content edited as of April 11, 2011; author's note untouched.
Warning: Light slash between Bale and Asrif, slight straying from cannon (the authoress is still upset about Bale's story), mentions of a female OC.
He knew something was wrong when Bale kissed him. Not that he had any objections, of course; no matter what the circumstances, a kiss was a kiss.
But it was wrong.
Bale, he knew, liked someone else. Bale, he knew, knew that he liked him. Perhaps, he thought, Bale was just humoring him. Perhaps, and this thought was more prominent than the other, Bale was trying to forget.
They were near Eagle Point, some hours rowing from the camp, and the birds were already sleeping at this time of night. All that he could hear when they broke apart was the Sea, their breath, and the shells in Bale's hair clinking against each other and against his own. They just sat there, Bale still leaning slightly over him.
Finally, he said, "You don't love me."
Bale frowned and said, "Yes, I do." He made to kiss him, but he was stopped.
"Not the way I love you," he said and gently pushed Bale back into a sitting position, "Not the way you love her."
Bale didn't say anything, just stared at him.
He gave a small smile, "She said no?"
"Yes," Bale said, eyes a little guilty, "she said no."
He placed a hand on Bale's shoulder and rose. "Too bad," he said, "she doesn't know what she's missing," then he helped Bale to his feet.
Bale looked at him imploringly, "I'm sorry, Asrif."
Again, he smiled, "It's all right," he said, and when Bale didn't appear to believe him, he added, "really. It's all right."
The hand he then placed on Bale's arm was intended to be reassuring. "I'm going to go back," he said, "are you coming?"
Bale shook his head, "No, I'll stay here for a while longer."
"Don't worry," said Asrif, "other girls like you, too. Take Anya, for example," then turned toward the area of beach where they had stored their skinboats. He picked his up and put it in the water. Before he began to paddle off, he raises his arm in a silent goodbye to Bale, who returned it hesitantly.
Bale sat down again and watched the moon's light dance on the surface of the Sea, disturbed just slightly by Asrif's paddle. He thought about Renn, the Raven girl who liked his clanless kinsman, about Anya, the Kelp girl he met at the clan meet last summer; and about Asrif, who may or may not have forgiven him.
Author's Note: Well, here it is, the slightly one-sided Asrif/Bale with very one-sided Bale/Renn fic I said I might write. Anya, by the way, does not exist in COAD. It's just a name, because no female characters from the Sea clans are mentioned by name. I don't even know if "Anya" is a Kelp-sounding name.