The air was soothing as one climbed higher and higher, off the flat ground. There was no sound of people talking, animals making their noise but birds seemed to have a soft spot in their hearts whenever they heard them chirping. They were surrounded with greenery and the smell of wood entered their noses. Some were pleasant while some; they had to pinch their noses in order to block the strange odour invading their brain. Sounds of water splashing made they assumed that there was a stream nearby or maybe river but that was not why they hike up the mountain, they had destination to head to.

“Are we there yet?” The male with a hair resembled the colour of a rusting nail groaned tiringly as he managed to hold himself from falling with the help of a nearby tree as support. He was panting hard unlike the other young lad. Maybe because of their different titles made one stronger physically than the other. That was just a mere assumption anyway. Turning his head towards the panting fellow, he reached his hand out.

“You know what? If we are to stop every ten minutes, we can never reach the top by sunset and your parents will figure out that you’re not at the palace.” Taehyung reminded for the third time that day upon seeing Jimin’s flushed face as beads of sweat trickling from his forehead. The brownish dye on his hair seemed to paint the sides of his face now that his friend noticed them.

“We walked from the palace for a good fifteen minutes and here we are climbing up a hill for another twenty minutes. If I knew it was this tiring, I rather stay at the palace, Tae. It sounded more fun yesterday since you found this place while flying. Should I stress it out? Flying!” Jimin rambled in a high pitch voice towards the end of his sentence since he simply felt as if someone just stole his oxygen tank.

“You said you can go hunting with your dad for hours but you can’t even hike for thirty minutes. That is if we actually keep track of time. I felt like we are up here forever.” Taehyung replied with his signature I’m-so-done-with-you look on his face. Catching Jimin’s hand, he pulled the latter at ease before pointing upwards. “We can’t be that far seeing that the trees around here look shorter than the ones at the foot of the mountain.”

“Are you sure? I don’t think I can walk anymore, Tae.” Jimin complained further causing Taehyung to roll his eyes while scoffing at the same time. If it was not because Park Jimin was his good friend, he would leave the boy out in the woods. “Come on little one, I bet it is just metres away by now.” He said good-naturedly as he lightly patted dusts off Jimin’s clothes and proceeded.

Taehyung lived up to his words. It was in fact just a couple of metres before they reached the top of the mountain. Alright, it was not the top but it was a good achievement seeing that Jimin managed to arrive at one of the look-out point on the magnificent Mount Navillera. He had gone higher up when he first discovered the place but knowing that the Crown Prince had yet to gain the ability to shift into a butterfly, he thought it might be the best to stop there.

Mount Navillera was the highest, biggest and most beautiful mountain to ever shape on the island. The nature designed it well as it had not one but three different stops before reaching the actual top where the view was simply breath-taking that Taehyung never thought that he wanted to be there again alone – which was why he decided to purpose the idea to Jimin since he wanted to leave the palace during his parents visit to the Haesang’s palace.

It took them minutes of short planning to actually leaving the palace ground to begin with. Apparently, the Queen was not kidding when she said there would only be palace guards around the palace but what she did not mention was the number seemed twice as many as usual. That made it hard for Jimin himself to be out. Fortunately, thanks to Taehyung, after he finished with his morning duty as a servant, he used that opportunity to distract the guards.

Once Jimin stepped on an even ground, he finally was able to witness what his friend talked about during their discussion. Up at the front was view of the Seonghwa with the endless sea provided as a background. There was not much sunlight around the area as they were slightly blocked by the tree canopy. Being high up made the Prince felt at ease. All his past tiredness washed away almost instantly. He let out a long sigh as he saw the one with purple-hair sat on a tree stump which he later joined.

“If this place already beautiful, I don’t think I can imagine the view at the actual top of this mountain. How long does it take to be there by hiking?” Jimin stated and his eyes glanced upwards where there was more to see and discover. Shaking his shoulders unknowingly, Taehyung replied, “I don’t know. I never had been to the top yet actually. It looks higher than what I heard.”

“And the story about the top, you meant to say it was a mere opinion?” He turned his attention fully on Taehyung once he knew the truth. His story of the mountain top sounded so fascinating as if he was to experience himself but here he went on telling him the truth. Sighing, the lad had no choice but to explain. “Alright, it was not entirely an opinion but it was based on my readings.”

“You read? I thought you have many chores to be done back at the palace.” Taehyung did not reply to the Prince’s statement. Of course he would think someone like him to have no time reading. He too wanted to be just like normal villagers who read as a hobby or trying to gain new knowledge. Whether he liked it or not, Jimin was still a Prince, the Crown Prince to be more precise. It was only time that he had to leave him alone back to his supposedly life as a mere servant.

