Chapter Eleven #2
“I like that. You should always do that.”
Trill would look like a child if he went around wearing their clothes all the time. He headed into the water closet to clean up himself.
Breakfast was waiting for them when Trill emerged, and as he slid into a chair, he saw Arvus and Molun exchange glances. Trill froze, then started to stand up again.
“Should I not—”
They hadn’t actually said anything this time, Trill had just assumed—
But they both reached for him.
“Sit down,” Arvus said.
Trill sat, confused. “But you want to talk to me about something this morning?”
They nodded.
“What is it?” he asked.
He should perhaps not have been making so many plans last night.
“We were wondering if you’d like to stay with us while you’re here in the city,” Molun said.
Trill wasn’t sure how he would still heal—wait, what?
“What?” he repeated out loud as his thought processes ground to a halt.
“We hoped you might be interested in staying with us while you’re here in the city.” Arvus, this time, like a different person saying it might give it more meaning.
Trill looked at the two of them and tried to figure out what it was they weren’t saying. Because he was sure there was something. Perhaps he shouldn’t question this, not when it was exactly what he’d like to do and what would be best for Molun, but… he didn’t like not knowing what it was.
Mage Warriors, Trill reminded himself. Should he get ready to run? He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it far, especially since he didn’t have his own clothes. Or shoes. Wait a second…
“Did you take my clothes so I couldn’t run off?”
Another exchange of glances, and Trill stiffened with alarm, wondering if he really was going to need to run for it. He’d run barefoot before, though admittedly not in a castle. He eased out of his chair.
Molun held up his hands. “No, no. I mean, yes, but not anything bad, we promise.”
And this actually made Trill laugh a little and relax a tiny bit, because that seemed like a very Molun thing to say and not a particularly… Mage Warrior thing to say?
One last exchange of glances, and then it was Arvus who said, “We noticed that you didn’t seem to have anywhere to stay.”
Trill blinked. “What?”
He was saying that a lot this morning.
“At the pub. You always picked someone up. Or went to another pub and picked someone up. And you always went home with someone. You never left on your own. You didn’t change clothes, and you seemed to be spending a lot of time in the pub.
We thought that you might like somewhere to stay that was a little more stable. ”
Trill sank back into his chair. Well. Mage Warriors, indeed.
He hadn’t realized they’d seen so much, and he was pretty sure this meant that Arvus must have followed him at some point.
Had Trill really not noticed him? He was pretty sure his energy would stand out too much now, but it was true that Trill had spent more time focused on Molun at the beginning, trying to figure out how to touch him.
“Only if you want,” Molun put in anxiously, and Trill realized that he’d been silent for too long. “If you prefer to go person to person and you’re happy with that, then we don’t want to get in your way, of course. We just thought you might like this better.”
Trill considered them. “Might like the stability better or you?”
Molun narrowed his eyes at Trill. “Well, we don’t really know what situation you’re in, so it’s possible that the stability would actually be of more use to you, but personally, I hope you’re enjoying this as much as we are.”
And Trill couldn’t help but smile at that, because there was just a hint of affront in it.
Trill didn’t want their pity, but he wouldn’t say no to their help, especially if it came with a lot of sex that they all enjoyed very much.
Plus, the ability to help Molun like Trill wanted.
And maybe even the chance to see his uncle! That was still possible.
Trill let out a theatrical sigh. “Well, I suppose if you insist on having fabulous sex with me then I could stay and get some more.”
Molun actually let out a little cheer, and that made Trill laugh. Arvus was smiling at him, quieter but still looking pleased.
Trill looked down at his clothes. “Seriously, though, while I do appreciate the loan, do you think I could get my own clothes back?”
Arvus nodded. “Yes, we’ll instruct the people we told to take a suspiciously long time that we would like them back now.”
Trill laughed. “You really don’t mind if I stay?”
“We’re very happy if you stay,” Molun corrected, a little bit sharply.
It settled something inside Trill, that part of him that had always felt like an imposition to his mother, once he was old enough to understand that she resented and blamed him for his birth.
Molun reached out and covered Trill’s hand with his own. “We want you. We mean it.”
He flipped his hand so that they could twine their fingers together, and Trill squeezed gently.
“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate that. But since I assume that your job isn’t actually to spend half your day with me, I will totally understand if you both have to leave today.
I can read the books you got me and keep myself occupied while you get your work done. I’m not going to run away or anything.”
Molun didn’t look totally convinced.
Trill eyed him. “As you pointed out, this is nicer than anywhere else I have to go.” He looked at Arvus. “No following me necessary. I’ll stay right here.”
He looked ever-so-slightly embarrassed, and Trill knew that he’d do it again if he thought someone might be in trouble.
Trill hadn’t realized that he’d given that much away, but he supposed he had kind of fixated on the two of them.
That was probably the exact sort of thing they were supposed to notice and then wonder about. Mage Warriors.
“You can lure me here with sex,” Trill suggested. “A quick lunchtime event again? An afternoon snack?”
