Aftermath

I am having huge isues getting any kind of writing done. The last chapter was terrible, to say the least. Though the review I got in response made me go over the information I have about Durth. What was suggested is definately something I've wondered about the young man, but at the same time there are a couple of other options that are floating about.

If Durth IS who we both suspect he might be, boy is Una going to be pissed when he finds out that he isn't his precious' first.

In this one, Durth talks a bit of nonsense which at the same time makes a bit of a point. Which, also, given the story and Raya's oddities, kind of starts directing towards an explanation towards what is going on inside Raya's head.

The next updated, for any of the stories, will be determined by when and how well I write. Considering I'm having trouble differentiating between "week" and "weak" and "here" and "hear" and such on down the line... yeah, I need to take a step back.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





He washed and then climbed into bed between Raya and Tah. He expected each to stay to their side of the bed. Instead Raya draped an arm around Durth, Tah cuddled up next to him. The woman was freezing cold, Durth was about as warm as could be. And yet after his night…

Durth pushed his body against Raya, using the man’s heat to calm the ache in his back and… well…butt. And pushed his head against Tah’s, breathing in a woman’s scent. Women were not a problem to him, not in bed. They meant nothing to him and thus were safe. Somehow Tah’s scent just made him feel safe. Perhaps it was because Tah was on his side or because she somehow reminded him of his mother.

He slept better than he had in months. Perhaps even years. A good mattress and solid walls could do that to a person. A restful night and when they awoke.

Well, when Durth awoke, breakfast was waiting in the room for them. Raya had pretended to sleep until Durth woke. Then the Brother slid off of the bed and made some comment about apprentices tiring him out. They went about dressing silently before sitting down at the small table to eat breakfast, Durth accepted whatever Raya pushed onto his plate.

“So.” Durth muttered over a cup of tea. Tea! Durth hadn’t had proper, tasty tea ever, “how do I call you by now?”

“Cousin,” Raya responded.

“Even though you’re a Brother?”

“Even Father’s apprentice calls him Cousin. The one training you is always Cousin.”

“Oh,” Durth paused, “So you’re a Brother but I call you Cousin.”

“Yes.”

“How will others know that you are a Brother then, if I cannot call you Brother in public?”

“I don’t want them to know I am a Brother,” Raya muttered around a piece of toast, “most people are too daft to realise that all these pairs travelling through calling one another Cousin aren’t lost family or some such searching for a home. But walking into a place and calling another Brother when there’s no family resemblance is like as not to get you killed. People don’t take kindly to the name Aniege. Before the world fell the Aniege was a terrorist group, looking to destroy the Sidhe. Since the ideal has changed, keep the Sidhe separate and such but don’t kill them.”

“Why change your mind on that?”

“Because,” Raya sliced into his steak, still chewing the toast, “the Sidhe were the ones who showed him how to destroy the world. They were the ones who helped him destroy the world and they can destroy us even, if we prod them into it. But him. He’ll attack without provocation. Did it once, he’ll do it again.”

“We didn’t provoke the Sidhe into showing him how to end the world,” Durth pointed out.

Raya and Tah exchanged a look.

“You will call me Cousin.”

“Even though you are a Brother…”

Raya sighed and set down his fork, “look at it this way, what am I to you?”

“My master and my teacher.”

“Which means I am…”

“My Cousin.”

“And thus you shall call me.”

“But you are also a Brother.”

“Yes but-”

“You cannot look at a man and see only one aspect of who he is and still claim to know the man or even to see the man. A man is a whole, not some fraction of his personality revealed. I am not just a gay man, I am an apprentice, I am a survivor of slave trade and of abuse. If you see only the homosexual and dismiss the rest, you make a grave and stupid mistake.”

“But,” Raya countered, “in Past’s compound, did not you encourage them to see you only as servant, not as a homosexual or as a strong minded, intelligent young man, but as a dim witted servant?”

“To survive.”

“So to do I demand you call me Cousin in public. So we can survive.”

“But in private…”

Tah groaned, “don’t argue that philosophy crap with him, I haven’t the mind for it and I want to get walking before the sun gets too high.”


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