“Ah, thank you.”
Da-on nodded without drawing attention.
Never threaten one, even by accident. That meant: run if you see a crow.
No crows in my life from now on.’
At least while he was in Quantara, he resolved never to go near a crow. Maybe it was his imagination, but the crow’s eyes carved into the floor seemed to stare straight at him. Da-on shivered, for no good reason.
***
The delegation stayed in lodgings set aside within the palace. The whole building was already crowded with delegations from all sorts of countries. As Da-on gawked at the many races and styles of dress, he overheard the delegation members talking.
“We barely made it in time. Only two days left until the festival, right?”
“Right. I thought we’d be late, so I even wrote a will.”
The members muttered among themselves. Da-on, listening silently, pressed his lips together heavily. What. Nobody told me any of that.
“…”
It didn’t feel good. Da-on hadn’t even known the march was running late. He had simply walked as the Aruna delegation led him; they hadn’t given him a word of warning. If it was serious enough for people to write wills, wasn’t that a pretty serious situation?
We’re all in this together. How can they be like this? The inside of his mouth tasted bitter. The realization struck him out of nowhere: I can never be their colleague. All that shared hardship, and here he’d thought they’d been through thick and thin together.
“Aigo.”
To feel lonely in a crowd was a talent in itself. Once the sense of exclusion started, it grew without bounds. Things wouldn’t cooperate, and to make matters worse, Da-on alone was given a single room.
When everyone gathered in a big room to unpack, Da-on went alone to his narrow single. The small room he’d thought was consideration now looked different.
“This is complete outsider treatment.”
Da-on flopped onto the bed in the single room and stared at the ceiling, feeling low.
He didn’t know why he felt so hurt. He hadn’t shared any bond deep enough to expect anything.
Maybe nearly dying had brought out a dependency he’d never had before.
Da-on, well-practiced at disappointment, shook his head to clear the thought. Dwelling on it would only make him feel worse.
To distract himself from his sinking mood, Da-on stared fixedly at the ceiling.
The ceiling was so high he couldn’t properly make out the carvings in the granite. After squinting and straining his eyes for a long time, Da-on gave up on the carvings.
Probably more crows anyway. Smacking his lips, Da-on closed his eyes.
“Ugh…” Da-on gave a small groan.
Maybe it was from not sleeping the night before. Even with the sun high, sleep was washing over him. His whole body felt as heavy as if someone had piled lead ingots on it.
The exhaustion hit all at once partly because he had entered the palace. Contrary to the ominous rumors that had stung his ears, the palace’s atmosphere was all too peaceful. All the tension Da-on had been secretly holding melted away at once.
‘It’s fine to sleep a little.’
No one’s going to come looking for me anyway.
Better to sleep than to loiter around begging for attention. Da-on sank into sleep with a quiet sigh.
How much time had passed?
Da-on lifted his eyelids, feeling his body grow several times heavier. The sun had already fully set, and it was pitch dark all around.
“Nghh…”
With a whimpering sound, Da-on touched his forehead. A fever was raging like a fireball.
That’s strange. What’s happening to me?
The moment Da-on sensed something wrong, the room spun as if a dam had burst. His eyelids grew sluggish, and even his blinking slowed. Haa. Hot breath scraped his throat as it escaped.
‘Is it body aches?’
Da-on bleakly rubbed his cheek, beaded with cold sweat. Judging by his condition, this wasn’t a light fever that would pass quickly. Two days left until the festival, he’d said. Da-on bit his lip hard and lay back down.
With all the tension finally gone now that he’d reached his destination, the worst travel fatigue he’d ever experienced had arrived.
***
A wet cloth was laid on the forehead of Da-on, who was groaning under a thin blanket. Water droplets fell on his parched lips, and he felt hands softly massaging his limbs, which ached with muscle pain.
The delegation didn’t leave the sick Da-on alone. Tashishi, who came loaded with medicine and food, shook Da-on awake.
“I know you don’t even have the strength to get up, but eat some porridge. You recover faster if you eat something.”
“Ah…”
Tashishi’s voice seeped through his fever-dulled mind.
Food, whatever — he just wanted to lie there and sleep more. His whole body throbbed, and even his ragged breathing came out in shreds — escaping into sleep was the best option.
But Da-on propped himself up on his hand and sat up with effort. He couldn’t ignore the kindness.
“Th… thank you.”
Da-on responded in a deflated voice. A spoon was pushed in front of Da-on’s face as he bowed his head.
Without even checking what the food was, he opened his mouth first. What went in was something like a thin gruel.
He gulped down the nearly unseasoned, bland gruel. It was a relief there was nothing to chew.
Tashishi was patient. Waiting on Da-on as he slowly ate the gruel, he fed him until the bowl was empty, then wrung out the wet cloth.
