Though lower in numbers the evil faction is equal to the righteous faction in strength. This is largely due to the fact that they usually gather and store Qi more quickly than the righteous factions. This ability does come at a cost. One they are more than happy to pay.

  “Thank you for seeing me,” Min said as he took a seat on the floor. He sat facing the elderly monk. “I apologize for coming with no notice.”

  “We’re not some noble house, very few of our visitors give any notice,” the old man said, “frankly we prefer it that way.”

  Min smiled. He’d always liked visiting the temples of the celestial dragons. The monks had been kind to him when he was a child. He just hoped that they would have some answers for him.

  “I have some questions for you,” Min started. “However, nothing about this conversation can leave this room.”

  The stances of the two monks standing behind the older monk shifted in response. The older monk sat up a little straighter, no longer looking so old. YeJun and HaJoon also shifted. Min had warned them ahead of time that they were not to underestimate the monks and followers of the celestial dragons.

  “We are not so loose lipped as to speak of what the carrier of the Celestial Golden Dragon’s Blessing would ask us.” the old monk said. He sounded a little offended. “If you so desire, I Seok-Im, Kija will swear a Qi binding oath.”

  “That won’t be necessary, master Kija,” Min replied. The shock was clear on the faces of the two monks behind the old man. It seems Kija’s master rank was not well known. Any martial artist worth their salt would have been able to tell. Min hadn’t needed to activate his god's blessed eyes to notice the intense Qi surrounding the old man.

  “These children will not speak of it without my permission.” Kija said.

  “Thank you,” Min replied. He’d just told the old man it wasn’t necessary… oh well. Maybe this was for the best. “Do you know of a clan with white hair and light eyes?”

  Though none of the three monks said anything, their reactions told him they did. It also told him that it was supposed to be a secret. Maybe this was the correct route afterall. This definitely looked promising.

  “What is your interest in this?” Kija asked.

  “To hopefully reunite a family.” Min told him honestly.

  “You’ve met someone with those features?!” Kija leaned forward his palms on the wooden floor. He wasn’t bothering to even try hiding his excitement. “When, where, how old are they?”

  “A friend of mine was separated from his family as a child.” Min replied. “He is not aware I am looking for traces of his family.”

  Kija turned to one of the two monks behind him. The younger of the two. “Myung, bring Nabi here.”

  The youngman bowed and exited quickly.

  “Are you sure master?” the other monk said. He sat beside Kija now.

  “Could you tell me approximately how old this friend of yours is?” Kija asked. He raised his hand to silence any further questions from his companion.

  “Older than me, but younger than our emperor.” Min replied. He didn’t feel comfortable telling them Tae’s exact age. They were far more interested than he’d expected.

  Kija nodded, as if this was information of the greatest interest to him. His eyes glinted with interest. There was an intensity that had Min wondering if they were looking for someone like Tae.

  “Do you know how old he was when he was separated from his family?” Kija asked. “Or what season it was?”

  Min held up his hands to forestall more questions. “I don’t have his permission to share anything. All I can tell you is he was a very young child. His father was killed first, his mother died later. All he knows is that he inherited his eyes and hair colour from his parents.”

  “Can you tell me what colour his eyes are?” a new voice, female, asked. The door opened and an older woman entered. Min guessed she was about his mother’s age. Oddly enough her head was wrapped in a scarf of some kind, covering her hair and eyebrows.

  “Silvery-grey, but I’m told they used to be blue.” Min answered.

  “What made you come to our temple to ask these questions?” the woman, Min was assuming this was Nabi, and the younger monk from earlier followed her in the room. The woman sat beside Kija.

  “It was the last name the monks in this temple carry actually.” Min replied. “It’s similar to his.”

  “May I ask what his family name is?” Nabi asked. Her voice was very quiet. As if she was scared to hope.

  “Seok, his last name is Seok.” Min answered.

  Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. Min noticed that Kaji also had tears in his eyes. Min had just hoped to maybe get some answers, or a good lead, this was so much more than he’d bargained for.

  “Is…” Nabi began hesitantly. “Is his name Tae-Hwan?”

  “Yes…” Min said.

  Nabi burst into tears and leaned into Kija’s shoulder. The older man held her gently as tears streamed down his own face. He looked directly at Min.

  “We didn't dare hope he still lived.” Kija said.

  “But…” Min said, puzzled. “The whole nation knows of his name.”

