A Beautiful Day
#1 of A Beautiful Day
Now
"At least it's a beautiful day."
I can't help but think, as I watch the ax come down, with the sun glinting off the killing edge, that it is a beautiful day. I turn my head to the crowd to see Damon, his face twisted with rage and terror, as he screams for me. And the restlessness I have felt for the past few weeks' turns to calm, and love. I have accepted my fate. I can only hope Damon will be able to accept his.
10 Years Earlier
"GAAARRGGHH! Why can't I get this right? "
"I don't know, Taar. We've gone over this like, six times. "
"There is no reason I shouldn't be able to perform a simple projection spell, when Geris got it on his second try."
"Are you distracted, maybe?"
"By what, Damon?"
"I don't know. You have seemed a little...on edge lately."
Is this it? Is this my chance to tell him? No. Not here. Not around all these people.
"No I haven't. I'm fine. I just need to focus."
"Maybe we should try focusing on something else for a while. Class was over almost twenty minutes ago. It's Friday. We have an Offering to attend. Let's go home, get ready for the bonfire, and try this again tomorrow."
"It's Friday, Damon. How will we work on it tomorrow?"
"We'll meet at the lake in the morning. Just you and me, no distractions."
He has no idea how good "his" idea sounds to me. Or, that I mastered this spell in third year, outside of classes.
"Yeah. I guess that is a good idea. Lets go get cleaned up. You smell like an arena locker."
"What? I smell? Eww."
When we arrived at our village we went straight to the Baths. The Baths were a public outbuilding designed to help with water consumption. Used to keep bathing water separate from the drinking supply. The building was a series of 6 descending rooms. The lower rooms were free to all, and were generally associated with lower class villagers. The higher rooms, on the other hand, were consecutively higher in price. Damon and I usually went to room four.
I started into room Four as usual, but Damon grabbed my arm and presented me with two 15-rethan coins.
"What are these for?"
"Lets go to Six today. We've had an unusually stressful day."
"Where did you get this?"
"My sire came to see me yesterday."
The look on his face went sour to sad and back to cheerful in almost a blink. But I saw it. I always see it.
"Is that where you were yesterday? Visiting him?"
"More like being reprimanded by him. "You need to be more aggressive. You need to focus more on your combat training. You need to learn how to run your own household." Jerk!"
He hates his father. The old dog left to finish his tour, as a Royal Marine, when Damon was still just a pup. He'll show up every few years for a few hours, to lecture Damon about how bad he's doing in everything. Jerk!
"Sounds like you need room six as much as I do. Lets go."
Room Six was the most expensive room. And the least occupied.
We paid the fox at the door and walked into the dressing room. We started to remove our clothes but were stopped by two small black rabbits. They told us in broken Arkenian that they were to undress us and prepare us for the baths.
"Oh. No. No thank you." I told them. "That's not necessary."
But they were very persistent. So, we let them remove our clothes. I tried my best not to let Damon catch my glances at his sleek, firm, spotted body. But, I also noticed him looking at me. Witch made me blush. They combed the kinks out of our fur, coaxing a soft purr from me, and sent Damon's tail into frenzy. We followed them into the main bathhouse.
"You want big room? Small room?" the first rabbit asked.
"Um," I looked at Damon, who just shrugged, "The small room, I think, would be nice."
"Yes. Yes. Small room. Good for mates." he said with a wink.
"Oh. We're not," but Damon just put his hand out to stop me as a sign of saying 'don't bother'.
They closed the doors behind us as we settled into the lilac and wisteria scented hot water.
"Oh, yeah. That's nice." Damon sighed, looking at me as he slid in.
"I've never been higher than four. I didn't know you got "assistance" like that. Did you?"
"No. But, I sure didn't mind it." he said, grinning like a schoolboy. "Sorry."
"I didn't mind it either." and we both chuckled a little.
"I mean about staring at you like I did. That was rude."
"Because we've never seen each other naked before." I replied as sarcastically as I could, while stirring up some heat from the water to cover my blush.
"Yeah. But, not like that. Something about watching that little rabbit take off your clothes was, mesmerizing." I saw him settle a little deeper into the water, to cover his own blush.
"It's not as if I wasn't staring at you, too. I liked it."
Things were a little quiet after that. I was worried I had over reached my bounds, and made him uncomfortable. But, just before I started to panic, he asked me a thoroughly random question. One to witch he already knew the answer to.
"Taar?" it was almost inaudible.
"Yeah?" I replied a little too fast and a little too loud.
"Have you ever been with a girl?" he sounded slightly anxious.
"What?"
"Have you ever been with a girl?"
"I've never slept with a girl but I've fooled around with a few. You know that. Why?"
"Just curious. One of the alchemy girls asked me to meet her at the edge of the field during the offering."
"Really." I couldn't even look at him. "Who?"
