Part Twelve
When they came out of the gate, Kato had his little pony trotting quickly toward the right. Moon-halo overtook the pony in several strides and Tsuki reined him into keep pace with the pony, as Dale brought Nightmare up on Kato's other side. "We did leave by the south gate, and so you have us heading west. I thought you said we would head south."
"Yeah, just where in the southerly direction are we going?" Dale asked grouchily.
"You are assigned to be my escorts, are you not?"
"Yes," Tsuki confirmed.
"I am also assigned to my task. My task does not include explaining myself to my escort. You only need know that we will travel to the south. West is the direction toward the road."
"With due respect to your own duty, we are charged to see you safely to your destination, this means, though you chose where we shall go, Dale and I choose by what means we shall arrive there. Roads are only deceptively safe, and as we are both Rangers and able to live in the wilderness for some time, I would suggest we make our course directly south."
"But, the idea is not to look like Rangers," Kato reminded Tsuki, "Is that not right Dale?"
"He has a point," Dale admitted. "We would stand out in the wilderness, not that normal folk would notice us there, but if we do have enemies seeking us, they would be seeking Rangers in the wood and perhaps not looking along the roads."
"Yes. Such intrigues are a bit out of my experience...not that I am ill equipped to be your escort..."
"Of course not. Your commander chose you both specifically and claims you work well together. Thankfully, I am here to consider such strategy. Your Ranger skills will still be useful. Until we get to the south, towns may still be more than a day's ride apart."
"This mission may not be so bad," Dale said, sounding more cheerful, "We'll get to visit inns and taverns along the way!"
"If you are both in agreement, then I will not argue traveling along the roads, though there is greater danger of bandits along the trade roads."
"The purpose for an escort."
"Yes, but Rangers would take prisoners to the nearest fort. If we are to keep our identities secret in these times when Rangers are better known, then we may be forced to take lives. And as we are traveling together, we should agree on a few other issues. Shall we always travel by night, or is it just to escape notice in leaving the fort? Or travel by day perhaps and sleep nights in various inns? That would be more expensive."
"Will you do this every time that we set out?" Dale asked.
"I like to have a plan, even if I may later improvise."
"You know my preferences, but I will compromise for the mission."
"We will travel as much of the day and night as possible between towns and cities, but perhaps stay longer than needed to get a night's sleep if we come to a town. Not only will we be able to get supplies for the days we will be on the road, but we will hear news in towns."
Tsuki and Dale had different experience with towns and cities. Dale had most often lived in the wilderness or when among the Elves, in the house of the Lord who had discovered him, which was removed from the dwellings of common people. Coming to Stone Keep with Gwindor they had stopped in some towns, but there were not many established in the north. Tsuki had lived many years in the south, or rather the more inhabited southerly parts of what was termed the west. When he lived with the Wizard and during his time as a mercenary he had stayed in many large towns and cities.
Dale thought mainly of taverns, music and drinking, and sometimes of other pleasures he would seek there. More recently, Dale had come to understand the value of trade and so valued towns for their shops. Tsuki valued shops, and inns, where news could be heard. He also knew of the dangers of larger towns and cities, such as thieves, burglars and con artists.
As much as he loved civilization, as much as he still longed for anything close to a Wizard dwelling, Tsuki would have been content staying off roads. The more taverns they found, the more chance he stood of finding Dale offering himself to some Man. It hardly seemed sharing to Tsuki, more like use that sometimes happened to be mutual. He was not sure this was a good thing, though Tsuki had to admit, it seemed appropriate enough behavior for Men.
Some Men were better than others.
Tsuki asked if Kato had a map. They had just passed the small town near Stone Keep and were continuing west. As they had only recently received orders and not been told their destination, Dale and Tsuki had not brought maps.
"I have maps, but I do not need one yet; we are traveling into the area in which I was raised. It is five days by pony to the next town."
"Five? Are you certain? I do not think that can be right."
"He is correct, I think," Dale said, "Stone Keep is positioned only two days north of the east-west road, but it would be two more days along that road in either direction to reach one of the trade routes south."
