Now that some time had passed and they’d learned what he liked and disliked, Taemin and Jinki started forming a third bounty pile of flowery treasures for Minho. It was mostly pieces of jewelry but sometimes there would be pieces of glass windows or shards of porcelain. What had formerly been a small endeavor for acquaintanceship and treasure and grown into a more friendly endeavor. They would plan their trips according to where Taemin had recently sent storms (to make it easier to pull up the goods), and simply took everything to Minho’s island to sort together instead of awkwardly on clouds at sea. Minho never watched them sort, not wanting to interrupt their quiet friendship, but would come and fawn over every piece they brought back once the sorting was done. When they parted, they’d make arrangements for the next time to meet. They were getting pretty good at this and Taemin was attempting to find something extra pretty to give to Kibum in apology for losing some of his treasures.

Normally they would go and find long sunken treasures that no regular humans would come looking for; but as they travelled out, they came across a rather recent shipwreck. Jinki swam up to the debris to check for survivors while Taemin held back. While he never intentionally sent storms in the path of normal people, it never made it any easier to see ships that had been so obviously wrecked by them. Jinki gave the all clear and they began stirring up the water to see what was inside. Since the wreck was so recent everything came up rather quickly. Seeing how hard the wreck was on Taemin, Jinki paused.

“Is it ok to stay here or would you rather go somewhere else?” he asked.

“No, it’s ok. You said there wasn’t anyone in there right?” Taemin replied after a moment.

“There was no one I could see. I saw a few other ships go by yesterday from around here, they were probably able to rescue everyone.”

Taemin nodded but didn’t say anything else. Jinki also went back to work, diving down to see if there was any good china on the inside. Minho had lately taken an interest in rose patterned teacups and seeing the happiness on his face was worth the extra dive. As expected there were a few good cups laying on the floor. He saw some strange bubbles coming up from the floor below and against his better judgement he went to go check it out. After searching through several rooms, he finally came across a door with bubbles coming out. To his surprise, he found the source of the bubbles was a small puppy, caught in some sort of air pocket in the corner of the room. The puppy noticed him and began trying to bark in Jinki’s direction. Being careful not to burst the bubble, Jinki slowly began maneuvering the bubble out of the room and towards the surface. The puppy continued barking but did its best to remain still, seeming to understand what was going on. Eventually, Jinki and the pup got to the surface. Taemin was waiting for him at the surface; it was obvious from the relieved expression on his face that Jinki had been down there a long time.

“Is that a puppy??” Tae asked when they reached the surface.

Jinki nodded and finished bringing the bubble up. As soon as it came into contact with the air the bubble burst; the puppy did its best to swim, but it was obvious he wasn’t used to being around water. Jinki carefully directed him up on a swell to Taemin, who excitedly brought him onto his cloud. The puppy cowered in his lap.

“He was in a bubble in the bottom level of the ship, but not a normal air pocket or anything. It was like he’d been purposefully put in there.” Jinki explained, reaching out to try and pet their new friend. Taemin’s face turned serious.

“Jinki, that’s not a good sign. We need to watch him, hide him somewhere. I don’t want anything to happen to this little guy.”

Jinki nodded. They sat for a minute, both quietly trying to brainstorm how to protect this puppy. Both liked it but neither lived in a place that was safe in any sense for a land animal.

“Oh! I know! We can take it to Minho! Then he’ll have a friend all the time!” Taemin shouted suddenly.

“Maybe then he won’t be so sulky when we leave. Good thinking.”

With the puppy’s fate decided, they headed off to the island. It wasn’t far, but it took them a while since Taemin wasn’t used to having passengers and the puppy wasn’t used to being on a cloud. When they got to the island, Minho was out near the water’s edge practicing his sea plants. His hand were out in the water and as they got closer Jinki could see the kelp stretching from his palms. The puppy was obviously excited to see land and as they approached Taemin had trouble keeping him on the cloud, eventually slipping out of his grasp. Once the puppy was off Taemin let himself drop into Jinki’s waiting wave. Minho looked up and let go of his kelp, interested in the treasure he knew was coming.

“Hi guys! How was your ship today?” he asked when they finally reached the beach.

“Good,” Jinki replied. “We found a lot of cool stuff. We even brought you a friend!”

Taemin held out the puppy, which had begun whimpering at being wet. Minho looked at it with wide eyes; it occurred to Jinki that Minho might not have seen a puppy before. When Minho reached out and began playing and petting it he remembered that at some time or another, Minho had lived somewhere else. From further up the beach came a scream.

“OH MY GOD IS THAT A PUPPY.”

Taemin and Jinki laughed at Kibum, who was now running down the beach.

