27. GLIMMER

twenty-seven

GLIMMER

A few days on foot and they would reach Willows Rest. The walking, Oliver could handle. Janice's probing about his relationship with Tau he could tolerate. Jacob's grouchiness didn't bother him, either. Oliver understood it, and in truth, was grateful for the reminder of how lucky he was. Despite everything, his Sentinel was still with him. They were together, and safe.

Why then, were his insides in turmoil? Why did his hand shake while holding Tau's, and why did he so often struggle to hold in the need to scream, or kick something apart?

The memory of Tau collapsed on the ground, broken and raw and so beautiful, was permanently carved into his heart. The terror that something would prompt Tau to hurl himself off the deep end again had made a bed inside his skull, and showed no signs of shifting.

Since leaving the seaside town, Tau was silent. Oliver suspected he had, once again, lost the ability to be heard. He hadn't gotten a single yes from Tau, often peeking under the tarpaulin to see if his boyfriend was still with him, and not just an apparition holding his hand.

He stayed respectful of Tau's desire not to be seen as best he could, only catching unintentional glimpses of hands and feet that had begun to change into more tenebrous shades of green.

Under the reprieve of a moss-laden willow tree, a creek shimmered in the afternoon sun. Maji, Lucetta, and Janice had clustered together, yanking off their shoes and socks to sit at the creek's raised edge and cool their feet in the water.

Oliver stumbled forward, his feet slipped toward the edge of the creek, as Tau knocked into him. He'd done that a lot already, bumping into things, even a tree. With a faint smile he guided Tau to sit on an overgrown stump nearby, then cast a look around for Jacob. The old pot had excused himself some time ago.

All he saw were trees, bright green grass, and loops of moss hanging from the branches overhead. A sharp tug on his hand had him grunting in surprise, and squeezing his eyes shut on instinct as he found himself under heavy canvas fabric.

Coaxed to sit in Tau's lap, Oliver's breath quavered. He nuzzled the bare skin of a muscular shoulder. Arms encircled him, and his heart drummed wildly at the feel of his Sentinel under his lips. With his eyes still closed, he trailed upward, past a strong jaw, searching for a mouth.

There wasn't one.

He pressed a kiss to where it would have been, taking joy in it all the same. Carefully, he reached up to trail explorative fingertips over Tau's face. High, pronounced cheeks with subtle ridges at their curve. Strong brow bones, but no hair, and no nose, either. Not even nostrils. That made sense. He shifted his touch under eye sockets, wondering what his gaze might look like.

As Oliver continued to trace over supple, shiver-inducing skin, Tau remained perfectly still, his hands steady in their lock around his frame—until Oliver dipped his finger into a hole on the side of Tau's head, and they both startled.

"Sorry," Oliver mumbled. "Was that your ear?"

Tau nodded.

Softly, Oliver smiled. What he wouldn't give to look at him again. For now though, he would have to make do with seeing the light pour in past his eyelids, flooding his vision with dull orange. He straddled powerful thighs, and those steadfast hands greedily pawed his backside, while Oliver discovered all he could with both hand and mouth. Memorising every defined muscle, every dip and curve of that ridiculously toned body.

It drove him wild, had him rocking his hips, moaning quietly against Tau's face. Sharp fingers undid the clasps of his overalls, nudged his shirt all the way up. A swift tug pressed Oliver's bare chest against Tau, skin to skin.

Every inch of him trilled.

The temperature under the tarpaulin climbed, it had little to do with the sun. Whispers of love followed kisses, gentle sucks, his words laced with a crushing need to feel Tau inside him again. It had been so long since their first time. Recalling how absolutely soused he'd felt after made him long for it all the more.

Tau's cock was hard. So hard, his own carefully freed by a large hand, soon grasping both their lengths together. Oliver bucked into the grip, biting the side of a chin in an attempt not to moan too freely.

They were far from alone, idle chatter floating along the creek's jostle. Something Oliver could've tuned out, were it not for a breeze brushing his sides.

He turned his head, vision blurry when he cracked his eyes open.

A curious gaze peered at him, at them. At Tau .

Oliver yelped, swinging for Janice's face. He stumbled out from under the tarpaulin and hoisted his overalls back up.

"Suffering Sentinels!" Oliver wailed, mortified. Janice would have seen so much of them both, more than anyone had a right to.

