Kyungsoo stared absentmindedly out at the crackling fire, watching as it popped and fizzled in the damp air. The heat curled the stubborn strands of his hair that stuck out of his hood. He tried to tuck them back in, but when they refused to stay, he pulled down his hood instead. The breeze brushed up against the top of his head and for some reason, it felt as if a massive weight had lifted itself off his shoulders.

He watched Kai toss another log onto the fire, offering him a phantom smile as the man walked over to him. Kai’s hand, always kind and steadfast, reached down toward him, cupping his cheek affectionately and brushing a thumb across Kyungsoo’s pale, cold skin.

Kyungsoo sighed, closing his eyes and leaning into Kai’s touch.

“What are you thinking of, little one?” Kai’s husky voice murmured into his ear. He always sounded so beautiful, speaking his own language.

“It feels like I’ve been here before,” Kyungsoo whispered, pressing his wan smile against Kai’s searching fingers. “This moment. Like I’ve been waiting for it for years - only to return to a place I’d almost forgotten. One I’ve longed to see.”

He knew Kai understood. They both were strangers in a foreign land, stripped away from the familiarity of that which they called home, no matter what or where that home was. And though their hearts would always yearn for that place, it was here that they’d found their peace. In the hushed rhythm of their intermingling breaths. The distance between their beating hearts. It filled Kyungsoo with an indescribable ache.

Kai drew his hand away, pulling Kyungsoo forward so that he could sit behind him. He drew Kyungsoo in close, making sure that the smaller man’s back rested fully against Kai’s bare chest.

“Were we not out here last week?” Kai asked.

They had been here just last week, hadn’t they? Visiting Udo again. They’d ridden on Kai’s magnificent horse, a beautiful, majestic creature that never shied away from mouthing at Kyungsoo’s clothes for spare apples.

Kyungsoo turned so that he could press his ear against Kai’s chest and listen to the strong thud of the other man’s heartbeat. It was calm. Steady. As if it knew of the troubles brewing in Kyungsoo’s own heart and came to comfort him whenever Kyungsoo called for it. Just like the man to whom it belonged.

“All the same, it feels different now,” Kyungsoo spoke against Kai’s chest, eyes fluttering closed when a feather from Kai’s hair tickled his neck. “Just weeks ago, I would wake up not knowing where I might find myself. Never knowing where I’d wandered. What I’d done.”

“It was terrifying,” he confessed in a whisper. “My dreams were only nightmares. My waking hours were plagued with visions of terrifying things. The tree branches would become hands, reaching out to grab me, the faces of those I knew would twist into those of demons. And the things I would do - when I’d fallen into that dark place - oh, how they scared me.”

Kyungsoo opened his eyes, just a crack, to stare blindly out from the light of their camp fire into the pitch black darkness.

“And yet… you were always there, weren’t you? To guide me back into the light,” he whispered, placing his palm against Kai’s chest, admiring the difference between his pale, un-calloused hand and the scarred skin beneath his fingers. “After all this time, you’ve never once strayed from my side.”

Moments later, Kai’s hand slid over his, sliding their fingers together.

Kai murmured something, in words that Kyungsoo had either yet to learn or was too tired to decipher. He thought he could understand its meaning though, through the look in Kai’s eyes and warmth in his voice.

For you, Kai seemed to say, I would do anything.

And wasn’t he beautiful? Hadn’t he always been? Bewitching Kyungsoo from the very start. He’d remembered what a vision Kai had been, sat atop that horse of his, staring straight into his eyes as if he could see into the very depths of his soul.

Kyungsoo brought Kai’s hand up, brushing a soft, reverent kiss against the other man’s knuckles. He wasn’t sure what expression his face held, but he watched Kai’s pupils dilate, and felt Kai’s chest expanding slowly against his side. And as Kai bent forward, pressing his lips against Kyungsoo’s forehead with a shuddering breath, Kyungsoo realized just how much power he held in his hands.

Kai would, wouldn’t he? Do anything that he’d ask. Would give him the stars, if Kyungsoo wanted them.

