Birds and Bees [Torin]

[Sivan]

2nd of Glade, Year 122 Steel
Kilvin's Forge, Plaza of Jeweled Arches

The escort hadn't been necessary, but Sivan liked Laurevere Val'Istra well enough. He had never before been friendly with a neighbor, and now it seemed as though they would become friends despite the gap in their relative status. But after all, they were far from Sol'Valen now.

"They took the day off after New Year," Sivan explained, "but you should definitely see what they have on offer the next time you are in the neighborhood. Torin does good work and I think he may yet become a true master."

"I will indeed," Laurevere replied. "A true master is rare, especially now that Kalzasi's resident master has been abducted."

The high elf seemed rather blasé about the whole thing, and Sivan wasn't sure what to make of the things he said about war making markets volatile, which could mean quite a bit of gold for the quick-witted. Perhaps the lord ought to speak to Torin's lover; they seemed to have similar big picture views of things.

"Well, thank you for walking with me," he said. "I hope your business goes well."

"Thank you for guiding me through the strange city, my friend." Laurevere gave him a sort of nod that would have been far more than a Len'Myren would have gotten from a Val'Istra back in Silfanore, and then departed. Sivan watched him go, wondering how the man who came with bad news from Sol'Valen had become a neighbor and friend when he hadn't had friends at all in his fatherland. Then he turned and let himself into Torin's property. One friend dropped him off at another friend's home; Kalzasi truly was a strange and magical place. He knocked on the door of the house proper before letting himself in, smiling at the greetings he got from the spirits in the yard waking up to Glade.

[Torin Kilvin]

The celebration of the previous day had been exhausting but very worth it to the young smith who had played host. Timon too seemed well pleased, which appeared to be a combination of everyone lavishly complimenting his cooking, the gifts he'd received, and the liberal amount of sugar he'd consumed throughout.

There were enough leftovers to last the two boys, even if they had a guest regularly at least a week, likely closer to two. Torin had made a make-shift icebox by storing several Frostylyth stones in a well-sealed, waterproof chest so everything would keep long enough to be eaten. Lots of cookies, cake and candies were still just strewn about on plates, since, once all guests who were going to depart had, the hosts had been too tired to do more than was absolutely needed before they fell into their beds.

It was now afternoon of the day after and Torin had just decided to roll out of bed and see which of the available food options felt most like breakfast. Probably the little cinnamon cakes with nuts baked in. Reheating them wasn't hard, now that the small oven above the hearth was working, so they were just coming out, hot and sticky, when he heard a knock on the front door. No one was expected, but that did not mean any of those who might visit weren't welcome. Wiping his sticky fingers on a dish towel and considering how much of a tip he should give the woman who came to clean up after them considering the mess that had been made, he walked over and opened the door.

He spoke quietly, because Timon had yet to emerge and deserved whatever sleep or private time he wanted, but the pleasure as seeing his friend still easily shone through his expression and tone.

"Sivan! Hello, come in." He gestured the elf inside, briefly explained why he was speaking quietly and then led the way to the kitchen. It was Glade, officially, but it was still cold this far north and the hearth was the most comfortable place for a chat. There were chairs pulled up close and the steaming cakes were on the side table.

"Would you like some tea? I was just about to make some. I still have a little of what you gave me when I moved in." He was flushed a little, but he imagined it was due to being happy to see the other man again so soon. "I will have to come by Jacun's and order more this week. Maybe there is a good day to do it to come see IX after?"

It had been a while since he'd had the pleasure of observing the construct, plus he wanted to see how Sivan's house improvements were coming along.

"Are you hungry? We've lots of everything left."

[Sivan]

"Good morning," he bade him in Mythrasi, lighting up as soon as he saw him.

There was a touch of awkwardness between them since the debacle with Torin's threshold sickness, and what he had to say might make it worse, but also, it could help just getting it out in the open. In fact, there were many things he wanted to talk about, and he supposed it was good Timon was asleep and Torin wasn't working so he could take up a bit of his time.

"Oh, yes. Tea." He grinned. "I suppose you were too tired to open your gift after I left. Not to spoil the surprise, but there is tea in there, as well." There was also a little bit of a delicate honey he had managed to urge out of the bees, waking them just enough to feed from some winter flowers he brought from the wild. Normally, they were the hosts of more hardy, cold temperature pollinators, but he thought the honey would be a nice reminder of cooler, calmer times when Searing came. And then there were various bits of alchemy he had made, as well as a plan for a clockwork thing they could work on together, and... more, of course.

