Aftermath

This one brought up a few questions. First off, if you've read Partners and Sequel you know who ended the world, so why is Raya so desperate to make certain Durth follows through with his promise?

I think someone is trying to escape something and I'm not a hundred percent certain of what it is. Or why it's necessary to escape it...

Ayan isn't his usual prankster self when he is (technically) in charge of the troupe. There is a second in command, just Durth hasn't met him and apparently the guy isn't doing very good job. Unless he was ordered to let Ayan run the troupe and see how the young man does. Good leadership skills.

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Face pressed against Una’s shoulder, arm draped over the immortal, Durth breathed in and sighed out slowly. He didn’t want to move. No, he did. Durth shifted closer to Una.

The bedding had to be washed. It was a very good thing Una had gotten the trailer fixed at Ayan’s insistence.

Ayan.

Durth groaned and sat up, glaring at the too perky looking young man cradling a cup of steaming liquid. He wasn’t going to ask how long Ayan had been sitting there. So that he wouldn’t have to swear or do something foolish.

Ayan had insisted Una fix the trailer, just as he had insisted Una and Durth spend time together. Ayan had also been the one to suggest they have sex in a not so subtle fashion. And who was the one who was inside Durth’s head the night before?

“That was mean.”

“Not mean,” Ayan said, breathing in the steam, “here,” the young man handed the tea to Durth, bending over Una to do so, “he’ll sleep through most of the day and we have to pack up and move.”

“He’ll… here. While we travel?”

“Perfectly safe. Drink the tea.”

Durth frowned at Ayan and sipped the tea. Peppermint, it tingled all the way down and left a trail of little stars across his tongue. He blinked and looked at the tea, then up at Ayan. The young man snatched the tea mug back. Durth climbed over Una and snapped up his pants quickly.

“Go bath in the river. By the time you get back we’ll have the trailers packed up and we can move on. We’re going to a nice village tonight. Stay there a couple of days and wash the bedding and laundry and such.” Ayan turned his back politely as Durth put on the pants.

Clothed, sort of, Durth picked up his clothing from the day before and a towel. Ayan walked with Durth as Durth made his way to the water. Sandy bottom of the slow water meant that he could scrub with sand instead of the nasty smelling soap that most people had available. At the shore Durth stripped off the pants and set his clothing beside the pants and the towel atop the towel. It wasn’t until Durth slipped into the water and turned to Ayan that the young man sipped the tea.

And it occurred to Durth that that was not a good idea at all.

“Wait. Mint tea. Bad.”

“Why?” Ayan asked, smiling as he cocked his head to the side.

“Uhm. It’s uhm. Something about. Some. What’s your last name?”

“Aniege.”

“Bad,” Durth said, nodding as he waded out further and reached to the sandy bottom, pulling up a handful of sand, “wait. Aniege? Seriously?”

“Yes. We know all. We are all. Gods are beneath our feet,” Ayan tried to stay serious but ended up giggling, “mint is bad, yes, but peppermint we can have. Got quite a love of mint flavouring but only peppermint doesn’t have side effects the likes of which are addictive or sedative.”

“Peppermint just makes you giggly?”

“Makes a good deal of people giggly,” Ayan said quickly, looking at the side of his mug, “it’s also good for digestion. Elevates your mood while it calms you down.”

“How…” Durth paused in scrubbing at his arm with the sand. It was like those expensive salt scrubs women used to pay for before the end of the world

“I don’t know. But I’m also the guy who, if I eat too much, will overdose and die on mint,” Ayan said cheerfully.

To which Durth blinked, waving his hand under the water to wash off the sand that was still clinging to his hand. Durth bent and scooped up more sand, scrubbing at what he could.

“We can have hot baths tonight,” Ayan said, nodding, “there’s a budding temple there and they like serving baths to travellers. Huge vats of hot water for washing our clothing.”

“That’s nice.”

“You don’t sound impressed.”

“I am used to travelling on my own, few items needed for sleeping and the such.”

“We entertain tonight.”

“We entertained the night before last.”

“They have poles.”

“…”

“And Deaths.”

“What in the hells. As in ….” Durth made a little hand motion and ended up dropping his sand back into the water, “Deaths of myth and legend?”

