Chapter 11: Home
#11 of The Mating Season: Zaldon's Story
Chapter 11: Home
How time flew. It seemed to Zaldon as if just yesterday he and his mother had started off on their journey, but as they passed down through bright green pastures and the summer village came into view, Zaldon realized with a little shock that after leaving Alea, they had stayed at the sun village a full year. It was summer again, he was seventeen, and the mating season would soon be upon him. He was now two heads taller than his mother, his body was bigger and bulkier, his mane thicker, his cock so big now that it forced excited shrieks from females left and right, but his black eyes were just as gentle as before. His big paws clenched the straps of his traveling pack. It had been such a long time since he'd seen Kel and the others -- he was fifteen the last time he saw them! Two years had passed and how did they look now? After being allowed for so long to express his feelings toward other males -- even if he didn't allow himself to act upon them -- Zaldon knew it would be hell, learning all over again to disguise his desires behind the gruff mask of a pussy-loving warrior. He sighed as a wave of misery overtook him: after the mating season, he would have to stand by and watch as Kel was married off to some female. Probably Aliona. Zaldon ground his teeth, imagining the wedding as he joined in the celebration, pretending with a pasted smile that he was happy for Kel. He would rather die than endure that, but he would die if he left the summer village too. He had to be near Kel. Somehow . . . he had to. Even if Kel didn't feel the same way, they were still friends, and Zaldon was loyal to the end.
"Zaldy," said Joli, who Zaldon noticed was watching him anxiously around a streak of silvery mane. "When we reach the village, try to . . ."
"Try to what, exactly, Mom?" Zaldon quietly demanded. "Fall out of love with Kel? Unless he splits open a pussy, that's not happening. And even still, I might keep on loving him."
"Zaldon! Don't you take that tone with me!"
Zaldon rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you want me to say, Mom? I can't help the way I feel about him! Could you help falling in love with Melgo? Or with Dad?"
Zaldon grunted when his mother was silent: she had no retort because he was right.
They passed through the village gates and Zaldon's heart about leapt in his throat: Kel and his friends were lounging not far away. The great pavilion and the little fields of grass surrounding it were off to Zaldon's right, and lounging around one of the wooden picnic tables were Kel and his friends. Zaldon could see Loryn's familiar striped body stretched along a bench, one leg bent almost as if his cock and balls were on display. God, Loryn was just as handsome as before! Those bulging arms and sculpted abs. . . . Then there was serious Yzlo, who was sitting on the edge of the table with his arms folded, chatting with the others. He was still gray and somber and handsome in his own way. And then . . . there was Kel.
Kel hadn't noticed Zaldon yet (thank god!). He was too engrossed in whatever conversation he, Loryn, and Yzlo were engaged in. So Zaldon had a good chance to take him in. When he halted in the street and stepped a little behind a tree, his mother smiled fondly at him, told him to be home for supper, and moved on. Zaldon rubbed his face and felt a crimson heat creeping up it just looking at Kel. Tall and sleek and toned, Kel's body stood perfectly sculpted in the gentle morning sun. His dark mane lifted on a sudden breeze, pulling back to reveal the flexing muscles of his neck and shoulders. He was twirling an empty sling absently in one paw as he listened to the others talk, and the fluid motion of it made the tight muscles of his body flex. That tight back and chest, those hard and high ass cheeks. But when Kel laughed, Zaldon's black eyes zeroed in on his face: those vivid green eyes, so gentle and warm and kind, and yet so fierce and flashing when Kel was angry! Zaldon had missed Kel's eyes most of all.
Still hiding behind the tree, Zaldon took a deep breath and approached the trio. His plan was to walk quickly by and hope that they greeted him, for the last time he spoke to any of them, they had all been seriously pissed. He was, therefore, shocked and embarrassed when Loryn looked his way, his striped ears pricked forward, and he shouted in amazement, "Oh, my fucking god, is that Zaldon? He's hot -- I mean, hotter than before!"
Zaldon wanted to clap a paw to his face, and he almost tripped when he breathed in their rugged scents. They had developed such delicious musks, but Kel still smelled as soft as a female! He swallowed thickly, thinking he must make it to Melgo's hut without stopping. But Loryn sat up and cried, "Whoa, whoa -- where's the fire?"
Zaldon stopped and looked at them. None of them were angry. They were, in fact, happy to see him! He couldn't believe it! Loryn and Yzlo were grinning up at him, and Kel awkwardly scratched the back of his ears, his green eyes glowing happily that his friend had returned.
"Where the hell have you been?" Loryn demanded. "Kel thought you were never coming back!" And he gave Kel a playful bop on the head that was irritably smacked away.
"We went by your hut," Yzlo added, "to see if you were alright after what happened. We were all mad and stuff, but we knew you didn't really mean to hurt Kel."
"You okay, Zaldon?" Kel wondered, and Zaldon squirmed uncomfortably under the anxious probing of those green eyes. Kel always seemed to see to the core of his heart, so why was it that he hadn't guessed Zaldon's feelings for him? It was frustrating! Looking down at Kel, Zaldon wanted to fall into his arms and unload every secret on him: his lost child, his molestation at the paws of his uncle, his violent struggle over the years to repress his desires. And how bittersweet it would be to feel Kel's arms around him as he wept, to feel Kel's kisses in his mane! But that couldn't happen. So Zaldon stood motionless, not knowing what to say.
"I think some female ran off with his tongue," teased Yzlo, elbowing Kel.
"Or some male," said Loryn with a crooked smile.
"Shut up, fleabag!" Zaldon managed to snap out, and they all laughed.
