A/N: Time for anniversary fic #2! This one is based on the beloved story The Little Mermaid, with a few of my own personal touches, of course! This one was chosen based on a reader request from lauranorri.
If you haven't had the chance yet, please check out anniversary fic #1, posted earlier today! Fic #3 is also available!

 

 

Once upon a time, deep within the waters of the eastern ocean there lived a colony of merfolk led by a brave and respected king. The king had three children, two daughters and one son whom he loved very much and sought to protect from all harm. All three of his children were happy in their home, exploring the waters, befriending sea animals, and scavenging for treasure, but his youngest child, Jinyoung, was endlessly curious about the world above the surface. Though he knew humans were dangerous people, he ached to talk to them and understand their ways and discover the stories behind their shipwrecks and trinkets and strange houses and clothing and customs.

 

But the king was firm in his rule that his children should never break the surface of the water without himself or his guards accompanying them. They were to never go near humans nor speak to them nor approach one of their boats for any reason. Every time Jinyoung asked him why, he said simply, “Humans will never understand our kind, and they hate that which they can't comprehend. They savage beauty and wear down that which stands out like water smoothing down a stone.”

 

Because Jinyoung was an obedient son, he listened to his father and abided by his rules, though his curiosity remained unchanged. Why did humans destroy beautiful things? Why were they so afraid of things they didn't know when not knowing meant that there was an opportunity to learn?

 

But one day Jinyoung was swimming close to the surface, following after a school of fish that had been playing tag with him that morning, when he heard a resounding splash from behind him. He whipped his head around and saw a sight unlike anything he'd ever seen before. A human man was sinking into the water, weighed down by his heavy robes. The water near where he was falling was shadowed overhead by a skiff Jinyoung had failed to notice earlier—he must have fallen from his boat somehow. Without thinking, Jinyoung changed course, diving to catch the man in his arms. He was heavy thanks to his many layers of clothing, but he had a slender body for a human man from what Jinyoung had seen. His hair gently splayed out in the water, revealing a small, pale face with eyes scrunched tight.

 

Jinyoung pulled him back up towards the surface to his boat, praying that there was no one else aboard. As luck would have it, there was nothing else but a small traveling bag tucked at one end, and the oars laid across the seats. Using all his strength, Jinyoung hoisted the man back into his boat where he started coughing up water, breathing in sharp shudders.

 

I should go, Jinyoung thought. Before he opens his eyes. But he just couldn't leave him until he knew he was OK. What if he was sick? What if he was hurt? He was just one human, after all, and didn't seem to have any weapons with him. He was too weak at the moment to hurt Jinyoung, and it would be easy enough for Jinyoung to sink back into the water in a moment if he felt threatened.

 

The man continued choking for a time, but at long length opened his eyes to stare at Jinyoung. His brown eyes looked glassy, as if they weren't registering him properly, though he seemed to recognize he wasn't alone. “I saw...” he rasped out. “...glimmer...in the water.”

 

My tail?, Jinyoung thought, feeling a flash of guilt. Had the man seen him swimming, leaned in too far to look, and fallen out of his boat?

 

“It was nothing,” Jinyoung said softly. “You are not well.”

 

“No...I...” He started coughing again.

 

Jinyoung lifted a hand and touched his face. It was his first time touching a human person, and this one had clammy, damp skin, but it somehow felt nice, Jinyoung thought. He was soft to the touch, and for someone so supposedly dangerous, he felt incredibly fragile in that moment.

 

“You are not well,” Jinyoung said again. “You need to go back where you came from.”

 

“I can't...” The man's voice faded again. He half-collapsed onto the bottom of his boat, his conciousness slipping.

 

The shore was far, and Jinyoung could not guide the boat there himself before dark, and if he did not return home, he'd send his family into a panic. Instead, he dipped back under the water and mimicked a dolphin's song, reaching out to them in their language. Help. I need help.

 

After awhile, a pod of dolphins he often played with responded to his call. You sent for us?, their leader clicked.

 

I need you to get this boat to shore, he explained to them.

 

A boat? A boat is a human's thing. Why should we help humans when they never help us? The other dolphins clicked in agreement.

 

A human isn't asking you. I am asking you, as a friend. My father says the world weeps whenever one of its creatures dies, and this human is one of its creatures, is he not?

 

You are far too kind, merprince, the leader said, not without a degree of affection. And in a dangerous world such as ours, kindness can be a weakness. But since you have been good to us many times, we will do you this one favor. We will take this boat to shore.

 

Thank you. Jinyoung gently the leader's back to show his gratitude. Give me just a moment. The human aboard is not well. I will sing him into peaceful rest.

 

Jinyoung resurfaced to check on the man in the boat. His eyes were open again, but the look was glassy like before, half-seeing and half-unseeing.

 

Jinyoung reached out to touch his face one more time. “Help is here for you. Rest easy, child of man.”

 

“I...” The man's eyes fluttered for a moment, and he weakly lifted his hand to press against Jinyoung's. The gesture, probably no more than a result of a feverish dream, still felt in a strange way incredibly gentle, and Jinyoung's heart trembled uncertainly. They stayed frozen in this way for what felt like a very long time before the man tried to speak again.

 

“Who...are you?” he asked.

 

“Jinyoung.”

 

“Jin...young?” His name, fragmented though it was, sounded beautiful on the stranger's lips. Jinyoung felt the urge to ask him to say it again just one more time before they were parted.

 

Instead, he murmured, “Now, you must go to sleep.” Still holding the man's cheek, he began to sing a lullaby in his clear voice, infused with the ancient magic of his people. The man's eyes fluttered the rest of the way shut, his hand fell away from Jinyoung's, and his breathing began to even out. By time Jinyoung had finished, he was fast asleep, his face at last relaxed.

 

Jinyoung found it unbelievably hard to let him go, to send him off to the shore where he would disappear and never be seen again by someone such as Jinyoung who so rarely got to break the surface and peer into the world this man belonged to. All the same, he knew he had to. The man was sick and needed someone proper to take care of him. Maybe a mother or a friend or even a wife. There was nothing more Jinyoung could do for him.

 

So Jinyoung sank back into the water, ordered the dolphins on their way, watched them ferry the boat off, then headed back for home. On his journey through the familiar waters that usually felt comfortable and homey, he felt a deep sense of emptiness he'd never felt before. He felt like he was headed in the wrong direction, like home was a world he'd never actually been to and that he'd always be separate from. The strange man's brown eyes haunted him all the way home. They were beautiful, but that wasn't what troubled Jinyoung's mind.

 

It was that they hadn't been able to see him properly in their haze of fever. And Jinyoung had wanted to be seen by them, to be more than a legend or a mystery to puzzle over like an impossible dream to this human. He wanted to be real in that world above the water as much as he was real in the realm of his people.

 

---

 

He spent the next months in a fit of listless gloom. He felt lost and lonely, and not a day went by without him thinking of the stranger he'd met in those brief and beautiful moments. He thought of his skin, his eyes, his shuddering and frail body. Was he all right? Had he survived? What was he doing now? What kind of person was he? Where did he live?

 

Without knowing, Jinyoung felt adrift and purposeless. He tried to find something else to think about and want, but there was nothing to be found. The world around him simply couldn't hold his interest anymore.

 

His sisters about being a moody teenager, but his father was deeply concerned that his son was constantly lacking in energy and would do nothing more than lie around all day, staring vacantly at nothing. Jinyoung refused to tell him what was bothering him since he didn't want his father to know he had disobeyed and spoken to a human, so at long length his father summoned a witch doctor to see if she could cure his lethargic son.

 

But unbeknowst to the king, the former witch doctor had set course for new waters and had been replaced by a dark and ambitious young woman, the outcast daughter of a selkie and a merman. This witch doctor sought to end the rule of Jinyoung's father and have dominion over the good merfolk herself. Knowing the weakness the king had for his children, she recognized this as an opportunity to sew chaos in his family and chip away at the king's strength.

 

When she arrived to examine Jinyoung, she was the picture of kindness, promising to keep anything he might tell her a secret and coaxing him to confide to her the reason for his listlessness. Jinyoung resisted at first, but she was so kind and sweet, so warm and melty unlike his sisters or father that he eventually caved in.

 

“I met a human,” he confessed. “It was only for a brief moment, but I can't stop thinking of him. If it's possible...even if it's only for a second, I want to see him again and know that he's well.”

 

The witch doctor grinned widely. There was nothing that would break the king of the merfolk faster than one of his children being taken by a human.

 

To Jinyoung, she said, “Oh, that will be very difficult indeed. Humans and merfolk belong in two different worlds. To see this human again, you must give up your world and go to his.”

