It's been a lot longer than I anticipated since I posted here. On the plus side, my house has a new roof, and my kids and I no longer live in a sieve. =) Also, I have over 51,000 words of this story written, and I can honestly say it's been one surprise after another!

So here at long last is Chapter 3, roughly revised, but pretty much as it rolled out of my brain and into the hard drive!

Kov waited by the water feature, seated with his legs crossed and eyes closed. To any casual observer, he might seem to be meditating, and so none would disturb him. In truth, he was longing for the scent that had already become more familiar than that of Sivet his father, and more treasured than that of T'Sia his Promised.

He was scenting the air for Koss. Even the anticipation of it brought the tingling longing into his fingertips, spreading upward to his second knuckles as though making demands he didn't fully understand. The yearning to touch was not one he had felt before, and with it came a – restlessness?

That was not precisely what he was feeling, however. He wished less to move, and more to be - open? He was aware, waiting, readying himself for something for which he had no name, beyond the one now filling his awareness…

Koss.

He had pointed out to the other that there was little logic in coming here separately when they shared office space, and would for the next several cycles, at the least. However, Koss had been firm. "It would be unseemly for us to be seen leaving so, in one another's company."

"I'm not concerned with what is unseemly, and it is no one's concern but our own."

"And Sivet your father?" Until that moment, Kov hadn't known that Koss was aware of any portion of his lineage. It implied that the other man had researched it, which was – unsettling, but also perhaps a point of pride, that he could so draw Koss' attention even before he was aware of the other's existence.

"Sivet has seldom found anything in my bearing or my behavior he deems satisfactory." This was truth, unblemished by any impulse to hide the facts. "If this becomes one more instance where I have 'failed to meet his logical expectations for me', it is no concern of mine."

Koss had nodded, then dipped his head. It was the first time Kov suspected that he, too, might have things in his living that he would prefer to keep hidden. "While the reasons I gave were valid in my mind, Kov, I have another I would have chosen not to express. Will you hear it, and consider its merit?"

His coloring shifted to the burnished flush once more; Kov found it appealing enough that he was unlikely to refuse any request he could honor. But perhaps it was best he not reveal so much to Koss, and so quickly. "I will listen, and consider," he said, in a tone even Sivet would have difficulty finding fault with.

"My reason is this: I wish to come to you by the water feature where first I scented you. Then, I was unprepared for the effect of your scent upon me; I was unable to come to you as I longed to do. Let this then stand for that day, and for what I would have done, if I had been able. Let it stand for a first meeting well made, and one perhaps we will both hold as cherished in our memories."

Kov had had no immediate answer for such a reason. He said only, "I will meet you at the water feature, Koss, as we arranged." After a few deep breaths filled with the scent of this man, intensified by the emotions beneath his surface calm, he added, "It will be my honor to meet you there. I will go and await you."

Then he had hurried off in a manner that was certainly unseemly, because the last was perhaps too close to the words meant to be spoken to one's Promised when arranging to meet for koon-u-kal-if-fee. Why had he spoken them to Koss?

What would the other man think of him speaking so? He had left without looking at Koss' face, because he feared what he would find there.

What if Koss did not come?

How long would he wait, to learn that he had said too much, and given the architect reason to choose not to see where this urge to touch might lead them?

The terminus was near now; Eridani 40 appeared to be resting atop the dune which sheltered this location. Within moments, the time Koss had set would pass.

Would he come?

"Such questions are illogical, Kov. Either he will come, or he will not, and the knowing is too near to trouble with speculations for which you have no evidence upon which to base a theory. Kaiidth. What is, is. What will be, will be. Your agitation is pointless."

That is what Sivet would say. He had said the same, in nearly the same words, many times, when Kov was beset by concern for results that could not be predicted with any degree of assurance. Sivet was a scientist, and logic seemed to be the only factor in his life.

Sometimes, after such an interaction, Kov wondered whether he was truly Sivet's son, or if perhaps he had been adopted from another family. Such were the differences between them, that it seemed unlikely that Sivet had ever Burned for anyone, or been willing to give his control surcease even long enough to complete his biological role in the conception of an offspring.

He had, of course, never mentioned any of these doubts to Sivet. If he had, it was probable that his father would show him detailed research notes on every aspect of his conception.

Kov was not prepared to learn those details.

Nor was he prepared for what was to come. Whether Koss arrived as planned, or not, he didn't know what to expect. Perhaps it was the uncertainty that led his thoughts down such strange pathways.

Sivet would argue the word "pathways" if he could hear Kov's thoughts. He believed in precision in all things – even the thoughts of a man waiting for something that might not happen, and which was highly unspecified in nature.

The wind, which had been blowing lightly at his back, shifted, and Kov caught the first hint of Koss in the air. His respiratory and circulatory rates accelerated. He began to compensate, then ceased those efforts in the next shortened breath.

Kaiidth. What is, is. Let it be as it would between them. There was no other here. Their people were largely beings of custom and habit; no others came to this place at this time, so there was no reason to expect that any would this evening.

He would allow himself to respond to Koss as his body and mind would, and he would do nothing to mitigate the sensations or responses when there was no other to see, beyond Koss himself.

It was another two point six one minutes before Koss crested the dune, Eridani falling behind him. His robes lifted in the breeze, creating an appealing silhouette. For all the time he had lingered in this place, allowing the design of the hollowed space to grow within him, he had never considered the effect of a person standing at that crest, as Koss was doing now, with his head high.

He was scenting Kov.

Kov's heart rate accelerated to the point where he began to feel faint and as though his legs might not be capable of supporting his weight, were he to rise. Koss stood, the sun vanishing behind him, still as a sculpture at the crest of the dune, and Kov wondered how long he might remain there, how long he must wait here below, as though he was at peace, when all within him was surging upward, up the hill to the man above.

His fingers quivered into his hands, sending him urgent messages he didn't fully understand, but could not ignore, he suspected, even should he choose to make the attempt.

They were going to touch their fingertips together.

And Kov was certain something was going to happen. He didn't know what, precisely, and it seemed that Koss didn't, either. But there was a knowing within him that, once the other descended, and they allowed the touch, nothing would be the same again.