Part One: Times Waiting --- Chapter Two: A Day of Harvest
A creature had stirred within Rek'd's house. It scurried through the hallway at top speed before stopping to peer around a corner. The lonesome youth, unaware that he was being watched, drifted down the stairs and departed late into the night.
Given the overall dimensions, radiation of freckle-speckled yearnings enveloped with kind aspirations, and general lack of understanding of this creature, one would have figured it to be scurrying throughout the night after receiving a nightmare, conjured by that always preoccupied brain matter that glutinously consumed knowledge. It fixated upon the scariest theories of the most unknown of subjects and mutated them from their rightful proportions. However, it seemed those horrid dreams came about because of the entity of blackened blurs trudging through the night. The creature pressed itself to the window and tilted its head, forgetting its fears in favor of pondering thoughts about the one who could divert them.
Those lobes, ever wondering of the events so heinously fed to it, fired into full gear, coming up with a million plausible assumptions whilst making a million times a million more that could only even be considered plausible by a fully educated not quite there. This creature rounded the corner as the front door was softly shut, so as to not wake the only being left within this established structure, then descended down the staircase, peering, with obvious curiosity, at the surrounding shadows, almost reaching a hand up to touch them. When he could not touch them, the creature offered a wave and a charming smile that had tinges of feminine tendencies creep into the underdeveloped features.
The shadows gathered around this creature as it touched the base of the stairs, caressing his mind with muses only interesting enough to be pondered for a full five seconds. The darkened dots, ranging from dark blue, true to the ocean as can be, to the most matter-devouring black one would ever lay their eyes upon, littered the room in swarms and shifted and sparkled, then burst to life like a clashing wave, claiming to be real whilst flaunting that false factuality as if the world's edges themselves were shrouded in its influence. They died down and drifted out of view to be replaced with an ensuing herd of buildings, ranging, in size, from laughably microscopic to hiccup-inducingly enormous. Our supplier of imagination was set upon a structure that could be described as the latter.
The breath had literally been drawn from the creature's lungs by the time he found himself free-falling through fluffy clouds. He soon found himself colliding with an equally fluffy couch below. It greeted the small form with resilience and forgiveness dispensed alongside the expulsion of air that had managed to seep into the cushions. Two small, wild, guilt-of-a-culprit eyes frantically shot across the room, eventually leading the host body to flip onto its back. A wave of equally wild eyed legions sailed overhead before being brought down by an unseen force, which flung them into flaming rings spiraling down from the heavens. These flames morphed into wires that wrapped tightly around those small limbs of the creature that had landed across the cushions, seizing it and bringing it into the air, only to place the shaken mass onto its bottom. The wires began to mutilate their solidified qualities into dark purple collections of skin, with muscles, veins, and joints slapped onto bones beneath. Light shined through the window, taking each shadow by surprise as they were suddenly scorched, injured to the point in which return would only be possible when the source of such searing rays had set for the day.
"Have you dwelt down here, awaiting my reappearance, the whole night, my love?" Rek'd, the supposed smudge of dark purple settled down next to the creature, patting it upon on the head as he wore a look of curiosity and worry; these emotions were expressed with a sort of parental flare that made the youth seem far beyond his years. Such a look garnered a dismissive arrangement of softened features in return. "Vleo," The elderly youth uttered the creature's name, gaining its full attention as he pulled it onto his lap for further inspections. Vleo came to rest upon the older, stronger body. "Young men should not be sleeping atop such influential cushions; they can mend your figure in ways that will render you ineffective in catching eyes and, when one is as cute as yourself, such denouements would be rather unfortunate," Rek'd placed his hands along Vleo's sides, straightening his back as the younger youth attempted to slouch forward repeatedly, giggling lightly as he did so. His elder gave up soon enough, though punished the boy with a bout of tickles that furthered the lighthearted laughter. They both settled back against their respective cushions, with the youthful Sangheili leaning into his elder, searching within him for the comforting mass of love and compassion that had remained ever-present after the darkest of nights and the brightest of days; even after such searches had been dismissed as ridiculous yearnings by a good number of the general population. Once the two seemed comfortable, Rek'd continued, "I apologize for not being present this past night, dear brother. I had pressing matters to attend to," A displeasured grunt was dispersed. "I saw off of a handsome warrior today."
