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 Six:
Trey awoke the next morning far less confused than the one before. Aeleon hadn't even needed to come and knock on his door to get him. By the time the young Oelean came calling, Trey was dressed and ready to face the day, much less nervous than the day before now that he knew he was welcome to stay in the castle. The word eager could even be used to describe his frame of mind. Aeleon had said they would find tutors to educate him, both in the use of his given abilities and in all of the things the children of free people typically learned.
As he was considering this, Aeleon was just waking up in his own set of rooms. He had slept well during the night, although his sleep had been peppered with several dreams. They had all been about Trey and what his sael faere could mean. Trey had not seemed overly concerned the night before when the color of sael faere had been revealed, although that was not surprising. It was likely that Trey didn't realize the implications and the probable danger that not knowing what he could do would pose. How would they train him? How could they even safely determine what the blackness of his aura meant? Aeleon had never even heard of any aura outside the colors of red, yellow, orange, blue, green, or purple. Deciding there was nothing he could do about it right this second, he pushed it from his mind and forced himself out of bed to get dressed and go get Trey.
Once he had cleaned up and donned some clothing, Aeleon went and knocked on Trey's door, smiling and offering a cheerful, "Good morning," once Trey had answered. To his surprise, Trey was not only already awake, but also dressed and ready to go. They had quite a bit to do today. Aeleon had planned for them to take breakfast with his parents again, if for no other reason than the alert them to Trey's slightly disturbing sael faere, then they needed to go see Teola, the castle's resident tailor. After that would be a trip to Proscos's tower to see if the old man had anything to say about Trey's unknown abilities.
"What are we doing today?" Trey asked, snapping Aeleon out of the appraisal of his mental to-do list.
"Well, how about we go and get some breakfast with my fathers first." Aeleon replied, leading Trey from the suite of rooms after seeing him nod in affirmation.
"What else is on the schedule today?"
"Well, after breakfast we need to go to the tailor. You can't keep wearing hand me downs. Quite frankly, I don't think I could find anymore in your size other than the two or three pairs of clothes in your room right now," Aeleon smiled.
Trey frowned before stating, "I don't have any way to pay for that."
"I know," Aeleon replied, before teasing with "Consider it a gift for helping to tentatively re-establish contact with our sister planet."
The look on Trey face was bland. He was clearly not thrilled with that statement. Unfortunately, his expression only served to send Aeleon into a round of giggles.
"You could take this a little more seriously," Trey admonished, "I don't want to become a burden to you and your fathers."
Taking a deep breath, Aeleon managed to stifle his laughter before saying, "Don't worry about it. It's only temporary until you can learn what you can do and hopefully apply that knowledge in some sort of career. Or it's possible that after some education, my fathers will see fit to appoint you to the council. You would be valuable if Oelea decides to go to war with the Cubrecht for Zelzior."
"If you say so," Trey said, looking moderately horrified that someone would think it a good idea to place him on the nation-planet's council.
Any more conversation was halted as Aeleon and Trey reached the door to Elios and Aidnae's suite of rooms. Unlike yesterday morning, Elios answered the door promptly, not nearly as distracted with his spouse's mouth.
"Good morning," he greeted, opening the door wider so that Trey and Aeleon could enter.
"What's for breakfast?" Aeleon asked, "Smells good."
"Just sausage and eggs. Come and have a seat."
The two young men followed the king further into the suite, taking seats around the table. Aidnae walked in as they were settling down, a towel slung around his shoulders and his hair slightly damp. He smiled at everyone in greeting before taking his own spot to the left of Elios.
"How are you two today?" Aidnae asked, his purple eyes shining with contentment.
"I'm well, father," Aeleon replied, smiling.
"And you, Trey? Are you beginning to adjust?"
"Starting to, sir," Trey said, nodding his head in the blue haired man's direction.
"Wonderful," Elios stated, smiling and taking a sip of his juice.
"What are you two going to do today?" Aidnae questioned.
Aeleon nibbled on a bit of egg before saying, "Well, we need to find Trey some clothes. He can't keep wearing hand-me-downs. Then we'll probably go and see Proscos to see what he thinks of Trey's sael faere. Speaking of which, I would like for you to take a look."