"Sorry!" Janice had already fled to a safe distance, back with Maji and Lucetta near the water.

"You can't do that!" he bellowed.

"It was for scientific study!"

Maji and Lucetta cackled, and Oliver turned his angry stare to the stones by his feet, tempted. "That was swiving rude ."

"I'm just a very curious person, I'm sorry !" Janice buried her ruddy face in her hands.

Like the others, Oliver was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. All they found to eat were wild berries and plums, none of it enough to tide them over and adding to his foul mood. Despite a full day of walking, and a night spent in Tau's arms under the tarpaulin—and getting absolutely no sleep due to the light—his anger continued to simmer.

Even if Janice had seen bits of Tau before, she had intruded on something Oliver treasured dearly. It wasn't fair she'd seen more than he might ever get to. Although he often fought not to think about it, Oliver was all too aware he had very little in his life. Yet he had that one special thing with Tau. It was supposed to be his and his alone.

Janice had robbed him of that.

They strode through a valley, following the shady creek lined by bushes atwitter with birds, and lush trees whispering in a faint breeze. Still surly, Oliver kept his hold on Tau's hand, resolute in staring ahead when Maji slowed to match his pace.

"I really need to know," she said, clearly emboldened by Janice's antics. Maybe she'd even been sent by her to ask, "What's it like with him?"

"He's right here , he can hear you!"

Tau squeezed his hand in reassurance. It didn't help.

"But seriously?" Lucetta prodded, walking backward, a teasing smile stretching her full lips.

"Like scaling a cliff—I'm not telling you!"

"Do you light up like a firefly?"

He gawked at Lucetta, outrage and embarrassment locking away any retort behind his teeth.

"Leave the lad alone," snapped Jacob behind them all. "Damned childish."

Oliver wished that put a damper on their fervent giggling and teasing, but it didn't. Was it wrong for him to regret saving Janice? Probably. The thought occurred to him, all the same.

Thankfully, their behaviour dwindled for the rest of the days it took to reach the village. To say it was out of the way was an understatement, when they needed to climb through gullies and a cave. There were no signs to point anyone in its direction, no roads leading to it, only a sliver of a trail hinting there was human life amid all the vibrant verdure encroaching Oliver on either side.

Willows Rest was one of the most stunning places he'd ever clapped his eyes on, and they were barely at its outskirts, a tangle of willow trees encasing the entire village, spindly branches twining together to form an elaborate barrier. Tall, overgrown wooden gates stood open and, once inside, the only hints this was a village and not some paradise were colourful doors and lattice windows. Plants, flowers, and fruit trees covered all else, including the roofs. The main road barely passed for a path, mostly clover.

Blossoms were in full bloom, the air thick with a honeyed scent, buzzing bees, and butterflies of all colours fluttered about. Pigs so large he could ride them roamed freely, as did chickens, even a mottled horse.

Where Maji's love for nature came from was now as clear as the sky above.

The further they strode into the village, the more people poked their heads up from their gardens, their attention falling to Oliver and his friends. Mostly, to the giant walking canvas fabric.

All the villagers bore a striking resemblance to Maji, their hair glossier than oil and skin as golden as well-baked bread. Aside from a few of the elderly though, they were all taller than her.

"Did you draw the short stick?" sneered Oliver. They had been teasing him so much, Maji's height, or lack thereof, was now fair game.

"Hey! Everyone in my family is short."

He snorted at her back as she led them off the main path across stepping stones, and under a leafy arch. A house stood hidden beneath pipevine and bright white blossoms, its orange door adorned with a wreath of yellow flowers. Maji stopped before it, but didn't reach for the handle.

Lucetta patted her on the shoulder. "Alright?"

"Yep," Maji replied.

"Whenever you're ready. My back is killing me," groused Jacob.

Maji made a frantic noise, then opened the door.

The peaceful silence shattered, stopping Oliver's heart mid-beat at the screams. He snapped his eyes shut and saw red. Opened them again only to see blurred shapes through his spiralling panic.

Maji disappeared through the doorway by a swift tug of golden arms.

"You're home!

"You're covered in yuck!"

"And you brought friends!"

It all sounded deliriously happy. Not Emergence, not Malimoure.

Lucetta was the first to follow, instantly snagged into the shadows of Maji's home. Oliver sucked in a breath to calm himself and jerked his head for Janice to go first, who did so with a look of terror, and Jacob braved going in after. Both were swallowed whole by a similar welcome. Oliver hesitated, unsure what their reaction to Tau would be, when a woman, marginally taller than Maji, emerged from the arched stone doorway.