“Your stomach isn’t upset, is it?”
“Yeees. Thank you…”
“Then that’s fine.”
Da-on bowed his head again in thanks. Tashishi said it was nothing and laid Da-on back on the bed.
Feeling the lukewarm wet cloth on his forehead, Da-on sniffled quietly.
In the orphanage, when I was sick I had to be sick alone. I’m getting at thirteen what I couldn’t get at thirteen, at twenty-three.
Maybe it was because he was sick. Tashishi’s nursing felt especially affectionate. The hurt he’d felt during the day had long been forgotten.
“Thank you, really…”
“Don’t mention it. Just focus on recovering.”
Tashishi clicked his tongue and wiped Da-on’s face with the wet cloth. The damp cloth’s touch wasn’t bad, so Da-on grinned broadly. His face, flushed red with high fever, looked comical.
He liked that someone was staying by his sickbed. He hated being sick, of course, but now that he was laid up, he felt like it would be fine to stay sick a little longer.
Da-on drifted back into unconsciousness inside a coziness he’d never felt before. …Just before falling fully asleep, he thought he heard Tashishi sigh in irritation. Must have been his imagination.
Da-on, who had been sick for two full days, only came to his senses late in the afternoon.
His fever hadn’t fully gone down yet, but he was well enough for daily life. Gradually, Da-on decided to wander around the palace rather than keep lying down.
“Ungh…”
When he pushed himself upright with effort, a dry towel dropped off his forehead. The delegation members must have tended him through the night again.
Da-on fiddled with the towel, dried stiff by the dry climate. The scratchy touch at his fingertips tugged at something in his heart.
If I’d had people like this by my side, would I have gone up to that rooftop that day?
Da-on admitted he had a deep-rooted lack of affection. It felt good, receiving something like love.
Just as he was sinking into sentimentality, faint music reached Da-on’s ears.
“Ah, today’s already…”
Only then did Da-on realize today was the festival day, and he hurried to his feet.
Maybe from getting up so suddenly. His head throbbed. Da-on held onto the wall and breathed for a moment, then moved his body.
“No wonder nobody was around.”
Even while he’d been groaning through his illness, he’d woken up now and then. Every time he opened his eyes, a different delegation member had been watching over him. No wonder it felt empty today. They must all have gone to see the festival.
Da-on put on the Quantaran clothes someone had neatly folded for him and stumbled out of the room.
These were his first Quantaran clothes. Ever since he’d been rescued in the desert, he’d only worn Aruna’s clothes. The Quantaran clothes he’d put on for the first time were… quite short and thin.
“Is this clothes or a rag?”
Da-on muttered to himself and pulled at the thin fabric to cover himself. The people outside the palace wore long clothes. It seemed the indoor custom in Quantara’s climate was for everyone to go around half-dressed like this.
It was a little embarrassing, but he’d think of himself as being at a formal swimming pool. At least it covered more than a swimsuit.
Da-on brainwashed himself not to be embarrassed as he walked. When he stepped outside the lodgings, the pouring sunlight washed his vision white.
“Ugh.”
Da-on reflexively covered his eyes and blinked hard.
As his eyes adjusted to the bright light, his vision slowly cleared. Da-on clicked his tongue at how the palace had changed yet again from two days ago.
“Where does all this money come from?” Da-on muttered to himself and approached a white pillar.
The pillar, mixing elegant curves and rigid straight lines, had necklaces hanging from it. Literally, necklaces.
Who in the world hangs necklaces on a building?
Decorations strung together from many jewels hung on every pillar, dozens on each. Surely the great His Imperial Majesty wouldn’t have hung up fake jewels. Truly, an extraordinary palace in many ways.
Light passing through the jewels of every color beautifully painted the white marble floor. To paint the all-white palace this way—
No wonder they worship crows.’ The people of this country were mad for glittering things, like crows.
Da-on decided he’d swipe at least one jewel before the festival ended, and hurried his steps. With the leftover fever, every step made his body feel like it was floating.
Before long, people started to appear. Maybe it was his foreign looks. Everyone he passed stared at him. Even dressed in proper clothes, Da-on’s appearance was far too different from the Quantarans.
There’s even a delegation from the east. Why stare at me like I’m a monkey at the zoo?
When it comes to racism, you must never cower first. Da-on straightened his posture and confidently approached the bustling banquet hall.
The festival grounds were livelier than he’d expected. Da-on clicked his tongue at the enormous crowd, then stopped in front of the banquet hall with a somewhat thrilled expression.
The moment he tried to enter the banquet hall, a soldier guarding the entrance blocked him.
“You cannot enter.”
Da-on’s eyes went wide — he’d never imagined being refused.
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