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After the servants came to clear away the rest of lunch, Kyungsoo glanced at Jandi, then off towards the forest. “It’s a nice day for a walk under the trees, don’t you think?” he asked casually, adjusting his sleeves. The mischievous sparkle in his eye caught Jandi’s attention, and she immediately straightened up at the thought of what - or more accurately, who - was in the forest.

Jandi bit her lip to hide her elation. Wolf! “Yes, a wonderful day for a walk. Perhaps we can go to that clearing you mentioned last time?”

“Certainly.” The grin her husband wasn’t even trying to hide confirmed her suspicions, and she accepted his offered arm with a light heart. It had been weeks since they’d last gone to see Wolf, what with Kyungsoo being busy preparing for the primaries and both of them being on tour. How quickly do wolf pups grow? Jandi wondered as they stepped onto the forest path. And what are we going to do when Wolf gets too big to hide in a clearing? Surely he won’t be sent to the Do kennels?

“I’ve missed the clearing,” Kyungsoo said lightly, pretending to admire a robin perched above the path. “I’m glad we have the chance to visit today before we leave again on tour.”

“Mm,” Jandi hummed. She didn’t think they were close enough to the mansion for anyone to overhear their conversation, but there was no harm in playing it safe and avoiding mention of Wolf by name. “I hope it hasn’t changed too much since we last went. It’d be a shame for us to have missed out on watching it flourish.”

Extending a hand to help her over a wayward tree branch, Kyungsoo grinned. “Well, I’ve heard from my gardener that the clearing is quite a bit bigger now. Just needed a good bit of fertilizer to grow, apparently.”

Ah, yes, because clearings just magically get larger when provided fertilizer, Jandi thought, smothering a snort. So it appears even Kyungsoo’s silver-tongued metaphors have their limits.

“We’ll have to send the gardener a thank you note,” Jandi said archly. “Why, what did you say his name was again?”

At that, Kyungsoo chuckled outright, sending her a look that was half scolding, half amused. “I think you know very well which gardener I’m referring to. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sarcastic.”

Even in her surprise at her husband’s casual identification of Jongin as Wolf's caretaker, Jandi couldn’t help her own giggle in response. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sarcastic indeed! But since when is Kyungsoo so familiar with Jongin, and why is he so talkative today? And if he knows that I know Jongin, then surely he must have been the one who sent me that radio! And if he sent me that radio - 

“I didn’t know you were so familiar with his character,” she said casually, mind still racing. “I’ve only met him once or twice myself, and I wasn’t even aware you knew I’d made his acquaintance.”

Sparing a glance at her husband, she watched his face for any signs of tension. Usually Kyungsoo would have backpedaled or shut down by now, too uncomfortable with this much information compacted into one conversation. Yet if anything, he seemed completely relaxed with Jandi’s barely-veiled probe for information.

“We grew up together,” Kyungsoo said with a shrug. “I liked to play with the pups in their kennels, and he was always around learning to care for them, even as a young boy. There weren’t many children our age around at the time, so it was only natural that we got on well.”

“So do you still talk often?” she asked, overcome by curiosity. “I haven’t seen him around the main house.”

Kyungsoo shook his head, frowning. “My father always thought he was too dark-skinned to be presentable with others around. But we’ve found ways to continue our friendship, even so."

I wonder if Jongin climbs the garden wall into Kyungsoo’s room, too? Jandi thought, laughter suddenly bubbling up in at the absurd thought of the kennel keeper hanging onto the ivy beside her husband’s window, shouting for him to hurry up and open the window because his arms were tired.

“What?” Kyungsoo asked, watching her stifle her giggles with a bemused look in his eyes. “Is it funny that we’re friends?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” Jandi waved him off, forcing her trembling lips to still. She was now quite sure Kyungsoo had been involved with sending Jongin to her, first to deliver the radio and then to warn her about Geumdo, but perhaps he hadn’t known Jongin’s exact methods. They were pretty unorthodox methods. “Just… an amusing memory, that’s all.”

“Oh?” He held her gaze for another second, clearly not believing her, before giving up. “I suppose he is an… entertaining person to have around.”

“Certainly. He has strong opinions and doesn’t hesitate to share them,” Jandi said, thinking back to their first meeting by the kennels.

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Now that is exactly the quality that got him and me into so much trouble when we were younger.”

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” Jandi asked despite her curiosity about Kyungsoo and the radio. The very idea of a mischievous Kyungsoo running around on the heels of child-Jongin, tanned and unabashed, warmed her heart. But Kyungsoo didn’t strike her as the type to be a naughty child, even under the influence of someone like Jongin - what could they possibly have gotten up to?

Her husband rubbed the back of his neck, looking very sheepish indeed. “Well, if you must know, it was very similar to what we’re doing today.”

What, going to visit Wolf? Jandi stared at him. I suppose he did seem too familiar with the process of stashing Wolf away in the clearing when we first bought him. But to think that he’s been purchasing little wolf runts since he was a child!

“Could you afford a pup with a child’s allowance?” she wondered aloud. They were deep enough in the forest now that she doubted any of Mansoo’s servants had been brave enough to follow them in, a sentiment confirmed by her husband’s lack of a reaction. 

“That’s quite the thing,” Kyungsoo said, the corners of his lips stretching upward in a boyish grin that suddenly dispelled Jandi of all thoughts of an obedient young version of him. “I’m afraid I wasn’t entirely honest with you when I said I... ah, purchased Wolf.”

“Y-you stole him?” Jandi actually stopped walking, she was so shocked. Her law-abiding, perfectly well-behaved politician husband? Stealing?

Kyungsoo’s grin grew. “Well, I think of it as doing the merchant a favor, really. He was just going to drown Wolf instead of selling him, so it’s not like I robbed him of any profit.”

“How did you get him out of the cage without being seen?” Head still spinning, Jandi started walking again, thoughts racing. “Were you seen? Couldn’t it have completely derailed your campaign if you were caught stealing a wolf pup? How - how many times have you done this before?!”

“The marketplace was too packed for any photographers to get in,” Kyungsoo reminded her, “so the merchant wouldn’t have had evidence for a case against me even if he had seen me pick the lock. Anyway, I was confident I could get Wolf out of there unseen. Jongin and I probably saved a half dozen pups this way in our childhood.”

“A half dozen.” Jandi stared at him. “Where have they all gone? Surely they’re all full grown now?”

Kyungsoo acknowledged that with a nod of his head. “Jongin knows some people. Kennel keepers are remarkably well connected all across the empire, and not all of them are bad people. There’s a large forest right outside the northern borders of the empire that’s well suited for reintegrating wolves into the wilderness. We’ll send Wolf there once he’s old enough to make the journey.”

Freedom! Jandi thought with a pang. So there are alternatives to the kennels for wolves born inside the empire. But how many of them ever make it out?

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