"And IX... well, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, actually." He picked up one of the cookies he remembered as being not overly sweet and tried it. His stomach had been too knotted up for breakfast, but Torin calmed him down.

"I'm going to finish my apprenticeship this season and I don't really know what I want to do afterward. Jacun has said I could work for him a bit here and there when I have time and he has a need, but I was wondering if... perhaps I might do the same here. For you. A bit of clockwork. Perhaps a bit of artificing, though I'm rusty. I want to get back into that habit and at least devote some time to studying IX again and what might be wrong. And, of course, if you need any alchemical support for your work. And I can make some basic glassware, and..."

It was clear he was about to start rattling off every little bit of skill he might muster in support of Torin's business and would likely need to be cut off. They worked well together, but he didn't know if Torin would want him underfoot while he was runeforging, or how much time he would want Sivan to spend there at the forge.

[Torin Kilvin]

"Oh." Torin flushed harder and he wasn't sure why, something about how well Sivan knew what he'd like and want. Also something about how, in all his intent and work to ensure he had nice gifts for all his friends, he hadn't considered that they would also get him things. Everyone had brought him things, even Timon and Destyn, which had decidedly embarrassed him for reasons he also wasn't sure he understood.

He was providing for the two of them to the best of his ability and that they might feel the need to spend what little they had on him felt bad, but also good? He didn't think either his apprentice of the Fae would do it out of a sense of obligation. Due to this, with the exception of the ones who had wanted to explain their presents he had decided, without really thinking about it, to take the gifts upstairs to his own room and open them in private, after he had slept. He'd woken hungry, which was rare enough now that heading down and eating immediately seemed like the best idea. Now here he was, flushing as he prepared and poured two mugs of steaming tea that smelled like Glade would smell in a month.

"I wanted to open the gifts when I could spend time with them." His voice said that there was some embarrassment associated with the idea, but he was so comfortable with Sivan that embarrassment and odd thoughts were okay to share.

It was still nice when the talk turned to their work together, as he sat back down, his attention all on the elf. While his conscious mind listened to the business talk his subconscious noted how the early afternoon light caught in his golden hair and made the blue of his eyes shine in a way that anchored Torin.

The cookie reminded the smith of the little nut cakes and he picked one up to eat as well. Nodding along he waited till Sivan finished before saying,

"You know what alchemical things I need regularly in my forge. I always get them from you." It was actually a little funny that Torin had never actually met the owner of Jacun's Alchemical shop. He had seen the man several times, but if he peeked into the large windows of the shop and saw anyone else behind the counter he just came back another day when Sivan was working. His schedule was pretty set, so eventually the smith had learned when to show up without having to check.

"The season has been good for the shop, and probably I'll have more work than ever with the unrest coming." He said no more about that, as he didn't really understand it, nor want to talk about it.

"I would be happy, I mean I think it would be very useful for us to be able to work together. You know how much I'd like to learn more Artificing, I've gotten a few books on it now, but what I'm trying to say is that I've enough saved to afford to expand the forge to include an area for clockwork and Artificing. I was going to build over my forges and they'll be extra room so, if you wanted, we could set up an alchemy lab up there as well?"

He stopped here, as he too appeared to be babbling, and sipped his tea. The idea was exciting, while talking about work might calm some people down, it often did the opposite for the still teenaged runeforger.

"I thought, if I provide all the ingredients and the space, we could work something out for the things I need in my work and you could put anything you made up for sale in the shop? Adding your name to the sign, or getting you a sign of your own, would be easy. If you'd rather sell what you made to Jacun I would totally understand, his shop already has a good reputation. But, I'm going to need the things anyway and I'd rather the money go to a friend."

His expression was hopeful, happy even, as he'd used to look when they'd worked on tiny clockwork projects together when they'd first met.

"Plus, I wouldn't have to walk so far to ask if you'll let me buy you lunch."

[Sivan]

'The present is yours," he said indulgently, "you can open it whenever you wish."

There had been enough talk about work over the course of their friendship that they both had a fairly good idea how he could fit into Torin's work. It was nice to see Torin so excited by the prospect, though. He couldn't help but smile back.

"I have some equipment of my own—lyrethillium glassware, of course. I think I ought to be able to purchase a few things to set up a rudimentary lab here if you have the space. So I could keep you in what you need, and prepare orders for Jacun. If there's more complex work to do, I can still use his workspace. But yes, also the clockwork and artificing, and I suppose I am most proficient at summoning now, so I will also probably give lessons and do odd jobs for people."

Sivan paused. "I wouldn't go putting my name up on the sign yet or anything. Perhaps in time, but at the moment, I just want to make sure I am working while I figure out what I want to do. And I suppose if I don't have anything to do, I'll just work in your garden." He laughed a little at that, though it wasn't a joke. The spirits were well aware of his presence. They knew he could talk back to them.

