Sometimes weeks would pass between Durbe's return visits to the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean, and sometimes months. He would never explain where he was going, or why, just that he hadthings to do and would hop on his flying horse – Pegasus, he would gently correct – and grin before flying off.

It bothered the king more than he wanted to admit. He had never been able to get a straight answer out of this knight – where are you even from? Where did you find a flying horse? Why do you wear so much armor? – because each time Durbe would just smile and say the same thing.

It doesn't really matter that much does it, my friend?

But it did, at least to Nasch, and he found himself standing on the balcony every morning, gazing eastward where Durbe had gone, waiting for him to come back, wondering if he even would.

Four months had passed this time, the longest Durbe had ever been gone, and Nasch began to abandon his daily vigil. He focused on the immediate concerns of his people, ensuring that there was food and peace, and he supposed he did well enough, since the people seemed to think favorably of him. But each night, when his work was finished and he prepared himself for bed, he couldn't help but wonder where his friend was now.

Nasch.

He mumbled incoherently and tried to ignore the whispers in his head.

Nasch…

He'd had them far too often lately, and they were almost always accompanied by fleeting visions of his kingdom in ruins. He didn't like that. His sister was the visionary one, not him, but perhaps he had a trace of her ability…?

Nasch!

He woke up with a splutter, cold water dripping from his face and hair onto his bare shoulders. Shivering, he rubbed at his eyes and looked up at his sister, outlined in the bright glow of the moon filtering through the large balcony door windows. She raised an eyebrow at him and set the empty glass on his bedside table.

"What the hell, Merag," Nasch muttered, using his blanket to wipe the water off his face. "It's the middle of the night."

She absentmindedly tightened the bow on her purple night robes. "I thought you might like to know that Durbe just arrived." She smiled knowingly at him as he sat up.

"What? Here? Now?" Nasch didn't care that he sounded too eager to see his friend again. Wasn't it natural? He threw back his covers and perched at the edge of his bed.

"Yes," came a deep, tentative voice from somewhere behind him.

Nasch turned, standing as he did so, and met the gaze of the rather short knight standing in full armor by the balcony doors. Durbe shifted the helmet in his hands as he smiled at the sleepy king.

"It's been a while, my friend," he said with a nervous laugh.

Nasch wordlessly walked around the bed and stopped next to him. The moonlight glistened on Durbe's armor which, close up, had several scratches in it. Even Durbe's normally immaculate cloak looked as though it had been through an ordeal. He reached out slowly and lifted it.

"Is this blood?"

Durbe took his hand with his gauntleted one and pried it away from his cloak. "Things are fine now," he murmured, glancing away.

"Where the hell have you been?" Nasch slammed his fist against Durbe's chest, forgetting until he made contact that it was covered in armor. The pain in his hand only served to make him angrier. "I've been wondering for four months if you were ever even going to come back and here you are looking like you've just been in a war."

Durbe shot a pleading look at Merag, who shook her head in bewilderment. "I'm not getting involved in this. You two need to have your own talk." She curtsied as gracefully as anyone could in a robe and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Nasch watched her go and turned back to his friend. "Will you give me a straight answer for once in your damn life, you-"

"Will you please put on some clothes?" Durbe suggested, still looking away.

"I'm wearing pants, so why the hell should-" He stopped abruptly at the faint tinge of color in Durbe's face, at the way he bit his lip, and the way his body tensed. He felt his own heart rate increase and knew there was some color seeping into his face as well.

Durbe looked at Nasch's face with what appeared to be a great deal of effort. His grey eyes lacked the childish excitement that normally filled them, and he looked tired. "I have many things to talk to you about but I… I would feel more comfortable if we… went somewhere else."

"Went where?" Nasch couldn't keep the bite of annoyance out of his voice even as he reached for a shirt he had discarded on the back of a chair. "It's the middle of the night."

Durbe nodded, and there was a shadow of his old self in the way he gazed through the windows at the moon, a hint of longing and serenity. "Have you… ever wondered what it would be like to fly to the moon?"

Nasch raised an eyebrow and tugged the hem of his shirt down. "Can't say I have."

"Would you like to?"

"What?"

Durbe tossed his helmet on the floor and tugged off his gauntlets before reaching for Nasch's hand. He hesitated and grabbed his elbow instead, dragging him out the door onto the spacious balcony. "Come fly with me." Before Nasch could do anything more than furrow his brow at him, Durbe smiled and placed two fingers in his mouth, giving a shrill, clear whistle. Almost immediately, his pure white Pegasus soared over the balcony railing and landed next to his master, nuzzling his face affectionately. Durbe went to work removing his cloak and armor, tossing it on the balcony with careless abandon, leaving behind the light shirt and trousers underneath.

"Want to go on a short trip, Mach?" he whispered to his Pegasus, who nuzzled his face with his nose. He swung up onto Mach's back and stroked his mane. "Good. You've got two riders tonight."

"I did not agree to-"

Nasch's objection was cut off as Durbe bent down and grabbed Nasch, pulling him awkwardly onto the saddle in front of him, except sidesaddle, so Nasch's string of curses was cut off by a hastily muffled whimper as Mach stretched his wings and lifted off with surprising ease.

Nasch's stomach churned and his heart thudded more with each powerful beat of Mach's wings. He was flying – humans weren't supposed to fly! This was madness, and we're so high up; what if we fall?but even as he clutched Durbe's shirt with all his being, he looked up into the knight's eyes, and saw the most exhilarated look in his eyes. Freedom, that was it; Durbe was free. He could go anywhere, do anything, and nobody could stop him.

