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 Five:
Several hours after the council meeting, Trey found himself being once again dragged from his suite of rooms. Aeleon was chattering something about introducing Trey to some of his friends. Admittedly, Trey wasn't paying very much attention to what his friend was saying. Anxiety seemed to make him have a bit of selective hearing loss. He was afraid to meet Aeleon's friends. Many, if not all of them, were sure to be some form of the ruling class, whether they were children of the councilmen or children of the royal bloodline. He was almost positive that they would laugh at him. Uneducated and from a different culture, what other outcome could there be?
"Aeleon, I don't think this is a good idea," Trey said, interrupting his short friend mid-chatter.
"What? Why not?"
"Look at me. What are your friends going to think of me? I have no knowledge of your culture at all, I can't read or write, I'm nobody. If you introduce me to these people, they'll scorn me and laugh at you for picking me up." By now, Trey's anxiety was showing. He was pacing back and forth, clenching his hands, and running his fingers through his hair.
"Trey, calm down," Aeleon said, grabbing the other man by the hand, "Come here. Let's get out of the hallway."
Aeleon led Trey into a room off the hallway. It looked like a public sitting room of some sort. Luckily it was empty. Aeleon pulled Trey towards the chairs facing the windows and pushed him down, before take a seat himself.
"Trey, you have nothing to be nervous about. Everyone we'll be meeting tonight speaks Zelzian. And don't confuse being uneducated with being stupid. Just because you haven't had the opportunity to learn things doesn't make you unintelligent. And you are intelligent. These people will see that. By now, most people in the capitol city have gotten word of who you are. By tomorrow evening, all of Oelea will know. My friends are understanding people. They won't judge you for where you've come from," Aeleon insisted in a soothing voice.
"I'm just not comfortable with the situation. I'm not as good as these people."
Aeleon stared at him for a moment before demanding, "Don't say that. You're just as good as anyone else here. Now, what can we do to make you feel like you belong here?"
"Learning Oelean would help," Trey said, his eyes locked on the floor.
"We can do that. What else?"
"Reading and writing would be nice," Trey mumbled.
"Mostly you don't like the education gap, correct?" Aeleon asked.
"Yes."
"Well, how about I find a tutor for you to teach you math, science, and history and you and I can for together on reading, writing, and language lessons?"
"You would do that for me?" Trey asked, looking up into Aeleon's silver eyes.
"Of course. We can start whenever you wish. It won't be difficult to find a tutor either."
"I want to start as soon as possible," Trey answered.
"Alright. We can find a tutor tomorrow."
"I'm still not comfortable with this," Trey said.
"I know. But I'm pushing this for a reason. If we don't go and meet them, they'll come to my rooms and demand to meet you. Then we're both stuck there until they decided to leave. However, if we go them, socialize for a couple hours, and satisfy their curiosity we can leave whenever we want."
"Oh. That makes sense," Trey replied, much more willing to comply with Aeleon's wishes now that he understood the reasoning behind it.
"Alright then. Are you ready to go?" Aeleon asked, standing from his chair.
"I suppose," Trey replied, shaking his head and following Aeleon from the room.
+++++
Trey's head was spinning.. It seemed like he had met about 300 people tonight, although the real number was closer to twenty. As Aeleon had said, no one looked down on him because of where he came from. Most of them were very curious and listened attentively when he talked. Right now he was sitting in a booth with Aeleon on one side of him, Cercae on the other, and three more of Aeleon's friends on the other side of the table.
After a couple hours wandering around the town center and meeting several people Aeleon knew, Aeleon and Trey ended up in a pub where some friends had met up with them. It was a nice place. The son of one of the members of the council owned and ran it. It had to be clean and free of vermin because many of the council members ate there on a regular basis. Even the King and Queen had been known to make an appearance. It saw a lot of business on days when the council met at the palace. It was only a few blocks away, so many of the members would stop and eat on their way home.
