There was a small house thickly surrounded by fig trees. The front yard was just large enough to be filled if three tables were placed there with about twenty bottles arranged around them. The two-story villa was large enough for three or four families to live together, but only two families lived in this house. One family consisted of a husband and wife, two daughters, and the wife’s younger sister; the other of a husband and wife with one son and one daughter. The wife of the second family was pregnant. All the husbands were soldiers, and close friends too. The wives had become acquainted the previous year, but soon became good friends.
Today, the finest feast since the two families had begun living in the villa was laid out in the little front yard. There was a roast suckling pig stuffed with salted meat, grilled sausages, fish stuffed with walnuts, salsa made by mixing celery and pine nuts with wine and olive oil, boiled eggs, and bread. For dessert, they had prepared dried fruit topped with sour cream, and pudding sprinkled with costly black pepper. Fresh olives, peaches, pomegranates, and figs were laid out too.
It was the day the only son of the second family came of age, but the feast was a little too elaborate for a commoner’s coming-of-age ceremony. Yet no one in either family thought that. The women wore their best clothes and put flowers in their hair. The boy whose coming of age they were celebrating wore a crown upon his head. The food was all ready, but no one sat at the tables. The boy’s father had gone to receive an honored guest. Everyone wandered about the tables, unable to hide their excitement.
The guest came straight through the entrance without attendants. Since there was not even a servant to announce his arrival, at first they did not notice him at once. Only when the youngest girl cried out in surprise did everyone look toward him.
“It’s him!”
All the children of this house knew the guest’s face. The older girls’ faces flushed. In unadorned clothes, wearing only a single sword at his waist, Gene smiled.
“You’re all standing because of me? Please sit. Though that isn’t something for a guest to say.”
Hanbun, who had come with him, bowed and displayed his skill with words.
“We are deeply grateful that someone of such distinction has come all the way to such humble quarters.”
“They are not humble.”
When the pregnant mistress of the house approached and tried to kiss his hand, Gene lifted his hand to the height of her face. He had guessed it would be hard for her to bend at the waist. Once Gene sat, the feast began. Hanbun sat on Gene’s right, and Hanbun’s son, now an adult, on his left. Their other close friend Zamallik had gone on a distant mission and was due to return that very day, but had not arrived yet.
“You have prepared a splendid feast. I wonder whether I have burdened you needlessly by saying I would come.”
“Not at all, Your Highness. We always eat like this. One must eat at least this much for it to count as a meal.”
Only after they had begun living with their families in the capital had Gene learned how good Hanbun was at joking. Picking up some meat, Gene spoke.
“Really? Then I too must come here every day and eat like this.”
“That would be welcome. My wife would consider it an honor as well. And your complexion would improve.”
Gene had grown even thinner than he had been around the expedition the previous year, leaving his jaw and cheekbones starkly sharp. His face was far from princely, and when he went about alone without dressing up, many did not recognize him. But because he frequently visited this house, the neighbors knew him. Before long, more than ten people were peering in at the entrance. Zamallik’s wife beckoned them.
“You’ve come to celebrate Taibon’s coming of age. Come in. You haven’t come empty-handed, of course?”
Beside Gene, Taibon was so tense that he scarcely ate any of the rare delicacies spread before him. Gene looked at the boy.
“Last year, your father told me that about now, he intended to give up being a soldier and become a bread seller or a tanner.”
“Y-yes?”
“Which would be better? Staying in the family trade would be best, wouldn’t it?”
Hanbun’s father had been a tanner. As Taibon sat with only his eyes wide, unable to find an answer, Hanbun glanced at him and spoke.
“Hurry and beg forgiveness.”
Not knowing why, Taibon sprang from his chair and prostrated himself on the ground.
“I was wrong! Please forgive me!”
When Gene burst out laughing in disbelief, Hanbun laughed too. Gene spoke.
“You have the wrong person. Bow to your father. Say, ‘Thank you for raising me until now.’ And to your mother too, of course.”
As the feast reached its height, the neighbors gradually joined in, and the atmosphere grew more lively. Later, Gaiar came too, with his wife and son, and Asabel, whom he had taken in at the beginning of that year. Gaiar came beside Gene and reported.
“I have completed the investigation you ordered. I have narrowed it down to five places. One village in Piroas is the strongest possibility. Tomorrow, I will set out myself to inspect it.”
“You have worked hard. Rest.”
As the day began to fade, the children went inside. Most of the neighbors left too. Having drunk for the first time, Taibon grew bold and begged to hear the story of Gene’s fight with the Jandana warrior. When Gene told it briefly, Taibon thought about it intently for a long while, then asked where the greatsword was now.
“Where else? I left it at Saemgeuneul Castle.”
“Did you give it to someone?”
“No.”
“Then might I be allowed to have it?”
“Well. I don’t mind, but by now I think someone may have taken it.”
Then Zamallik appeared. All his family rose, and Gene rose too. Zamallik, just back from a long journey, was covered in dust. After sharing an embrace with Zamallik, Gene spoke.
“You must be tired. Eat first. You can report at your leisure.”
“No. I have good news.”
When Taibon moved aside, Zamallik sat beside Gene. Gaiar sat close by too. Zamallik’s wife brought fresh wine for the four. Zamallik merely moistened his lips before speaking.
