The steady breezes die out as the sun begins its slow trek down from the skies. The wizard and his apprentice have stepped out of the main forest path in the hopes of finding the wayward evil beast intent on destroying the faire. But so far, they’ve had no luck.

Luhan is strumming his lyre, something soft that goes with the haunting mood of the forest. It’s gotten quieter all of a sudden, the air hotter. Luhan’s lips are pressed in a thin line, and he is shooting daggers with his eyes at Yifan. His fingers flick the strings harder.

Under the melody, Yifan detects something and motions Luhan to stop. “Do you hear that?”

Luhan opens his mouth, wiggles his tongue, but no sound comes out.

Yifan snaps his fingers and removes the silence spell.

“OH MY GOD. DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN. I SWEAR I WAS GOING INSANE!” Luhan screams and then pants dramatically as if the spell had deprived him of breath as well as sound.

Yifan waits for his apprentice to settle before asking again, “Do you hear it?”

“The murmurs?” Luhan asks. “I thought those were just the voices in my head ready to whisper me another song.”

Yifan stops and stares. He raises a finger.

“It was a joke!” Luhan rushes to say. “Now stop looking at me like I need fixing.”

Yifan frowns. “I always look at you like this.”

“Exactly.” Luhan goes off in search of the murmurs.

Yifan follows him, letting his apprentice take the lead for once. Luhan pokes at bushes, prods the trees, looks under rocks, whispers spells into the underbrush to uncover hidden bugs. It’s absolutely unnecessary because the murmurs are growing and Yifan can pinpoint the direction they’re coming from already.

He leaves Luhan to play around and heads the opposite way. The voices grow louder the nearer he gets to a big wild berry bush. Yifan peeks behind it and sees a small clearing where two gnomes are arguing.

“There’s no ing way we’re going to have those ing roses on time!”

“We have to do it, Soo.”

“No! I refuse! The king can shove the ing roses up his , thorns and everything!”

The red-headed gnome laughs. “He won’t be able to do that if we don’t grow them.”

“Argh! You , Minseok!” Soo moves forward, pulls Minseok’s suspenders, and lets them snap back.

More laughter.

Yifan grunts when Luhan jumps onto his back and peeks over his shoulder. “Gnomes? Oh my god, they’re so cute. Look at their little hats and their colorful suspenders and shorts and—”

“Luhan,” Yifan snaps.

“Hold your horses,” Luhan says and climbs down from Yifan’s back. He brings out his notebook.

Gnomes
Attack: +10
Magic: +1
Habitat: Inside trees, underground.
Weakness: ?
Danger Ranking: Highly irritable and grumpy.
Notes: Meet one.

“No weakness?” Yifan asks.

“I couldn’t find any information—”

“You fail once again.” Yifan taps his chin with two fingers. “I think you owe me a full scroll detailing the weaknesses of gnomes.”

“How about a song?” Luhan deadpans.

Yifan taps his fingers against his chin. “How about we forget the whole thing?”

Luhan grins. “Perfect.”

Yifan massages his temple and takes a deep breath. He pushes his cape back, steps into the clearing, and settles his hands on his waist, taking a stance. “Good evening, kind gnomes. What seems to be the problem?”

Soo settles his pointy gnome hat further down his head, so that his black hair presses onto his forehead. He arches a brow and looks up, up, up at Yifan. “Who the are you?”

Yifan puffs out his chest and looks off into the distance. “Behold! I am the Great Wizard Wu!”

Minseok throws an arm around Soo and clings. The two are at level with Yifan’s tall boots. Small but wider and tougher. “Are you with the Valentine Faire circus?”

Luhan cackles. “Good one.”

“I am in charge of making sure the faire goes on smoothly,” Yifan says. “We were told of an evil beast making this impossible. Has the beast caused you trouble as well?”

The gnomes glance at each other and smile. “We don’t know of any beast, but we are having a ing hard time growing our roses in time for the faire,” Soo says. “You see, some knights decided to use our gardening grounds to set up the faire booths.”

