They took a little while longer to lay together, simply relishing in the afterglow sensations. The snow was so light that it really did feel good on their skin. But when Brian let go of the shield, the flakes of snow faded away too. As they dressed they stayed quiet. It felt good to simply be with one another, not thinking of anything but each other, not worry about anything at all.
But when they reached the camp, Brian pulled AJ from his thoughts. ‘Your friend there has been asleep for quite a while. I think this was all too much of a shock for his brain.’
AJ couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips. Seeing it, Brian stopped right by the fire. “Alex.” He said seriously, his eyes twinkling. “What did you do?”
“Me?” AJ tried for innocence. Even he knew that he failed at it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Mm hm. Like you’re just a little angel.”
Pretending to be offended, AJ put a hand over his heart. “I am!”
“Right. Pull the other leg, love.”
He couldn’t keep a straight face anymore. Squatting by the fire, AJ grinned. “When we unloaded everything there, I just put him in a little deeper sleep, that’s all.” He said as he grabbed a stick to stir the fire. “This was a bit of a shock for him. I wanted to give his brain time to process it. Sleep helps with that.” ‘And I wanted private time with you. You and I both needed the time for our grief, song of my heart.’ He added silently.
The look of love that Brian gave him had AJ’s heart warming. He watched while Brian settled down beside him, crossing his legs. Was there anyone more beautiful in the world than his Brian? In all his years he had never found anyone who stirred him this way. Yes, there had been other lovers. That was inevitable. No one lived for over three thousand years being celibate. But the warmth they had made him feel were nothing compared to how Brian made him feel. That would be like comparing a drop of water to the entire ocean. A spark to a forest fire.
A swell of love in their bond told AJ that Brian felt his regard and enjoyed it. Not just enjoyed it, but returned it as well.
Once the fire was stirred and they were both settled, AJ decided it was time to wake Donnelly back up. There were some questions to be asked and answered before AJ decided if this man was really someone that he wanted to bring along. Not only that, but he needed to know how it was that Donnelly knew what he knew. ‘Plus he’ll probably have questions for us, too.’ Brian chimed in.
‘Yeah, yeah. That too. But how he answers my questions will decide how I’ll answer his. Or, if I’ll answer them.’ AJ’s reply had Brian grinning.
Still amused, AJ reached a hand over and touched his finger to Donnelly’s temple. He gently pulled him from sleep before removing his finger and allowing the man to slowly come back the rest of the way on his own. It didn’t take long before Donnelly was blinking and bringing a hand up to rub at his eyes. Slowly he sat up, as if unsure where he was or what had happened. His eyes looked around before finally settling on Brian and AJ. Almost instantly anger leapt into those eyes.
The temper didn’t bother AJ. He was a man who both understood and respected temper. If he’d been in Donnelly’s shoes, he knew he would have felt the same way. Hell, he’d probably have been worse! Donnelly hadn’t embraced his magic yet. AJ knew that he would have been holding his tightly from the instant his eyes opened in strange surroundings.
“What the hell did you do to me?” Donnelly demanded. “I can feel a small trace of magic in my system. You had no right to do anything to me without my permission!”
“Watch your tone when you speak to him.” Brian snapped. Apparently his tolerance wasn’t as high as AJ’s was. No big surprise. Brian wasn’t exactly known for being tolerant when he felt someone was stepping out of place around AJ.
Absently AJ reached out and patted Brian’s legs in a soothing gesture. He never took his eyes off of Donnelly, though. The young man had sat up fully by now, legs crossed, but he kept the sleeping bag around his lower half and was leaning his upper half toward the fire a little. AJ floated one of the blankets over, offering it to him. After a moment’s hesitation, Donnelly took it, murmuring “Thank you.” as he wrapped it around himself.
“To answer your question, young Donnelly, after you passed out I simply helped your body to sleep longer. I felt it was the best thing for your mind. You had quite a bit thrust on you at one time.” Unable to resist, AJ grinned impishly at him. “Plus, my heart song and I needed a few private moments, if you understand my meaning.”
It was a testament to how long they’d been outside the mortal world when it took AJ a moment to realize why Donnelly looked suddenly surprised. It clicked, though, when he said “Oh! You two are….oh.” His cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment as he looked down.
