the queen of friendship

[Nyree]

He leaned in over her shoulder, finger tapping a word in the book as he corrected her pronunciation. Nyree did not look up at him as he did, eyes skipping from the book to the dragonfly that darted by. It hovered for just a moment, long enough for Nyree to press her breath back down into her lungs, and then it was away. Her eyes followed it, rapt.

She did not notice when her escort leaned away. Or even when he stood, danger prickling his spine. Nyree did not sense it, not the same way he did. A low throb in the earth beneath her feet; familiar in a place that was not. Dragonfly and toes leading her over the cleverly shaped pond to his boots, where it landed and then fled again. Nyree looked up, and smiled, book falling from her lap as she leapt her own feet.

”Enele!” Gladness. Too switch for her escort to catch anything but the tail end of her braid, his dismayed cry hardly heard as she charged him. Enele! Nyree could have cried. Instead she laughed and threw herself at him, arms around his neck, face buried in the curve of his shoulder. He was so big now! Always twice as wide as she was. Nyree didn’t know how he managed it.

”Do you have business with the Kotis?” She asked, ignoring her poor escort who watched, both bemused and horrified. Nyree knew he hadn’t come all this way to see her, which meant he had to. Or... ”Oh, Enele! You’re not in trouble are you?” Always off somewhere causing a stir. So long since she’d seen him Nyree was sure he was half a head taller and twice as fiercesome. Frightening people, probably, just by walking past. Poor Enele. Nyree never felt anything but completely safe when he was close.

Safe and warm.

The harsh sound of Akamu clearing his throat reminded her that she was not herself in this place. She was Lady Nyree, the queen’s apprentice. So she let go, smoothed the clean dress she’d been stuffed into that morning and wished he’d have let her take her shoes off when they’d come into the garden. They pinched and suffocated her. But she was grateful for being brought at all.

”Sorry.” She apologized to both of them. ”Prince Akamu is my escort,” babysitter, ”and this is Enele, a friend from home.” She introduced, frowning at the hiss to her back right. ”Prince Enele.” She corrected, nose wrinkling at the way it sounded. Wrong and sour on her tongue. Head tilting away from her minder, Nyree rolled her eyes at Enele.

[Enele]

This was not the place she belonged! It burned Enele’s senses. Made his chest feel heavy and hollow at the same time. Nyree didn’t belong in the city. Even if this one was less foul than some he had seen. Enele had learned in the last few years that his homeland was unique. They lived closer to nature, to the natural order of things, than most places.

That was where Nyree belonged. Close to nature. She was a queen that wore the crowns of trees and long grass between her toes instead of silk slippers. A terrible queen, which was probably why they had sent her to this place. But that didn’t please Enele either. She was a better person for being terrible at leashing men.

Dropping without a landing web to guide him, Enele fell into the quaint garden of a queen he didn’t care about. To see the one that was his friend. She didn’t notice him right away. The man looming over her did, though. Standing suddenly with eyes narrowed, wary, alert, chin held high. Trying to judge Enele’s jewels and intent from afar. Stuffy bastard should have just kept leaning in to prod the book they were looking over. Or that he was trying to make her look over. Attention flitting to the shiny wings of a dragonfly Nyree seemed to have little interest in whatever nonsense they wanted to press into her head.

The same head the prince reached for when she darted off. Lip lifting in a grin Enele slapped the hand away with a shot of craft. Yelping the escort watched helplessly as Nyree rushed towards the warlord prince. No warning other than the bend of her knees before she glomped him. ”Bee!” He complained. Holding her tight, then prying her off him with a huff.

Nyree had such a clingy way of hugging. It made his skin feel too tight. Or not tight enough. An unpleasant sensation either way.

”Does it matter why I’m here?” His grin returned. Smoothing his furrowed brow and flashing his teeth. As sure a promise that he was in trouble as an admission would have been. They were worried, alway worried about Enele, but particularly worried lately. A few months had passed now, since he’d ended Hoapili. The bastard had left behind a fruitful business, one his children had no interest in. His apprentice wanted to buy it from Enele, who had inherited that and the shack on the village outskirts. Enele wanted neither, but he hadn’t made the time to sign the paperwork either. Now the Koti was summoning him to make a decision. They wanted the business back to business. His stalling had already cost all the perishable goods to go to waste.

Those worries were for later. If at all. A summons didn’t have to be answered. What would they do? It was his business now, he could let it go stagnant and rot if he chose. Right now was for sniffing. Fingers dipping into Nyree’s hair, which someone had forced into a semblance of tameness. He hated that. Liked the well it smelled though. Fruity and cheerful. Just like the smile she beamed up at him. Stupid girl. She looked alright. Not like herself, but not suffering in any way he could exact revenge for.