 

Jinyoung hesitated, but only for a moment. “Is it possible for me to do that?”

 

“Oh yes. I could help you. But there would be a price.”

 

“And what would that be?”

 

“It would be very unwise for me to let you loose in the human world with your knowledge of seafolk the humans believe are myths. If they knew that merfolk, selkies, nixies, and naiads were all real, they would hunt us until there were none left. So my price is this: as soon as you are on land, not a word may cross your lips. You will be entirely mute, and none of our secrets will fall from your mouth. Perhaps you may communicate things you need in gestures or signs, but if you ever attempt to say what you are and where you're from in signs or writing or pictures, your tail will come back and you'll find yourself flopping on the land like a fish for the humans to capture and torture.”

 

Jinyoung's mouth trembled. “So I'm never to speak again for the rest of my life?”

 

The witch doctor's grin increased. Now she would truly catch him in her net. “Oh no, my poor merprince. You may speak only after one condition is met. You say you want to see this man and be at his side, but you do not understand the way of humans. He would not want some mute stranger trailing after him all his days, not if he one days wishes to start a family of his own. Only if you can convince him to take you for his family will you be able to stay among the humans and again use your voice.”

 

“And what if I'm unable to do so? Will I be banished back to the water?”

 

“No, my dear. If you can't make him choose you, you will dissolve into the air as sea foam, floating away in the sky. This kingdom has no use for a prince that even a human rejects.”

 

The witch doctor worried for a moment that she'd set the price too high, that this boy who was adored by his family and had a long life ahead of him would risk dying for the sake of a stranger, much less a human one. But she saw the sense of purposelessness in his eyes. It wasn't just the stranger Jinyoung wanted, she thought. He wanted to belong somewhere, to go to that world he'd never been, and both of those wants were big enough for him to take any risk.

 

And so he did. After long moments of consideration, he at last lifted his head. “I'll do it,” he said in a quiet voice. “I'll pay your price.”

 

The witch doctor's smile grew as wide as her face. “Very well. No times for goodbyes to your family, I'm afraid. Close your eyes, and I will work my magic on you. When you wake, you'll find yourself in waters closest to where your stranger is. What happens next is up to you and him. I wish you good fortune, my prince. You will need it where you're going.”

 

---

 

When Jinyoung opened his eyes again, he was heaving up water on a muddy river bank, his body shivering with cold. He had no idea where he was, just that he'd been transported from the ocean and he was now in one of the bodies of water that wound through the land of humans. And he knew without looking that his tail was gone. The bottom half of his body felt strange and completely foreign, and he had no idea how to move, which was just as well since he was exhausted enough from the oppressive feeling in his lungs. Was this how humans felt when they came close to drowning? His body had never rejected water before, and the feeling of it was incredibly strange.

 

In between his coughs, he heard a voice. “Halt!” He didn't think it was addressing him, but looked up nonetheless. There were six men on horseback nearby on the path, and leading them was the stranger Jinyoung had saved before. Jinyoung's heart surged in excitement. Now that he wasn't half drowned, the man made for a very regal figure on his horse. He held himself tall, his proud face flushed in the sun and looking much stronger than it had the first time, and his hair shone like golden fire in the sunlight.

 

The other men were dressed in simple clothes with metal plates covering their chests. Scabbards were hung from their belt—they must have been guards, like the mermen who accompanied Jinyoung's father when he ventured from their colony.

 

“Looks like the poor guy almost drowned,” one of the guards said, glancing towards the stranger. “This is your area of expertise, my prince.”

 

“I told you, Jackson, I'm not even fully certain how I survived that,” the stranger, who was apparently a prince just like Jinyoung, said. He swung down off his horse and began walking to the banks where Jinyoung was lying in a heap in the mud. After a moment, he paused, turning back to his guards. “Would one of you spare me a cloak? He hasn't a stitch of clothing on him.”

 

One of the guards grabbed the cloak off of the guard in front of him, which was met with a sharp “Hey!” Ignoring the protests, the guard, the tallest of the bunch, tossed the cloak down to the prince.

 

The prince approached the banks, crouching down in front of Jinyoung. “Are you all right?” he asked.

 

Jinyoung stared at him for a moment, enraptured by his face and the desire to touch his cheek just as he had before, until he remembered he needed to respond. He nodded his head 'yes'.

 

“Can you stand?”

 

Jinyoung tested his new legs, but he couldn't quite grasp how to use them. He shook his head 'no'.

 

The prince hooked his arms underneath Jinyoung's shoulders, hauling him to his feet and settling Jinyoung's body weight against his own body. “You're covered in mud,” he said gently, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping down Jinyoung's face. His eyes widened a little bit as he uncovered Jinyoung's features from underneath the dirt. “Wait...do I know you?”

 

Jinyoung thought for a moment. If he said 'yes,' the prince would have questions as to where, and Jinyoung couldn't reveal that they'd met in the ocean on that day. It would lead to more questions, and would end at the revelation of what he was, something he was forbidden to reveal. Instead, he shook his head 'no'.

 

The prince sighed a little. “No, I suppose I wouldn't. My mistake.” He threw the cloak around Jinyoung's shoulders, and Jinyoung tightened it around himself, relieved at the warmth of it. “Who are you, then? How did you come here?”

 

Jinyoung opened his mouth, touched his throat, then made an X with his fingers.

 

“You... you can't talk?” The prince's lips thinned. “You're not a victim of torture, are you? You still have your tongue?”

 

Jinyoung opened his mouth again so he could see.

 

“Mute, then. Makes things difficult. Hmmm.” He scratched his head. “Do you live nearby?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head 'no'. He had no idea where they even were.

 

“Do you know how to return to your home from here? One of my guards could you.”

 

Jinyoung again shook his head. He tented his hands in the shape of a roof of a human house, then made another X with his fingers.

 

“Do you mean to say you have no home?” the prince asked in bewilderment.

 

Jinyoung nodded 'yes'.

 

“Then what the heck are we supposed to do?” one of the guards asked. They'd drawn their horses nearer and were now forming a half circle around the prince and Jinyoung.

 

“We can't just leave him here,” the prince said firmly.

 

“We're on day two of a one week journey to Ellondria,” another guard pointed out.” Are we supposed to take him with us the whole way? Don't forget that we're supposed to be traveling in secrecy.”

 

“I haven't forgotten, Jaebum,” the prince said, his voice suddenly tight. “But with the fighting going on, it would be as good as murder just to leave him where he is.” He turned back to Jinyoung. “We're on a journey right now. We have to take forest paths because the main roads are too dangerous. There's a chance we can find somewhere safe to leave you, but also a chance the we may not. Knowing this, I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to come with us, wouldn't it?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head vehemently, gesturing that he would like to go with them. The guards exchanged looks among themselves.

 

“I'm not sure he could fight, if it came down to that?” one of the guards said tactfully.

 

“But still, Kunpimook, you have to admit that it's the best option,” another guard said diplomatically. “We are going to Ellondria, after all, which is the safest kingdom to be in. And when we get there, Rhea will know exactly what to do with him. That's what she's famous for right? Helping the poor and unfortunate.”

 

“That's true, Youngjae,” the guard named Jackson said with a nod. “And this forest is a freaking maze. No one's going to find us here. Only the royal family knows their way around this godforsaken place.”

 

“We'll take him,” the prince said decisively. “I will not leave an innocent to die here.” He gestured to Jinyoung. “You are in no condition to ride on your own, and we don't have any extra horses. Would you like to ride with one of my men? Yugyeom, maybe?” The tallest and youngest looking of the guards shrugged indifferently.

 

Jinyoung shook his head 'no', clinging to the prince's sleeve and pointing at him. I wish only to go with you.

 

The prince cleared his throat, looking a bit flustered. “Ahem. I would need you to lean against me so you won't fall, but you're a bit taller than me, so it would be hard to see with you in front...”

 

The guards all chuckled. “As expected of our 'little prince,'” the one named Youngjae teased.

 

“Shut up,” the prince said crossly.

 

“Come on, he can sit behind you and hold on by your waist,” Jackson said. “He's clearly imprinted on you, so you'll be taking him whether you can see or not.”

 

“Very well.” The prince gestured to his guards. “Since you're traveling with us now, I should introduce you formally. From left to right: Yugyeom, Kunpimook, Youngjae, Jackson, and Jaebum. All five are palace knights. Should we run into trouble, they'll make sure no harm comes to us.”

 

Jinyoung pointed to the prince again. Your name, too.

 

The prince's eyes widened. “You... you don't know? I thought you'd heard enough by now to guess. You're in the borders of Champa, and we only have one crown prince, so...” His voice trailed off. “Mark. Prince Mark.”

