All characters, places, and events are fictional and belong to the author.
Disclaimer: The following may contain explicit events between consenting adult males. If you are not of age or it is illegal for you to read this, please leave now.
Chapter Four:
Trey was awakened very differently that he was accustomed to. He heard a soft knocking coming from somewhere not far away and was immediately confused. The light shining through his eyelids tipped him off that it was much later than his normal dawn time wakeup call, complete with much yelling, shouting, and prodding from the Cubrecht guards. Where were they?
Finally, he opened his eyes, disoriented at the sight of the soft fabric canopy above his head. And the damn knocking was still there. Sitting up, he looked around the room and it suddenly came back to him. Aeleon standing over him when he woke up in the infirmary, Elios and Aidnae, Cynthia freeing him from his slave jewelry, and Cercae's unabashed stare as he got out of the bathtub. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified. So far, everyone had been very nice to him. Treated him like he was a real person and not a slave; but at the same time, it was so completely alien to anything he had ever known before.
"Trey?" he faintly heard, "Come on Trey. I've got fresh clothes for you. We need to get breakfast and then get to the council meeting."
"What?" Trey asked, blearily. Stumbling slightly, he managed to get up out of bed and pulled on yesterday's pants. He shuffled over to the door and opened it a crack. On the other side was Aeleon, a small stack of folded cloth in his arms and an annoyingly cheerful smile on his face. It made Trey scowl.
Giggling at the look on Trey's face, Aeleon shoved the clothes into his arms and said, "Here. Now hurry up. The leaders of my country want to know what's happened to yours."
"Fine," Trey groused, grumbling about silver-eyed, blue haired nuisances that couldn't let him sleep in his first morning as a free man.
By the time Trey had cleaned up and changed clothes, he was in a much better mood. It didn't hurt that he was constantly reminding himself not to take his freedom for granted. Not to mention his fate was still unsure. The council could very well decide that they did not want the possible risk of keeping him here and chuck him back to the Cubrecht, despite what Elios had said. Needless to say, Trey was more than a little bit nervous to stand in front of these men and women and tell them things that they might not want to hear.
"Ready?" Aeleon asked him when he walked through the connecting door and into Aeleon's room.
"Yes," Trey replied, although he really wasn't sure that he was.
"We'll go get some breakfast with Elios and Aidnae first and then the four of us will go to the council meeting."
"Alright," Trey said, following Aeleon from the room.
Aeleon noticed that Trey seemed to be preoccupied. Yesterday the two of them had talked almost nonstop from the time Trey regained consciousness until they both went to bed. Now the man had clammed up, only speaking when asked a question and then only spitting out one or two words answers. Studying his friend, Aeleon saw that Trey looked like he was about to throw up.
"Are you ok?" he finally asked.
"Fine," the Zelzian said.
"Oh, come on. You aren't fine. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just drop it," Trey insisted, very tempted to just run away and make a life for himself in this place that did not involve going to see the council or working for the Cubrecht..
"Alright," Aeleon acquiesced.
The rest of the journey to Elios and Aidnae's apartment was made in silence. It was obvious that Trey did not want to talk right now and Aeleon wouldn't force him. Aeleon couldn't see why the man was so uptight. Trey was walking stiffly and he looked ready to punch anyone if they touched him. Shaking his head, Aeleon reached out and put a comforting hand on the other man's shoulder. Trey flinched, then looked down and smiled wanly at him.
"I'm ok. I'm just nervous about speaking to your council. I am afraid of what they will think of me," Trey told him, eyes averted to the floor.
"Hey," Aeleon cooed, "You'll be fine. You have no need to be nervous."
Trey only nodded half heartedly, obviously not relying too much on Aeleon's offered words of comfort. It wasn't his life in the balance. Trey would believe what Aeleon said when it happened. Until then he would worry and fret and stew, mope and drudge and brood.
Finally, they reached Elios and Aidnae's chambers and Aeleon knocked on the door. Not hearing an answer, he slowly pushed the door open. Sometimes his fathers got distracted looking over things for Oelea and wouldn't hear someone knocking. The two wandered into the front room, not seeing either Elios or Aidnae around.
"Hello?" Aeleon called out, venturing further into the apartment. Eventually, Aeleon found them in the kitchen, in a very interesting position. Raising his eyebrow, Aeleon chuckled at his insatiable parents. Even after all these years, the two were still so in love with each other. Elios had Aidnae pressed back against the cabinets of their kitchen, his tongue thoroughly plundering his spouse's mouth and a frying pan forgotten on the stove.
