Abandoned Gift

THE YEAR 1622
I came out for shopping with my grandfather on this very chilly afternoon. The market is brimming with people rushing to buy things and get home before sunset. It's a given because people wouldn't want to get robbed on their way back home furthermore after dusk it gets dark quite quickly. The amount of government generals that raid our homes is increasing day by day *sigh* wait... I haven't introduced myself, have I? How rude of me! Well, I'm Kwon Taesoo from the Kingdom of Questia, and the person walking next to me is my grandfather or as I call him 'Appa'. My parents went missing 8 years ago when I was only 5. Fortunately or unfortunately, on that evening I and my Grandpa were out of the house shopping for groceries just like today. People said that His majesty, Kim Gwinam is behind the disappearance of my parents. But that may be a rumour...because if my parents loved me they wouldn't leave me alone like this but still, I consider myself lucky to have Appa by my side, for he has been taking care of me ever since that incident.

“Why are you slouching, Young boy? Hold those groceries properly or they might fall out of the bag." I rolled my eyes knowing now grandpa will start with his 'back in my day' talk,

"When I was your age, I would lift heavy buckets of water on my shoulders day and night!" .....he said as expected.

"Why don't you carry these bags then, Grandpa?" I said jokingly figuring out he would get irritated. Appa was used to all my sarcastic remarks as I was used to his. He ignored what I said and kept walking forward. While walking by a scrap shop I noticed something very old, is that a sword? I asked Appa to take a look at it. '' Appa would you take a look at that? I think it's a sword and that too a very old one.'' As soon as I mentioned a sword, Appa's eyes lit up with excitement. By profession, he was a swordsmith. We went to the shop to take a closer look at the sword. I noticed that most of the sword had rusted, and the cloth on its handle had also worn down. Appa was no longer looking excited, rather he had tears forming in his eyes. I was confused. He purchased the sword from the shopkeeper and told me "Let us go back home" "but we still have veggies to purchas-"

Appa stopped me mid-sentence and looked into my eyes and said "Do you want to know how I met your grandmother? I have a lot to tell about her." He smiled.

'Why did he mention Grandma out of nowhere?'

I thought and agreed to head back home. We reached our house before sunset. We live in a cottage surrounded by vines, with a well on its left and on its right a small room for my Grandpa's sword making. We stepped into the cottage and Appa asked me to make some tea, which I did merrily because tea is the only thing I know how to make perfect!

While drinking tea, he brought back the topic of grandma.

"You know your grandma, she was a military general"

WHAT?! I spit out the tea not able to digest what I just heard. "you must be jokin-" I stopped mid-sentence because grandpa was giving me that "look" that I'm sure everyone has received from their parents at least once in their lifetime. He continued, "Bora was my loved one's name. Her father was a military general and he was fond of my craftsmanship, he told me I could get better at my craft and so I went along with him to his town, Hanata. What a lovely place that was!" I smiled noticing Appa get so delighted and enthusiastic talking about his youth. "Hanata was home to vast plains and clear lakes. When I reached there I met someone unexpected."

"Was it the king?" I asked excitedly to which Grandpa quickly replied "King was not someone great to meet" Huh? why did grandpa talk like that about the king as though, he despises him?

" 'Master of Swords' is what everyone called her, no sword in the world could be as perfect as the ones she made. I had never seen such fine craftsmanship, ever" But, how does grandma's father know someone so talented and well-known? "Is it too confusing for you? I can see it on your face." grandpa said while I quickly changed my posture and asked "Who was the 'Master of Swords?" grandpa chuckled and responded "Don't spit out the tea again, she was your great-grandma" I was too stunned to speak, my reaction made grandpa laugh and he continued, "One day, my teacher's daughter came into the workplace while we were occupied making swords. Her daughter began throwing a fit saying she wants to follow in her father's footsteps and become a military general. Can you guess who that girl was?" I pondered over it for a moment and then it clicked "That was grandma!! " and boy, I was so happy to guess the answer right. Grandpa told me about how he met my grandma and how they fell in love and all and all, I kept on becoming more and more invested in the story but then...

"I, Bora and your mom were a small happy family living near the lake of Hanata. Bora was successful in fulfilling her dream to be a military general. Little did we know what was coming next would destroy our family" I didn't wish to interrupt grandpa while he was speaking. "Kim Gwinam was crowned as the king and soon Questia's economy was disrupted. He was a Kleptomaniac, always ordering his men to take away our belongings and make our life miserable." Grandpa sighed and took a sip of his tea "So your grandma, along with the other four generals went to the neighbouring country, Konkette, to ask for help" The air in the room got heavy and I, all tensed up to know what happened next. "They planned to protect Questia from the cursed rule of Gwinam by letting Konkette wage a sudden war on Questia and bring it under Konkette's rule." "Wouldn't that be considered treason?" I asked to which grandpa replied "Treason was a better option than surviving under Gwinam's rule" If they had planned everything so excellently then why is His Majesty Kim Gwinam still the king? cross that 'his majesty' out, I do not have any respect left Gwinam. "The news reached Gwinam, as one of the generals involved in the plan was his spy. He leaked the information to Gwinam and..." the room went silent for a while until grandpa started speaking again "He started killing each of the general's family. When he came for ours, we did not have anyone to protect us. Your grandma, as I said was a very brave woman, she took this sword" He said holding the old rusted sword in his wrinkled hands "And fought a group of assains by herself while telling me to take your mother, who was 4 months old at the time, and to run away" Tears started to form in grandpa's eyes. "I ran as fast as I could, not because I wanted to but because I had to. Such a coward I was” He handed me the sword and told me to take a closer look at its golden three-petaled flower hilt, “Each petal represents one of us, Bora, I and my precious daughter, Bomi” Slowly the tears he was holding back all this time started to flow...

"All this time I had been hoping Bora would still be alive..." Grandpa paused for a moment and started speaking again "but knowing that she has passed away-" how is grandpa so sure about it?, "but what if there's a chance Grandma is still alive?" I said trying to cheer him up. "No matter what happened she would not have let go of this sword, the fact that this sword was abandoned means the owner has passed away my child, My wife has passed away" and so grandpa started crying harder. I couldn't stop the tears flowing from my eyes either. Hesitantly, I asked one last question, "Who made that sword?" but I was met with silence, Grandpa stopped crying and replied after a few minutes,

"I made that sword. It was my first wedding anniversary gift for her"