”No.” He corrected when she apologized. There was no reason for her to be sorry. ”I wanted an introduction I could have done it myself.” He lifted a shoulder as the escort came nearer. Too near. Another frown lowering Enele’s eyebrows. Not quite looking at Nyree as he corrected him again. ”Just Enele.”

Lifting a hand he waved the escort back. ”You can go away. I’ll bring her in when I’m done.” They didn’t need babysitting. He was here now. Here and grown to her young and vulnerable. A thread peeked out to lap over her and make sure. Too wide and almost abrasive in it’s unschooled sweeping. Something in him, chest or stomach he couldn't tell, unclenched as he found her the same. It wasn’t his business, he fussed himself. He couldn’t do anything if she weren’t the same, even if he couldn’t bear the thought of her changing- or being changed by someone else.

Jerking away from the thoughts he shook his head. Pulling close his favorite method of deflection; annoyance. ”What the fuck are you doing here? Have your parents lost their damn minds?”

[Nyree]

Bee. It had been over a year since anyone had called her that. No one did besides Enele and he’d been away when it was decided Nyree would go to train at the Kotis. A place where she was the only bee. So far she hadn’t found a single hive. Knew there had to be one somewhere. Otherwise the gardens would never get pollenated. It made her homesick. And a little disappointed that he was so quick to end their hug.

”No.” Nyree grinned through her disappointment. His scent lingered on her clothing, stronger than it had been before. It really didn’t matter why, and she could only laugh because he was in trouble. He almost always was, and for the silliest things. ”Hardly ever home and still managing it.” Nyree teased him. She’d had no ugly news from home. Her mother wrote the letters, which meant she got to choose what went in them.

Her hands came together as he touched her hair. As if they could catch whatever fluttered in her belly. Bee? Dragonfly? Something with wings that tickled and made her blush. But her smile didn’t fade, eyes creased at the corners and cheeks round with it. Only dimming a little when Enele decided he didn’t like all the pomp and foolishness either. Darkening his eyebrows at poor Akamu and correcting his corrections. It made Nyree sigh with laughter.

”Enele be nice!” Nyree scolded while chortling. She wrapped her fingers in his sleeve and gave his arm a shake for emphasis. ”Akamu is nice.” She defended, her Yellow seeping into the ground and spreading outward in a flash. Mapping the entire garden in a breath. Glancing at her escort over her shoulder, Nyree grinned at him too. ”Laila is that way, by the blueberries.” Finger pointing the way.

With the charge to not take off her shoes, they were left alone. Nyree huffed and tried wiggling her toes in the cramped space. She shivered, too, under Enele’s probe. ”I’m not hurt,” she promised, turning away from Akamu’s retreating back and inching closer to Enele. Laughing more when he began railing at her. Wanting some comfort from home, Nyree tugged him toward the bench she had been sharing with her escort.

”I need training, Enele.” She was a failure of a queen. Nyree could speak to the land but not the people. She’d been there a year and was still awful at it. Sitting, Nyree pulled him down next to her and squeezed in as close as he would let her. ”This is the only place with a queen inside our border. So here is where I must be.” She didn’t like it either. At least at home she could stick her toes in the dirt and accept that people didn’t want anything more than their land tended by her.

Here. Here she had to wear shoes. And only Akamu would take her into the garden since she was supposed to be focusing her studies elsewhere. Nyree thought he only did that so he could slip behind the big tree with Laila and practice kissing. Nyree wanted to practice kissing. None of the males would sit idle for her petting unless it was during lessons. And none of them showed any interest in kissing her at all.

”Its not so bad.” She fibbed. She’d been home for winsol and all the crying and begging had done nothing to change her father’s mind. Instead it was to be her last visit home for the rest of her training since she was obviously having trouble adjusting. Complaining did nothing, so she didn’t. Nyree tilted her head back, watching a shadow trace Enele’s jaw. ”You’re different.” She told him. More potent. ”Did you make your Offering?” Nyree didn’t want to make hers. It was dark there, even with her Yellow to protect her.

She was curious though, what waited for her on the other side. And what she would smell if she buried her nose in that shadowed place on Enele’s neck. Body angling toward his. He was handsome, and her friend. Maybe he’d take pity on her about the kissing thing.

[Enele]

”Home is the only place I ever seem to get into trouble.” Enele told her with a sassy wiggle of his eyebrows. It was mostly true. In the wider world he solved problems, which made any trouble he stirred up easier to turn a blind eye too. Here everyone was filled with preformed notions of Enele, they passed along by word of mouth like a disease. One person had decided he was no good. That opinion had cascaded down the line.

Except for Nyree. Maybe pulling her from the physical water had accidentally pulled her from the metaphorical ones too.

Drawing up to his full height Enele turned his gloomy eyebrows at Nyree. The outside corners tipped up instead of making one flat line. Transforming his look from menacing to petulant in one short swoop. ”I am being nice. Would you like me to prove it?” He didn’t know what was more annoying. Being fussed at by a child, or having his attitude questioned when he was being well behaved.