"That would be four days, less if you plotted a direct course across country."
"Ah, but Kato rides a pony and likely stops for a few more meals than we would."
"Kato, we can cut across the hills and forest to reach the town, in considerably less time."
"I should not want to go into the wood. Perhaps you Rangers wish to deal with what lives in a wood, but not I."
"I do not see what is so terrifying about a wood," Tsuki said, "I grant you that certain forests can seem strange, especially in the dark and wind, and during the war I saw most peculiar trees, but so long as you do not swing an axe or relieve yourself upon them you should be well."
"Ah, those who are not Elves or Elf-friends should be wary of entering a wood populated by Elves, we might kill you before you hear us coming or swing down upon you from the branches and lift you off your feet into our realm." Dale laughed as Kato shivered, "but I do not think many live in these parts. I have not heard any tales of hauntings or ghosts while I have been here, and I often am in the town to hear news."
"And even if there were a ghost story," Tsuki said, "It might just be some mad Elf alone in the woods. I think the spirits of the dead have better things to do than spook travelers in the wood."
"What kind of Rangers are you? I should not like to meet mad Elves nor ghosts, nor trees that spank your bottom for raising an axe! I know my task, but I will do it safely on the roads."
Eventually, Tsuki convinced Kato they could easily cut across country to the next town and make the trip in half the time, but it turned out not to be a good idea. Their trip was made only one day shorter, as once they got into the wood the pony and horses had a hard time of maneuvering through the dense foliage, especially with their packs. The ground cover of leaves and needles concealed burrows and hollows that caused Man and horses to stumble.
The found little water along their path. They drank from the waterskins and were able to collect dew and shared with the horses as much as they were able. On the first day inside the woods it rained, and though it enabled them to collect some rainwater for the horses, the three companions were soaked through to their skin and the leaves below became treacherous. The ground was soft and muddy the next day. Making the walk even more difficult for the horses. Their clothes remained damp in the shade and their boots and cloaks were muddy.
Kato and Tsuki began to argue, while Dale was very quiet. Kato insisted he had been right all along to keep to the well traveled paths and roads. Tsuki was of the opinion that it was not his decision to travel through a wood, but the decision to bring horses into a wood that might possibly be mistaken.
Kato began to talk to himself to try to cheer his mood, but in his blunt manner he revealed a few things Dale and Tsuki had not wanted to know. "And then there was the barmaid that took little time to hike up her skirts for me..." Kato would say and continue with his tales, "And I drank the whole pint...and there was this pretty beardless young man...'I may be half your size, but I am endowed well enough for two whole Men'...and that was a memorable roll in the hay if you take my meaning."
"How could we mistake his meaning?" Dale whispered to Tsuki, "My mouth is less foul than his!"
Apart from his more tawdry exploits, Kato also revealed that he was primarily a merchant. His cousins to the west farmed weed for smoking and Kato and his father had brought it to their town near the trade roads to sell. Some while ago, mysterious things were happening, as war was approaching, and Kato and his father had gone to stay with their cousins, but even their homeland had not been spared by war. "Because we lived with the big people, Father thought that they could all be trusted and whatever deal they offered him must have sounded fair, but siding with them only got him into trouble and Father was killed in a battle there. Now, since the war is over, I do the trading, and I make trips east and to the south as well. I have other people that help me, big and little, but this mission they cannot help me with."
"And how did it become your mission?"
"The Wizards needed a courier, and I was acquainted with them."
"Why not disguise the trip as one of your trading missions?"
"I may yet, but I will not risk those that work for me, that is why the Elves sent me to the Rangers."
Kato was already finding Lord Barad's choice in escort suspect. The two Rangers did show ample skill in hunting, foraging and plotting their course and at times they showed the demeanor of soldiers. Otherwise, they were most strange. The Elf did not dress as any of the Elves Kato had met. He wore leather, carried an orc bow, and had a most interesting whip and flail hanging from his belt. He seemed to take offense when Kato tried to touch them. The other one was also strange to Kato. He would talk often about a Wizard, and for a Ranger, he seemed strangely obsessed with the trappings of civilization, such that he would craft baskets and whittle toys and spoons while they traveled.