Aidnae noticed the tension that settled between his son's eyebrows at the mention of Trey's aura. What could possibly be so troubling about a man's sael faere? The only reason he could think of was that Trey didn't have one. There had been other cases in history where an unfortunate soul had been born without any of the abilities everyone else took for granted. His theory was only substantiated when he focused his psychic abilities and didn't see the telltale glow.
"I'm so sorry," Aidnae said, looking at Trey with a mixture of sadness and the same tension that had colored Aeleon's features. It wasn't uncommon for some people to take a lack of powers as a weakness and to pick on those without. This was just one more thing to make Trey's life more difficult.
"What is it?" Elios asked, his lack of psychic powers making him unable to see other's sael faere.
"Trey has no aura," Aidnae clarified.
"What? No. Trey, take your shields down. Remember how we talked about yesterday? Look again, father," Aeleon snapped, his unease with Trey's unusual aura making him unusually short tempered.
As Trey relaxed his shields, he heard a gasp come from a now open-mouthed and silent Aidnae. This reaction scared him, to say the least. Trey hadn't thought that his aura was all that big of a deal, just an anomaly that happened once in a while which was just of small passing interest. With the way Aeleon had his eyes fixed on his father's reaction, Aidnae's eye moving frantically over his form, and Elios's repeated proddings of, "What is it," Trey was becoming more and more anxious, his nerves forming a tight knot in his stomach.
Finally Aidnae snapped out of his shock induced silence and said, "Elios, I've never seen anything like this. It's black. Almost entirely black. He obviously has some psychic ability, but the rest of his aura seems to suck the light from its surroundings. It looks like electricity is sparking all across the surface. I have no idea what to think of this."
Even unable to see a person's sael faere as he was, Elios looked more than a little disturbed at this revelation. To his knowledge of Oelean and Zelzian history, which as king was quite extensive, there had never been any aura outside of the standard colors.
"I think it would definitely be for the best if you saw Proscos today. Hopefully he might know what to make of it," Elios said sternly.
"That was my first thought when I saw his sael faere," Aeleon stated, nodding his head.
Trey was feeling more than a little out of the loop. Because the Cubrecht had stifled any education about his people's naturally occurring powers, he had no understanding of the challenges and the dangers presented with a power that had never been seen before. At this point he was suitably frightened due to the reactions of Aeleon and his parents and was tempted to ask Aeleon if they could skip the tailor and go straight to this Proscos that he had mentioned. Trey had gotten the impression that he was something of a wise man. Aeleon had also mentioned that he ended up training many of the children of the nobles and had even trained Aeleon himself, as well as their king. With any luck, the man might be able to explain things some and alleviate their fears.
The rest of breakfast was eaten in tense silence, each man left to their respective thoughts on Trey and his strange aura. Elios in particular what nervous for his own son. The testing and experimentation required to discover what the Zelzian could do would likely prove dangerous and he didn't want his son to be hurt in the process. However, he would never tell Aeleon to abandon his new friend, no matter how nervous the man made him. It wasn't Trey's fault his sael faere was abnormal, after all.
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The tailor had been interesting, to say the least. Trey had never had anyone touch him so much and in so many places that were close to being off limits. Between tutting about his size, standing on his tiptoes to take measurements across Trey's shoulders, and scribbling measurements down on a notepad, the man had continuously bombarded Trey with questions. Teola was the man's name and he was supposedly very good at his job. Well, of course he was, Trey had thought. The man made most of the clothes worn by the inhabitants of the castle. Luckily Aeleon had been able to answer all of the questions that he couldn't. What fabrics do you want? Do you only want casual clothes or some formal clothes as well? Would you rather have the formal clothes cut in this fashion or that fashion? By the time they were done, Trey's head was spinning. Only accustomed to the plain canvas shirt and pants given to the slaves on Zelzior, he'd had
no idea that there could be so many decisions to make about a man's clothes.
Currently he was being poked and prodded by another man. Proscos sat cross legged in front of him, the two of them seated on the floor of his tower. The man appeared to be absolutely ancient, possibly well into his nineties. His bones were knobby and his skin both lined and appearing to have the texture of well worn leather. Trey had no idea what color the man's hair had once been, any hint of the typical Oelean coloring leeched from its strands over Proscos's long life. Truth be told, there was something unearthly about him. His aura was a deep, vibrant purple, belying a psychic strength that was not often seen. Trey had to force himself to meet the man's eyes, their rheumy depths seeming to see into his soul and have a knowledge of times past that most mortal beings couldn't hope to touch.
