Choi Han

Choi Han couldn't have foreseen this sight when he entered Cale's room.

"What are you doing?" Cale, in a mini version of his black Commander uniform, asked, his usual stoic expression quite strange on his childlike face. His small hands held the numerous papers Choi Han had been sent to retrieve and deliver to the capital, but Cale didn't quite manage to straighten the papers out while holding them out. "Come and take the documents already."

Choi Han blinked. "Cale.. -nim?" he uttered, absolutely floored.

"Take the documents," the red-haired child ordered in the familiar cold, no-nonsense tone that everyone who interacted with the Commander was quite used to.

Automatically, Choi Han found his body mechanically taking the documents and storing them safety away in his spatial pocket bag.

Cale sent him a look that could be identified as mildly confused if someone looked closely enough. "You can deliver them now." The dismissal was quite clear.

Choi Han couldn't move, however. "But, Cale-nim.."

"What is it?" the other sighed, frowning. "Does the prince need something?"

"No, but, Cale-nim, you look very.." Choi Han gestured to the red-haired child, looking scarily young like Lily Henituse. But instead of being energetic like his sister, he slouched in the gigantic seat that was way too big for a child like him. The sword master could even identify a lot of pillows Cale sat on. "Young?"

"It's temporary," Cale said, shrugging with one shoulder. The words were said nonchalant, even calm. Choi Han still frowned lightly and before he could comment on it, the child added, "And it isn't harmful. I'm fine."

Choi Han frowned harder. "How did this happen?" he asked lowly, a hot feeling rushing through his body.

"Doesn't matter," the redhead viciously shot down.

Looking pale and so young, the sword master found himself taking a step back from such a cold tone that was spoken by a child. It was, at the same time, a quite familiar feeling; the feel of Cale, normally the weakest of them, suddenly feeling as big as a mountain, as threatening as nature itself.

Choi Han didn't want to back down, but he did. "Alright," he sighed, resolutely ignoring the goosebumps that had broken over his skin and turned around to go to the capital. "I'll be back, Cale-nim."

"Don't be hurt and come back," Cale responded indifferently back.

Choi Han smiled. Typical.

"Of course."

It didn't even take Choi Han half a day to complete his tasks and let the situation of the day sink in. So, he found himself standing before the disgruntled Cale, who sat on his bed with a child version of a sleepwear.

"Choi Han, you're back!" Raon exclaimed happily. The Black Dragon was precautionary perching on the red-haired child's shoulder. "Look what I did! I made the weak human into a child! Now he's the youngest one!"

The sword master nodded, patiently observing the annoyed furrow of Cale's brow. "Amazing," he praised. And it was amazing, but Cale, who was a central figure in the happenings right now, couldn't be seen like that by their enemies. The adult Cale had been weak, but his child body should be even weaker. Choi Han sat down next to Cale, trying and failing not to notice that the bed noticeably dipped more with his weight on it than Cale's. Clearing his suddenly parched throat, he asked gently, "Do you know how to turn Cale-nim back?"

"Goldie said it should take some time," the Dragon said with sparkling eyes. Cale's eyes, in comparison, looked deadpan as if the whole situation was a lost cause. Raon crawled into the redhead's arms, snugly fitting into his crossed arms even though they were more smaller than before. Cale didn't even seem to notice as he adjusted his position accordingly. "It's alright! The crown prince gave the human some free days before I did it!"

He blinked. Choi Han had heard from prince Alberu that Cale had been given a vacation, but surely, the prince hadn't foreseen this development..?

"They planned it," Cale dully answered the silent question.

"Ah." There was a faint hint of betrayal that rushed through him, realizing that he was held in the dark because of his atrocious acting skills, before it faded away with one look at Cale's pale sheen.

Raon snickered. "Exactly! Great and mighty me also planned it!"

Choi Han gasped in understanding. What a clever move. That way, the red-haired Commander couldn't cause any chaos anymore, loot some people or work. It ensured that their friend would have to keep a low profile. Prince Alberu was truly devious to get Cale to stay still.