 

Jinyoung knew nothing of human borders or rulers, so the name itself clued him in to nothing. But all the same, it gave his heart a satisfied feeling to know. It was a short and simple name, but pretty. He wished he could say it aloud with the voice he'd lost.

 

“I don't know if it's possible, but is there any way you can tell us of your name?” Mark asked.

 

Jinyoung pointed to a stick near his feet, and Mark picked it up and handed it to him. Jinyoung drew his name in the mud, excited for the chance to hear Mark say it once again.

 

Instead, he was met by silence. “Youngjae,” Mark said quietly. “You studied languages, didn't you? Do you recognize this one?”

 

Youngjae shook his head. “It's not from any kingdom I've ever heard of.”

 

Jinyoung stared down at the characters he'd written. They were not much like the letters he'd seen on the remains of shipwrecks, but did they truly have no idea of their meaning?

 

“This raises more questions about where you're from, but I'm guessing you don't know or can't answer,” Mark said finally. “But it seems you're not from any enemy territory, which is all that matters. Still, we have to call you something, and I'm not sure what this says.” He studied Jinyoung for a moment. “How about 'Kang' for river?”

 

Jinyoung nodded. It wasn't good as hearing his real name would be, but it was all right for now.

 

“Now that's settled, we really need to be on our way. Come, I'll help you onto my horse.” He tried to help Jinyoung walk forward, but Jinyoung wobbled and almost fell. Mark caught him and tried again, but again Jinyoung stumbled and slipped to the ground.

 

“It's like he's never walked before in his life,” Yugyeom said, with a degree of awe.

 

“I can see that for myself,” Mark said, breathing hard in exertion. “Let's do this slowly, all right? One foot in front of the other. Put your weight on your foot like this. There you go. You've got this. Now hold steady and-” Mark placed his hands on Jinyoung's waist and hoisted him up with much effort onto the horse. The horse could sense the awkward weight on its back and stamped a little in complaint, but Mark swung himself back up in front of Jinyoung, taking the reigns and steadying it. “Put your hands around my waist and hold on tight if you've never riden before,” Mark advised. “It takes some getting used to. Now, let's go. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

 

---

 

It did take a lot of getting used to. Jinyoung spent the first hours of their march clinging to Mark for dear life, his heart pounding and his body shaking, soothed only by the soft humming Mark was doing to keep him calm. The others seemed entirely oblivious to Jinyoung's discomfort and spent their time talking among themselves about many things Jinyoung didn't understand. Their journey was the main subject of conversation, and from what Jinyoung could gather, the Kingdom of Champa, where they were now, was in political turmoil. Mark's father, the king, had been overthrown by a greedy chancellor, and Mark was now fleeing to a place called Ellondria for protection and maybe an army to fight with. There was someone there named Rhea who was supposed to help them, and possibly Jinyoung as well.

 

Other than his humming, Mark said nothing. His father had died, Jinyoung realized, so he would be fresh in mourning. And it would be hard to mourn properly on the back of a horse in the middle of a supposedly labyrinth of a forest being squeezed to death by a stranger who couldn't talk and was but for a cloak.

 

During the night hours, they at last came to a stop and pitched camp in a scrubby clearing in the woods. Jaebum found an extra set of clothing and they all helped Jinyoung dress through his mess of awkward limbs he still had no idea what to do with. As soon as they had set him down around a small fire they'd built, the five of them scattered off to their own tasks. Jackson and Jaebum were chosen to go hunting, Youngjae and Kunpimook were to scout and make sure they were keeping to the right track, and Yugyeom would stay and guard Mark and Jinyoung, a short distance from where they sat by the fire.

 

“I wonder where you're from, Kang,” Mark said idly, rubbing his hands together next to the flames. “Wherever it is, you must be very far from home.”

 

Jinyoung nodded. Perhaps the ocean itself wasn't so very far, but the colony felt a far way behind him. He was sorry that he hadn't had the chance to say goodbye, and felt a few stray tears welling in his eyes.

 

“No, please,” Mark said softly, reaching out to pat Jinyoung's hand. “You're among friends here. We're also very far from home, and it may very well be we don't even have one anymore. You're not alone. Don't be sad.”

 

Jinyoung latched onto his fingers. He was so soft, so comforting that Jinyoung's tears dried. He still missed his family, but the part of his soul that had previously been lost was glad he'd come.

 

“You know, I almost drowned recently too, just like you. I was out on a boat, running away from my royal duties, and I thought I saw something under the water. The kind of thing you hear of in legends—a mermaid. Or a merman, I should say. I leaned too far and fell in with all my stupid, heavy royal clothes making me sink even faster. And this may sound crazy, but I really think there was a merman there. Because someone rescued me that day. I don't know how, and I don't remember his face, but I remember his voice. I'd know that voice anywhere, if I heard it again.” He shook his head. “Anyways, I somehow made it home and had a fever for days after. I'm glad you're doing much better than I did, Kang.”

 

Jinyoung touched his throat, feeling another pang of sadness. He'd know my voice if he heard it. I wish I could speak to him. I wish I could tell him I'm right here.

 

“You remind me a little of him, somehow, even though I never really saw him,” Mark said, smiling a little. “You could very well be magical yourself, couldn't you? Under a curse or from an otherwordly kingdom, crossed over from some kind of boundry between worlds. Or do you think I'm crazy for believing in these things?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head and pointed to himself. Me too.

 

“Sometimes I think it's the only faith I have left,” Mark said, his voice suddenly sad. “There's really not much hope for me anymore, after what happened. Maybe magic is the only thing that can save me now.”

 

Jinyoung squeezed the hand he was holding tightly. You are strong, he wanted to say. If the world didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here. You lived through almost drowning and the turmoil in your kingdom for a reason. You are needed. By the world and by me.

 

Of course, Mark could understand none of this. He simply squeezed Jinyoung's hand back. “It's strange,” he said, his voice back to the light-hearted tone from before. “You can't say anything, and I know nothing about you. But I can tell you're a kind person. It shines from you like a light. I'm glad we were there to save you, Kang. I hope there's something we can do to help you.”

 

Shortly, Jaebum and Jackson came with a pheasant to pluck and roast for dinner, and Youngjae and Kunpimook sat down with Mark and Jinyoung and kept their prince occupied with talks of where their journey would take them the next day and how good a pace they were keeping. But Jinyoung couldn't stop staring at Mark. He could also feel a light of kindness coming from him, and also a sense of courage that belied his assertion that he was losing faith. Jinyoung was sure that he hadn't, and that he'd use his considerable strength to win his kingdom back, even if it hurt and was harder than anything he'd ever done.

 

After dinner, they laid out their bedrolls. There was no extra one for Jinyoung, and Jackson offered his, but Jinyoung insistently slipped into Mark's. “There's no helping it,” Mark said when the others asked if this was all right. “He's probably never camped before, and with all those wolves howling in the background, it's hardly pleasant. I'll look after him.”

 

Jinyoung wasn't actually scared, not with five armed guards and someone as comforting as Mark so close. But still, he wrapped his arms around Mark, drawing him close like a shield. My father was wrong, he thought to himself. Not all humans are dangerous. Some are kind and brave and gentle. Some have arms that feel just like home.

 

“You're like a giant animal,” Mark said, laughing a little. “But it's fine. You have nothing to fear. I'm here. You'll be fine.” He started humming again, and this time Jinyoung recognized it. It was the lullaby he'd sung to Mark to put him to sleep in his boat.

 

As Mark hummed, Jinyoung snuggled into his chest and closed his eyes, wishing he could sing along, wishing he could give back the comfort he was receiving. All he needed to do to get his voice back was have Mark accept him as his family. And he could do that, couldn't he? It wasn't impossible. Nothing was impossible. After all, here he was, one who had started the day as a merman and now ended it with his legs curled against the legs of a human, a human whose heartbeat was steady against his ear, soothing accompaniment to the melody that at last lulled him to sleep.

 

---

 

It was overcast the next day, and they had to get an early start to out pace the coming storm. They packed up quickly, and this time Jinyoung tried to mount Mark's horse himself. It didn't work incredibly well, but he at least managed not to fall off. He really needed to master these legs of his soon.

 

As they rode, Mark leisurely told him stories this time instead of humming. He told him about Champa and the beautiful mountains there, and of his palace near the seaside. He talked about how he'd go rowing on sunny days and look for pods of dolphins or sometimes even whales spouting water into the air. His pace of speaking was very slow, and sometimes the guards yelled at him to get on with it already, but Jinyoung liked it. It was just like the elders back home who demanded patience while listening, but always said things of importance instead of wasting their breath on nonsense.

