Sage crawled to the bathroom door. He peeked at the plant still sitting on the wooden bedroom floor. His room was as still as the paintings on his walls. Nothing moved, especially the plant. He said he was going to sleep. Does this mean he only sleeps in plant form?
Sage tucked legs underneath him and sat on the floor for almost an hour. He had lost all concept of time when he was stuck in his own deep thoughts. That plant is Taro. His body shuddered while he struggled to make that connection, despite seeing Taro change with his own eyes.
Sage stayed in the doorway of his bathroom long after he lost feeling in his legs. He stared at the plant until his eyes closed uncontrollably. His stomach still felt delicate. Sage didn't want to be sick anywhere other than his toilet because he didn't want to ask someone else to clean it, and he certainly wouldn't clean it himself.
His head kept drooping and the sharp twang in his neck jumped him awake each time. When moonlight streamed into his bedroom, Sage rubbed his eyes that darted to the plant, but it was no longer in the middle of the room. He froze until he spotted it on his bedside table. The vines hung down over the wooden drawers, almost touching the floor.
Silently, Sage struggled to his feet. His bones ached and the feeling of thousands of pins burdened the souls of his feet as he hobbled to his bed. His eyes never left the plant, not even after he slid off his shoes and buried himself under the duvet without changing into his nightwear.
He stared until he was too exhausted to stay awake, but he didn't sleep for long. He woke again at dawn. Birds chirped by his window and the sky was a dark blue, only just hiding the stars.
Sage rubbed his eyes and buried himself further into the warmth. He fell asleep in jeans and the restriction of movement pulled uncomfortably when he tried to curl into a ball.
He took his blissful empty head for granted. Taro Vinea corrupted his thoughts before he was awake for even a minute. He turned to see the plant in its purple pot still on the bedside table. Has it been there all night? Sage had allowed his Valet to sleep in his room. He had allowed it the day he convinced his gardener to let him nurse it back to health.
He leapt out of bed and paced, wearing yesterday's clothes. A further five minutes passed before he returned to his bed, sitting next to the bedside table. Sage glared at the plant, expecting it to move now that he was close, but it didn't.
Sage hadn't watered it and before thinking, he stuck a finger into the soil to see if it was damp. Then he wondered if Taro would feel that, and yanked it out, whispering an apology. Sage sighed and shook his head. "I'm saying sorry to a plant."
As if the plant had heard him, the vine closest to Sage's knee wobbled. The leaves opened and closed gently. That's not just a plant, that's Taro Vinea. Sage moved away, anxiously tugging at his shirt. "I-I'm getting a bath and then..." I'm talking to a plant. "And then I'll um... I'll get you some water?"
Sage didn't know what to expect, but he expected a response. Instead, the Devil's Ivy plant sat motionless in its pot, like all plants did.
After his bath, and changing into fresh blue jeans and a brown knitted jumper, Sage left the room to get water from the kitchen. He saw only bodyguards on his journey through the cold castle. Thankfully, the bodyguards only curtly nodded and whispered that the Silver Vine was moving downstairs.
They made no attempt to talk to the Prince. Sage would have been lost for words if they did. All he could think about was Taro, and the plant, and how Taro was the plant.
Sage expected his Valet to have transformed back when he returned to his bedroom, but the plant was where he had left it, for once.
Sage built the courage to water it. The soil had been dry when he touched it, and despite how strange the situation was, Sage couldn't let the plant deteriorate.
The soil soaked up litres of water. Sage wondered about all the times he had thought the plant was too weird for his liking. He knew Mrs Beecham was keeping secrets, he knew the plant wasn't ordinary. Sage had thought it was some sort of illegal plant used for illegal things. He would never have thought it was actually a plant-human thing.
Sage swallowed thickly and opened his bedroom window. The bitter country air helped to keep his shaking hands at ease.
As he stuck his head from the window and focused on a tree in the distance, swaying back and forth in the wind, something moved behind him. Sage turned fast enough to see Taro's eyes and veins glowing bright green.
He gasped, and Taro held hands up. "Don't you dare fall out of that window."
