Naneth wept at the news.
'My son, going south, into danger! Oh, why did you ever sign up for the guard? And just when Mistress Araspen's mother is looking for a husband for her... it will do you no good to get killed, you know...'
Canadion held firm.
'I am in the guard, it is what I do. And if the south is so dangerous, why do you let my Ada work there? And as for Mistress Araspen, I am sure she is nice, but I have no thoughts of marriage at present. And if I did, I would find my own spouse.'
'Canadion! How very disrespectful!' Naneth said. 'When your mother knows what's best for you, after all I have done to introduce you to nice ellith...'
'Yes, Naneth, I did not ask you to! No, patrol with the guard, it is my job, and I will do it. I cannot choose. Just like it seems my father cannot choose...'
'Leave him out of this!' Cullasbes said. 'And do not blame me if you come to grief; I never wanted you to be in the guard anyway!'
'Well. I only came to let you know from courtesy; I will be fine. There are rumours of orcs, no more than that, just a little band. Nothing we cannot handle.'
'Nothing we cannot handle,' Captain Himon said at muster when the company gathered ready to march. 'But it's not a jaunt in the woods either. Rumours of orcs are never simply rumours; they will be there, somewhere, and we must be alert to them. Learn to listen to the voice of the forest, if you have not already. And we will need to be alert in the canopy, too; they say orcs are foul creatures, but so are our spiders, and there is talk that arachnid activity increases when orcs are in the area; I do not know, perhaps they like the black blood better than ours...'
'I would like to think so,' Angon muttered from the back.
'Well, wouldn't we all? We could just let the spiders do our job for us and then catch them while they're bloated and sleepy... except they are another enemy to watch out for, first. And I do not think the orcs would attack the spiders unless provoked; they are too bent on killing elves...'
It was an uncomfortable thought, the notion of 'killing' when applied to themselves... the captain nodded, seeing his company suddenly stand more still, more silently.
'Yes, so to make sure the killing happens to other creatures, and not to good elves, we're being joined by Ash Company when we get to the first way point, so let's be moving out...'
A three hour march along good, broad trails to a glade with a dozen or so flets arrayed in the trees around, used for just meetings or for training close to home but not too close, and Ash Company waiting for them there. Their captain handed them over to Himon's care, himself to head back to the barracks with his second for a round of training exercises amongst the new recruits.
But the members of Ash Company were known to them, a good enough troop, and they made a brief, convivial rest of it before pressing on.
Duvainor kept near Canadion's side, and the discipline of the march was no so much that warriors were forbidden to talk amongst themselves, which made the time pass well.
This part of the forest was new to Canadion, and more than one of his new marching companions helpfully told him what they knew of it, quite often finishing with an invitation to explore later, if he liked.
'Thank you,' Canadion said, realising after the third such invitation that it was, perhaps, not simple good manners. 'May I bring my friend, too?'
Duvainor laughed. 'Oh, I have heard tales of our friend here, Canadion! I am sure he would enjoy taking us both on, given the chance... Except we do not share, Lognaer, sorry.'
Lognaer sighed. 'Well, you can't blame an ellon for trying...'
Canadion was impressed by the trees here, they were larger and darker, more oak than anything, strong and sturdy.
'I do like an oak,' he said. 'Even though it isn't my tree, as such...'
'Oh, you flirt, Canadion!' Duvainor said with a grin. 'Mine is copper beech, however do you dare admit such a thing to me?'
'Well, I have never ridden the breeze from the canopy of a copper beech, after all. Perhaps you can show me, one day?'
'Yes, I would love to ride you in the canopy, love,' Duvainor said, dropping his voice. 'To hear the soughing of the branches and the sighs of you in my arms... it would be perfect, I think.'
A few days later, Duvainor had his chance. They were within a day of the road, now, on the western side of the forest but not towards the region where orcs had been reported. As the companies had progressed, the captain had left elves stationed at the watch flets, three to each, a few hour's run apart. Now they had reached a good, thick cover of deciduous broadleaved woodland amongst which a tight copse of copper beech made glorious, dark contrast with the greens of other foliage.
'Volunteers, then, to occupy the watch flet here...? Duvainor, yes... Canadion... I suppose you two know how to work together...?'
