The late evening sun casts a gentle reddish orange glow on the surface of the water but the lapping waves disrupt the picturesque portrait of the setting sun on the surface of the water.

It mirrors the quiet disturbance in Donghae's heart.

The dull throbbing want haven't ebbs away like he had thought it would when he decided to drown his sorrow in the pool today. He had hope it would distract him enough so that he doesn’t think about it, but he has been in the water for seven plus hours already and he still look at the sky and wishes he was in another land.

Donghae heaves a heavy sigh before he swims to the side of the pool. There’s only so much self-pity he can wallow in before it get a little too much even for him and his skin is finally soft and mellow now.

The desert fever is unforgiving on his heat-sensitive skin, often making it dry and stiff until his skin start to crack under the onslaught. He usually has to soak in the pool to cool off when the temperature gets too hot for him for several hours and he doesn’t mind it so much since he likes spending time in the pool anyway but he got to come out eventually.

He reluctantly drags himself out of the pool, awkwardly plopping on the stone tile with none of the grace reserves for a member of his species.

The helras quickly rush to him, each with a large drying cloth in their hands as they crouch down to his level, and they gently wrap it around his body, careful not to touch him or openly stare at the patch of near translucent bluish green fish scales on his arms, throat, and what basically covers the entire length of his lower body.

While two of them dry his body, Areve unclips his hair and it falls like curtain on his back. He takes a comb from his bag that all Donghae’s helras seem to carry with them and untangles the ridiculous wet mess of Donghae’s long hair, the length is not exactly an unusual thing in this land but they prefer to have it braid or tied up because otherwise it would be too hot.

Areve is swift to braid his hair as soon as it’s gotten somewhat less damp, his hand lightly and deftly weaving through Donghae’s hair, and as soon as he done, Thefir is right beside him.

She drops down on her knees and in her hand is a golden beaded chain attached to two hair combs with emeralds incrusted in the leaf. She pins it to each side of his hair, and Donghae could feel the cold pressed of metal across his skin as it fall just above his eyebrow across his forehead.  

Areve has his anklet out, a single pearl bead on a gold chain, and Sudil stops his drying momentarily for Areve to gently place it around Donghae’s left ankle, always careful to not disturb the scales on Donghae’s leg. All the while, Thefir reach for Donghae’s right wrist and place several leaf pattern gold bangles on it.  

The weight of the jewelries is heavy on him, as if he a thousand feet below the waves and the pressure is pushing down on his bones. Sometimes, he feels less like a living person with thoughts and feelings but more like a decorated doll and holds no value or prize to anyone except Hyukjae.

Areve and Thelr stands up, stepping back for the other two to finish drying him off. His skin always take a while to completely dry and he can’t walk back into the inner palace with his scales still all out for everyone to see.

It would be embarrassing and even though Donghae hates the fuss that are constantly made about him, he never want to disgrace Hyukjae. And his helras are always try hard to make him look somewhat presentable at least, though they may not like him for what he is, they still serve him willingly and without question and he knows that he isn’t the kind of master they could ever boast about—not with his standing deformity. 

They treat him with such careful consideration that he wants to slink back underwater to hide but there's not an ocean big enough in this world to swallow his shame.

Mekerfausi, the Khalsian had whispered when he'd first arrived here.  

It doesn't took him long to learned bitter truth in what they had said when Sehun wouldn't meet his eyes as he explained it to Donghae. "It means fake water fairy," he said almost apologetically.

Donghae remembers the sharpness felt in his chest and twist in his smile as he said, “Oh, that make sense now.”

When Hyukjae had brought him back from the far off west, what a disappointment he must have made to them when they’d discovered he was no jewel of the sea but castoff stone trying to imitate the real gems of the ocean.

He’s nothing but a false mermaid.

He has no tailfin and can only swim in the dark recess of the ocean briefly before the deep sea spit him out for lacking the ability to stay under the water long enough.

There’s nothing about him that should have catch Hyukjae’s eyes but Hyukjae had taken one look at him and stole him away from his land and brought him here. In this foreign landscape, Donghae is a fish out of water living among a nest full of the cold-blooded serpents and dragon-kins and Hyukjae is the unmovable King.