The Rangers were as confused by the Halfling courier. As they took such shelter as they could beneath a tree during one night, Dale whispered to Tsuki, "Does Kato seem more strange than other Halflings to you? Certainly Brandy does enjoy sitting before a fire with food, ale, and smoke, but he does not have such a blunt manner, nor does he speak in such detail about his previous lovers or constantly go through other people's things."
"Dior does that."
"No, only the clothes. His family are all weavers and tailors and such, but I would admit Dior is a strange Elf. I am a strange Elf, and I say that is one peculiar Halfling there."
The only good things about the trek through the wood, were that Tsuki's camp stove could function on damp ground and even in the rain, and that they had time and opportunity to hunt and forage, so that they came out of the wood, tired, damp and dirty, but with food and goods to spare.
"Where will we stay?" Tsuki asked.
"They better have a bath!" Dale groaned.
"You are really not as cheerful as one would expect from an Elf."
"Listen, Little One, Elves feel deeply. When there is something to be cheerful about we celebrate and show plenty of good cheer, but when have not bathed properly in days and all our clothes are damp, you best just keep your distance."
"Please, we are almost in town, let us try not to fight with each other."
"A while ago you were fighting with him and he had not even insulted your people."
Tsuki whispered back to Dale, "It was just I started to suspect when he was asking about the swords he was not really speaking of the swords."
Dale laughed. "Yeah, let's just go into town."
"You can stay at my house. The rooms will likely seem small to you, but I have a bath that is big enough for two whole Men."
"The Wizards should name some defect of the mind after this one; he seems to have many things large enough for two Men," Dale whispered.
They entered the walled settlement at its north gate and lead the pony and horse through the earthen streets. Kato stopped before one of the wood and stone houses and went to the door. Dale asked if Kato lived in this house; it seemed made for Men. "No, I live in the little house behind and to the side of Sam's house, I am just telling him that I have returned."
Dale and Tsuki waited as Kato knocked upon the door. A very large Man, with tanned skin, a full dark beard, and gold rings through his ear answered. This was one of the Men of the South, currently in Kato's employ. "Hullo, Sam," the Man's real name was in a foreign tongue and difficult to pronounce, so Kato called him Sam. "My companions and I will be in my house overnight, and I will likely be leaving again tomorrow evening."
"Very good, Little Master, do you have need of anything tonight?"
"Tend to these horses, please. We are most tired and in need of food. And then, just look after things when I am gone again, if you will."
"Will you go to the tavern tonight?"
"I think I would prefer my own bed. One of our party convinced me that we should go through the wood."
"Was all well there, Little Master? We heard reports of strange ghostly lights in the wood these past too nights."
"Really? If there were ghosts, perhaps the light of my lantern kept them at bay. Thankfully I saw no spirits!"
"It was the lantern," Tsuki said plainly.
"That Wizard-spawned beam has likely been announcing our position to watchers from miles away," Dale said seriously, "I would have told you to put it out, but I heard no rumors of danger, except those of moonlight that comes from below."
"He brought down the moon," Tsuki mused.
"Is one among your companions an Elf?" Sam asked. He stepped out into the afternoon light.
Dale took his hood from his hair and made a small bow. He was, after all, an Elf, and did not believe it hurt to make acquaintances of Men who may be friends. "Dale Maple," he said.
"The name sounds pretty when he says it," Kato observed.
It was a rather plain name for an Elf, being not Elven at all, but Dale's voice made the name sound prettier than when it was said by Men.
"It is said there have not been Elves in our land for ages. They do not enjoy running across the sands, it seems."
"We do not mind beaches; I think it is more the absence of trees. We do love trees, though my folk had more liking for fruit trees and flowers than the wood."
"I thought it was a valley of maples?" Tsuki whispered.
"Yes, but the maple groves were not the original reason my people remained in the valley."
"Such red hair. It is a fine color," said Sam.
