White Sand Hourglass; Yeonbin

3

(UNEDITED)
Three boys enter the cabin, all wearing gowns similar to Soobin's but completely different in style and color. Soobin stands up and walks up to them whispering something to them before looking back at Yeonjun who stood frozen on the bed. "They are the three guardians of the season, Kai, the Guardian of Spring. Beomgyu, the Guardian of Summer, and Taehyun, the Guardian of Fall" Soobin says introducing the three boys to him.

"It's an honor to meet you, Prince" Kai, the one in a green gown says bowing to Yeonjun. The two other ones follow his lead as they do the same. Kai's gown was scattered with flowers that bloomed all over, he wore a flower crown with multiple flowers on his green hair and had wolf ears that grew from his head. Beomgyu wore a yellow gown decorated with gold, and his yellow hair shined brightly with his spiked gold crown that stood along with bear ears. The last guardian was Taehyun, who wore a light brown colored gown and had orange hair. A gold charm sat on his forehead with a large ruby decorating it, gold jewelry that laid on top of his nose bridge, and a set of fox ears.

Beomgyu walks to a closet and takes out a few blankets, "it's cold prince, please warm yourself up" the young boy says placing the cover on top of Yeonjun. "Are you hungry?" Taehyun asks placing a basket on the table that sat in the middle of the small kitchen. Yeonjun thanked Beomgyu before nodding his head, "have you ever tasted a hare before?" Kai asks joining Taehyun in the kitchen.

"No" Yeonjun answers quietly.

"Well, I promise you will love it," Taehyun says with a sweet smile. Yeonjun didn't exactly know what to feel right now, he was amused by the boy's attention toward him but the lingering doubt still flew in the air surrounding him.

"hyung, look what I found," Beomgyu says excitedly as he reached into his pocket and took out a white cloth pointing it towards Soobin. The younger boy spread the cloth and revealed a pile of blackberries, Soobin's eyes glowed as he stared down at the fruit.

"Where did you find them?" Soobin asks.

"I found them near the frozen lake, most of the bushes were dead but I took the ones that were still alive for you," Beomgyu says giving the cloth with the berries to Soobin. "But don't you also want some?" Soobin asks. The summer guardian shakes his head, "I'm good with the hare, we also brought some arborvitae leaves for you to eat" Beomgyu says.

The younger boy walks over to the kitchen while Soobin stares back down at the berries like they were a treasure, holding them in his palm gently and admiring them.

Yeonjun stares at Soobin, "how long has this winter been going on?" the prince asks. The question caused everyone's head to turn towards Soobin as he finally looked up from the berries and looked at Yeonjun.

"23 years" Soobin answers his response sounding quite suppressed.

The young prince remains silent as he hears those words. He couldn't imagine a winter that long, "what about the animals that live here?" Yeonjun asks.

"The ones that don't live during the winter either went to eternal hibernation or died off due to the lack of food and resources," Soobin says placing the blueberries into a container with ice to keep them fresh for longer. "Plants also degraded and only the ones livable for winter survive for food" he adds.

"Can't you guys do anything? You are summer and spring right?" Yeonjun asks looking at Beomgyu and Kai. Beomgyu lowers his head in defeat while Kai shakes his head, "our powers aren't strong enough against the narculises, Soobin is the only one that can go against them but he lost-" Kai says but before he can finish off his sentence Soobin interrupts him.

"Is the hare almost ready? Yeonjun must be hungry now" Soobin says walking towards Taehyun who was busy cooking. Kai lowers his head and continues to help the boy cut the vegetables. The prince looked away and back at the fireplace that blazed and shot small particles that disappeared up the chimney.

After some long minutes, Taehyun walked up to the Prince with a tray and laid it on his lap. The hare was cooked into this broth along with carrots and onions. "It's probably not as fancy as what you get back in your world but it's the best we got," Taehyun says. "It's alright, I'm not a picky eater," Yeonjun says holding the wooden spoon and scooping up some broth with a piece of meat from the hare. He places the food in his mouth and almost instantly, the flavor hits him.

"It's so good!" Yeonjun says drinking a spoonful of broth. He must even say that it was better than the food he ate back home. Kai slowly walks closer to him and sits down on the bed next to the boy.

"How is it like where you live?" Kai asks almost in a whisper.

"I guess it's nice, it's not much different except for the snow and mystical creatures" Yeonjun responds placing his spoon down. "How is summer over there?" Beomgyu asks who was eavesdropping on the conversation, "I haven't seen the green grass or the warm sun in so long, I miss it" the younger boy adds his voice sounding sorrowful.

"It's nice, the castle has a large garden where many flowers bloom and a pond where ducks live, it's beautiful I wish you guys could see it," Yeonjun says staring down at the bowl. At this moment he realized how badly he wanted to go back home, so many feelings started to fill his head. What if he never got out of here? What if he never saw his parents again? What if he could never feel the warm sun hit his skin?

Taehyun places his hand on the boy's shoulder, "I'm sure you will see it soon again" the boy says his voice becoming quiet and soft.

Yeonjun lets go of a small smile and continue to eat the hare broth.
__________