The morning after Saint's disastrous attempt to offer himself to the Water God, the human wakes up to find rose petals on top of his bathtub. He then remembers that Perth had been carrying roses the night before.
'He's the one placing flowers in my bath?'
Saint leans against the edge of the bathtub and plays with the roses, humming a song. He can't believe he matters enough to be given all this attention.
A knock on the door interrupts his thought.
Smile wide, Saint calls out "Perth?"
Melodious chitter respond from outside. It must be the lovely creatures he met yesterday. "Come in."
The group of water sprites enter Saint's room, carrying towels and ribbons and flowers. One is carrying sandals and another one carrying a robe.
"For me?"
Saint really wants to be able to call their name. They each look different although they have similar features and it's such a shame not to call them individually. He hopes to remember to ask Perth if they have names.
"You have such nice wings," Saint comments to the sprites flying around his room while he's submerged in the bathtub. One of the sprites is neatly washing and brushing Saint's hair as he leans back. He's not worried about his body showing because the rose petals Perth left plus the flowers brought this morning is more than enough to completely cover him.
Three sprites fly lower to let Saint touch their wings.
"Sometimes I wish I can fly. When I was a child I used to stare at the sky all the time, wondering if the air is different if you're way up. Is it?" He stares at the ceiling where intricate designs are carved and painted predominantly in the color blue. "I reckon you won't know the difference. You've never been to the human villages, have you?"
The sprites shake their heads and settle down on the soft grass carpeting the floor. They sense a story coming.
"The human world is not that beautiful compared to what you have here but it does have remarkable things. First, of course there are more people like me. Well, not exactly like me. There are men as large as bears and scrawny boys wanting to grow up to be like them."
Saint recalls how badly he wanted to fit in with those standards too, how he hated his slim figure and his fair skin.
"There are also ladies with lovely dresses and pretty faces. My bestfriend Tasanee, she's only 16 but already she can rival anyone else in our village for her beauty."
He wonders if she is well, if she already forgave him, and if he can perhaps one day visit her. He shakes his head. That is something to think about for another time. It will only make him sad. He searches his memory to find more good things instead.
"At festivals, you'll see such colorful decoration up in town. They hang banners up and everyone wears their finest clothings. And the smell of delicious food would waft in the air-" Saint's eyes widens. "Of course I'm not saying the food here isn't good. It's very delicious, really."
The sprites listen attentively, their bodies leaning forward, absorbed in the story. The one brushing Saint's hair even stops mid-brush.
"So I do wonder about my village. But at the same time, there are so many nice things to see here and Perth says he'll accompany me to see more. He's really kind, isn't he? When he's with me, I feel...protected, safe." Saint doesn't even realize he's smiling. Thinking about Perth does that to him apparently.
The sprites continue to help Saint get ready and then in no time at all, he is out of the bath and into comfortable clothes. He smiles gratefully at the little creatures and then walk with them out the door.
There, he sees Perth leaning against the wall, one hand gripping the Oracle.
Saint fusses with his clothes self-consciously. "Oh. Good morning Perth."
'He must have heard everything I said! How embarrassing!'
Once Perth relaxes the hold on the Oracle, it zooms to Saint and nuzzles against his cheek.
It eases Saint's nervousness. "Hello to you too, Oracle. Did you have a good sleep?"
The Oracle whirrs, making Saint turn to Perth for the translation. Now that he knows the little golden orb is capable of language, he is eager to communicate with it.
"The Oracle doesn't sleep, Saint," Perth explains.
"I thought it does because it always leave my room before nighttime." Saint pats the Oracle absentmindedly.
Perth shakes his head. "I told all of the creatures not to disturb you at night. But if the Oracle's presence gives you comfort then I shall allow it to stay in your room."
Saint smiles gratefully at Perth and for a moment Perth just stares at him. There is a sudden, short hum from the Oracle. The chitters from the sprites sound like laughter. Perth raised an eyebrow at them and so they huddle behind Saint like chastised children.
"What is it? Did you say something?" Saint asks the Oracle.
Perth clears his throat. "The Oracle says we should get going."
The sprites once again murmur as they peek at the Water God who is avoiding eye contact with the human. Their stare speaks volume and if Saint happens to look at them he would easily guess that something is amiss and that Perth has just lied to him.
The actual words the Oracle said were: "Someone's smitten."
For the meantime though, Saint is oblivious and innocently follows Perth to wherever he will lead him, a sprite holding on to his hand and the others trailing after him. The Oracle stays on his shoulder.
During the short walk through the interesting landscapes of rock formations and greenery, Perth suddenly breaks the silence.
"Was the food as delicious as it's scent?" The Water God asks.
Beside him, Saint falters in his step a little bit. "Huh?"
"The food in your village," Perth clarifies.
'So he definitely heard me.'
"I wouldn't know...I never got to eat them." Saint shrugs. "Nobody wants the cursed child near such an auspicious event."
Perth frowns. "Humans and your beliefs. You are not cursed, Saint. If you were, the Oracle would have known straightaway."
As if in agreement, the Oracle bounces on Saint's shoulder.
Saint couldn't answer. It has been so long and too many people have ingrained it into him that he is cursed. It is difficult to believe that he is anything but that. Perhaps, it is for the best that that is the moment they arrive at their destination. It is a beautiful garden filled with all sorts of flowers, all in eternal bloom. At the middle of the garden is a red bridge and below it, a large pond.