“Ah, so you’ve been left homeless as well?” Yifan frowns at this. It was one thing to have a faire and remove a stinky troll, but these gnomes were harmless. And they were providing the flowers for the event. It wasn’t right that they’d been kicked from their lands.

“Ah, no.” Minseok ruffles his rust-colored hair. “They actually gave us quite a big space to move to, only—”

“It’s full of ing rocks!” Soo explodes, stomping his tiny feet.

Minseok nods. “It’s unusable. We told them so and they threatened to remove us from the forest if we didn’t have the roses delivered on time.”

“What the hell?” Luhan scowls. “We were sent to kill a beast and instead find the king’s knights are the ones behaving like beasts?”

Yifan didn’t like it either. The king had sent him to smooth things over for the faire, but it seems the faire was only causing trouble for those who lived in the forest. Not even doubting this is the right thing to do even if it’s not the one he was tasked to complete, Yifan asks, “Is there something we can do to help?”

Soo shakes his head. “Unless you can find a way to grow five ing hundred roses for tomorrow, then no.”

“There has to be a way.” Luhan pouts and Minseok moves closer to pat his hand.

“Fairy dust!”

Yifan screams and jumps back, tripping into the wild berry bush and getting entangled in it. This time he recognizes the voice. “How do you keep doing that?”

“Secret,” Lay sing-songs, dimples showing. “And it’s fun.”

“He’s right, too,” Luhan comments going through the pages in his notebook. “About the fairy dust, not the scaring-you-is-fun part. Though it is.” His apprentice chuckles. “It really really is—”

Yifan growls. “I will silence you again—”

“ANYWAYS…fairy dust would make the roses bloom by tomorrow,” Luhan says. “Just in time for the faire.”

“What about the rocks in our field?” Minseok asks.

“I’m sure the Great Wizard Wu can handle that,” Lay comments and turns to Yifan. “Can’t you?” Lay pulls at the sleeves of his white tunic. And by the gods, can anyone be this cute and innocent, yet not? Because Lay is flirting with Yifan. He has no doubt about it.

Yifan wiggles his way out of the bush, stands up and fixes his robe, swatting away the few leaves that got stuck. “O-Of course I can! But unless any one of you know any fairies around, I don’t know how we’re going to get fairy dust.”

“I do,” Lay says, swinging back and forth on his feet. “Know some fairies, I mean.”

Yifan blinks. “Oh…well that’s….”

“Convenient,” Luhan says, eyeing Lay from top to bottom. His apprentice doesn’t seem to like the mysterious young man, but Yifan is completely mesmerized.

“Let’s go then.” Yifan extends a hand to the side, opening the way for Lay. “After you.”

Lay laughs. “You’re so silly.”

He grabs Yifan’s hand and pulls him along. They break into a run, like they’re little kids playing some game. But while Lay is smaller and limber, Yifan has trouble not smacking into trees or getting entangled in more bushes. He yelps and grunts as he hits rocks and gets tripped by roots. He does everything but ask the beautiful young man to stop.

Lay’s laugh is as musical as the forest sounds. It’s a live thing that seduces its way into Yifan’s heart and warms it up. He wants to know Lay, to discover everything there is to know about him, because what Yifan has seen so far, he likes. Lay is making him feel things he’s only ever heard of before—the heart palpitations, the fluttering in his stomach, the rush of something very pleasant electrifying his body. Luhan will probably say he is a crazy fool, but Yifan thinks this could be the beginnings of love.

Eventually they slow down and stop.

They’re both panting—Yifan more than Lay, because who has time to keep fit when there are hundreds of wizard spells to learn. Lay draws closer and settles his hands on Yifan’s waist, looking up at him. His mouth is slightly open, rosy lips looking as inviting as ever. Yifan’s heart is about to pound its way out of his chest. His hand hovers close to Lay’s cheek, afraid to touch, but wanting nothing more.