"Hey, come on, Zaldon," said Yzlo, hopping down off the edge of the table. "We can all go to the waterfall and talk --"
"Yzlo!" Kel scolded. "Zaldon's probably tired. He just got back."
Yzlo rolled his eyes.
"What are you, his mother?" said Loryn, pushing Kel aside. He looked up at Zaldon, "You tired, big boy?"
Zaldon laughed, "Not too tired to walk a little way to the forest."
Loryn grinned: "Then come on!"
It wasn't the first time they all gathered at the waterfall. It was, in fact, their favorite spot. The four males loved coming there to lounge and talk and escape for one second the lecturing of their parents. Since the time they were small, they had come there to chuck stones, wrestle, laugh, play, debase their parents, and talk about what girls they loved and hated.
Zaldon felt very soothed to be sitting in the cavern behind the waterfall. When he dipped his feet in the water and felt Loryn's tail playfully slap across his own, he knew at last . . . he was home.
"So what'd ya bring us?" Loryn teased, nodding at Zaldon's slumping traveling pack.
Terrified that his friends might discover Ettore's blanket, Zaldon lied and told them he'd brought nothing home but the dagger his mother bought for him. He didn't feel like explaining Ettore. He didn't think he could without crying, and he was glad when Loryn seemed to take a hint and let the matter drop. Zaldon usually brought his friends back sweets, but they were too old for that now.
They all lay on their backs in a row (as they were so fond of doing), and Yzlo said over the soft rushing of the water, "Zaldon, aren't you gonna ask what we were talkin' about? You seemed curious enough when you were hiding behind that tree."
Zaldon winced: you couldn't put anything past Yzlo, who -- in his drive to be the best warrior on the planet -- seemed to notice every goddamned thing.
"He was behind a tree?" laughed Loryn, his incredulous voice echoing off the cavern walls.
"Watching us," confirmed Yzlo, "for a minute or two."
"Well -- I thought you guys were still pissed -- at me --" stammered Zaldon, embarrassed.
Kel laughed. "Zaldon! That happened two years ago! And we're your friends. Friends forgive each other."
Kel was lying at Zaldon's side, and he looked over at Zaldon with such loving warmth that Zaldon said to change the subject, "So what were you guys talking about anyway? Since Yzlo is pissing himself for me to ask."
Yzlo laughed. "Fuck you!" he said and splashed Zaldon with his tail.
Zaldon's chuckles filled the cavern, and the others joined in the splashing. When they were sighing with laughter and the splashing had stopped, Kel sat up and leaned back on his paws. Zaldon happily took in the tight muscles of Kel's back and the way his buttocks pressed to the ground as he sat. He wanted to smooth his paw along Kel's tail, but the smile dropped from Zaldon's face when Kel said eagerly,
"We were talking about which females we're claiming at the mating season."
"Oh," said Zaldon, almost darkly. He sat up and rested his arms on his knees, not looking at any of them but glowering into the distance.
"I'm taking Hye from Landor," Yzlo said, sitting up as well. "Stupid Land doesn't know what to do with that kind of hotness."
"And I'm all for Kira," Loryn added. He was still resting on his back, his big arms behind his head. He smiled dreamily at the ceiling.
Zaldon's lips tightened: even male-loving Loryn had fallen for some female! Was there something in the water? He felt so damned alone suddenly.
"You've been gone for so long, Zaldon," Yzlo said. "Any females in mind?"
Zaldon shook his head, not noticing how closely Kel and Loryn were watching him. "There was a female over in the moon village that I almost -- but after her, I couldn't be with another," he muttered miserably, and it was half the truth.
Zaldon wondered how Alea was. The last time he saw her, he could tell she was on the verge of begging to come with him, but she knew her father would never consent to such a thing, so she did not ask. There was no way TayeLok would have let his daughter leave him to journey across the sea, where her future would be uncertain and wholly unknown to him. Zaldon was a little disappointed: if Alea had come, at least he would've had a close friend to confide in. He didn't know how to talk to Melgo anymore. It got harder the older he became.
Kel stared sympathetically at Zaldon. Zaldon could tell that he wanted to know what had happened, but he was glad when Kel -- always so sweetly tactful -- did not ask.
"So it's just a fuck fest for you, huh, Zaldon?" said Yzlo, trying to cheer Zaldon up.
Zaldon managed a half smile and nodded.
"Well, who knows?" said Yzlo with a shrug. "Maybe you'll find a female at your second mating season. Come on, let's go back, guys. I'm starvin'." Yzlo chucked a last rock in the water, then climbed to his feet.
Zaldon stood too, shouldering his traveling pack. He had to admit he was starving too, though he was in no hurry at all to go home to Melgo's questioning eyes.
Zaldon and Yzlo waded into the shallows. Kel was following when he felt a yank on his tail, and looking back, found Loryn smiling at him.
"Loryn," Kel warned, for he had no intention of staying behind to be teased and tormented by Loryn's skilled touch.
Loryn shook his head. "It's not that, it's . . . I wanna know something . . ."
Kel folded his arms, staring suspiciously at Loryn.
Loryn waited until Zaldon and Yzlo were stroking hard for the mud bank before he asked, "Kel . . . what do you think of Zaldon?"
Kel looked uncomfortably in the opposite direction. He folded and unfolded his arms, then scratched his head, all the while stammering, "Why would you ask -- how is it any -- what kind of question --!"
Loryn busted out laughing, and when Kel looked down, he saw why. His cheeks flamed and he covered himself, barking out, "Shut up, Loryn! Just shut up!"
Loryn moved past Kel into the shallows, his twinkling black eyes glancing in great amusement at the erection Kel could barely cover. "Gladly, Kel. Gladly."