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 do not read any further.
Chapter Nine:
The cove was one of the most beautiful things Trey had ever seen. A stream coming down the mountain fed into a spacious pool by way of a small waterfall plummeting about ten feet from a rocky platform. A carpet of moss covered the ground and rocks around the pool, making it easy to go barefoot and providing a comfortable pallet to snooze on. The light was dim, being filtered through the heavy canopy of the ancient trees, except for one large hole from which light hit the center of the pool. Trey could see little fish darting around in the water, picking algae off the rocks or chasing smaller fish in the shallows.
"We call this place Veolo Fluexi, or the Wishing Cove. Do you see that hole up there," Aeleon asked, referring to the part in the canopy, "The moonlight filters through in much the same way as the sun is doing now. It is rumored that if you come here on the night of a full moon and bathe in the light at the center of the pool, your wish will come true. A lot of people know that legend, but have no idea where this place actually is."
"Have you ever made a wish here?" Trey asked him.
"I might have, once or twice."
Trey tried to picture Aeleon here by himself, floating solitarily in a beam of moonlight and wishing for something. It was a striking image. He wondered what Aeleon had wished for, but didn't feel that it was appropriate to ask.
The two of them could hear the low hum of an approaching bike a split second before Braeyon rounded the curve. He promptly hopped off his bike and parked it by a tree.
"How the hell did you win?! You had that behemoth with you," he shrieked, waving his arms and gesturing at Trey.
"I'm just that good," Aeleon said, a smug smile crawling across his face.
"That's bullshit! I call a do-over on the way back," Braeyon scowled.
Anymore argument from the riled young Oelean was cut short by the arrival of the last two zoom-bikes. Shoori's bright neon green hair was appealingly disheveled and bright smile lit her face, only matched by Cercae's. Apparently they had enjoyed the ride too. Josh pulled up looking far less pleased, however. Cynom's countenance appeared neutral, his green eyes almost radiating boredom in their appraisal of the people around him and the location he found himself in.
"Alright, who's ready to swim?" Aeleon asked, reaching up to remove his helmet and pull his shirt over his head.
The others followed suit, stripping down to their underclothes, except for Trey. He didn't intend to get in the water, considering he didn't know how to swim. As the others continued to remove clothing, Trey wandered off to the side to look for a comfortable place where he could while away the next few hours. A hand on his arm stopped him from getting too far. He turned to see Aeleon standing there with his head cocked to the side, blue hair falling across one eye, his rather dainty hand wrapped around Trey's forearm. It randomly occurred to Trey that the small Oelean was beautiful in that split second.
"Where are you going?" Aeleon asked, those silver eyes locked on his own.
"I don't know how to swim," Trey told him, looking down as his cheeks colored. Why was he blushing? He hoped Aeleon would assume the color flooding his face was due to embarrassment at his lack of knowledge rather than figure out that Trey's sudden realization was the cause of his distress.
Aeleon flashed him one of those freely given smiles and said, "Now is a great time to learn. Come on."
As usual, Trey found himself unable to say no and was dragged along behind Aeleon back to the side of the pool. The others had already shucked their clothes and gotten into the water. Shoori, Cercae, Josh, and Braeyon were locked in a game in which there were two teams with one person propped on another's shoulders. It was complete with ample shouting and laughter, which only increased as Braeyon was dumped off of Josh's shoulders by a triumphant looking Shoori. Trey noticed that the only one who did not appear to be having fun was Cynom. The handsome Oelean was wading in the shallows, off to the side, and looking straight to where he and Aeleon were standing. Trey wondered at Cynom's attitude.
"This is a great place to learn," Aeleon told him, "Now get down to your underwear."
Trey was glad he had decided to wear the shorts he had learned Oeleans typically wore underneath of their clothes. As a slave, his overlords had not given them underwear. Just the rough canvas shirts and pants. They have been a novelty to him when he had first come to Oelae, but sometimes he chose not to wear them. Luckily today had not been one of those days because he would have been out of luck. He had no illusions that Aeleon wouldn't make him strip down, underwear or no. In the time he had known him, Trey had found that when his friend got an idea into his head it was often very hard to dissuade him of said idea.