"Choi Han–"

"Let's relax together, Cale-nim," the sword master gently recommended while ignoring the heavy frown of Cale. Raon cheered quietly from his perch, making his smile even brighter. "Shouldn't we use this opportunity?"

Cale sighed. "Get out of my room."

The next morning, Choi Han immediately walked to Cale's room to wake him. Beacrox and Ron were still in the Eastern Continent because of their task, so it was his job now to wake up the now even younger master.

"Cale-nim?" Choi Han knocked softly on the door, eliciting a quiet, "Enter," from within. Pushing the door open, he met the half-open, reddish-brown eyes of his friend. "Are you still sleepy, Cale-nim?"

"No." But quite contrary what Cale calmly said, he looked as if he was ready to go to sleep again with ruffled clothes and messy hair.

Choi Han gulped his urge to coo down. "I see," he commented, smiling, and gently laid his hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Will you need help to get dressed?"

Cale's stoic expression couldn't be even more stoic with how much his mouth turned downward. "No," the redhead repeated curtly, shying away from the gentle touch like an angry cat.

"It had been a battle yesterday, though!" Raon tattled cheerfully, sprawling leisurely on Cale's small legs. Choi Han felt warm at the six-year old child's happiness, as the redhead in question still rubbed his round head tenderly while still leaning away from his hand as if it burned. "The human almost fell down! It was so funny! He–"

A pale hand shut the Black Dragon's mouth hurriedly. Cale's frigid stare right now could have made even the White Thing gulp nervously. Instead, Choi Han couldn't have smiled any wider while meeting this stare head-on.

"Get out, Choi Han."

Choi Han sat down on the bed. "Yes, Sir!"

Eruhaben

"Change me back."

Eruhaben sighed, exasperated. Normally, the Gold Dragon would have said something along the lines of, "Serves you right, you unlucky bastard," or "You get what you deserve, unlucky bastard," but instead, he found himself just slightly endeared by the big reddish-brown eyes that stared at him quite piercingly.

It was absolutely adorable.

Who would have thought that Cale Henituse, with his serious expression and cold eyes, would make his child form look so adorable? Eruhaben couldn't take him seriously. At all. It was quite a fight not to stare at the child, because the military uniform made the faint blush on his ears stand out even more than before.

"Stop staring and change me back, Eruhaben-nim," Cale ordered sternly, but it fell flat when the child hid his chin in Hong's fur because of embarrassment—not that the person in question would ever admit that. Only the tips of his ears were faintly red with a blush, but Eruhaben zeroed on it with hyper focus. "Eruhaben-nim, change me back."

The ancient Dragon tried to rearrange his expression, but seeing as the human's face slightly twisted, he figured that he was only partly successful. "I.." Eruhaben faked a cough, willing his face into careful neutrality. "I can't.. undo the kid's magic. My attribute doesn't allow me to tinker with time."

"That's because our youngest is great and mighty!" Hong praised proudly, straightening into the sky to Raon in the redhead's arms.

"I, Raon Miru, am great and mighty!"

On, who was laying on Cale's neck like a shawl, lightly commented, "Raon isn't the youngest now anymore."

The two children gasped dramatically, eyes swinging rapidly to the scowling and de-aged form of Cale Henituse. Eruhaben sneakily hid his smile at Cale's openly annoyed expression. "You unlucky bastard," he teased playfully.

Cale's expression went odd for a second, before smoothing into a blank face. "Eruhaben-nim, only my body changed, not my brain," the human flatly pointed out.

"Aren't you physically the youngest now?" the Gold Dragon pointed back, not hiding his amused smile this time. The red-haired Commander visibly sighed in exasperation. Now smirking, Eruhaben added slyly, "You should call your children 'hyung' or 'noona', don't you think so?"

Raon nodded, happily fluttering his wings. "That's right!"

"Call me hyung-nim!"

"Absolutely not." Cale instantly and mercilessly shot the suggestion down but didn't deny that the one Dragon and two Cats were his children.

The two Cat children groaned. "Aww man!"

