Moonlight filtered down through the treetops, their greenery touching the pre-dawn mist hovering above the grotto. The Silver Trilliums were out at this time, refracting moonlight across the meadowland and reflecting off the gathering dew. The shrubs and grasses were still in the early hours. The stone of the walls seemed in slumber, pulsing slow and steady with faint colour. The butterflies had gathered other the reed shelter, grown into a beautiful scene by the skillful twining of ivy through the thin, sturdy stalks. Not that there were thunderstorms this high, the spires of the mountaintop looking at the far down clouds from the thin atmosphere of heaven. The waterfall had grown lethargic, no roaring rush, and the creek it fed was a soothing, smooth slide across polished rock. The lake was stoic, retreating into itself for the evening.

Taeyang gave a faint glow from where his furry body rumbled out purrs in slumber under the reed shelter. Jiyong was draped over him, back arched gracefully over the hellhound's ribs, fingers lingering in the pitch fur, faint shadows falling from his fingertips like black mist. Seungri was laying on the floor, close to the orchids, and was taking his fill of the restoring energy of night, the tender care of the moon easing the stresses and worries off his body. Even Seunghyun, notorious for his wakefulness, was propped against the outside of the shelter, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle, hands comfortably knitted together on his lap. His eyes were closed, but his head was leant back to face the moon, communing with a grandparent he had met with very little for the last couple thousand years. 

On the cobblestone path, alone in his consciousness, was Daesung.

He was soaked in sweat and fear, throat still closed and heart racing. He collapsed there, on his hands and knees, violently throwing up some of the freshwater he had drank. His body trembled, still lost in the delerium of his dream, his gills reappearing on his skin and desperately gasping for oxygen. He dug his fingernails into the stone, trying to ground himself, but it wasn't working. Everything was throbbing, everything hurt and it was liquid but it wasn't water. 

His arms gave out on him and he fell into the simple rock, the impact jarring his body into clarity. Air rushed back into his chest, filling the space where suffocation had been, removing the weight from his torso. He panted helplessly into the safety of the grotto, unable to sustain his conscousness anymore through the terror.

Seungri was the first to wake, the soft keens of the freamy tulips that lined the walkway distressed. He blearily rubbed his eyes, struck by a sudden worry that humans - maybe even the Hunters - had been able to find their way inside the grotto. Seunghyun had assured them that his mother's magic would block out or kill anyone uninvited, especially non-Ethereal, but they were a craft peoples. They wouldn't have systematically eradicated other predators otherwise. 

But the sight the tulips were crying over was much worse than that. 

Seungri dashed out onto the pathway, sliding to his knees and pulling his shaking, crying Siren into his arms. The dryad didn't know what to do.

Daesung had saved all of their lives. He'd extinguished the fire that had overtaken Seungri's chest. He'd caught Jiyong, twisted in agony and falling from the sky. He'd saved Taeyang from being a fur carpet in a Hunter's lodge. He'd even saved their immortal, impossible Seunghyun from tragic loneliness. Aside from Seungri wiping some oil from his gills, Daesung had never needed to be taken care of. He didn't need to be held, pampered, attended to and that left Seungri in desperately shallow waters that he still couldn't pull Daesung up from. 

"Daesung, no." The dryad whispered, wiping away the heartbreaking tears. He started speaking in plant speech, talking about meadows on oceansides, how seaweed looked in golden sunlight and how willow trees on the other side of the Pacific liked to reach into the water, connecting with its submersed cousins. 

Daesung was the one who soothed. His voice was an entire angellic choir wrapped together, his touch both as man and water were gentle, careful, tender, affectionate. HIs words, his songs, could tame the most wild of hearts, could calm the most tremultuous of nightmares and erase the most horrific of memories. Daesung could save you from yourself, and Seungri understood how terrible it was now that there was no one to save Daesung. 

The trees rustled, restless in anguish for one of their new caretakers, the lake lapping mournfully at the sand, frustrated with itself for not being able to help. The very sun seemed darkened on the dawn, moved by the loneliness of Daesung's position.

Seungri pulled the siren further up his body, tucking the crying face into his shoulder, releasing the tension in his own body, and letting the power he had gained overnight sweep the area. All of the plants shuddered, the rush overwhelming, but it drew Daesung up enough from his nightmare to feel along his bark, seeking out comfort now. Seungri spoke to him again, passing his speech in the high, soft notes of the moor reeds. An old song BoA had taught him came to mind, and he sung it as best he could - a song of the caves of Thetis, deep in the ocean, and of her cousin, Tethys, mother of freshwater. As the morose moon disappeared and the sun cautiously crept out to warm the stone, Daesung's breathing had calmed enough that he was not gasping into the dryad's shoulder. 

Seunghyun arose as soon as the sun touched him and he was almost instantly aware of the offset course of his grotto. His eyes flickered around, searching for a threat, landing on Seungri huddled over a prone Daesung. He was quick to their side, meeting Seungri's baleful eyes, heart torn in sympathy at the tears streaking across their Daesung's face. 

Jiyong and Taeyang were later risers than the others, but even they were up sooner, roused perhaps by the uncomfortable atmosphere the grotto had taken on, all living things poised with worry and tension. They, too, wandered over faces falling at the state of their water-born companion. 

Several hours into the day and a few past noon seen Daesung's eyes opening, thick light dappling across his face. The next thing to come to his mind is how he was finally free of drowning, the air smoothly flowing in and out of his lungs and the pressure gone from the back of his mind. Gentle streams of thin wind passed over his cheekbones, the caressing breeze warm and safe. 

"Oh, Daesung." He looked to his left to see nothing but pure relief on Seungri's face, the dryad leaning down to soundly kiss him, pouring something that felt like dread into the touch. "You were dreaming of drowning, weren't you?"

He swallowed hard, but did not speak. What need was there to? He had no desire to return to the darkness, not so soon. Seungri nodded in acceptance, over his hair and burying his face into the siren's collarbones. Warmth filled the cavity of his chest, tender affection filling him with sweetness. His awareness extended from Seungri to the other six arms surrounding his torso, not the least of which was Taeyang, rumbling some lullaby from his pup days. Jiyong had him wrapped in a blanket of soothing purple-black darkness, so warm and real against the breathlessness of his dream. Seunghyun, too, was with him, his body positively ablaze with sunlit strength and chest bare. 

"Sleep with me tonight, Daesunggie." Seungri murmured. "We'll sleep under the willow, but the lake. We can be safe there, toegther."

Daesung nuzzled into the deep brown sweetgrass on Seungri's head. He had never known such dedicated affection. Not from his parents, his old podmates, the other schools of fish and sea mammals he knew. And in this pile of the strongest beings alive, Daesung was treasured. 

The wilting flowers bent back up to the sun at the ringing sound of Daesung's lilting, beautiful laughter. 

"You are precious." Seungri whispered.

"You are special." Jiyong cooed. 

"You are needed." Taeyang murmured.

"You are ours." Seunghyun rumbled. "If you struggle, so do we. We love you, Daesung. Come to us."

Daesung's bubbly smile lit up the underside of the leaves. "I love you too. I won't hide anymore."