Chapter Troi:

AN: Thank you so much for the nice reviews ^^ they encouraged me to go on :D

Basta was more confused than he had ever been in his life. It wasn't that fancying boys was new to him. He had never been interested in girls and he had never understood why the other men were so keen on touching them. He had tried it once and it had been one of the most uninteresting things he had ever done. In fact, he looked at women as a waste of space and that was the way he treated them. End of the story. But fancying Dustfinger? Of all men in this world? Him? The Lightning-eater? Of course, Dustfinger had kissed him. But Basta had kissed back. The angriness that usually overcame him when he saw Dustfingers face, was gone. Blown away like a silly little weak leaf. Dustfinger had made him recognize his weakness once more and Basta knew he should be thankful for it.

Just when Dustfinger let one of his gentle hands run down Bastas neck, which made the man gasp immediately, a picture flashed through Bastas mind. It was no other than Capricorn. What would he say? What would he do? Basta didn't want to make him angry and oh, hell he would be if he knew what the two men were doing. And in a split second he, once again, decided to follow his masters will.

Dustfinger traveled down Bastas neck with his hand. When he thought about it, he had always wanted to know what that skin felt like. Surprisingly soft and warm. Just then Bastas gaze froze. He looked at him his eyes shimmering with…regret? Dustfinger stopped and carefully pulled back. At the back of his mind he knew that Basta hadn't changed at all. How could he have thought that he could ever bring back the person that he had been as a child. He knew that the easily enraged part of Basta wasn't vanished just because he had let him kiss him.

And this part appeared to come back to life just at this moment. Bastas face deformed with hatred. The fear began to rise in Dustfinger once again. Climbing up his throat and making it feel tight. Suddenly it was very hard for him to swallow. It was like the kiss, the brief moment of honesty, had gone, had never happened or had just been suppressed. Maybe now Basta would finish for what he entered the hut. One small second the two men just stood there staring at each other trying to read in each others expressions. Then Basta was gone. Only a little wind (because he had stormed out of the hut as if he had seen the devil himself) and the faint smell of peppermint in the air was left of him.

After Basta had stormed out of the hut, Dustfinger just stood there leaning against the cold wall trying to calm down. After a few minutes he decided to run back to the gleeman's camp as fast as he could. If the men had given up on chasing him he might be able to arrive there. He hadn't been there for weeks. First of all, the harmless seeming invitation to the Atterheads' party, which had in fact been more like a threat. Then the days in the dungeons, dark and empty. And finally his escape and the hut. And Basta.

The Gleemen travelled through Ombra and the near cities to collect money whenever they could. To fascinate and bewitch the people with their magic tricks and other arts. But much in contrast to the good mood in which they had to be in front of the audience, most of them were rather stinky, ugly guys with bad manners , bad health and bad hygiene. The gleemans' camp itself also was set up outside of Ombra for it might disturb the people who lived there. The tents were muddy, the smell was awful, the humans, which past Dustfintgers way were not always to be trusted, but there were always people that you could depend on and although it was rather smelly , this was Dustfingers home. He didn't expect more or less of it. He just loved it the way it was.

Due to his various fire shows, and his friendship with the black prince Dustfinger was rather famous, not to forget the three scars across his face. He was used to being recognized immediately once he was inside the camp. This time it didn't take three minutes until a young boy saw him and screamed

: " The fire eater is back!" Everyone stared at him. "Look, Dustfingers back!" "He's here!","He isn't dead".

He felt weak and the days in the Atterheads' castle hadn't done him any good, so his physical condition was not what it once used to be. Also he realized that his last meal had been a little bit of odd tasting bread two days ago. He trailed into the direction in which he assumed the Black Princes tent to be, just when he felt hugged by two slims arms which wrapped around his stomach and shoulders. "Roxanne", her smile would never be the same to him again.

"Dustfinger, I'm so glad you're alive, there were terrible rumors about your death going around. I had nearly lost all of my hope." Dustfinger wanted to explain, but she put her hand on his mouth. "First I will attend to you. Look at you, how long has it been since you last saw something to eat. You look like you were starving. Come we'll get that done and soon enough you'll be the old one again" She smiled at him and dragged him towards a tent.

