YiYang quirks his brow, "So what you are telling me is that you can talk to... the soil and help heal it?"

YiHuang nods.

The crown prince presses on. "And that you took him out and unexpectedly found out that he can breathe our air?"

The duo nod in reply.

"That you almost destroyed half the grove because you thought that this human died!?" Slowly but steadily, with each question, the older Yuanjian's tone rises. Each statement is spoken with more disbelief than the last.

"Ah, about that," Zhang shakes his head, "in his defense, he did not know he was capable of it." He is about to add more but shuts up when YiHuang squeezes his hand and gestures him to stop.
Fixing Zhang with a cold gaze but addressing his brother, the crown prince asks, "Why did you hide it from me?"

"I don't know. I am sorry."

"What else are you hiding from me?" YiYang presses on, feeling somewhat betrayed. He had always thought that he knew his brother the best, but now it seemed like he was wrong all along. When he is met with silence, he leaves a frustrated breath, "That still doesn't explain what I saw earlier." He says, changing the subject, "I may have a soiled reputation, but I have never crossed my limits, YiHuang. You know our way. There can be only one You! You know the consequences of straying from our path. You know the price father had to pay!" The crown prince's words are venom, and his eyes are distant. He seems to be looking past his brother and into things long forgotten.

"Brother, I have not strayed. I haven't done anything that would shame our race...our people." YiHuang guides his brother's hand to his heart. He glances at Zhang, "Could you give us a few moments, please?" He requests; Not wanting to make matters worse between the brothers on his account, Zhang exits the cave without a word.

Left alone, YiHuang uncharacteristically embraces his brother, startling the older. "Brother, I almost lost him. I was careless. He...I want to be with him." He confesses and steps away. "The thought that he may leave me or that our father may not accept us scares me..." He clutches his chest, "I haven't...we haven't done anything. He doesn't feel the same way about me, brother."

YiYang grabs his brother's arms to stop the man from shaking, "Calm down. First, tell me what you were...why were you in that position? If he doesn't want you the same way..."

YiHuang finally realizes what had upset his brother. "At dawn, I took him out. We altered the mask to facilitate his breathing. Unfortunately, when we were in the grove, it broke. He lost consciousness momentarily, and I lost control over my emotions." He averts his eyes, "I hurt it," he places his palm over the cave's floor, "-but before I could do something irreversible, he stopped me. I was able to heal it, but the process drained me. He carried me back. Our ordeal had left us covered in dirt." His fingers fist I the hem of his loosely secured robes, "I noticed that his wound had reopened and his back was soaked with blood."

YiYang gasps at the imagery the words create. He gestures to his brother to continue.

"He knew that the Lotus pond is sacred. He refused to enter it and collapsed...I.. what you saw was merely me treating his injury...injury that I was responsible for." His shoulders slump, "He doesn't know how I feel about him. Brother, I would like to keep it that way."

'Who is this human? How is he alive? Is he indeed a human as he claims to be? What am I missing?' YiYang's mind races to find the answers, but alas, he finds none, at least not at the time. 'This is not the time to tell him what I know. In any case, Zhang has not done anything to hurt him or our people.' He decides and demands, "Ah-Huang, what do you plan on doing next? You can't keep him hidden here forever. Did you give what I suggested earlier a thought?"

"I will take him to Kynlun. I will secure his stay there...for now, that's all I have come up with." The younger takes his brother's hand in both of his, "Will you keep his existence a secret? At least for now?"

YiYang agrees (reluctantly) and proceeds to tell him about the developments in the Palace that Li Kun had divulged to him. The only information he omits is what Li Kun had told him about humans and how the air on TengFei would affect them.

YiHuang listens carefully and fills the older in on what he had noticed in the grove.

"Thirty percent over the past year!? That is preposterous! Are you sure?"
YiHuang nods, "I am planning to leave tonight. I think Li Kun should pay these groves a visit."

"You are too well known. You need to travel under disguise." YiHuang reckons. "Give me a few hours. I might have something you can use. You are lucky I have experience in going into hiding. Finally, I can put my skills to good use." The crown prince winks when the latter looks at him questioningly.  "Don't worry. Leave it up to me. Just make sure never to lose sight of your human."

YiHuang makes a face, looking like he had bitten into a lemon. "He is not my human, and he has a name, you know?"

"My apologies, little brother, but the only reason I have not handed him over to the authorities yet is that he IS your human." The crown prince chirps unapologetically and pats his brother's head before boarding his sword and swooshing out of the cave.

