"Alright, I'm coming already!" Tari yelled storming out of her chambers to find a pissed off Jooni.
"I've been waiting for 20 minutes!" he raised his hands over his face. "Thinking about it, you always were late back then too."
"What? You think you can put all this in 5 minutes?" she said gesturing at herself making him fake a cough.
She was as usual dressed in her thin white silk custom that revealed her stomach, but this time she didn't have her crown on saying that it was too heavy to move around wearing it. nevertheless, she blew his mind away.
"Let's go, we will be late." He said. "No, wait, we are already late." He sighed shaking his head as he started walking.
"Says the one who is walking like a snail." She chuckled as she tucked her arm around his and dragged him across the hallways.
"W-wait,"
"What!"
"it's that way."
Tari giggled the embarrassment away as she turned in the opposite direction to be greeted with Min Jun and the other.
"Hey, boys." She said, "Looks like you are also late as well."
"Who said we are late?" Yu Jun asked ignorantly.
"This guy here has been saying that I'm late for the past hour." She rolled her eyes at Joon Wo, her arms still linked with his.
She didn't notice until she felt the stares. "W-what are you…" she said following their line of gaze. "O-OH…" she pulled her arm away quickly.
"Let's go, shall we?" she giggled as she led the way…of course with the help of others in telling her which way to go.
The tension that was rising behind her back was sending cold chills down her bareback. But still, she thought that she shouldn't interfere, all she could do was help them.
She was bought back from her thought by the loud horn that blew off in the air making them all flinch in surprise.
"Bloody hell!" She cursed, "We are late!"
Before she could hear a reply, she ran off.
"W-wait for me!" Jin Wo said as he ran after her and after that, he was followed by his younger brother.
"Told you we are late." Joon Wo stated to no one.
"Watching them sure brings back memories," Yu Jun said standing next to him. "right brother?"
Joon Wo looked at him from the corner of his eyes before sighing, not caring of hiding the grin that spread across his face. "It indeed does bring back memories."
And so, they walked side by side after their brothers and little princess making sure to take their time with it enjoying the peaceful silence that was between them.
Nefertari was finally at the palace's gate followed by the other two.
"We made it!" she exclaimed as she looked out on the horizon through the open gates.
"W-We sure did." Jin Wo struggled to say through his heavy pants as he tried to catch a breath.
"Look," Min Jun pointed out. "He is here!"
They looked out at the convoy of soldiers that was riding through the almost empty streets at full speed. The sounds of hooves clashing down with the dirt echoed through the air and as it got closer and louder so did the hearts of those three as they stood excitement taking over them, not before long were they joined with Joon Wo and Yu Jun who both looked pretty calm.
As they got closer, Nefertari started to make out the forever familiar flaming red hair as it went wild by the wind. Finally, the horses came to a stop and the flaming red-headed young man came down off his horse wiping off the sweat from between his brows before he turned to look at the gates.
"Ashkan!" they said in unison.
They dashed over to their little friend, who apparently wasn't little anymore.
"Oh god," Jin Wo said eying him up and down. "I was expecting that little bundle of red-hair rolling towards us!"
Ashkan laughed hard, his voice still bright like always only with a little depth to it from hitting puberty. "It's been 10 years and not even a hey?" Ashkan said raising an eyebrow.
"Oh! Don't be sad, here you go!" Min Jun pouted and wrapt his hands around Ashkan pulling him into a hug and the others followed his actions as well. Yu Jun and Joon Wo were now behind them, a smile bright on Yu Jun's face while a just little hint of a smile on Joon Wo's, the fact that Tari was embracing other men sparked something inside him that he didn't quite understand.
"Long time no see, Ashkan." Yu Jun gave him a small hug which he returned with the same old warm smile he had. "It's nice to see you again, Hyung."
"Woah, your Hangul (Korean) has gotten a lot better." Nefertari chuckled poking him in his rips.
"Well, I've been practicing every now and then." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
Ashkan's eyes finally fell on Joon Wo. "It's been a while, Joon Wo-Hyung." He held out his hand which Joon Wo hesitated before shaking it. "Hope you've been well."
They headed back inside the palace after Yu Jun convinced them that Ashkan should rest from the long ride and that they can meet up later this day.
And with that, the flower is mended back together.
~~~~
"Did you receive a word?" Akhenaton said sitting down with a loud thud.
"Yes, Pharaoh," Jaffar said standing next to his king on the throne. "The princess has arrived in Goryeo safe and sound."
Akhenaton sighed in relief. But still, the anxiety that was kicking in wasn't completely gone.
"Keep in touch with Azar, none or less." He rubbed between his brows knowing that his daughter will most probably be up in cloud nine and will most probably forget to reply to her poor father's letter.
"As you wish, Your Holiness."
It has been already a month since she left, this was the first time for poor Akhenaton to stay a month without seeing or at least hearing from his daughter, which was making him crazy.
But part of him was proud that his daughter is now an adult and can travel for business relations with other empires, not that this was a business-related trip, it was more of a personal- trip really.
The night that she departed from here was the night that Akhenaton went out to battle for Kadesh which they easily won with the right tactics and order but still, the conflict wasn't completely done it was just temporarily seized.
"Any news about Hittites?"
"Nothing to mention, Your Holiness," Jaffar said, "looks like they received quite the hit in the last battle."
"This is what they get when they get for going up against Kemet." Akhenaton scoffed, "I won't let that city go that easily. They should know their own capabilities."
"I beg your burden," Jaffar interrupted. "the battle is not over yet. You shouldn't let your guard down, Pharaoh. Who knows what they might be plotting at this very moment."
"You never cease to amaze me, Jaffar." Akhenaton looked up at his friend. "We've been together for as long as I remember and still you are the one with all the wisdom. I some times wonder how I could've possibly come this far without you."
He looked up at his friend with appreciation and thankfulness.
"You give me too much credit, Your Holiness," Jaffar grinned weakly as he held his head up to look at his friend and emperor. "You've come this far because of your hard work and the sacrifices that you made."
Akhenaton rested his head back against the throne, thinking of Jaffar's words, especially the sacrificing part and automatically his mind thought of the first sacrifices that he made when he wasn't even emperor yet, Cleopatra.
He was still the crown prince, soon to be king. His father has fallen ill and it was about time for him to join his ancestors in their eternal sleep and for him to inherit all the burdens and responsibilities.
Death came upon him one after another. First, it was his beloved, and not long after that, the angel of death decided to visit again. He smirked to himself wondering how he made it through all of those deaths one after another and was still able to rule over an entire empire without making it crumble to the ground.
"I guess the Gods were on my side for once." He mumbled with a smirk.
"Pardon?" Jaffar said.
Akhenaton shocked his head and waved him off as he adjusted himself in the uncomfortable throne.
"Seriously," he groaned. "This damn chair should be renewed, it's the most uncomfortable chair I've ever sat on. I wonder why others want to have it so much. Seriously, go ahead."
"I'm sure they will be more than happy to take it the burden as well," Jaffar said sarcastically after he stopped counting the number of times that he protests about this.
"Anyway, is our little bird delivering what we want?"