Truth be told, Trey wasn't particularly comfortable with disrobing in front of everyone. Even though he had been accepted with open arms by these people, he still looked different. The Oeleans were so pale they nearly glowed in the dark. Zelzian's tended to have a rich golden skin tone. Josh, being a recent hybrid, was somewhere in between, but Trey was a bit darker still. There was also the fact that he was still somewhat emaciated, even though he had put on several pounds since he had come to Oelae. His frame looked not quite starved, but thin enough for it to be obvious that he had never had enough to eat. Trey couldn't help but feel that he looked positively sickly next to his friends' well fed frames. The biggest insecurity though had to be the scars. His entire body was peppered with them from the numerous whippings and beatings he had endured. They crisscrossed in straight lines of varying shades of newness across his
back, layer upon layer a testament to the abuse of a lifetime. Trey hated them. To him the scars were a constant reminder that he was a slave and would only serve to remind others as well.
"Well? Come on," Aeleon prompted, wondering at the delay.
Trey reluctantly pulled off his shirt, tossing it in the pile of clothes that had been made by the others. He reached down to remove his pants as well. He had let them fall to about mid-thigh when he heard a whistle from the direction of the pool. Trey looked over his shoulder to see everyone staring at him. Great.
It became apparent to Trey that Cercae had been responsible for the whistle when Shoori reached over to smack his arm and shouted, "You horn dog!"
The comment made Trey blush again. He didn't even know why he was so embarrassed this time. All he knew was that as he became aware of the fact that he was blushing, it seemed to worsen. Aeleon was chuckling at his obvious discomfort and Cercae was whistling again. Sighing, Trey took a few tentative steps towards the water and waded in until he was knee deep.
"Ok, where do I start?" he asked, trying to reign Aeleon's amusement into check.
Aeleon followed him into the pool, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him a bit deeper. He had expected the water to be chilly, especially considering the pool was fed directly from a mountain stream. Trey was surprised that the water was at a comfortable temperature level. It was appropriate for a hot day, but not so cold that no one could stand to stay in for more than ten minutes at a time. He supposed the hot springs Aeleon mentioned served to balance out the temperature of water that would otherwise be absolutely frigid. Ready for his lesson, Trey looked to Aeleon for instruction.
"Why don't we start with the doggy paddle?" Aeleon proposed.
+++++
Cynom was not amused. When that slut, Cercae had tromped through the solarium where he had been enjoying a book on the history of Oelean royalty, shouting about going on some trip with Aeleon, this had not been what Cynom had expected. Honestly, he hadn't cared much about what else had been said after Aeleon's name had been mentioned. The only reason he had come was to score points with the crown prince.
Why would he care about the others? Cercae never carried himself with the poise and decorum due his station, always involved in a fling with a different man or woman. Braeyon was too young to be of any importance yet and was far too shy to get overly far in politics. Shoori was not a noble, even if her family was a very wealthy group of merchants and supplied much of the castle with many top rate products. Out of all of them, Josh was probably the one Cynom felt was the closest person he would consider equal to himself. If only his Zelzian blood weren't so apparent. Cynom's family prided themselves on being pure Oelean, all the way back to their roots. While it was common for people outside of the wealthy class and the ruling class to be pureblooded, the upper echelons of Oelean society were peppered with Zelzian ancestors due to those stupid mirrors. There were still several pureblooded families, but even the king's lineage was
tainted.
And now there was this.....Trey. Cynom's distaste for him grew with everything he learned about the slave. What the hell was a slave doing in their circle anyways? It boggled him. For the life of him, Cynom couldn't understand how the man justified hanging around. It was probably Aeleon. The prince was too nice for his own good and could never tell people when to back off. The last thing Aeleon needed was some low class hanger on. He was old enough now to figure more prominently in royal proceedings, matters that often greatly impacted Oelae. Aeleon didn't need a distraction, or disgrace, such as Trey hanging around.
Cynom had his eyes on the crown prince. The striking Oelean was sure that he was the most appropriate match to be Aeleon's mate. He knew that he was destined to be the queen of Oelae. Cynom had so many changes he wished to make to the current policies, which was something he would only be able to accomplish with the influence of a queen and the backing of a king. If he had more power he would establish a more formal boundary between the Oelean government and the Zelzian government. The two planet nations had always been close, the royalty and upper class of both societies comingling and intermarrying with great frequency. Cynom felt that this needed to stop. Oelae was its own country and he felt that Oelae needed to quit propping up Zelzior. Even now, the council and the king and queen were thinking about sending aid to Zelzior even though the planet was a lost cause. It was definitely time to cut ties.
