San stayed in his fortress of peace for three nights and three days. Nobody bothered him, nobody approached him. The few kind animals who conveyed their worry for him were the only ones he allowed close. A group of birds and squirrels had made it their task to supply food to him. They carried nuts and berries over until they piled in the dips between the acorn's branches and he could relish them whenever he pleased. He listened to their stories about how the storm had surprised the people of Hanyang and loosened the earth, causing some carts with food supplies to get stuck. The king worked from his palace to fix the outrage about cart regulations once more, while Hanyang reassembled their wits.

In utter peace and far away from all the trouble, San relaxed in his tree. He had detected no body of water large enough for him to shift in nearby, but he excused that missing luxury. Away from the humans and with the animals, who were so simple in seeking what kept them alive, he felt fulfilled.

A curious nightjar that had taken a peculiar interest in San because they lived in the same tree perched on San's antlers. It enjoyed the glorious spot for sightseeing. Not seldom, it ruffled its feathers at other birds over getting to throne on a dragon. San chuckled about it every time.

He had recounted his troubles at the palace to the squirrel that visited him most often. In the beginning, it had been understanding of his naivete and the struggle to integrate himself into their people. However, the more he revealed, the more indignant it became. It protested the king taking the freedom of dominating San in bed to the point of hurting him, agreed with Seonghwa's smothering care and with the disrespect the dragon had experienced. When he mentioned missing the horses in the stables and their merry mood, the nightjar offered to deliver a message if San wished.

San declined. Even if he send a message, he had no way of telling Wooyoung what happened and why he wouldn't show up to their hangouts in the hay store.

The days were warm, despite the copious amounts of rain that flooded the lands. The rain season dawning upon Joseon disguised San's trail and cast him in solitude as he enjoyed his time alone. He knew his elders would frown upon his escape and urge him to return to Hanyang soon, but before that happened, he was happy to be alone in the wilderness.

After three days and three nights, the birds told San someone was coming for him. Animated, they fluttered around him while he cracked a nut to share with his eager messengers.

"Who is it?" San asked, claws slicing open the nuts without a hitch. In nature, he could live well with the appendages. It was only human culture and its complexity that made it difficult for him.

We didn't see his face.

He is wearing a hat.

He looked exhausted.

"Did he look like a commoner?"

San hoped it to be Wooyoung, but the more the birds described his visitor to him, the more his heart sank. The birds didn't mention pink hair, but the rest was enough for San to guess the king came for him in person. He was surprised to hear the man came alone. Ditching his duties and his lover for a runaway dragon was a risky arrangement.

Though it was one worth San's person.

When the animals asked him whether they should ward Hongjoong off, San shook his head.

"Let him come. I will hear what he has to say since he took the journey."

In his fury, San had stormed further up the mountain than he had expected. He hid in the forests and didn't have to look upon Hanyang to know he was higher than planned. His anger had made his feet grow wings that night.

San heard Hongjoong long before he saw him. The king panted, limited breaths tumbling from open lips. The clop of a stick announced that he used aid to scale the mountain, and San would have felt bad for the heavy drag of his steps if he weren't so prideful.

A group of curious animals followed Hongjoong through the woods. Their intrigue must have given away that he was on the right path to find San.

When Hongjoong appeared between the trees, San shifted to look down on his pitiful form. The king wore no expensive silk today. His clothes were simple and modest, like those of a commoner, and his long hair was tied up under his wide-brimmed straw hat. Some strands hung loosely around his face, as if to kiss the heat away from his flushed cheeks. His shoes had taken a long journey over the rocky forest floor.

Alerted by the hushed silence of the woods, Hongjoong lifted his head. Fatigued eyes blinked against the light-flooded forest.

San sat in his tree and gazed back. He had rid himself of the hairpin Hongjoong had gifted him, for he despised its look on him now. He had tucked it deep into the folds of his clothes and hid it from view.

Undeterred by material possessions, San's hair whispered around his antlers and face. It spilt over his chest like a rivulet, tender, and cared for, as if the humid air nourished it for him. His clawed hands and feet were on display without hiding.

Hongjoong huffed a relieved smile. It had rained earlier and his clothes were wet, but San doubted he got cold on his walk.

"I found you."

San lifted his brow at Hongjoong, still cold.

"So you have."

Hongjoong took a short breather and sat down. He sunk to the floor without missing a beat, letting San assume the higher position. Vigilant, San watched how he took off his hat and brushed his hair out of his face.

"Have you come to ask me to return?"

"I hope you will, though I don't expect to have the might to force you. Or the importance, for that matter."

San's lips quirked. He liked that.

Still, his heart, which was hidden so carefully behind a layer of superiority, hurt at the sight of the man. His charming face and the effort he had made to get here twisted the knife stabbed into the dragon's betrayed heart.

"I came to talk, though. And to apologise."

"I told you it wasn't you whom I wanted to hear an apology from. You aren't the vain human priding himself in being more important than the offspring of gods."

