Word Count: 7270

When Sehun woke again, he didn't expect to be alive. He expected to be at the bottom of the river or to remain in the dark forever. He might see if the afterlife did exist. If it did, he might have seen his mother. At least, if he were die, he hoped she would be the one to guide him on. He missed her.

Instead, Sehun opened his eyes to the sight of wooden planks above him and a rolling current below. He looked around from his place on his back and wondered where he was. It was clear that he was on a boat, but a boat to where? And who had hauled him on board?

There was a young man hovering next to him, and gentle hands pressing into his destroyed arm. The touches yielded both pain and relief wherever they went; it made Sehun itch for movement. He wasn't able to get a great view of the man from where he was lying, but he seemed to be wearing a stern expression. Whatever he was doing to Sehun, it required some concentration.

Out of curiosity, Sehun looked down to the hands tending to his arm. His eyes widened when he noticed the man's fingers glowing with a warm green light. In his surprise, he tried to bolt upright. As soon as he made a move, a single finger pressed to his forehead and pushed him back down.

"Don't move," a deep voice ordered. It belonged to the young man, but somehow Sehun didn't expect it from someone with such a slight frame. "You'll ruin everything I've done to save your arm."

The finger remained firm against his forehead until Sehun relaxed. He laid back against the bed with a quiet breath.

 "I worked on your back, first," the young man said by way of conversation. It was at this point Sehun realized how comfortable he was despite laying on his back. This man was using healing magic. Sehun wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise. But could he save Sehun's arm? That was still in question. "Those were some nasty cuts you had. You suffered a whipping recently." The man stated it as fact rather than a question. Sehun didn't deny it, but he didn't confirm it either. He chose to stay quiet.

 As Sehun felt the rocking of the boat beneath him, he made the full realization that he must have made it to the sea. This boat could be one of a couple things, but he believed it likely that it was a trader's route he had wound up on.

"Where am I?" he questioned, voice cracking from the amounts of water he had ingested before passing out. A question passed through his head about whether he had needed resuscitation or not. Not that it mattered. He was alive and that was the only important thing.

"You are on board a guard's boat," the man answered. "I am someone who sometimes asks for passage. You are lucky I was here this time. Not one of the idiots on this ship does well with healing."

"Where is this boat headed?" Sehun asked, fearing the answer. He kept his eyes on the ceiling to try to find something to distract himself.

"Eriand," the person said. That name sent a flood of relief through Sehun's every muscle. He felt it deep his bruises and gashes and felt it in the throb of his broken bones. He would have cried if he were alone. He would have to keep it to himself for now.

Then the stranger finally leaned over Sehun and Sehun was able to take in his whole face for the first time. The young man had wide eyes and plush lips that quirked into a smirk. Sehun wasn't sure if he was taunting him, but those eyes were full of mirth.

"I see that was an answer you wanted," he chuckled. Then he brushed the hair from Sehun's forehead, a soothing gesture. The expression on his face dimmed to one that spoke of bad news. "But it doesn't matter, now. You are in no shape to travel beyond this boat."

"I have to go to Eriand, though!" Sehun responded, the urgency was thick in his voice. He again attempted to get up, and again the stranger pushed him back down to the bed. Sehun felt so useless like this. A little trapped, too. But this feeling of confinement was different from being in a prison cell. That didn't mean he appreciated it any more.

"We know," the stranger said, irritation evident in his short words. He didn't appear to have much patience for nonsense. "Your friend informed us of that when we found the two of you. Now sit still."

"There was someone with me?" Sehun asked, still not laying completely still. It must have been his father. That revelation made him want to get up again. He needed to see him.

"How else would you have managed a trip down the river without drowning?" the man asked with a sigh of annoyance. "You were lucky he was there and in a much better state than you."

"I suppose you're right," Sehun muttered. It had to have been his father. He found a way to get to Sehun in time before he drowned. "Where is he?" Sehun finally asked. "I'd like to see him."

"Then I'll go get him." The stranger grunted, standing and turning away from Sehun. Then he paused for a moment and turned back to give Sehun a stern glare. "Stay put and don't move around. I mean it."

Sehun gave him a slow nod and waited where he was. Then the man was gone and Sehun could only sigh to himself while he waited. He didn't have long to wait, though. Not even a minute had passed before two people showed up in the room. One was the man returning, and the other was definitely not his father. Sehun felt the disappointment eat at his hope and feed his worry.

"It's about time you woke up," the newcomer griped. He was somewhat tall, or that perception might stem from the fact that he was standing over Sehun. He had a pretty face, with an almost tired or bored look burned into his features. That too might be a misconception since he didn't appear to be in a good mood. Sehun didn't want to ask him who he was when he was so irritable. "You owe me for jumping into that river after you." That voice was so familiar. But Sehun had only heard it a handful of times and only in the last day or so.