 

“Ellondria, where we're going, is also very beautiful,” Mark said. “It's a forest kingdom, and the people there are practically one with the trees. They can climb one before you can blink your eyes, and hunt better than anyone you'll ever meet. You'd like them. They're all big believers in magic and forest spirits.”

 

“And then there's Rhea, who's practically a forest spirit herself,” Yugyeom said in a sing-song voice.

 

Jinyoung tried to gesture. Who is she?

 

Jaebum noticed and started to answer first, “She's-”

 

Mark looked over at him and he quickly fell silent. “The princess,” Mark answered shortly. “An old friend, too.”

 

That didn't feel like a complete answer, but Jinyoung didn't know how to ask for a more detailed one, and it didn't seem like the guards were allowed to tell him. Rhea was supposed to help him too so it seemed like an important thing to know, but perhaps she was magical somehow, or something about her was secret.

 

After awhile, Mark started talking about the rebellion against his family. The chancellor that started it had been one of his father's closest friends, but that had all been a lie—all that time, he'd been simply waiting to strike. Jinyoung could tell that Mark felt deeply betrayed and was just barely reigning in his anger. If it had been up to him, he would have fought instead of running.

 

In the afternoon, they took a break to rest and water the horses. Mark took Jinyoung's arm and had him practice walking around the stream they'd stopped at. Jinyoung needed a lot of support at first, but after awhile he could find his sense of balance and could do it without Mark's help. He was so delighted that he couldn't help smiling and clapping his hands, which made Mark smile in return.

 

“You really are from the otherworld, aren't you?” Mark asked. “It would make sense. Your face isn't like anything I've ever seen before.”

 

Jinyoung pointed to Mark's face and lifted his hand up, trying to say that Mark's face was better. And it was to Jinyoung—he hadn't seen many humans, but surely this was the most beautiful one there was.

 

“If he's from the otherworld, maybe he's trying to seduce you and take you back with him,” Kunpimook pointed out. “And it's already working. You're in no position to be flirting like this, my prince.”

 

“I wasn't flirting, I was saying he's got an otherworldly face, which is speaking the truth because he does,” Mark snapped. “Besides, what the hell would they want me in the otherworld for? I highly doubt he's supposed to be seducing me.”

 

Jinyoung nodded firmly. He had no intention of leading Mark into anything he didn't want.

 

“Then do you have a special task you're here to complete?” Youngjae asked. “There are always tasks in the tales. Usually three.”

 

Jinyoung shook his head. He did in a sense have something he was supposed to achieve, but it was nothing as straightforward as killing a giant or finding a rare item. It was something that was going to happen or it wasn't.

 

“Regardless of why he's here, he's here,” Mark said. “We shouldn't ask him things he's not capable of answering or demand answers as to who he is if he can't tell us. He needs help, and we'll help him. Why isn't important.”

 

That night Jinyoung slept again in Mark's bedroll. Instead of humming to him, Mark waited until his guards other than Jaebum, who was on patrol, drifted off and started snoring softly. When they were sleeping, he pulled Jinyoung into him and began whispering softly. “I know you may not be able to answer, but can you tell me something? Only if you want to? Were you born without a voice?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head 'no'.

 

“Then you lost it somehow. Was it really a curse?”

 

Jinyoung thought for a moment and decided it wasn't, technically. It was a price, a choice he had made to be in these arms. He shook his head 'no' again.

 

“Can you get it back, or will it always be gone?”

 

Jinyoung shrugged. He didn't know yet.

 

“If it doesn't, I'll be sorry to never hear your voice. But even if not, you're very expressive. You have lively eyes. It makes me wonder sometimes what you're thinking.” He pressed his ear against Jinyoung's hair. “I can practically hear your thoughts running around in there.”

 

Jinyoung thought strongly, just for him. I want to talk to you, I really do!

 

“Maybe you're thinking that you have a lot of things to say and I'm too dumb to understand them?” Mark laughed lightly. “But don't worry. I know you're speaking without words and saying so much already. I'll do better to understand. Perhaps only someone like Rhea can truly help you, but I'll try, too.”

 

This time, Mark fell asleep first. As his chest rose and fell, Jinyoung rested his palm against him, feeling the movement so very much like a wave under his hands. He'd always been told humans weren't capable of understanding someone like him, but he felt like Mark could one day. If they had enough time together, he had the feeling that Mark would figure out everything there was to figure out, and even if they could never speak voice to voice, they would read each other using something deeper than words. As Jinyoung closed his eyes, he prayed only that they would have enough time for that to happen, that the story wouldn't end before it had truly begun.

 

---

 

The next day, the trouble they had been running from at last found them.

 

It was entirely unexpected. They'd been keeping dutifully to their path deep within the forest, the men all telling stories and laughing amongst themselves when an arrow sailed out of nowhere, spearing Youngjae's horse in the flank.

 

It was down quickly, but Youngjae recovered and the others responded with equal speed. Jaebum immediately started calling out orders—for Youngjae to get on his horse, for Jackson to get Mark and Jinyoung away as quickly as possible, for everyone else to advance. There were only a few of them, but they had to act quickly before they called for reinforcements.

 

The arrows were flying wildly, and Jinyoung wrapped himself tightly around Mark to shield him from them as Jackson led them deep into the trees, away from the fighting. Just as they were at the threshold of a heavily wooded area, one bit into Jinyoung's shoulder, spearing him with a pain that shocked him with how unbearavle it was. He bit back a cry, grinding his teeth. A cry would distract Mark, and he couldn't afford to be distracted. They needed to get away.

 

They rode as fast as they could through the dense trees, taking themselves far away from the path they'd been following. It felt like hours before Jackson finally gave them permission to stop. He pulled a small device from his bag and pressed his lips against it, which created an incredibly loud, crow-like squawk. After a few moments, they heard another squawk, followed by two more at fast intervals. This was apparently a signaling system.

 

“The enemies have been taken care of,” Jackson said. “No reinforcements. They're coming for our position and won't be much longer.”

 

“They managed to find us,” Mark said darkly.

 

“Probably based on dumb luck, but yeah. We'll need to keep to dense areas of forest now. It'll slow us down a bit.”

 

“Better to arrive slower and alive.” He turned around to check on Jinyoung, and immediately recognized something was off in his gaze. “What is it, Kang? There's nothing to be afraid of, didn't you-” His words faltered once he noticed the blood on Jinyoung's shoulder. “! You were hurt? You should have alerted me right away! Jackson, help me get him down from the horse. We need to tend to him.”

 

The two men helped Jinyoung to the ground, and Jackson held Jinyoung steady as Mark pulled out a knife. “This is going to hurt. Jackson, do you have something he can bite down on?”

 

Jackson removed his belt and fit it in between Jinyoung's teeth. When Jinyoung was secure, Mark cut the area around the wound to make room to remove the arrowhead. It hurt incredibly, and Jinyoung bit down hard onto the leather as pain racked him. But it only got worse. Mark had to gently move the shaft to determine if the arrowhead was stuck in his bone, which it was, though not deeply according to Mark. With that determined, he cut the shaft and used a metal tool from Jackson's bag to clamp down on the arrowhead and pull it out. It took an incredible amount of force, and it sliced Jinyoung's already damaged skin raw to the point where tears of pain streamed down his face, but it was at last over and the wound was left for them to treat with their herbs and bandages.

 

Mark's face was pinched as Jinyoung wept at the pain of the treatment. Jinyoung kept hearing his father's voice in his ears. I told you, didn't I?, he said sternly. This is what humans do. This is the life they live. But Jinyoung still wanted to protest with all his might. Mark hadn't done this to him. Mark hadn't wanted this or asked for it. Mark was kind, not like the men who had rebelled with the chancellor.

 

“This should have been me,” Mark said, his voice thick as he treated Jinyoung's back. “This wound should be mine.”

 

Jinyoung shook his head with what was left of his strength.

 

“No? You think you deserved this? None of this has anything to do with you. Champa isn't your kingdom—I'm halfway convinced you've never heard of it in your life. And yet you will bear a wound, maybe for the rest of your life, that was given to you only because you're traveling with someone like me.”

 

Jinyoung shook his head again.

 

“You only say that because you're kind,” Mark said vehemently. “But this can't happen again. Jackson, one of you will have to travel with him separately. Get him to a safe outpost, whatever you can find. A monestery, a village cottage, whatever is closest and safest.”

 

Jinyoung shook his head so hard this time that his body was practically thrashing. “Don't, you'll hurt yourself!” Mark yelped, but at least he'd gotten his attention properly. He didn't care that it hurt, he just needed Mark to know. He grabbed Mark's sleeve so hard his knuckles turned white and refused to let go. No, no, no I stay with you.