"Sam's people fly red in their colors," Kato explained, "Come this way." He walked around the larger hour, into a yard. Once they cleared the corner of the house the smaller house could be seen behind. The pony and horses were left in the yard and other Men of the South came to tend to them. Dale and Tsuki removed their gear from their horses before following Kato to the small house.
"Are they all from that land?" Tsuki asked.
"No, but whenever Sam earns money, he sends it home to pay the way of his brothers and their wives, who want to move here. They enjoy their own land very much, but as the war is ended and their people have already acknowledged your High King many are excited to visit this region and learn of our ways."
"I understood that the Halflings also acknowledged the king, so he is not mine, specifically."
"He is a king of Men. Of course, if there is so great a king, we are going to say we are allied to him, no point in stirring up that sort of trouble, but day to day, my people really have little use for monarchs. We handle our own problems."
Kato opened the door to his house and moved inside. He felt it was good to be home, even if only for a day. Tsuki and Dale both had to stoop low to get inside, and once in the hall had to duck their heads to keep from banging them against the ceiling. It was worse for Dale, as he was somewhat taller.
"I will start a fire," Kato said, "And then we can all have baths and fix something to eat and have some tea."
"You have tea?" Tsuki asked, "I should like tea again."
"Supplies were short during the war; I was worried we should have to go without, but now we import it through our connections in the south, though I understand it has come in through the east sometimes. You don't have any connections in that region?"
"No. I have been in the west the greater part of my life."
Kato nodded. Tsuki looked like some Men of the East he had seen, but his manner and speech were quite influenced by the west. He walked into the great room, as he called it. The room was cozy to the bigger people, but even Kato would say it had a certain warmth, though it was the largest room in his house. He went to the stone hearth and searched for his matches.
"That is the guest room there. There is one bed and a tub for bathing. A few odds and ends may have found there way in there. Use it as you will. There is what we call an outhouse, through the rear door, if you have need. The well is elsewhere in the yard. You can fill kettles here to heat water and fill the tub with buckets."
"Is there perhaps a basin where I may wash my clothes?" Dale asked.
"Hmmn. I do not do my own laundering, but I suppose there may be some. I have collected so many things. Souvenirs and things that seemed interesting at the time. Look around. Take a few things when you leave. I am sure I will not miss them."
Tsuki said he would go out for water and went into the yard. Dale searched Kato's house for a basin. It truly seemed only two rooms were lived in and the rest were all used for storage, one was devoted to preserved food and cookware. Dale expected it was true Kato would not miss a few things, even if they took them.
Kato got a fire started. Tsuki filled the very large copper tub in the tiny guest room. Dale found a basin and even some cord and pins for hanging wash, though they all seemed unused. They heated water enough to make the bath warm and left more to heat to be used for the laundry.
Kato had his own small bath in the room where he kept his clothes and bed and so he left his guests, promising to prepare some food when he had washed. Dale and Tsuki moved their gear into the guest room. Tsuki began by spreading out his gear, emptying the saddlebags and case so that everything could dry. Even the clothes that had not been worn were somewhat musty, as the leather bags were only highly resistant to water and not impervious. Tsuki thought the bags themselves would need some oil once they were dried.
"Some heat comes off the back of the fireplace and the air seems good in here, so as soon as I hang these things to dry I can leave you alone."
"Oh?"
"I just thought, you probably do not want to bathe after me and you will probably want to get out off all those clothes. You can have a bath now. If the water is very dirty, I can help you empty it and go for more."
"I think it will be well if we bathe together. I could just sit behind you."
Tsuki closed his eyes. "I do not know that it will be well. I mean no offense. It is well that you can trust me and I realize we have bathed together before, but that was in a different sort of bath and it was before I said those things."
"Oh...well...it would just be washing."
Tsuki nodded slowly. "Yes. Of course I understood that, it is just...I would feel awkward about it. Just the awareness that you would be naked and close to me...you can trust me to keep my promises and not act without your consent, but I should not like to set myself up for such temptation."
Dale heard all that Tsuki said and in his mind he heard himself say, 'make the Wizard your pet and they will all bow and scrape without a snap of the whip' and yet some other voice that was also his own said, 'It is a shame he is not an Elf; he would not feel so awkward about such things' and yet some other voice seemed to scream, 'He sees and understand what I have done and yet he wants to be with me. He wants me! You cannot spoil this for me!'
