First Meeting
Cracks in the Ground
When Jongin first meets Zitao, it’s when his brother Jongdae has fallen to one of his frail spells. He is twelve years old, standing by his eldest brother Minseok’s side as the royal apothecary arrives. The tall woman floats through the doors - he refuses to think of it any other way because her silvery robes effortlessly move like clouds across the polished wooden floors and he doesn’t even see her feet move underneath.
He notices her son following her for the sole reason that he is awkward by contrast. He wears ivory robes in the same flowing design of his mother, a pendant in an hourglass shape hanging around his neck on a chain that was still too long for him. His hands hold the hems of his trousers above the ground and Jongin can clearly see his red shoes as he takes light steps after his mother.
“Zitao, the tonic.” He hears the apothecary speak and his attention is brought once again to the willowy woman and how even her voice seems to float.
Her son - Zitao, Jongin notes, must be his name - doesn’t speak, he just rummages around in the basket he holds tightly in one hand, taking out a crystal phial; filled with a sage coloured liquid. He opens the bottle for his mother, and Jongin immediately wrinkles his nose. The aroma has a distinct medicinal scent, something he has quickly learned to dislike since last winter when Jongdae fell deathly ill from fever.
Jongdae looks just as displeased as he does, but obediently drinks it all and almost instantly his cheeks look less ashy, the colour returning to his skin.
Minseok thanks the apothecary as she bows gracefully - Jongin is still fascinated by how much she reminds him of a cloud, like fog hovering just above the tops of the palace rooves in the morning.
But her son trips on his way out after her, and Jongin finds himself staring at the boy, whose face colours in embarrassment as he gathers the fabric of his robes and sprints out of the door after his mother. In his haste, the hourglass pendant is left behind, fallen off him when he bent over to pick up his robes.
No one seems to have noticed it. When Minseok goes to check on their brother, Jongin slips away from his side for just a second. But it is a second enough for him to pick up the pendant and stow it in his spacious sleeves.
For a moment, he thinks to return it to Zitao. But he doesn’t know where the apothecary’s chambers are. And by the time he finds out, the thought has already escaped him. He keeps it, hiding it under the lining of the mahogany chest at the foot of his bed. Nurse says nothing when she sees him wearing it under his robes so he continues to do just that. Over time he forgets that he’s even wearing it, its presence is just that constant.
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