50 - My Chick Could Use Some Water

It was something that Kyrus couldn’t even imagine.  At least he had not even thought about it, back when his only ambition had been to become a feather-spitter rather than an Ass.  He’d seen a tiny fraction of the effort Lainz and his great grandfather had put into the military needs of the country.  Everybody calls it an Empire, great-granddad but it’s just a country.  You did good to keep us all safe... so we could BE something on this continent.

The column had just emerged onto the surface once more, just as the sun went down, and even on the bee built road the powder kicked into the air was choking.  There was no breeze to settle it, so it rose all around them, shrouding the whole length of them with orange dust that settled thickly on their veils and made the birds fluff and complain.  Of course the birds fluffing their feathers made things worse.

I had no idea there were so many karst tunnels, turned into military roads, under the badlands. That one place where we found the village... that bivouac... was just part of a whole network of roads and even waterways.  Every year the water roars through, twice and rather than just shunt it off, like I thought, the old Radiances were working to channel it.  They used it to even carve out some of these roads and it’s violent enough flooding that the water can do in a season what a thousand men with hammers couldn’t do in a lifetime.

He beat the crust off his face veil and called to Werfas.  “Did you ever see anything like this before?”

“Nah, brother.  You know I was an upcountry Milari boy, wet behind the ears.  We grew up in a lot more green than this.”

“I can see why the old man wanted all those underground roads.”

Werfas had to cough and spit, to one side of his bird.  There was a lot of them making a peculiar creaking, groaning noise and a whistle came from up the line. Probably from Da.  “Oh good, we aren’t going to push through the stillness.”

“What? We’re going to wait for a wind?”

“Yeah.” The whistles, in their various codes, echoed up and down the line of march as people stopped, in good order and settled down in their ranks.  Kyrus spotted a tiny lollipapera and settled his bird under it, Werfas next to him.  Even in the twilight, with the sun shining almost sideways before it set, any kind of shade was welcome.  The dust actually twinkled in the setting sun’s light, making the whole annoying cloud strangely beautiful.

Kyrus slid down from his bird, as it settled on its haunches, breakbeak half ratcheted to let it snort dust and pant as it needed. As he did, he found himself nose to nose with his wing brother, who’d slid down at the same time.

“Look, Ky... we’ve not been talking about stuff because everybody’s uncomfortable with it.” Because I am uncomfortable with it, you mean.

“Um, yeah, but there’s been so much going on...”

Werfas’s eyes were serious, over the crusts of dust on his veil.  “That’s a good excuse.”

Kyrus stopped, tried to think of how to not have this talk, then sighed and let his veil belly out with it. Clots of damp dirt spattered down as he ran his hand over his sarband.  “I really don’t want to talk about it at all.  And I really don’t want to talk about it...”

“With me.”

“Wefas.  You Milar are always saying it’s all right, it’s just sex, it doesn’t mean lifelong commitment, it doesn’t mean anything but learning...” He turned around and pulled the water bag off its hook on his saddle and concentrated on the obviously engrossing task of unstoppering it.

“You know, you might argue that an army on the march isn’t the time to talk about it.  But you know that your da and your step father did.  They must have, to fall in love.  Surely it would be easier to talk to someone who’s on the same side, at least.”

It wasn’t even that Kyrus couldn’t see the attraction.  He’d seen Werfas enough in the showers at the war school... as Werfas had seen him.  He looked up from the stubborn water-bag stopper.  I say I’m not attracted to men AT ALL.  But that’s because... because I was forced to sell myself.  He’s not buying me.  He’s not even really offering himself to me... I wouldn’t want to own him or have him own me any more than I own or am owned by Hara.

“Werfas... just... sex... between friends?” He had his eyes closed.  “What if really am just attracted to girls and it’s not just Lainz weirdness about boys together and girls together?”

He snorted and Kyrus opened his eyes.  “Here, let me,” Werfas said as he reached out and lifted the loose stopper out of its socket.  “Then we know... and I know that if I see a boy or a girl whom I fall madly in love with, not just want to hop in the sleeping bag with... you won’t get wildly jealous of.  I mean, I’d like to sleep with Hara again, if she wants.”

“... well about that...” Kyrus choked to a halt.  “I don’t own her.  She... she’s a good teacher.”

“And fun in bed, yes.”

Endarkened, he WAS jealous.  “I am jealous,” he confessed in a small voice.  Werfas reached up to pull down his veil, scrubbing the pinch-mark over his nose, eyes closed.

“That’s all right... and it’s between the three of us, so we put that off till whenever we get back.  Right now we can maybe fix what’s between us, because between you and me, I’m so horny I’m starting to wonder if my bird would mind.”

Kyrus sprayed water out his nose, doubling over, coughing.   

“You... You!  I...I’m more protective of my bits than whipping them into beak-range anyway.” He couldn’t help it, and folded around himself coughing; he could at least look at his knees instead of into Werfas’s face.

His wingbrother laughed and pounded him on the back, his veil back in place, hiding his grin.  “Yeah... Look, Ky... I know you think you aren’t supposed to.  I mean that’s obvious.  But your own da reached past that... to marry a man.”

“I... suppose.”

“Up to you, wingbrother,” Werfas said, turning to pull his own waterbag down. “My chick here could use some water.”

Ky started laughing again and turned to water his own bird.   

An Amir came riding down the line, checking his men and nodded his approval, seeing them tending their mounts.  “We’ll have a wind soon,” he called.  “Get ready to ride another few hours, boys.”

“Yes, Amir.”

“Um... Werfas.” Ky pulled in an enormous breath, caught some dust and choked on it before he could go on.  “We... we... um... maybe we could talk about it when we stop for the night?”

“My bedsack, or yours?”