The Borrower and the Fairy Prince

Chapter 24: "What Do You Have?" "A Knife!" "No!"

"I did not like going to that human's house at all," Virgil said. "That was reckless and stupid. We could have gotten hurt!"

"But we didn't!" Remus reminded him. "And we got some food from it! Look at all these berries!"

Remus was right, there was the food they got. Amazingly enough, the human had blueberries and raspberries, though they didn't know how since neither grows well in the winter. Virgil couldn't wait to see how they're going to explain that one.

"And I learned more about humans!" Logan agreed. "I can't wait to go back!"

"You're not doing that!" Janus shouted, only to go into another coughing fit.

"Stop yelling, darling," Patton told him, rubbing his boyfriend's arm to keep him warm. "Yelling will stress out your throat. Do you want to lose your voice?"

"Wouldn't matter since no one seems to listen to me. You promised you wouldn't go looking for the human!"

Logan deflated a bit. "I'm sorry, love. I just got really excited."

"Next time, maybe come get me before you decide to do something stupid? What if you got hurt?"

"I know, I'm sorry. If you come with us, can we visit the human again?"

Janus huffed, clearly still upset. "Fine, but only if I'm with you and only because he seems nice."

"Until then, you need to get better," Patton told him. "And to help you, all three of us will be with you. No one will go over the river until you're better again."

"Couldn't we just heal him?" Roman asked. "I've never understood why we can't just heal the sick."

"It's complicated," Patton explained. "I guess I should start giving you some lessons on healing now that we know you're a healer! So let this be the first. Healers can heal any damage that an illness may cause, but the victim's body itself has to deal with the sickness. Though, healing any damage will help fight it off!"

"I guess that makes sense."

"And there aren't really that many healers in our colony. There's maybe... two in every ten fairies. So we can't tire them all out by constantly healing anything caused by illnesses, only serious ones! That's what we have medicine for. Which Janus will get plenty of when we get home."

"Yup!" Remus agreed. "He's going to get a lot of that sweet, sweet, healing juice."

"Do not call it that," Janus hissed.

"You're so mean."

"Okay, so how do I conserve my energy while healing?" Roman asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I don't have healing magic, only water, so it's different. Jasmine has healing magic though! So you can ask her any questions about your magic! And I can tell you proper procedures for anything."

"Looks like I'm going to get a lot busier. Training, learning how to best use my magic, and still doing my royal duties?"

"That means a lot of work for me too," Virgil sighed.

"All you really need to do is follow me around to protect me. The most work you'll be doing is training."

"Yeah, you guys are going to have to train without me," Janus said. "I don't think I'll be able to be there. But that does not mean you get to slack off!"

"Yup, I agree completely," Patton said. "A-about you not being there that is. You are going to stay home until I say so!"

"I know, I know, this happens every year."

"Told you!" Remus reminded him. "You get sick every winter."

"You can shut up now."

"You know I physically cannot."

Janus groaned, making Patton giggle and Logan roll his eyes. Virgil smiled when Remus flew closer to Janus and gave him a small forehead kiss. Though, the borrower had to push down this heavy feeling in his chest, the want for Roman to be like that with him. It wasn't going to ever happen.

~~~

Virgil sighed as he woke up, knowing that the sun was about to rise. He had the many years of living alone in a small hole to thank his internal alarm clock. Just one day though, he would love to sleep in late. But Roman has to wake up early and the borrower is his guard.

He pulled himself out of bed and found some clothes to throw on. He combed his hair, letting it fall in front of his eyes, and made his bed before leaving his room.

As always, he knocked on Roman's door before walking in. Roman was still sleeping, he was on his back and the blankets were twisted around him. Needless to say, he looked very comfortable. Part of Virgil felt guilty for waking him up, but he had to so he gave the prince's shoulder a slight nudge.

"Okay Roman, time to wake up," he whispered.

Roman groaned, half awake, and leaned further into his pillow. He pulled the blanket over his head and seemed about ready to fall back asleep.

"If I have to get up, then so do you." Virgil grabbed the blanket and tried to pull it off.

Roman tightened his hold on it. "No..." he whined.

"It's morning, princey." The borrower continued to pull on the blanket and managed to tear it from Roman's hands and bed.

Roman pouted as he opened his eyes. "I'm cold now."

"I swear if you don't get out of bed..."

"Fine, fine, I'm awake." The prince sat up with a yawn. "Just give me a moment, I stayed up late last night."

"Why? What were you doing?" Virgil laughed lightly at the prince's childishness.

"Um... oh right, I went to get something." The prince got up and walked over to his dresser.

"Wait, you went outside, when it was dark, without me?!"

"I put on dark clothes! I knew you would worry."

"So why didn't you get me? I'm your guard!" Now Virgil was a bit upset, he snuck off without even telling him!

Roman grabbed something from the top of his dresser. It was a flat box, though it was long. "Because I went to get you a present!"

The slowly rising anger and panic was completely washed away when Virgil saw what was in the prince's hands. He didn't know what it could be, all he knew was that it was a present from the prince and that was enough to brighten his mood.

"You... you got me a gift?"

Roman nodded, walking over to Virgil and handing the box to him. "I think you'll really like it!"

Virgil opened it and smiled wide. It wasn't what he was expecting at all, but he loved it! It was a stone knife, chipped away to be sharp on one end. The handle was grass, wrapped tightly around the stone. There was a leaf sheath for it underneath the knife, along with a small vine connected to it for him to tie around himself.

"I love it," Virgil told him, taking out the knife and sheath. He set the box down on Roman's bed and tested the knife's weight. "It's perfect!"

"Now you have something else to use other than the closest stick or rock you can find in fights!"

Virgil laughed lightly as warmth filled his chest. He set the knife and sheath down on the bed and wrapped Roman in a hug.

"Thank you so much! I know you're nervous about me being you're guard, but I swear I won't let either of us get hurt!"

Roman smiled wide as he hugged Virgil back. "I know, I trust that you will. I couldn't have ever asked for a better guard."

"It's weird to say, but falling into the river was the best thing to happen to me. Because if I never fell, then I would have never met you!"

Roman pulled away from the hug just enough to cup Virgil's cheek, his fingers going under his ear which was raised high in joy. Every time Virgil smiled, Roman couldn't help but feel like there were butterflies in his stomach. The borrower was just so... amazing.

"I'm glad we met too."