Dale opened his mouth and what came from it was a little laugh, and then, "But I am always naked under my clothes, Eru."
Tsuki stood, such as he could in the small room and walked past Dale, carrying clothing, to hang the line between a peg on the wall and the window; he knotted one end of the cord and swung the window closed on it. "I am sorry, Dale," Tsuki said as he hung a shirt. "I can truly see now how you are unprepared. I regret that I told you so much. I felt you deserved to hear about the Wizard that night, but I should not have said more than that. I wondered if I was the only one who felt awkwardness at being rejected, but no, you avoided being alone with me also. You are not comfortable now. You would not laugh and sing if you were."
"Are you saying you were mistaken?" Dale asked.
Tsuki hung a pair of loose pants from the line and then moved from behind so that he could view Dale directly. Dale's eyes blinked rapidly as he gazed back. "Mistaken in deciding to tell you, not mistaken about the feelings. I made you feel pressured. We had become friends, and so you wanted to be able to please me. You believed that I should have someone to share with and when I said I knew who I wanted, you would have wanted that person to want me in return, because you are my friend. So, when you said yes, I think that you were only answering as that friend. It might have been bad if we went through with our actions. I would have realized later that you were not yet capable of feeling for me what I feel for you. I also wish that you were, but we both understand now, do we not?"
"Tsuki?"
"There are things you still need to figure out for yourself. I do not think you know whether you could ever be devoted to someone like me, who is a Man, who is male. Right now, you do not even feel worthy of anyone's devotion."
"To the pit of dark fire with you; I wish you were an Elf," Dale whispered.
Tsuki clenched a fist as he spoke. "What would you say to me if I were an Elf?"
"I should say that I understand that you are presently devoted to someone who has not as yet returned your devotion and so you have no bond that would prevent you from having a lover. And I would say that I have certain...difficulties that I am working very hard to overcome, but at present, though I should aspire to be both worthy and capable of devotion, I am not certain that I ever will be. There are some things I must face alone, but I do not believe that means I must be alone. Sometimes it hurts very much to be alone, and perhaps if I could just feel some reassuring hand, I could do what I must. I offer myself to you, to share what pleasures we may without attachment."
"And if I were an Elf who wished to accept?"
"You would indicate a reciprocal offer and general acceptance, then await any terms I have."
"I offer myself to you, freely, to share what pleasures we may, without attachment."
"I would prefer not to do it in the day or with all of my clothes removed and I will not be kissed on the mouth. I offer to be your bathing companion as well, but only if we will be unseen by others, otherwise I prefer to bathe alone."
"I accept your terms and offer myself as your bathing companion. I can think of no other terms I would name, except those which are understood in all such arrangements."
"Tsuki...you truly accept?"
"Do you sincerely offer?"
"Yes."
"Then I sincerely accept and return the offer."
"You could be hurt."
"No. You cannot hurt me in this. You are not the one to whom I am devoted. You are the lover I keep while I am unable to have the one to whom I would be devoted. That one can hurt me, but I have already taken on all the risks and pain involved in making my feelings known to him. I am not afraid."
"The bath will get cold."
Tsuki gave a nod and sat slowly on the little bed to takeoff his boots and cloak. As he unlaced his pants, he noticed that Dale watched him. Tsuki smiled. He felt confidence in his decisions and their actions seemed right to him.
In his own room, Kato stooped slightly to put his eyes to a peephole in the thin wooden wall. He could hear low voices, though not enough to make out the words spoken. His guests might even be speaking in Elven, he thought He had learned only a little of the language from songs and for trade...and what he had memorized in order to deliver his message. They had made him repeat it so many times he was sick of it.
Kato could see nothing but blackness that went slowly in and out of focus. "They hung their clothes!" he said in the language of his people, which was, as many Mannish tongues, a variation of the Common Speech far enough removed from it that the words were little understood by those to whom it was unfamiliar.