"Your beloved warrior?" Vleo asked of the supposedly handsome warrior's identification, garnering a surprised parting of the mandibles, an immediate yes, as a result. The boy found that this was satisfactory, though he had given away the fact that a conversation, initiated amidst the fields, had been devoured by his youthful ears. He had pried such a name from the conversation in a way that suggested interest was presently invested in the nicknames assigned because of the men's' love, but not the love itself; Rek'd knew his brother to be a creature of shaken priorities. A softened smile crossed the elder's features, letting the youth know that, while his blatant curiosity within his relationship was surely not appreciated, the point at which it stopped was. This, of course, led the youth to wonder what details exactly would not be favorable to dig up. "I'll miss A-kur; not as much as you, but enough to wait for him every day."
"And why is this, my love?"
"The way he smiles at us, brother! You know about it more than I do!" Vleo spouted with a bit of shock, absolutely bewildered by his brother's question. A chuckle erupted into the air, then a bright alteration of the beloved warrior's smile burst across Rek'd's mandibles and rained down upon his dear brother, showering the boy with enough motherly influence to make him squeal lightly with childish delight before he embraced the source. The elderly youth, deprived of his main source of love, returned the embrace with sincerity. A-kur was recalled.
It was quite possible this boy needed a quantity of sunshine that his dear older brother was not quite skilled enough to present. The frightfully bright rays of the sun were declared the most logical replacement. "Brother-" Vleo mumbled as he noticed his dear older brother rolling his eyes over the view the nearest window provided. The sun turned away with newly developed, and boiling, red swirls draped over its massive cheek bones. "-Shall I fetch my cloths?"
"Indeed, you shall," Rek'd lifted his younger brother from the cushions and pressed their foreheads together, then set him down onto the floor. It was quite a spectacle to watch that young man launch himself into the air and proceed to glide through the house, blurring the outlines that suggested an oddly alluring bit of femininity within the boy. Delighted laughs filled the air as they departed from loosened lungs. A tinge of anxiety in each one suggested that the young boy was tailed by a ghost whom had promised stern tickles and loving kisses would be dispatched, should the young batch of energy ever be caught. He began breathing harder than one would think necessary as he ascended the stairway.
Vleo, fueled by the smile that his brother had bestowed upon him, zipped into his room and wrestled the appropriate informal cloths onto his body as he jumped here and almost stumbled there, then fumbled himself at the end of the stairs, falling almost certainly towards the unforgiving harshness of the floor. He was snatched up mid-air by the protective limbs of the elderly youth. The boy wheezed his way to a normal heart beat; his heart was not only stirred by the incident and the run preceding it, but also by preexisting complications that plagued him.
Rek'd pulled on Vleo's informal clothing properly, then set down his younger brother. He waited, with arms crossed over his chest and a worried expression gradually bled into his features, for the boy to recollect himself.
"Breath slow," An arm rounded Vleo as Rek'd pressed his head against the young boy's chest, listening ever-intently to make sure that little heart was able to keep up. It rushed as feverishly as its host had just a few minutes ago. The elderly youth retracted his head and gazed down at his brother. "If I am to take you out today, my love, you must promise not to revert into such a manic mood. You know the risks, you've heard the lectures, and, thus, I know you fully understand why these actions must not be repeated."
"Of course, brother; I promise," The young Sangheili returned, running his mandibles against his brother's cheek lightly (a kissing gesture which had been enacted in numerous incidents of late) before bowing his head in apology.
As soon as Vleo raised his head and revealed his strikingly blue eyes, the elderly youth dipped his own head, gently seized the boy's palm and stood, suggesting they were to stand in unison. To further this concept, they strolled in unison, pushed aside the door in unison, greeted the rays and trees and external beings and sky in unison, and peered over the vast fields that were laid out before them, courtesy of the stronger generations of their lineage, in unison. They stood together with fingers laced as tightly as could be. The absence of he whom had settled both bodies when they shivered in fright, warming them with just a simple parting of the mandibles, was quite devastating.