"Why, human?"

"Because I'm still your guardian," Cale answered flatly, reddish-brown eyes hiding a turmoil that Eruhaben was curious to decipher, but unable to identify. Even in a different form, the redhead seemed to be burdened with something the Gold Dragon couldn't fathom. Still, it was at the same time relieving to see that Cale Henituse wouldn't change, because the de-aged human dryly announced, "Because I don't want to."

All three children went silent.

Eruhaben silently shook his head.

There Cale Henituse went again, saying things like that without even knowing the impact he had on the receiving party. Sometimes, the ancient Dragon thought that the redhead did it on purpose, but the confusion he exhibited was always there and seemed genuine. Even saying such things in his child form didn't lessen the impact; instead, it maybe amplified it as well.

That's why Eruhaben couldn't help but hold on.

"Crazy," he sighed with a smile and gestured the redhead to come nearer.

Cale, with his three children surrounding him and being a child himself right now, approached the Gold Dragon without hesitation. Four pairs of big eyes looked up at him. "What is it?" Hong asked for all of them.

"The flowers are good this season," Eruhaben lightly remarked. His heart thudded in what he assumed could be named contentment. "So, let's make some gifts."

Raon's blue eyes started to go big. "What kind of gifts? Apple pie?"

"No, it's a self-made gift," the Dragon corrected softly and gently ripped two flowers out of the grass. "I'll teach you how to make a flower crown." Eruhaben deftly linked the two flower stems together, skillfully avoiding touching the fragile petals. The three children gave awed shouts. "It's quite simple," he coaxed calmly with his eyes fixed on reddish-brown ones. Cale's expression looked the same as always. "And the weather is perfect."

The sun was shining down onto their picnic blanket, making some boxes that were previously filled with food reflect the light off. A soft breeze was coming through the north and ruffled the leaves of the tree he was leaning on.

"Don't you think so, Cale?" Eruhaben asked rhetorically and held the two flowers up for Raon to inspect. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth up when the young Dragon tried to untangle the stems without destroying them. Gently, the Gold Dragon gestured with his free hand to his lap. "Come here."

Predictably, the gesture was misunderstood. Cale blinked and then promptly said, "On, Hong, Raon." The three children snapped to attention, eyes instantly finding their guardian instead of the two flowers. The redhead tilted his head to him. "Join Eruhaben-nim."

The two Cats plus one Dragon nodded simultaneously and scurried over from their human onto his lap. "I'll be the first one to complete a crown!" Raon proclaimed proudly and not so subtly peeked at the red-haired Commander. "So I can gift it to some people..!"

"Yes, yes," Cale confirmed patiently. His face was as cold as ever, though. "Do your best, Raon, On, Hong, Eruhaben-nim."

"..Naturally," Eruhaben responded, iffy that his gesture was being misunderstood, but unable to do anything as the redhead had already turned away to sit in the sun. A sigh left his lips as well as a bitter mutter, "Maybe I should have just said it instead of being vague.."

A lot of lopsided flower crowns and hair braids with flowers later, and Eruhaben found himself the victim of another stare. This time, however, the penetrator didn't seem to wish for him to cut the bullshit and spit out a solution.

"What do you wish to say?" Eruhaben asked dryly, finally at what seemed to be hours with that stare on him that didn't let up even for a second. The three children were sleeping on the grass, all in various poses of sleep with more than a dozen flower crowns scattered. He absentmindedly brushed a loose flower out of his braided hair. "Mm, Cale?"

Cale's expression hardly changed, though some could say he looked a little more softer with more than five flower crowns on his head, all clumsily knotted together. The Dragon wasn't sure, but the red-haired child seemed a bit more.. freer than before. Less burdened, perhaps, after being showered with affection from three children. "Eruhaben-nim."

"What?" he rudely answered, looking away from the child for picking out some more flowers out of his hair that were stubbornly clinging on.

"Thank you."

Eruhaben nodded, automatically responding whatever without his mind registering the other's words properly, "Of course, you unlucky bastard."