Hongjoong opened his bag and pulled out a jug of water. When he hesitantly offered San an apple from his bag, San's eyes bore into the fruit.

"I- I heard you like these. I didn't know if you ate out here, though looking back I was foolish to assume you didn't. You are a predator, and a large one at that."

Pleased with his self-deprecating murmur, San beckoned his squirrels to fetch the apple for him. Amazed, Hongjoong handed it over and watched how they carried it to the dragon on their nimble feet.

San dug his teeth into the fruit, the same sweet taste from his first day of meeting Wooyoung filling his senses.

"Is there any way I can apologise on Seonghwa's behalf?"

"Is it part of your relationship to let the other person take the fall from your mistakes? He did the same for you," San asked back. Bothered, Hongjoong ran his hand through his hair.

"I guess not then. I feel wrong asking him to kneel for you. You were never the one he served."

"He should," San growled. "I am above your might as a king. You forgot that while teaching me how to treat your kin."

A long silence spread between them. The king sat on the ground, eating and drinking like a commoner would, while the mighty dragon gazed down upon him. He had no defence for San's claims, and neither was he sorry.

In the world of Hongjoong and Seonghwa, they fought only for their relationship and their happiness. San never had a place between them.

With a sigh, San leaned his head back against the tree. The bark slipped into his hair like fingers running through the pearly strands. He remembered how Hongjoong had done the same, but the memory brought wistful sadness. The yearning of those longing for a person they could never call their own.

"From the beginning, you never loved me," San whispered. His mood was dull, no power shining through today. He was tired of yelling at the humans, tired of explaining his point. They never tried to understand. They had labelled him a dragon and pushed him aside from the beginning.

Everyone but Wooyoung. Sweet Wooyoung with his smile that bloomed like wildflowers and the words that reminded San of the mountain springs for how bubbly and delightful they were.

Hongjoong glanced at him, his hands stilling.

"San..."

"I never was an option to you. I thought- After everything we were, I dreamt of what we could have been."

They could have been power, might. The most impressive couple to rein over Joseon. The patron dragon and an able king by his side. If love had blessed them, they would have overcome anything.

If only Seonghwa hadn't become part of the court. If only he wasn't favoured. Of all people, San understood the king's mother's displeasure most.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Hongjoong said. His voice was genuine even when his words couldn't strike a chord within San.

"You never left me the space to get close. I had hoped we could learn to love each other, but it was always him. Never me."

His hurt was audible. Hongjoong fell silent once more.

"I wanted to love you. I loved you."

"I know you did."

The wind rustled through the wet leaves as it picked up San's words and carried them beyond the hills, where they had no weight.

San closed his eyes. The moss on the tree cushioned his head, as if cradling him in its motherly embrace.

"I had hoped Seonghwa and my relationship wouldn't interfere with our marriage. We tried to make this as painless for you as possible from the moment we knew we wouldn't be able to be without each other."

"I don't want your pity, human," San repeated. "I asked for honesty. I am not upset because you hurt my feelings but for your deceit of allowing me - even enforcing me - to develop them for not only you but also Seonghwa, who served as your distraction. It happened under your full awareness of the outcome."

Rueful, Hongjoong lowered his head.

"I don't condemn your love. I condemn the path you took to gain it. How can Seonghwa talk about the greed of a dragon when your greed for each other couldn't wait until you had secured my support with the ritual?"

Hongjoong's head snapped back up. He startled the birds that fluttered off with indignant squawks. The nightjar found its way back onto San's antlers and cleaned its wings there.

"You won't help us anymore?"

The desperation in the king's eyes pleased San. For once, he wasn't the one who needed to adjust.

"I have no reason to. The things I got promised turned out to be insincere and your support was artificial. What place do I have at the court when Seonghwa keeps trying to drive me out? That place was supposed to be the safety of your side, my king, but that spot is already occupied."

Hongjoong's fingers cramped into the hat in his lap. Flickering eyes betrayed his nervosity as they skimmed the woods.

"You can't mature if you don't bless us," he reminded San.

With a chuckle, San burrowed deeper into his tree. It hugged him as if it wanted to suck him in, to hide him away from the selfish eyes of the human. San's claw idly caressed the bark.

"I know, but I am willing to take that price. Dragons aren't playthings, and as long as you and your people believe they are, none will come to your aid."

When Hongjoong opened his mouth to protest, San closed his eyes.

"I said everything I wanted to say. You should return to the palace before it rains again. Your people won't find you if you fall into a ditch here."

The message that San wouldn't help him either had Hongjoong gulp. Quietly, he gathered his things.

"I had hoped you wouldn't stoop so low to have me beg you," he whispered as he fastened his hat under his chin.

"Seems like you failed to educate me in that matter."

They spoke no more after that. Hongjoong turned and descended the mountain. Left alone, San burrowed deeper into the tree to take a rest.