Shadows slipped from her gentle face as she stepped out into sunlight as bright as her smile. Oliver's heart melted, instantly knowing the woman to be Maji's mother. Her face was round, like Maji's, deep brown eyes glimmering with warmth and kindness. Her glossy hair was loosely tied in a scarf, vibrant in its pattern of yellow and green shapes.

"Would you like to come in?" Her gaze drifted to the tall figure behind Oliver. "You are both more than welcome here."

Oliver nodded, wrapping his fingers around Tau's forearm over the tarpaulin, and carefully guided him in. "Duck your head low, Sunshine."

He was fairly sure Tau couldn't actually see anything at all. He must have been operating entirely on trust, bless him.

His Sentinel lowered as told and together, they walked into a surprisingly brisk interior. Once Oliver's eyes had adjusted from the vividness outside, they fell to the many faces crowding Maji. She bawled as what had to be her siblings took turns embracing her. They all varied in age, but bore a striking resemblance to one another. Aside from the toddlers though, he was amused to see Maji was the shortest.

Oliver's first impression of her house was that it was a home . Cosy, but spacious. They all stood within a circular room, a line of curved lattice windows to the right allowing an abundance of light to pour across a long, arced settee. Pillows and hides covered most of its well worn leather, and vibrant rugs with unique triangle patterns covered grey stone floors. The walls were a pale yellow, teeming with decorations and painted family portraits.

Someone pulled Oliver into an embrace he absent-mindedly returned, unable to take his eyes off the familial love on display in everything around him.

"You left this for the mine?" he asked.

"I know!" Maji wailed, burying herself against her mother. "I'm sorry. I have nothing from all the time I've been away."

Her mother tutted and swayed Maji back and forth. "You've brought so many friends, Maji. How is that nothing? What more could anyone ask for?"

An abrupt rise in panic, and Oliver spun around. The youngest of the children had their tiny hands on the edge of the tarpaulin, curious faces moving to peer under it.

" No !" Oliver bellowed, quickly walking back to Tau and smacking the fabric out of grabby clutches. "Don't swiving touch him!"

The children scattered like mice to hide behind the older ones. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, or to scare them. Oliver turned an ashamed look to Maji's mother, grasping for an excuse he couldn't find.

"Don't mind him, he's just protective." Maji sniffled, resting her head along her mother's shoulder, still in a firm hold. "That's a Sentinel, so don't look and don't touch, okay?"

The many gasps that followed were filled with such shock, it was comical. They all stared in complete astonishment, eliciting a nervous laugh from Oliver. Right. He had once again taken for granted just how revered Sentinels were to non-miners.

"Why does he look like that?" asked one of the little ones, hiding behind Lucetta's muscular leg.

"He's naked," said Oliver. "We gotta find you some clothes."

"Does anyone make clothes for someone his size?" asked Lucetta, amused.

"He'll grow his own," mumbled Janice. She looked frazzled, trapped in someone's arms. The only boy. "It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with."

"You…huh?" Oliver blinked up at Tau in puzzlement, unsure what to make of that.

"Come, you all look hungry," said Maji's mother. "I'll make you something to eat."

Words that had Oliver's heart leaping with joy. He was more than ready to fill his stomach with something other than foraged foods, but rather than follow the throng of Maji lookalikes, he guided Tau to the settee and encouraged him to sit. It was of little surprise Jacob chose not to join the others, sitting on the opposite end, looking old and forlorn.

Oliver sighed.

He patted where he thought Tau's hand lay hidden on a knee, then plopped himself right next to the old man. Jacob cast him a wary, sideways glance, but didn't shove him away when Oliver leaned his head against a frail shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Emergence. Maybe you'll get to see them again sometime."

"I lost them a long time ago." Jacob's voice was as gravelly as always, but underneath it, there swam the dolour of loss. "I only stayed because I couldn't…I couldn't move on."

"I know what you mean." Oliver lifted his head to look at the tarpaulin. "It's intense."

The love, the need. There was nothing like it, no one who could lift worries and sorrows quite like Tau. Maybe it was the same with all Sentinels, even with Emergence.

"It's an affliction. Worse than losing my tongue or my fingers. It's worse than dying."