As well behaved as he could manage anyway. He wanted to tear the entire place down. Who were they to tell Nyree she wasn’t enough? If they didn’t appreciate her just the way she was then they didn’t deserve a second of her time. ”Well he can be nice over there.” He hated them. All of them. Hated him more as the bastard laid rules on Nyree as if he should have any say so over her feet. Enele growled at him, leaning forward like a dog ready to lunge. Nyree’s proximity and his fear that the backlash might hurt her were the only reasons he stopped.

And that nearness shortened more as she slipped her hands on his arm to drag his attention towards a seat. It stank of the other prince. He snorted in frustration but collapsed on the bench she had urged him towards. Her answers to his questions met by more huffing once they had gotten comfortable. One arm draping along the back of the bench he shook his head. ”Training for what? To turn you into one of those manipulative bitches? They’re too late. That training should have started years ago. This, this is just being hateful.”

He bent to snatch her ankles up onto his lap. Letting her calves rest there while he stole the shoes off her feet. ”Besides, queens train escorts not the other way around. He can’t tell you what to do. That’s not how castes work. So I don’t believe for a second you’re learning a single useful thing in this shit hole.” His temper heated the more he vocalized his upset. ”You belong at home. If the people there don’t think you have enough training, then send them here.” Ungrateful wretches!

He moved his legs so that her bare feet fell away again. Propping his head on his open palm and glowering at the path Akamu had wandered down. The escort probably had no idea how close he was to becoming the target of all Enele’s frustrations. Embodying all the people and ideas Enele wanted to blame for Nyree’s not being where he had expected to find her.

”I don’t believe you.” He answered. Nyree was a terrible liar. But he wouldn’t have believed her even if it had been true. Because he didn’t want it to be true. ”You can leave whenever you want. You’re welcome at my house. Anyone with the balls to try taking you out of it will have me to answer to.” He didn’t realize the open invitation sounded like a lifelong one. Thankfully he’d only regret it occasionally as the years ticked by.

Suddenly shy he scooted back along the bench. He didn’t answer her question right away. ”I’m going to tell your dad, that if you’re not home when I come back I’ll stick you in my house.” The old man hated him anyway. It wouldn’t damage their already bristly relationship. But it might make the stubborn asshole realize he should appreciate his daughter the way she was.

Nyree was staring at him. Enele could feel it even though he didn’t look at her directly. To distract himself from the strange heat it rippled along his neck Enele pivoted away. Giving in with a sigh, ”I did. Make my Offering. I wanted him to see it before… Hoapili to see it when I fought him.” Distracting himself wasn’t enough, he realized. Not with that intent look on her face. He caught it from the corner of his eye and tried not to grin. There was something flattering about her girlish goggling. Or was it ogling? He wondered if she had already reached an age for that. Looking with more than childlike admiration at a man.

No. Not yet surely. ”How could you tell?” He asked, one brow bending up in question. Kiri hadn’t been able to guess, and neither had Little Tama. Calling in the heavy opal stone he held it in his palm for her to see. ”I think I’ll have this one set. A ring maybe.” That might be hard to manage in a fist fight. He would figure something out. "You thinking about yours?"

[Nyree]

”Pft.” Nyree blew a raspberry at him. Nice indeed. She knew he could be nicer than that. ”What a look. I’ve seen the same one on Mooki when he’s fighting a nap.” Nyree wasn’t afraid. Akamu was, shifting nervously and sidling closer in case she needed shielding. Enele was just reminding her that she wasn’t supposed to be queening at him. No fussing. No orders. Nyree did it anyway. Same as she jumped from trees onto his back no matter how heavy she got or how loud he complained.

”Oh Enele, come on!” Nyree laughed, pulling at him. Akamu jumping at the snarling, expression more confused than worried. Most people didn’t understand. Nyree couldn’t explain it either, but Enele’s growling only made her feel safer. And a little amused. Poor Akamu, she felt bad for him, but Enele didn’t do well with being crossed. Unfortunately he was easily crossed. ”Sit.” She urged. It was just them now. No need for more fretting over her escort.

He settled finally, on the bench with her. Arm stretching down the back as he claimed it for himself. Taking up more than his fair share of it. Nyree didn’t mind. It made it easier for her to slip close. Especially since he was busy huffing and puffing and complaining about her answers. ”Enele!” She looked around, afraid someone was close enough to hear and take offense. They might kick him out if they did, and Nyree didn’t want him to go. Not yet.

Even if he didn’t think she could learn her craft.

”How is it hateful?” Nyree grabbed his arm for balance as he pulled her feet into his lap. Toes wiggling once they were freed of her shoes. Socks to keep her feet warm, a kindly made knitted gift from one of the girls who cleaned the rooms. ”Thank you. Enele he’s part of my training. Akamu knows how things are supposed to be here.” She didn’t understand why he was so worked up about it. Laughing, she curled her feet against his calves as he dropped them.

