Lang Yoo-suk watched the two boys approaching and bit back the flash of jealous that nearly overtook him. He had not expected to feel so gutted seeing Hae-sung happily interacting with teammates. There was nothing suggesting the boys shared anything more than a close friendship but Hae-sung obviously was leading a much different life than he had at school. Nobody would think of him as an awkward loner now. Not with the laughing game he played with the others while they walked along the edge of the lawn.

Yoo-suk was looking for an escape when he ran into Scout Jia Ying-so. His brother's friend gave him a sympathetic look.

"Do you have to stay for the whole week?" Ying-so asked.

"Probably. The new lord wasn't exactly clear," Yoo-suk sighed.

"It shouldn't be hard to avoid most of the team. They have a tight schedule." Ying-so patted Yoo-shuk's shoulder.

"Is it obvious?" Yoo-shuk asked.

"Not if I didn't already know," he responded gently.

Ying-so shook his head as he walked over to the kitchens to meet with the boys. Just this morning he had overheard a couple of maids talking about the new heir and the team he traveled with as "eye-candy," and whether they should try to get a real taste. The young women got quite graphic with their speculations on which of the boys might be the superior lover. From their descriptions it sounded like they had settled on Chenhui as the most likely candidate because the others struck them as being involved with each other. He had no idea how he might broach the topic of appropriate expressions of affection with the boys without it seeming sordid. Especially given what he knew about Yoo-shuk's attraction to Hae-sung but he soon had a different problem.

"Why did you send the seniors off with that Misaon assassin?" Song-hee asked as soon as Scout Jia sat down with the team.

"Misaon assassin?" Scout Jia thought he knew who Song-hee meant by this, he just didn't know why.

"You know, Masters of the double-back swords, black onyx energies" Song-hee lowered his voice and looked around the room.

The last part of the description caught Junseo's attention and he whispered, "Did you sense it, too?"

"How could I? I was across the arena when the three of you trotted off like little lambs," Song-hee was still annoyed.

Il-don joined in, "How are we to protect each other if we don't know where you are? I promised Knight-Master Lie I would help guard you."

"And I promised to protect you all," Scout Jia intervened before things got more heated. "I have seen this sword-master in action and know him to be an honorable man."

He did not mention they had been on opposite sides of a battlefield once but he had to trust the Go family retainers to know what they were doing.

"He is the best swordsman I have ever sparred with," San Jin said with conviction.

"Is that why I felt like a toddler in the test match?" Hae-sung asked and then blushed at this admission.

"There will be nobody even close to that level in the competitions," San Jin assured him.

"So just a fifty-percent chance of being humiliated?" Junseo smiled.

"Something like that," San Jin teased back.

"Right. Now about our language practice," Junseo started and then explained how he thought it might be helpful if they tried speaking Shen with each other as much as possible. He was willing to exempt team meetings but thought they should be able to manage the rest of their daily tasks. His final selling point was to tell others, "It might reduce how much the servants will overhear."

"It will certainly reduce how much I might say," Song-hee muttered.

"Is that possible, oh stony one," Chenhui tried to tease but when Junseo asked him to translate the phrase he blushed.

"There is a very good phrasebook in the study," San Jin said and then switched Shen to tell a story about being punished for repeating some of the phrases in the back of the book. This sparked a race by the younger boys to find the book and look up ways to swear at each other. They returned to the kitchen to share the most colorful expressions.

"Your servants are going to think we are barbarians," Junseo observed.

"That along with being boy-lovers," San Jin said mildly.

Song-hee scrambled to find the term San Jin had used and when it was pointed out he said he still did not understand.

"Why should loving be considered shameful?" he scratched his head.

"It doesn't bother you?" Xuiyang, "The cadets were making rude comments about us most of way here."

"I have heard that kind of comment so much I don't notice anymore," San Jin said with a shrug.

"But aren't you, like, engaged or something?" Il-don asked.

San Jin paused as he tried to find the right phrase in Shen. Finally he said, "Such arrangements don't come up when you are being taunted in the school yard." 

 "Taunted?" Il-don whispered.

"You know all this," he gestured in a circle around his face, "is far too beautiful."

"Like a new moon reflected in a pond," Junseo started in on a classic poem and then pointed to Hae-sung who stumbled through the next line.

He relaxed as the other boys took their turns, and a good bit of ribbing from Scout Jia, when they got a couple of lines in the wrong order. Hae-sung wondered what his father might think of the ways Junseo and San Jin seemed to approach the classics -- like they were old friends to be teased rather than matters of serious contemplation. He knew many hours of study must have built these skills but they obviously found a way to escape the joyless pressure of arid repetition. It wasn't just about practice it was about finding joy in what they were doing. Even if he had words to explain this realization, he did not think he could translate them into Shen.

Hae-sung just felt grateful. Song-hee's comment helped put things into perspective. San Jin was not the only one to be taunted over who he might find attractive but he somehow managed to build defenses while Hae-sung had let shame sneak in. It was hard to shake off the self-doubt, especially since he was not sure he had a clear preference one way or the other. He was aware of the deliberate glances from the female members of the staff and not so subtle hints from one of the grooms.

Scout Jia's awkward warning about entanglements was not necessary for most of the team but the youngest pair blushed. San Jin seemed affronted by this tacit admission.

"I trust you are prepared to provide support if there are any consequences," San Jin said with a heavy emphasis on the last word.

"No. I mean there will be no consequences. It's not like that," Xuiyang stuttered. His ears were bright red.

"Same. Same." Chenhui said looking at the floor.

"Right. Well, I am sorry to say it is time for my daily briefing with the Estate manager. Try to stay out of trouble." San Jin sounded so much like a parent Scout Jia had to hide a laugh.

Junseo watched his friend leave. He wished there was a way to ease some of the responsibilities weighting on San Jin. The group had not even had a chance to talk through the dispute from earlier in the day. He decided to secret some snacks and a couple of bottles of liquor up to the loft for later since they still had a lot to discuss.