Chapter Text
Epilogue
The dwellers gave them knowing looks but their mouths remained shut apart from when they thanked them for the delicious food they brought right before gobbling them up. Hyunjin was just grateful for Seungmin suggesting they also take preserves because those were the only thing left after that morning. Needless to say the dwellers were not patient. Hyunjin considered asking them to adopt him. They would probably get things done in a day.
Hyunjin went back home not sure if he had rested or not. His back felt broken (it wasn’t), his ass ached and his neck looked like it had been mauled by a wild animal (it was but only by a still careful one named Seungmin). His wrists and ankles had rope marks still imprinted though thankfully not rope burn. His eyes felt dry from all the crying and the dry air. His skin felt tacky and a good soak and scrubbing was the first thing he did in the privacy of their bathroom.
Despite all that, his mind was at rest.
It stayed happy and even elated when he went round both internal and external gardens and found his plants all well taken care of. The ones in their rooms too and he was sure that were he to check he’ll find the same in the multiple public gardens he’d taken under his wing. His clover liked the soil back home too. He had taken one water flask and one closed jar of soil just for it but there was nothing like home soil.
Hyunjin was shocked when the clover didn’t find itself around his wrist again.
“Is this it?” he said.
It seemed like the clover waved at him.
Hyunjin left feeling a bit sad and empty but then he smiled. He could always visit back knowing where the clover had settled – not its original place but in a prime spot in the indoor garden. The clover would have off-springs and they would grace and beautify the place. For all that people considered them weeds, Hyunjin had a soft spot for the common wild plant. There was a reason he had chosen it to represent him on his thigh.
Things went back to normal or rather what parameters they had set for their good functioning nation.
They work. They love. They laugh.
Sometimes they cry and shout in frustration.
They console. They hug. They remain stable, supporting each other.
Cure-alls don't exist but they worked hard to require the least amount of cures possible. It was nice when something worked and they didn’t have to patch it up and change it.
Not the actual health cures of course; those Hyunjin had expanded as much as possible.
He felt more useful wearing his grey robes than the fancy clothes he still had to wear when meeting foreign dignitaries. He liked those as well though the comfortable clothing he had started to wear daily won on his list.
And yes…one day he let Seungmin defile him in said robes because it was inevitable that two things he loved would clash and combine. It had even been great.
“Oh healer, it hurts right here” Seungmin had said, indicating his crotch “So bad, won’t you help me?”
They had giggled a lot but the love making had been intense. Hyunjin had gotten into his role and helped out Seungmin really well.
Most days were hectic with work but not frantic as they calmly adjusted to working effectively; together and with help. They went through the day from one thing to another like a well-oiled contraption. Hyunjin got a bit overwhelmed from all their tasks sometimes but he didn’t panic because Seungmin calmed him. Similarly, Seungmin sometimes felt far-removed from things that Hyunjin was long used to and had taken for granted. Hyunjin worked hard so that Seungmin believed him when he said that Seungmin belongs in this world. Their world now; they made the rules together.
Hyunjin was stealing some time and curating his new Sparaxis – a gift from far away that he loved. His thing for plants had travelled to corners far away and Hyunjin had to admit that he was benefiting from people’s big mouths. He much preferred these gifts to jewels even though those lined the treasury. It was also more difficult to trick him with plants because even if the intent would be to poison him, the plant simply won’t comply.
They still got jewels of course but the increase in plant varieties was notable. By the time the plants reached them, most of the insects and pests would have died but each new one was personally treated by Hyunjin as soon as possible. While he loved insects and knew their value for his plants, he didn’t want new insects to infest and take over native ones. The good thing about reading and researching was that he knew of the risks from before.
Smart Seungmin came through once more and suggested a small weather dome around the concerned plants and with the help of some other people they created a dome where the insects beneficial to the plants they came with could flourish but out of which they couldn’t get.
Seungmin had also encouraged them to work smarter, not harder. Their gifts to other nations were now mostly things that Hyunjin made himself. Soaps. Cosmetics. Herbal medicine and sewn pouches which had gotten more and more intricate and dainty as Hyunjin picked up the skill.
“This way, they can’t complain because you spent time on them and time is a precious resource but we also save money in this race of always trying to one-up each other. We should simply not play that game” Seungmin had said. They implemented that strategy and Hyunjin had been surprised how other nations genuinely seemed glad with their gifts. Maybe curing someone of their allergies or eczema or giving them supply skin was indeed priceless for people that had almost everything. So now Hyunjin had dedicated time where he made those gifts and he relaxed but was still doing something for his nation and he had enlisted the help of many elderly people who had nothing interesting to do and disabled people who couldn’t get other jobs.
