Twilight of Ivory

A/N: Next chapter, editing, and answers to questions coming tonight! after I get back from going out. In a rush right now, sorry for the delay on this chapter.

"Sit."

The man--Lord Eulovanic, Prith had called him--released Naru when they entered a spacious tent with a table, a large pallet in the corner, haphazardly-strewn packs, and weighted lamps in glass casting light and shadows over the canvas walls.

Eulovanic guided him to a chair on one side of the table, and he went around to the seat on the opposite side. Naru looked around a little more and then sat down awkwardly.

The man cleared his throat. "I am Eulovanic of Kieran in Isormine, lord of my estate and commander of this division," he said. "I'll inform you of the situation. But your name, boy?"

Naru shifted. "Iventhal. Naru Iventhal." Good, he was going to get some answers now...but there was a queasy feeling in his stomach, a portentous feeling of dread that didn't bode well, not at all.

"And your age?" Eulovanic questioned again.

"I'll be sixteen in a few months," Naru replied for the second time that night. There was a moment of silence, and a furrow appeared between Eulovanic's eyebrows. Naru was feeling itchy again. "What do you want of me? Why'd you take me from my village?" he asked finally.

Eulovanic seemed to shake himself. His eyes grew alert, and he coughed briefly into his hand. "We are taking you to the capital city," he began gruffly. "To Court and to the king, to receive his permission for our bonding."

What?

"I've already sent a messenger ahead with my intentions. They should be ready for us when we arrive, which will be in several days, and we'll have the ceremony from there. I'm sure you'd like to get to Kieran and the country as quickly as possible. If we're lucky, you'll even be carrying by then."

Naru was speechless. Eulovanic caught the shock on his face, and his expression went from thoughtful to concerned. Naru tried to voice his disbelief.

"Y--" Naru's words felt thick and strangled. "Y--you--?"

Eulovanic misunderstood him. "It will be an advantageous bonding, Iven--...Naru. I am a man of good position, rising standing, and a considerable estate. You will not suffer as you did in the backwoods, and you will be accorded proper honor and respect, as my mate deserves."

His voice was blasé now, as if he were sure that Naru would be satisfied. Was Naru's shock not registering on his face? Couldn't Eulovanic see it, feel it, diffuse it, what was wrong with him, this was all pretty scary, and unfair, and fuckin' absurd--

"Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Eulovanic looked at him expectantly.

Naru hadn't rebelled against the other Isormine soldiers. He'd even started to be friends with them, although technically he was a prisoner and at their mercy. But Naru had never immersed himself so completely in war that he was consumed with hate for the opposition; he held no personal grudge towards Prith or the others.

But now, Naru's heart was beating a queer rhythm in his chest. He felt heavy, like a piece of wood, and he could barely register what the man was telling him, except that his position as a prisoner, as a captive, was being exploited to the fullest extent. Eulovanic...he...he didn't even seem to expect a protest.

Naru sat up to look Eulovanic in the face. His hands shook a little. "I don't think you can do this," he said.

"I can."

"How?" Naru demanded, exasperated.

"You don't know of the laws regarding the darra?" Eulovanic steepled his fingers together and frowned at him.

Naru fisted his hands in the folds of his tunic. "In...in my village, they all knew I was daire, but they didn't try to take advantage of me. When I had a child, it would be of my own volition, and his father would be of my own choosing."

Eulovanic looked impatient. "Your village was a piece of isolated dreck," he replied. "In Isormine, any daire found is relinquished to his discoverer, if the latter is noble and unattached. No peasant or ordinary merchant may mate a daire. Furthermore, when a daire is bonded, he is bound by laws that do not approach those of marriage. The heirs he bears are legitimate and it is prohibited for him to consort with others, but his mate may seek a bride if he wishes, and the daire himself is not confined to the household. The rarity of your kind is well-treated among Isormine laws," Eulovanic said, inclining his head.

"What do you mean?" Naru's hands were shaking visibly now. "They don't give any rights to us at all."

Eulovanic looked at him with a frown. "I meant that the laws regarding your kind are well-detailed in our statutes--"

There was a bang as Naru slammed a fist on the table. "Fuck that! I'll never do it!" He stood up and turned for the entrance, walking away furiously, carrying himself into a sprint, he needed to leave--

The invisible lasso around his feet tightened once again, a sickening, lurching feeling, and he toppled to the ground.


Eulovanic had receded into himself, just a little bit, upon seeing the boy fully for the first time. Prith had unbound his hands and Naru had been talking animatedly with one of the soldiers as they walked. The boy was rather diminutive for a growing teenager, but he wasn't weak. Furthermore, the boy was striking in a plain, wholesome way that unsettled Eulovanic. His attributes were earthy, brown hair and green eyes, and there was a brightness about his features, a certain congeniality that bespoke of a good nature, a talent for friendship that Eulovanic already felt self-consciously excluded from.

