In the silence of the summer bonsai

Yanlin, knowing how much Yumin is not educated, and even does not recognize the power in the lands where he was forcibly brought, and does not want to bow down to those who killed his people, his family and are now torturing the remnants of the survivors, quickly pushed him in the side, and bowed before his father. Yumin awkwardly repeated the honors he had just seen.

The emperor looked at his son's companion with rage and disgust, and literally hissed:

— Why, out of all possible options, are you messing with dirt?

And at that moment he drew his sword, Yanlin did not even have time to cry out in horror, the thought flashed through his mind that he wanted to chop off his head.

— Father!

And there was a loud sound, Yumin fell to the ground, and now there was a red mark on his cheek, which was left by the hilt of the sword.

The emperor immediately sheathed his sword with a clang and turned around, his son ran after him, torn between his friend and his father. Yumin crouched down, trembling. It wasn't his first time. And it didn't fit in his head, the image of the arrogant nobility, the typical embodiment of Yanlin's father, but why is Yanlin completely different?

The son almost crying said:

— Why? What did he do to you?

— I would kill this abomination on the spot, but I only heard that he succeeded in training, so let him wait for his fight. And don't you dare hang out with him anymore. I was wondering where your interest in swords came from. When you ran to play with him, I turned a blind eye to it, but I won't let you train with a self-taught carrion. The best coach from Shin Province will arrive tomorrow, you will train with him.

Yanlin could not object to his father, but in his heart he wanted to cry and scream. If Yumin is sent to battle for fun, he will die there, and even before a few days before death, they will not be able to see each other.

And he involuntarily began to remember the past.

Since the instigator of the persecution of Yumin was killed on the field in front of everyone, the others were afraid to continue to poison him heavily. However, the guards beat only Yumin with bamboo sticks for the slightest delays and mistakes, justifying this by saying that he breaks the formation with his slowness and lack of accuracy, although he was usually framed by his "comrades".

In summer, the grass was filled with a rich green color, even at seven in the morning the cool dew did not descend, and the rise was always at five, but after morning training there was time to lie on the meadow still in the preserved freshness. In their free time, they played and Yanlin tried to teach Yumin to read and write. They understood each other at the expense of spiritual forces, which translated what was said into an accessible language for the prisoners. Later, being in such a conversational environment, you involuntarily begin to speak a second language, although it is very difficult to master literacy. Yanlin laughed endlessly at Yumin's ugly squiggles, he tried unsuccessfully to learn how to write hieroglyphs, and the pile of sheets that Yanlin took with him were all used up at once. They liked to sit under a tree on a hot summer day after training, and either on a stump or on the grass to write a letter with a brush.

Yanlin suddenly had an idea.

— What do hieroglyphs look like in your language?

— We use letters.

"What's that?" Show me, it seems to me that while you are learning one hieroglyph, I will be able to memorize the entire alphabet in your language.

— If you learn my language and accidentally blurt out something in it, your father will definitely kill you.

"Haha, well, let it be, but I'll be able to swear one last time, and he won't even know.

As a result, Yanlin was right, he had been used to studying many sciences and arts since childhood, and it was not difficult for him to learn a new language.

Later they came up with a secret mail, leaving a note in the Yumin language in the hollow. It is unlikely that someone would have found them, and if they had, they would not have understood anything, or they would have thought that it was an enemy cipher.

One day Yanlin asked how "I love you" would be in their language, later he looked at how it was written. And the next day I laughed at Yumin, who read the note:

"I love you."