“Who are you?” he whispers.

Lay bites his lower lip. “The one you’re loo—”

“Guys! Where are you?” Luhan yells

Lay kisses Yifan’s chin quick and then pulls away with a secret smile on his lips. Yifan feels as if he could combust right then and there. He also wants to shoot a fireball at Luhan for killing the most romantic moment he’s ever had in his life.

“Ah! There you are.” Luhan appears. He picks an edge of his kilt and fans himself with it. “So where are the fairies?”

“They should be around here.” Lay scratches the back of his head and stares at the branches above.

“I have an idea.” Luhan brings out a bunch of grapes from his bag. He takes them in his palm and whispers a spell. A sweet smell starts to swirl outwards and into the air all around.

There’s a faint rustling and two fairies buzz down from the branches of a nearby tree. They’re the size of Yifan’s hands, maybe a bit bigger, with oversized heads and clear translucent wings.

“Lu—”

“Yes, I know. I know.” Luhan reads the stats.

Fairies
Attack: +1
Magic: +10
Habitat: Trees, flower beds.
Weakness: Games, sweets.
Danger Ranking: Tricksters.
Notes: Bring bribes.

“Excellent work, Luhan,” Yifan says. “There is hope for you yet.”

Lay waves excitedly. “Hello, Baek! Chen!”

“Hi!” the fairies say in chorus.

“Greetings, tiny fairies!” Yifan says. “We have need of your assistance!”

Chen buzzes closer to Luhan and picks up a grape from his apprentice’s hand. The faerie it twice, before letting it fall to the ground. “Who’s this?”

Lay points at Yifan about to introduce him, but the wizard beats him to it.

“I am the Great Wizard Wu!” Yifan says and bows with a flourish.

The two fairies look at each other and start laughing, their voices like mocking chimes. Yifan has never had a reaction like that. He’s quite confused as to what is funny.

“Be nice,” Lay says, and the fairies stop. “He’s my friend and he could really use your help.”

Baek zooms around Yifan’s head, before stopping in front of him. “What can we do for you?”

“We need fairy dust to help the gnomes grow their roses,” Yifan says. “They will be forced out of the forest if they don’t deliver them tomorrow for the Valentine Faire.”

Baek snorts. “That faire has been nothing but trouble for us forest creatures.”

“It’s true. We fairies have no fairy dust left,” Chen says, coming to hover next to Baek. “Not after the king asked us to charm all those pendants they’re going to sell at the Valentine Faire.”

“Gods be damned,” Luhan says. “This has to stop! The king can’t—”

Yifan settles a hand on his apprentice’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Luhan. We’ll fix this. Tell us, tiny fairies, is there any way you could make more fairy dust?”

“We’d need an elemental source or magical item to create more dust,” Baekhyun says.

“Magical items are expensive,” Yifan says. “And rare.”

Chen shrugs his little shoulders. “Then you’ll have to wait until we naturally regain our magic. It can take days.”

They can’t wait so long. The faire is in one day! Yifan hasn’t even confronted the evil beast. He’s spent the day helping magical creatures get ready for an event they can’t even attend. It’s not fair. And he will have an audience with the king about it as soon as he slays the evil beast.

For now, he has to figure out how to get fairy dust.

Or a magical item.

Luhan, as an apprentice, can’t use magical items, so he has none. They could go back to Yeol and ask if he’s hoarded anything magical, but that would take too long. Lay carried nothing except the clothes he had on. And gnomes had just been kicked out of their homes so they wouldn’t have anything either. Stars above! What to do?

Yifan runs a hand through his hair and stops mid-motion when he feels Lay’s gaze on him. The young man is smiling at him for some reason. Yifan, unable to resist, smiles back.

Lay raises his hand and wiggles his fingers.

What?

Lay points at Yifan and wiggles his fingers once more.