Trey was trying very hard to pay attention to the conversation around him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. He felt completely drained. After the council meeting earlier, all he had wanted to do was go back to his rooms and sleep; however, he had gone with Aeleon and wandered around the city for hours. Now he was sitting in this pub, surrounded by people he really didn't know and trying not to let his ever increasing grouchiness show.
Trey looked across the table at the people he had met today. On the inside was Shoori, a woman a couple of years older than himself. She was of average height for an Oelean woman, about five foot three, and was very beautiful. Her hair was neon green and flowed to her mid back in shiny waves. Eyes that were lavender colored and always seemed to shine with mirth. Shoori's aura purple with a few hints of yellow. As far as Trey had seen, she was always making jokes or laughing at something someone else had said. Several people of both genders had approached her during the course of the night, offering to buy her a drink.
The boy in the middle was a youth of fifteen or sixteen. Aeleon had introduced him as his cousin Braeyon, a seemingly shy, but sweet, boy. He looked up to his cousin like no other and eventually hoped to figure prominently in Aeleon's future royal court/council. He had dark, moss green hair that fell down his back in a long braid. Occasionally, curly wisps escaped its confines and fell into his big hazel eyes, which he would eventually become frustrated with and push back behind his ears. His aura was an even mix of green and blue. Trey though the boy was, for lack of a better word, completely adorable. Something about him reminded Trey a bit of his long since gone friend Zeke. Out of all the people he had met that day, Trey felt most at ease with him.
The last person squeezed into the booth on the other side of the table was a man who was very obviously a hybrid of the two peoples. His Zelzian blood was not that far removed, possibly as close as one of his parents. He had obviously inherited most of his traits from the Zelzian in his background, although his face was delicate enough to indicate the presence of Oelean blood. He had dark brown hair and eyes and went by the name of Josh. His aura was orange, purple, and blue. Trey was unsure of what to think about Josh. He didn't seem to be a bad person, but he was pretty smarmy and his smile seemed fake as often as it was genuine. Of course, both of his parents were politicians, so Trey just assumed Josh had gotten it from there.
Trey was snapped back to reality by Shoori leaning over the table, giving him an excellent view of her ample cleavage, and saying, "Tell me, Trey. What are your women like?"
A vision of Shiloh popped into his head as he answered, "Aggressive. At least the ones I've met."
"Do you enjoy aggressive women?" Shoori asked huskily.
"Uh...um..." Trey stuttered, unsure how to respond to her.
"Leave him alone, Shoori! Between you and Cercae, no one is safe," Aeleon giggled, scooting himself closer to Trey at the same time.
"He looks like he can handle himself," Shoori replied, eyes still locked on Trey.
"Figures," Braeyon muttered, "She hits on the one person in this place who hasn't already hit on her."
"Is everyone so open here?" Trey asked, "I mean, this has been the second time in twenty four hours that someone has expressed interest me."
"For the most part. If someone sees something they like, most people aren't afraid to say so. With the exception of these two here," Josh said, gesturing towards Aeleon and Braeyon, "Neither of them ever seem interested in anyone."
"I'm just waiting for the right person," Aeleon replied, "I see how happy my dads are with each other and I don't want to shoot for anything less."
"And what's your excuse?" Josh inquired, turning to Braeyon.
Braeyon looked down at the table before mumbling, "I haven't found anyone who catches my interest."
"You're both just too picky," Cercae stated, getting up from the booth to get another drink. Aeleon had noticed Trey's flagging interest in the conversation and used this pause as on opportunity to excuse the two of them.
"It might be time for Trey and I to take our leave," he said, standing up and stretching his arms high over his legs.
"So soon?" Shoori whined, "You've only been here for a couple hours."
"Yes, it's time for us to go. It's been a really long day. Trey spoke in front of the entire council and we wandered around the city for a while.. I don't know about him, but I'm pretty beat." Aeleon insisted, bringing his hand up to his mouth in order to cover a yawn..