The question that they sitting on everyone’s tongue and everyone want to ask is: but why? Why him?

But Hyukjae’s reason for taking Donghae has yet to been seen and even as everyone had given up trying to understand Hyukjae’s motive, Donghae is still waiting and dreading the day he’ll find out the truth. 

The Sudil and Yevest continues to cautiously brush the drying cloth over the scaly portion until the scales recede back into his flesh as it dry off—he is long used to the feeling of needles piercing his skin when he gets in touch with any body of water and when it dried off afterward. The hard scaly plates finally give way to soft pinkish skin underneath and Donghae finally looks normal again.

Sudil and Yevest helps him up since his legs are feeling shaky from the lack of solid ground in the last hours.

Donghae takes a moment to glance around the Northern courtyard, the massive greenery surrounding the pool often make forget that he’s in the middle of the desert, and there doesn’t appear to be anybody around except the three of them.

Areve and Thelr seems to have disappear to somewhere else already, his helras often moves to their own discretion and Donghae never know exactly where the majority of them are but whenever he needs something they always aptly appear right on time.

He turns back to the helras that are left. “The Ouroban?” Donghae asks, careful not to mix his ‘O’ and ‘U’ again when pronouncing and stretching out the “ou” in the first part.

Much to his surprise, Yevest points to the canopy bed not far off to the left side of the pool, situated in a corner by itself so any splash of water won’t likely to disturb it.

Donghae nods his thanks and the two of them quietly retreat back as Donghae treads across stone tile, feeling it warmth and smoothness beneath his bare feet, and heads toward the open canopy where his king lay.

When Donghae arrives there, curtains had fallen across the canopy, blocking much of the view from the outside. He pulls the curtain back to reveal Hyukjae quietly slumbering on his chest, one of his cheeks is resting against the pillow, and his massive tail had fallen out of the bed and is now dangling off the side.

He had saw Hyukjae earlier entering the courtyard, watching Donghae soaked in the pool, as he hid from his clan members after another heated meeting with his advisors about the Nerein Affairs, a formerly peaceful winged bird tribes in the Southeast has been encroaching into the eastern border of the Khelsian’s territory and pushing for the watering hole in the Nerein region.

They only had gotten back to Jaidae, after a three months campaign up in the Northeastern passage toward the Ilism Gulf and the end of a sixteen days siege of capital of Timpopia—Donghae had watched mutedly from a careful distance as the city lit up in flame and fell to Hyukjae—and now that Hyukjae had come back home, there’s already another war brewing on the horizon its seem.

The majority of Hyukjae’s clansmen are up in arms, but Hyukjae is hesitant about going to war with a tribe that had no history of aggression with them in the past.

“Something is not right,” Hyukjae had told him, his lips drawn tight as he looked grimly down at the letter brought to his attention by his Shadowhands. “The Uswyae doesn’t have a standing army so how are they amassing these soldiers.”

Donghae could offer no advice or consolation, he had never been a participant of the battlefield nor understand the politic of the ruling a nation. So the last few days has been stressful and tenuous at best and Donghae tries not to be bother to Hyukjae as much as he can but that makes him unbearably lonely when Hyukjae is not there with him.

Loneliness drives him to yearn for something else entirely; he is homesick for a land far out of reach.

When Hyukjae’d came into courtyard, looking weary and drained, Donghae had left him alone so wouldn’t be find Donghae’s presence troublesome and after an hour wading out into the deep end of the pool he didn’t see Hyukjae anymore so he had assume Hyukjae had left already but that seems not to be the case.

Donghae’s eyes falls upon Hyukjae’s face, he looks achingly young to Donghae, like the years and strain of ruling had bled out of him in his sleep but even in his sleep he doesn’t have any reprieve. Hyukjae’s brows are furrow in deep consternation and Donghae can see his shoulder drawn tight as his hands are balled into a fist on each side.

Donghae reach a hand out to soothe the painful expression from Hyukjae’s face but just as he barely ghost Hyukjae’s cheek—

A flash of golden slitted eyes and the bare hint of sharp venomous fangs greet Donghae, making jerk his hand away and almost forcing a step back but Donghae holds his ground as Hyukjae’s brain caught up with his surrounding and his eyes slip back to a familiar brown, his fangs retreat, and the claws that Donghae didn’t know were even out shifts back into place from the rough spiny contorts of the dragon-kin’s skin to supple human’s flesh.