Wandering close and inspecting the multitude of vibrantly colored fruits and flowers, Zhang watches the crown prince leave and returns to the cave he had been mentally referring to as home base in his mind since regaining consciousness. "So, are things good between you now?" He asks; YiHuang smiles, "Brother can't stay upset with me for long...neither can I." He replies fondly.

"I can tell that you two are close." Zhang guesses; holding the prince's gaze, he enquiries. "Perhaps he was jealous of me for getting to know your secret before him...or perhaps, he hates me because I am keeping you here. Truth be told, I would have reacted the likewise if I was in his place." He shifts closer, "I am not stupid. I know how much you are risking by staying by my side."

"You don't need to think about it. It's my choice. You are not forcing me to stay." YiHuang states sounding irritated.

Zhang lifts his palm in surrender. "Alright. I got it. I won't mention it again." When his words don't seem to have the desired effect, he adds, "This is as good a time as any to give you your prize. So, Prince YiHuang, tell me, what can this human offer you for saving his life?"

YiHuang finally looks at Zhang. His eyes drop down to the human's bow-shaped full lips before dropping lower to his chest.

To say that the intense gaze doesn't have any effect on the human would be a lie. He squirms in his seat, feeling highly self-conscious. His heart picks up speed at the heat that the inky mono-lids pack. He gulps thickly. 'Why is he having this effect on me? Just because he kissed me in his sleep doesn't mean anything.' He contemplates and then, "Actually, there is no rush. I am not going anywhere." He laughs awkwardly and stands to leave.

"No. I would like to have it now." The prince's fingers wrap around the human's wrist, stopping him from putting space between them.

"Amm, okay." Zhang hums, trying to muster a smile. He fails.

YiHuang points at Zhang's pant pocket, "What have you got there?" He demands; he had noticed Zhang take out a circular disk-shaped object from it multiple times especially, when he was in deep thought and rolling it between his fingers. By now,  he had gone through all of Zhang's personal belongings and found that this was the only object that did not serve a purpose. If Zhang had brought it along and kept it so close, it would have a deep meaning to it, YiHuang concludes. 'Am I important enough for him to give it to me if I asked for it?' He wonders.

Zhang fishes out the disk from his pocket,  "It's a lucky charm of sorts. It brought my father luck, or so he told me." He shrugs. "When I was little, mom used to say that it was a piece of heaven and would lead us to our destiny." He smiles fondly, "Anyway, I didn't believe her. Father didn't either. She was a little challenged." Zhang rolls it between his fingers.

"Challenged?"

"A few days before I was born, something happened to her. She was fine except that sometimes she spoke in a different tongue. We ran her words through a language identifier, but it returned nothing. She couldn't understand us during those days. The strange thing is that the day before she died of heart failure, she made my father promise her that he will give it to me." He caresses the smooth surface of the charm, "I guess it did prove lucky; it did lead me to you. So you probably are my destiny." He chuckles, "And if that's the case, then it has done what it was supposed to. You can have it." He hands it to YiHuang.

As soon as it lands on YiHuang's palm, it scalds him. "Aggrh!" The prince flinches, and the disk slips through his fingers and hits the floor. "It's burning hot!"

"No, it isn't." Zhang counters, picking it up from where it had left the surface burnt as well.

"Careful!" YiHuang warns but realizes soon enough that Zhang doesn't require it. He watches Zhang observe it. "Place it on the console." The Yuanjian instructs, pointing at the piece of equipment salvaged from the latter's ship.

Zhang obliges. "Why?"

"I need to know what it is." YiHuang opens the metal case, and a holographic image of himself appears midair. "My bots can tell me what it's made of."
The holographic image disappears, and the nanobots surround the disk. An instant later, the cave floods with red light. At the same time, somewhere behind him, he hears Zhang scream and turns to watch him collapse on the floor.

"Abort. Now!" YiHuang commands urgently, and a moment later, the bots return home. The Yuanjian puts the metal case away and crouches next to Zhang.

"Zhang! Zhang!" He tries to shake him awake but to no avail. Guiding him to the makeshift bed, he sprinkles the pond water on his face.

Regaining consciousness,  Zhang cries, "It hurts! Stop it!"

YiHuang seizes his ministrations at once. He wipes the residual drops with the back of his sleeve and tries to calm the trembling man by pulling him in his lap. "Zhang, what happened?" He asks, but the latter doesn't respond. Twisting and turning as if in agony, the man pulls on the prince's robes. He shuts his eyes and buries his face in YiHuang's chest before letting out a gut-wrenching scream. As his head lols away, his eyes fall open. The dark of his iris is replaced by a dazzling blue, making them glow.

"Ah-Huang...." The human whispers once before falling unconscious in the latter's trembling arms.

{Author's Note :- Word count 1939

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