"I'll go back first," Cale announced nonchalantly back and then walked away without even waiting for the Dragon to respond.

The ancient Dragon nodded again. This time, his tired mind from managing three children at once started to process the vague words from before. "Sure, sure, whatever, thank.. you..?"

Eruhaben abruptly sprang up from his position, scattering flower crowns and petals everywhere.

Alberu

"Looks good."

Cale's face didn't change where he was held up by the crown prince. The flower crowns looked lovely though and made the redhead's admittedly cold expression a little less strong and more approachable. Alberu could even find himself preferring this version of Cale Henituse than the adult one with the sharp face. Still, there were some things that couldn't be helped, he lamented as the child opened his mouth, "Thank you, Your Highness, but it's nothing compared to your radiance which shines down upon us lowly citizens of the Roan Kingdom–"

Nothing could be done about that dry tone and sarcastic words.

"Enough," he commanded sternly, shutting the temporary child's buttering up, up. Sighing, the prince shook the red-haired Commander a little where he dangled. Cale didn't seem to mind much, or maybe it was just hard to tell because of the frankly distracting number of flowers. Frowning, Alberu questioned the other, "Why are you roaming around unsupervised, dongsaeng?"

"..Your Highness, I'm not a child," the de-aged human dryly pointed out.

Alberu sighed again, carefully tucking Cale into his arms instead of holding him up into the air. With one of his hands free now, he brushed the redhead's flower laden hair to the side, making a lot of petals fall onto the ground. "Cale," the prince began stiffly, not stopping an inch in his quest to get as many loose or braided flowers out as possible, "I don't know how to say this differently, but you are a child right now."

"It's your fault, Sir," Cale accused back in an even drier voice, hands holding onto his shirt. Alberu couldn't see his face because of their positions, but the quarter Dark Elf could clearly visualize the flat expression the Commander was making. And then, as if to mock him, the child added in a childlike and sweet voice, "Please take responsibility, hyung-nim."

"Shameless bastard," the prince grounded out between clenched teeth. Choi Han told him that Cale as a child was lovely and cute, but Alberu just didn't see that so-called cuteness his instructor spoke about. What "angel in devil's clothes"? This was just pure evil like usual! "Asking a busy person like me to take care of a brat like you?" he sniffed disdainfully with a smile unseen and thus failed to notice that the child in his arms had stiffened up. "How utterly.."

Alberu trailed off. The hands that were holding onto his shirt were clenching so hard that his skin prickled a bit from pain and the previously relaxed frame in his arms was as stiff as a doll. He couldn't identify an expression, but the body in his arms was so ramrod straight that the quarter Dark Elf had to be blind, deaf and a bastard not to notice the obvious distress the other was in.

"D-Dongsaeng?" the prince stuttered, helplessly curling his arms around his sworn brother's tensed shoulders. And as if further strengthening his concern, Alberu noted how Cale faintly cringed away from his touch. He hastily loosened his arms. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the child replied blandly, voice steady and stoic like always, but his body wasn't relaxing even a little bit. There probably wasn't even an expression on his face, like always, just to underline how much of "nothing" could be "definitely in trouble". Cale being cold was normal, but everybody and their mothers knew that Cale Henituse had an unexpectedly emotional and vulnerable side, too. Alberu was barely able to suppress a sneer as the redhead started to lie emotionlessly, "I just remembered that I had to give Miss Rosalyn more magic stones, Your Highness."

"You're so full of bullshit," he swore, arms tightening around the human in his arms so that he couldn't even think of escape. And maybe he shouldn't have bothered to make the redhead in his arms his prisoner, because the other didn't even attempt to escape his clutches. Smart of him. "So?" Alberu prompted patiently, but not less demanding. The Commander in his arms stayed motionless and silent, however. The prince could almost feel the headache incoming that would definitively knock on his door. It was almost like dealing with a genuine child, except way less cute. He plopped down on a couch and coldly ordered, "The truth now."