"I believe breakfast is burning," Aeleon said blandly, his fathers looking very much like naughty little boys who had been caught doing something they shouldn't have been. Elios said nothing. He simply pulled his mate closer to him and grinned. It was a shock when Trey rushed in and pulled the two apart.
"You can't be caught like that!" he exclaimed, wide eyed and looking extremely worried. The mood turned suddenly very serious.
Aidnae removed himself from Elios' arms and asked, "Do you have a problem with this?"
"You are good men. I don't want you to be hurt," Trey replied.
"What do you mean? Why would we be hurt over showing affection to our mate?" Elios asked, confused.
"It is not illegal here for two people of the same sex to marry?" Trey asked, sounding very skeptical and unsure, "Your rulers do not have a problem with it?"
"No," Aidnae said, smiling deviously, "In fact, the king and queen are both men."
"Really?" Trey asked, flabbergasted.
"Yes. You'll meet them at the council meeting today," Elios said, deciding to help with Aidnae's joke.
"Oh," Trey said, his nervousness compounding even further at the prospect of meeting the king and queen of Oelea.
"Well, let's sit down for some breakfast," Aeleon suggested, not sure what his fathers were doing. Was it really kind to play such a trick of poor Trey? What would happen when the young Zelzian realized that the two men he had been conferring with were the king and queen and the boy he had been hanging out with the crown prince?
The four of them sat down at the kitchen table. Elios had managed to save the contents of the frying pan from being too far done and dished it out onto plates. Once again, Trey couldn't help but notice how far removed he was from his life on Zelzior only a few hours ago. Here he was sitting down to a meal with friends. No one was fighting over the food, they had plenty of time to eat it, the meal was well prepared, and he even had a glass of juice to wash it down with. In some ways it was very surreal for him.
"So, how do you all know each other?" Trey asked, wondering at the connection between the two older Oelean men and Aeleon.
"We're family," Aeleon said, looking at his parents.
"Oh? What's the relation?" Trey questioned, seeing a resemblance to both men in Aeleon's features.
"We're his fathers," Aidnae told him.
"Which one of you is his sire?"
"We both are," Elios informed him.
Trey stared at them for a moment, disbelief clearly on his face, before he asked, "How is that possible?"
"Have you ever heard of a blank egg?" Aidnae asked.
"No."
"Well, a blank egg is a manufactured egg, identical to that of our females except that it is missing genetic information. That way if two people of the same sex decide to have a child, there is no need to pick who will be the biological father or mother. Both partners can contribute genetic information and they do not need to find a donor egg with the possible complication that the donor will eventually want to see the future child and fight for custody. Women partners do it much the same way, except the genetic material is stripped from one of their eggs and inserted into a blank sperm. Then the other partner is fertilized."
"Wow," Trey said, a little amazed. He had never considered that two men could actually biologically be the father of one child, "Where is the child carried? Obviously for women, this is not an issue because they have a uterus. But what do male, same sex partners do?"
"Once again, science has found a solution to that," Aidnae continued, "There is a pouch that the fertilized egg is put into. It has the same internal conditions as a natural uterus from one of our women. It also has the interesting feature of being able to attach to a person along the stomach. A man can choose whether or not he wishes to literally carry the baby until it is born. Some couples don't. They leave the pouch off for the entire gestation period. Other partners pick one spouse to carry the baby for the entire term. We took turns. Elios would carry it for a week or two, then we'd switch and I would carry it the next week or two. It has also really helped in situations with females who would have a high risk pregnancy, for whatever reason. Now they can use this fake uterus to carry their baby and not risk their life or that of their unborn child."
"Did Zelzior have this technology at one time?" Trey asked, curious.
"They did," Elios answered, "Scientists from both planets actually developed this technology over three hundred years ago. It was a collaborative effort."
"I see," Trey said, "The Cubrecht have made same sex partnerships illegal on Zelzior. I've never heard of the ability for two men or two women to have children together in this way. I'm sure the elders knew about it. A few of them have probably had children this way, if what you say is true. They do not talk often about the time before the Cubrecht though. It is not encouraged."
"So you don't have a problem with those who prefer their own sex?" Aeleon asked, wishing to be sure. He didn't want Trey to have a problem with a part of who he was.
"No. I really don't. My best friend was gay," Trey replied, immense sadness washing over his face at the mention of his former friend.
"Where is your friend now?" Elios said, noticing the shift in Trey's mood and wanting to know if there was something he could do to make it better.
Aeleon was furiously shaking his head, trying to signal to his fathers that it was a subject best not brought up, but he was surprised when Trey spoke up.
"He's dead," Trey told them, "His death might explain why I reacted so violently to you and Aidnae embracing."
"What happened?" Aidnae asked.