It made him feel almost sick. Yet the selfish demon inside of him, the one that smelled like blood and burned like fire, told him to use that power. To take what he wanted. To lure the man he loved into his bed.

He briefly wondered what his sister might think of him now. Would she be proud of him, for doing what she asked? Or would she have sneered instead? Scorning him for opening his legs for the first man who had ever shown him care and attention.

But then again, she’d done the same thing, hadn’t she?

Kyungsoo his lips, watching Kai’s eyes fall helplessly to them, as if unable to look away. And those steady hands that were wrapped around him - even they trembled for him when Kyungsoo pressed in close, his nose sliding up against Kai’s own.

“Won’t you bed me?” Kyungsoo whispered, so close to the other man that with every word, his lips brushed up against Kai’s. “Won’t you show me what it is like - to be loved?”

Kai in his breath, as if wounded by Kyungsoo’s words. Hesitant hands came to rest on Kyungsoo’s hips, and when Kai’s eyes fluttered closed, Kyungsoo knew he had won.

He devoured Kai like a starving man, consuming his love and devotion through every labored breath and groan. He wrapped his arm around Kai’s neck and refused to let go, letting go of all his worries and fears as he slipped his tongue between Kai’s teeth.

And when at last he fell, he fell into Kai’s open arms, seeking the heat of the other man’s body to warm his cold, shattered heart.

-

The last embers of the fire had finally died, and with it, the fireflies quietly took their place.

Kai had long fallen asleep, tucked away into the side of the tree as deeply as its roots, cocooning Kyungsoo safely within his arms.

Kyungsoo stayed up to watch the stars for a while, listening to the wind rustling through the grass and Kai’s soft breaths against the top of his head. Kyungsoo could feel the wet slide of Kai’s trickling between his thighs, and yet it did not bother him. He embraced the feeling, welcoming it as warmly as he did the feeling of Kai’s hair tickling his face and the prickle of sweat that from beneath the warm cover of Kai’s furs.

Although sleep threatened to pull him under its spell, the steady heartbeat that thudded against his ear kept Kyungsoo awake, keeping him company as he closed his eyes and remembered everything. He wanted to cherish it for years to come, the kind of happiness he’d never known before. A beautiful gift, truly given, to a wretched soul such as he.

So why was it that it hurt to smile? If his heart was full.

Why was it that his hands shook? As he tugged his bangle off his thin wrist, sliding it delicately over Kai’s kind, gentle hand.

He twined their fingers together and found he could hardly breathe, his chest tight with something that he couldn’t quite describe. When something wet spilled onto his cheek, he looked up, keeping his deepest thoughts secret from everyone except himself and the quiet Harvest Moon.

-

Nearly a fortnight of careful avoidance later, in a tornado of black fabric, she came for him. She was like a harsh winter, ending the summer and bringing with it the bitter cold. Trapped in her frost, Kyungsoo could only feel himself withering away, every happy memory he’d made fading away until there was nothing left of him other than the grim white snow.

“There you are, you insolent wretch.”

Kyungsoo cried out when a hand grabbed a hold of his hair, dragging him backward and twisting him around to face the warped face of his sister.

“How - dare - you - avoid - me!” She shouted, following each word with a hard slap across Kyungsoo’s face. He grit his teeth, silently taking the beating and refusing to let a single sound slip out from between his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut and ignored the ringing in his ears. He could only be grateful that his sister was not much stronger than he was - although each slap stung, it was her words that cut into him more.

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing?!”

Normally when they were around prying eyes, she swallowed her tongue, reserving her anger and her unique brand of cruelty until they were behind closed doors. However, whether it be from madness or an all-consuming rage, today she seemed to find no shame in humiliating him in front of the crowd of men and women gathered around him. The festival plans he’d been busy scrawling were ruined when Kyungri threw him back against the table, knocking over a pot of ink and spilling it over the parchment paper. Metal bits and bobs, toys half-made and oil tins half full - they all fell onto the ground, smashing into little, broken pieces.

“You pathetic little worm, did you forget to whom you answer? To whom you belong?!”