Instead of following his order, of course, Cale stood stubbornly to his guns even though it was obviously futile now. "Your Highness, in my right spatial pocket bag is a spatial pocket bag that you should give Miss Rosalyn as soon as possible–"

"Kim Rok Soo, Cale Henituse," the prince interrupted icily.

"Yes, Sir." Expectedly, the Commander wasn't fazed at all by the use of his past name or his current name.

Alberu scoffed loudly, not caring when the motion made the de-aged human in his arm twitch. With as much sincerity and honesty he cared to offer, he confessed, "You're driving me nuts, you crazy bastard."

Cale didn't even wait a second to respond to his sincere frustration. "Why, thank you, Your Highness."

Alberu sighed.

Unfortunately, he really was an extremely busy person that couldn't spend the night at their insufferable sworn brother's house to try to get them to talk, so the prince had to give up. However, there were a lot of people who could do it in his stead. The quarter Dark Elf handed a confused Rosalyn a spatial pocket bag full of magic stones and a dozing Cale Henituse who didn't even blink before limply laying his head on her shoulder.

"Your problem now," he announced shamelessly to the future Magic Tower Master and then turned to the dozing form of Cale without waiting for a reply. Smiling gently, he threatened softly, "And you, don't think this is over. I'll tattle to everyone, dongsaeng."

Rosalyn shot him a look. "Are you impersonating Raon, Your Highness?"

Alberu nodded while steadfastly maintaining eye contact with the de-aged Commander. Cale sleepily blinked back, not saying a word, but his eyes practically screamed "do whatever you want" like always. "Yes, I'm impersonating Raon Miru," the prince agreed simply. And then shot the dozing redhead an obviously fake smile which made the other noticeably shudder. "However, if it's this act that will get this person to take care of himself, then I'll try my chances."

He met Rosalyn's red eyes, trying to convey the sheer disbelief he felt while trying to get the other to cough up what happened to make his whole form tense in distress. From the brief nod he received, Rosalyn probably got the gist of the situation; Cale being an idiot again and somebody having to look after him. His sworn brother always brought headaches with him, but this was the first time Alberu ever experienced a mix between annoyed exasperation and reluctant fondness at the same time. And it hadn't helped that the redhead had the audacity to start to fall asleep in his arms! Truthfully, it had been extremely adorable to see how much trust Cale had in him, but these feelings instantly soured every time he remembered why the child had started to nod off.

"Get to the bottom of this," he ordered to Rosalyn and left with one last look at these reddish-brown eyes.

Rosalyn

Cale was sleeping.

No, it was more correct to say that the young master was dozing, because the book in his hands would be picked up over and over again just to lay discarded for a few minutes. Big reddish-brown eyes would gaze into the distance with a speculative gaze, not focusing on anything outside, and then blink as if awakening from a dream. Without fail, the page of the book would be flipped, and the circle started again.

Rosalyn heard from the others that Cale in his child form was a lot more adorable than expected, but the sight that greeted her when she entered the room went over all of her expectations.

Everywhere, not an inch left untouched, the de-aged human's red hair was laden with a colorful assortment of flowers braided into his hair, carefully tucked into every space available. In addition, an uncountable number of flower crowns rested on top of the child's hair, sometimes woven into the braids in his hair to stand secure, but most of the crowns were instead braided into each other which made the flower crowns look more than a very elaborate hat than a lot of crowns woven together.

And resting peacefully in the crown prince's arms, an expression of pure tranquility on Cale's face, and carefully tucked away to rest undisturbed, Rosalyn had to make a double take to understand the situation she had interrupted. Did it even count as "interrupted" when Alberu himself called her over via video communication orb?

Still, Rosalyn had felt weirdly iffy accepting the dozing Cale into her arms, flowers and all, just to see the prince leave with a strangely pitiful gaze. It almost felt like betrayal.

"Miss Rosalyn." The Archmage flinched, meeting the eyes of her friend. Cale's eyebrows were arched and there was a hint of amusement in his expression. Faintly, she realized that she had been staring quite intensely at the other. As if reading this thought on her face, the other commented bluntly, "You're staring."