"But... good. This is good. You can sell whatever I make if you like. I will probably make a lot of little things to get my artificing skills back. And you don't have to buy me lunch, but if you do, I will just buy you lunch the next day. You have to let me love you back."

He reached for another cookie, blissfully unaware of his slip of the tongue.

[Torin Kilvin]

"I've already hired the workmen to extend the workshop. They'll be two rooms over the forges, the same size as those below, or maybe a little larger so I can have more shade in Searing. One for clockwork and Artificing, but one for alchemy would be very useful as well." He tried to sound like a confident businessman rather than a boy excited to have a space to play with his friend but his demeanor was a bit of both.

"If you want to give potential clients the shop address as your business I'd be pleased to take orders or whatever. Well, Timon will probably take the actual orders most of the time but it would be really good for him to actually be able to do his job more often."

Alchemical items degraded and needed replacing often, Runeforged goods were, often, good forever, or at least a lifetime. Torin made an excellent living but the number of days that Timon was actually needed in his place behind the shop counter were sadly few. With a semi-resident Alchemist the orders would be more steady and Timon could learn the ins and outs of another magical trade.

"You could do Summoning classes in the yard if you needed a larger space that you wouldn't have to worry about." A full half of the yard space was empty. The house, shop, and forges took up most of half, with the kitchen garden and a comfortable space between them, but the rest was just empty. Torin had assumed that the place had once been mostly a horse forge, and might even have had a small stable on that side but, for whatever reason, it had been removed and now it was just wild grasses, or would be, once Glade truly settled.

Sivan's home was not really a shop or a workspace, and with the break-in that had happened Torin wanted to offer him a bit of professional distance from strangers.

Torin was about to mention the idea that had been playing through his head, off and on for more than a season. It had been driven out often by circumstances, illness, depression, parties, and life generally, but it kept coming back. When an idea returned repeatedly over time, Torin usually accepted that he would have to give in and do it, but just as he was opening his mouth to do so his brain caught up with the last sentence Sivan had spoken.

Pulling back from the work topic the smith swallowed, took a moment to settle himself, then met the elf's eyes to say,

"I'll try." Far more earnestly than he'd intended, but just as earnestly as he felt. "Thank you for letting me try."

[Sivan]

"Well, I should introduce you to Urs... He's sort of a student? More of an acquaintance that I have been helping out, though not for money. I suppose I will have to find people who will pay me. Perhaps students at the Tower. Hm. And there's a foreign fellow... he might pay for lessons, though we haven't discussed it."

In fact, the strange man of indeterminate race—except there was clearly Lysanrin prominently in his pedigree—had been hanging around in his garden when he wasn't home. The spirits had told him straightaway, but he told them to leave him alone as long as he didn't break anything. He hadn't gone into the house, nor upset the bees or even the squealmouse, so if he found a bit of peace in Sivan's sanctuary, he supposed that was all right. Whether they ever spoke again, he couldn't say. He didn't want to lay in wait or anything, though he supposed if someone tried to break into his home now, there was a chance that he might interfere. The spirits ought to be able to do a fair job of it now, though, especially with the help of the bees.

Sivan didn't like the idea of weaponizing them, even if an individual bee was more of a mote of awareness within the hive than a full awareness itself, but they wanted to guard their territory, which included him.

He was eating another cookie already and that was when he realized that he was eating nervously.

Shouldn't you acknowledge what he agreed to? Exael asked. But Sivan ignored him, not knowing what he was talking about.

"And Urs... well, he..." And here he flushed, gold going red.

[Torin Kilvin]

Torin took his cue from his friend and drank his tea, eating a sticky cinnamon cake, albeit more slowly than his stomach had at first intended. Wiping his hands a bit compulsively on a kitchen towel every time he took a bite to ensure they wouldn't be sticky as well, though with no clear reason in his head why he wanted clean hands.

When Sivan mentioned another friend Torin was pleased that the little extended family of new friends that the two of them had been building, alone and together, was expanding. They had both been outsiders when they arrived, both arriving around the same time as well. Sivan was the first friend Torin had made (he had never really thought of Aurin as a 'friend'), and, he supposed, he was the first one Sivan had. Sort of. Spirits could be friends too, and Jacun seemed like a good mentor, though based on what Sivan had said their relationship appeared to be remaining in the professional realm.