Hyukjae’s face break into a soft smile when he realizes its Donghae. “T’hal-se, you finish bathing?” he mumbles, holding back a yawn as he reaches a hand up to tug on a loose strand of Donghae’s still damp hair.

Donghae’s lips twitch. “You know that wasn’t bathing at all and I still have yet to take my bath,” he says, looking down at Hyukjae.

“You meker and your obsession with water,” he groans, lifting his head up and resting it up against his open palm.  

Donghae’s lift an eyebrow and gives Hyukjae a look. “Oh that isn’t the same with the snake-eyes and dragon-kins when it comes to basking under sun of course.”

“Don’t mock,” Hyukjae says sulkily and Donghae has to bites the inside of his cheek so a smile doesn’t slip through. “Here come join me instead.”

Hyukjae jerks up from the bed, hair fallen in disarray, and scoots back to make room for Donghae. He pats the open space pointedly and the corner of Donghae’s lips tug upward as he takes his seat.

“I’m not mocking you,” says Donghae, careful to keep the amusement from leaking into his voice.

Once Donghae get situated, Hyukjae sits beside Donghae and Hyukjae drops his head on Donghae’s lap and kicks his leg out, letting out a content sigh. “Well, as long as you aren’t then,” he mutters, heavy-lidded.

Donghae pets Hyukjae’s hair, easing down the messy tresses into place, as Hyukjae drifts back into sleep.

Hyukjae like this, open and carefree, almost makes Donghae forget that he isn’t the Ouroban and with just a several thousand troops, he’d blazed a path across the Ilism Peninsula and unflinchingly met the eyes of the Red Emperor of the Buyubar with a promise to topple the empire.

The Buyubar’s tangible control stretches all the way across three continents and with a standing army of a million strong, a promise like that seems farfetched but Donghae had seen the fire in Hyukjae’s eyes and ambition that will not be quench and he definitely believes in Hyukjae’s words.

Hyukjae had never fail to keep his promise, so by the time Hyukjae is done, the world may be truly within his reach. All Donghae can hope is that he is there to be able to see it.

"T'hal-se, gere femir om,” Hyukjae says drowsily, somewhere between sleep and awake, and drawing Donghae’s attention back to him.

The thick accent of Southern Sui Desert People coming through in Hyukjae’s tiredness and language of the Khalsien is rough and brittle but warm to Donghae's ears; it reminds Donghae of the very desert that gave birth to Hyukjae's people.

“What,” says Donghae, brows furrowing confusingly as he try to decipher the Khalsien spoken by a sluggish Hyukjae. “Hyukjae tell me that again slowly this time or say in Waso so I can understand.” 

When Hyukjae doesn’t respond after a moment, Donghae shake his shoulders several times till Hyukjae lets out a huff.

“Stay with me,” he mumbles, rolling over to his side to face Donghae. “Don’t leave.” He reaches for one of Donghae’s hand that is curling in Hyukjae’s hair and links them together.

A smile makes it way to Donghae’s face. “It’s alright,” he assures Hyukjae. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll definitely be here when you wake up.”

And Hyukjae’s eyelids flutter shut.

Donghae quietly watches over Hyukjae’s sleep and despite knowing there are the helras standing guard outside of the canopy, he’ll safeguard Hyukjae’s sleep and protect this small sanctuary of his.

Peace rarely visits Hyukjae and Donghae doesn’t have a lot to give except this, and so he’ll die protecting this if he has to.

Donghae gazes out of the partially see-through curtain, that let out the sunlight peeking through but still keep much of the privacy, sees the soft pink coral sky and recalls the heartsick yearning that had settled into his chest earlier but then he looks down at Hyukjae and all that tightness in his chest dissipate.

It’s all very strange and sad, he thinks.