“They say there is a legend recording such a place.”
Gene’s eyes changed. Zamallik’s expression was tense too. A year’s search was bearing fruit. Seeking the gate to paradise he had seen in his dream, they had thoroughly searched the southern kingdoms, beginning with the lands where the Jandana lived, but there had not even been a story of any similar place. Just as they turned the search northward, Zamallik had visited Delphinad, the great city known as the capital of the world. In that place, where people and products gathered from every part of the continent, there was a pantheon serving all the gods and a library said to hold every book. If they could not travel through all the unknown lands of the north, unlike the comparatively well-known south, the wisest method of inquiry was to go to Delphinad, which lay between north and south.
“They say there is no book that is not in that library. The general collections are open to the citizens, and rare books are shown only to those with special qualifications. There are also things called schools in the library, which study every kind of learning. Scholars of the influential schools among them seem able to see the rare books. Then the stories spread through the schools’ students. I met one such person and heard a story about a place called the Navel of the World.”
They said that at the Navel of the World was a mysterious paradise unlike anywhere else in this world. They called it “the Garden.” It had existed from the very beginning until the present day, but its door was closed until someone qualified should come. It was said that within the gate, eternal summer and eternal winter existed together. Some said that once inside, one could never come out again. Others said one could emerge only after hundreds of years had passed, and others said it was so wonderful inside that no one ever thought of coming out.
Gene still remembered the scenery in his dream vividly. There was no doubt that of all they had learned until now, the legend Zamallik had found came closest to Gene’s dream. They had only failed to learn where it was. But if they could find someone at the library who had seen the rare book in person, perhaps there would be more clues.
Gene nodded and patted Zamallik’s shoulder. He had intended to go to Delphinad someday in any case. Before his death, his master, the gladiator, had asked one thing of him. Gene intended to go to Delphinad and keep that promise after he had grown enough to show at least a part of his master’s skill. Perhaps that day was not so far away.
“Your Highness, does this mean that in a few years, we will go and live in Delphinad?”
“Perhaps.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve heard so many stories about what a remarkable place it is. They say it’s so good for educating children?”
Unlike his father, Gaiar’s son seemed very interested in scholarship. Those who had once lived without even seeing their families’ faces were now deciding their children’s education. Gene chuckled and tilted his cup. Once Zamallik had eaten his fill, the tables were cleared. After that, it was time for the adults’ night banquet. Strong wine and light food were brought out. With Gene’s permission, Gaiar smoked. Gene stared quietly into the lamp.
“Your Highness has changed a great deal.”
When Gaiar spoke, the other two nodded as well. Around the expedition, there had still been a boy trying hard to play the part of an adult. Now, before they knew it, he had changed into a man to whom no one could speak lightly. Having become Gene’s close associates and begun going in and out of the palace, the three soldiers heard all sorts of rumors. That relations between Gene and his mother, the royal consort, had grown noticeably worse. That when the queen criticized the small direct unit Gene kept under his command, Gene had gone to her in person and warned her. That the prince had made his wishes about his own quarters so clear that even the king now asked his opinion before issuing orders. The greatest result of all this was the indefinite postponement of the royal marriage. Even among commoners, if they had property, it was rare for a man to be unmarried at twenty-three. For a prince to be alone was a very awkward thing indeed. They knew that the consort who had spent ten years with him had died saving Gene’s life, but even they did not know the story beyond that.
“Your Highness. May I venture to say something?”
When Hanbun suddenly spoke, Gene nodded.
“Even if not now, please form a family someday.”
They all thought the same, but had not been able to bring themselves to say it. Gene did not reply.
“For someone in a position like yours, perhaps a beloved family often becomes a wound. In truth, it happens even to men like me. If it had not been for you, a happy day like today would not have come. My son would have resented a father who never stayed beside him, and my wife would never have stopped sighing because I returned empty-handed. Unable to bear it, I might have drunk cheap liquor and caused trouble.”
“That is a family life you have never lived.”
“I am merely an ordinary husband and father. But wounds, though their shapes differ, seem to be everywhere. And so is the remedy.”
Gene nodded. Rather than accepting the meaning, he accepted the feeling with which it was said. Sometimes Gene asked himself whether he had loved Thea, and whether it was because he had loved her that he was like this. He also asked whether he intended to remain like this forever. Neither answer came easily. Just as it was difficult to decide whether to take revenge upon the queen and become Pallasos’s enemy. Gene wore his and Thea’s wedding rings together on a necklace. Sometimes he thought himself ridiculous for being so sentimental. At the same time, he thought Thea would certainly be happy. Thea, who had found that doll beneath the bed and held it in her arms.
What was certain was that he would no longer be confined within a map of fate someone else had drawn. If he married again, it would be because he himself wished to, not because his mother or the royal palace required it. The same went for becoming crown prince, and becoming king.
As the night deepened, the drink spread through him. Leaning his head against the back of his chair and closing his eyes, he heard his men murmuring at his ears. Then, suddenly, Gaiar’s words reached him. He was drifting into sleep, and they seemed to come from very far away.
“When you go to Delphinad, might there be a splendid young lady waiting? A strong, intelligent young lady who loves you whether you are a prince or not.”
<End of “The Fir and the Hawk.” Continued in “The Heirs.”>
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