"Very odd. Very odd, indeed," Proscos's creaky voice let out, break Trey from his musings. This was the first thing that had been said since Trey and Aeleon had first entered the man's presence and greeted him. The two had quickly been ushered inside and Trey had been prompted to sit on the floor. Proscos had immediately taken a seat in front of him and said nothing. The only sounds in the room was the rustling of fabric as Proscos moved his arms around to feel across Trey's person and the small gasp Trey had let escape as he felt the gnarled figure of a man slowly press tendrils of himself into the young Zelzian's mind.
"What does it mean, sir?" Aeleon queried, unable to break the habit of calling the man `sir' even after leaving his tutelage and coming of age by Oelean standards.
"I do not know, dear boy," Proscos said, shooting a fond look towards one of his favorite and most gifted former student, "I have never heard of such a thing."
"How can he be trained, then?" Aeleon further questioned.
Proscos offered a kind smile to both youngsters before addressing both Aeleon and Trey, "Very carefully. I know it is tempting to jump headlong into the trial and error of attempting to figure out what your powers are, but if you will allow me some time to research the subject, I would like to see if there is any record of a similar happening, however small. Give me two weeks to see if my collection and that of the crown has anything to offer. If I find something before then, I will summon you here; otherwise, return here in two weeks and we shall continue on whether we have the knowledge or not."
"What should I be doing until then?" Trey asked, willing to defer to a man who so obviously deserved his respect and consideration.
"That's easy, my boy," Proscos chuckled, "Enjoy the next two weeks as a completely free man. While I understand your eagerness to play catch up, there will be plenty of time for that in the coming days. See some of our world. I'm sure Aeleon would be more than happy to guide you through some of the finer things Oelea has to offer. I would recommend Mossae Maere."
With that, Aeleon and Trey took their leave, knowing little more than when they came in. Aeleon suggested they find some lunch and eat it in one of the castle's botanical gardens. He could see the questions brimming in the Zelzian's eyes after meeting with Proscos and figured the gardens would be a pleasant place to answer those questions. Plus, it was a fantastic day outside.
"Let's go to the kitchen and find some things we can take outside," Aeleon said, leading Trey down the stairs of Proscos's tower, through the long hallways of the castle, and to the first floor where the massive kitchen was located.
His eyes moving over the multitudes of ovens, roasting pits, stove tops, cooking pots, and anything else that might be found in the kitchen of a royal castle, Trey let out a genuine smile. He probably felt more at home here than he had anywhere else since coming to Oelea. The Cubrecht typically put old folks and children in the kitchens, so as a child he had spent much of his time in a very similar setting. Granted, the mood in this kitchen was far less oppressive than the kitchens of his homeland, but there would always be something comforting about the smells of baking bread and roasting meat. They always made him think of the army of old biddies who had taken to mothering him, passing him a sweet or two throughout the course of the day.
"What's that smile for?" Aeleon asked, curious about the contented, faraway look on his friend's face.
"Just remembering my childhood. I basically grew up in the kitchens of Crion. Many of the old women put to work in there were really great to me, considering I didn't have a mother or a father," Trey said wistfully.
"You had no parents?" Aeleon asked as he gathered up accoutrements for sandwiches and a basket to carry them in.
"No. Many people were killed when the Cubrecht first came over, or so the elders say. It's likely that my parents died then. I was by far not the only orphan, nor the most unfortunate."
"What do they do with orphaned children?"
"Usually they are sent to work in the kitchens or laundry rooms. Maybe the stables once they're a little older. Just somewhere that they won't be in the way like they would with construction and a place where there are several older people to keep an eye on them," Trey said as Aeleon finished packing lunch and led them from the kitchen.
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"I know you have questions about Proscos," Aeleon stated once the two of them had found a shady nook to eat lunch in among the plant life of the castle's botanical gardens.
"Was I that obvious?"
Aeleon laughed and said, "Yes, you were. Don't worry about it though. Everyone who meets him for the first time is usually a bit taken aback. He's a very special class of person on Oelea. Zelzior used to have some of his equivalent too, but I would assume the Cubrecht had people of such power immediately killed."
