It was a calm afternoon. The afternoon sky was deep and pale, making the world seem so much emptier as the last of the autumn leaves quivered in the air. Luhan stared out the window, eyes on a particular maple tree whose branches reached by the window of Kai’s small library. He could see the gold and red of trees below them, and the ocean not far off; the sound of the crashing waves still audible in the distance as it blended soothingly with Jongin’s calm voice.

“ – And the first flowers of spring greeted the sun. The little blue flower, whose name was ‘forget-me-not’ –“ Kai’s voice trembled at the name of the flower, and stopped reading altogether.

“Why did you stop?” Luhan asked as he turned to his friend.

“Why do you ask me to read you stories when you are obviously not listening?” Kai tried to ignore the question.

“I was listening.” Luhan replied. “And I like stories, especially in the afternoon. And especially when it’s told with biscuits and tea.”

“Why don’t you ask Sehun to read to you instead?” Kai asked with a sad smile forming on his face. “You know he’s free. Why are you hiding here?”

Luhan frowned at the question. “When I’m with Sehun, I feel too many emotions. Happiness, sadness, jealousy, anger, joy – it’s all too confusing. I’m not used to it yet.” Luhan paused, before looking out the window and continuing. “When I’m with you, I don’t feel the confusing emotions. I can let myself be free like I was before, in the deep ocea– I mean, in the fishing village.”

Kai knew Sehun had told Luhan to tell people a different story regarding his past, afraid they’ll take Luhan away if anyone found out about Luhan’s true identity. Even though Kai knew the truth and knew Sehun knew the truth, he didn’t want to scare them so he played along. But seeing Luhan lie to him hurt him slightly, even though he had a reason.

“And it’s nice being with you, “ Luhan started again, and Kai’s heart leaped. “Your voice is soothing, and I don’t have to think as much when I’m with you.”

“I’m glad I can make you happy,” Kai smiled, only to frown when he saw Luhan’s brows furrow.

“I’m not necessarily happy.” Luhan tried to explain himself, still not used to the art of hiding the truth, “it’s just – with you, I feel nothing, and to me, that is comforting.”

Kai didn’t know what to feel about Luhan’s words, but forced a smile onto his face regardless. “Let’s go find Sehun and Tao for afternoon tea. I’m sure Sehun’s probably looking for you by now, and Tao should appreciate a break sometime around now.”

Luhan’s face brightened at the words “Afternoon Tea” as it was his favorite meal of the day. “Will there be cream and sugar and biscuits as well?” He looked up at Kai like a excited child.

“I’m sure we can arrange that.” Kai laughed. “You go look for Sehun. I’ll wait for you guys in the training grounds with Tao.”

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

Luhan regretted wishing for human emotions. At first, they were wonderful. He felt happy almost all the time, as Sehun only ever said the sweetest words to him, Jongin was always kind to him, and Tao was – always there, being Tao for him. But humans are hard to satisfy, and thus, their emotions easily manipulated as well. Soon, Luhan began to feel more and more of other emotions. He learned of sadness, when Tao got hurt during his training and couldn’t get out of bed for a week; he learned annoyance, when Sehun would sometimes ignore him when dealing with piles of papers; he learned boredom, when no one was around and he had nothing to do; he also learned of anger, when an assassin after Jongin’s life sliced Tao’s stomach when he defended the crowned prince.

At that point in time, Luhan thought emotions to be amazing as well. So many different things humans could feel, in so many different situations. It was nothing like his siren life, when everything was the same besides the thirst to satisfy his curiosity. Yet after a while, the emotions became the same, and Luhan knew when to expect them. Their presence was also tiring for him. Like a small child who recently learned the joy of running only to collapse from exhaustion, Luhan felt like emotions were weighing him down. He no longer felt the carefreeness of his past, when he felt nothing. Except, he did.

Months after his wish, he discovered that when he was with Kai, he felt nothing. Anything to do with Kai, he felt nothing. No happiness, no anger, no sadness, no annoyance, no pain, no jealousy – just no emotions.  With Kai, he was free like he was before, and with Kai he felt at ease, like he was almost a siren again.

And at that thought, Luhan remembered just how much he missed his home. He missed the rushing currents against his skin, the coolness of the air as he jumps out of the sea, the vast freedom and knowledge, his friends Suho and Yixing, the different beaches, the stories the sailors told, the storms – he paused – the storms? Why in the world would he miss the storms? They were painful to swim in, not just because of the current and falling debris if a ship happened to sink, but also the lighting. When lightning strikes the water, it was not necessarily painful, but it made Luhan nauseous, so Luhan decided it was the most unpleasant of things. Yet, deep in his siren memories, he remembered enjoying the storms – or was it a particular storm – before his head began to ache miserably and he refused to think about it again.