 

“Kang, I clearly can't protect you here, I can't-”

 

NO! I came here to see you again, you can't leave me where we'll never find each other again. I'll DIE. I'll turn to bubbles and it will all be for nothing!

 

Mark of course couldn't understand, but he clearly saw the wildness in Jinyoung's eyes. “You, seriously...”

 

“Mark, I don't think there's anywhere we can take him, anyways,” Jackson said earnestly. “We're too far from any villages, and heck if I know where we can find a monestery. I think we have to keep taking him.”

 

Mark's jaw clenched. “In that case, we're only taking the safest path. I don't care how long it takes to get to Ellondria. This can't happen again.”

 

“But Mark, the chancellor will have more time-”

 

“The chancellor will die whether it takes one month or two,” Mark said sharply. “I'm going to kill him. But I'm not going to see Kang or any of you die before that happens!”

 

Mark refused to be persuaded by anything Jackson, or the other guards once they arrived, said, and the matter was apparently settled. They would be now traveling on the forest's most difficult path, which was covered in protruding roots and slippery moss. They would only be able to take one of the horses through, which Mark insisted would be for Jinyoung's use since he wasn't surefooted enough to walk through the forest on his own. The guards insisted Mark would have to accompany him on it as well, since the whole purpose of the mission was his survival, not that of an apparently fey stranger.

 

They made very little progress before it grew too dark to travel and they needed to bed down. Mark double checked Jinyoung's wound and applied fresh herbs and bandages in addition to giving him a special drink from their medical path which would put him into an easy sleep. Before that sleep grabbed him, Jinyoung reached out to touch Mark's cheek as a way of saying both thank you and it's OK. As soon as he did, Mark's entire body jolted, and he stared at Jinyoung with a look of both shock and confusion.

 

“You...” he whispered. “But you...it can't be...it can't.”

 

Still, he cupped his hand over Jinyoung's to hold it in place so it couldn't draw away. They fell asleep like that, their fingers intertwined against the warm landscape of Mark's familiar skin, and it was the most peaceful sleep Jinyoung had ever had in his life.

 

---

 

They endured their most difficult day of travel the next day. The terrain was rough, the horse skittish, and all of their guards had to pick their way on foot, which was slow going. Jinyoung's shoulder was aching, and Mark's mood was troubled, and Ellondria and safety felt further away than ever. But even so, Jinyoung felt oddly content. Every moment he'd spent so far with Mark had confirmed what he'd felt deep within his soul when they'd first met—that he was an incredibly kind and gentle human. He'd taken Jinyoung in without question, he'd helped him walk, he'd soothed him through all his moments of terror, he'd healed his wound, and even now, now that Jinyoung was more of a hinderance to their journey than anything else, he was holding him tenderly, doing everything in his power to keep him safe.

 

We can understand each other, he thought with increasing certainty. We may be different and come from different worlds, but maybe it is possible for people as different as we are to belong together.

 

There was not much talking and laughing between the men, and each of them was singlemindedly focused on their progress and pace and how soon they would make it to Ellondria. Occasionally they would refer to Rhea and everything she was supposedly going to fix, but Mark eventually fixed them with a weary glare and said “Enough” in his most prince-like voice and they all fell silent.

 

A part of Jinyoung didn't want to reach Ellondria. He didn't want to be whisked away by some miracle-working princess who couldn't give him what he wanted in any form—only Mark was capable of giving him happiness and a future and a voice. But at the same time, he wanted Mark to be safe and have his kingdom back again, and that was far more important than any of the selfish wishes he had for himself.

 

Thanks to the persistence of their guards, they made it a far way before stopping to pitch camp, and the relief of not being hindered as much as they thought did wonders in lightening the mood. Jaebum and Youngjae sang a little folk song as they built the fire, and Kunpimook and Jackson started sparring with each other playfully. Yugyeom clapped a rough beat to Jaebum and Youngjae's song and did some kind of complex movement with his feet which left Jinyoung in awe. He tried to mimic it for himself, but simply flailed about as he lost his balance. This attracted Yugyeom's attention, and he walked over to help Jinyoung master the movement.

 

“It's called 'dancing',” he said. “There are a lot of ways to do it. Some you can do by yourself, and some you can do with the person you love. You've never done it before?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head 'no'.

 

“Well, you'll be able to do it at the Ellondrian palace,” Yugyeom said, smiling. “It'll be a rush job, but there will most likely be a w-”

 

Mark cleared his throat from beside them, and Yugyeom leapt in surprise. “Some guard you are, getting spooked so easily,” he said, lifting an eyebrow. He extended his hand to Jinyoung. “Here, Kang, I'll show you something more simple than Yugyeom's fancy steps. Just follow my lead.”

 

It was still difficult for someone like Jinyoung who could barely even walk without falling on his face, but with Mark's hand on his waist guiding his movements, he stayed on his feet and managed to do a passable job of staying in time with his partner. Mark didn't seem to notice or care about his awkwardness, but simply swayed him gently with a small smile on his face, enjoying himself for the very first time that day. Jinyoung smiled back, and it felt like he really was magical, like the whole forest was a magical kingdom they'd stumbled into and the stars glittering above them were fairies who would make sure that the sun wouldn't rise again and they could stay there forever.

 

As Jaebum and Youngjae finished their song, Mark lifted Jinyoung up a little and twirled him in his arms before setting him down again. This time when Jinyoung looked into his face, he wasn't smiling. The expression he wore was deeply serious, and perhaps a little bit nervous. He swallowed deeply, then gave a little bow to Jinyoung before clearing his throat and returning to the campfire.

 

That night, when Jinyoung tried to slip into Mark's bedroll, he was very gently pushed away. “Not tonight, Kang,” Mark said, kindly but firmly. “Yugyeom and Jackson are doing a double patrol tonight, so you can use the vacant bedroll.”

 

Jinyoung shook his head. No. With you.

 

“I'm sorry, but not tonight. I...I can't do it right now. Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll be right here. I just need you to sleep somewhere else tonight.”

 

Jinyoung was so surprised that before he could even register his plummet in emotions, the tears were already falling from his eyes. What did I do wrong? Why does he hate me now when he smiled at me so sweetly before? He felt terrified down to his very soul. If Mark didn't want him anymore, was he going to dissolve into sea foam right this very second? Was he going to die before ever getting to speak to Mark again?

 

“No, don't cry,” Mark said urgently. “I don't mean...you didn't do anything wrong. This isn't a punishment. I... I'm just trying to be...”

 

“Sssh, sssh, ssssh,” Youngjae said, stepping in. “It's OK, Kang. To tell you the truth, His Highness smells terrible today, and your nose won't thank you for sleeping with him until he's had a good wash. Come on, take the bedroll next to me. I can sing you back to sleep better than the prince can.”

 

His eyes blurry with tears, Jinyoung followed Youngjae to his bedroll and sank into it, still feeling miserable.

 

“It's really OK, Kang,” Youngjae repeated, lowering his voice so Mark couldn't hear. “He isn't turning you away unkindly. He's just reached his limit.”

 

Jinyoung gestured helplessly. What limit?

 

“It's just that you're...well, you're beautiful, aren't you? And the way you look at him like he's the only one in the universe in your eyes...he's a man, too, Kang, of course he's going to have trouble holding back, and he doesn't want to scare you because you're so...innocent, I guess?”

 

Jinyoung didn't understand. What was Mark holding back from? What could he do that would scare Jinyoung?

 

Still, there was nothing to be done. He spent a restless night, unable to sleep, simply staring in longing at where Mark was sleeping in the distance. But Mark wasn't sleeping either, he noticed. The same longing was hounding them both—there was only so long they could hide from it before it caught them anyways.

 

---

 

The awkwardness between them persisted into the next day. Jinyoung tried to hold Mark as tightly as he always did as they rode on their horse, but Mark kept on wriggling away and gently pushing his arms off. “You shouldn't strain your muscles by holding on too tightly,” he said in a flat voice. “Think of your wound, all right?” But all Jinyoung could think of was how each little rejection felt like a death knell for him. It hurt so much that he would have welcomed his wound reopening if it distracted him from the other kind of emotional pain he was in.

 

Just when he was certain that he couldn't take it anymore, they heard a strange sound in the distance. To Jinyoung, it sounded like the low sound of a whale's cry, but the guards immediately stood at attention, their eyes shining hopefully. “That's the Ellondrian army's horn, isn't it? Are they out scouting for us?”