Canadion tried not to nod too fervently; they were actually very good together, but in ways he hoped the captain couldn't imagine.
'A third, for the flet..? No, not another two, another one...? Angon? No?'
The captain rubbed the back of his neck. By rights, there should be three to the watch, and Angon and his friend were able, but they did not want to be separated and he couldn't spare two elves here... besides, Angon still sneered at young Canadion, calling him nought but a palace elf and no use… except Canadion was almost as good a shot as Duvainor, who was an excellent shot and a bold warrior, young though they both were, and they were a couple, for all they tried not to show it... but together long enough they wouldn't be distracted by attraction, yet might like the luxury of a time together alone... and it wasn't as if the rumours suggested trouble here…
'Very well. Duvainor and Canadion, hold this flet here. We'll continue on, cross the road, and establish a watch there. The rest of us will press on towards the area of the report; you should have us back in four days. Keep alert, now. Right, we'll break for an hour while you check and replenish your water and food cache.'
Left alone together in the flet, Canadion put his back against the trunk of the tree and smiled at Duvainor.
'This is nice,' he said. 'You. Me. Our very own flet...'
Duvainor laughed and shook his head, his hair shimmering in its braids.
'You temptation, you! Yes, it is, it is very nice... and later... but first, we must go through the duty points...'
The duty points were a simple checklist of things they were deemed to need to know about the flet before they could properly begin t heir guard duty. It was, at times, basic.
'Point one,' Duvainor began. 'Which way is north?'
Canadion sighed and rolled his eyes, but pushed away from the tree.
'The flet is always oriented to the cardinal points. The front right corner of the guard rail is marked with blue dye...'
'And that shows...?'
'That shows north. South is marked in white, East in yellow, West is red. Thus if one colour is obscured by mischance, orientation can still be ascertained by examination of the other posts.'
'Excellent, good. The nearest water?'
'There's a stream half a mile east; the sign for water is on the yellow corner with the distance marked.'
'Yes, I see the marks... food is in the cache amongst the roots on the... north side.'
'I see the sign on the post... there's also a mark for deer, so we could shoot our dinner, if we must. I like this tree, Duvainor, it has a very soothing song...'
'Don't let it soothe you too much, lovely, we're on duty, remember?'
Canadion laughed. They were officially finished with the first section of the Duty Points; all that remained was to familiarise themselves with the tree.
'I'll go up first,' he offered.
'All right. Not too high, and remember, we are not near the palace any longer; the tree will not know you by name, and there are things that lodge in the deeper woodland than we see near home...'
Canadion nodded and laid his hands on the trunk of the tree, allowing his awareness to slide forward into the bark in an attempt to connect with the life of the oak under his hands. Its patterns were slow, measured, but he thought he felt an acknowledgement, and so he tried in his mind to form the shape of a question about what might be living in the canopy above. In response to his mental query, he got a sense back only of little, buzzing things, of swift, tickling feet, of birdsong high and small and shrill.
'Squirrels, and butterflies, bees and songbirds,' he said aloud, his voice slowed from connection with the tree. 'Other laughing thoughts were here, but gone. No big life around us at the moment...'
'Well! That's more than I asked for, Canadion, but I'm impressed,' Duvainor said. 'Always, of course. Well. Up into the canopy with you, then. But slowly!'
Canadion smiled and leaned in to the trunk for a moment, signalling intent. Once sure the tree had time to understand, he reached for a branch above his head, grasped it with care in his long, strong fingers and pulled himself up, almost walking up the trunk. Standing on a bough above the level of Duvainor's head, he glanced up into the canopy.
'It is a very well-laid out tree,' he said. 'It seems to have arranged its limbs with thought for those who might climb amongst them. I will go a little further.'
The tree was used to him now, and seemed to help, obligingly reaching its branches down and round. Once it pushed him away from his chosen route; he frowned, but allowed the tree to guide him, and soon saw why; a squirrel's drey nestled close to where he would have passed.
'Ai, and they tickle, so you do not want them disturbed, yes?' he murmured. 'Very well.'