"I could sleep," Trey agreed, mimicking Aeleon and stretching his arms up over his head.
"Fine," Shoori said, giving a highly exaggerated sigh.
"I should go too," Braeyon added, also getting up from the booth, "I'll walk back with you guys, ok?"
"Of course," Aeleon said as the three of them left the pub.
The night was mild.. Trey noticed that Oelea's lavender sky turns black at night, just as on Zelzior. It was nice to see something moderately familiar. They were in no particular hurry to get back and considering how nice the night was, Aeleon and Braeyon took Trey on a slightly longer route back. This route took them through a park the city had set up. It was filled completely with gardens planted with things native to Oelea. The gardens of this park were only second to the ones found on the grounds of the palace. While tired, Trey was glad they had come this way. The plants were stunning and Aeleon introduced him to a delightful little insect called a faere evoeli. It glowed bright red as it flew around. Seeing hundreds of them flying through the gardens was truly a sight to behold.
"What's this?" he asked, reaching out to touch a very pretty looking plant. It had a giant blue flower that almost looked like a face. He was shocked when Aeleon reached over to slap his hand away.
"Don't touch that!" Aeleon exclaimed, "It will bite you."
"Bite me?" Trey asked, confused.
"Yes, watch this," Aeleon said, finding a stick on the ground and sharply prodding at the flower. Trey drew a breath in surprise when the seemingly innocent blue flower snapped the stick in half quicker than Aeleon could get the stick away from it.
"It only bites if you touch it," Braeyon said, "It's not like it will bite you if you just stand beside it or something."
"Oh," Trey muttered, a tad disconcerted. He made it a point not to touch anything else in the gardens. How was he to know whether it was safe or not?
+++++
"See? I told you everything would be alright," Aeleon said, once he and Trey had made it back to his room.
"You were right. Your friends are nice. I felt like one of the group," Trey said sincerely, a huge grin alighting his features, "Thank you for letting us leave when you did though. I had fun, but I'm very tired tonight. It has been a long day."
"It really has. You've done well, by the way. I can't imagine how stressful this must be for you."
"I'm still not even sure it's real. I mean...I am talking to a crown prince. How weird is that? Not only that, but you're my friend. I can't think about it too much, or I'll freak myself out," Trey said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair.
"You belong here, you know. Of that, I have no doubt," Aeleon insisted.
"I'll just take your word on that," Trey said.
At this point the two lapsed into a comfortable silence. Neither were ready to say goodnight yet, but both were too tired to work overly hard at conversation. Trey was not bothered though. He was content to lounge in the comfy chair he was currently sitting in and rest his eyes. Aeleon was happy enough just to watch him relaxing. A while passed just like that. The two new friends sitting in silence with each other.
Trey was nearly asleep when he heard Aeleon exclaim, "We still have no idea what your aura looks like!"
"Hmm?" Trey murmured groggily.
"We've been so busy we just forgot to look. Let me focus. I usually block them out automatically."
Aeleon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sometimes when he blocked against seeing auras for days on end, it took him a moment to see them again. He willed himself to relax his mental barriers. Slowly he could feel them sliding away. When Aeleon felt that they were sufficiently lowered, he opened his eyes fully expecting to see the telltale glow emanating from Trey's person.
"I don't see anything," he remarked, "Trey, are you suppressing your aura? I know it can't be me because I am now consciously looking for it."
"Supressing?" Trey questioned, fully awake now and sitting up straight in the chair.
"Yes. It's a fairly simple skill. One of the ones children are taught first when learning to control their powers. You minimize the light emitted to the point that no one can see it anymore."
"If I'm doing that, I'm not aware of it," Trey said, wondering how he could be doing something like this without realizing it.
"Let me just take a look see," Aeleon said, "Is that alright?"
"Sure. Go ahead," Trey replied.