”Okay. Once I finish my training, I’ll go home and order them all here for training too.” Nyree waved her hands at the whole garden, as if summoning an invisible court to hear her proclamation. Enele was still glowering, however. Nyree looked down his line of sight, but Akamu was gone. Glancing sideways at him, Nyree gave up. He’d just have to be mad for a while. It wouldn’t hurt him any. ”And if they don’t have balls at all?” She teased, eyes bright at the idea of moving into Enele’s house.

He’d probably only tease her a little about needing a light to sleep. And she could plant that garden she’d promised him all those years ago. ”He won’t listen.” Nyree promised, scooting after him. Always running away. He probably only got into trouble at home because it was the only place he stayed more than a day. Her toes curled against him. What would it be like, being put in a house? In Enele’s house?

Enele who wouldn’t even look at her.

”Oh.” Nyree pulled her legs back. Curling in toward herself. She remembered the ugly day Enele’s father had tried to auction off Kiri. Her own father had been violently hot with outrage. Torn between staying close to keep them safe from the strange gathering and going out to say his peace. ”So you’ve fought him then.” No need to ask who had won. Enele was here, and Nyree never had doubted him. Not once ever. He was the warlord prince, after all. ”Good.” She whispered, noticing that he was slowly coming around.

”You smell different.” Nyree wrinkled her nose, pink creeping across it and making her freckles stand out. She leaned in to look, hand filling what little space there was between them on the bench. ”It’s pretty. I can’t see you wearing a ring though, Enele.” He had broad hands, like his shoulders. Good hands. Nyree wondered if he’d carved anything lately, shoulders scrunching up around her ears as she shook her head. ”Noooo. Not me.” She was too young. Maybe one day. Would she smell different then?

”I like my Yellow.” People talked about her wearing a Summer-sky as if her Yellow were lacking. Still hung in the net Enele had made for it, Nyree could accomplish anything she needed with its depth. ”It’s big enough for a belt buckle.” Wouldn’t that be funny? Head tilting toward him. Close again. Smiling, Nyree looked away, face ducking toward her shoulder.

[Enele]

”Because!” Enele started then pretended to lapse in to a bought of fuming. Because he hated her being there, so it was clearly hateful. ”Because it’s pointless! You belong with- in the village. Are you leaving? Are you going to go off and set up a court somewhere?” The question sounded more like an accusation. It wasn’t Nyree’s fault. She couldn’t know that the only reason he came back home was to make sure she was still alright.

”Be here where you don’t belong. You didn’t answer me either, what are they training you to do, or be, that you need so bad? No one has ever complained about your land craft. Why isn’t that good enough? If they can’t appreciate it then fuck them!” There was no way to make her understand without sounding like an ass. Or giving her ideas he was sure didn’t belong in her innocent little head.

The chit laughed at him instead of trying to figure it out. Enele wasn’t sure if he should scream or be thankful. Then she gave him an opening. Free hand flapping up he pretended to agree. ”You should! In fact you should do it right. Now. This minute! That’s your home they can’t keep you out. And if they refuse, if they can’t drop their lives and do as you ask even though they made you do it, then what’s the point? Why be away for training they won’t even respect?” 

It just made him so angry! Coming home to find they had changed everything. His one real friend was gone when he needed her most. And for what? Training she didn’t need! Trying to make her different. Whipping his head around he flushed at her words, ”Don’t say balls! They won’t have any if they try, though. Balls or a pulse.”

Sweeping his hand over her socks he frowned, ”Stop that. And if he won’t listen then he’ll learn the hard way.” Enele would gladly steal Nyree away. Put her in a cabin somewhere for a few weeks. Let her father work himself into a panic. Maybe he’d have an attack of the heart and then no one would go bullying Nyree around. Well... Except for Enele. He was a special case. He’d killed and saved her in one single day.

One dark subject gravitated into another. He didn’t say the words. That he had killed Hoapili. It was clear. The waterfall of mistrust and fear of Enele had started with that man. As a boy Enele had hated him with all the passion his small heart could muster. That hate had only grown until the drinking and denial had bullied the warlord prince into exactly what Hoapili accused him of being. ”Yes. I fought him. It’s done.” He told her. The man was dead. ”I had to leave after, for work. Then you were gone when I came back, and they told me you were still here.”

He had looked for Nyree then, after the fight. But she was already gone. And he was too firmly planted on the killing field to risk coming to the city. Everything had set him off. So he left to find something else to tether him to reality. Someone to leash him, maybe, but none had managed. They only grated his temper worse. Cooling off in Glacia had eventually worked. There were caravans where a violent temper was nothing but an asset. He couldn’t kill people there, not without consequences, but that also meant losing his temper- or mind- wouldn’t result in him getting killed either.

