The Hunt

[Jay Carpenter]

Jai & Daryen

When Yui reminded His Highness that additional guests would soon be arriving, Jai planted one foot against the wall and leaned back, but felt like fading into the wall hangings instead.  Unfortunately, he would not linger long.  Nythadri had disappeared by then and so was unable to hear Jai's inquiry after just who else was crashing this party.  He went unanswered.  Yui managed to excuse herself under perfect pretenses, and he was dangerously alone with the bloody king of Arad Doman.  It was like he had never left.  Maybe that would have been for the best, he resigned, and they departed as well.

Servants passed by, bowing for their leigelord, on the journey to a lavish reception room lined with striped wood inlaid with golden ambers.  They were blurred faces to Jai, who was focused entirely on listening to the king's explanation.  Short, and to the point, three powers of Bandar Eban were arriving for a friendly hunting trip.  Suspicion began to smolder, but for entirely different reasons than before.  Three, two men and one woman, whose support Daryen needed to entertain the invitation of a certain circle of dignitaries to negotiate a very specific treaty.  One Jai recognized.  And he could hardly fathom its existence, let alone its execution.  This time, it wasn't nerves which clenched his fists.

"Light Burn You!"
Fury exploded to the surface.

Their arrival drew the collective gasp of servants prepping within for overhearing the argument.  A heavy tray clattered with the sounds of slight silver.  They could burn with the rest of Arad Doman, Jai didn't care.

Coming to blows with a channeler never went far, not without leveling a few buildings, but for a moment, Jai considered trying.  Instead, he walked away.

A sleek table, half decorated with sparse silver wafting the scent of peppered dishes, became the prop for which he distributed his palms.  He leaned forward, lowered his head, and heavy lids blocked out the room too beautiful for such a setting of the conflict he felt within.

"Tell them to leave." 
His appeal was respectful, but he had no care for what those witnesses would repeat once they were gone. Daryen cared, though.

Long silence followed.  But then, so did soft shuffling of feet across the carpets.  Then the click of a door.  Jai turned around.  Daryen stood there, arms crossed.  In all their days as friends, he'd never seen the man look hurt, but perhaps Jai was expressful enough for the both of them and so missed the signs.  Ironic, considering the potential he saw in every little pattern, to miss something so obvious as a plea for understanding.

They were alone for certain this time.  So none was there to see Jai cross and wrap an affectionate hand around the guy's blonde head.

"They are your enemy." 
He searched for some sign of recognition.  Anything. "After all we've done to purge your land of their stench, you would dine with them and toast a new regime of peace?" 
Now it was Jai who pleaded, but knew the sounds fell on deaf ears as it had every time before.  He lowered his face to his forearm, resting there on Daryen's shoulder.  Memory recalled the taste of rising vomit; the sounds of whimpering threats for revenge; the sulfuric smell of burnt hair.  So strong, it smothered the scent of sandalwood in Daryen's golden skin.

Obviously, no king could give in to such requests.  Not even from a friend. Not even from Jai.

He tore himself away, and found himself before a window.  Staring out as people tend to do when they do not want to confront what was right in front of them.  As if the rolling green expanse would offer some heretofore undiscovered suggestion.  It never did.

The spilling of liquid from a silver chalice was his answer.  Two goblets, both Domani crystal, glittering pale with wine were carried over by Daryen, who now studied the view of his domain as well.  Together, the two men drank in unison, but Jai's was finished in one swallow without noting the taste of citrus and flower in the blend.

"A simple hunting trip?" 
Jai asked.  "Would you believe i've never been hunting a day in my life."
  Daryen laughed, and Jai felt a clap on the shoulder.

"Yes, Jai.  I absolutely believe you."


By the time the servants returned to finish their preparations, they saw no evidence of the earlier strife.  Just the two men quietly lounging on the timber furnishings: Daryen rising when the others arrived like a proper host should; Jai toying with the empty crystal and waiting to be sought out, amazed at the other man's ability to both serve and be served at the same time.


Edited by Jay Carpenter, Sep 12 2016, 07:55 PM.