On her tenth birthday, she and her mother had sneaked into the kitchen and chased away the servants. They’d made meat dumplings and fried rice and finished it all off with sweet rice cakes filled with delicious red bean paste. She remembered laughing with her mother at her own pathetic dumplings. Kira had filled her dumplings with too much meat and the wrappers had fallen apart. Kira had eaten her mother’s perfect crescent-shaped dumplings while her mother claimed to enjoy Kira’s misshapen ones.
“Why are you eating the bad ones, Mother?” Kira asked.
“These are not bad at all! These are the best dumplings in the world, because my darling daughter made them for me. Even your father would agree with me.”
“But not my brothers.” Kira giggled.
“Yes, even them!” Her mother laughed with her. “Remember, it doesn’t matter what it looks like, only how good it tastes.”
She missed her mother so much.
Someone sat next to her and pulled her into a warm embrace. She rested her face against Jaewon’s chest, breathing in his clean scent. The loneliness was chased away as she held on to him. There was a great comfort to be had in listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath. He was her solace in times of despair. She’d known him for only seven months and yet she couldn’t imagine a time without him. How had he forced his way into her heart like this?
“When you were up in the Tiger’s Nest Temple and I saw the mountain crumble down, I vowed that if you made it out alive, I would never leave your side again,” Jaewon said.
“You’re going to drive me crazy,” she griped.
“Too bad! I nearly had a heart attack worrying over you. I’m not going through that again. I love you too much.”
There were the words again. Kira straightened up, wiping away her tears.
“Will you run away from me every time I say I love you?”
“No, it’s just that I’m not sure how to respond.” Kira stared at her feet, afraid to look at him.
Jaewon cupped her face and kissed her, soft and gentle. He pulled away, leaving her aching for more, and stared into her eyes with a serious expression.
“I don’t need you to say anything. I just need you to be with me. Can you do that for me? No matter how tiresome I might be?”
This time Kira reached up and kissed him.
Kira met with Brother Woojin privately to show him the last of the treasures.
“The Dragon King warned me that the belt is too powerful a weapon and should not be used at all. He told me the greatest danger is that the Demon Lord would use me and the belt to destroy the world.”
The monk gazed with reverence at the treasure.
“These are the fourteen master dragons of the heavens. To wear this belt is to have the power to unleash them.” He touched each of the jade dragons. “No wonder the Dragon King doesn’t want it to be used. All fourteen dragons unleashed on the world at the same time would be too powerful, indeed! Look at them! The dragons of the sea, earth, air, fire. And the four dragons of the winds. This one is the volcano dragon and here is the dragon of the frozen tundra. Lastly, these are the dragons of the north, south, east, and west.”
Kira’s eyes lingered on the dragon of the east, a silver dragon that reminded her of the Dragon King.
“This treasure is the most powerful piece in the world,” the monk said. “And you must protect it carefully.”
When he tried to place the belt into her hands, Kira pulled away and shook her head.
“I am weak. I cannot be responsible for such a dangerous weapon. I must ask you to hold on to it. Maybe we should send it to Dragon Springs Temple. I am now the worst person in the world to keep it safe!”
“My dear girl, I think you do yourself a grave disservice to think this way,” Brother Woojin said. His face was troubled as he grasped her resisting hand and pressed the belt into it.
“Fate has brought the belt into your keeping. It is your duty and your responsibility now, no one else’s.” He pressed his hands over hers, holding them still. “Whatever is to happen now is up to you. To push this responsibility away may end up causing a worse outcome. But if you maintain control as the Dragon Musado, you will fulfill your destiny, whatever it may be.”
“What if my destiny is to destroy the world?” she asked in despair.
“Then that is what is meant to happen,” he replied. “But that does not mean the end of life. A new world will grow. Perhaps a better one. We do not know what is to happen.”