The northerners in the crowd reacted with horror, holding their hands to their mouth, spluttering protests and moving forward in an attempt to separate the two of them. However, the southerners - backed by the ever inscrutable Virgil - stopped them from interfering. Unlike those from the north, the southerners had always been ruled by tradition and fear. Their Queen, neither kind nor patient, was one whose authority still rang true. Even having spent as much as time as they had in the cool North had done little to pry her claw-like grip on her subjects.

Still, they were not as cruel as their mistress. In order to spare the young Lord of further humiliation, they pretended not to hear or see anything, averting their eyes and turning back to their tables with clenched fists and tightened lips, urging others to do the same with pointed looks.

Hearing the commotion from the hallway, a boy with wild black hair and black oil smudged on his cheek poked his head in. The young dinnish child spared one wide-eyed look before slipping out the back, running pitter-patter with his bare feet out the door and through another hallway.

“Are you plotting against me? Are you scheming something, you filthy little rat?” Kyungri continued to scream, pushing Kyungsoo so far back that the wooden table scraped and squealed against the floor. Kyungsoo shook his head fervently, trying to push her back only to be overwhelmed when she came back down on him with all the force of a thousand storms.

“I have been busy preparing for the harvest festival, for God’s sake!” He shouted through gritted teeth, wrapping his arms protectively around his head. “Look for yourself, woman!”

For his efforts, he received another slap, although this one he was able to almost completely avoid by leaning back at the last moment.

“I am your Queen, boy, and it would behoove you to address me with respect!!”

Still, Kyungri stopped her madness for a moment, breathing heavily as she inspected his work table with a hawk’s eye. As if seeing the boxes of toys for the first time, she let go of Kyungsoo, reaching behind him to pick up one of his little wind-up toys.

It was a little soldier, one of his oldest that he’d ever made. It was precious to him, the very first he’d been able to make shoot its tiny little musket. He sweat profusely, watching as she held it up to the light, turning it slowly in her hand. He silently pleaded for her to put it down, but could do nothing but watch as the rage slowly built up again. Kyungsoo knew when it had taken over again, because it always started in her eyes. The light in them that would turn manic in an instant. Twisting from something so beautiful to something evil and wretched instead.

“Always playing with your stupid, stupid toys! Will you never grow up?!” She shouted, closing her fist around the delicate little soldier and crushing it slowly between her fingers. Kyungsoo paled, feeling his heart sink as he shrank back as far as he could in an effort to disappear.

“I should have let Mother drown you in the sea when I had the chance!”

Something snapped inside of him. The trembling in his body stopped as he looked up, boring into Kyungri with his cutting, hollow gaze. The cold intensity of the hatred that burned in his eyes made her pause, her grip slipping from his collar just for a second. It was enough to allow Kyungsoo to turn the tables. He stood to his fullest height, shoving her back with all his force before raising his hand to - to ---- to what?

To hit her?

To show her the cruelty she showed him?

To give in to the same disease that poisoned the minds of their family?

He didn’t have time to find his answers or his voice. Virgil stepped protectively in front of his mistress, backhanding Kyungsoo with all his strength. Kyungsoo fell to the ground with a yelp and a pained groan, holding his cheek and staring with shock up at the servant.

Before things could escalate any further, the dinnish boy reappeared by the door, this time followed shortly by a man whose shirtsleeve was attached to the boy’s hand. The man’s entrance was accompanied by the sound of utter silence as he ducked through the archway and stepped into the room.

Prince Sehun had just seconds to grasp what was happening in front of him before the smirk on his face turned into a dark scowl. He stalked forward quickly, pushing Virgil roughly to the side before reaching down to give Kyungsoo a hand.

He pulled the young lord off the ground, pushing his friend protectively behind him before wheeling back around with a fierce fire in his eyes, staring down his upturned nose and silently daring either Kyungri or her servant to do anything that would incur his wrath.

But Kyungsoo knew that his sister was no fool. Although she must have wanted to, she knew better than to lift a hand against the King’s brother, the heir presumptive to the throne of the North. Such a thing would have been punishable by a cruel death, and Kyungri was, above all, self-serving and self-preserving.