The youthful brother took one step forward, displaying his anxiousness to discover the lands that had been offered up to him by this fertile planet, prompting the elderly brother to relinquish his situational dominance. As Rek'd did so, he found himself seized, and then engulfed, by the blinding rays that frolicked about before him, only to be dropped into the grasp of the sapling A-kur, whom seemed to have taken the place of the sickly youth that stood in his current spot. The accompanied youth took a moment to look around. He then focused his eyes upon himself, finding his dark purple skin to be of a softer hue and his muscles to still be of the undefined quality that they were early into his years of self-discovery.
All attentiveness towards these details were lost as soon as the sweet voice of the soon-to-be beloved warrior, prompting him to cast all notions of, and comparisons to, the future to the wind in favor of being graced by the strength of the sounds drifting from A-kur's throat. Even then it was developing very ideally, alongside the body it was munificently fixated upon, for a young man the boys' age.
"Come!" Was the simple order, stern and anxious in tone as it was, that caressed to Rek'd's audio-receptive hairs waving softly in the wind, before being whipped about as their host was dragged down a path. They cut through the fields like the many scythes the workers wielded. The many crops towering over the two boys either mocked their less-than-sizable form or expressed curiosity in it, as most grown members of the Sangheili species often did, watching them as they zipped by. The crops proved to be as oblivious as the trees that turned themselves away from the youths. The crops were left scrambling for the little details, most of which were about as little as the forms reeking of infatuating qualities and most of which rendered making sense of the situation improbable before the yearly harvest. Perhaps, months later, when both Rek'd and A-kur would gather at the base of their spring and pull a limited assortment of crops, no doubt harvested from this very batch, from two tightly wrapped knapsacks, the delectable treats would catch wind of a few tender words or perhaps eye a loving stroke or kiss before being consumed.
"Your father has gave us the day to explore the fields," A-kur proclaimed through a fit of heavy breaths; the reaping of a run that proved taxing to his more heavily built frame, however energetic it was, whilst Rek'd's own remained greatly unaffected, save for the occasional wavering breath that brushed up against his comrade's cloths, only to evaporate before it could pleasure any exposed skin. "We shall harness this time!" A-kur claimed. The youth of a more modest frame wondered, aloud, how, exactly, they would harness this time, to which A-kur chucked heartily and replied, "We'll escape these fields and run far through the woods- and then run farther, around the houses, to our secret gathering!"
The last two words caught the attention of Rek'd, as well as another Sangheili child. This child was brought to the fields by his father to learn the labor involved. He was not familiar to those sharp green eyes. The child, foreign as he was, harnessed a skin darker than purple, nearing black, which put a great amount of emphasis on his golden eyes, though it seemed to aid in the overlooking of the mass bearing such orbs. This was a shame, given that the youth's body teamed with more potential than even A-kur's!
Golden eyes flickered towards the running youths for just a second, openly pondering the words that were panted out, before they flicked back towards the elder of the two, whom was drawn to attention by words delivered with a thick accent littered by slang that was far from proper. Rek'd paid no further attention to the boy as he and his father disappeared behind fiery bursts of outgrowth, which engulfed them in a manner that would seem sickeningly fast, even through the eyes of a hardened war veteran who enjoyed a little drawn-out knife-play.
The ends of the fields bid farewell to the youths far too soon, only for the mass of trees, surrounding the central housing, to greet them with open branches and watchful holes disguised slyly as habitats to lure the typical being into a false sense of security. As even the trees flew by far too quickly, before turning away to tend to the animals so conveniently coexisting within their own methods of housing, Rek'd found his attention caught by a certain lingering scent. The aroma jumped from A-kur's drenched skin, which, given the overabundance of sweat, should have smelt anything but pleasing. This led one to suspect that the youth had drenched himself with a substance stronger than sweat, in preparation for today; the day he convinced the man ever admiring of his promising build to give the two youths time to run about the fields and discover, for themselves, the wonders of the harvesting season. However, A-kur stole the object of his affections away from such a day in favor of a trip into that ever welcoming seclusion offered by the lonesome spring.