“Luhan!” Sehun’s voice cut his thoughts, and soon, he found himself being lifted, spun, and hugged. “I’ve been looking for you for the last two hours, where have you been?”

Luhan chose to ignore the question, knowing Sehun probably wouldn’t like it if he told him he was with Kai in Kai’s personal library, yet again. “Sehun, let’s meet Tao and Kai for afternoon tea. I’m hungry.”

Thankfully, Sehun agreed happily and didn’t ask any questions. They walked towards the training ground, where they saw Tao jokingly sparing with Kai in the distance. Their laughter brought happiness to Luhan, mainly because Tao looked like he was having fun, instead of those calculating looks he had during training.

“That took you two long enough!” Kai breathed heavily, obviously tired from the sparring though Tao was simply playing around. “If this guy was for real, I would have died a thousand times already, and it seems you wouldn’t care at all, seeing how long you took.” Kai joked, looking over at Tao, who punched him playfully in the arm. Kai laughed at the punch, happy with Tao’s progress. After leaving them for a year to train with his master, Tao came back a week after Kai’s accident at sea, cold and distant. While they’ve been friends since an early age, Tao began using suffixes with their names, Crowned Prince Kai and Second Prince Sehun instead of just Kai (or Jongin at times) and Sehun. Now, Tao was back to the old fun loving, playfully adorable younger brother Kai always considered him to be along with Sehun, despite the obvious differences in their paths.

As they returned to Tao’s balcony to enjoy their afternoon tea, they looked towards the sea,

“Do tell me again why you received the room with the best view out of the four of us.” Sehun joked, clearly mesmerized by the water that had the color of cornflowers.

“Because I can kick , and work at least three times harder than any of you spoiled children ever will.” Tao replied confidently as he joined the joking around. “If you have any objections, I wouldn’t mind knocking it out of you.”

The three of them laughed, and Kai noticed how Luhan was too preoccupied with sugar cubes, cream, and the pudding to care about anything else.

“You do realize it’s already dinner time.” Kai wiped a tear from his eyes from laughing to much, “And we should probably feed Luhan something other than sweets before he goes bouncing off the walls again.”

The three of them laughed again, as Luhan innocently looked up at them as he heard his name mentioned.

“Why are you all laughing?” Luhan asked, not sure why he didn’t feel the same joy the others felt.

“Nothing,” Sehun was the first to reply, “Just at how cute you are.”

They talked some more, randomly about Tao’s training, Kai’s assemblies, and Sehun’s lessons before Tao suddenly looked up at the roof of his tower chamber.

“What’s wrong?” Kai was the first to asked, while Sehun and Luhan showed concern as well.

“Nothing.” Tao frowned. While he felt Kris’s presence on the roof and simply ignored it, he could have sworn the usual comforting air around the mysterious figure changed into a menacing one instead, one that strikes fear into peoples hearts. When he looked up, however, Kris was nowhere in sight. While everything could have just been a mistake in his intuitions, Tao knew it was something else. That’s why Luhan’s intense concentration on his hands instead of the sweets didn’t go unnoticed by him, as he looked up right when Kris’s presence could no longer be felt.

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

Good evening my wonderful, beautiful, amazing readers. Hope you enjoy the new beginning of the story as we enter a slightly more pieceful arc of the story. Only slightly. Don't worry, things will pick up, maybe not in their winter, but definintely the spring (oh I have so much planned for the early spring months in this story).

Despite the early update, however, I have bad news. Remember how I told you that I will be extremely busy these days? Well, I will be leaving for the airport early tomorrow morning for a three day conference/retreat, so basically, I'm saying the earliest I can update after tomorrow morning 10:45 am (for me) is MONDAY AFTERNOON. Please don't kill me and still love me, I wrote you a beautiful joyful chapter (at least I consider this joyful compared to other chapters), so please be appeased.

Anyway, please comment, suggest, suscribe (if you haven't) - or all thos goodies, I am loving the comments thus far, and comments lets me know how I'm doing and fuels my writing after all. Even a hello will do (now i just sound desperate, which I might be, since I'll be leaving for some time)!

I LOVE YOU ALL, ENJOY YOUR WEEKENDS (and the story, of course)!