This was why it was crucial for Cynom to make Aeleon love him; or if not love him, at least make him see the benefit that could be garnered from the two of them working as partners to fix Oelae. Cynom was betting his plan would be more likely to succeed if Aeleon fell in love with him though. He knew that the prince had bluntly stated he would not marry for political purposes. If Cynom were honest with himself, he quite liked the idea of Aeleon loving him. The crown prince was a beautiful creature, someone any person would love to have wrapped around their finger. He had wanted to have Aeleon in his bed for years, but so far the young man had never responded to his advances. Cynom was determined to make that change.
Cynom couldn't help the sneer that crossed his face when his attention was drawn to where Aeleon was teaching the stupid oaf how to swim. Aeleon was laughing his head off as Trey sunk yet again to the bottom of the pool. How hard was it to float? Cynom scoffed to himself and thought that it was probably the Zelzian's outlandish size that resulted in his inability to float. What an ugly brute. He was like a giant ape and his skin was too dark. And all those scars? His entire body was a roadmap of disgusting remnants of past abuse, living proof of Trey's low class origins. Cynom thought he would be lucky to ever find a partner among the people of Oelae, who were mostly fair and slight of build. Not that he cared. At least Cynom never had to worry about Aeleon falling for the unfortunate looking creature.
+++++
A couple of hours later, Trey was relaxing on a shelf of rock and soaking up to his nipples in warm water. Aeleon had pulled him over to this area of the pool after managing to teach him the basics of swimming. It had not been easy at first. There had been several times when Trey was convinced he was going to drown. Every time though, Aeleon had reached down and hauled his sorry form up from the bottom of the pool, making patient suggestions before letting him go to try again. Gradually, Trey had gotten it. And now he had his reward. Trey had learned the beginnings of a new skill and was now sitting beside Aeleon about two feet from a hot spring. The feeling was divine.
Trey looked over to see Aeleon stretched languidly against the smooth shelf of rock, his face barely above the water. His icy blue hair fanned around him, slowly swirling in the gentle current of the pool. Trey heard a contented sigh escape the Oelean's mouth a split second before he completely submerged himself. Beautiful. The word had been plaguing him since they had gotten here, repeating itself in his head over and over again. Honestly, Trey wished it would go away. The little lurch his heart gave every time he looked at Aeleon was nothing but inconvenient. Trey hoped it would dull with time.
Releasing a sigh of his own, Trey sunk down a little further into the water, allowing himself to truly revel in the warmth. There was something magical about the place. If he closed his eyes, he could hear the wind whispering through the trees and could just barely feel the sun that was struggling to filter through the thick leaf cover on his face. Birds chirped in the distance, serenely spinning songs, of which Trey could only guess at their meaning. Every now and then he could make out the sound of their beating wings as they moved from one branch to another, somewhere in the canopy. The place radiated peace. Trey couldn't imagine a bad thing ever happening here. If he had been a superstitious man, he would say the place was charmed. Hell, even being non-superstitious, he wasn't entirely ready to rule it out. Trey felt as if he could while away the rest of his life here, sitting in the warm water and watching the seasons change.
"Comfortable?" he heard Aeleon murmur somewhere to his right.
"Very," Trey rumbled, cracking his eyes open and turning to face Aeleon. The Oelean looked boneless, albeit a bit pruney.
"I knew you'd like it here," Aeleon said, smiling at him, "It's so relaxing."
"Mmm," Trey agreed, unable to summon up the energy to do much more than groan contentedly.
Trey cut his eyes to Cynom. The man was sitting just far enough away from them so as to not invite conversation, but close enough that he could still be considered in the same area as them. He confused Trey. So far, he hadn't seen Cynom talk to anyone other than Aeleon and he had stayed mostly by himself the entire time. Why had he even bothered to come with them if he wasn't going to enjoy the company? Trey had tried to make a point of talking to and enjoying this break with Braeyon, Josh, Cercae, and Shoori. Isn't that what one did with friends? But then, Trey didn't get the impression that Cynom was friends with anyone here. That only added to his confusion as to why the Oelean had decided to accompany them. Oh well. It wasn't his problem.