Jacob's voice cracked, and Oliver's heart did so alongside it. He reached out to grasp a wrinkled hand and gave it a firm squeeze. "You'll be okay."

Tantalising aromas of cooked fish and spices drifted through the house, teasing Oliver's nose and cramping stomach. He'd gotten too used to eating well over the last few months. Before long, they were all seated at a solid wood table large enough to fit every one of them, including Tau, in a kitchen that too was circular. Its wall tiles looked like they had been painted by children in colourful designs. Oliver rather liked the ones of sunflowers and thought that maybe they were Maji's.

So far, he liked everyone in Maji's family, although couldn't remember their names even after being introduced to them all. He liked her mother best, not least of all because she had taken the time to cook for everyone, including Tau, who didn't even eat—and they'd told her this.

"You know what Ben would say," said Lucetta around a mouthful of baked fish and rice.

"A waste of food," Maji supplied.

"No such thing as wasted generosity," said Maji's mother. "Besides, I'm sure Oliver would be more than happy to have it. You look starved, and we will sort that out."

He would have mentioned it was just his curse, that he was unlikely to resemble anything other than a breadstick, but shovelled Tau's meal into his mouth instead, long done with his own.

"That's right." Maji looked over the long table from where she sat near her mother. "The mantle is gone. What will you do now?"

Oliver shrugged. "I'll just go back to the way I was. Which reminds me, I'm very sorry when I break your things."

"Nothing that can't be replaced," said Maji's mother simply, and Oliver thought he might just fall in love with her, too. It was easy to see where Maji got her kindness and patience from.

"You haven't hurt yourself or broken anything in a while." Lucetta was across from Maji, tilting her head to the side to allow the curious toddler beside her to play with the grimy coils of her hair.

"Now that you mention it…" Oliver realised she was right, he'd done no damage at all yet. He'd been hugging Maji's family, touched Jacob's hand, ate and walked and simply existed without hurting anyone or himself, even for the times he hadn't been touching Tau.

How droll would it be if, after everything, his curse had lifted?

"Have you still got your strength?" asked Janice, wiggling forward in her seat to give Oliver her undivided attention.

"I haven't thought about it," he admitted. "I'll try lifting the pigs later."

"No way, you'll chuck them across the river," said Maji.

For some reason, the youngest thought that was hilarious. It had been a long time since Oliver dealt with children. He'd been only a child himself when he lost his sisters and brothers to black lung, his memory of their faces barely a blur.

Glutted with food, he led Tau down wide, curved steps and back into the front room to make himself comfortable on the settee again. He had wanted to help clean up, although unsurprisingly, Maji's mother had given him a firm no .

Oliver laid his head down on Tau's thigh, stretching out across the pelts and pillows, and sighed softly as a hand emerged from under the dull fabric to stroke across his forehead. The gauntlet had yet to return in full, but his skin had taken on its distinct forest green colour and metallic sheen—like it used to be, before they were both beaten over the head with a Wandering Horror. He reached up, bringing Tau's hand to his lips, and pressed a kiss to the open palm.

"I thought we weren't allowed to touch!" cried one of the kids. Oliver hadn't even heard anyone approach, and couldn't remember their name, either.

"I'm allowed, no one else is," said Oliver offhandedly. He bolted upright at the sudden wail, a tiny face with thick tears glaring at him accusingly. "Ah, swiving hell, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. Wait—yeah I did. Shit, no wait—"

"Blessed Sentinels, Ollie," said Lucetta, drawn from the kitchen by the racket, along with Maji and her mother.

"I'm sorry, Maji's Mom, I didn't mean to."

"It's Abigail," she said, kindly, running her palm over the child's glossy hair. "They'll be fine, don't you worry."

Abigail led the child to sit on the steps, murmuring something Oliver couldn't overhear. It didn't take long for the sniffling and tears to quell and for Maji's sibling to nod in understanding, hop up, and run off down a hallway.

"We should probably wash, we're all kinds of disgusting," said Maji.

Oliver glanced down at himself. "Oh. Yeah."

How Abigail had let them enter the house in such a state was beyond him, she'd not even questioned them about it.

Although Maji's home had a restroom, it required going to the well to fetch water that then needed boiling over a fire. An effort none of them could be bothered with. It was a warm day, anyway, and so Oliver followed Maji as she led them to a river nearby, shallow and calm. Willow trees lined its bank, a forest of them, as vibrantly green as everything else encasing the village outskirts.