Aeleon gently touched Trey's temples with his fingertips, calling his psychic abilities to the forefront. He wanted to just peek into Trey's head and see if the man was suppressing his aura without realizing it. Very cautiously, he delved into Trey's subconscious. Aeleon followed the twists and turns Trey's mind seemed to take, willing himself to find what he was looking for. Eventually, he made it to the place he was seeking. When Aeleon got there, he found that Trey had been suppressing his aura for years, possibly since his powers had first made themselves evident.
"Trey, you need to relax your guard. You've been blocking anyone from seeing your aura for a very long time," Aeleon informed him.
"How do I do that?" Trey asked.
"It's just something you feel. See if you can recognize what you're doing. Can you feel how you've shielded yourself? Once you can, try to take a few deep breaths and force yourself into relaxing. If you can put a block up, you can take it down."
Trey spent the next few minutes with his eyes closed, trying hard to do what Aeleon said; however, it was much more difficult than it sounded. He couldn't find where the block began and so he couldn't figure out how to take it down. Attempting to will himself into relaxation was not working either. It just seemed that the more he tried to concentrate on it, the tenser he became.
"Trey, are you having trouble?" Aeleon asked, squatting down in front of Trey's chair and grasping his hands.
"I can't...find it," Trey mumbled, opening his eyes.
"Do you need help?"
"I might,"
"Alright. Close your eyes. I'll try to touch its center of origin," Aeleon said, once again placing his fingers at Trey's temples. He retraced his steps trough Trey's mind until he found himself back at the area where Trey had erected the block. He gently reached out his mind and caressed the area in question. Trey gasped slightly at the odd sensation, the feeling of touch-but-not-touch somewhere inside his head. In a flash of understanding, Trey understood where he had to go and what he had to do. And suddenly, the block was gone.
Before either one opened their eyes, Trey asked, "Could you teach me how to do what you just did?"
"It will depend," Aeleon answered, "Only people with psychic abilities can do this kind of thing."
"Well, tell me what I've got then," Trey demanded.
Aeleon opened his eye and was struck completely speechless. His face paled and his mouth dropped open in a silent `oh'. Trey, who still had his eyes closed, still hadn't realized that something was amiss. Gently, Aeleon began to tug on Trey's hand, trying to get the man to open his eyes. When this still had no effect, Aeleon cleared his throat and began speaking.
"Trey," he whispered, "What are you?"
"Huh?" the black haired man asked, confused.
"I've never seen anything like this," Aeleon said in a quiet, dazed ton.
"Aeleon, what is it? You're beginning to make me nervous," Trey squeaked, noticing Aeleon's face.
"It's...black..." Aeleon gasped, "Trey, your aura is black."
Sure enough, when Trey looked down at his arm, the limb was surrounded by a black glow with some purple marbling. Every now and then, what appeared to be static electricity would spark over the surface of his skin, although he didn't feel anything like an electrical shock.
"What does this mean?" he asked the still shocked Oelean.
"I have no idea. But we really have to talk to the man who will tutor you tomorrow. He might know what this means," Aeleon said, his face scrunched with anxiety and confusion. The purple obviously meant that Trey had some sort of psychic ability, but Aeleon had never even heard of, let alone seen, a black aura before. It was a tad frightening. Unpredictable powers could be very dangerous. He just hoped it was something that Trey would be able to get a hold of, when the time came.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: I would like to point out/clear up a discrepancy I have noticed. In chapter one of this story, I referred to the sky as being green and the water as purple where in later chapters the reverse is true. I would like to clear up that for this story, the sky is purple and the water is green in Oelea, not the other way around.
Let me say that I have gotten a ton of e-mails about this story, many of them asking where the update was during the long hiatus. I wanted to thank everyone who has sent me an e-mail in the past, they mean a lot to me. If you've read this story and like it, send a review to noonecory@yahoo.com
Braeyon = moss
Faere evoeli = fire fly