Jongin stares in disbelief, trying to decipher if the crown prince is serious. Maybe he is trying to blend in and has taken an alias on purpose? After all, he posed as a Jaemin when speaking with Baekhyun.

But the way he’s holding the wild ginseng daintly away from his body with disgust doesn’t exactly help him fit in.

While Yixing and the man with the sickle exchange pleasantries, Jongin grabs a towel by the door and rushes to alleviate his prince of the grimy, fresh herbs. Kyungsoo turns them over to his care easily, muttering a soft ‘thank you’ that sounds oh so familiar, Jongin could cry from happiness. Standing up close, he searches Kyungsoo’s eyes, hoping to find a wink or some outward tell that he recognizes him. Kyungsoo stares back just as intently, eyes roaming over Jongin’s face.

“I’m so relieved you’re safe,” Jongin whispers.

“You are?” Kyungsoo murmurs in reply, voice uncertain.

“Of course. I was so worried--”

“Yah, so you’re Kyungsoo then!” The booming voice of the stranger interrupts their reunion.

Jongin whirls and glares daggers at the man who dares disrespect the Crown Prince by calling him by his given name so cavalierly.

“I’m Chanyeol, by the way,” he says in way of introduction to Jongin. “And I gave Wondeukkie here that nickname since I couldn’t just go around calling him ‘hey you.’ That’d be rude,” he says jovially, wrapping and arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

“Oh-ho!” Kyungsoo objects, shrugging off Chanyeol’s arm at the same time Jongin shoves the giant backward with a firm push to the chest, positioning himself protectively between his prince and this stranger. “Who said you could touch me?”

Chanyeol simply barks with laughter, looking back at the two of them glaring at him. “What village are you two from? It sounds terribly unfriendly.”

Kyungsoo looks uncertainly at Jongin. “I… I don’t remember.”

Well, that’s a terrible excuse that they’ll never believe. “We’re from a small town much further south,” Jongin half-lies. “And it’s customary there to not touch people without their express permission.”

Kyungsoo stares at the ground for a moment, eyes flitting back and forth. “Ah, is that so?” He holds the side of his head, and Jongin steps closer to him, growing increasingly concerned.

“Are you okay? Are you in pain?” Jongin asks, semi-panicked.

Yixing interrupts. “He wasn’t able to give us his name when he came to.”

“Nor payment for our services,” Chanyeol says more seriously.

“I told you it’s not a big deal,” Yixing tells Chanyeol softly.

“The hell it isn’t. You’ve let yourself be taken advantage of too many times. The least he could do is help replace the medicines he required from your stash.”

“So you made him go walking around the mountain? When he’s still recovering??” Jongin advances on Chanyeol, hand moving instinctively toward the sword at his side.

“Recovering,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “I’ve suffered worse from a tumble down Mount Chunwoo before and been back to work the same day.”

Seething, Jongin doesn’t realize he’s half-way drawn his sword until he feels Yixing’s gentle hand on his wrist. “Most of his injuries were superficial abrasions, treated and virtually healed by the evening,” the physician quickly explains. “But the gash on his head seems to be giving him more problems,” he adds with a frown, tiptoeing and looking past Jongin’s shoulder at Kyungsoo.

Forgetting the nuisance that is Chanyeol, Jongin turns back around to see Kyungsoo starting to waver on his feet. “I think I…”

Kyungsoo starts to faint, toppling forward, and Jongin rushes to catch him in his arms.

Jongin carries Kyungsoo into the clinic, laying him down on the nicer pallet and ordering someone to get a better pillow for his head. A deep red splotch of blood blooms near the cloth manggeon wrapped around the prince’s forehead.

Yixing shoos him out of the way and checks Kyungsoo’s wound. “I’ll make another salve. It shouldn’t be this persistent.”

“He has a heart arrhythmia! He usually takes a nightly medicine for it. He hasn’t had it for at least two days,” Jongin explains, tapping his own forehead harshly, trying to recall what the palace physician called the remedy.

Yixing’s eyes go wide and he speaks to Chanyeol, hanging back in the corner of the room, arms crossed and looking a bit regretful. “Bring me the yarrow and ginkgo biloba. I’ll get the water boiled. This is more urgent than the salve.” Yixing stands to leave for the kitchen area, and Jongin grips his arm as he passes.

“Is he going to be okay?” he asks fearfully.

“Yes, I think he will be fine once he has the necessary remedies. The irregularity of his heart is likely contributing to both the fainting and the bleeding. Apply some pressure to the wound for now.” Yixing moves to leave again, and Jongin lets him go this time.

Alone in the room with Kyungsoo, Jongin sinks to his knees beside his unconscious prince, feeling helpless. He undoes the manggeon, folding it over on itself and pressing it gently against the wound to stem the bleeding and help it clot. Jongin’s eyes well, and he wipes at them fiercely.

“Highness, you said you would take your medicine like a good little prince while I was gone,” he tries to tease, in an effort to hold back the tears. Kyungsoo’s lip seems to almost tick up at the corner, into the playful half-smile he’d sometimes bestow upon Jongin when they had their private talks. But those happy moments seem so far away right now.

“You said you’d stay inside the palace walls, too.” The exhaustion and stress overwhelms Jongin, and a soft sob spills over unbidden. “You… you’d better wake up and make it up to me, okay?”

There’s a suspiciously loud clatter of bottles in the other room before Chanyeol clomps into the room, heavy footfalls announcing his approach. Jongin quickly composes himself as the man clears his throat.

“I got Yixing all t