Everyone loved a personalised gift but some people…just wanted it too personalised.
One dignitary had demanded Hyunjin’s hand in marriage.
Seungmin had promptly shut that down and no one has thankfully asked since.
The bright Sparaxis cheered him and seemed to dance under his thumbs. He nearly broke one stem however when the door to the atrium burst open.
“Prince Hyunjin! Healer Jinnie is needed for a medical emergency!” soldier Sanha said, clearly in a hurry so much that his feet didn’t stop moving, seemingly trampling on the floor like it was dust. If the cleaners weren’t so thorough, dust would have risen up.
“Oh! Let me get my medical bag!” Hyunjin replied also with urgency. It was good that he kept a bag of the most essential things at the castle. It would be very bad if he had to go to the hut and then back.
“Do you know what exactly is the emergency? Is a doctor in attendance?” he asked. They were rushing, running really and Hyunjin’s comfortable clothes billowed around him. Being able to rush was another positive outcome from wearing comfortable clothes. The shirt he was wearing was white with a lace trim and it was something that Seungmin’s mother had worn in her youth. Now she didn’t dare wear white but when he was at their house he had fallen in love with it. It looked soft and it was but it was also sturdy and so comfortable to wear. Linen with crocheted lace.
Once he had tried it everyone nodded in agreement and he was allowed to keep it. His trousers on the other hand were very worn out. They were field work trousers that Seungmin used to wear. Sometimes he still does as he occasionally went to help out in the fields when someone was sick so the others didn’t have to spend longer working under the elements which he could dim but it may have other detrimental effects on their fields so he didn’t usually do that. It smelled like grass, soil and Seungmin and he loved to wear it when gardening or doing something with his plants. He was carrying Seungmin’s family with him and that always made him feel brighter.
“Um the woman is haemorrhaging and at first her family thought she was pregnant and didn’t tell them but she kept on insisting she wasn’t pregnant. The one doctor who is available today said there isn’t anything to be done. That it’s part of life. He meant death I think especially of pregnant women but well…you can try?” the soldier asked hopefully.
Hyunjin nodded and asked if Sanha knew the women but he shook his head. Hyunjin smiled despite the situation. Now he was surrounded by lovely people who felt even for people they had no association with seeing in them the face of humanity. Gone were the days of associating with people who saw others as mere tools.
When he got there, it was touch and go. She had lost a lot of blood and no one had had the idea to get her to drink water! Clumps of blood came out of her and it was horrific. So horrific that no one cared that a prince was among them with only their undershirts on and seeing them vulnerable and half naked. He still wasn’t sure what had caused the haemorrhage but it did eventually lessen. He and the doctor who at least had the decency to show up again, examined her. Hyunjin had applied a plant-based hemostatic agent with oxidised regenerated cellulose which he did then and there from plant cuttings in his bag and which helped with clotting not of the blood that had thankfully eventually stopped but of where the blood was coming out of.
Since it was inside, it wasn’t visible to them but it still needed treatment. Muscles whose walls were now weak after fighting for so long were strengthened. He hoped that the clot will limit future bleeding while the blood vessels repair themselves. He didn’t exclude future bleeding which is why she was on bed rest and light activity and she would need to be checked frequently in case this happened again.
In confidence, Hyunjin advised her to never get pregnant and when she nodded – not that sad after that ordeal – he prescribed her a contraceptive. “There’s other ways, if you want children” he reassured her.
He also made sure to give her plenty of fluids to regenerate her energy and the lost blood and agents that will help with cell development to quicken the process.
It was tough sometimes, having to think of all that biology but it was worth it, saving lives.
Today hadn’t gone quite to plan but it was still a normal day of work for him. Emergencies happened and couldn’t be planned but overall…he was well.
He had learned that despite all his fantasies of a fluffy future, it's not about one big happy moment but about small, incremental moments that give him a sense of overall happiness. And he was so happy! It's good that happiness was tied to small things because even those small things feel big and he couldn't imagine if they were big, how much more he'll feel. Was it even possible? He couldn’t imagine feeling more but then again he always felt an increase of his feelings which cannot even be quantified when he looked at Seungmin and saw him looking back with tenderness in his eyes.
Seungmin, who bless him had offered to go to a council meeting alone, must have heard of the emergency because he immediately came rushing towards him. Seungmin was ubiquitously comforting. Bad cases always put him down although he was learning to compartmentalise for his own wellbeing and that of his other patients. He could rest in the fact that he always did his best.