Instead, she put on a disgustingly sweet smile, one that may have fooled a more ignorant man had they not witnessed what had transpired just moments before. Her words, though soft and eloquent, were barbed with poison.

“My apologies for the disturbance, your Highness. I am deeply ashamed that you have had to bear witness to a rather… heated argument between my dear brother and I. However, worry not - this is not a matter that one as… charitable as you need concern yourself with. Now, come along Kyungsoo, we will continue this in private -”

She reached out to grab Kyungsoo’s wrist, but Sehun was quicker than she was, pushing her hand away before she could even think to touch her brother.

“Oh, on the contrary, I believe this concerns me a great deal,” Sehun said with great poise, folding his arms over his chest. And yet, true to his form, the next words out of the young prince’s mouth were scornful and mocking. “I thought I did hear a pig squealing over here, after all.”

An audible hush overtook the room as a dozen eyes widened, mouths gaping open when the tension became so palpable one could cut it with a knife. Kyungsoo absently took note of the fantastical color Kyungri turned, for it was not one he’d ever seen before.

Kyungri leapt toward Sehun, still clutching one of Kyungsoo's toys in her raised fist as if it were a weapon - stopped only when Virgil intervened and physically lifted her, heaving her wordlessly over his shoulder and beating a hasty retreat back out the door before the queen could get her breath back. Kyungsoo let go of the one he'd been holding himself, so terrified was he of the prospect that they'd both be beheaded for assaulting the King's brother.

His relief quickly soured as she began to shout at them belligerently from down the corridor, her shrill voice ringing out clearly across the stone walls even as she was moved further and further away.

“You think you're better than me, brother,” she cried with such fury, "but don't you forget, Kyungsoo - you owe your life to me!!”

“Good riddance and shut up, you stupid old hag!” Sehun shouted back at her, before the echoes of her voice had yet to die down. Then, only when her voice could no longer be heard again, he whipped around to glare daggers at the rest of the mute crowd, making them look shamefully away, returning to their tasks as if nothing in the past five minutes had happened.

Shoulders still stiff with tension, Sehun finally turned to face Kyungsoo, only to find that the man was crouched on the floor, gathering up his broken toys with quiet dismay.

Kyungsoo, who always looked frazzled and melancholic, looked even rattled than usual with his reddened cheek and the disheveled robe that hung awkwardly off his thin figure. The tight black shawl he usually wrapped around him was slipping off his head, revealing a mess of black hair that looked as dark and untidy as the spilt oil on the ground.

With a sigh, Sehun bent down, helping the mute young lord pick up the last scraps of paper that had spilled onto the floor, the gears and springs that had been bent to pieces on the stone. And when Kyungsoo’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking, Sehun took what Kyungsoo held for him, setting them back down onto the table.

Looking back at his friend, Sehun opened his mouth as if to say something - but stopped himself upon second thought, glancing around him at the crowd.

"...come," he beckoned after a long pause, nodding toward the door. "Gather your things and walk with me."

Without waiting for a response, the prince strode away, leaving Kyungsoo to scramble, stuffing his bibbles and bobbles into a leather rucksack that he slung hastily over his shoulder and nearly tripping on his dark robe as he followed Sehun out the door.

-

“... may I ask where we are going?”

“To the village. They were preparing to string up the banners and raise the maypoles today, and I wished to help. I thought you might like to come along. Kai will be helping today as well, and it always pleases him greatly to see you.”

“...oh! Kai- Kai is? Yes, yes I think I would like that very much.”

"Mmm."

For what felt like quite a long time, Sehun said nothing at all, resolutely leading the way forward, leaving Kyungsoo to stare at his proud, unwavering back. Left to his own devices, Kyungsoo rolled his jaw carefully, holding his hand up against his cheek and smoothing his fingers over what he knew would eventually become a bruise. It ached, just a little, and he winced in pain.

