A storm was coming. The air seemed heavy and the wind had begun blowing from the west with a purpose and brought with it the smell of distant rain. Mark stood in the middle of his father’s wheat field; closing his eyes, and threw out his arms as if to hug the incoming storm. Every good or bad moment of his life had been foretold by a storm, and Mark had no choice but to accept it. 

It had stormed the night before his brother, Yugyeom was born, and the night before his grandfather died. It had stormed the day before Mark had kissed a boy for the first time and realize he preferred men instead of women. It had stormed just before the beginning of the a year long drought that had nearly ruined his family’s farm and a storm had come to save them from starvation. 

He opened his eyes, and could see the rain approaching. Mark played with his gold necklace with a blue stone set in the middle, as he watched as it hit the tops of the trees in the forest and came on with a steady sweep. "Mark come inside before the storm gets here,” his father, Yunho, said as he was coming out from the barn, where he had just put away the horse and the wagon after returning from the village.

Yunho walked over and stood next to Mark and worriedly looked out at the rain sweeping in. “My goodness, I hope that storm doesn’t damage the crops,” he said. 

Mark smiled at his father, he was always so practical. “But isn’t there something beautiful about it, Father?” 

Yunho sighed, “Yes I suppose so, just as long as it doesn’t destroy anything.” He said turning back to the house, clearly expecting Mark to follow as well. 

Mark stayed for another moment and cast one last look at the storm. “But it always does,” he muttered under his breath before turning and heading after Yunho. From inside the house the smell of dinner filled the air. Mark’s mother, Jia, was already ladling the food and bits of vegetables out into bowls on the table. Once she was finished she put down the pot and coughed hard into her apron. 

“Storm’s coming,” Yunho said. “If there’s anything you need from outside, Jia, one of us’ll fetch it. We wouldn’t want you to catch cold.” 

“I’ll be fine, but you should probably go and call Yugyeom, he’s been gathering wood for us all day.” Jia answered pointing outside. Mark eyes widened as he forgot all about his little brother. Once he saw the storm clouds he was couldn’t help but stare at them. He immediately ran back outside and to get his tall little brother. 

He just couldn’t understand what happened, one minute the child was up to his waist next thing he knows he’s a few inches taller than him. Perhaps he’s found a witch and requested her help in getting taller but that’s impossible since witches moved out of the country years ago.

Mark found him behind the barn with a pile of wood in his hands, “Yugyeomie come inside, a storm is coming and dinner is ready.” Mark announced

“Coming!” Yugyeom he replied back and back to the house with Mark and the wood in his hands and placed it by the fireplace. Yugyeom quickly washed his hands before sitting down next to his mother while Mark sat across from him.

As they began to eat, Mark noticed how quiet his father was. Normally Yunho was cheerful and talked a lot during supper. Usually, on the days he went to the village, he was bursting with news, but this time he sat silently. It became obvious that there was something on his mind. As he ate, he would occasionally glance outside and that grew more frequent once the rain began to fall. 

“What’s wrong, dear?” Jia asked at last. 

Yunho looked up and gave his wife a small weak smile. “I’m just hoping the crops will be okay.” 

Jia looked puzzled, she understood as to why but they would be alright if not all crops made it okay in the storm. “Why is this storm more troubling than other times?” she asked.

He sighed and put down his fork. “A servant sent word from the castle that they’re going to need twice as much wheat and vegetables for this year’s Festival than last year.” 

Mark stared at his father, wide-eyed, as his mother and brother gasped. “Twice as many?! Are they planning to feed the whole kingdom?” Yugyeom asked

The Festival was a month away. It was an annual event which celebrate the victory of the people of Caledonia over the King of Ixania in their last great war. The Festival would last for four days, the height of which was the High Feast on the third day, when no one in Caledonia did any work. For the common people, High Feast Day was a day of enjoyment. Everyone would sample strange foreign foods, dance, and make music while engaging in contests of skill, creativity and strength.

However on the fourth day it would be a period of mourning as the neighboring kingdom as the entire royal family was slaughtered by the King of Ixania. The neighboring kingdom was currently being governed by the King of Caledonia as the two kingdoms were allies and practically family. The people of the other kingdom had agreed to governed by Caledonia. Many thought that the King’s of Caledonia would unite the two kingdoms however the King’s decided against this without giving a reason. 

“More like they’ll be feeding royalty from other kingdoms,” Yunho answered. “They say it’ll be a very special celebration this year. They say the Prince will marry during the Festival.” 

Mark sat up straighter, eager to hear. Any wedding was special, but a royal wedding! There had not been one in his lifetime. “Who is he going to marry?” he asked. 

Yunho shook his head. “It seems it’s something of a mystery, but it has been said that royal carriages have been arriving at the castle for the last couple of weeks.” 

“But they don’t know who the bride or groom will be?” Jia asked 

Yunho shook his head, “No one really knows.”

“I talked to one of the kitchen boys who works in the castle and he told me that the reason nobody knows who the prince will marry is because the prince doesn’t know himself.” Yugyeom added

“How can the prince not know?” Mark asked, bewildered. 

“The kitchen boy said that many prince and princesses had been arriving from all over and that there was some sort of contest to be held.” Yugyeom replied

“A contest? That seems a bit outrageous. Why don’t they let the prince choose who he wants to marry?” Mark asked

“The ladies back at the village have been saying that the prince is currently looking for his own partner but his parents are doing this just in case” Jia answered 

“Well let’s just hope that he finds the person he love and that the crops survive the storm” Yunho sighed and Jia nodded.

