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Tae, Tae, Tae.  That name sounded so very familiar.  But why?  Had he been mentioned by someone in the village?  I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I asked another question.

“What’s your wife’s name?”

“Lumi.”

Curious.  That sounded familiar as well.  But this time, I could pinpoint why.  There was one single soul in the village besides my father who didn’t treat me like dirt.  He owned the relic shop.  He was a slender man with light blonde hair.  I was often in the relic shop, and he was sleeping a lot of the time when I was there.  On the occasional time that I’d visit when he was awake, he would invite me to sit down for a cup of tea.  He had loved to tell me stories.  Most of those stories had revolved around him and his sister, Lumi.

“You wouldn’t happen to have known a Yoongi, would you?”

Tae nodded. “You know him?”

“He owns a relic shop back in Aine.  He would tell me stories about him and his sister, Lumi.”

“Yup.  That would be our Yoongi.  Has he ever mentioned an Azar?”

“Azar?  No.  He’s never mentioned an Azar.”

Tae hummed and nodded. “I see.”

Clearly, I was missing something.  It was unsure what it was, though.

“Would you like a room at the inn?”

“Ah…I have no money with me.”

“That’s all right.  It was pay enough to see someone from the other side of the border.  Do you plan on going back soon?”

“Of course not!  Everyone there hates me!”

“Hate you?  Why?”

“Because something is wrong with my hair.”

He looked me up and down before raising an eyebrow. “I see nothing wrong with it.  What is their criticism?”

“It’s not dark enough,” I stated plainly. “Either that or my skin is too dark.”

“Nothing is wrong with your hair or your skin.  You look perfect.”

I looked up at him in surprise. “How?” I cried out suddenly. “I’m anything but perfect.  I look like no one else.  Everyone else is either all pale or all dark.  And besides, who has purple eyes?”

I could tell I’d caught him off guard. “Your eyes are purple?” He looked me straight in the eyes for a moment before exclaiming, “Ah!  They are!  How lovely!”

I frowned. “Please don’t make fun of me…” I whispered.

“I’m not making fun of you.  I’m serious.  You’re very unique.  There’s no flaw in that.”

Just then, the door to the inn opened.  In stepped a woman with the lightest blonde hair I had ever seen.  It was almost as pale as the wall next to her.  The only thing that saved her face from being completely white was her big, bright blue eyes and the freckles that dusted her cheeks.

“Do we have a visitor?” she asked Tae.

Tae nodded enthusiastically. “She’s from Chanda.”

The woman looked at me quizzically. “Really?  How did you cross the border?”

“I just…walked across it.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Tae, clearly wanting an explanation.

“Remember the prophecy?”

It was all he said, but it seemed to put the woman at ease.  It gave me many, many questions, however.  She turned back to me.

“Did someone send you?”

“My father did.”

“And what did he tell you when he sent you?”

“Well…” I withdrew the letter from my bag.  I held it out to her. “This is all he left me.”

The woman and Tae exchanged a glance before both looking at me again.

“Is he gone?” Tae asked gently.

“Um…” Tears started to form in my eyes. “Yes…he died…two days ago…”

I heard a soft “oh.”  I just stared down at my lap.  This was embarrassing.  No one ever cared.  It was odd to have someone who didn’t scoff at me and walk away.

A moment later, I felt the letter being taken out of my hand.  I looked up to see the woman reading it over.

“Your name is Odelle?”

Out of all the things on that piece of paper, she had chosen to ask about that?

I nodded dumbly, not entirely sure what else to do.

“What was in the box?”

I motioned to my clothes. “This outfit.”

She nodded and handed me back the letter before turning to Tae. “Let’s go talk in the office.”

Oh boy.

I sat there by myself for a few minutes.  I didn’t even have a clue who this lady was.  There was a possibility that she was Lumi, but if she was, she was nothing how Yoongi had described her.  Then again, that had apparently been hundreds of years ago.  She might’ve changed since he’d seen her last.  One thing I couldn’t help but wonder was how a bubbly and friendly man like Tae was married to her…if she really was who I thought she was, at least.

I heard the front door being pushed open again, and another man walked in.  On second thought, maybe he wasn’t yet a man.  As he looked at me, I noted that he still had a baby face.  He also had dark hair and tanned skin.  How had I not seen him on my way into the village?  Surely, he’d been somewhere out there.  He offered me a slight smile before walking up to the counter and ringing the bell.  A moment later, Tae popped out of the back room.

“Oh!  Jungkook!  Can you handle the front desk for a few minutes?  I’m having a chat with Lumi.”

Ah.  I was right.  That was Lumi.

Jungkook nodded curtly at Tae and positioned himself behind the welcome desk.  He looked over at me.

“You’re not from here, are you?”