Oliver stripped, his skin prickling at the water's chill, its deepest parts reaching no further than his lower hips. As he ran honey-scented soap across his stomach and arm, banishing decay, dried blood, the stench of sweat—a weight eased off him, slowly. Steadily. The faint murmurs of the river, the songbirds echoing across a blue sky, waves glimmering around him…

It was pleasant. Peaceful. Quiet, aside from the giggling. Oliver cast a glance at Tau, still under the tarpaulin, yet seeming content to sit with his legs crossed in the grass at the river's bank. Past him, golden faces peered from behind a particularly thick willow tree. Oliver thought he spotted one of Maji's older siblings.

"What's that about?" he asked.

"We're not usually naked this much." Maji flashed him a smile, her skin glistening in the sun as she ground a soap bar against her shirt in the water.

"Huh."

"Is that why you were so shy in the hot springs when we first met?" asked Lucetta, running her hands over her muscular arms, rinsing away suds.

"A bit. I just wasn't used to bathing with men." For some reason, Maji gestured at Oliver. "We don't have a lot of male-identifying people here, you might've noticed."

"I did," said Lucetta, wading back to the river bank.

Oliver scoured the onlookers again. He hadn't noticed until now. "Huh."

He followed Maji and Lucetta, river rocks digging into the soles of his feet as he beelined for Tau. He gave the covered head a pat, smiling faintly at the way Tau leaned into it.

"You're not too warm under there, are you?" He dropped a kiss to the shifting head, then hung his clothes from nearby branches to dry. The giggling hadn't yet stopped, and the staring became increasingly more intense, prompting Oliver to cover his prick and shy away, back to Tau.

Lucetta lay in the grass beside Maji near him, both enjoying the full blast of the sun, while Oliver diverted the restlessness he felt into finding stones to skip across the water. Clumsy throws became no less so while he waited for the curse to kick in.

It never did.

"Maybe it's broken," he mused. Or maybe having had Tau's pleasure inside him permanently neutralised it.

Like its surrounding nature, tranquility thrived in Willows Rest. Oliver had never known anything like it. After a week of rest, of nothing but eating and sleeping, the horrors of the past few months became more like fading nightmares.

Slowly, Tau regained his appearance. The polished green armour went further up his arms than before. He was still working on the rest, a unique thing to observe as threads of white not unlike veins grew and slowly wove into solid fabric. Or maybe it was skin. It would certainly explain how he could feel every touch and kiss.

Since it was of such interest to her and she hadn't again intruded without asking, Oliver allowed Janice to peek at every bit of progress Tau made. She would mumble things about carapaces and exoskeletons that sounded more like escaped inner debates, ones Oliver could make no sense of.

Unfortunately, with so many children and other villagers about, there had been no opportunity for further exploration. Tau had become their favourite person to bother, even while he stayed hidden under the canvas fabric.

Mostly, Oliver slept. Outside in the grass by the river, or below the majestic willow tree, tucked into a halo of shade shielding him from climbing heat. Sometimes, he dozed in Maji's old bedroom, shared with several of her siblings. Other times on the settee, when everyone else had gone out.

Tau never left his side no matter where Oliver idled. Yet there was that persistent brabble in the back of his head. A constant scritch-scratch that his boyfriend might leave. Get himself killed, one way or another. Keeping himself linked through touch was his only reassurance Tau hadn't suddenly vanished.

"Would you like to help me in the garden today?"

Oliver's eyes fluttered open. Blearily, he looked up at Abigail from where he'd been dozing on the settee, his head resting on Tau's covered thigh.

He knew nothing about gardening, but he liked the thought of getting his hands dirty and working out in the sun. With a nod and grateful smile, he heaved himself upright and followed Abigail through the back, straight into the garden.

Thick hedges marked its borders, blanketed in tiny pink blossoms with an overpowering perfumed scent. Vegetable patches looked bountiful, and stepping stones led up to the roof of the house, which was more garden still. The bright afternoon sun turned rose petals translucent, speckling the air with bug wings aglow.

"I wish you could see this, Sunshine, you'd love it."

Seemed Tau was still too comfortable hiding away, as not even that prompted him to come out from under the fabric. He only stood near one of the rose bushes, unmoving in the shadows of trees.