And yet, he chose to return to Nasch's kingdom, despite not being part of it. Time and again, he came back.

They flew along in silence, Nasch unconsciously pulling himself closer to Durbe's chest the higher they went, willing himself to keep his eyes up so he couldn't see how far up they were. Finally, Durbe spoke.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I didn't realize you would be so upset."

Nasch leaned his head on Durbe's shoulder, hesitantly at first, but Durbe touched his cheek to Nasch's and smiled.

"There was a conflict in my homeland. It was my duty to my king to fight to save the land of my birth."

"And what of your duty to me?" Nasch knew he sounded childish but he couldn't bring himself to care. "You didn't think to send some word that you were even alive?"

"You're not my king," Durbe reminded him gently. "I have no duty to you. You are my friend; that is all. And our kingdoms are very far from each other. There is no ship that can reach from my home to yours, as far as I know. I wanted to let you know I was safe, but I could not. You understand, don't you?"

Nasch balled up his fist and weakly punched Durbe's chest. Durbe winced. "You idiot. You waltz into my room in the dead of night, covered in scrapes and blood and-and-and kidnap me and take me up here and you think everything's fine."

Durbe laughed weakly. "I didn't realize you…" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I wanted to show you something and you aren't even looking."

"If I look at the ground I will pass out."

"I will not let you fall. I swear it. There is nothing to be afraid of." Durbe slid his arm around Nasch's back and gripped him tightly. Nasch's hands tightened on his chest as he carefully, reluctantly, glanced out over his kingdom.

His breath caught in his chest. They were so high up, but…

It was beautiful.

It was beautiful, the way the moon reflected off the windows, off the ocean, and glistened off the marble walls of the palace. The bridges connected the islands, so small from so high, in perfectly straight lines. The houses bundled together like tiny toy models.

It was his, his kingdom, as no one but Durbe had ever seen before.

"What do you think?"

"It's freezing."

Durbe laughed again, stronger this time. "You're impossible."

"Is this why you stayed in my kingdom? Is this why you keep coming back?"

"I stopped here because its beauty took my breath away," Durbe whispered in his ear. "Though I am from another kingdom, another place entirely, I… I suppose I fell in love with this kingdom. And it's like a second home. A home I would give my life for. Not a home I am obligated to lay my life down for, but one that I would regardless."

"I'm sure that won't be required of you," Nasch muttered. He remembered the first time he had met Durbe. A young knight, nervous and stumbling over his words as he tried to explain how he got to these islands before he admitted that he had a winged horse – a Pegasus, he had insisted, named Mach – that flew him across the ocean to this kingdom.

It had seemed preposterous at the time, but when he began hearing tales of kingdoms in faraway places – though he didn't know how far, or even what the kingdoms were called – and lands surrounded on all sides by forests instead of water, of mountains, and precious stones… it was like a fairytale, and Durbe was the knight from it.

"My life is yours," Durbe insisted. "I will serve you from this life… to the next."

And this was like something out of a fairytale too, Nasch realized, with the knight holding the princess – well, king, in his case – as they gazed out at the kingdom they both loved so dearly.

Durbe coughed quietly. "You're freezing. I should get you back before you get sick and Merag kills me."

The unpleasant swooping in the pit of Nasch's stomach was back as they began their rapid descent; only, it was worse because he could clearly see the ground, could clearly see things getting larger very quickly, and he had to close his eyes to pretend he wasn't moving. It didn't help, and he threw his arms around Durbe's neck.

After what felt like an eternity, he felt a thud as they stopped moving and Durbe's grip on Nasch's waist loosened. He opened his eyes slowly and let out a relieved sigh. They were back on his balcony, with Durbe's armor scattered everywhere at their feet. Durbe swung off the saddle and held out his hand. Nasch tried to grab it but his hand shook and he ended up clumsily sliding off the saddle instead. Durbe caught him, holding him as his legs threatened to give out on him.

"I don't really want to do that again," Nasch said into Durbe's shoulder. "I don't think flying's my thing."

Durbe laughed again. "Fair enough."

Nasch pulled back slightly, looking Durbe in the face. "Why did you stay? And I mean it. You love your kingdom. Your homeland sounds… so much more beautiful. And we're so far from you. Why do you keep coming back?"

"I keep coming back…" Durbe's voice faltered. He cleared his throat again, grip around Nasch's shoulders tightening. "Because… I suppose I fell in love with more than just this kingdom." His voice was barely audible, but Nasch found his heart beating harder than it had the entire time they were flying as Durbe reached out and touched his face.

There was a moment where Nasch was sure he knew what was going to happen, as Durbe leaned his head closer, eyes half-closed and focused on Nasch's lips. He felt his warm breath, felt a constricting in his chest that was both more unpleasant and more inviting than anything else he had felt that night.

But then Durbe shook his head and pulled away.

"I'm going to take Mach to the royal stables. You… you should get some rest. I'll see you at breakfast, if you'll have me." He pulled himself back on Mach's back and gave Nasch a small smile. "Sleep well, your majesty."

Nasch watched him disappear over the balcony and let out a sigh.

"Since when have you called me your majesty, you idiot?" he murmured, walking back into his bedroom.

His heart was beating too hard for him to be able to go back to sleep tonight.