“Tae, you’re spacing out.” Jimin cut him of his seemingly stream of thoughts. He had a good eye of his friend and to see him change of character was uncanny. “I was just thinking. Anyway, have you heard of ‘Out and About: Mount Navillera’?” The other questioned while adjusting his seat so his friend could have more comfortable area to sit on. Just by the look, Taehyung had one which looked beyond the picturesque scene in front of them. His eyes appeared to sparkle out of excitement that matched with his current mood.

“I’ve read that one but I never had the time to finish it. Why are you asking?” Looking weirdly at him, Taehyung asked, “How many pages you managed to read? You don’t seem to know a lot when I told you the story last night. It was all from that book.” There was a small sheepish smile on Jimin’s face as he instinctively rubbed his nape, apparently embarrassed once his friend knew the actual happening.

“Three pages are not enough, Jimin. If I were you I would be spending my day finishing it.” Taehyung stated with a tiny bit of laughter towards the end. “Well do you?”

“I’m left with one chapter. It is something about the supposedly ancient legend hidden at the top of it. Seeing that the kitchen has been trying to pile me up with more and more market duty, I had no time to even get a glance of it.” Once he finished explaining, Taehyung suddenly stood up before walking towards the edge of the look-out point.

It was a total silence but fortunately it was not an awkward one. The wind felt like it had picked up its pace and immediately they were accompanied with the sound of trees rustling on one another and the occasion small branches snapping off its original place. The place was serene and they stood on their spots without making any form of verbal communication. It was enough the fact that they acknowledge of each other’s presence.

The dining room never felt so lively in her opinion. It was indeed packed with people of both elements and there was this calm bubbly feeling inside whenever she saw both interacted well. She wondered why her brother mentioned negative things about the other when it appeared possible for both to live in harmony. That was what they came to an agreement years ago, right?

Taking at seat on the Queen’s left; Jiyeon threw on her signature cheery smile on the people that she had her eyes connected with. For the strangest reason, she felt a little bit under the weather during the beginning of the birthday ceremony. It was only thanks to her two new acquaintances that her mind finally at ease once again. And about the Seonghwa Princes, well there were indeed a number of them showing up. According to her mother, maybe she missed a few walking in from doing any that managed to distract her.

Sadly, her new set of friends could not eat dinner with her on the same table which she already expected from the start. Across her was the Crown Prince of Haesang giving out his formal speech on how thankful he was that they managed to hold the grand birthday celebration. He also expressed how disappointed he was to know the Crown Prince of Seonghwa could not make it due to an unknown reason. Why unknown? Because if she was to focus fully on the long speech she would know the King and Queen already told her brother about the particular Prince absenteeism.

The celebration ended spectacularly as the last few guest flew off into the dark distance and separate ways on the Haesang palace front yard. Jiyeon good-naturedly waved them her goodbyes before her parents decided it was time to call it a night. Myungsoo was the first to leave. Trying to appear subtle on his excitement, he let one of his friends to join him opening the presents received at his room. With the huge number of gifts piling high in his room, it was logic to have an extra hand.

As for Jiyeon, she walked back to her room, feeling worn out from the full day event. After washing up and got in her night clothes, her bed immediately sunk once her body thrown on it with a small thud. Her body already found a comfortable spot for her system to shut down for the night, her brain decided to do otherwise by being active unlike any typical nights. A long sigh escaped her lips as she began to reason the sudden discomfort.

Jiyeon found it amusing that her mind wanted to recall her wondrous dream. She hoped to have it again if she could and the fictional story she had read also came into action which made her smile. Her heart warmed at the slight thought for an apparent reason. There went her imagination, thinking of what her brother said would be impossible. Then she remembered Jungkook telling her bits about the Crown Prince of Seonghwa as if he met him in person before. Maybe he did somehow, right? She never bothered to ask.

Then it clicked together: the dream, the fictional story and her conversation between Jungkook and Yein. Her eyebrows scrunched, almost touched out of wonder. Another sigh came out once she realised what had been keeping her mind occupied. “Why am I even making things up? The Prince in my dream can’t be Seonghwa’s Crown Prince, right? Or even any other Prince from there. Stop it brain! Stop making up weird stories.” She said as she lightly hit her head before letting out a soft laughter.

“Just because there’s fire and a male in my dreams lately, it just has to be that. It can’t be. That sounded like I’m cheating nature. I need to let this slide. Maybe there is indeed a reason why nature wanted me to know all this… for the sake of Haesang. Yeah, that sounds better. For the sake of Haesang.” She continued to mumble until her eyes were able to close and drifted to sleep instantly.