In the time since he hadn’t really felt himself at all. Now he did. Felt good even when she quietly agreed that he was not wrong. Not a senseless murderer. One word clipped the strings of anxiety he didn’t know were weighing on his shoulders. Maybe they really were teaching her underhanded queen shit.

It was much nicer to speak about his Offering. And easier now that some of his anger had been downgraded to frustration. ”Do I?” He smiled. Wondering different how. He thought it didn’t matter since she seemed to like it regardless. Blushing at him like an untried girl. No. She was an untried girl he reminded himself. And he wouldn’t be the one to try her. Not ever. ”Not a ring? Hm. Maybe you’re right. Would be hard to punch with a ring on.” It might get in the way of the throwing knives he wore on his fingers too.

”I didn’t say you had to think about making it. Not anytime soon, Bee. Just wondering if you think about what you’ll be able to do when you have it.” Would she smell different then? Would she smell like a woman? Enele thought she almost did now. If he breathed in too deeply he’d accidentally get a whiff of what she would be. It made his blood warm and his lungs cold.

”I like your Yellow too. It suits you, Bee whisperer.” He told her with a wink. Bright and sunshiney. Not a sort of conflict like the feminine hints of his Rose. He thought the Opal was a better fit. It felt very natural in his hand. A host of colors reflecting in its veined surface. ”A belt buckle!” He breyed with laughter, slapping his knee and vanishing the Jewel before she got any more ideas. ”Maybe a bracelet. Or I’ll just keep it in my pocket until it falls out and bruises somebody’s eye.”

He was in a better mood then. Eyes rolling at the old memory. She still wore the same woven necklace. It was there on the back of her neck, even though the Jewel itself was tucked down her front. ”Maybe I will make it a buckle. Then I’ll have something handy to spank naughty girls and their inane escorts with.”

On the ground his boots shifted. An awkward silence forming around them until he remembered he hadn’t come empty handed. ”I was in Glacia.” He tempted. She would know. He always brought chocolate back from Glacia. Enele just wanted to hear her ask for it first.

[Nyree]

”No!” Nyree didn’t want to go anywhere else. Her village was her home. Her favorite tree was there and she knew all the best places. The best people too. ”I don’t think so, anyway. I don’t want to.” Her eyebrows puckered in worry. Could they send her away to form a court? Even if she didn’t want to? Nyree hoped not.

”But here is where I am for now.” Here was where she needed to survive! Didn’t Enele change to fit where he went? Probably not, looking at him as he raved at her, Nyree couldn’t imagine him changing for anyone or anything. ”To rule, like a queen is supposed to rule.” No one seemed to care that Nyree didn’t want to. Content to be as she was forever, climbing trees and tending gardens. She tried because they said she must.

And instead of petting or summoning the craft she’d spent a year being taught, Nyree just sat through Enele’s temper. It washed over and off of her. He wasn’t angry with her, but for her, and Nyree adored him for it. Toes wiggling in behind his knee to show him so. ”I don’t know Enele.” Because everyone went off for training at some point. It was the way of things. ”Don’t worry, I didn’t like it when you left to train either.” She patted his arm and laughed as he scolded her. She’d said worse things! Some learned from him. Most from Mooki and his friends.

”Balls.” She whispered before laughing again. Hand curling over his arm because she was desperate to touch him, just as he was for her to stop. Prying her feet away. ”He just wants what is best for me.” Nyree cautioned. At least she thought so. Not always the kindest father or the most understanding, he was still her father. Protecting and caring for her all these years, and Nyree loved him.

”I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Hand working up his arm in sympathy. Nyree knew it was hard not to have someone to turn to. Usually she had Mooki or Enele to depend on. But Enele was gone more than he was home now, and Mooki was getting older and struggling for independence. And here, here Nyree had no one at all. Except Enele had come to visit. Or was visiting while attending to Kotis business. Nyree didn’t need to come first, so long as she was remembered.

”Mhm.” Potent. Nyree liked it, toes curling in the grass. It made her stomach flutter, especially when he smiled like that. Giggling, she shoved his shoulder. ”Always worried about punching!” Nyree pulled a leg up under her skirt, heel resting on the bench as she hugged her knee. ”Nothing I can’t do with my Yellow.” She didn’t want to face the dark again. Alone in the nothingness where she did not exist.

”Yes!” She smiled at his laughter, cheek rolling on her knee. She thought no one would he so afraid of him if they just took a moment to look. To watch him laugh or smile or be happy. But he was so often scowling and snarling at everyone. ”That could come in handy in a fight.” Nyree giggled, not at all ashamed of what had happened. She still felt a little guilty for the black eye she’d given him though.