“Why do you let her treat you that way?” Sehun finally spoke up, looking briefly back at him, flashing him a look that was full of both anger and a sad sort of pity that Kyungsoo did not wish to see in his eyes.

“… she raised me,” Kyungsoo said quietly, looking down to follow the repetitive clack of his own boots against the stone floor, as if doing so would help ease the ache that radiated from his cheek, one that dug its claws deeper inside of him than he wanted to admit.

“Father died when I was young and Mother, she …” Kyungsoo paused, swallowing hard, “well, she was never a kind woman. My sister, who was no more than a child herself, became both my guardian and my protector in their stead. It may be hard to believe, but she … she was kind to me, once.”

Sehun turned his head to the side, as if to consider his words. Still, he sighed, shaking his head.

“And so you would be willing to spend the rest of your life repaying that debt?” Sehun eventually asked. “To what end?”

Sehun's words cut into him like a dagger. Harsh, yet unintentionally so, as Kyungsoo had come to learn of Sehun’s character.

“She's all I have left. I’ve... no one else.”

It was the truth, even if it hurt him to admit it. Kyungsoo looked down again with a sullen gloom.

Sehun snorted, eyebrows furrowing. He half turned to Kyungsoo, mouth opening as if to say something in response - but he thought better of it, clicking his mouth shut and turning away with a shake of his head.

Silence stretched between them again, accompanying them from the tall stone walls of the castle to the damp and foggy fen, where it was trampled beneath their feet like the tall grass into the mud.

Kyungsoo followed the trail of mud on the back of Sehun’s boots with his eyes, envying how the well worn leather seemed to suit Sehun well. They were so different, the two of them, and the stiff shine of his own new boots reminded him of that fact.

"... Sehun," Kyungsoo finally asked, breaking the silence. "Did you - did you not resent me when we first met?"

Sehun frowned, throwing Kyungsoo a strange look.

"Bringing up the past so suddenly? What for?"

"Well, I ... I knew you were always close to Kai, and at the beginning, it seemed as though you were unhappy that I was interfering with ..."

"... with what?"

"Well, with whatever he and you ..."

"Dear lord, if you truly think that I have been lusting over my brother this entire time, then let me very quickly assure you that you are wrong."

"Oh! Well, I was not trying to, to assume that - I mean, I-I just ..."

"Of course I do love him," Sehun said, cutting his muttered rambling off short. "Fiercely."

Sehun stopped. He waited until Kyungsoo was right behind him before stepping to the side. He reached back, tugging Kyungsoo forward by his arm so that the two of them could walk shoulder to shoulder. Dropping Kyungsoo’s arm, Sehun turned to his companion, giving Kyungsoo a small smile that softened his steely features.

"You should know," Sehun told him, as the two began to walk again, "Kai has never wanted anything before. I have never heard him protest about a single thing. Nor has he ever selfishly asked for anything either. One could say that Kai has always lived his life for the sake of someone else. Always bearing the weight of the world silently on his shoulders.”

Sehun paused, looking away.

“But then he saw you from afar. From that very moment, I could see it in his eyes. The change you affected in him."

"I shan’t forget the look on his face. ‘Twas as if he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life," said Sehun, uncharacteristically quiet. "Even then I could see just how much that man - who had never once wanted anything before - wanted you."

Cheeks red with blood and heart thumping away in his chest, Kyungsoo closed his eyes, trying his very best to remember their very first meeting. The sun had been in his eyes, making it hard to see, but he thought he remembered the feathers floating in the breeze, the heaving of Kai's chest, and - of course! - that smile. The slow, shy grin, beautiful and perfect. Kyungsoo’s own lips twitched upward.

"So," Sehun said, drawing him out of his memories and making Kyungsoo open his eyes again, "it is because I love him that I have come to love you too. After all, you are my brother's heart. And how could I not cherish that?"

The smile on Kyungsoo’s face slowly faded as he turned to stare at his companion. Sehun continued to face forward, stubbornly keeping his eyes on the horizon as he spoke.