Soon, A-kur found himself slowing to a stop, well over half-way to the spring, though far enough away to where it could not be seen. If it had been in view, the youth would have dragged his comrade all the way there, regardless of threats of respiratory failure. Rek'd silently mouthed words of thanks, as even his frame needed to slump against a tree, lest it wish to be completely torn by the time the spring was reached. One would find the thanks to be cut off as an organism, rather large and surely predatory, roared from across a straight clearing of trees, sending the slender form darting, as, one would figure, he was rather easy to scare into flight. A-kur steadily followed. The scheming youth hardly found it productive to stay behind and get caught by a beast made furious by an unintentional challenge.
Thuds and roars and pants and gasps and squeals and clicks filled the air as the three beings traveled in the same general direction, happening upon a sort of cliff like structure dictating a five foot fall that Rek'd had only noticed at the last minute. He was hanging over it in mid-air by the tip of his hoof when A-kur's fingers latched onto the back of his belt, causing a flurry of red to flourish in both youths' cheeks. A flabbergasted, and near-deafeningly shrill, shriek was flung through the heads of the trees, though all signs of discomfort were delightfully disregarded as the predator drew nearer.
A knife had been flicked open, after being drawn from between the folded cloths hanging from their respective belt, by two of the protective youth's finger, then wielded by all four. He held it in a defensive manner. The beast drifted into range, roaring with a false sense of victory, only to find its eye jabbed expertly as its main predatory focal point, Rek'd, was thrown to the side; to safety.
The creature reared back as ribbons of blood spurted through the air from its mutilated socket and stained cloths wherever it could manage. A-kur leaped through the air, bending his legs in a way that made him appear to become a ball, before snapping them opened, atop the beast, causing a crack to tempt the surrounding trees to throw their previous definitions of privacy to the wind and peer over their shoulders. They remained strong, just as the predator had, even after its spine had been damn near severed. It cried out as the protective youth exaggerated his weight, a numeral total to be reckoned with even without manipulation, downwards, to bring the wriggling mass below to the ground.
A sluggish struggle ensued between the two forms, consisting of the predator attempting to rid itself of the attacker, all ironically, by bucking while the boy atop it was given the incentive to try and hang on. This struggle ended with a slick slice, which effectively persuaded the skin enveloping the creature's skull to rip open and flood over its eye sockets with the blood below that dripped thick oozing out. Another cry, then another stab, this one quite noticeably more powerful than the last, and the creature fell, signaling Rek'd to relax with a loud thud. A-kur stepped down from its body and shook off his hooves, then wriggled his mandibles in apparent disgust as blood was found to have soaked his two draped cloths. The first could easily be discarded after an elaborate lie for its disappearance was weaved, but the second would have to be removed and washed, along with the bloodied body hidden behind it, whose muscles still pulsated with excitement.
Rek'd was glazed by those soft, green eyes and found to be of a fainter mess, though, given the fact that the youth never slipped out of his house equipped with a second cloth, he might as well be considered just as dirty. A-kur sighed. "We can walk the rest of the way," He half-suggested, noting a quickened nod from his comrade as the youth stood up and joined him. The protective of the two ran his arm around Rek'd's back. The far hip of his companion was snatched by all four fingers as he glanced around, on the watch for more predators. More energy was slyly invested in resisting the temptation to smile and laugh and flex his arms with an overbearing sense of well-deserved accomplishment.
A-kur found further urges surface as his comrade shed, washed, and spread the cleaned clothes out to dry, then climbed into the secluded spring along with him, silently bathing amongst him.