Dustfinger didn't realize her unimportant babbling, while she treated his wounds. He looked at the mouth of which he had once thought that it was the most beautiful one in the world. Haha, a little voice in his head said, what did she say again? You'll be you old self soon enough. He would never ne his "old self" ever again. Deep deep in the back of his mind he knew that. Even though he kept telling himself over the next few days that it was all just a silly joke of Bastas'. That must have been it. He saw my longing and wanted to torture me by pretending to enjoy it.

Dustfinger told Roxanne everything and every detail about the last few weeks, except from one. The kiss. Dustfinger couldn't talk about it, would probably never be able to do so. But what did all the thinking bring him? Nothing . He had to live on, although he knew that from now on his life would feel more hollow and empty then it ever had done. But didn't people say, that time healed all wounds?

Bastas POV:

The Sky was turning into an ugly pink, which reminded Basta very much of one of these flowers the girls were so keen on, when he arrived at the small, grey castle the fire raisers lived in. Capricorn was very proud of taking it away from an old man and killing his whole family as a side effect. The "castle" was actually a very big old stone house, which was grey and had one not very high tower, but Capricorn liked exaggerating and showing-off.

The fly was resting on the wall now. Basta enjoyed the few seconds of silence without the enraging sound of the little animal before he smashed his bare fist into the wall. Waves of pain immediately shot through his hands, his headache was becoming worse, but his physical pain was nothing compared to his minds'. Basta had done something he would never have dreamed of in all his life. Not only had he kissed his worst enemy (and enjoyed it) but he had also lied to Capricorn. And if that hadn't already been enough he had also betrayed his comrades. Actually he didn't really care for them , because he had always seen them as rivals in fight of Capricorns favor, but the years he had spent sharing the same table with the others had welt them together. And for what? For sparing the life of a man he hated most of all in the world. If he had given the Mudfinger to Capricorn, killed him, or at least mentioned him then Capricorn would have been proud of him. But something insde Basta just would do that.

After Basta had arrived at the castle he had immediately looked for Capricorn, briefly reported that the Mudfinger hadn't been in the hut and stormed off to his room. His own room. Basta was really proud of the fact that he was one of the few men who didn't need to share a room with two or three others.

The problem was that he couldn't keep his mind of Dustfinger. He remembered his hands stroking his body, his face, those lips. That memory was too good. And he wanted more. The problem about memories was that they made hungry for more. Basta often lay awake till long past midnight and imagined what "more" exactly looked like.

Back to Dustfinger…

Dustfinger was ,thanks to Roxannes medical skills, back to his old self again. Well, at least his body was so that he would do a few gigs this week. The first one starting…now. Dustfinger had taken off his shirt so that it wouldn't set fire and looked down at his audience. He was standing at a small podium which the other gleemen had set up for him. He liked searching through the faces of the people looking what could be found in their eyes. Hope, maybe? The crowd was huge today, no wonder because the Prince and his men had made no secret out of the fact that everybody's favorite fire eater was back in town. The people looked up at him expecting nothing more and nothing less than the biggest show of their lives, and , by heaven, they should get it. Dustfinger felt, once again, how his body and mind became one with the flaming heat in his hands. He didn't need powder to make it burn. All he needed was already there, inside him. The crowd cheered and applauded as a huge fireball made its way into the sky. Directly outside of Dustfingers mouth. Gasps could be heard as the juggled with flares. He did that so fast that the flares seemed to become one large orange and yellow stream and Dustfinger finally felt completely home.

After the show hats were given to the audience, who weren't sparing with their money. Dustfinger felt proud that he had done something for his fellow gleemen. And for Roxanne, of course. He wanted to walk away as fast as possible because now that the show was over and the crowd dissolved Roxanne might be wanting to talk to him. He didn't know why he avoided her in such a cruel way. It wasn't like him. She had earned so much better than him. The Gleeman was still kept in his thoughts, when he suddenly felt himself dragged into a small alley.