"I confess to being equally as bull-headed as my brothers. And I’ve been told many a time that - well - let us just say that I can be a wretched child at times.” Sehun said, the sly grin slowly sliding its way back onto his face. “But I will be there, should you ever call for me. We all will. You only need to have the courage to ask for your friends.”

Kyungsoo ducked his head, feeling almost overwhelmed with an emotion he could not describe, one that made the corners of his eyes burn with unshed tears.

He had asked for nothing, but what he'd received in return was more than enough. For he wasn’t alone anymore, was he?

Kyungsoo knew without asking that Kai would have spent every waking moment by Kyungsoo's side if it were possible. Udo, the gentle giant, offered Kyungsoo his own kind of friendship - like a child looking up to his elder brother. Even the knight and the tailor were good to him. Although Kyungsoo would hesitate to call them friends, they had an admiration and respect for him that clearly showed in every interaction they had. Bita and Kyungsoo were kindred spirits, of course. She was warm and gentle and far, far too good-natured for her own good, and Kyungsoo secretly wished they’d met sooner.

And then there was Sehun. It was not required of the prince to have done what he had done or say what he had said, but still, the kindness had been offered to Kyungsoo all the same. Kyungsoo finally accepted it, with a feeling of peace. He had in Sehun a great ally, one who had truly come to care for him.

Although his friends might not have numbered many, he cherished each one as greatly as the next, for they warmed his little heart, filling in all of its cracks with a fragile hope that he held onto tightly.

Kyungsoo nodded, clearing his throat and turning his face away quickly. He blinked rapidly, dabbing away the wetness from his puffy eyes with the back of his sleeve. Only when he was sure there was no trace of it left he faced forward once again, this time blinking owlishly when Sehun pulled something from within his pack and it in front of Kyungsoo’s face.

"Alright, enough of this talk. Put this on."

Kyungsoo took the object, unfolding it to discover that it was a leather hide, one that smelled of oil and something else that was familiar.

"What is this?" He asked.

"One of Kai's ‘cloaks’. He asked me to fetch it, which was why I walked back to the castle to begin with. I was going to give it back to him myself, but ... I think he'd rather enjoy seeing his beloved wrapped in something belonging to him," said Sehun, reaching over to help Kyungsoo tug it over his shoulders. Although it was far too large for his slender shoulders, it settled nicely around him, making it look as if they'd always belonged to him.

Sehun grinned as he pulled back, giving Kyungsoo’s shoulder a pat.

"Now, come along. Let's drive your dear lover mad with desire."

-

"Your majesty - you needn't do that!"

"Nonsense, there is much work to be done and very little time, is there not?"

"But, your majesty..."

"Oh, let me be! I was raised on the back of a horse and slept on beds of dirt and twigs. There's not a thing that I'd consider below me."

King Consort Tao calmly pushed the elderly woman's hands out of the way until she finally relented, settling uneasily back onto the stool of her own station and picking up her own task back up again. Aware that the old woman was still watching him, Tao rolled up his sleeves and confidently plunged his hands into the bucket of water. Tao hissed at the unexpected iciness of the water, but he grit his teeth and bore it, knowing that the dozen women working quietly beside him endured it without saying a word. Picking up the freshly dyed ribbon of cloth that was already inside the bucket, he scrubbed it vigorously against the side before wringing it dry

He repeated the action, working silently as he listened to the quiet conversations and low rumbling laughs of the women around him. They all went through the same motions at their own pace, washing each ribbon of vibrant cloth. Only when it stopped leaking color into the water did they set it aside to be picked up and laid out to dry in the sun. If the weather remained fair, by this time the next day, the ribbons would be ready to be tied around the maypole.

Tao wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm, looking down at his first complete ribbon with pride. He held it up above his head triumphantly, waiting to receive approving smiles and nods from the women around him before putting it down beside him. Then he reached forward, pulling the braided basket in the center closer to him so that he could pick out his next strip of cloth to wash.

The loud peal of laughter off in the distance drew his attention, and he looked up, task momentarily forgotten.