Rek'd's eyes, meanwhile, burdened themselves to catch a peek of the scheming youth before quickly snapping away with each attempt, just as scheming youth took notice. When one of these glances were caught, the object of A-kur's affections took a deep breath, stepped forward, placed a hand on the nearest bicep, and bestowed, upon him, a gesture that implied a multitude of thanks. Wriggling mandibles ran delightfully over each strip of exposed flesh soaked heavily with the waters of this secluded spring. The separation of the receivers' mandibles was only natural, as the gesture was meant to invoke a greater feeling of happiness. However, the deliverer of the gentle kiss did not foresee himself being steadily worked into a flexible pose that allowed both youths to face each other and bestow, upon each other, kisses that were aimed at the grand central station of each collection of features rather than the attractively definitive cheek bones that were laid off to both sides. A gentle breeze washed over the secluded spring, bringing forth flowers and leaves just loose enough to be plucked from their branches, then cast down to trace different features of different parts of the very different youths. Rek'd and A-kur chuckled as they pulled apart, however nervously, hesitantly, and reluctantly, and gazed at each other.
There was no question that they found themselves wondering, once again, if this was really right. They knew, at this point, that a certain point of awareness had been discovered in this relationship that they coveted, leading both boys to assume they'd be fools not to explore their desires further; to try and uncover more points, as any number of such could turn out to be quite precious. "Thank you," Rek'd whispered as he unwittingly asserted his spiritual hold on A-kur just a little bit more, calling for their foreheads to be pressed together for just a few silent moments before the evening bell would rip through the air. They appeared not to care about the expected interruption as they remained in the waters, unclothed as they were and close as they were, with foreheads pressed tightly and hands held together under the waters. It was suggested that they were only to withdraw at the last minute.
Thus, they did when that bell cried out again, calling for their separation and return.
Rek'd turned his eyes in its general direction, finding, instead, the familiar form of the foreign youth, now fully chiseled into the features of a grown man. The spring water, calm and ever flowing in nature, was gone. The sound of the bell was replaced by the repeated mumbles of the land that drifted from the lips below the elderly youth's hooves and A-kur, the beloved warrior, whom had just a first kiss, was returned to his rightful place far, far away. Cloths, however, were returned.
It was all the accompanied youth could do not to frown as he was offered the greeting of a field worker whom was on his way to a mid-day feast, though stopped after noticing the concentrated stare of his employer. "H'loder, Rei," The Sangheili, whom possessed a commendable frame, skin dyed black- with selections of gray markings and one red tattoo on his right arm, and an almost laughable height, said. He glanced upwards, and widened his eyes, at just about any being he offered a greeting, save those of innocence.
Rek'd replied with a respectful nod, while a nod of equal deference was returned by the initial guest, and a brief greeting of his own, "Innurven."
Innurven came to rest against a pile of harvested grains, all bundled quite tightly, quite neatly, into a square that resembled a love chair placed onto its side. He stared his employer in the eyes with the intention relaxing his own eyelids over their two golden spheres, so he could study this form of a newly proclaimed mating status. It was an odd mating status, or at least odd to a man whom had taken the liberty of keeping his love life traditional when choosing a mate, but a mating status none the less.
Thinking of it as such, the field worker couldn't bring himself to offer a batch of amiable congratulations immediately, even though he had displayed a passive temperament towards the two bound youths as they were silently accepted that morning, acknowledged through one surprised smile, delivered by Innurven's mate, that morning, and viewed at the parting ceremony that morning. "Sur, ai wunn'd ta-a'logaize fo'not wishen' wellth wi'ya mate wenai sawya wi'im urliur; ai reely do," The Sangheili ensured his employer after he had shifted uncomfortably against the harvested grain, lowering his head as if he was already on the verge of being fired for spitting insults. A bit of justification was added, regardless. "Ai wunn'd hem ta-know'm happy fo'yas bo'h, buh ai'was stun'd, ta'sey tha lest."