"Did you hear something?" Dale asked Tsuki.
"Likely it is Kato moving about in his room."
Kato replaced the peg of wood in the peephole and went to his tub to bathe.
"What is this one?" Dale asked, "is it Elven?"
Tsuki stopped at his side and read the label on the bottle that was in his own writing. "It is the essence of a flower of the field. I did not learn the name of this flower until I move to the west, so I wrote its name in Elven."
"Oh, lavender, I could not make out your writing."
"Sometimes the oil gets on the bottle or my fingers and smears the ink."
"I like its scent. We should put it in the bathwater. It does not make magic, does it?"
"Some oils may be used in potions of the art, but I keep these plant oils for ceremonial anointing and spellwork...though My...the Wizard did say that the properties of an oil's scent might have effect on the body. He did not have full understanding of what these effects might be. His area of study was in comparing various systems of belief and magic. He wished to find the essential truth behind magic and power. If I recall my lessons, this scent will either make our minds sharp and clear or make us more likely to feel attraction."
Dale laughed, almost madly, then ran lightly to the tub and poured at least a third of the oil into the water.
"Not so much. It is not that easy to obtain!" Tsuki warned.
"I can find you lavender. It has pale purple clusters of flowers and leaves that grow up like this." He described the leaves in gesture.
"It does smell good."
Dale put the stopper in the bottle. "I wonder what Wizards would say of the properties of Elven soap and hair-wash."
"I do not know. The products of a Wizard's bath do clean well, but they leave the skin feeling dry or...tingly afterward. Elven products seem more gentle."
"All natural. Get in the water, and then close your eyes."
Tsuki climbed into the large tub. The water was warm at best, but immediately felt preferable to staying dirty. Tsuki turned his head toward the door and closed his eyes. Dale removed his remaining clothes and then sat behind Tsuki in the tub.
Dale reached for the soap and the kettle beside the tub. He poured the contents of the kettle into the bath, warming the water somewhat, but retained enough for Tsuki to use later in shaving. They had two buckets of water for rinsing, but Dale believed water should be cool to rinse. He worked the soap between his hands.
"May I wash you?" Dale asked.
"Would you let me wash you?"
"Not this time."
"Then do only what it pleases you to do," Tsuki said, opening his eyes.
"Can I touch your wood?"
"Wood?" Tsuki asked.
"This," Dale said, as he reached around Tsuki.
Tsuki drew breath in a hiss. "The other day it was my sword."
"Perhaps if it penetrates. What would a Wizard call it?"
"They would just say 'erection' and will it away."
"Wizards have no poetry. They could at least call it wand or staff."
Tsuki laughed softly. "My flesh if it pleases you to touch it. My sword if it is my will to make you feel the keenness of longing or pleasure. My wand and power if I send you into ecstasy with it."
"Oh...you have poetry. I like a lover with poetry."
"It does seem fitting Elves should have wood. Like green living wood supple yet strong."
"Ah, now I feel like tightly grained hardwood about to catch fire."
"Let me feel it."
"Which hand?" Dale asked.
The receiving hand, Tsuki thought. "Left." Tsuki pushed his hand behind.
Dale took Tsuki's hand and led it where he would allow. "You feel?" Dale whispered.
Tsuki closed his eyes, to focus on the sensation in his fingertips. "They marked you here as well...I feel two long scars...here...and here...and here the folds of skin do not feel natural."
"It is all cut off. Cut and discarded, so that I should always be on display. When they did that...I think that is when I really started to lose my mind."
"But no pain now?"
"No. Withdraw your hand." Tsuki did as asked, though Dale's hand was not yet withdrawn and would not be for a few moments more. "I do want you, but I think it is better to wash now. Later, Tsuki, I want everything you are willing to share with me!"
Dale drew his hand from Tsuki then. Tsuki said, "I feel an icy burn across my skin when you are near. Blazing fire where you touch me."
Dale leaned in and whispered at Tsuki's right ear. "They say virgin wood burns hottest, but have no fear, I know all the best way to quench a Man's fire."
When Tsuki heard Dale say such things, it only made him feel hotter.