Trey shifted his gaze to the other side of the pool where Shoori and Cercae were wrapped around each other. He wondered what the deal was with them. Cercae made passes at almost anything that moved and Shoori slept with many of the people who made passes at her, but Trey noticed that both of them treated each other with the utmost care even if they were seemingly flippant about the relationship. Trey had gotten to impression that they broke up and got back together on a regular basis from comments the others had made, but never could give each other any kind of commitment or indication of their feelings. He knew it wasn't his business, but he still wondered.
Josh and Braeyon were also not far away from him, both of them relaxing with their eyes closed as well. It seemed that no one was immune to the peace Veolo Fluexi emanated. He noticed Cynom was looking at him, just staring at him with a thoughtful look on his face. Trey wasn't sure as to the nature of that look. There was nothing menacing about it, but it made him uneasy nonetheless. He offered Cynom a hesitant smile, hoping to urge the man into a friendlier attitude, but it was a no go. He looked just as solemn as he had all day.
"What are you looking at?" Cynom spat, throwing Trey a dirty look.
Trey sighed and said, "Nothing."
"Don't be so grouchy, Cynom," Josh said, his eyes still closed as he lounged in the water with the rest of them.
Cynom merely made a rude noise in his throat and sloshed water as he got out of the pool to wander a little ways a way. He was annoyed. Even Josh was standing up for the slave? Cynom couldn't believe it. What was wrong with the world? Was there no solidarity?
"What's wrong with him?" Cercae asked, as he and Shoori waded their way over to the rest of the group.
"Nothing," Aeleon replied with a sniff, "He just wanted to take a walk."
"Oh. Well, who all is going to the party later this week?"
Aeleon groaned. He had almost forgotten about the stupid thing. Every year they held a celebration in honor of his parents' coronation. It was stuffy and formal and not something Aeleon particularly wanted to attend. If his parents cared about it he would have felt differently, but they disliked it just as much as he did. It was a night full of hand shaking and political grandstanding. Everyone wanted to take their chance to promote their idea, ask favors, or call in supposedly owed favors on the king and queen. Unfortunately, it was not something he could skip out on. As informal as the king and queen seemed to be sometimes, the fact of the matter was that they were the heads of state and appearances were important.
"I was planning on going," Braeyon said, "Although the king is my uncle so I suppose that was a given."
"I think my mother was going to go, so I might accompany her," Shoori shrugged.
Josh nodded his head before saying, "I'm definitely going. I need to start making connections if I want a council seat by the time I'm 30."
"What about you, Trey?" Braeyon asked, playfully splashing a bit of water at Trey's torso as he asked the question.
"Umm," Trey hedged, "I hadn't heard anything about it. Am I supposed to come?"
"If you want to. It's a party celebrating the coronation of my parents. It mostly turns into a political arena more than a celebration, so it probably wouldn't be a whole lot of fun for you. We could go together though," Aeleon told him.
Actually, the more Aeleon considered it, the more attractive going to the dinner with Trey was. It meant he would have a more compelling reason than, "I don't want to," to give to Cynom when the man was sure to ask him to go with him. It would also mean that he would have a friend to talk to for the entirety of the ordeal. Usually, even though the rest of his friends showed up, they were scattered amongst their various stations and couldn't say more than a word or two to each other. Trey would also be given an opportunity to observe and understand the political climate of Oelae right now, as well as meet many of the big players. If the ex-slave was going to operate in this world, he would need to understand the games many people played.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Trey asked, not wanting to invite himself to something he felt like he wasn't supposed to go to.
"I think it would be a good idea," Aeleon suggested.
That being settled, the group of them continued to soak in the pool until the sun started to go down and a chill began to creep into the air. Shoori finally suggested they start to head back to the city, considering it would take them an hour or more and would definitely be dark before they returned. No one offered any opposition to this, all of them ready to dry off and possibly get some dinner. Cynom emerged from between the trees, never having come back to the pool after he had stomped off to sulk. It didn't take long to pack up and before Trey knew it, one of the most peaceful and relaxing evenings of his life had come to a close.
To be continued...
Author's Note: Well, I managed to get another chapter in before several months went by. :P I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and will tune in for the next one. I love feedback, so if you have a suggestion or just want to say hey, e-mail me at noonecory@yahoo.com