  “Yes, we all know of the dragon general.” the still unnamed monk said. “However, all reports said he had black hair.”

  “The clan you seek.” Kija said quietly. “Is the Seok Clan.”

  “And where can I find them?” Min asked.

  Nabi sat back up. Her face was still wet with her tears, but she seemed to have composed herself. “North. In the sacred mountains of the Celestial White Jade Dragon.”

  Min stared at her in shock. Only one group of people was allowed to live there. If these really were Tae’s family then Tae… Min shook his head. Better not to get ahead of himself. He still didn’t know if this really was Tae’s family, or if Tae wanted to be reunited with them.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Since the temple has a connection to them,” Min began after a moment’s silence. “Would you look into if they had a small family unit of three go missing a bit over twenty years ago?”

  “They may send a representative in response.” Kija said.

  “That’s fine. Though I can’t promise I will be in the city when the representative arrives.” Min told him.

  “Would the time they’d have gone missing be approximately twenty-four years ago?” Nabi asked.

  “Based on my personal speculation, yes.” Min answered.

  Nabi nodded and began undoing her scarf.

  “Nabi!” the monk who Min still did not know the name of, said in shock.

  “Hush Yi.” Nabi ordered. The man immediately looked at the floor. His jaw clenched.

  Nabi finished undoing her scarf and slid it off her head. Min’s eyes widened as he took in her hair. It was the same colour as the undyed roots of Tae’s hair.

  “Based on your reaction,” Nabi said calmly, “He is one of us.”

  “He dyes his hair.” Min said quietly. “I’ve never seen what it looks like without the dye.”

  Nabi just smiled at him. She then turned to Kija. “Send a missive to the clan head. Tell him to send a guardian with the representative.”

  Kija nodded. Min had thought Kaji was the leader in the temple, but it seemed Nabi outranked him. Min wasn’t sure what this guardian person was or why they needed to come, but it seemed they suspected Tae was someone of great importance to the clan.

  “He doesn’t know I’ve made inquiries.” Min said. “I was just trying to get some information I could bring to him. I’m not sure if he even wants to find his family.”

  “I wouldn’t blame him.” Nabi said. “Even with just the tales we know of the war I doubt his life has been easy.”

  Min gave her a small smile. Just enough of one to let her know that she was correct, and that the tales didn’t tell the half of it. She bit her lip and Min realized she was trying not to cry again.

  “Send a messenger to my palace when you hear back from the clan then.” Min said. “I’ll let him know about it then, and if he isn’t interested I’ll still meet with them myself.”

  Nabi and Kija both nodded. This had been a much bigger meeting than Min had expected it to be. He began to wonder if he’d gotten in over his head here. He also wasn’t sure how mad Tae was going to be with him for poking around his past. It felt like he’d stumbled across something that was far bigger than he was able to deal with on his own.

  ***

  Tae finished writing the letter. He waited impatiently for the ink to dry. Once it had he quickly rolled it up and sealed it. He then put it in a protective case and carried it downstairs. Jin and Rin were doing prep-work for when they’d open later. Tae waved at them before hurrying out the door.

  It didn’t take him long to make his way to the building that housed curriers, scribes, and the guard. This particular branch of the guard focused on communication. They still patrolled the streets and kept the peace, but they were more a hub of information than anything else. Tae entered the building and stepped directly up to the counter.

  “I’d like to send a missive to the Seong clan.” Tae said to the scribe on the other side of the counter. The small man was wearing similar garb to what Min generally wore when he visited.

  The scribe rattled off the price without even looking up. Tae placed the coins and scroll case on the counter. The scribe then looked up, surprise clear in his wide brown eyes. Tae placed a few more coins on the counter.

  “Is that enough for it to be sent out today?” Tae asked.

  “We’ll get it sent out right away!” the scribe said earnestly. He jotted down an order, wrote up a receipt, counted the coins again, handed a copy of the receipt to Tae, the coins disappeared into a drawer, and the man hurried off with the scroll case.

  Tae tucked the receipt in his pocket and made his way back out of the building. His request had probably caused a bit of a stir, but he wanted to be able to head with Min to the Seong clan directly after the birthday celebrations. He’d met with Min’s family a few times now, and it felt like it was time for Min to meet his as well. They may not be his blood, but they were the closest thing he had to a family.