Molun was grinning widely now. “I’m in. How many sections do you think we can reasonably divide the day into?”
Arvus finished his breakfast while Trill and Molun broke the day down into increasingly small and increasingly ridiculous measures of time where Molun basically managed to get about five minutes of work done and then needed to dash back to these rooms so they could have more sex before he attempted to get a few minutes of work done yet again.
At one point, Arvus finally asked, “You don’t think that perhaps you’d find that a little draining?”
Molun shrugged. “What can I say? Trill is very inspiring.”
Trill preened, especially when Arvus nodded like this was a fair point.
Trill was pretty sure that not even he had ever tried to have quite so much sex in a day.
He could probably do it, but he wasn’t positive Arvus and Molun could keep up with him unless he helped…
and he was pretty sure that was something they’d notice.
He was going to have to make a decision in the next few days, though.
He couldn’t keep feeding Molun energy and not get any in return, or he was going to exhaust himself.
But maybe he could suggest they go dancing?
That might be his best bet. Or if he really needed to, maybe he could leave during the day when they were busy and come back. It was normal to want air, right?
It would come to nothing if they turned out to only want him for another couple of days, but if they stayed interested long enough for Trill to be able to really help with Molun’s leg, well… he was going to need weeks. He couldn’t go weeks without feeding, especially not when he was healing, too.
But he wouldn’t worry about it immediately. It would probably be good not to do anything weird right at the beginning—but then, it might also be smart to try to start building in the things that he needed, in case this did go on longer.
So as they were finally finishing breakfast and getting ready to go, Trill said as casually as he could, “I thought I might walk through the city later, just to get some air. Can I do that?”
“Of course, if you want to,” Molun said. “But I think you’d find it much nicer in the quadrangle.”
“The quadrangle?”
“I’m headed in that direction. I can show you, if you like,” Arvus offered. “I need to talk to Onadal.”
“Well, now I’m curious,” Trill agreed.
It seemed unlikely it would meet his ulterior motive, but now he had to know!
They bundled Trill up into a spare coat and hat of Molun’s, and then they were finally all hurrying out the door.
Trill noted with satisfaction that Molun seemed to be moving well this morning.
He was still limping, but it was less pronounced, and he didn’t look like he was in pain.
There were still lots of improvements Trill could make, but this was so much better.
He and Arvus were apparently going in the other direction from Molun, and enough of what he was thinking must have shown on his face, because once Molun was out of sight, Arvus spoke.
“He’s still recovering from the attack that wounded him.”
Trill frowned. “Attack?”
He’d hoped it had been an accident.
“Demon,” Arvus said.
Trill froze.
Arvus squeezed his arm. “It was a lesser demon and not near the castle, so you don’t need to worry. A team of us took care of them. But I’m afraid they took us by surprise at first, and Molun was badly injured.”
Trill nodded, managing to start walking again with an effort. “I’m so sorry to hear that. It sounds very scary. But it seems as though the wound is healing well?”
Might as well throw that in there now, try to establish it from the beginning.
“There have been some challenges,” Arvus said, expression grave, but then it softened. “Molun is very determined, and he says the pain isn’t so bad these days. I can usually see where it pinches his eyes, so I think he’s telling the truth.”
Trill could absolutely imagine Molun trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt as much as it did so that people wouldn’t worry about him. That just made Trill more determined to make sure it didn’t hurt.
He wished again that he could just heal it completely.
Would it be worth it if he could figure out how to do it when they wouldn’t notice and then slip out?
When they were sleeping, maybe? But what would Molun tell everyone else if he was suddenly fully healed overnight?
No, that wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t want suspicion to fall on them.
Plus, it made it too likely someone would think of him.
He’d already be running, of course, but they had far more resources than he did.
It was probably really dumb to risk putting the Mage Warriors on his tail and causing problems for Molun just because Trill was impatient, right?
It just… felt like more than that. He didn’t want Molun to hurt.
He couldn’t imagine how anyone could like to see that.
Might they… pretend not to notice if Molun was suddenly well?
Could everyone just pretend that it was perfectly normal because it was better for him to be not hurting?
Trill liked that solution… but it depended on the goodwill of a lot of people he didn’t know.
All right, all right, Trill was going to be patient, because then they could probably pass it off as Molun having a good healing ability.
Arvus had sounded like they were still making progress, and that meant Trill had come in time.
“And here’s the quadrangle,” Arvus said, and led him… outside? But like… an inside outside? Trill was surrounded by four walls, but they were so far apart that he almost couldn’t see the far ones.
Trill twirled around to take it all in—and a pretty, very well-muscled man went jogging by on a dirt track that Trill hadn’t noticed them walk over.
“Ooh,” he said appreciatively.
Arvus laughed. “Told you you’d like the quadrangle.”
It did not, at all, serve the purpose that Trill had intended—he was sure that was a Warrior uniform—but he was equally sure it would be lovely to explore.