Ayan grinned at him.

“Wait. How do you know this is you’ve-”

“The first four years of my life, I travelled with Una and my fathers. We settled down just before my fifth birthday. So Una comes through twice a year and tells us where he’s been and it’s almost the same every time he visits. I know most of his route as well as any other member of the troupe.”

“That how you knew he was going to sleep the day away?”

“No. I had to ask my father that one.”

“Your father’s not here.”

“Sidhe can travel really far in one night,” Ayan said as if that explained it all, “After… starving himself, let’s say, and then stuffing himself full, it’s like stuffing a person full of food. He gets sleepy. He’ll be all shiny and happy when he wakes up.”

“Aren’t there-”

“He’s not an incubus, the sexually inclined demons were based off of him. Sex is part of life, part of Mother and thus a part of her children. He needs to be in dirt like plants and he moves as little as the trees do. Some days he’ll call a stop to the travel to sunbathe because he needs the sun. Or soak in a waterfall because he’s dehydrated.”

“It just… sounds… I mean, to someone who has only part of the information… like he might be some sort of sexual demon. Is all.” Durth said before he dunked his head and gave it a bit of a scrub. It wasn’t the same as soaping himself up but it would still help with any kind of smell or grease. When he came up, Ayan was standing by the shore, holding out the towel.

He waded to shore and took the towel from Ayan, patting himself off quickly and giving his head another scrub with the towel to sop up some of the water. Ayan took the towel and collected Durth’s pants. Durth dressed and the pair of them walked back to the troupe, where the trailers were closed up and ready to move.

“Are you sure he’s going to sleep through the day?”

“Yes.” Ayan said, exasperated.

Durth climbed up into the seat of the trailer and spotted Raya climbing into his own trailer. The man tried not to sigh as he looked at Ayan.

“What’s your father’s name?”

“M’wn and Father.”

“Well… you don’t know Father’s name?”

“No. Everyone just says ‘hey’ and ‘oi’ and ‘yo’ and,” Ayan launched into Sidhe, speaking several phrases before he stopped and blinked at Durth, “my mother’s name is Mari and my brothers names are Tee’hn, Vah, Lish, Pohr…and Ahya.”

“That’s.” Durth’s mind made the connection, “none of them are people, are they? M’wn is a male Sidhe and has…”

“Bred with females of his race to pass on his genes, as his own biological imperative urges him to do. Currently there are three females heavy with his child. All three will be going to M’n’s tribe, which will set up on the other side of the forest.”

“You know everything but your father’s name. That’s a bit odd.”

“I also know he’s thirty-three years old.”

“Marvellous.”

“Some people call him Whisper.”

Cold down Durth’s spine. He told himself all Aniege were power users, but he had to ask the question, “are your parents both Aniege?”

“Yes, my mother was born of the Deun and Illuen so technically she’s not an Aniege but she’s inherited all the traits of an Aniege, just not the name. Father has my hair and my eyes and then the jaw. The nose. The Aniege bloodline. Which was thought to be dead, I might add. Boy. Am I ever happy it wasn’t!”

“Why?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be alive if the Aniege line didn’t exist.”

“Suppose that’s true. I mean, even though all the terrible stuff in my past actually happened to me, those events made me who I am, without them, I wouldn’t be sitting right here, talking to you…” an Aniege, a follower of Raya’s mate who Durth had called a different name the night before. “who is Ayato?”

“Ayato? Ayato is the one all Aniege hope to give birth to, he is our god and our saviour. He needs a body to be physically born, which is the only way he can have an influence on the living world.”

“Is he alive now?” Would Ayan lie to him?

“Yes, Ayato is alive and well.”

“Do you know that-”

“Raya is Ayato’s mate? Yes, it is painfully clear to me. Raya, when he is born, is overly protective of the Aniege.”

But had been all for killing or destroying one of them. Had been willing to kill an Aniege who had ended the world because he had been ordered to by the group of people calling themselves the Aniege. Durth’s mind spun around and around.

“Would. Raya kill one of the Aniege if Ayato told him to?”

Ayan smiled, “Raya would kill Ayato, if Ayato ordered it.”


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