"It was the biggest abalone I've ever seen! I would've been rich if I had been able to get it!" Mari let out a loud groan and let her head slump onto the tabletop next to her rice.

Sam Yeonri, the owner of the aforementioned table, whacked the young diver on the back of the head as she passed. "Head up. You're getting water all over the place." Given the morning diving session and the storm that was now roaring outside, Mari's hair was still dripping salty rainwater that collected in the grooves and dips of the table's surface. Further damage was in the trail of water dotted all the way from the door to Mari's table—it wouldn't do to have customers slipping in her restaurant.

With a martyred sigh, Mari propped her head up with the heel of her palm and stared glumly into her rice.

"But if I just hadn't gotten stuck..."

Yeonri set down a plate of fish at another customer's table before returning to her foolish niece. "Oh, stop complaining—you're lucky Jin went back to save you," she reprimanded. "You know how dangerous it is to be out in the water during a storm. If it weren't for that girl, you'd now be a water ghost and I'd be short a niece. Thankfully, I prayed to the spirits this morning."

"I know, I wasn't thinking, imo," Mari grumbled and stuck her spoon into the rice before taking a giant bite. "Eunbi wouldn't stop yelling at me. I won't do something like that again, I promise."

"Speaking of the other haenyeo, where are they?" Yeonri asked, looking towards the restaurant door. Usually the women would stop by the restaurant after hauling in their catch to warm up, eat, and catch up on the latest town news.

"It's probably just the weather," Mari commented, adding some vegetables to her plate.

Yeonri bit back a scoff, looking around at the many empty tables. Aside from Mari and the single customer she had just served, the establishment was empty. She could understand that the bad weather kept the other villagers away, but the divers were wet already, weren't they? What harm would a trek through a little more water do?

The door to the restaurant opened, but it was only one person, and not any of the divers. Yeonri did her best to hide her disappointment and directed the new customer to an empty table.

"What can I get you?" she asked the man. A fisherman, from the state and smell of his rough clothes. She had seen him around town a few times before, outside what she assumed was his home, near the cove where the haenyeo worked.

"Tofu soup," the man grumbled, brushing raindrops off his shoulders. "Extra spicy, with lots of shellfish."

Yeonri frowned at his terse tone, but turned to pass through the door at the back of the establishment. The kitchen was draftier than the rest of the building, or maybe it just seemed that way because the quiet in the room made the rain outside all the more audible. But the familiar smell of cooking fires, peppers, and rice made it also seem more welcoming, somehow.

A large, dark figure was crouched over one of the large pots at the back of the kitchen, stirring the steaming contents inside.

"Starting to miss me already? You've only been gone five minutes," the figure said at the sound of Yeonri's footsteps. A bearded face looked up from the pot and gave a teasing grin.

"No, but we did get another customer," Yeonri replied with excessive cheer. Her husband's eyes narrowed at her response, and she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Tofu soup, extra hot with added shellfish. I love you."

"If you were trying to sound romantic, it didn't quite work," he replied. "Usually it helps if you don't say it right after an order."

Yeonri rolled her eyes. "Forgive me. I'll try whispering it next time."

She headed back to the heavy rough wooden door.

"Leaving already?" he called out.

"If the haenyeos ever show up, I'll be back before you know it," Yeonri assured him with a grin. "Now, wish me luck as I try to cheer up a grumpy customer."

Her husband snorted. "Luck has nothing to do with it. You're either successful or you're not."

"If you were trying to sound encouraging, it didn't quite work," she laughed, before pulling open the door.

Mari was still staring glumly into her meal.

"Eat up before it gets cold," Yeonri ordered, heading towards the fisherman. Mari reached out a hand and grabbed her sleeve before she could pass.

"Imo, I've been thinking," her niece began. "What if it's my fault the others aren't here? They're angry at me for being so risky earlier and now they've decided not to support your business because you're my aunt..."

"Nonsense," Yeonri scoffed, prying Mari's fingers from her clothes. "Eunbi and I are great friends, and besides, everyone knows Do Yeong makes the best ginseng chicken soup on the island."

"Uncle does have a way with food," Mari admitted.

"See? Nothing to worry about. The rain's probably just delayed them a bit," Yeonri said. "Now, eat."

With her niece's worries assuaged, Yeonri turned back to the grumpy fisherman. If she could cheer him up, she might be able to get him to spend a bit more money on some side dishes.

"This weather's really unfortunate, isn't it?" Yeonri began, sidling over to the man's table. "It's far too dangerous to be out on the water right now."

"Bad weather or no, it's too dangerous for me to be out on the water until my boat is fixed," the fisherman growled. "And this only sets me back in being able to repair it."

Ah. So that was the trouble then.

"Well, I'm sure there must be a reason for all of this," Yeonri assured him. "Perhaps it's for the better. I did see a lucky magpie, this morning, so things can't be so bad."

The man merely glowered at her.

"I mean, perhaps something bad might have happened to you on your boat today if it wasn't raining," Yeonri amended. "Maybe another boat would have collided with yours and knocked you into the water, or a beam might have fallen and hit you. But the benevolent dragon goddess of rainfall, Aryong-Jong, decided to intervene and prevent you from being on your boat at this time. Or Yondung, the grandmother goddess of winds, decided to create the storm to scare more fish your way, so that when you finally do return to the sea, your nets will be filled. Perhaps you are blessed by the gods, not cursed. Have you had any dreams about pigs lately?"