”Enele!” She chortled, but something hot and unfamiliar wormed its way up her spine. Uncomfortable in its heat and strangeness. It made Nyree blush and squeeze her leg tight. ”I don’t think that’s allowed.” Was her murmured warning. Muscles tensing as if she were in danger of being belt whipped that very moment. For comfort, Nyree dipped into her power, letting it spread along the garden. Feeling Enele’s boots shift over the ground.

”Glacia?” Nyree looked up, eager again. The strange sensation forgotten. Heel falling to the ground, Nyree turned on him, hands reaching for his pockets. ”Was it cold? Did you have to drink hot cocoa? Did you see any bears?” There would be chocolate somewhere. Enele always brought her some. The best chocolates came out of Glacia and he never forgot. ”Where is it?” Hiding in his cabinet probably since he always lost their wrestling matches. Nyree would have straddled him to find out if her skirts hadn’t caught and stopped her. Pinned under one leg and hindering the other.

”Please?” She wheedled, one hand at his side, the other on his shoulder, as if it would swoop up along his neck to cup his face. Nyree wasn’t sure what she was asking for, chocolate or a kiss, wanting both in equal measure now that her blood had been quickened by play and nearness. She could smell him better. Potent was a very good word for it.

[Enele]

”Don’t think so? Bee it should be your choice, if they’re telling you anything otherwise they’re full of shit.” Enele insisted. He would never be the queen serving sort. Never. It just wasn’t in him the way it was for some males. Life and circumstance had shoved the fact in his face. There was no way he would expect Nyree, hardly more than a baby, to do better than queens with years of experience.

It made his stomach feel sick. That concern on her face. She would let them twist her into whatever they wanted. Just like she let them bully her into being here. Something on his inside wrenched and he tried to scoot away but found the bench lacking in length. It just made him so angry, he decided that could be the only name and explanation for the rage in his chest. She would change to be like them and he wouldn’t be able to trust her anymore either. If she hadn’t been there watching he would have found a bush to puke his churning guts in.

Instead he just shook his head at how easily she gave up. Gave in. To please the people that were supposed to worry about keeping her pleased. ”That’s the thing you’re not understanding, Nyree. It’s the queen that decides how she should rule. Not anybody else.”

She was still just a child. And by the time she realized she had let them cram her into a box it would be too late. She would have given away all the parts that hadn’t fit. If he had been the pitying sort he would have done that, but he was the grumpy sort instead. Staring angrily off into the distance and shaking his head when she tried to compare it to his own training. ”That’s different. I wanted to get out.” There had been nothing for him in their village after his argument with Kiri. He had needed the distance.

Nyree was too interested in making him flush an angry red from the roots of his black hair to the collar of his shirt to really listen. To hear what he was trying to say between the words he actually said. It was the way she whispered. The word left her lips on a warm breath that tickled his cheek. Tugging right down to his own versions of the word in question. As if her curling fingers were there instead of innocently sitting on his arm. With a groan he bent over himself. Bringing his elbows to his knees and burying his face in his hands. Trying to sound frustrated instead of desperate. ”If he thinks changing you is what best he’s an idiot and an asshole.”

He didn’t want her to be different! Why did everyone else? ”And if you let them change you then so are you.” Enele would hate it. Would hate that possible future Bee that could wind leashes around unsuspecting men. Because she would hate him when she realized he couldn’t bend his knees or take a leash of his own. There was no making her see his way now though, not when he was on the cusp of really losing his temper. He would just have to come back around to the subject. For now he let it go.

”Stop.” Enele didn’t know if he was talking about the petting, the pitying or both. It wasn’t helping his hard on, or his self disgust. Even if it did turn the edges of his temper to goo. ”You didn’t need to be there.” Alone was Enele’s natural state. Which had made wishing she were there harder. Being sorry didn’t change the fact that she hadn't been there. At least the bitterness softened his boner. Letting him sit back up straight. Her working fingers relieving some of the tension so that he could turn to easier subjects.

Rocking from her rough push he eyed her from the side. Grinning because she giggled. ”I’m never worried about punching.” He told her truthfully. It was one thing he was good at. And good at dodging. A fist fight didn’t worry him any. He knew that wasn’t how she meant him to take her comment but teasing her was fun. Especially when he got a rise out of her. Girly voice dipping low and the heat of shyness staining her face. Good. Let her have a dose of what she dealt. Intentionally or not. The handsy chit. Whispering back he shrugged his broad shoulders. ”When I have ever cared about what was allowed?”

She deserved a spanking. Maybe that would make her see sense about this training bullshit. If not, then bribes might. Chocolate and answer to all her bright eyed questions. ”Yeah it was really cold. They had to break up ice to let their ships land in one of the rivers. I drank vodka like the rest of the men. And there were bears but none came close enough for a good look.”


Lifting his eyebrows high Enele tilted his head. A very fake look of innocence on his face. ”Where’s what?” He pretended to be confused. But his smirk was impossible to swallow. Then she was on him. Mostly. Legs tangled in her skirts but hands in places he was sure they didn’t belong.