And so Eulovanic, feeling rather stilted, had receded into himself, speaking straightforwardly, unsympathetically; he wanted the boy badly, and everything he had ever wanted before--his position, health, respect--he'd had to take or seize.

And now he knew that Naru was not obedient to this nature of his. Upon hearing his words, the boy refused him in fury and made away, and Eulovanic reacted without noticing he'd left his chair.

Luckily, the boy seemed to have been thinking of escape and the spell felled him before he made it very far. Eulovanic had grabbed onto his arm just before he collapsed, and the sudden abruptness of the fall sent him plummeting as well, thankfully he was able to brace one hand against the floor so as not to crush the boy--

"Gerroff me!" Naru shouted. Eulovanic tried to grapple with him carefully, tried to set them both back on their feet, but Naru thrashed and his clenched hand suddenly barreled into Eulovanic's cheek. Pain smoldered in the bone, and Eulovanic's expression darkened.

He seized the boy at the waist, turning him over so that he could see him fully. Naru looked red and angry and a little bit scared, but he didn't stop fighting; they wrestled for nearly thirty seconds before Eulovanic set his knees against the boy's thighs and pinned his arms above his head.

"Calm down," he ordered through gritted teeth. He was tired of this game, a mate should never be this difficult; and still Naru kept writhing, his eyes going frantically from side to side. Eulovanic sneered, jerked the boy's hands up, and slammed them down again against the floor and none too gently. "Obey me. Calm...down."

Naru stopped struggling and started vehemently shaking his head. "I'll never do it! You can't make me!"

Eulovanic stared at him for a moment and then tested the waters. "I will bond you," he said.

"No!" Naru bared his teeth. Eulovanic's grip tightened around his wrists warningly.

So it was this matter that still had the boy worried? Eulovanic searched for something comforting to say.

"I won't hurt you and I won't make your life miserable. You will be treated well. I have a sister and servants, and they will welcome you."

The boy was not listening. His eyes were darting around the tent now, looking for some magic hole to escape through, Eulovanic presumed.

"I have a vast estate. You will not want for forests and fields, for the fresh air that surrounded your home."

Naru seemed to give up; he turned his head away and his green eyes were no longer visible. Eulovanic's anger flashed; what thickheadness! "Iventhal, you have no power here. Do not test me, and do not sulk, there are thousands who'd beg for what I've offered you," he snapped.

The noise the boy made was between a cough and a laugh. "You really believe that?"

"I do," Eulovanic said firmly. "You have risen overnight, do you understand? If you were left to wallow in that village, you would be required to pay reparations with the rest of your kinsmen. And eventually, someone from Isormine would have taken notice of your heritage. You would have been sold off to the highest bidder, likely a duke or a champlain whose only cares are for money and flesh; I won't pretend that the magistrates resist gold when it's right in front of them. Or, if you fell into baser hands, you might have made it to a whorehouse, bred like an animal at the convenience of your proprietor.

"There are much, much worse things than a home at my estate and good standing at Court, and I assure you, many people would give everything they have for such stability."

Eulovanic took Naru's chin in hand and turned his head so that they faced each other again. The boy resisted at first but then gave in. His eyes were downcast.

"I should--I should be able to choose," he mumbled. "It's still not okay, even if you make it sound like that."

His scent was fresh, like dew on a summer morning. The atmosphere had finally quieted, except for the sounds of sparring far beyond the tent walls and men preparing for bed. Eulovanic stroked Naru's cheek idly.

"I apologize for the way I handled you tonight, Naru. You are young, and I know I ask a lot of you, but I need it." He pressed a chaste kiss to the side of his face, near his ear. "I hope we will be on better terms soon."

The boy turned away again, but his ears were prominently scarlet. "This is a shitty thing to do," he replied in a muffled voice.

Eulovanic smiled bleakly in amusement, rolled off of him, and then scooped Naru into his arms in one smooth motion before the boy could get up. Naru's breath caught and he thrashed on reflex.

"Stop that," Eulovanic reprimanded.

"You--put me down--"

"No. You will sleep in my bed tonight. It is much more comfortable than the ground."

"I don't mind the ground!" There was a bit of panic in his eyes.

"Don't fuss. I won't accompany you."

Naru glanced around the tent; anywhere but Eulovanic's face. His relief was clear. "Where's my sword, my father's sword?" he asked abruptly.

Eulovanic raised an eyebrow. He didn't understand this boy's thought patterns. "It is in my possession. I will return it you once I find you deserving of it," he answered. His knees bumped into the edge of his bed. He laid Naru down on it carefully.

"You should sleep. We leave early."

Naru didn't reply. Once he was on the mattress, he immediately turned away from him and curled up into a ball. Eulovanic looked down at him for several moments before turning away and exiting the tent, giving him some privacy.

He sought out three things: a spare pallet from the wagons, a plate of food from the cook, and a spell from his apprentice for a barrier around the bed.

Naru was lying on his side and thinking. He felt queasy and empty and itchy.

Him? That man's mate? A child?