Mounting higher, he found himself at a branching of the main trunk as the canopy flattened out. Here was more insect life; small spiders, no bigger than a fingernail, butterflies with glorious azure wings, flies and buzzing things busy about their lives. A breeze filigreed through the leaves and slender twigs lacing the ends of the branches, and he sighed and allowed himself to flow into the life of the tree and absorb its sense of being.
Here, linked to the oak's patterns, he could see beyond it into the forest, share the signals it read from the surrounding trees. All in the immediate vicinity was calm, at least as far as the oak was concerned – which meant no threat from large arachnids at present.
Of course, they could, and did, move swiftly when the need arose, but still, he should be able to hear a warning with plenty of time to prepare, were they to be over-run.
He shuddered at the thought, the bodies of the spiders killed in his training march rising up to haunt him.
'Canadion? Are you well?' Duvainor called up, his tone anxious, and Canadion wondered how he could know of the shadow that had crossed his fëa.
'I am fine, all is well,' he called back. 'I'm on my way down.'
Allowing the oak to choose his line of descent, he slid and slithered through the boughs until he was once more on the branch just above head-height from the flet. Duvainor opened his arms and Canadion jumped down to let himself be held and hugged.
'I thought, we are on duty, we are working, Duvainor...?'
'Yes, and we are, sorry, I just... your fëa went dark, I felt it through the tree... what was it?'
'Nothing, really. Just the thought of the spiders we killed... and thinking, we may meet more. Although all seems clear, it... made me think.'
Duvainor shrugged and reluctantly released Canadion.
'Ai! Much though I am glad to be private with you, it makes me wonder if we would have been better with others to share the duty...'
'Angon would not.' Canadion's voice was softly shameful. 'He despises me.'
'He is a fool. It is true, you are not a proven warrior, you cannot claim to have had the decades of experience he does... but that does not mean you are not able. There is not another in the troop, my friend, whom I would trust more than you with my safety. And I hope I can make up by my experience any lack of your own... no, do not smile so, I meant... I meant in the guard...'
'I know, forgive me.' Canadion sighed, serious again after the moment's brightness. 'Perhaps we should have been left nearer to the palace, if we had to be left...'
'The captain knows what he is doing,' Duvainor said firmly. 'Well, I will go and introduce myself to the tree now; you can make camp for us.'
Making camp on a flet was easier than amongst the undergrowth on the forest floor; it consisted of unpacking the bedrolls and unfurling them across the planking, finding provisions and setting them ready for Duvainor's return. Under the canopy the air was warm, the leaf cover was thick, and so there was no need for tents or to roof in the flet against the weather; they were more than adequately sheltered from except the most torrential of storms.
'The tree senses no disturbance other than that of the troop's passing,' Duvainor said, returning to sit beside Canadion on his bedroll. 'And all is peaceful. There is an hour of daylight left before the gloaming, and so I feel confident to declare you may have that hour for your personal requirements…' He gave his beautiful, enticing smile. 'And I think I will risk taking some time off, also. We can spend it together, if you like?'
'I should like that very much… but we are supposed to be on guard…'
'Yes, which is why, while it is bright daylight, while the tree is awake enough to keep watch on our behalf… You can keep your eyes open, if you're worried…'
Canadion laughed.
'What, and lean over the side rail keeping watch while you take your pleasure in me behind? It sounds… interesting, as long as we can reverse roles later…'
'Ah, I was thinking, the adjacent beech, there's a lovely spread of branches, you could lie down and…'
Despite being alone but for the tree, Duvainor leaned in to whisper, his breath hot and enticing on Canadion's neck and ear, causing him to giggle, and wriggle, and put his arms around Duvainor's neck, very much off duty, suddenly, and exposing his throat for it to be kissed and nuzzled. Swept up in his friend's strong arms, Canadion found himself borne off into the adjacent canopy where there was, indeed, a happy arrangement of branches crossing over and around, broad enough, safe enough to spread out, to disrobe, to lie back and watch the filtering sun glazing the leaves above…
…soft, slow sensation, a dreamlike quality to the encounter, as if it were special, as if… the build of passion, lust and… and love, that was it, that was the sense that wrapped Canadion so close, that held him so tightly, that whispered and whimpered and made his skin sing, that was sighing all around in the branches, and Duvainor tried not to cry out his name, and Canadion held him close and Duvainor, how he loved Duvainor, how…
'…love you, Duvainor, beloved one, my joy, my light in the trees…'
'Ah, my beautiful Canadion… you are so much to me…'
Duvainor cradled him in his strong arms, looked down with laughing, teasing eyes.