"That's alright," Rek'd assured Innurven as his eyes trailed to the fields. Vleo had met up with a few other Sangheili minors and commenced running from the fiery bursts of outgrowth to clearings that painted an eighth of the field as bare. The accompanied youth, whom whipped his eyes back to the field worker before him, silently expressed that he was quite flattered that the man had decided to stop and chat, however briefly, after, no doubt, working feverishly to get a day's hard work done in half a day with his comrades in tow. Truly, the Sek'r (Sek'ree) lineage knew which helping hands to take hold of. "I hardly expected much of anything, let alone an approving stare from you or the smile casted from your fine companion-" Innurven's golden eyes shined brightly as he jerked his head back suddenly, though almost inconspicuously, in surprise, seeing as the usual cast of bosses thought of themselves as ones whom needn't take the time to study their workers and their given relationships with those around them, let alone compliment the being any which helping hand had chosen to cherish the rest of their elongated days. Noting that Rek'd had always been known to just be a bit different than most, the field worker, the generously helping hand, allowed his features to reflect the expression that was offered to their host. "-thus, kind wishes, even those just a little late for my significant opposite to have bestowed upon him, are always welcome; they are always a pleasure to these ears."
"Ta'plesur isawl maine, Rei," Innurven allowed his speech to slip back into the use of informalities as he assured his employer that, truly, it was a pleasure to wish him well. "Ta'wish ya'an yur'faine mate ta'bes-" Because, truly, A-kur could be recognized as one of the finest mates that either man or woman could have netted with one's four fingers and brought close to join in matrimony, holy or not. "-tho'ai steel am'wishen' ta'make i'up ta'ya," The field worker allowed his golden eyes to avert to where Rek'd had focused his own sharply green orbs, pondering what he could possibly do. The squirming forms of children in the fields twirled and squealed.
He turned back to his employer with his arm extended, with both external fingers straightened from his palm whilst the internal two curved back towards and rested upon it, and mandibles spread; this gesture expressed a sort of silent 'ah, ha!' "Ta'firs day affa harves', ya'mus' com'on ovur ta'mai haus fo'a fest!' He suggested, then added, "Tha'misses weh'be ples'd ta'seya, a'curs."
At first, Rek'd allowed the smile that had worked its way into his features to slowly fade as the children were gazed at, by both men, this time, and watched for a short while as a familiar breeze passed through the area, drenching all with its indisputable sense of tranquility. It caused, it seemed, to settle the children down as Vleo, amongst the masses, came to a gradual stop and leaned over his knees, taking in breaths that were, no doubt, quite a pain to take in. This wind, as tranquil as it was, seemed to ease the burden by simply drifting into the youth's lungs and slowing that small heart to a steady level of activity.
He gazed upwards at his brother and the generously helping hand positioned atop the hill. It seemed, with this new air to breath, he would be able to make it up to where both men stood, thus, with a restored heart beating contently within him, Vleo began to ascend the hill. Rek'd was prompted to finish up his brief fit of conversing with Innurven.
"That sounds wonderful," The accompanied youth suddenly concluded. He drew the set of golden eyes back towards his figure. "Though, I trust you, personally, prefer to be graced by my presence rather than rest the first day after harvest," Rek'd was soon treated to an 'a'curs', which pressed him to continue, still. "And I trust it would be quite alright for my brotherly love to attend as well?" Another 'a'curs' drifted to the man's ears. "Then I would be pleased to be welcomed into your quarters, Innurven."
"An'ai wud'be ples'd ta'welkem ya, Rei."
Soon enough, Innurven departed, after noticing he had spent a great amount of his break lingering, to go forth and accompany his misses, whom, surely, had prepared a generous meal to satisfy the generously helping hand's stomach and tastes. Rek'd remained to welcome his brotherly love with open arms and soft kisses.
They walked, hand-in-hand, back to their shelter atop the hill. Vleo's day was inquired of, after the young Sangheili had been treated to an old story that provoked a puzzle of questions any adult would rather not solve for a child, which set the boy off into a frenzy of words that detailed nearly every moment of this wonderful day, at it had been described. These details, as they were provided, proved to cause the elderly youth's features to pull themselves back into a grin due to the warm-hearted approach that had been taken to just about every aspect rather than the frigid point-of-view that most adults, Rek'd included, tended to adopt, hate, and discourage all the same. Of course, after the inevitable leave of the only reliable source of warmth that had been known and the reliving of the first kiss brought about by such a source's actions, it was quite easy to see why this harvest day suddenly turned cold and how the elderly youth could come to appreciate the little bit of warmth his brotherly love managed to let off, despite the preexisting complications that plagued him from the start.