"You're my rabbit..." Sehun breathed when the realization hit him. This was the voice that had guided him and his father away from their old home. Though, now Sehun is wondering if they were better off leaving or staying. They could have killed him and his father, but the state Sehun was in wasn't a whole lot better in his opinion. At least not right now. And it was becoming clear that his father was not on this boat, so, where was he?

"Indeed, I am," the man said with a slight, forced smile. "And I've been watching you since the day you found me in the forest. But you get yourself into quite a bit of trouble. I'm wondering what my master can see in you."

"I-I don't understand," Sehun said, looking between the two strangers. They didn't appear to mean any ill will, but Sir Choi had appeared pleasant enough when Sehun was a child. Sehun didn't like not knowing where he was or who he was with. It put him on edge these days. "Who are you two? What master?"

"I am an earth mage who happened to be on this ship," the first stranger answered, seating himself back at Sehun's side. He placed gentle hands back on Sehun's arms and again his fingers began to glow with magic. The pain and relief came again and Sehun winced. "My name is Kyungsoo. And the both of you are very strange."

"And for someone so young, you talk like an old man," the rabbit man snapped at Kyungsoo. Then he looked back to Sehun. "I'm Yixing. That's all you need to know right now."

"Then if you won't answer anything else, at least tell me where my father is," Sehun pleaded. Kyungsoo's fingers took another painful dive into the cracks of his bones and he tried to pull his arm away. Kyungsoo's hand clamped down a little harder to discourage Sehun's moving.

"I'm telling you, you need to stop moving," Kyungsoo gritted out.

Yixing bit his lip at Sehun's request, ignoring Kyungsoo's complaints. When Sehun stopped moving with a pained whimper, Kyungsoo side eyed the rabbit man. It was as if he was searching to see if there was information that Yixing hadn't shared with him. Sehun shifted his gaze to Yixing as well a few moments later. He was still waiting for an answer after all. Yixing knew he wouldn't be letting this go, so he needed to answer.

"We came to a fork in the river not long after the two of you got separated," Yixing finally replied. "I transformed to this human form to pull you above the water. The current pulled your father down one fork and we went down the one leading to the ocean the quickest."

"Where did he go?" Sehun gasped, trying again to sit up. Again. Kyungsoo forced him back down. He was getting less and less gentle with every jab at his patience. This last one brought the sting of the still healing gashes on his back.

"Sit still, you idiot!" Kyungsoo hissed. "Need I remind you I am an earth mage and not a true healer? This one was able to do some knitting of bone," he said, indicating Yixing with a dismissive wave. "I can only dull your pain and set bones back in place. You are lucky you have use of your arm at all. Any movement could ruin the work we have done."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Sehun whined, relaxing one more time into the bed. Everything in him wanted to move and get up right now. He could feel himself getting worked up. "But I need to know where my father is!"

"We don't know," Yixing admitted. "He went towards the boarder. The river always makes its way to the ocean at some point, but his trek is much longer. That means he could have gotten out early to go look for you."

"So, you have no idea where he could be?" Sehun asked, eyes watery and frown hard on his face. The emotions were swirling again inside of him and Sehun could tell his powers were back to normal. How long had he been unconscious? "He could be dead!"

"That, I can tell you, is not the case," Yixing assured, making a quick approach to Sehun's side. Sehun suspected that living with him for the period of time Yixing had made him aware of Sehun's mood. He pressed a comforting hand to the space above Sehun's knee. But Sehun felt anything but comforted. He didn't want anyone to touch him right now. But before he could voice that wish, Yixing was speaking again. "Before you separated, your father was in good health and a better swimmer than you."

"They broke my arm!"

"He also managed to get away from the nobleman and hunters. And as he always reminded you, he was the one who taught you to hunt and forage in the first place." Yixing was quick to point all these things out and it calmed Sehun a little. Yixing had been paying attention the whole time. But Sehun still wished he could know for certain that it was true. "Your father is still alive."

"I hope so," Sehun whispered, falling silent as the boat rocked slow and gentle beneath them. He turned his head to Kyungsoo, being careful to not move too much. He didn't want Kyungsoo's scolding. He looked like he might snap if Sehun pushed it too much. "How long do I have to stay like this?" he asked.

"When I finish this session, you can do as you wish," Kyungsoo answered, again pressing into Sehun's arm. His fingers always seemed to find the places that hurt the most. He had said something about setting bone back in place. It was possible that he was moving fractured pieces back into position to the best of his ability. Sehun also had suspicions that Kyungsoo knew more about healing than he let on. "All you have to do is be sure you don't use your injured arm. If you need to lift anything requiring two hands, you have to get someone to help you."