"Ah." She made a sound of acknowledgement. Rosalyn bet her face was faintly tinged with red. Getting caught staring by the other felt quite similar to getting a lecture from her parents because of her negligence to her now past duties. "My apologies, young master Cale."

Cale shrugged nonchalantly in his way too big rocking chair. "I don't mind."

But contrary to what he said, his attention didn't drift back onto the book in his lap but stayed on her with an acquisitive gaze. It felt like her friend was dissecting her being with only his eyes—which, thinking about it further, could be possible with this strange ability of his that made the young master's eyes look extremely cold. However, the orbs that observed her were as calm as ever, not a single hint of unnatural coldness or forbid, haziness, to see.

Just before she wanted to open her mouth and inquire, Cale beat her into it, "Miss Rosalyn," the de-aged human began lackadaisical, "do you believe my current ancient powers retain the same strength as in my normal form?"

Rosalyn blinked, floored. A hundred theories flew into her brain and out in the time it took her to reply. What if, just because the mass of his body changed, his powers were also reduced in might? Did that mean the power of nature was influenced by mass? Or was it only a matter of brain? Technically, the brain of Cale now could be seen as "undeveloped" so would this influence it? What about his plate? He couldn't assert his power for long, as it strained his plate, but that didn't mean it was impossible to assert full power. Did his plate shrink? It was possible, but quite unlikely because a plate was connected to the soul and even the White Thing as a child could probably use his full ancient powers because of his damn big plate–

"Miss Rosalyn," the young master prompted.

She took a few more seconds to organize her messy thoughts. "I think that is the case, young master Cale."

"I see," he replied coolly. An odd expression was on his face, the meaning and reason for that which eluded her. Though, it swiftly shifted into his trait mark expression. "I also believe that."

An ominous premonition befell her. Earlier, once prince Alberu had handed Cale over to her, he had looked quite.. troubled. No, rather, he had appeared frustrated by Cale. Obviously, something had happened, and the prince gave her the approval to find out the bottom of it. However, Rosalyn had garnered that the issue would be more politics related, because this was the field the prince managed for them most of the time. The de-aged Cale shouldn't be seen by more people than their group and thus shouldn't be left alone. That was what she thought the major issue was with the prince—Cale being stubborn.

Now, this expectation was being violently forced out of her. It sounded like a problem that should be addressed as quickly as possible. There were too many variables. The possibility of Cale's de-aged body being unstable, the overpowered ancient powers, his big but glass-like plate and his frankly worrying lack of concern about his own wellbeing. Like always.

However, the fact that Cale had brought this topic on himself showed something else, too. Maybe it wasn't as serious as she theorized. Maybe Cale already had a plan. Maybe it was generally about his ancient powers and not about their effect on his de-aged body? It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the de-aged Commander already thought of a way to solve this and was prepared to ask for her help. Because this was the way it normally went. At the same time, they honestly shouldn't take any chances because the White Thing was still on the loose–

Ack.

"..Why do you ask, young master Cale?" she choose to ask instead of theorizing wildly about the absolute enigma he and his thought process sometimes was. Normally, both of them were very much in sync, but she couldn't find out the reason this time. There was no way to find the reason out except directly asking the person in question.

"My shield is smaller," the small de-aged human informed solemnly, almost sounding like confessing a grave issue with the amount of frown on that childlike face. "It's annoying."

Ah. So, Cale was worried about the possibility that he couldn't protect other people anymore because of the shield's small size. Rosalyn breathed out a sigh in relief, lightly shaking her head in exasperation. The young master was without a doubt a genuinely selfless person who even thought about his people inside of his forced vacation.

Still, a smile lifted the corners of her lips without a conscious thought. "You don't have to worry," the Archmage assured confidently and channeled all of her determination into her next words. "Your form is only temporary, after all. And we'll protect you, young master Cale."

"That's.." The red-haired child sighed loudly, apparently unable to reply immediately. A few seconds later, Cale locked eyes with her again and replied in a strange warm tone, "I'd appreciate that."

Rosalyn felt her heart soar in happiness.