'I knew you would be more beautiful than ever here, in this setting, it is as perfect as you. Come though, love, time to dress, and put duty on again.'
Canadion smiled and reached for his clothes, sliding into them with a sigh.
'Thank you, Duvainor… I suppose we must keep a watch?'
'We must. But we can eat together first, and then if you want to rest for an hour, I'll be lookout. Although I think the only thing worth looking at will be you.'
It was simple food, such as could be easily carried and safely cached at need; waybread, dried fruits, cured, hard strips of venison, but shared with Duvainor on their private flet, it felt like a banquet. Canadion felt his heart swell with love and his fëa sing… Duvainor loved him, he was sure of it, and as for his feelings for the brave and beautiful ellon with eyes made more lovely by the hint of sadness in his soul, well, they were becoming deeper and stronger with every passing day; it was something beyond the physical connection of their bodies, he really felt as if his fëa was reaching out towards Duvainor's, as if, perhaps, they would be each other's forever.
'Do you feel it, Duvainor, my joy?' he asked. 'How the love we share is growing?' and Duvainor smiled.
'I know you are beautiful, and you make my heart laugh, and you fill my senses, Canadion. And for me, I had not thought so much would ever be for me again. So, yes, I feel how close we are tangling ourselves, our souls. I cannot help but fear it, a little, even as I desire it, for… well, you know how it has been for me… I am in love with you, I want to give myself up to you, and to the future, to forever at your side…'
Canadion held his breath, but Duvainor continued.
'…but you are young, and I am your first love, and while I may be your always love, I do not want to hurry you into commitment. It is the one thing I was grateful for, after, that my dead hero had waited, made me wait, that we had been sure.'
'I am sorry, Duvainor, to remind you of your loss. I… I have lost nobody. Perhaps I am fortunate, but it means I have had nobody to lose… yes, you are first with me. I suppose… I am young, I can wait with you until I am no longer young, if you need me to, I… we do not share, so it is all right.'
'It is more, what your parents would say if you were to bind yourself so young, and to an ellon…'
'Ai, Duvainor! You do know how to spoil a mood! Yes, Naneth would hate it, and I do not know what I would be able to do or say to make her see… I do not think she knows about you and me together, I think… my brother Baudh, she purses her lips at him when she thinks he isn't looking, but he is hard-working and I believe he is not in love with anyone… I think he just has friends he can go to… surely Naneth would not mind so much, if it was just one person?'
'Naneths are strange things, Canadion. She might think, "oh, he is just playing, he has not met his forever love yet, and perhaps he is doing it to tease, perhaps there is, somewhere, an elleth he would want to bind to…" I think it is unlikely, I have seen your brother with his friends, and I am sure an elleth would never suit him. But it might be your mother's hope, and while he has many casual friendships and no abiding lover, it may be easier for her to refrain from expressing her dislike.'
'What… what will we do, Duvainor?'
'Whatever pleases us, Canadion; we are of age, after all, and we did not tell our parents what to do or who to love; they wanted us, they asked for us, they should respect our wishes…' He sighed, knowing it would not be that easy, not wanting to scare off this jewel of an elf who was so in love with him and who had brought him such unexpected comfort. 'Or we ask for a remote posting; Emyn-nu-Fuin, or Lórien, perhaps… sometimes, exchanges take place, we could spend a couple of centuries there easily enough, if we had to… if it was too much to expect from our families to support us…'
'I do not think my Ada would mind; he said, he wants us to be happy, whatever that means for us.'
'Ah, well, parents often say things and think they mean them. Well, never mind that now, Canadion. I think I can kiss you goodnight, just lightly, and then it is time to set the watch.'
Canadion settled down, his heart reeling… Duvainor was in love with him, enough to hope to make plans! And all his worries and concerns were quite understandable, after all… Canadion could wait until Duvainor felt safe. There was plenty of time, was there not?
And full of the wonder of being in love and having the most beautiful ellon in the world in love with him, Canadion opened his eyes and went to sleep.