“Yes, Bummie, it’s a puppy. Jinki and I found it on a ship today and since none of the three of us live in puppy-suitable places we’re giving it to Minho.” Taemin yelled back, finally putting the puppy down on the ground. It sniffed around for a moment and then plopped down, apparently anticipating Kibum’s incoming affections.

“The puppy is for me??” Minho asked in disbelief.

Jinki nodded. “Yeah, bud. I mean beyond the whole ‘who lives in a place where puppies can also live’ you also have the hardest time going to visit friends.”

“Hey Minbabe, you should grow him some grass to use so he doesn’t ruin all my flowers.”

Everyone turned to look at Kibum.

“Last time I checked they were Minho’s flowers, actually.” said Jinki.

“You all know what I mean. Minho, just go do your thing, my wonderful flower child.” Kibum huffed.

“What is grass like again? I almost remember it but not enough to grow it.”

After about ten minutes of explanation ranging from Jinki’s unhelpful “large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants” to Taemin’s equally unhelpful “that green stuff that grows on the ground and shakes in the wind” to Kibum’s short somewhat helpful sensory descriptions, Minho had enough of an idea to attempt it. He went further up the beach, past the normal threshold of waves, sat down and put his palms face down on the sand. After a moment he lifted his hands and a small patch of scraggly grass began growing. It wasn’t lushous or full by any means but it was enough to catch the attention of the puppy. It ran over (much to Kibum’s chagrin) and began to roll around. Minho laughed and reached out to pet it again. After a while it tuckered out, plopping down again to take a nap. Minho got up and walked back to the shore line, where Jinki and Taemin were beginning to offload the treasures they’d saved for Minho. He and Kibum walked them up to the tree ring. As they were walking back there was a loud pop coming from the direction of the puppy. All four turned and saw a very confused looking boy sitting where their beloved puppy had once been napping.

“Hello? Where am I? What happened to the boat?” he asked, obviously beginning to panic. Minho ran over and sat next to him.

“My name is Minho. You’re on my island. The boat you were on wrecked and my friends Jinki and Taemin saved you from it.” he explained, pointing at where the other two were.

“The boat wrecked?”

“Yeah, it was really wrecked. You were the only living thing left on the boat,” said Jinki.

The boy looked down at the ground; he looked shaken but not distraught.

“What’s your name?” Minho asked, trying to keep him talking.

“I-I’m Jonghyun.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Kibum continued. “Where are you from Jonghyun?”

“I’m fr- I’m from the mainland, I think. This was my first time sailing. I was going somewhere but they wouldn’t tell me where.”

Jinki sat down next to Minho and waited for Jonghyun to look at him.

“My name is Jinki. I was the one that found you on the ship. I’m going to ask you a question but you don’t have to answer if you don’t know, ok?” he said. Jonghyun nodded.

“Were you turned into a puppy by someone or is that something you can do by yourself?’

Jonghyun looked down again, brows furrowed in thought. No one said anything.

“I-I think I can do it myself? It’s not easy though. And I sometimes forget how t- how to turn back. Like into a person.”

“When I found you, you were in this ball of air. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Do you remember how you got in there?”

Jonghyun shook his head. “I don’t remember anything from the time we left shore til you came in for me.”

Silence fell over the five. Taemin made his way over to Kibum and began whispering in his ear. When he finished, Kibum turned to Jonghyun.

“Jonghyun, it’s getting dark. The three of us, “ he gestured at Jinki, Taemin, and himself, “can’t take you with us to where we live. Do you feel okay to stay here with Minho? We can take you to the mainland if you don’t, but it’s a long long way and it may not be anywhere close to where you’re from.”

Jonghyun looked around the island, then at Minho, then back at Kibum.

“I-I think I could stay here? If that’s ok? I don’t want to be trouble.”

Minho smiled. “You won’t be trouble, I’ve been hoping for a friend that can stay.”

He stood and stretched his hand out towards Jonghyun, who gingerly accepted it. Once everyone was standing, the three started out towards the water while Jonghyun and Minho stayed near the grass. They turned around and waved.

“We’ll come back tomorrow to check on you, ok? Minho’s the nicest person I’ve ever met so you’ll be ok for tonight. Goodbye!” yelled Kibum.

Jinki jumped in the water just so that he perfectly soaked Kibum and Taemin, then was gone. Taemin called a cloud over and Kibum called a wind, together maneuvering their way into the skies and out of sight. Minho and Jonghyun waited on the beach, hands still clasped (Kibum had just taught Minho about holding hands), til everyone was gone. They turned towards the tree ring.

“Do you like strawberries?” Minho asked.

“Yeah, strawberries are nice. Why?.”

“I just learned how to make them. I have some in my garden, do you want some? Jinki says they’re sweeter than normal ones but Taemin and Kibum like them so.”

“You can make strawberries??”