  He sighed as he walked through the streets back towards the restaurant. There were stories he was going to have to tell Min before they arrived at the Seong clan. Thankfully it took about a week to get to the Seong clan from the capital. Plenty of time for him to share the stories with Min. He didn’t want his lover to be surprised by what Shin and the others were sure to say about him. He also needed to be the one to tell Min about Hyuk.

  Tae entered the restaurant. He hurried upstairs to his quarters to put the receipt away before going back to the kitchen to help with prep work. Tae put extra care into his work. He was going to be closing shop for a while so he wanted to be sure that his patrons were happy. Prep-work changed to filling orders. Tae had instructed his workers to let patrons know that the shop would be closing during the banquet and wouldn’t open again until a bit after the festivities were over.

  Tae stayed in the kitchen during the next several days. He was staying clean shaven and didn’t want to expose his face here. So Rin and Jin had both been instructed on how to answer the patrons questions. He’d told them to tell the truth, he was closing up while he went to go visit his family.

  “Hwan,” Rin interrupted his thoughts. Tae looked up from the cutting board. “Bora and the others are wanting to say hi to you before they leave. It’s the last night before we close up for a while.”

  “Tell them to stay until closing then.” Tae said. He couldn’t believe there were only two days until the banquet now.

  It didn’t take long before it was time to close. The last of the customers had left. When Rin and Jin came to tell him everyone else was gone, Tae had them take over cleaning up in the kitchen for a bit. Tae hung up his apron and headed out onto the floor.

  Bora, Hanna, and the others were watching the door to the kitchen. Tae met their surprised expressions with a smile. None of them had recovered by the time he reached their table, so he pulled over a chair and sat down with them.

  “I heard you wanted to see me before you left tonight.” Tae said.

  “You have been holding out on us!” Hana accused. Tae chuckled.

  “Can you imagine how much I’d have gotten harassed if I’d left the kitchen like this?” Tae asked her.

  Hanna rolled her eyes, but the others smiled. They understood exactly what he meant. People in this side of the city tended to proposition attractive people.

  “Why shave the beard then?” Bora asked.

  “Decided my partner ought to know just how handsome I am.” Tae winked.

  “Partner,” Yue jumped on the topic. She was younger than Hana or Bora, and easily excited. “You have to tell us everything!”

  “Yue!” Bora scolded. Hana was pouting now. It seemed she’d really hoped he’d take her up on her offer one day.

  “It’s fine, Bora, I don’t mind.” Tae replied. “He’s even more stunning to look at than I am.”

  “Wait…” Bora said. “The beautiful scribe?”

  Tae just smiled.

  “If it’s him, I can accept it.” Hana said. “If it’s not…”

  “It’s him.” Tae laughed.

  “He’s beautiful enough to have us beat.” Hana replied, sighing. “But Hwan, why didn’t you tell us your inclinations were that way?”

  “Not exactly something an owner brings up with their customers.” Tae told her.

  “And here we thought we were friends.” Yue sighed dramatically.

  “Yue…” Bora said. “I’m sorry, Hwan, I don’t know what’s gotten into these two tonight.”

  “Bora, it’s alright.” Tae reassured her. “I can understand why they’re upset. Not only am I closing up shop for a while, I never told them I was taken. You three are more than just customers to me, I should have said something sooner.”

  “Everyone has a right to keep things about themselves private.” Bora said.

  “So, you are leaving to visit your family…” Yue said. “You taking your loverboy with you?”

  “Yes,” Tae smiled. “That is the whole point. I want to introduce him to them.”

  “They’re not going to mind that he’s… well, male?” Hana asked.

  “They already know my… preferences.” Tae answered. “They won’t bat an eye at that part of it.”

  “Sounds like there’s another aspect that might surprise them though.” Yue said.

  “Possibly, if my adoptive brother hasn’t already said something to them.” Tae replied.

  “I’m glad you’ve found someone.” Bora said. “You look much happier now.”

  “Thank you,” Tae said smiling. “I think my family is going to feel the same way about it.”

  Tae remembered only too clearly how Shin had reacted. Shin had tried to throw him and Min together the moment he’d realized Tae was attracted to the man. Tae knew some of the clan would know who Min was by now, but Tae personally hoped that Shin hadn’t told anyone except his wife and father. He was kind of looking forward to the surprise on his other friends’ faces when he introduced Min to them. Now that he thought of it, that was something Shin would enjoy as well. Seems there was a good chance Min’s identity was still secret afterall.