Trey hesitated before deciding to tell the story, beginning with, "His name was Zeke. We had been friends since the age of five. He was one of the few people I counted on and trusted completely. Made things just a little more bearable. We were inseparable up until the age of fourteen or fifteen. About that time a whole crew of Zelzian slaves had been brought to Crion from some of the outlying areas to work in the castle. Among them was a boy named Calen. He started hanging out with Zeke and me, although eventually it seemed like he and Zeke spent more and more alone time together. At first I didn't know what was going on. Caught them in the bushes one time though. That cleared things up pretty quickly."
"I found Cercae in a very similar position a few years ago, so I know what that's like," Aeleon said, grinning.
"Mmhmm. Anyways, they told me that they were in love with each other. I was really happy for them. They were my two best friends and I just wanted them to be happy, even though I felt left out of the loop sometimes."
Trey faltered for a moment. Here was the difficult part. The part where everything fell apart. Even after the years that had passed, it still felt like a fresh wound. Trey wasn't sure if he had ever stopped bleeding from it. Zeke and Calen's deaths had just been so violent and unjust. Too soon for such young souls to go.
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "A few months later they got caught by a Cubrecht guard. I want to say that they were informed on, but I couldn't prove it. The Cubrecht had actually set up a reward system for slaves to inform on other slaves for infractions. Same sex loving was a huge one. Their deaths were not pretty. Very public and very slow. They were beaten to death, but it took a long time. The guards played with them, set an example for anyone else who might consider falling for someone of the same sex."
By now, tears were coursing down Trey's cheeks and Aeleon stepped up to wrap him in one of the hugs that he seemed to be so fond of giving. Nothing was said. The blue haired youth just slowly rubbed up and down the larger man's back, offering whatever comfort he could give. He had never lost anyone like that before. The only person who had ever died in his life had been his grandfather, and the man had been 103 years old. Eventually, he could feel the shaking in Trey's shoulders become less pronounced and he pulled back.
"You ok now?" he asked.
"Yeah," Trey nodded, sniffling a little as he regained his composure. The rest of breakfast was eaten in relative silence, no one particularly in the mood for light conversation after Trey's story.
"Would you like to wash your face before we go to the council meeting?" Elios asked, noticing that Trey's eyes were still a little puffy. Trey merely nodded and followed when Elios showed him the way to the washroom. Five minutes later, the four men had left the room and were walking down the hallway. Finally they reached a fairly nondescript door, nothing special about it at all. Trey found it ironic that his future could be held in a room that was thus far very plain.
"Ready?" Aeleon asked, flashing him a bright smile. Trey couldn't quite work up the will to return it. Elios opened the door and strolled through, followed by Aidnae, Aeleon, and Trey.
"Good morning," he said, grinning at the other man who helped him to rule the country.
He was greeted with a chorus of, "Morning, sire."
"Alright. We have some pretty serious things to discuss today," he said, pulling Trey closer towards him. The Zelzian looked like a giant compared to most of the men in the room.
"We have heard things. Rumors that someone from Zelzior had come through," an old grizzled man said, nodding towards Trey, "Is that him?"
"It is," Elios replied, "This is Trey. He has some very important things to tell us this morning."
With that said, Elios took his seat at the head of the table, Aidnae beside him, Trey pulled into a chair on his other side, and Aeleon sitting to Trey's left, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Trey also noticed Cercae on Aeleon's other side, smiling at him.. He gave the other boy a nod and returned his attention to the other men and women in the room.
Elios continued, "I met Trey yesterday when my son came and got me. He was extremely worked up. When he calmed down a little, he took me to see Trey, who was unconscious at the time. I will allow Trey and Aeleon to tell their respective stories, which will perhaps give a clear account of how the first Zelzian to cross the portal in twenty years came to be here."
At Elios's signal, Aeleon cleared his throat and began speaking, "I had been messing with the portal yesterday evening, just turning it on. Usually I do this every night, just to see if it will work. Yesterday, it did. When I looked through, I saw Trey being beaten by a Cubrecht. I stepped through the portal, fended off the Cubrecht, and brought Trey back here. He fell unconscious and has been with me since he awoke. The rest, Trey needs to tell."
Trey looked around nervously before taking in a deep breath. This was the important part, probably what would determine if he stayed or went. Hands shaking and voice cracking he began, "I am a slave. I worked in the castle in Crion City, the former capital of Zelzior. To my knowledge, all of the major cities have been taken, as have the towns. If there are Zelzians not under Cubrecht rule, they would have to live in the unsettled areas of the planet. Any area with modern amenities has been taken. I am not sure how Zelzior was taken over. We aren't exactly taught such things. However, things between the Cubrecht have decayed a lot over the past few years. There is no unity to speak of between the major cities and the areas under their governance. I believe that each city has a ruler of some sort, and they each rule their own little area of my planet. There is no one governing body for the entire planet as there was before the
Cubrecht. I know that all of my people are enslaved, although I don't know if the treatment varies between city-state to city-state."