When Donghae close his eyes, he dreams of a far off island off the coast of the Myrindi Peninsula where the ocean meets the sky and the cresting waves crash against the boulders near the shoreline. Donghae vividly remembers the smell of the salty sea air and the breeze brought in by the open sea, brushing past his skin and leaving icy cold tendrils on him like the lingering touch of a ghost; the memory calls him home but when he open his eyes the pull of Hyukjae's voice drags him back and ties him to this land.  

Donghae doesn't belong here--not to the fearsome Khalsien or to the merciless desert--but he belongs to Hyukjae, because an invisible chain binds him to this man since the day Donghae had saved Hyukjae from drowning and he wonders if he ever care enough to break it.

He brushes a stray lock stuck on Hyukjae’s left cheek away, and thinks to himself, unlikely.

a/n: IDEK WUT IM DOING. HELP. This is what I came up with literally at dead o’clock at night but w/e imma just roll w/ it (；￣Д￣） and maybe one day i will learn to stop writing donghae as a captive in foreign land kind of fic... but today is not that day.

*the helras are basically personal servant, that attend to every needs of the person that they serve under, except that these helras are also fearsome soldiers often acting as guard, assassins, and confidants and they are loyal until their dying breath. Donghae has five helras in all, they were ordered to specifically guard Donghae b/c Hyukjae has a loooooooooot of enemies and being hyukjae’s favorite does nothing good for Donghae.

*the word Ouroban is derives from the word ouroboros (the infamous serpent that ate its own tail) and the greek word anax (the king of kings) – which can basically be translate to the high king of serpents :D.

*shadowhands are basically spy; the khalsi has one of the extensive spy networks in the known world. Hyukjae isn’t the first to use spies but he’s definitely the one that built on the idea of intelligence warfare and using it as way to ambush and sabotages his enemies.

*Donghae is a water base species so he’s pretty sensitive to heat and now that he lives in the desert he has to find a new way to cool off less he fried up in the desert heat and there’s another reason why he’s super sensitive and why Donghae doesn’t look like member of his species; also the word mermaids is just a term refer to the fish species, they aren’t actually mermaids (mermaids are extinct or so they believe XD). Now the term snake-eyes are refers to the serpent species and dragon-kin once again aren’t talking about real actual dragons (super super rare so thought to be extinct) but really lizards, these two species are pretty close in term of relation so they live pretty well together and b/c of their cold-blooded nature they do a lot of sunbathing and the desert is great place to live for them. so everyone is an animal in some way in this fic \o/.

*Donghae does not speak khalsien all that well (he’s actively learning though!), he comes from the very faaaaaar western land and before he even meet Hyukjae he didn’t even know Hyukjae and his ppl even existed across the ocean b/c that’s literally how isolated he lived. Hyukjae is a military commander, a king, and traveler b/c of his constant campaign & involvement with other countries so he’s very well verse in other languages and knowledge of other cultures.

*t’hal-se is donghae’s petname given by Hyukjae, IT MEANS LITTLE PEARL (but Donghae doesn’t know that)  and there’s a reason for it b/c when Hyukjae call Donghae t’hal khalsi it literally means the pearl of the khalsi :DDDD Donghae may not be the jewel of the sea like everyone thought he would be but he’s the pearl of hyukjae’s people!!!!!!!!!! -screams- im a er for that wut can I say.

*the khalsi, various countries, and tribes living in the Sui Desert, is based upon the many different countries in ancient near east. The khalsien would be the equivalent of the Persian Empire of its time but it’s definitely has its own distinct culture and beliefs system and also since this is its own contained fantasy world w/ ppl based around animals/mythical beasts, the mores of these people in this world is very different than our own but im not sure wut time period I want to base this off?? I mean I don’t see this as modern but not ancient, ancient sort of thing @_@ (definitely not bronze age so maybe iron age??? Im not interest on a modern era either soooo), or maybe just hell with earth based timeline and go my own way. Errr, I have to probably ponder this for a bit.

*I keep going back and forth on so many ideas; Donghae w/ a fishtail or wings (went for tail instead b/c already did wings), based off Persian empire or the mongol empire?? The desert vs the plains??? And of course time-period wise??? So many things im unsure of but let’s just go w/ wut I have for now, I might change it up later :xxxxx.  For something that just came to me I really gave a lot though to this /o\.