"That pretty Shepard, with the pink stripe in her fur."
"Wow. She's cute." It cut me to the quick to ask, but I had to know. "Are you going to?"
"Yeah. Probably." Grrrrr.
"You don't sound to enthused." I implied, as subtly as I could.
He shifted his weight forward, and then moved over next to me. I swallowed the lump in my throat so he couldn't hear the hurt.
"I'm not, really."
"Why not?" trying to keep the hope from resonating off the walls.
"She isn't the one I wanted to ask me." He sounded genuinely disappointed.
"Who then?"
"Come on." He sat straight up and looked at me like I was an idiot. "You know who."
He leaned in so close to my ear I could feel his breath over the heat of the water. "You."
I didn't have time to respond. The sound of Damons father screaming for him cut the moment short. He was actually in the baths.
"Oh, frell me!" Damon sighed, " I thought he'd left already."
"Damon!" We could almost feel the door to room six blast open. "Damon! Get your tail out here! Now!"
Damon stood up and wrapped a towel from the wall around his waist. But not before I noticed the pink of his manhood peeking out of its sheath. I smiled. "Father! What are you doing here? I thought you left last night."
I waited to leave the small private room we were in until my own excitement went down. But I could hear them talking through the screen that separated us.
"Of course you thought that. That's what I told you. But I didn't leave. I stayed. To keep an eye on you." He was practically barking.
"Keep an eye on me?"
"Your mother told me that you had been spending a little two much time with some pansy tiger boy lately." I stepped out of the room at this point and stood next to Damon. My shoulder just at back of his head. "Well. You're certainly a little bigger than I expected. But, you do look like a pansy." All the fur on my neck stood up and I felt my lip start to curl.
"Who do you think you are coming in here and interrupting our relaxation? Isn't it enough he has to deal with you once a year when you manage to show up? Now he has to worry about you spying on him too. Sounds like you've been in the jungle too long to me."
"Taar!" He hates it when I talk for him. He still thinks this can end peacefully. "What do you want, father?"
"I want to do like any father, and keep my son away from fags like hi--"
The steaming hot water felt like ice on my skin. I held him up against the far edge of the bath like he was a doll. Just as I raised my paw and extended my claws he kneed me in the groin, and sent me onto my back into the water. He put his booted foot on my chest and held me under. I could see Damon trying to push his father off to no avail. And I could hear muffled arguing.
"Get off him, father!" He sounded desperate. "You're going to kill him!"
"Of course I am, you dandy!" He sounds like he means it. The light is starting to fade from the edges of my eyes. "That's the whole point. If I kill him he wont be able to make you into a queer too."
"I already am a queer, you stupid mutt!" The light is coming back now. "And I love him!" I slice my claws through the tendons of his legs, just as Damon lands a hard right to his father's muzzle that sends him flying. And I try to sit up.
"KAFT-KAPHT! KAF-KAF!"
"Oh, my gods! Are you all right? Sit up! Relax! Breathe slowly." He's helping me out of the bloody water before my eyes fully open.
"MEDIC!" They don't open before the medics get here.
More muffled voices. " He'll be fine. A few dozen sutures and a couple months of rehab and he'll be good as new." That must be the medic.
"Yeah. Great. What about Taar?" I know that one.
"Well. It looks like he's coming to right now."
"Damon." My voice hurts. "Damon."
"I'm here Taar. How are you feeling?"
"Like I was just held under water until I blacked out by a Royal Marine. Did I hurt him?" Consequences. Ugh.
"Yeah. Pretty bad. You sliced almost all the way to the bone."
"I'm sorry. Don't hate me." Now I sound desperate.
"What? Why would I do that?" His voice is smooth, like honey. He rubs his hand across my chest slow, like were closer than we are.
I reach up and cover his paw with mine. "I don't know, he's still your sire."
"He tried to kill you, baby. I wouldn't care if you tore him apart. Well not about him, but about you. Cause then we would have to run away to avoid the Guard, probably leave the Empire to avoid the Royal Marines. Then we would have to get jobs as dish washers-"
I probably could have waited for a more appropriate time, but he was just so cute. All worried and kind of frantic. When I sat up. our lips met and they were on fire. It lasted forever. His lips parted just enough for me to breath some of him in, and I felt him lick my lips. I accepted his invitation and opened my mouth to let him in. He tasted like summer. Clean and bright. Then I remembered we weren't alone. I slowly and very reluctantly lay back. His eyes were still closed, and he was panting a little.
"Wow. What was that for?"
"You said that you love me. I love you too. Always have."
The rest of the day was wasted talking to Guards and doctors. I was barely able to talk to Damon before our mothers showed up. They told us there was no way we should attend the Offering. They didn't want us under any more stress. But we had enough time to plan our "practice session" for tomorrow morning. We parted with a wink and a smirk.