Body very sure they did. He shifted his hips and tugged his pants so that they were looser down his thighs. Hiding it from sight but not existence. ”You need to cut that out Nyree! No touching!” He could still hear Hoapili’s drunken assumptions and accusations. That Enele was grooming Nyree like some sick plaything. Pervert. Baby touching sicko. Playing with a child because he couldn’t manage a woman.

But that was just in his head. On the corners of his conscious. Screaming at his body which didn’t react at all other than to speak. Eyes locked on hers because she was looking into his so deeply he was afraid she might hear what he was thinking. It made his heart pound and his skin prickle. He couldn’t stop her or himself. ”Please what?” She was so close he could count the flecks of color in her eyes. Honey brown with chips of a dark green around the edges. All he had to do was give her the chocolate. She would settle down to eat it. But didn’t. He licked his lips and wrinkled his nose at her instead.

[Nyree]

”I don’t know. It’s only been a year and my training isn’t half done.” Late done, they said. She should have been apprenticed sooner but her parents couldn’t be parted from her, both with their own worries over letting her go. ”There hasn’t been any talk about after.” She wondered if there would ever be an after. It felt like it was going on forever without end.

Sort of like Enele’s temper, which mounted instead of ebbing.

”No one listens when I talk. I have to learn to make them listen.” Like he wasn’t listening now. His anger slowly turning on her. Words biting at her. Nyree shrugged her shoulders up and agreed. ”I know.” He was always leaving. Happy to go and less happy to come back. Nyree didn’t need reminding. It made her feel sad, pressed down like his anger. Making her tease to try and blow it away. Enele just groaned as if she’d kicked him.

Turned more venom on her.

”That’s rude,” she told him plainly, feelings hurt. He was always blunt and full of bluster, but he’d never said unkind things about her. Not like that. Nyree tried not to take it personally. He was out of sorts and angry when he’d arrived. Her training obviously upset him more. Maybe he didn’t mean it. She didn’t want him to mean it. Enele was the only person who didn’t treat her like an idiot, Nyree didn’t want him secretly thinking of her as one.

But maybe he did. Pushing her away with a wall of words. Nyree held on. Too stubborn to let go of her friend so easily. He was hurting even as he hurt her, and Nyree was used to setting aside her own pain. Good at ignoring slights, looks and snickers. She could forgive his harshness and extend him some grace. Offer comfort even if he scorned it. Try to draw him back to happiness.

”You talk about it a lot. Like a farmer fretting over his crops.” She taunted. Enele was violent. Nyree didn’t mind. There was a pocket of safety behind it. Like the eye of a storm. Part of her knew that she needed the storm to be safe in the eye. Behind the broad shoulders he shrugged at her, voice low to match and making her squirm. Stomach tight and unfamiliar and making her breath catch in a little gasp.

Doused in the cold promise of Glacian chocolate. Of adventures Nyree would have and places she would never see.

”Did you bring vodka back too?” Nyree wanted to try it. Eyes alight with sinking ships and giant bears that blended  in with the ice they wandered across. And chocolate. Last time there had been berries hidden in the center. And some had been stamped with what Enele had told her were caribou. Great big deer that thrived in the snow. ”The chocolate! Enele!” She scolded and giggled and tried to find it on him. And if she happened to tickle him while she searched, all the better.

He didn’t like that either. Nyree jerked away from him, eyes wide. Her fingers curled in against her palms in confusion. But he didn’t push her away or slide from the bench in escape, so Nyree reached for him again and found no resistance. Just blue eyes meeting her gaze until Nyree thought she might fall into them. Hands slowing until they stilled, pulse quick and stomach heavy. Not knotted or sick, just heavy, like her heart was beating in it.

She leaned in, eyes darting to watch his tongue pass his lips.

”Chocolate.” Mouth dry as her nose bumped against his. Just chocolate. ”Can I have it?” She wanted him. Watery at such close proximity, but Nyree was full of him. Enele was all she could smell and feel. Hand settling over his chest possessively. Didn’t need to see his face to picture it. Wanted the hands that had carved her a dozen animals on her body. The intensity of her desire frightening.

Her stomach throbbed. Kiss me, she wished.

[Enele]

”How are they teaching you to make people listen if they’re letting your escort push you around?” Enele challenged. It didn’t add up. And if it had he would have changed the math. For him this was just another punishment. Not for Nyree, for him. Made worse since she suffered for it too. Maybe even more deeply than he did. They took the one good thing from home. Probably in the hope that he would stop going back there.