Sage sat on the couch below the windowsill when his hairs stood on end. Taro was wearing his purple jumper. It matched the same colour as the pot, and it suddenly made sense as to why Sage had only seen Taro in that jumper when he wasn't in his uniform. "That's why you keep your uniform in my room," he whispered, wondering why Taro still wore his work trousers. Maybe they didn't matter. Why wouldn't it matter?
Taro looked down at his jumper. "Yeah." He smoothed back blond hair and strode through the room to change his clothes. "Thanks for giving me water. I didn't dare change in the night in case I woke you up."
Sage hadn't slept a lot, though he was surprised he managed to sleep at all. "Have you always been..."
"Able to change into a plant?" Taro finished. "Yes. I've never just been a human."
"Is there anyone else like you in the, um, the Palace?"
"Of course. You live in Pothos Palace. Your house symbol is Devil's Ivy. Where the Royals go, we go."
Sage frowned, settling into the couch cushion. "Why?"
"Because that's the way it has been for centuries. We made an agreement with the wealthy, and you provide us with stability. Well, that's how it used to be. Now our lives are an old myth. People think its romantic that there is a tale about plant protectors watching over the Greenthenors."
"Wait, plant protectors?" Sage repeated.
"Yeah, but we're not really your protectors anymore. How could we be if you don't know we exist? If you don't know we exist, then you don't know about the deal we made centuries ago. If you don't keep up your end of the bargain, then we don't keep up ours... or so I'm told."
"You- your kind made an agreement with the Royals?"
"I'm told it was a dark time for Ireland when the Vikings arrived, those in power were desperate for a bit of extra protection." Taro smiled. "We are very skilled fighters, and have ways of hiding in obvious places, like the outer walls of your grand Palace."
"That was like... a lot of years ago."
"Yeah, an agreement that old must have meant a great deal to still be thought about today."
Even Sage could admit that he had been told tales of protectors, though he had not been told a fairy-tale for years. They were tales for children, and not just Royal children. "You're my protector?"
Taro's eyes smiled to match his mouth. They flicked Sage up and down with a growing shine. "Let me remind you of how I punched that guy in the face."
"Anyone would have done that to an intruder." Sage frowned. "I hope."
"Maybe, but there is also a tale among our kind that magic was involved. We always end up close to the Royals in some way or another. Some call it a coincidence, most of us call it something more." Taro crossed his arms. "So, I'm not saying that you can't fire me, I'm just saying it's not in your best interests, no matter how annoying I am."
"It's not that you're annoying, it's that you're a plant."
"I'm not right now."
"No, but you can turn into one."
"And that's a problem how, exactly?"
Sage opened his mouth, yet had nothing to say. The only problem was that his transformation was bizarre, weird, even freaky. But Sage was yet to find a problem with Taro being that way. "It's just not normal," he said without an ounce of thought.
"And what is normal, exactly?" Taro raised a brow. The growing shine to his bright green eyes started to dim.
"In my world, this isn't my normal. But-" Sage shook his head. "Obviously my world is very small. If what you've said is true, which wouldn't be a lie. Why would it? I've seen you transform with my own eyes. You must be our protectors because of a strange ancient and magical agreement. Why wouldn't you be? You're a plant. Nothing is now impossible." Sage had grabbed the edge of the couch cushion and squeezed it hard. "Are trees people? What about flowers? Blades of grass? Moss? Anything green? What about spinach?" Sage suddenly looked horrified. "I've eaten lots of spinach. Have I been eating plant people this whole time?"
"No Sage, Spinach is not a plant person, but Lettuce on the other hand..." Sage's eyes bulged, and Taro snorted. "I'm joking. Trust me, if we were plants you ate, we would have died out long ago."
Sage stopped gripping the couch. "Is there only Devil's Ivy plants who can, uh, change?"
"My species can, yeah. But there are others all around this world. Not every plant you see can change. Long ago, there are stories of thousands of different species, but the planet has changed, some have died out and some have adapted and merged. There are tales of trees once transforming. They are your tales of giants."
Sage was slowly relaxing. Taro's soft storytelling voice was soothing him back to a calm state. Sage wanted to hear more, despite his head screaming at him to run and deny everything Taro was telling him. Sage knew he needed time to process the rooted secret he had dug up. But the roots were deep, strong, and tightly tangled.