In reality, Torin had pushed himself into Sivan's friendship at first. The clockwork had drawn him in, but by the time Sivan was accepting his friendship as more than just a business arrangement Torin had already slipped into the realm of enjoying the elf's company for it's own sake and seeking it out whenever both busy apprentices were able.

His words had not been meant romantically, let alone sexually, but simply, as the sort of love friends shared. Perhaps he wanted more, he wasn't sure, his thoughts were confusing and mercurial on the subject. He'd dreamt of Sivan, since he'd woken from his threshold sickness, in ways that he was ashamed of. He knew it was silly to be ashamed of things you did in dreams but he didn't know if Sivan would be comfortable being thought about that way so the smith tried not to allow any thoughts beyond what their relationship already included to manifest in his waking mind.

When the mention of the new friend came back into the conversation Torin was, for a moment, confused, but he wasn't the wholly innocent village boy he'd been when he'd arrived in the city and, after a moment with his head slightly cocked from listening he said,

"Oh. Oh! Really? That's wonderful. I mean, I don't know exactly what is wonderful but if you and he are, or want to be..." He cleared his throat, "What I mean is, I'm happy for you if you're happy."

He meant it. Jealousy did not live in his broad chest, but there was something there that he was feeling. Something small and quiet but aching a little. It did not say 'I want you for myself' but more like 'me too?'.

[Sivan]

"Thanks, I... I don't know what I'm doing. When I met Urs, he wanted to... do things... but I, well, you know how slowly I warm up to people." He smiled wryly at his own expense. "But he actually took the time to get to know me and so, you know... like, I'm comfortable with you and with Destyn... I've gotten better at being more, ah... friendly with strangers while working for Master Jacun. But friends... I still don't know him as well as I know you... but yesterday we went out together, and... well, I walked him home before I came to your party. We kissed, though, and..."

He panicked a little, his teacup trembling.

"Torin, I'm going to see him again tomorrow and I don't know what I'm doing... Is it... Was it difficult? Learning the physical things?"

Sivan knew that Torin had a robust sexual relationship with his man. He didn't know exactly what they were other than lovers, and it seemed Torin learned a lot from the elder man. It almost seemed like an older brother or something similar, at least when he was speaking of things that didn't make him flush and stammer like Sivan was now.

"What if I mess it up?" He said that, but what he meant was, I am going to mess it up. Of that, he was certain.

He didn't think Urs would want to just sleep in the bed with him. His body often knew what it wanted when he woke up, drowsing before work, his body was ready for some phantom lover. But he had no practical experience, really. A dreaming Torin had done more to him than anyone else had.

[Torin Kilvin]

Torin nodded, keeping eye contact when it was wanted and letting it go when Sivan looked away. The idea that someone had wanted to 'do things' that the elf hadn't wanted to do sparked, for a brief moment, a level of protective heat in the human, but he settled it down quickly. The body language and tone that his friend was using did not imply that he'd been hurt or damaged, so the smith cooled himself without letting the idea show. He didn't know if Sivan would want him to be protective, and he was grown, could make his own choices.

"He sounds nice." Torin set his own teacup aside before taking Sivan's and putting it beside his, then he reached out and took his friend's hand in his. It was nothing but a little warmth, to help steady and calm, he hoped. Taking a moment to think back, to collect his thoughts so he wouldn't babble he said,

"For me, well, Aurin knew what he was doing. He went slow enough that," Here his face began to take on its customary rosy flush, but it was lighter than he might have expected it to be, "I really wanted it before each thing happened. If that makes sense? He explained what could happen and showed me small things that led to more things. But he knew I didn't know anything, I told him, I asked him to teach me. I was less than sober at the time, which is probably why I was brave enough to ask to be taught."

His own small self-deprecating humor made him smile a little, which felt right, so he kept it. When Sivan's fear spilled out Torin brought his other hand up to also wrap around the one he was holding.

"Hey, if your friend took the time to get to know you, to let you know him, then he'll let you have the time you need to learn, right? And, really," The blush deepened but the smile, if anything, got a little wider, "The learning part... it can be really nice. Really, really nice. Don't rush through it to try and be an expert. You'll lose something special and good. Just get to know his body like you got to know him. Learn it, let him tell you what he wants, or let his body show you and it isn't like there is one perfect way. It'll be a little different every time but all of it can be good. Tell him if you don't want something as soon as you know, but also," Here he tried to mee the elf's frightened eyes and hold them,

"Tell him when you know you want something too. It's nice, even... attractive, when your partner tells you what they like. At least, for me it is, and Aurin seems to like it when I do."

He stopped there, clearing his throat and trying not to shift in his chair as the ideas, the images and memories of his redheaded man came rushing up to tighten his trousers.