Fuck them. He would be home twice as much now that Kiri and her boy were moving into his house. In fact, he would have a nice chat with the Koti since he was here. If they wanted him to hand over the business then they would have to pay him off in a big way. Warlord princes ruled provinces, sometimes whole territories. Why not just a little village on the border? That would teach them, they could all sit and bite their nails. Without Nyree there was no one to challenge his castely right to rule. Or try taming it. All their petty squabbles decided by a man they had mistreated and mistrusted for years. Wouldn’t that be just what they deserved. ”I’m a rude guy.” He told her without apology. That was, after all, one of the words regularly used when describing Enele.

Soothed some by the plan he let Nyree’s teasing and weedling calm him the rest of the way. Needling him about the habits of his fist, and how often he mentioned them. ”I do not.” He countered with a chuckle. Did it matter if he did? Punching was something he got right. Everyone wanted to talk about the things that they were good at.

Women didn’t happen to be one of those things. They shied from Enele. Even the few that started out interested in his roguish looks and sharp smiles. Like baby Bee with her wide eyes and flushed face. Knees pressing tight and breath shortened by the threat of whippings. Enele wasn’t offended. He did worse than spanking and the bedrolls he shared were often filled with the sound of slapping palms to ward off his teeth. Better she know now he wasn’t some gentle fantasy.

”Yes. Why? Do you want a try?” He would leave her with a bottle. The stuff was cheap and it burned going down. Maybe she would get herself kicked out. Or grow a nice set of alcohol fueled balls and see reason. At the very least she would have fun. The spirits weren’t what she was really interested in, though. No. Like any kid she was enthused by the thought of candy. ”Oh! The chocolate. Yeah, I picked up a bit of that too.” He teased.

Before she got him back in the worst sort of way. His fussing spooked her for a moment. And he should have left. Right then and there. But Enele was curious and weak and probably as sick as Hoapili had claimed. He sat frozen as the fields of Glacia he had traveled not long before. Breathing in the smell of her hair and breath. Trying not to open his own mouth. Sure of what she’d do if he did. ”Bee,” He wanted to backpedal, frightened by how heavy his hands felt and the thickness in his pants. ”here.” The long, flat box was wrapped in silver foil. Pressing it into her hands he called in a small pouch of trinkets he had made along the way. A bear, one of the big eared horses that had pulled the caravan wagons, a shiny flask with a few sips of vodka. He let it fall in his lap. Afraid that moving would encourage her to do something he would regret.

”I have to go.” He told her softly. Leaning forward even though their faces were already brushing. Face turning towards her cheek decided to laugh it off. ”I’m not going to come back here, so if you want to see me you’ll have to go home.” He warned. Not sure she cared enough for that to be a temptation but he was willing to try anything. That wasn’t even his only temptation. ”Baby Tama is coming to live with me. And I bought that field behind my house, the one with the tree you like so much. It’s yours when you’re ready for it. But not if you start wearing shoes and twisting leashes like nooses around my people’s necks.”

Once had the space to slip off the bench he did. Leaving the bag on the seat next to her. ”Give them Hell kid.” He ha a meeting to get to. And then her father’s face to rub in it.

[Nyree]

”Enele.” Nyree breathed back. Time felt frozen. The air heavy, like it carried too much moisture. Heavy and still. Her fingers working the tense muscles of his shoulder. Eyes closing, Nyree’s lips parted, thumb brushing the warm skin of his neck. Tense there too. Tense and uncomfortable. And done. The thin box of chocolates filling the space between them, and Nyree’s hands. Enele released to keep the box from falling.

”Oh. Thanks.” Nyree tried to summon something other than disappointment. Looking down she watched more fill his lap. A pouch and a flask. The vodka. Chocolates clutched to her chest, Nyree looked at him again, eyes crossing as she tried to focus on him. Enele thwarted that too. Leaning in and turning into her cheek so Nyree couldn’t see him at all, only blush at his nearness.

Or was it the distance? Shoulders rising, Nyree sat back down on the bench. ”Okay.” She caught the presents before they could slip from his lap. Enele had already evaded her grasp. Nyree didn’t have the heart to tell him she wasn’t allowed home. Unwelcome in her own house until she’d completed the training he was so against. She felt stuck. Frozen up. Abandoned.

”That’ll be nice.” Nyree heard the threat, and understood it. She would only be welcome if she didn’t change like a stupid asshole and try to take his people from him. Not allowed home until she finished her training. Not welcome where she most wanted to be if she did. Her family or Enele’s.  And he wouldn’t even be coming back to visit. Nyree smiled for him, feeling suddenly like they were enemies when they should have been friends. Denied not just kisses but friendship.

”I’ll do my best.” She promised without conviction. How would he know if she did or not? ”Bye, Enele. I’ll miss you.” She stood as he went, chocolates held tight, socks staining with grass before she sagged back into her seat. Treasures and sweet vanished, Nyree worked her damp feet back into her shoes. She would figure it all out later. Her caste, her training. Enele too. She had plenty of time. More, even, than she knew.