The sprites and the Oracle race to different directions - one to playfully flit in between trees and the rest to fulfill their duty and tend to the garden and back to the palace for more chores.
Saint immediately steps forward, eager to follow the creatures and see everything closely. But then he remembers his place and halts.
Perth of course notices. "Is there something wrong?"
Saint bites his lips, unsure. "Can I look around?"
"That's why I brought you here," Perth says. "The water sprites tell me you like flowers and the ones here never withers. You can look at them whenever you want."
Hearing that, Saint abandons all hesitance and gives in to the urge to look around. He is fascinated with how many different shapes and colors the flowers there are. Most of them he hasn't seen before and doubts anyone from his village has seen as well. Some trees even have luscious fruits hanging from its branches.
Perth lets Saint explore in peace and stands next to the pond quietly, looking at the colorful fishes swimming there. Unknown to him, Saint is observing him.
Just seeing Perth standing there with his regal stature and the wind rustling his hair, with some loosened petals making the background seem like a painting come to life, Saint thinks the Water God looks powerful but also incredibly gorgeous. This image in front of him and the events of yesterday fresh in his mind, Saint can hardly believe Perth is real.
'And you are to be my husband. Forever.'
They say Saint is cursed but at this very moment, he feels incredibly blessed. He walks towards the pond to see what Perth is looking at.
"This pond is home to these koi fishes but you'd see many different kinds of fish in other places here in the realm," Perth shares
Saint tilts his head, confused. "What are fishes?" He has never heard of such animals before in his village.
"Have you never seen one?"
Saint shakes his head. "All the bodies of water near our village, except for one, dried up when I was a baby. I presume I've seen some when I was really really young but I don't remember anymore." He is completely transfixed at the swimming fishes, their scales shining gold or black or orange. "They're so colorful..."
Saint reaches for the fish, not noticing that he is stepping into the pond. The fishes scatter. Saint goes after them.
"Don't-" But before Perth could finish his sentence, Saint is already pulled deeper into the pond by some strange force coiling around his body and dragging him down.
Saint gasps but it only made the situation worse as he ingested water as he disappears from the surface of the water, Perth a blurry image now. At the back of his mind, Saint questions whether all ponds are really this deep.
'I can't breathe.'
He is losing consciousness fast. It feels like hours has passed in his struggle.
In actuality, only seconds have passed because the moment he realized what happened, Perth immediately hauled Saint from the water, clutching the drenched human to his chest.
Once on dry land, Saint coughs up the water he ingested and then clings to Perth. He is still terrified. The Oracle is hovering worriedly around the two of them.
Heart beating hard at the ordeal, Saint belatedly realizes that Perth is speaking to him, apologizing over and over again.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Saint. I should have warned you against stepping foot into the pond while you're still human. I'm so sorry."
Saint's voice is hoarse when he answers. "Why did that happen? Did I do something wrong?"
Perth tightens his embrace on Saint. "You did nothing wrong. I should have warned you. This pond is the center of this realm and it is hostile to anything not part of this world. That includes humans."
As the God governing the water, one would expect that his embrace is cold but Perth's warmth - both his physical warmth and the way he takes care of Saint - is reassuring to the bewildered man.
"That's a relief. I thought I did something to upset the water."
Perth's stare at Saint is incredulous. "You thought you upset the water..."
Perth feels Saint nod at his chest silently. The God sighs and pulls away from the embrace. Saint shyly lets go of his grip on Perth's clothes and upon seeing it wrinkled, frantically tries to smooth it out.
Perth gently holds Saint's hands to make him stop. "You don't need to do that."
"But it's wrinkled..."
Perth looks around and finds a white flower nearby. He plucks it and shows it to Saint. "You are like this flower. Pure." He smiles fondly. "But I want you to remember that you don't have to apologize for things that are not your fault or are out of your control."
Perth is too close, his handsome face mere inches away from Saint's. "O-okay. I'll remember."
'Focus, Saint.'
He leans away a little from the God so he could think without his brain shouting about how attractive Perth is. "I'll be careful while I'm human, you don't have to worry about me."
"It won't be long anyway, the peaches of immortality is nearly ripe. My estimate is that our wedding will be in 9 days or so. From then, you'd be immortal and the pond here won't react so violently to you anymore."
Nine days...nine days and Saint will be married to the Water God.
"Is there anything I need to prepare?"
Perth ponders the question. "Perhaps the only thing you need to prepare is your mind. I don't want you to be alarmed at the gods and goddesses attending, no matter how preposterous they are."
"Are they really that strange? Is it their appearance?"
Perth shakes his head. "Not so much their appearance as their actions. Some of the goddesses in particular can be a bit too much. And they can be very competitive. I'm sure they won't be thrilled that such a beautiful person will become immortal."
Saint blushes at the casual way Perth called him beautiful. He scrambles to talk about something else. "Will a lot of them attend?"
"Technically, there is always a celebration for when the peaches of immortality ripens and so our wedding coinciding with that will gather many well-wishers. They would want to meet my spouse."
All this talk about 'wedding' and 'spouse' warms Saint's heart. Finally, he'll have a person to belong to, someone who will never leave him behind or give him away.
Finally, he'll have a family.