Prince Sehun had arrived with as much loud fanfare as he always entered with, drawing special attention from the young women of the village who batted their eyelashes at him and hiked up their skirts. Tao squinted, noticing a second figure following close behind in Sehun's shadow.

Who was that...?

Tao received his answer when his brother Kai came barrelling past him with a breathless smile on his face, carelessly tossing aside the bundles of kindling he'd been carrying in order to scramble down the steps as quickly as he could. Tao shared a knowing look with the woman beside him, grinning when she smiled and winked at him.

Tao watched as the crowd parted to let his brother pass, noticing at the same time as Kai did what Kyungsoo was wearing around his shoulders. He blinked.

"My, my, look at him," one of the elderly women muttered with a dry laugh, "looks good enough to eat, doesn't he?"

Tao grinned.

He watched from afar as his brother leapt forward, taking a red-faced Kyungsoo by surprise. The tidreann lord exploded into a sudden burst of loud laughter as Kai wrapped his arms around him, lifting him up off the ground and twirling him in a circle. Tao was unable to prevent his own infectious laughter from spilling out of him as he watched his brother fall deeper and deeper in love.

Finally. After all they had been through - the grief and the melancholy that had started with his father’s death that had closed Kai's heart to the world. Tao could finally rest easy, knowing that his younger brother had found someone who could make him smile. Someone who could bring Kai the same happiness that Tao’s own husband brought him.

Like a bird, always finding its way home.

"Your Majesty - your tunic!"

Tao looked down, pulling back to see that the edge of his loosely tied tunic had slipped into the bucket. The dye from the water was already starting to seep into the material, slowly staining the white fabric red.

"Ah," he said, waving the concerned look off. "'tis nothing but a spot."

He turned his attention back to his work with a smile, knowing that this time his brother would be just fine without him.

-

"It pleases me to see you wearing what is mine," Kai spoke unthinkingly in his own mother tongue, too busy staring besottedly at his lover to translate. There were simply no words in any foreign tongue to describe Kyungsoo’s thin form engulfed by the pelt of the man-eating bear that Kai had slain several summers ago. Though the fearsome pelt did not make Kyungsoo look any more intimidating, there was something about it that made Kai's chest swell with pride. He wanted more than anything to parade Kyungsoo around, to dress him completely in his own tribal clothing and to tell the world that Kyungsoo was his. What stopped him was the knowledge that Kyungsoo would have hated it. Even if Kai thought he was a jewel of immeasurable worth, Kyungsoo still shied away from prying eyes as if he were undeserving of the attention.

"It pleases me as well," Kyungsoo confessed shyly, pulling the pelt tighter around his shoulders. "It makes me feel as if I am in your embrace. 'Tis warm. Comforting. Just like you."

Kai leaned in closer, nudging his nose intimately against Kyungsoo's. To Kai’s great surprise and pleasure, Kyungsoo stared right back, unblinking. Losing himself in the fire that burned in his eyes.

"The idea was mine, I'll have you know," Sehun said, attempting to remind them of his presence which they both ignored. The prince bent down to pick up one of the bundles of kindling that had rolled to a stop by their feet. He tossed the other to Kai, who caught it without breaking away from the gaze he shared with Kyungsoo. "Now if you must stare lovingly into each other’s eyes for all of eternity, you can wait to do that later. Need I remind you of the work that needs to be done?"

The two lovebirds chuckled, eyes crinkling with laughter as they finally pulled apart. They turned to follow Sehun who was already waiting impatiently for them at the top of the steps, however, they were stopped on their way by a pair of older women who tugged at their cheeks and pushed freshly baked mince pies insistently into their hands.

Sehun gave a shout of surprise, dropping his kindling and with it, any false pretenses of responsibility. He ran as if there was fire at his heels, unable to contain his glee when he slid to a stop and held out his hands for a pie. When it was given to him, he promptly stuffed it into his mouth. The older women laughed, tugging at his cheeks as well as if he were the sweetest thing they'd ever seen.