"Maji tells me you like sewing." Abigail knelt by a row of fluffy leafage in one of the patches to inspect them. Her fingertips were stained green, just like Maji's always were. "She says you're terrible at it."

Oliver puckered his lips. "I'm not great at it, no."

"I'll teach you, if you'd like. Come help me with the weeds."

"What, really?" Oliver bent low to pull at something. "I'm not a quick learner though, you'll probably just get frustrated."

"Not that, that's a carrot." She plucked something closer to the ground, its leaves round, and held it up for him to see. "It doesn't matter how quickly you learn, what matters is that you do learn. If you don't, then whoever is teaching you is failing."

He cast Abigail a shy look, unsure of how to respond, knowing only that his envy of Maji's good fortune had become limitless.

"Can't believe she left this place for mining," he said underbreath.

Abigail smiled, warm and kind. "She chose her own path and I'm very proud of her. She set out thinking only of material gain, and returned with something invaluable."

"She was scared of coming home. I think…she worried she failed you, because she didn't get out of mining what she wanted. None of us did, really." Oliver plucked the same leafy things from the dirt with ease and tossed it aside. There were quite a few. "But she's one of the bravest people I've ever known. She's always there to help me when I hurt myself, and never leaves me behind. Only ever wants me to be happy. Luce, too. They're both so—I don't know where I'd be without them—"

Something inside him shattered.

Before he knew it, a deluge of sorrow spilt down his face. No matter how often he wiped at the tears with his dirty hand, his sobs refused to be controlled.

An ambush of every horrific experience he'd endured pushed him under. Years of maiming himself, of loneliness, of being too poor to eat even a slice of bread. Facing memories of a child being tormented. Losing Tau, more than once. Killing a man. The nightmare of Malimoure. Losing his arm in a failed attempt at revenge—

He gasped, desperate for breath, digging into his cheek in a vain attempt to ground himself.

Strong arms entwined him from behind. The ground heaved away from him. Oliver found himself cradled against a hard chest. He fisted the fabric of a dark green hood, the tarpaulin's edges whipping away as Tau carried him, revealing what he'd missed looking at so dearly.

His face was just as Oliver remembered, once more a crisp, snowy white with black triangles and lustrous gold outlines that ran down either side of his cheeks. Slightly translucent, as if not yet complete. A delicate network of shimmering veins ran all along the mask, the emerald scar he'd had now gone.

Even in his current state, Oliver noticed that the pristine whiteness of Tau's robes had returned. He pressed his face into the crook of Tau's neck, inhaling the beautiful scent so unique to him.

Like the first touch of rain on a spring day.

It didn't matter that people gawked while Tau brought him to the river, but it was a relief no one followed. In the few patches of grass exposed to sunlight below the willow, Tau set him down and stepped back. Once he'd regained control over the floodgates, Oliver wiped his eyes again to better look at him.

Statuesque and brilliant, but different. The hood was still pointed with gold trims, but there was so much more armour. Pauldrons amplified already wide shoulders, and the vambrace ran along the full length of his arms, reflecting sunlight with blinding severity. His clawed gauntlets and sabatons were back, and a cuirass with fine, intricate details shielded his torso. Oliver knew he would spend hours mapping every swirl and tiny leafy pattern with his fingertips.

He would miss the feel of Tau's skin, but he was beautiful.

"You look hotsy-totsy, Sunshine," Oliver managed to croak.

Tau inclined his head, clenching Oliver's heart with the need to hear him. For now, holding his boyfriend as tightly as he could would have to do.

That evening, when the sun dipped low enough to turn the sky into a splatter of pinks and oranges, Oliver forewent dinner in favour of staying exactly where he was, on the other side of the river behind the trees, straddling Tau's lap. He'd woken up not long ago, but now couldn't keep from kissing that beautiful face, lambent in the encroaching darkness, silent in the midst of rattling cicadas.

"It's nice here, isn't it?" Oliver murmured, speech still slurred.

Tau nodded. Grabbed his backside firmly, too.

"Is this…" He sucked his lower lip into his mouth, a flurry of nerves rising in his belly. "Is this a place where you might want to stay? I can see myself living here with you. If–If you want to."

Whatever Tau's decision, Oliver would go with him. It didn't matter where, only that they were together.