"I'm not really superstitious," the fisherman grumbled. "All I know is what I can see, and all I can see is that I'm not out catching fish so I can feed my family."

"But you're here, and that's almost as good!" Yeonri hastily replied. "You're getting a different perspective today. Meeting new people, like me. And I'm the best person you'd want to meet for your troubles. I meet so many people who come into this restaurant each day, you see. I'll find you someone who can help fix your boat, and you'll be back fishing before you know it!"

The fisherman's expression softened. "Well..."

"Yeonri! We made it!"

The door burst open before the fisherman could finish his sentence, and Yeonri immediately forgot about the customer's woes at the sight of her friends.

"If you'll excuse me for just a moment," she told the fisherman, before hurrying over to the group of women. "It's about time! What took so long?" she exclaimed, ushering the group to the large table where Mari was already sitting. "I thought you were never going to get here, Eunbi!"

The middle-aged woman cleared her throat and sat down, and the other divers arranged themselves around her.

"I'm sure your niece has already told you about her foolishness today?" Eunbi asked Yeonri.

"Yes, and I've talked with her about it," Yeonri answered. "She realizes now that what she did was wrong."

"Sorry," Mari's timid apology rose from the other end of the table. A few of the younger girls gave her sympathetic glances, but Eunbi pretended not to have heard.

"Yes, well," Eunbi said. "In her haste to get to the surface, your niece failed to realize that she had kicked her rescuer in the head."

Yeonri gasped. "Jin? Is she all right?" She searched the faces at the table, but the girl in question was not there.

"She's at home, resting," another voice said. Yeonri recognized the speaker as Solhee, the diver whose long hair had lightened to brown after years of exposure to the sun and salt water. "She should be okay soon."

"Even though she has a bruise the size of a tangerine on the side of her head," Eunbi interjected, finally turning her gaze to Mari—if only to glare at the girl. "Jin is one of our best divers, and you nearly got her killed. If that creature hadn't frightened her—"

"Creature? What creature?" Yeonri interrupted, both out of curiosity and the desire to protect her niece from Eunbi's wrath.

The broad-shouldered woman turned her gaze back to Yeonri. "Jin saw something in the kelp forest. Whatever it was shocked her enough to bring her to her senses and swim back to the surface, otherwise she might not have made it."

Yeonri's eyes went wide. "It must have been a water guardian!" she whispered in awe. "Looking after Mari and Jin to make sure they were safe in the storm!"

Across the room, the fisherman sighed loudly. Yeonri ignored him.

Eunbi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Or it was just a shark."

Yeonri shook her head. "Sharks tend to avoid kelp, though." She frowned, thinking for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Aha!"

Many of the divers at the table jumped at her unexpected outburst.

"What is it?" Solhee ventured to ask.

"I bet it was the water goddess Aryong-Jong!" Yeonri exclaimed.

Eunbi's voice was deadpan as she asked, "The first empress of Silla? The one who turns into a dragon?"

Yeonri snapped her fingers again. "Exactly." She turned with a smile to the fisherman. "See, ahjussi? Aryong-Jong is looking out for us! Luck is coming your way!" Triumphantly, she turned back to the divers.

"You've been talking with the town shaman again, haven't you?" Eunbi asked. Yeonri ignored the way Eunbi's lips were pressed into a disapproving line and continued with her explanation.

"It wouldn't be just an ordinary wish-granting water dragon who'd save our girls, of course," Yeonri elaborated. "They're the backbone of this island! Aryong-Jong would want to save them herself!"

"I still say it was just a shark," Eunbi grumbled. "Now, are you going to ever feed us, or not? I'm starving."

I'm starving, too. At least we finally got our order in. You certainly took your time deciding what you wanted, didn't you? Thankfully the staff here know I don't like to be kept waiting. I can get...snappish if it takes them too long, so the food should be here soon.

But the questions never end with you. I really shouldn't be surprised. Pass me the soju and I'll start explaining.

Mari calls her aunt ee-mo, the name for her mother's sister. Family titles are a bit more specific in Korean, you see.

Wait, you don't remember what ahjussi means? I told you in the last story, but I suppose I'll have to remind you. It's a friendly term to call a middle-aged man—remember how I greeted the shaman? All right, yes, I scared him more than I greeted him, but could you blame me?

Yeonri, as you might have guessed, is a tad superstitious. Some of those superstitions claim that seeing a magpie in the morning, or dreaming of pigs, brings you luck. I think it's all nonsense, of course, but nowadays people tend to think that electric fans left on overnight will kill you. I'm more inclined to believe the story about magpies.

As Yeonri kept going on and on about the legend of Aryong-Jong, you've hopefully already gathered that she's a famous Korean myth--I have faith that your slow human mind can comprehend that much, at least.  Aryong-Jong was an empress from the Silla Dynasty, one of the early kingdoms of Korea. After she died, she supposedly became a water goddess who can take the form of a dragon.  But I've never met her, so I can't tell you for sure.

And I assume you're wondering if this Aryong-Jong person actually did save Mari and Jin in the kelp forest.

Would you be disappointed if I told you the truth?

It really was just a shark.

Though on second thought, I suppose it's not quite that simple...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Woohoo! Chapter 4!  Please let me know your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!  Dedication to ericalaurie for her support and because of her suspicions of this shark that ended up saving Jin.  :D