by D.D. Chant
Chapter Four
Kai returned home looking for Rem only to find that he had not yet arrived. Before he could go in search of his wayward charge, his mother’s cheery voice hailed him from the gallery above the hall.
Rae Uel Ne Sen was surprisingly young. Rich brown curls clustered riotously around her shoulders in a silken tangle that no amount of combing could tame. Freckles dusted her nose and dimples adorned smooth pink cheeks adding to her aura of youthfulness.
Kai stilled and waited as his mother descended the stairs, two at a time, her dress hitched up alarmingly over one arm.
“What happened?” she asked, finally gaining the stone floor of the hallway and letting her crushed skirts go.
Kai straightened from his bow at her words.
“What do you mean, Mother?”
Lady Sen heaved an impatient sigh.
“You’re as bad as your father. What happened at the Headmen’s gathering? Hyun Jae returned home and shut himself in his study. Rather rude when you consider he banned me from ever entering, on the grounds that I was too distracting, years ago. Rem was supposed to be here for lunch but I haven't seen him. You know how unlike him it is to miss a meal, though goodness only knows where he puts all that food.” Rae blew a curl out of her eyes. “So what’s going on?”
Kai shook his head doubtfully.
“Perhaps you should ask father?”
Rae Uel Ne Sen looked unimpressed and, reaching up, caught her son by the ear.
“I will suffer your father keeping me in the dark, Kai, but you are greatly mistaken if you think I will allow my son to censor the information I receive. The servants know the latest gossip long before I do most of the time!”
“It was only that another transmission was received from the Tula Strongholds today.”
Rae Uel Ne Sen released him, her face taking on a troubled expression of worry.
“I thought that might be the case. Poor Rem, so that's why he hasn’t returned.”
Even though she spoke of Rem her eyes were on Kai, sympathy bleeding from their depths. It wasn’t only Rem that was hurt by those transmissions, but Kai foolishly refused to admit to his hurt and would not accept sympathy.
Rae sighed; now she knew why Hyun Jae had retired into his study on his return home after absently kissing her in greeting. The transmissions hurt him too. He hated having no power to protect Kai and Rem from the unpleasantness they unleashed within the Head Families.
“Your father wishes to see you in his study.” Rae attempted to smile cheerfully and patted her son's arm lightly before turning and crossing the hall.
Kai watched as she listlessly wandered out of the French doors that led into the garden. His mother’s expression had taken on an unfocused glaze and her gait was uncharacteristically slow. He shook his head wondering if perhaps he shouldn’t have told her after all.
He paused briefly to knock on the study door before entering the hallowed realm. To him the room symbolised the power and dignity of the House of Sen; their strength and their duty. He had always found that the weight of his responsibility hung at its heaviest when confined within its walls.
“Father?”
Hyun Jae Uel Ne Sen looked up from the open book he’d been pretending to read for at least half an hour.
His son closed the door and moved further into the room, sitting down in the chair across from him, wearing an expression of unrelenting calm. Hyun Jae turned the page of his book and tried to read the first few lines but the words blurred before his eyes.
“You wished to see me, Father?”
Hyun Jae laid the book aside, finally giving up the pretence of interest.
“Yes; you spoke with Elderman Di Ye?”
Kai nodded.
“Yes, Father.”
“You must listen to his words, Kai. Allow his wisdom to guide you and you will never be sorry.”
Kai was silent for a moment.
“He possesses much forgiveness but as much as I respect it, I do not know if I can emulate him.”
Hyun Jae’s face took on an inflection of understanding.
“He has the ability to see past the hamperings of pride, hate and prejudice. Few are the men that can achieve such an objective view of life.”
“Has he always been like that, Father?”
Hyun Jae tilted his head to one side, thoughtfully looking back over the many years he had known Elder Headman Amajit.
“As a young man he was well thought of by all the Headman, although he was not in line to become a Headman himself.”
Kai’s face registered a flicker of shock.
“Elder Headman Amajit had an older brother?”
His father nodded absently, his eyes glazing over with a far off look of reminiscence.
“Jae Shin was three years older than Elderman Di Ye, but he was sickly and often suffered bouts of ill health.”
Kai assimilated this new information with interest.
“What was he like?”
“Jae Shin?” Hyun Jae scratched his head thoughtfully. “He had a strong moral compass and was gentle, but his temper could be fearsome when presented with injustice. He and Elderman Di Ye spent most of their time together, Jae Shin was ill so often that they became each other’s only companions. Children kept away from their garden and feared the brothers, mostly because of Jae Shin’s sickness.”
“But you didn’t?” asked Kai.
Hyun Jae smiled a little.
“I was as scared of them as the others, and even more scared of their grandmother.”
“You knew Elderman Di Ye’s grandmother?”
“And a terrifying old lady she was; brisk and no nonsense. It was only because of her care of him that Jae Shin lived as long as he did.”
“How did you come to know them, Father?”
“I fell out of a tree into their garden.”
Kai raised his eyebrows.
“My kite was tangled up in the tree and I fell when I tried to get it free. Jae Shin was strolling past at the time and he took me back to the house so that his grandmother could see to my cuts. He even sent Elderman Di Ye to recover my kite.”
Kai was momentarily diverted trying to picture Elder Headman Amajit climbing a tree but his imagination faltered before such an impossible task.
“Jae Shin was incredibly kind; he believed that the Tula were not our enemies and that, despite our differences, it was possible for us to live together peacefully.”
“He sounds very much like Elderman Di Ye,” observed Kai.
“No; he was very much like the person that Elderman Di Ye became,” returned his father.
Kai considered this cryptic statement for some time.
“What happened?”
Headman Sen broke eye contact with his son and began to straighten his already tidy desk. Kai saw a fleeting expression of pain cross the older man’s features.
“A chest infection; his illness had already weakened him and could not fight the contagion off.”
“How old was he?” asked Kai softly.
“Twenty-eight.” A suspicious roughness broke the even tone of Hyun Jae Uel Ne Sen’s voice.
For a moment both men were silent.
“Why did you never tell me of this before, Father? Why does Elderman Di Ye never speak of his brother?”
Hyun Jae rose from his chair and moved to stand before the window.
“It was such a bitter blow for him; to lose the brother that he looked up to so much, to have to fill the position that Jae Shin was to have occupied. He finds it too painful to talk about, I think. Imagine how you would feel if you lost Rem or Shin.”
Kai flinched from the idea, not even wanting to think about such a thing.
Rem!
Kai stood abruptly, bowing respectfully to his father.
“Excuse me, Father, but I must find Rem.”
Hyun Jae made a gesture of dismissal.
“Certainly, Kai, it is in these moments that he needs you most.”
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