"And how were you treated?" a woman asked him. She looked amazingly like Cercae.
"That is an interesting question. If I had to judge between then and how I have been treated in the past day, then I would have to say very badly. However, before today I did not know that life could be different for me. My life has been spent working. That is the purpose of a slave, to be a beast of burden with intelligence and opposable thumbs. I was beaten for any number of infractions and watched several of my peers be put to death, including two of my best friends when they were discovered to have a same-sex relationship. Compared to the ease and companionship of the last day, I would say that my life has been very difficult. I hate the Cubrecht for what they have done to my planet."
"Why was the Cubrecht beating you when Aeleon retrieved you?" a man asked.
"I had been tinkering with the mirror over there for a while. Stealing parts and tools so that I could fix it. I had been lucky up until then, but I got caught. If not for Aeleon's interference, I probably would be dead by now."
A skinny Oelean stood up, pulling something from a bag and dropping it on the table. All attention was drawn to him as he asked, "What are these? My nephew brought them to me yesterday. I can only assume that they came from you."
"A woman named Cynthia took them off of me. They designate my status as a slave, as well as block my given abilities. I think the collar blocks powers and the arm bands can deliver an electric shock powerful enough to kill in a split second. It is how they have managed to keep control over a people who can manipulate certain elements. The Cubrecht have no such powers."
The questions went on and on, seemingly without end, until the council finally had nothing left to ask. Trey was unsure of what to think about how they had received him. No one had seemed hostile, but he was still not confident in his fate. Right now Elios was talking, telling the council members that in the coming weeks they would need to decide what, if anything, they were going to do about the situation on Zelzior.
Trey snapped his head up when the skinny guy, who had eventually been identified as Pathos, asked, "And what will happen to Trey? Has someone taken him in?"
"Of course. As far as Aidnae and I are concerned, he is a ward of the royal family and he'll stay that way until he wishes otherwise. I believe he and Aeleon have become friends," Elios said, smiling at his son and Trey.
"Good," another member said, "Although I'm sure that there are many in this room who would have been willing to sponsor the boy."
A murmur of agreement went through most of the people present. Trey wasn't quite sure what had just happened. No one was telling him he had to leave, nor were they sending their guards after him, nor had anyone told him he was staying. As far as he knew, they were just going to forget about him for the time being.
As they filed out into the castle hall, he turned to Aeleon and asked, "So, what just happened?"
"Ha. That was a council meeting. Probably the most interesting one we've had in a very long time," Aeleon replied with a grin.
Still not satisfied with the answer, Trey frowned and continued, "But what does it mean for me? Where am I going? I know they basically said that they would wait to make a decision about Zelzior, but no mention was made of my personal situation."
"What? Dude, I already told you that you had nothing to worry about. You are under the protection of the king and queen. No one will try to send you back with that declaration, and few want to anyways," Aeleon said, cocking his head towards Trey.
"But I haven't even met the king and queen," Trey said, frustrated. It was difficult for him to just sit and allow some unknown power to dictate where he was going and what he was doing. It wasn't that he expected them to drop everything and come to visit some former slave, but it would have at least been polite of them to perhaps send someone to inform him of when he had fallen under their protection and why.
"You have met them," Aeleon replied, grinning mischeviously, "and the crown prince too. In fact, I'd say that they're all quite fond of you."
"When?" Trey asked, disbelieving, a split second before he stopped dead in his tracks and looked wide eyed at Aeleon, "Oh, don't tell me. You? No."
Aeleon found his disbelief comical and spent the next few seconds laughing hysterically at the look on Trey's face. He could imagine being in Trey's situation. In a new country, wake up with some new friends, finding out the next day that they were actually the rulers of the planet. Poor guy, although it was still funny.
"On behalf of my fathers, the kind and queen, I welcome you to Oelea," Aeleon said, still giggling and snorting a bit. Trey just shook his head and followed the blue haired boy down the hall. He was nearly at his wit's end with everything that had happened recently. Add befriending the king, queen, and crown prince of an entire planet and it was almost too much.
"Come on," Aeleon said, snapping him out of his daze, "I want you to meet some people."
To be continued....
Author's Note: So ends another chapter. What do you guys think so far? I love e-mails, so send me one at noonecory@yahoo.com. Oh, I'm also sorry for this one taking so long. A week filled with tests and a weekend spent guitar shopping sucked up all my time. Well, happy reading. :P