Yifan copies the motion and frowns a bit. “I don’t—”

“Rings,” Lay says. “Your rings aren’t magic, but you’ve casted spells with them on. There’s magical residue that’s been absorbed into them.”

Oh! Of course! Why hadn’t he thought of that? Would one be enough or did he need to part with all of them? He takes off the smallest one and presents it to the fairies. “Will this suffice?”

Baekhyun flies closer and grabs the metal band with both hands. “If you give us one each, yeah, I think we could manage.”

Yifan relinquishes possession of a second ring.

The four of them head back to the gnomes’ rocky gardening grounds. He finds Luhan laughing with them, as easy as if they’d known each other all their lives, and not a moment ago. Yifan could never find that affinity or be that comfortable with someone he just met.

Though with Lay….

“All right! Let’s get to work!” Lay turns to him with a smile. “Ready, Yifan?”

With Lay he felt at ease.

“I’m ready.”

Yifan goes first. Since his audience is bigger, he goes for the grand show, spreading his arms wide and speaking words of magical power in his native tongue. The earth trembles beneath them and the rocks on the long field start to sink into the ground slowly. When he drags them down deep enough, he shakes the ground harder, until there’s nothing but fertile soil on top.

Soo and Minseok go next. They grab their packs and high-five each other. The grins on their faces look full of mischief and fun. In the blink of an eye, the gnomes dart away with super speed. Their forms blur up and down the plowed field scattering the rose bush seeds. No wonder they’re made for excellent gardeners.

When they’re done, they return to where Yifan and the others wait. Minseok slumps on the ground beside Luhan and Soo gives the fairies a thumbs up.

Baekhyun and Chen nod and set off. They have Yifan’s rings around their tiny bodies and as they gain speed, their wings start to glow. Particles of fairy dust start to fall over the field as they fly by. The soil sparkles with magic before it’s absorbed by the seeds. When the fairies are done, tiny little rose bushes have begun to grow.

The sun dips in the horizon over the tree line while the fairies, the gnomes, Lay, Luhan and Yifan watch the magic happen in silent awe. The roses will definitely be fully grown in time for the Valentine Faire. They’ve all worked hard and cooperated, so Yifan feels it’s more than right that they attend the faire.

“The Great Wizard Wu thanks you all for this great service,” Yifan says. “I’m sure the king won't mind if you and all your friends attended the faire.” He’ll deal with the king’s wrath later if the old man doesn’t like it.

For now, it’s enough that the gnomes, fairies, and Luhan cheer upon hearing the invitation.

Yifan searches around to tell Lay he’s invited too, only to find the young man is missing once more. “Where’s Lay? He was just here….”

“I get the feeling he’ll find us again,” Luhan says, coming to stand by his side. “Did you ask them about the evil beast?”

“Oh, yes!” Yifan kneels before the forest creatures. “I was sent to stop an evil creature living in this forest? The one destroying the faire’s preparations. Have you heard of it? Do you know where we might find it?”

Minseok frowns.

“Who the is evil?” Soo demands.

Baek lands on top of the gnome’s head. “There is no evil in the forest.”

Yifan sighs. “Yes, we’ve been told that, but—”

Chen flies close to Yifan. “The guardian of the Lost Forest finds you, not the other way around.”

This is all their new friends will say about it. So, the wizard and his apprentice say goodbye to everyone and set off into the darkening forest once more.

“Goodbye, manly Lu!” Minseok shouts.

Luhan waves and then beams at Yifan. “Did you hear that? He called me manly!”

Yifan flashes a tight smile, but he is too busy thinking of Lay. Where had he gone? Or more importantly when? Yifan hadn’t seen or felt him leave the clearing. Though if the pattern is right, it wouldn’t be long until Lay appeared again, scaring Yifan half to death and then making him flustered with easy smiles and casual touches.

Yifan couldn’t wait.

“Oie! Don’t leave me talking to myself!” Luhan runs after his master.