I recognized Fattah's voice as soon as I heard him calling for me. I ignored him, curling tighter on top of my blankets. Despite my aversion to him, however, he found his way into my litter, breathing hard from running.
"My king, it is Hephaestion."
Forgetting my anger, I straightened with worry, "What has happened? What did you do to him?"
He smiled softly at my accusation, "He has broken his tail from hard riding."
"CLEITUS!" I roared for another general in my army and a dear friend.
"Yes, Alexander?" he was immediately with us.
"Move this burden of an army now! Do not worry, dear boy, we shall soon be with him once more. You were very brave to come to me as you did," I gave him a look that he was sure to understand.
"Yes, my lord," he bowed his head.
"Do not fret. We shall soon be with Hephaestion again."
"Please do not punish him!" he threw himself into my arms, "He was only looking for happiness! Please understand!"
"I do, dear boy. I will not punish, nor hurt him further. You have my word."
"Thank you, my King," he removed himself from me, kneeling, head bowed.
It was taking double the time to arrive to the place where Hephaestion was by litter than Fattah did just by running. As a consequence, Fattah was anxious, lying under my blankets as I sat next to him on top of them.
"Fattah," he startled at his name, and turned to me quickly.
I found he had been weeping, and his makeup had run with his tears.
"Come here," I extended an arm out to him, "It will be all right. Let us fix your makeup. We would not want Hephaestion to see his other half in such a state, would we?" he raised himself up and then crawled to a spot in front of me, close enough for me to effectively reach him.
I set out Hephaestion's own set of cosmetics, readying the thin, point-tipped brush before reaching for the spare washcloth, the other one seeming to be missing. When I was prepared, I turned to the watery-eyed boy in front of me.
"It's all right. Do you want to talk of him?" his eyes widened in surprise before he nodded slowly.
"He—he is a great lover…"
"That he is. What gifts has he presented to you thus far?"
With careful fingers, he exposed his throat. On it hung a gold diamond inset with a jade, and with smaller gold diamonds hanging from the central one and quivering in the warm breeze.
"Oh my gods…" I reached out, wanting but afraid to touch it.
"He said he found the jade in the Aegean Sea as a boy, and had it inset not long after that…" his throat constricted as he swallowed as tears threatened to fall from his topaz eyes as he watched me nervously.
I was startled; why had Hephaestion not given me this gift? As this fleeting thought crossed my mind, I shook my sadness and anger away. I had to comfort Fattah, not punish him for an emotion he could not help. I noticed Fattah was staring at me as I was in my thoughts.
"You are still worried. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything I can get for you? Food? Drink?"
"My mother always used to brush my hair when I was sad…" he offered, turning his head to look over his shoulder at me, his thick, black, wavy, medium-long hair falling to just below his shoulders.
"We can do that. Cleitus! Bring me my horse-hair brush, if you will."
"Certainly, Alexander."
When the brush had come, I took a handful of Fattah's black silk in one hand, letting it run through my fingers for a moment. Fattah's head tipped toward me, his eyes closed in pleasure.
"Hephaestion loves to do that…" he purred, "He loves it especially after we have had a night together…"
"And what else does he like to do Fattah?" as I said this, teasing him, he blushed ever so slightly.
"He-he likes to—Ohhh…"
"Does he love you with his body?" I whispered, smiling at his reaction to simple words.
"Yes…"
"And does he love you with his heart?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"He-he said not too long ago he would steal the moon from the night sky, from Artemis herself, and go willingly to Kólasi for the crime, all to give me the moon…"
"Really?"
"Really."
I felt something in my other hand. Looking down, I saw that Fattah's long fingers lay on top of the brush, and I realized he had turned his head toward me, so I looked up.
"Can you please help me get ready for Hephaestion? I fear we are almost to where he is."
"Of course," I began to brush his brush went through easily and his hair was well oiled and free of tangles. It was as if he was not traveling with us at all, but safe at home, wherever he considered home to be. As I began to apply makeup to his face, I posed this question to him.
"Where do you consider home to be for you now, Fattah? Hold still just a minute, I'm not as good at this as Hephaestion…" I was putting liner on his eyes, "All right."
"Home for me is anywhere Hephaestion is. I love him, my king."
"Oh, call me Alexander. We have a new level of communication, do we not?"
"That we do. Alexander."
"Alexander, we are here!" Cleitus called to us.
Fattah began to fret that he wasn't ready, but I soothed him.
"All you need is the kohl around your eye and you will be ready."
"Oh, I don't care!" he was out of the litter and back before I could even respond, "He's cold. If the muscles are tight around his injury he could be hurt even more."
"How did it happen?" I descended the litter with him.
"The hard riding was too much for him. He fell off Aella a few weeks ago, but he is not one to complain."
"You're right. Everyone bring everything necessary, we are camping here until Hephaestion heals!"
Cleitus ran up to me, "I just took the last of the meat."
"Go out hunting. Fattah and I will stay with Hephaestion. Fattah, go to him. I will bring the extra blankets."
Fattah ran off, not wasting a moment.
Translations:
Kólasi = Hell
AN: I got the traslations from Google Translate, so I am sorry if they are wrong! Feel free to correct them if need be!