 

Jaebum had them change their course, following the horn's reverberating blast. It led them out of the depths of the forest and into a more open clearing where there were about thirty or so soldiers on white horses awaiting them.

 

“Hail, Prince Mark!” the leader said with a grand salute. “Hail Captain Jaebum! Word of your approach came from a forest watch tower, and we've come to you the rest of the way to Ellondria. You are in safe hands from here on out. Your enemies would not dare to strike you while under our protection.”

 

The relief of the men was almost palpable. Here at last was a break from their constant scouting shifts and edginess, and a much needed bolster to their supplies. Canteens and wine flasks were generously passed around, and intelligence was shared after at long last returning to civilization. The Ellondrian army reported that they were already preparing for conflict back at the capital.

 

“Our kingdom is prepared to ally with yours as soon as the word is given,” the Ellondrian captain said. “Our King will request terms, of course, but I'm sure you know what those will be already. They are terms you certainly won't find unappealing.”

 

“Of course,” Mark said, but there was a grim set to his mouth. Jinyoung himself felt equally grim. The magical world they'd danced in the night before had already spit them back out, he thought. It was back to real life, and back to an ending that might pull him away from Mark forever.

 

“By the way, I'm not quite sure I recognize the fellow on your horse with you,” the captain said, studying Jinyoung assessingly. “Is he foreign?”

 

“Yes,” Mark said shortly. “Very. I've taken him under my wing, so there's no need for you to worry about him. I'll be taking care of him until we reach the capital.”

 

“Very well, then. But I do insist that you let us set you up in the carriage Princess Rhea dispatched. You've traveled too long in discomfort, and she feels it would be best if your arrival in front of the King was appropriately stately.”

 

“Fine,” Mark said. “My companion was injured and could also use a rest, so he'll join me there for the remainder of the journey.”

 

“As you wish.”

 

The carriage was hardly more pleasant than riding the horse with the way it jolted about and creaked whenever they were on uneven terrain, but Jinyoung was grateful for the chance to at last sit facing Mark. After yesterday, they had some talking to do, and Jinyoung wanted Mark to know exactly how his rejections that night and this morning had made him feel.

 

Mark tried to stare out the window for a few moments, but at last turned to meet Jinyoung's cross gaze. “What is it, Kang?”

 

Jinyoung used his arm to mime the phrase Mark had used earlier, taking him under my wing, and scowled derisively.

 

“What? I have taken you under my wing, haven't I?”

 

Jinyoung mimed Mark fighting him off, then pounded his heart twice to signify that it had hurt. Mark winced, his eyes dropping to his lap.

 

“I'm sorry. I don't mean to hurt you, but...” He bit his lips. “This isn't easy. To secure this alliance fully, I might have to...I can't...”

 

Can't finish your sentences?, Jinyoung tried to mime, but Mark didn't seem to grasp his meaning.

 

“Here's the thing, Kang. I care about you. I want to look after you, and I mean truly look after you in such a way that you're never hurt again while I'm here. But there's still so little I know about you. I don't know what things are like in your world, or if your heart and mind and soul work in the same way as mine. I can't even tell if you're as old as you look, since you seem to have the purity of a child at times, but you've got the body of a grown man, and I don't want to...” He fell silent again. “Tell me, Kang. Have you ever wanted something so badly your whole body ached for it?”

 

Jinyoung nodded 'yes'.

 

“And every moment you didn't have it was like agony, and you felt lost and listless without it?”

 

Jinyoung nodded again.

 

“This is my second time feeling like this. I felt like this before I met you, after that time I nearly drowned, and I thought nothing would be able to take it away from me, but somehow you did. And then as soon as you took it away, you brought it right back. I shouldn't be able to feel like this twice so quickly one after the other, but here I am, and maybe that means I'm incredibly weak or these feelings are meaningless and not special at all, but they just won't go away whenever I look at you.” He took a deep breath. “What was it that you wanted so badly, Kang?”

 

Jinyoung pointed at Mark. Mark stared at him blankly. “Me?” Jinyoung nodded. “But you...you don't even know me. And you're...you're just like a baby chick imprinting on the first thing it sees. You can't possibly mean it the same way I do.”

 

Jinyoung snatched Mark's hand and placed it against his chest so he could feel the wild pounding of his heart. Mark's mouth fell slightly open, his eye studying Jinyoung desperately. “You really must be someone from the otherworld come to make a human fall in love with you. There's no other reason for you wanting me. There's nothing I can give you that's greater than what you already are. Nothing.”

 

Jinyoung pointed to Mark's chest, right above his heart. This.

 

Mark breathed in sharply. “You...if you do things like that, I'm really not going to be able to control myself anymore.”

 

Jinyoung understood then, finally, what Mark was holding back from. And he knew with all his heart that he wanted him to stop controlling himself so strictly. He reached out to cup Mark by the cheek, feeling his entire body jolt under him a second time. But this time, Mark didn't just quietly let himself be touched. This time, he grabbed Jinyoung by the waist and yanked him onto his lap, crushing their lips together in a hungry kiss that felt like it had been built up over years instead of just mere days. They tasted each other like starving men, and in Mark's body Jinyoung read all the things he'd been trying to hide the times before, the stark confusion woven into the borderline uncontrolable want that demanded to devour Jinyoung as much as it wanted to treasure him and keep him safe.

 

Jinyoung pressed harder into Mark, wanting to transfer all of his own thoughts and emotions. There's so much you don't know about me yet, but so much you already know. You feel it in your heart, don't you? The words are unnecessary. You know me. Your want is my want. It wants to cradle and comfort you, and it wants to shatter your world and change it into one that you can share only with me.

 

They pulled apart, gasping for air. Jinyoung's hands clumsily grabbed at the front of Mark's shirt, and Mark's hand reached around to cup him from behind. Jinyoung's lower half felt like it was going to burst into flames, something he'd never experienced before. Perhaps humans felt their emotions outside of just within their heart?

 

“Kang,” Mark said, his voice incredibly unsteady. “Where it is you're from...you don't have to go back, do you?”

 

Jinyoung shook his head.

 

“You can stay with me for longer, then?”

 

Jinyoung nodded, and Mark sighed in relief.

 

“I keep wondering if you'll disappear. If I'll wake up, and this will all be a dream. I'm a little scared, truthfully. And I know that I have to...” He swallowed again. “Actually, I don't know anything. And that's why I'm scared.”

 

Jinyoung nodded, gently his neck with his finger. Me too.

 

“But I want you. Is it all right to say that? I want you so much that it feels like I'm losing my mind.”

 

Jinyoung heart pounded in overwhelming joy, and he opened his mouth, thinking his voice would come back to him at Mark's admission. But even when he tried to speak, no sound came from him. He panicked for a moment, then remembered the deal was that Mark had to choose him as his family, his partner for life. But surely that would come next? Surely it would be only a matter of days until his voice returned?

 

He wanted to kiss Mark again and again, but before he could, there was a knock on the carriage door and he hastily had to scramble back into his seat. It was someone from the army who wanted to talk strategy and politics. And talk. And talk. And talk. He remained in their carriage peppering Mark about campaigning well into the evening, to the point where Jinyoung genuinely wanted to throttle him. The only saving grace was when Mark would occasionally brush his foot against Jinyoung's ankle or fix him in a sidelong gaze, his teeth chewing absently at the lips that surely longed for Jinyoung's as much as Jinyoung's longed for his.

 

At last, their march came to a halt and they broke camp for dinner and some light-hearted sparring which Mark couldn't avoid joining in on. Jinyoung sat by the fire and watched, admiring the way Mark's muscles strained and sweat beaded on his forehead as he fought.

 

When it got late, they set up their bedroll and this time Mark didn't fight when Jinyoung slipped in beside him. “Just don't cling to me so much,” Mark said weakly. “It will make the night incredibly difficult for me.”

 

Jinyoung looked at him in confusion and gestured for an answer. Why?

 

“Because,” Mark whispered, looking each way to make sure no one was listening in on them. “A man's body responds when he's sleeping beside someone he wants to make love to, doesn't it?”

 

Jinyoung tilted his head, but then he remembered how he'd felt when they'd kissed that afternoon. He pointed to his groin eagerly. You mean here?

 

“Uh, yes, right there.” Mark shook his head in amusement. “Do they do it differently in the otherworld?”

 

Jinyoung shrugged offhandedly. Their parts were more like a dolphin's, internal instead of flopping around openly like a human's. He'd never experienced this kind of desire before as a merman, though, so he wasn't sure if the feeling was quite the same or not.

 

Thinking of it made him curious. He wanted to know what it would be like, and more than anything, he wanted Mark to show him. Before he could stop himself, he was reaching out to touch Mark exactly in the place where he would respond the most.