It couldn't go on like this anymore, Basta felt like going mad. He had been absentmindedly doing his "work" for Capricorn, but the problem was with a certain red haired occupying his mind he couldn't concentrate on anything. Even if it was chasing men and dragging them to the castle. Capricorn was not amused about this and talked to Basta "very politely" asking whether he had forgotten how many advantages he had got in contrast to the other men and how fast that could change. Basta felt sick. And the solution came into his mind, when Cockerell talked about a very famous gleeman, who was said to be able to do anything with fire. Basta looked up from his dinner. "Are you going to watch him?" "Me and the ugly piece of crap-" (he pointed towards Flatnose) "over there." "Got a problem if I join you?" "Haha, the more we are the better, right Flatnose?" The man just went on stuffing himself with rotten looking potatoes. So on the next evening they started making their way towards the town of Ombra.

They arrived a little late and as soon as they had found the place where the show would start, Basta departed from the other two men and went directly into the large crowd trying to get a good look at the man standing on a little podium.

At first Dustfinger appeared to be a little unsure and let his look run through the crowd. Then he started his show. It was true what people said, he was the best fire gleeman in whole Ombra, maybe in the whole country. And the look on his face, this relaxed look, while he spit a great flame directly from his mouth into the sky. The crowd cheered and Dustfingers confidence seemed to grow with that. Now he was juggling with two, four, six, eight flares. Basta was so keen on seeing the mans' face again that he had completely forgotten how beautiful, yes there was no other word, he looked, especially when the fire played around him. He seemed like a small child, in his own world, completely absorbed by what he was doing. Unaware of his attractiveness.

After the show Dustfinger went down from the podium, thanked the audience and began to make his way through the crowd. Basta quickly made a decision. He was could make his way through the crowd much faster than Dustfinger. Not only was he smaller but also the people didn't recognize and stare at him. He made his way into one of the small alleys, hoping that Dustfinger would take this way.

There he came, quickly looking back to the place where crowd was now dissolving and heading towards him. When Dustfinger passed him, Basta grabbed him by his coat, dragged him into the alley and before the man knew what had happened to him he was pinned up against the wall and kissed hardly by Basta.

Dustfinger immediately recognized the smell. This smell of fresh washed clothes and peppermint, that was around Basta. Yes, he liked it actually. Basta was not only caressing his mouth, but also his neck. Dustfingers head was empty, all logic thoughts had been banned from it. He pulled his head to the side and a small moan escaped his lips. He had pressed his eyes together and all his senses concentrated on the feeling of Bastas hot lips against his neck.

The tender touch sent shivers all over his body. Every single hair on his arm stood stiff. Now there were his lips again, now stroking his ear, nibbling it and finally whispering something into it: "I missed you, Mudfinger."

His voice sounded raspy and low as if he had spared it for that particular moment. Dustfinger opened his eyes slowly. Was that a dream? Basta, here in Ombra? "I watched your little show, you know." ,the man went on, "It was rather entertaining."

"Why did you come back?" it was the first thing that went through Dustfingers head. Bastas sudden escape had been on his mid for so long. Basta, who had looked down on his feet, now decided to look into Dustfingers water blue eyes. His honest water blue eyes. "I…don't know. I ..sort of…didn't like the feeling of you…I don't know."

With that Basta turned around a defeated look in his eyes, but Dustfinger wouldn't let him flee this time. He grabbed Bastas arm and pulled the smaller man to his chest. Their faces were very close to each other now. Dustfinger sucked in Bastas breath for a moment then said:" Not so fast. You can't come walking by and kiss me whenever you like, but when I start talking about feelings you run away. Look, why don't we just…drink something together and sort of talk. "Basta looked at him, curiosity and mistrust in his eyes." Drink something? Talk?" "Look Basta if I need to be the first one of us to admit it, then so be it. I like you. There you have it. And I want to get to know you better. I think we can have a good relationship, if you'd like that, too. And for a start I'd like to go and drink something with you, like two very normal people. "

Basta grinned. "I think there are few things that could be called normal about our…relationship."