"What is he?" Trey asked, remembering the otherworldly quality of the old man's eyes.
"He is a Gnarie. I believe your people call them Mages. They are people to be held in great respect due to their sheer nature."
"That still doesn't tell me exactly what he is," Trey said, the connotations of either Gnarie' or Mage' completely lost on him.
"It is a difficult thing to explain. As you have observed, there are six powers the people of Oelea and Zelzior are endowed with. Some people have more than one ability, although most do not have more than three. I'm an anomaly. Sort of like you, actually. Many people only have one. Sometimes there are also anomalies among those who only have one ability. The strength of their power is far greater than that of most of the population."
Trey interrupted to say, "What I saw in Proscos was more than an unusual strength in psychic ability, although that was certainly there as well."
"Indeed. A Gnarie is a much more complicated being than that. In order to become a Gnarie, the decision must be made from a relatively early age. Late twenties at the latest. Once a person had decided to take up this particular mantle, they must search out an already existing Gnarie with the same ability as theirs. They are then put through many tests. No one knows the nature of these tests outside of the Gnarie and the people who try and fail. They are extremely rigorous, apparently. Anyone who wishes to become a Gnarie must register, so the castle has a record of everyone who has tried. In my lifetime, roughly twenty years, only four people have tried. None have succeeded since before I was born."
"Wow. So there are not many Gnarie, are there?"
"No," Aeleon continued, "Since the system of the Gnarie was established at the dawn of our nations nearly 10,000 years ago, there have only been six Gnarie on Oelea. Two of each ability native to this planet. I do not know why this should be so. Perhaps it is fate or divine intervention to keep the numbers so constant."
"Are our planets seriously that old?" Trey asked, aghast. Considering his lack of historical knowledge in regard to either planet, this fact was astonishing to him.
"They are. And therein lays the secret of the Gnarie. Once the trainee has passed all of the tests, they enter into a lifelong program. They study history, language, society, religion, the distribution of powers over the past several hundred years, but they are still expected to be very active within the community. Basically they are devoted to anything concerning our culture. They study this material under the guidance and tutelage of a Gnarie from the time they enter the program until the Gnarie dies. This is where things get tricky. There is a process the Gnarie use to transfer memories to their student. This has been done since the first Gnarie. Today they essentially have 10,000 years worth of memories contained within them. They are basically walking, talking historical records."
Trey was speechless. How could a person have the memories of every Gnarie in the chain over a time span of 10,000 years and not go insane? No wonder these people were held in such high regard. The sheer thought of it was almost too much for him to take. Finally he managed to get enough of a grip on himself to ask, "And what purpose do they serve?"
"Well, half of them serve the crown. One psychic, one healer, and one water elemental. They are all on the council and serve to advise the king. With their vast knowledge of Oelean history, their advice is usually heeded on matters of great importance. You can bet my father is speaking to Proscos and the other two Gnarie who reside in the castle in regard to what to do about Zelzior. The three at the castle are also teachers. They taught me how to control the ability they specialize in, as they did with most of the royal children. The other three Gnarie all live deep in the recesses of the Oelean wild. They research patterns in the stars and other natural phenomena. If a pattern has been noticed that is especially distressing, typically they come forward and speak to the king about it. So, in a sense they are a combination of teacher, spiritual leader, advisor, soothsayer, and historical record."
"That's incredible," Trey said, slightly at a loss for words.
"Yes. So when Proscos says that he will research to find out if there has been any record of someone like you before, it means he will search every book he owns, he will search through the memories passed to him, and he will seek the council of the other Gnarie to see if their memories contain anything. If anyone could find out about you, it would be Proscos."
"That's incredibly intimidating," Trey replied, shaking his head, "I'll probably make a fool of myself when we go back to see him."
"Well, you're going to have to get over that. He's going to teach you to control your powers," Aeleon said, grinning at the strangled noise that escaped from Trey's throat.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: First of all, I'd like to apologize for the long wait some of you have endured for me to update this story. It was not my intention to let it go so long. Such is life, though. Secondly, I would like to thank anyone who sent me an e-mail telling me you missed the story and wanted me to update. You have no idea how much it means to me that someone enjoys it enough to ask about. Thirdly, if you'd like to send me your thoughts on this story, shoot me an e-mail at noonecory@yahoo.com.
Gnarie = wise man