Hyunjin smiled however, letting his partner know it was okay. It wasn’t all well but it was the best it could be.
“Do you need some alone time or do you want to meet the public servants for the certificate issue?”
Hyunjin rolled his sleeves and indicated his lover should go ahead first which he did, after giving him a chaste but reassuring arm squeeze.
They had public servants to convince to do their job well by changing someone’s sex marker on their request. Public servants were some of the most tiresome individuals ever, having gotten used to their posts and not fearing being let go because they would have messed with the systems in the office so badly that only them knew how to navigate them. They eschewed doing their job properly at all costs (usually the treasury’s and therefore the people’s).
Hyunjin and Seungmin had however proven that they weren’t afraid of some broom action and would sweep the posts clean if need be.
This was a normal day for them. Tiring. Not always rewarding but always loving.
On the way back after a success that didn’t feel like one, with their pendants swinging through life and hands held, Hyunjin felt on top of the world.
The crown did not look so heavy when it's shared.
And because their work was shared they could occasionally partake in leisure by taking an hour away from the hectic world around them.
It was a fine day and they met under his favourite cherry tree in the dimming sun and they became one.
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Seungmin’s skin felt blistering. Even if he was used to working in fields, the desert was a different climate altogether and while he could technically control all weather phenomena, he didn’t want to mess too much with the ecosystem. He could feel Hyunjin frowning against him when he even thought of making it rain just a little, his cheek cutely pressed to his shoulder but cuteness did not exclude judgement. ‘The flowering pattern will be messed up!’ He had said once upon a time and it stayed in his mind.
Flowering in a desert was something else. One they experienced with awe at life.
On their second night, they had made a detour between communal dinner and their tent to climb up a sand dune and that night they observed the blooming of night flowers, hundreds of them under the stars and their eyes.
They delighted and silently agreed to stay until all they saw was a lack of sight, everything pitch black. It wasn’t as difficult to navigate in darkness even without powers because seeing such beauty had made all challenges mellow. They didn’t get angry or frustrated when they stumbled or lost their way and with that calm, they soon reached the encampment again when Hyunjin remembered to focus on the tiny grasses around their tent.
The dwellers, still out by the fire, saw their faces and simply nodded at them.
Their lovemaking that night was slow and tender, the mood still warm and fragile but strong like those flowers that despite the heat and sand grew well and adapted.
He could see that Hyunjin was tired upon return. Their sex life was substantial but in those three nights and days they had more of it than ever in that amount. Even he was a bit drained of energy but he took one of those energy replenishing drinks that Hyunjin had packed for them and then offered to take care of the council meeting himself.
Most of the council members respected him while some feared him - Jisung had said that was justified but he was neutral to it. It was just a fact that some people feared him but it was a point of honour for him of who feared him because it certainly wasn’t the peasants. There were still some councillors and advisors that argued with their decisions but they had agreed that having some disagreement was healthy. It forced them to see another perspective and it was a precaution for when they would eventually not be in the right.
“You look glowing” Advisor Choi remarked dryly.
“It’s the sweat from the desert air” he replied.
“I’m sure it’s only that and nothing to do with why you left all this work for three days.”
“Please, it was three nights and two days and are you saying there aren’t enough competent people to manage without us for that long? If so, we have a problem. How did you manage before us?”
“We didn’t, Prince Seungmin. It was a mess and I still need to be convinced that it still isn’t.”
Seungmin smiled. Despite his words the older man clearly accepted them as good rulers or he wouldn’t be calling him ‘Prince’ despite telling him he could otherwise. He wouldn’t take a bigger load of work than usual on days that Hyunjin was needed for emergencies so Seungmin could support him.
Seungmin felt accepted not just by him but many others. He was surprised how little resistance there was to him becoming their prince and to him marrying their other prince, the one they were expecting.
‘Competence beckons acceptance’ Chan had said and perhaps he was right.
Hyunjin showed his own competence when he helped someone not die. It was still a new feeling for him as evident from the shock he clearly felt. He moved more languidly as if paddling water. His eyes weren’t focused all the time but he appeared happy, the smile he gave him was calming so Seungmin tried to be as reassuring in turn.
His love saved lives. He healed. Seungmin couldn’t be prouder.
The weather was lovely; as lovely as Hyunjin in his soft and comfortable clothes, torn but not stained. They would be an easy mend for later. For now, there was a picnic and cuddle session under their tree was therefore in order.
Each time they approached the cherry tree from different sides, he remembered his wedding day.
They met under their cherry tree in the dimming sun and they become one in each other’s embrace.