Dohae

The sea always told me when strangers approached. Long before the watchtowers spotted the sails, I had stood on the western balcony overlooking the harbor, feeling the warm ocean wind shift against my skin. Hundreds of ships entered Haesong each year—merchants, diplomats, wandering scholars—but something about today's arrival unsettled the calm that had followed me since dawn. "My king." Chief Chamberlain Min bowed deeply behind me. "The envoy from the northern kingdom has reached the palace gates." I kept my eyes on the horizon for another moment before turning away.