“So this kitchen boy; is he the same boy you’ve been talking to for a couple of weeks now?” Jia smirked and Yugyeom blushed.

“You’ve been talking to this guy for weeks Gyeomie and you didn’t tell me?” Mark gasped “And I thought we were brothers!” He said in mock offense.

“It’s not that big a deal” Yugyeom blushed

“You wouldn’t be embarrassed if it wasn’t a big deal Yugyeom” Yunho chuckled, “So what’s his name?”

“BamBam, he’s really nice to me” Yugyeom smiled, playing his food.

“I’m not nice to you?” Mark giggled

“Brother stop it, we’re just friends” Yugyeom laughed pushing Mark.

“Oh sure you say that now” Jia smiled making Yunho laughed and Yugyeom face turning more red. The family continued to finish their dinner and after finishing their dinner and they cleaned up the dishes and they headed to bed. Mark and Yugyeom went upstairs to their separate room. 

Mark curled up on his bed to listen to the storm outside. The wind was howling fiercely, as if looking for a way inside the house. He pulled his blanket up under his chin and listened to the sound of the rain as it hit the roof. Mark thoughts went back to the conversation at dinner, he couldn’t help but wonder about the prince and the person he was to marry. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaebum could see the storm clouds gathering and debated what to do. “Your Highness” he began, “We are less than a day’s journey from home, however it would seemed best to stop for the night and wait out the storm. Your parents would have my head if they learned I let you ride in that storm” He said

Prince Jinyoung smiled, “Sure why not, we’ve been gone nearly a year; another day more won’t really matter to me. And I thought we talked about titles, it’s just the two of us, who will hear us.” 

Jaebum rolled his eyes, “Someone seems excited to get home”

“Oh please, my parents are absolutely pissed that I haven’t found a partner yet and now they’re having some stupid contest for me to find them.” Jinyoung scoffed

“Well it’s your fault, we’ve met many lords, ladies, prince and princess and yet none of them met your standards” Jaebum sighed, “I wouldn’t be surprised if your parents invite them to this contest again."

“Oh Lord, I hope not.” Jinyoung grimaced and Jaebum snorted, “Oh come on Jaebum, even you hated some of the people we’ve met” Jinyoung frowned and Jaebum nodded agreement, “and the others were either boring or they just couldn’t careless. I don’t want that, I want to marry someone I can look forward to see everyday, someone who can talk to me like we’re close. I want to find love.” He huffed

Jaebum sighed at his friend, he wishes that Jinyoung could find true love at his own pace however his parents had a different idea of how the prince could find his true love. Which was why at the age of 17 they sent the young prince and Jaebum out to find that person but now at the age of 18, that mission was easier said then done since Jinyoung was being very difficult. 

Both of his father’s didn’t actually believe their son would find a partner which is why halfway through the year they had Jinyoung invite each of the person he visited to come his home in the weeks before the annual Festival, where his parents would meet them and judge their worth. The entire thing was appalling to him. Jinyoung had felt overwhelmed with embarrassment at the next castle, since receiving that letter from his parent’s, wondering how he could tell the king and queen that their child would be evaluated by his parents before they could be eligible to marry him. 

What Jinyoung had realized had upset and embarrassed him even more. He couldn’t believe that some of the people he met practically fell over themselves at the opportunity to prove their worth to his parents. Even their parents had also seemed to approve of the whole process. Jinyoung didn’t know if the excitement had been created by a deep sense of respect and loyalty for his parents or because of the fact that the lives of these people were so structured and confining that they found the challenge appealing.

“How many people do you think we have invited, Jaebum?” Jinyoung asked the guard.

Jaebum thought for a moment, “Oh I would have to say at least fifty.”

Jinyoung shook his head, “Goodness, I wonder how many of them are already waiting for us at the castle.” He muttered hoping that it’s at least half that amount. 

The first drops of rain began to fall, much sooner than the two had anticipated and after a moment’s hesitation Jaebum led Jinyoung from the road and into a field. He could see smoke rising in the distance and thought that crossing the field would be the fastest way to the village. The two lightly kicked their horses sides with their heels, and the horses moved forward into a gallop. They had been galloping for no more than a minute when the skies opened up and the rain began to hit them. The cold of the rain seeped into their bones, and they found himself shivering and urging their horses to go faster. 

The horses plunged down into a small ravine, splashed across a swiftly rising river, and then charged up the other side. They had just made it back to level land when something went wrong. Jinyoung felt his horse sliding sideways as his horse slipped in the mud. The horse staggered, trying to get back his footing, but then it suddenly stopped without warning and Jinyoung flew over his horse’s head and landed on the ground. His head hit the ground hard, and he felt a stabbing pain before everything went black.

Jaebum watched in horror as his friend flew over his horse and hitting the ground. He quickly jumped off his horse and ran over to Jinyoung limp body. Worried that Jinyoung would be seriously injured, Jaebum lifted him up and draped him on his back and took the reigns of both horses, leading them to a farmhouse he spotted a moment ago. He could only pray that the people would be nice enough to allow him and the Prince to stay until Jinyoung had recovered.