"So, I'm useless until my arm heals enough to lift things," Sehun concluded. Another dig of fingers brought tears to his eyes and he stiffened from the pain. But then the same flood of relief that came with magic moved through his veins. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Yes," Kyungsoo said with a nod. "Though, you should be grateful for that. Any lifting or bending might tear open the new scabs on your back."

Sehun tried to imagine what his back looked like right about now. All he could imagine was a maze of raised skin and new scar tissue forming. There would be evidence of suffering for years to come. The scabs would fall off and the redness would fade in time, but it didn't comfort Sehun in the least. It wouldn't be enough suffering to compensate for Taeyeon.

"Will I be able to enter Eriand?" he asked.

"Well, they might have a few questions for you," Kyungsoo answered. "They might think you an escaped slave. And slavery is still very much legal in Nimrine and Eriand. So, they would have to return you. But if you weren't a slave, then they'll ask what crime you committed to deserve a whipping."

"I'm not a runaway slave," Sehun defended right away.

"So Yixing has told us," Kyungsoo muttered. "But, then, what did you do?"

"I protected myself with magic," Sehun said, looking away. He was on the way to Eriand, and Kyungsoo had admitted his aptitude for earth magics. Sehun shouldn't feel worried or judged. But all his life, someone in one place or another had told him his gift needed to remain a secret. He looked at his hands as if the magic would burst from it without him calling it. It would take a long time for him to readjust his thinking and think himself normal again.

"That explains a lot,” Kyungsoo sighed. Sehun looked at him then with disbelief. Kyungsoo only gave him a weak smile. "I have more questions about how you ended up there, but Yixing has told me some of those questions are personal. The laws in Nimrine belong to an age older than you. I'd wager it was around the time you were born the harsher ones went into effect. I can imagine it must have been hard for you to keep your gifts a secret."

Sehun nodded, a blank expression coming over his face. "I can't control them well," he added. "They come and go with my emotions. I was in danger and frightened when I let them go. I ended up feeling grateful that the guards made me eat the magic numbing herbs. I would have let go of my powers again during torture if they had not."

Kyungsoo nodded and his fingers left Sehun's arm at long last. Then he turned to Yixing. "Go find the captain and see if he can spare you a moment or two," he said in a gentle tone. "We will need to borrow one of his men while on this voyage. Ask for Jongdae."

Yixing seemed to know immediately where this was going and hurried off. When he was gone, Kyungsoo placed a careful hand under Sehun's shoulders and helped him to sit up. Everything ached, but Kyungsoo had dulled all his pains and made everything tolerable.

He still felt cold from the river, but someone had replaced his drenched clothes before he woke. His eyes found his cloak on a hook near the door to the upper deck. It was close to being dry now. That was at least some kind of sign of how long he had been out. Sehun had been out for a while. But it couldn't have been more than two days. Sehun felt a phantom chill run up his spine.

"So, what exactly is the nature of your gift?" Kyungsoo asked as he helped Sehun get feeling back in his legs. Being laid down for so long, his feet had fallen asleep and he couldn't move his broken arm at all. He felt pretty stiff.

"The wind," Sehun answered. Then without thinking, he added, "Like my mother, but not like her at all."

"You gained your magical affinity from her," Kyungsoo hummed. "Why didn't she teach you?" Sehun made a face, a frown settling into his features. Kyungsoo couldn't have known this was a sensitive topic for him, but he was angry all the same. The wind shifted in the room, dislodging dust, but that was about it.

"She's dead."

Kyungsoo's hands paused for a moment before continuing to knead Sehun's stiff muscles. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I guess this is part of the private questions I'm not supposed to ask. I didn't know."

Sehun felt his anger ebb and he relaxed again. The wind quieted and rested again. He didn't supply more detail and Kyungsoo didn't ask for more. That particular part of the conversation died there.

"Jongdae can help you," Kyungsoo said, moving on from the blunder. "He is a royal guard on this ship, during his training, he learned to understand magic of all kinds. Though his personal affinity is for lightning, he can help you channel what you have. It will be easier to control, then, and you won't get yourself in so much trouble."

When he was ready to have Sehun stand, he held onto Sehun's waist and pulled him forward and up. "Keep your back straight. It'll hurt less." Sehun did as told and took a breath of relief when he was standing again. But it was at this point that he realized he had a splint all the way up his arm. Kyungsoo was even fashioning a sling for him. Sehun blinked a few times at the material. It was the same makeshift sling his father had given him before their escape. He couldn't fathom how it had made it down the river with him, but it was being fastened by more adept hands this time.

Aside from his arm, Sehun's attention was again called to his back. It didn't hurt, but he could feel the bandages wrapped around