Nails sharper than ever eased him out of his clothes with minimal tearing. Tau tossed his clothes and boots aside with casual eagerness. There came a nod eventually, as if he just realised he'd been asked something, and that flurry whirled upward into Oliver's chest, chased by warm-cool palms. Tau's touch was gentle, slow. Revered, almost.

Oliver ignored the nigh painful press of faulds into his inner thighs while tugging loose the waist sash. He draped it over his shoulder and tilted his head back, lavishing in its softness as he let it slide against his heated skin.

Something hard smacked into his thigh. He glanced down and smiled.

Always so impatient.

"You're beautiful," Oliver said, admiring Tau's cock.

Bright, like the rest of him, thick veins adorning the long shaft. The side ridges leading up to the head were more angled than Oliver had imagined.

Leaving the sash furled around his shoulders and arm, he reached between them to stroke Tau, dipping his finger against the bounty of droplets gathering at the slit. He brought it up to his mouth to taste—and found himself pinned down, leaf-wilt and grass cool against his back and legs spread around urging hips. His laugh broke through the noise of insects, jostled into a yelp as Tau pressed insistently against his hole.

A plea for him to slow down fell away at the faint glow and the odd numbness around his pelvis. Just as well. He didn't have the patience to prepare himself, anyway. Oliver chewed his bottom lip against the intense pressure, recklessly bucking his hips down to get more of Tau in, desperate for it.

Having claws dig into his hips, drawing blood, while Tau struggled not to tear him in half ignited a firestorm between them, working to unravel what little sense Oliver possessed in the first place. He thrust his legs up, knees knocking into his chest, to let Tau drive into him. His own stiff, leaking prick slid across his stomach with each hard thrust edging him into the ground, stirring leaves.

Tau's cock had slickened. The tasty wet slap of his ballsack against Oliver's arse echoed along the trees. He became a mess of noises, needy whimpers, and spurring moans. His fingers hurt where he had them twisted in the sash, still caught around his neck.

Tightening, as Tau hoisted him upright by it.

Oliver's sweaty hand fell to the armoured chest, legs sliding past the faulds astride Tau's hips, who lowered to the earth, raised him off his cock with a hand on his waist, then yanked Oliver back down by the sash, wrapped tautly around his gauntlet. Heat rose up Oliver's neck, to his face. Gasps became strained and stars popped into existence behind his eyelids.

His stomach cinched, prick swinging between them, pulsating against the cuirass to coat it in bursts of come.

Tau bucked up hard, deliriously ruthless. Oliver choked out his name, his love for him. He spilt with pleasure a second time, and a third. Nearly dreaded the fourth. Each orgasm hitting him harder until it felt like a wallop to his very sense of self.

In the midst of being rattled, flying bodily upward with each relentless lunge, he reached for his stomach. Just by the belly button, expanding with every internal thrust, wrenching free noises Oliver had never thought himself capable of making before. Startled and thrilled. Maybe a little like a tormented animal.

And as Tau shoved himself as deep as he could go to saturate his insides, Oliver's vision faded. Lingering thought-snippets purged themselves. His body slackened, boneless, as though Tau had just swived the skeleton out of him.

The sky became a swirl of purple, twinkling stars, and narrow leaves, diminishing into complete darkness.

He roused to the shrill cacophony of cicadas, his cheek stuck flat against Tau's breastplate with sweat and drool. The sash had been loosened, now draped across him like a blanket. He tried to move, although couldn't muster the strength. Or the desire, realising moments later that Tau was still deeply embedded and idly moving in and out of him.

Oliver flexed around the intrusion, licking his dry lips at the distinct cascade of escaping come. He slurred something about that being nice, but even to his own ears, his words were no more than garbled nonsense. That was fine, he didn't want to talk, happy to spend the rest of the night as he was.

The following day, Oliver searched for Maji. It wasn't easy to get a private moment with her, not with so many of her siblings constantly asking him to lift the pigs, begging Lucetta for more stories about their mining misadventures, or trying to coax Tau into conjuring magic. Janice kept withdrawing into various places, saying something about how she needed to recharge, while Jacob had taken a liking to spending time with Abigail in the garden.

Oddly, Lucetta kept to Janice's side more than Maji's, but as she was far better equipped to deal with so many people, she had taken it upon herself to spend time with the youngest. Oliver caught her on the settee reading to them. The brown book in her hands looked well loved, sporting an image of some man in a blue suit and hat surrounded by animals.

"Where's Maji?" Oliver asked over Lucetta's pleasant murmuring. He had half a mind to join them.