 

Mark blocked him just in time. “Um, Kang. There are other people here. Human beings don't, um, mate in public like this. Not usually. That's why I said I didn't want you stirring that part up, all right?”

 

Jinyoung's lower lip jutted out. He always slept so well in Mark's arms. It wasn't fair that he couldn't just because of the mating issue. He wished everyone else would just go away.

 

Still, it was a more peaceful night than the previous one, and they weren't far from Ellondria now. Maybe they could have some privacy there, before the warring started. And if Mark mated with him, that meant they would be bonded, and his voice would come back and he'd get to stay in the human world with him forever. His body was still aching pleasantly, but his thoughts were sweet and calming ones, so after awhile they slowly quieted him down and he was able to slip into a comfortable, happy sleep.

 

---

 

“Look, Kang,” Mark said, opening the carriage window so Jinyoung could look out. “There it is. The Ellondrian royal palace.”

 

It was huge, twenty or maybe thirty times the size of the little cottages Jinyoung had previously seen near the ocean during his past explorations. The palace was pure white with several high turrets decorated with flapping green flags bearing a sigil of a thick forest. There was an expansive courtyard at its front covered in extravagant fountains, lavish gardens, and statues of humans making a variety of strange poses. It was beautiful and intimidating at the same time, and Jinyoung wondered how many people lived in such a place that commanded so much space and protection.

 

They crossed into the courtyard where the royal retinue was waiting. A bearded man wearing a golden crown and flowing green cape stood at the side of a beautiful woman with tumbling brown hair and a green velvet dress so elegant that it would have made Jinyoung's sisters weep with envy. He had a feeling that this was Princess Rhea, the one who was apparently going to be enlisted to help him, not that he truly needed it anymore.

 

The army captain threw open the carriage door, and Mark descended with much fanfare and cheering from the gathered crowd. Jinyoung slipped out behind him, but no one seemed to notice. They had eyes only for the prince.

 

The King of Ellondria clapped him heartily on the back, and Princess Rhea kissed him gently on both his cheeks. “Welcome, Prince Mark,” the king boomed. “We prayed to god every day for your safe arrival to us, and now here you are. Know that our kingdom will not stand to see a usurper on your kingdom's throne, and that we will stand loyally by your side as you fight to take it back, just as we promised when our messengers sent word of the sanctuary waiting for you here as you fled.”

 

The crowd assembled cheered enthusiastically, tossing their hats and shouting for victory for both Ellondria and Champa against their enemies.

 

The king raised his hand, and everyone again fell silent. “Our armies are entirely at your disposal, Prince Mark. Ellondria is eager for the day of your return of triumph, when you will reclaim what is yours as the rightful king of Champa with the rightful queen at your side!”

 

The Queen? Mark had never mentioned his mother, so Jinyoung had assumed she'd died before the rebellion had happened. But it seemed now that she had been in Ellondria the whole time and would be returning along with her son.

 

But then the king gestured to Rhea, joining her hand with Mark's. “Let it be known on this day that the Ellondria-Champa alliance will be formally sealed in marriage. Our beloved princess will join our house together with Champa's royal house at next daybreak and form an alliance in blood that no usurper or rival kingdom will dare challenge!”

 

The cheers were deafening, but at the same time Jinyoung could barely hear them. At long last, he understood what he'd failed to notice before, the reason why all the guards had spoken of Rhea as their salvation rather than the king, the reason why Mark had continually prevented them from explaining who Rhea was. She was his fiancee. The condition for the Ellondrian army's cooperation was a tactical marriage to elevate their princess to queen.

 

And it didn't matter if Mark loved or at the very least felt a very primal kind of lust for Jinyoung. Because the condition of becoming human wasn't mating with the person he had sacrificed everything for. It was to be chosen as his family. And there was no way a prince like Mark was going to choose a man with nothing to his name, not even a voice, when Champa needed a queen with thousands of soldiers and the promise of liberation.

 

Jinyoung's heart thudded dully in his chest. This was his death sentence, then. In a strange way, he wasn't sad. He was happy he got to see Mark again. He was happy that he'd gotten to taste Mark's lips and hear from them that he was wanted and desired in a way that had scared even the calm and collected prince. He was happy that the woman Mark was marrying seemed good and kind, and that all the guards seemed to like her and think her capable of generous and caring things.

 

But woven into every piece of happiness was a thousand regrets. He'd never get to say goodbye to his family, now. He wouldn't get to say goodbye to Mark either. He wasn't going to ruin the wedding by dissolving into bubbles during the ceremony. He was going to leave now and pass on alone, with dignity.

 

Quietly, he slipped into the crowd and through the courtyard to the front gates, where the guards let him pass without questioning. He judged by the sun's position in the sky which direction to head in, east towards where the ocean would be, and began to run.

 

His legs weren't used to it, and he fell several times. He scraped himself and cut himself and smeared his clothes green with grass and brown with dirt. But it didn't hurt. Nothing hurt anymore. He already felt completely dissolved from the inside out, his body just a single, aching thought. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

 

He ran as the sun fell below the horizon and the night turned cold and ran and stumbled and ran again until he at last reached the place where the land met the sea. He fell into the water and let it slide over him, letting it hide his tears and envelope him one more time. Even now, he couldn't bring himself to think everyone was right. I should never have left. He still didn't think he'd had chosen wrongly. He had fought for his chance to love, and he had loved as fiercely as he could have in the time he'd had.

 

Now that time was simply ending. And all would be well without him. His father and sisters would grieve if they knew, but they would live happy lives under the sea where the life and world perfectly suited them. Mark would forget him one day and live a happy life as king of his beloved Champa. He'd have a beautiful and loving wife and beautiful and loving children, and good fortune would shine down on all his days. Maybe he'd wonder from time to time about the merman he'd once met in a moment like a dream, or the mute, fey creature he'd kissed on his way to meet his bride, but he'd think of them with the same distance with which humans read about legends, not quite sure if it was real or what the purpose of all of it was.

 

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice said. He lifted his head, seeing the witch doctor swimming lazily in the moonlit waters, watching him with a grin. “So this is how the story ended. How incredibly predictable.”

 

Jinyoung stared at her with narrowed eyes. You knew.

 

“Yes. And so, I think, did you when you made your gamble. You had to know that a fish trying to live on the land would end up pitifully struggling itself to death. You knew, and you made this choice anyways. I am not to blame.”

 

No. Maybe not. But I don't want you here to gloat.

 

“That's not what I'm here for. I want your last words, merprince. I want to share them with your father and watch the life drain from his eyes when he knows what became of his precious son. Fell in love with and scorned by a human, that which your father fears and hates the most. It will kill him, you know. The grief will kill his soul, and I will kill his body and become ruler in his place. Rest assured, though, merprince. I will take only the best care of your sisters.”

 

Jinyoung stared at her, his heart aching bitterly. He's stronger than you know. He'll survive this.

 

“As strong as you, you think? Blood always tells. I think he'll crawl into a hole and die just as pitifully and obediently as his son.”

 

I'm not pitiful, Jinyoung insisted. And I wasn't scorned. He loved me. Both as merfolk and as a man. He loved me.

 

“Yes. But not enough.”

 

They floated together there in the ocean for a long time. Hours must have passed, because little by little the sun began to peak out from the horizon. Soon it would be daybreak. Mark would be married, and Jinyoung would be gone.

 

Tell my father, Jinyoung said at length. That I was beautiful when I passed. That the sunlight filtered through me as I traveled through the sky and I looked radiant. Tell him that I am was so, so happy during the time I spent with the humans, and that the prince—the king—of the land is the kindest and best of men, someone worthy of love and respect. I regret a lot of things, but I don't regret loving him. Never.

 

“Now, now, my prince,” the witch doctor said with a sigh. “You make it very hard to take any joy in your death.”

 

I want it to be joyous.

 

“I know. But not for the reasons I wanted.” She looked up to the sky. “Aha. Daybreak. Take a look at it. Isn't it beautiful? You should enjoy it, poor soul. The last one you'll ever see.”

 

Jinyoung fixed his eyes on it, holding his breath, waiting for his conciousness to fade. He was ready to go, he thought. He'd done all he could do. He'd experienced love at such a beautiful height, and he didn't want to live long enough to feel the rest of the crushing fall.

 

But nothing happened. A feeling of impatience struck him, morbid though it was. He didn't want the moment to linger forever. He didn't want to give his heart the chance to lose its peace and let the doubt slip in.

 

The witch doctor was also growing impatient. “If this goes on for much longer, it looks like I'll have to do you in myself and get on with it,” she said testily.