Kai, for all his natural grace and beauty, had the same table manners as his moorish counterpart. The two of them looked like two sides of a mirror, ravenously stuffing the pies into their mouths until there was nothing left but the crumbs on their fingers that they up as well. Kyungsoo couldn't help but laugh at the sight. He broke his own pie in two, holding each half out to both of them as soon as they'd finished.

"What, do you not want any?" Sehun asked, although it did not stop him from plucking the half that had been offered to him out of Kyungsoo's fingers.

"I shouldn't," Kyungsoo said, gesturing for his reluctant lover to take the remaining half. Although his mouth watered, Kai refused, shaking his head stiffly and pushing it back toward Kyungsoo.

"No. Soo eat."

Kyungsoo shook his head.

"I really cannot. Although I must confess they smelled wonderful," Kyungsoo said, looking at the pie with longing. It was still hot, filled to the brim with a sweet stuffing that oozed onto his fingers.

Sehun stopped chewing halfway, giving him a strange look.

"Soo. Eat," Kai said again, pushing Kyungsoo's hand obstinately back towards himself.

"I can not, Kai."

"And why can't you?" Sehun asked with a mouth still full of food.

Kyungsoo dropped his hand back to his side, sighing as he mumbled his response into the pelt draped around his shoulders.

"My sister thinks northern food is barbaric and unclean."

Sehun sputtered.

"It is not -"

Kai interrupted with a growl, spitting out a word in dinnish that Kyungsoo didn't understand followed by Kyungri’s name. Kyungsoo wasn’t sure whether he wanted to ask what it meant though, from Sehun's delighted expression and his responding snicker.

"Oh, just eat it," Sehun groaned, when Kyungsoo continued to stand there frozen like a statue. "You are not your sister's servant, Kyungsoo. You have the right to choose what you put in your own body."

The prince abruptly shot him a lecherous grin, making Kyungsoo wither just a little on the inside at the implications. It did, however, unintentionally draw back memories of just what it had been like to have Kai inside of him. The heat. The rocking motion. Kai's sweat, dripping onto face, and the moans that had come out of those plush, red lips. Kyungsoo's face reddened.

He quickly crammed the pie into his mouth to distract himself from his thoughts, but when he was met with wonderful, foreign flavors he lost himself in it and groaned, closing his eyes to savor the taste for as long as he could. When he finally opened them again, he found both Kai and Sehun staring at him, waiting expectantly for his thoughts.

"It... was good," Kyungsoo admitted guiltily. “Very, very good.”

"Of course it is!" Sehun cheered, lifting his hands up in triumph. "Travelers come far and wide just to have a taste of them. You will be able to have your fill of them at the festival - we shall have an entire banquet of northern and dinnish food that you must try! There will be moor sausages, stewed yellowfish, roast hogs, and ..."

As Sehun waxed on about all the dishes they'd be feasting upon come the morning after next, Kai left Kyungsoo's side, looking much like a hound on the trail of a scent as he ran after the women who had given them the pies to begin with. No doubt to bring back as many as he could hold in his arms, if they were what had made Kyungsoo look as happy as he did. Kai lifted his hand up to call out to the women, revealing the slim bangle that slid down his tan, tattooed arm.

“... and this dinnish dish that my father loves - ribs slathered in spices and cooked for an entire day - and of course, for dessert there is …”

The bells began to ring to mark the hour, and with it came clarity of thought. Kyungsoo's smile slowly faded as Sehun's words chipped away at him, leaving him wiped of any discernible emotions as he looked down toward the ground once again.

His people back home were starving. And here he was, eating food like a glutton.

The weight of his responsibilities which had, for a brief period, been forgotten settled down around his shoulders once more, sapping away any of the warmth that the pelt around his shoulders had provided. It left Kyungsoo as empty as the promises he’d made, and as bitter as the lies he’d told.

He’d fooled everyone, hadn’t he? Himself, most of all.

Because it hadn’t been about his own selfish desires. It was about duty. About survival. About the dirty blood, that ran through his veins, and the sickness that poisoned his mind.

He was guilty of that, and many other things. Perhaps he was no different from Kyungri, in that regard.

And yet he yearned. He yearned, he yearned, he yearned...