Mysterious Marks

Nils stayed as close to his master's side as Lin would tolerate. Though they had been closer when they were younger, Nils still often accompanied the army's tactician on as many missions as possible. Despite the close nature of the relationship between master and retainer, there were still some questions that Nils couldn't ask Lin.

"Are you sleeping with Commander Gaius?" just happened to be one of them.

Of course, he couldn't outright ask of Lin was sleeping with anyone. Even saying being intimate would sound obscene. As inappropriate as it would be for him to ask, the question burned more each passing day. He was especially anxious the more often that Lin didn't return to his tent at night. It wasn't odd for him to stay up late working, especially since he'd taken the new name of Wingul, but it was becoming excessive and more common than ever before.

When Nils was the only one with him in the morning preparing to leave the camp, he noticed something strange about his master. Specifically, something odd on his master's neck, something almost but not quite completely out of sight.

"Lin, are you alright?" He asked, looking at his master worriedly.

Lin noticed the way Nils scrutinized him and there was just an edge of defensiveness in his usually calm tone when he replied. "I'm fine."

"But your neck," Nils persisted. "Is that a rash? Or a bug bite?"

It was almost covered by Lin's hair, though someone as observant and dedicated to his master's wellbeing as Nils was could still notice it. The mark looked more like a bruise, but his propensity for being quick to worry made him wonder if it had been a bug bite that was scratched open and bled then got infected.

There was also the possibility that it was something else entirely, but he didn't want to think of that possibility.

"I can get you something for it," he offered.

"There's no need," Lin said dismissively.

"Perhaps you need a new sleeping mat."

"There's no need, I'm not getting a rash from anything," he said as he shoved his maps into their cylindrical holders.

"Maybe your horse has fleas?" he questioned, pressing the matter. "They could be flea bites."

"I doubt there's anything wrong with the horse. It's nothing to worry about."

"But fleas tend to bite in several times in an area, it could be fleas," he said.

"Nils."

Nils knew that he should drop the subject, but he still didn't want to. Lin knelt down to pick up his books and Nils scrambled to help, but the strings tied at the front of his master's shirt hung forward and Nils noticed at least one more of the marks around his collarbone. This one was even redder and bigger than the first one Nils spotted.

"But there's more than one!" Nils said worriedly.

Lin indignantly tugged the strings tighter. "It was from the one mission yesterday, I walked through an area with a lot of mosquitos."

"But I haven't seen a single mosquito around here," Nils said. "And they would have had to be very large mosquito to leave bites that big! Think of all the blood they would have taken to leave such marks!"

"It's nothing, they don't even hurt."

"But if that took that much blood-"

"Nils," he said warningly.

Nils wasn't letting the matter go. Of course, he was concerned for his master's wellbeing, but he was also bothered by the nature of the odd marks.

The question that had been bothering him for a while now popped into his mind yet again, but he simply couldn't blurt it out. It was terrible enough when Lin had agreed to join Gaius, it make him stomach drop to think that the two were becoming close. It was the perfect time, if their roles were different, but as they were not, he just couldn't ask something sensitive so bluntly. He could, however, ask a less direct question.

Nils spoke in a hushed voice when he started to ask another question. "Are they...love marks?"

Lin slammed the books he was holding down on the table, making Nils jump.

"Nils, enough!" he said, raising his voice. "I already told you what they were. As a matter of fact, it's really no business of yours what they are or aren't."

"But I'm just worried about you!" Nils exclaimed, quite honestly.

"You're pressing for information!"

It was at that moment that Commander Gaius entered the tent without warning carrying a map. They both glanced up when the tent flap was pushed open with no announcement of someone entering. The casualness of the way Gaius came inside made Nils' cheeks flush as his mind ran away with wild possibilities. Lin's hand was still clenched into a fist on top of his books and Nils was leaning across the table.

"Wingul, I need you to review our route for tomorrow..." he began, but paused when he looked at the two young men angrily at opposite sides of the table. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, I'll review it right now," Lin said as he straightened.

"I can come back," Gaius offered.

"It's fine," Lin said as he snatched the map from his hands.

"Is it now?" he asked, a hint of sarcasm in the question.

Lin led the way out of the tent and dove right into discussing the route. "Is it the rain flooding the low lying roads that you're worried about?"

Gaius followed after him without further comment on the situation he walked in on. Left alone in the tent, Nils sank back to his knees and sighed. He stared at the tent flaps as they waved closed and their voices faded out of earshot. He started to gather the books and Lin's other belongings to be packed, knowing that there was no reason for him to shirk his duties.

Some part of him knew what was going on, but since Lin was so unusually closed off about it, he left himself to think of other reasons and other explanations. He once told him everything, but that certainly wasn't the case anymore. He preferred to consider other possibilities for the former Long Dau prince's behavior, even when they weren't very likely ones.

Author's Note: I may have gone…a bit far with this one, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

In the words of a dear friend of mine, that mosquito must have been around six feet tall with long hair.

Wingul's 18 or 19 here, but I used Lin throughout since it's from Nils' point of view and I imagine he never really fully accepts the change of name.