 

“Don't you dare lay a single hand on Jinyoung, creature, or it will be the last thing you ever do.”

 

Jinyoung bolted upright. He knew that voice. He'd know it anywhere. It was Mark. But what was Mark doing here, when he needed to be at his wedding? Jinyoung stared up at him, but he wasn't wearing wedding garments. He was wearing his clothing from the day before, though now the trousers and boots were caked in mud stains. A silver sword was brandished in his hands, pointed towards the witch doctor.

 

“You're a hard one to track down,” Mark said to Jinyoung, somewhat out of breath though his grip on his sword didn't waver. “How did you cover so much ground in just a few hours?”

 

Jinyoung could not think of what to do or what to gesture, so he simply stared at Mark blankly. Why are you here?

 

“The boy wants to know why you fled the altar,” the witch doctor said tightly. “He advises you not to toy with him for any longer and go back if you intend to marry the girl and abandon him.”

 

“I'm not toying with him, and I didn't abandon him,” Mark snapped. “If anything, didn't he abandon me? He didn't even wait to hear my response to everything that happened.”

 

“The boy is thinking that he had no choice. He could not stand in the way of something that would save your kingdom.” This time the witch doctor had translated accurately.

 

Mark's eyes turned to Jinyoung. “Then you don't know me as well as I thought you did. I like to think I'm a decent guy, the kind who wouldn't force himself on an otherworldly creature too innocent to know about arousal, and also the kind who wouldn't marry someone while aching this much for someone else.” He knelt to the ground, knees sinking into the water on the shoreline. “Besides, I'm almost certain of it. You're him, aren't you? You're Jinyoung. The one who rescued me. The merman.”

 

Jinyoung could say nothing to this, since his promise was still intact. But still, his heart pounded with a budding sense of hope. Mark really did remember him. He'd connected the dots and had figured out which otherworld Jinyoung belonged to, the one not separate by a boundry, but the one existing side by side with his own.

 

“I know you can't tell me,” Mark said. “But even if you aren't, I can't give my life to someone else as long as you draw breath. For as long as I live, everything I am is yours, whether you're Jinyoung or Kang or both.”

 

The witch doctor clenched her jaw. “This pleases the boy, but he's wondering if you intend to sacrifice your kingdom and live on the run for the rest of your life while your people suffer.”

 

“Not at all,” Mark said calmly. “If 'the boy', this silly, stubborn boy had stayed long enough, he would have discovered that the king got too far ahead of himself making assumptions when he announced that engagement. That engagement was the condition for me receiving the support of the entire Ellondrian army, which he commands. I don't need an army of thousands to take out a rebel faction, not when so many of the Champan army is still in hiding and loyal to me. Even if I turned down the engagement, I would still be given Princess Rhea's personal army and honor guard, which is hers, not her father's, to command. It's a considerable force, one more than enough to call out the remaining Champan forces and take care of the rebels. Asking for the entire Ellondrian army would have been overkill from the very start.”

 

“So you did not accept the proposed engagement?”

 

“I did not. With Princess Rhea's blessing as well, when I explained to her why I could not accept. The king had been certain I'd accept and had already prepared for the wedding, so there was a bit of embarrassment about that, but it will pass. After all, Rhea is enough in demand that it won't be long before another prince or king snaps her up and they'll have gotten what they wanted in the end.” Mark reached out to take Jinyoung's hand. “Jinyoung—it is you, right? Even if you can't speak to me now or ever, I want to know you better. I want to bring you back to Champa and court you properly. I want to mate with you—make love to you—and make sure you're never harmed or lonely or left by yourself when you're frightened or unsure of this crazy world you've found yourself in. Please don't give up on me so easily, OK? I want to be with you, and only you.”

 

Jinyoung felt a new rush of joy and sprang up from the water. He was certain now he'd be able to speak, to confess to everything, but still nothing came out from him.

 

“It's not so easy, Prince Jinyoung,” the witch doctor said with a resigned sigh. “Courting first. Mating. Then when he decides to make an honest man of you, you'll have what you're waiting for. It'll be a true test of his merit if he can endure all those years of silence and still come to a full understanding of you.” Her eyes turned to Mark. “And you. If you're going to steal my victory away, you better have a full appreciation for what you're winning. Prince Jinyoung isn't here by accident. He gave up his world for you. His voice. Today he was ready to die for your sake. If you had felt a second of greed over the size of your army and taken that princess as your wife, this love of yours would be nothing but bubbles right now. If you take that for granted, I'll be sure the boy's father grows a pair of legs and comes to skewer you.”

 

Mark's eyes fixed on Jinyoung, struck speechless by this revelation. Jinyoung wished the witch doctor hadn't said it. He didn't want Mark to be chained by his sacrifices. He had chosen freely, and had no desire for Mark to be burdened with any sense of guilt over what Jinyoung had chosen.

 

At length, Mark turned back to the witch doctor. “Do you have room for one more bargain?” he asked.

 

“What are you suggesting?”

 

“One day a month. One day a month where Jinyoung can return to the ocean and see his family.”

 

“And in exchange?”

 

“What would you ask of me?”

 

She thought for a moment. “No fishing or whaling or hunting from your people in our ocean. Ever. Every human who violates will be turned into a fat tub of a seal for my harem where I will punish him or her quite thoroughly.”

 

“You have yourself a deal.” Mark reached over, hauling Jinyoung up into his arms. “Now, if you don't mind, I have to get this little fool home where I too have a very thorough punishment in mind.”

 

The witch doctor snorted in disgust and slipped back into the ocean just as Jinyoung reached up to touch Mark's cheek, the skin he loved so much, and kiss him deeply. They still had a long journey ahead of them, and perhaps years to go before he would ever be able to speak and fully tell his story. But he trusted that Mark would wait for him and be with him for when that day came. He trusted in the love that was real, that was whole, that was made for him, that was more than enough to assure he'd never have to face the prospect of spending his last daybreak floating as bubbles in the sky ever again.

 

---

 

And a long journey it was. With the assistance of Princess Rhea's personal army, they were able to rally the Champan Royal Army and dispatch with the usurper and his traitors with minimal loss of life and damage to Mark's kingdom and citizens. Still, the losses from the initial rebellion were difficult to heal. The king was dead, and most of his advisors had turned traitor or were murdered. The remnants of the court were highly mistrustful, and convinced that Mark had failed them. He'd needed to rebuild that trust and reform his armies and governing council. He'd needed to make it through a formal coronation and the resulting festivities and balls and ladies and princesses under his nose. He'd needed to gain the love of his people, who deeply mourned their fallen king and weren't quite ready for the constant change the rebellion and counter attack had brought. And Mark had also needed to mourn his father himself, then dry his tears and move forward.

 

And Jinyoung was at his side for all of it. At the beginning, it was very difficult for them to properly court given how busy Mark was and how much Jinyoung had needed to learn to understand life at the Champan palace and the human politics he'd been into. He also had his monthly trips back to the ocean to see his family and share his news to his tearful father and sisters until it was time for him to return to shore. It took some time, but when things settled, they were at last able to have more time for each other to learn each other and improve their communication so they could understand each other better. Jinyoung learned the alphabet and how to write, and though he still wasn't allowed to talk about his own kingdom, he told Mark about other things through writing. The thoughts he had, his impressions of humans, the love he bore in the depths of his heart.

 

And Mark loved him in return, strongly and devotedly. They were as happy as any couple could be, and so adoring and affectionate that the royal court grew accustomed to the oddity of their relationship and Jinyoung himself quite faster than they might have otherwise.

 

It was two years after Jinyoung had washed up on the banks of the river when it finally happened. Mark presented him with a silver crown custom made for him and asked him if he would like to wear it and rule at his side for the rest of his days, and Jinyoung was able to say at long last in his long unused voice, a very strong and emphatic “Yes.”

 

Their rule marked a very prosperous time for both Champa and the ocean kingdom. The citizens of Champa were spoiled by their generous and kind hearted rulers, and in the ocean, the amount of fishing and whaling decreased as the amount of seals in the witch doctor's harem increased. Blessed with so many victims, she left the merfolk kingdom and began her own reign over the seals and selkies and never challenged Jinyoung's family again.

 

As for Jinyoung and Mark themselves, they understood each other as deeply as any two people, and often words were not needed between them for them to communicate. Though the people of the kingdom never learned Jinyoung's secret, the stories still spread far and wide that their king was beloved by one blessed by the spirits, and their love lived on eternally in legends through stories of a lost prince enchanted by a creature who came to him from deep within the waters to share a life together with him.

 

And so those lives were shared, and each day of those lives were happily spent from the beginning to ever after.