Storms and Stars by Neena Jaydon

Author:Neena Jaydon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781610407175
Publisher: Torquere Press
Published: 2012-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

It wasn't a very deep lake. Villam stood some distance into it, the water barely reaching his belly. He gave Luke an unconcerned glance as he scrubbed himself with a handful of rushes. The full glow of the setting sun tinted him a dark golden color gone rosy at the edges. His body was long, long, long, and lanky without being weak; muscle and bone defined him, made him graceful as well as powerful.

This was hardly the first time Luke had seen Villam without clothing on. They'd been living in too close company for that. Yet he usually averted his eyes, first out of manners, then in self-defense. Now he was unable to tear his gaze away. The sight made his mouth dry out and his heart beat faster. It made his body rebel on a fundamental level. He had recognized something in Villam's form that he couldn't deny now that he knew what it was.

"Beauty," he whispered to himself in his native tongue. It was not a word he had often spoken in his life. Beauty was one of the least practical things of all. Now, in a land of sweeping, glittering landscapes, he felt the draw of things that pleased his eyes, and Villam did that almost cruelly well.

This is a dangerous pollution . He didn't believe that himself. It shook him, this powerful desire to hold on to his own visceral reaction.

Villam sank into the water with a trembling exhalation at the chill. Freed, Luke closed up the water sacks and fled for camp.

***

Three days before, Luke had stood in front of the completed hut with a not-quite-smile on his face. Villam had simply felt tired as he looked at the simple structure. Inside it was about as large as his quarters on The Future, minus the bunks and other conveniences set into the walls. A mixture of mud, dung from grasslands creatures, fallen leaves, dried grasses, and twigs, the rounded walls were as thick as his spread hand and had turned a mottled green-brown.

I've only ever built larger earthworks with many other recruits. If I'm going to work myself raw, I'd like to see something grander. That's what he'd thought then. Now, hearing the wind tear the remaining leaves off of the trees overhead, he felt quite pleased with the little building. He wouldn't have to sleep in the storm shaping up outside. Good timing on our part. We've had rain, but I think in all these months this is the first actual storm we've seen.

Tonight he didn't collapse into sleep. He'd considered himself a fit man while serving the Empress, doing his exercise regimen without fail, but now he was noticeably slimmer and harder and a little embarrassed by what he'd once thought of as endurance. Now he had energy left to sit weaving reeds into mats while Luke prepared more reeds for him. They'd need more layers under them by the time things got very cold, or they'd lose precious body heat to the floor.

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