo-won,smirking at the princess's bold and challenging message.