Her gaze flicked up to him, then to his side, eyebrows raising in surprise at not finding Tau there. "Restroom."

"Do you think you could do me a favour?" Oliver blurted the second Maji emerged.

She startled, taking a step back. "Oh, sure."

Even though he'd just cornered her, she sounded so much happier. Looked sweet too, in her bright orange dress and hair in two neat braids, tied in two separate buns at the nape. Oliver liked her hair like that.

Heat rose to his cheeks as he leaned in to whisper, "I saw some kids picking flowers this morning and it got me thinking. I'd like to try that. For Tau, I mean."

"What a good idea! I'll help." Maji readily led him to the front door.

"We'll be right back," said Oliver upon passing Lucetta again. She too looked more relaxed than ever before. "If Tau tries to follow, tell him no ."

Lucetta snorted. "Alright."

"You don't think it's weird?" Oliver asked once he and Maji were outside.

"Why would it be?"

They were headed toward the river. He'd seen plenty of flowers everywhere, but trusted Maji to know where the best ones were.

"I don't know. He's not… I mean, he's a Sentinel and doesn't have a vase, for a start. I don't know." He was probably overthinking it, but he wanted to make sure Tau felt loved."I should pick some for your mom too."

"She'd love that," said Maji. "Where's Tau? I'm surprised he's not with you."

"I asked him to wait in the garden. I don't think he wanted to. Honestly, not being with him is making me nervous."

Scared, more like. Petrified, even.

The time spent in the village had done miracles for him, but Oliver remained overstrung without Tau.

"It would." Maji moved a curtain of hanging branches out their way, walking through the shade the largest willow tree offered. "Every time he does something, you end up with heartbreak."

"I don't know if I'm ever going to get over the harbour," he admitted. "Sometimes, I get scared for no reason and I don't know what to do with myself. It's like I'm going mad with nerves, even though I know he's right here, safe and with me."

"You won't know this for a while yet, but that's called anxiety. It's expected and completely natural for you to feel that way."

Oliver jumped and whipped a startled glare at Janice. She sat behind the tree, legs drawn up to her chest. Clutching at the white linen shirt one of Maji's sisters had let him borrow, he croaked, "I thought you were in Maji's room!"

"The kids found me there," she replied, her sour mood mismatching the borrowed dress. A bold pink stark against the white coat she still wore.

Maji looked apologetic. "We're going to pick flowers. Want to come?"

"No, thank you."

"You'll have to tell me more about this anxetty thing when we're done," said Oliver. She smiled, although it looked sad.

The further they went from the village, the more nervous Oliver got, his thoughts endlessly barrelling back to Tau. He wanted to run and check on him, make sure Tau was still there but… No. Tau was fine. Safe with Jacob and Abigail, soaking up the sun. There was no need to worry.

Oliver kept quiet, following Maji through a stretch of grass between forest and river, swathes of yellow flowers gradually pulling into view. Reminiscent of poppies, their petals cradling tiny spheres of light, vivid even on such a bright summer day. Beautiful, and without a doubt magical, their faint hum vibrating the air like a swarm of bees.

"These are perfect" he gasped, swooping down and plucking the nearest.

"We don't normally pick these since they don't last more than a day."

"That's okay, he might just eat them," said Oliver.

"A little sunshine for your Sunshine. We call them Daybeams."

Maji smiled, and he reflected it ten fold.

She was kind enough to hold the flowers for him whenever he struggled to keep of their furry stems. Oliver moved toward some delicate white ones scattered among all the yellow, closer to the river. He adjusted his fingers around easily bruised leaves.

"What are these called?" he asked, turning to show Maji.

She was no longer there.

His gaze followed a trail of tiny light spheres and floating yellow petals, scattered in an unnatural wind.

And black tendrils, thick and glistening in the vivid sun. So many of them. They lashed forward, out of blue double doors, spraying insects. Wrapped around his midriff.

Oliver twisted against their grasp. His feet dragged through the grass, through flowers.

Insect crawled up his arms, under his shirt, over his face. They chittered, louder than death rattles. It was all he could hear.

He reached out to Tau, so close .

Sharp nails scraped the underside of his fingers, drawing blood.

Oliver's neck and legs snapped forward, the wrench of tendrils swift and powerful, through blue doors that slammed shut with a thunderous bang.

To Be Continued