Amusement rolled through AJ. ‘I’ve really got to sharpen my brain a little.’ He said to Brian. ‘I keep forgetting what life is like around mortals. If I keep this up I won’t be able to be around them at all! I didn’t even stop to think how mortals react to homosexuality. I think I surprised him some.’ Out loud, he said “Does this bother you?”
Donnelly was quick to look back up at him, his eyes wide. “No!” He exclaimed quickly. “No, not at all. It just surprised me. But bother me? No. I’m not so backward minded as that, uh….what do I call you? I know AJ Mclean isn’t your name. Do I call you by a title, or what?”
‘I really think I like him.’ AJ said to Brian, amused. He felt Brian’s caution, as well as his annoyance. That only served to amuse AJ even more. It was one thing for family to talk like this, or old friends. But AJ clearly sensed Brian’s mindset on this. Donnelly was a mage, which meant that he understood some things in the magical world better than a normal mortal. He was also set by an old family prophecy by the Goddess to serve AJ, apparently. He was also a stranger to them. All those things combined meant that Brian was more inclined to be suspicious of the man, for one. For two, Donnelly was blunt in his questions and looks and spoke to AJ in a manner more forward than Brian approved of. All in all, Brian was being protective.
Since that was part of being partners, as well as part of being a baka, AJ didn’t worry at all about Brian’s suspicion. He didn’t comment on it, either.
Tilting his head, AJ gave Donnelly a comfortable smile. “You may call me Alyck. It’s the name I was born with.” He offered. “AJ Mclean served a purpose for a while, but I think his job is done. I definitely can’t go back to being him.” Raising a hand, AJ gestured toward Brian. “This is Brian. Brian Littrell, actually.”
That froze Donnelly for a moment. His eyes went wide and he looked over to Brian, who sat almost perfectly still, his face showing nothing that he felt inside. “Brian Littrell?” Donnelly asked in surprise. “So, another part of the charges that was false. I am extremely sorry about your family, Mr. Littrell.”
Brian tipped his head in gratitude but said nothing. That only made AJ’s grin grow. “Pardon my heart song.” He said, flipping Brian a wink. “We’ve learned to be cautious. He doesn’t quite trust you yet.”
“I understand. I hope in time you’ll realize that I’m a friend.” Donnelly directed that last part at Brian.
Looking Donnelly over, AJ realized that the man’s cop uniform was going to be a blazing light anywhere they went. They hadn’t given the man time to grab anything, let alone a change of clothes. A good thing that AJ always packed extra with him. Without thinking too much about it he grabbed one of the packs with weaves of air and brought it over to his lap. He dug through it as he spoke. “With time I’m sure we’ll all understand one another. But first, I have questions to ask you.” He looked up briefly, his face serious. “How you answer these is important, so mind your words, young one.”
“What is it you want to know?”
“You said that your family came from Nellador. But that they were brought here by the Goddess to wait for a time that one would come along and would know about Nellador. What is it that you’re supposed to do for me?”
Adjusting the blanket around him, Donnelly looked into the fire. “My father told me stories of Nellador.” He said softly, his eyes going distant. “He told me of the times when we all lived there, free to use our magic, free to live among other magical beings. He told me the tales as they had been told to him, as they had been passed down generation to generation. Part of that tale was what we’d been charged with when we were brought over.
“It is said in my family that the Goddess spoke to our clan when she brought us here. These are her words, as they’ve been remembered: ‘Seek out the one who is fated to be the help of you all. On the shoulders of this one does rest the fate of the worlds. Ask him, test him, see if he knows. What of Nellador? He will be brought before you, a test to be given. Answer of nothing and he is not the one. Answer right, and to pledge to him you must, for he is the savior of all, the only hope. A light to the dark, he will set you all free. Aid him, guide him in these lands, help him to understand. Without you, the worlds may know darkness beyond end. This is your duty.’ ”
The air around them almost seemed to freeze with these words. As Donnelly spoke them, AJ yet again felt that rightness, that feel of ancient magic, stronger and older than he was. Brian felt it too. ‘I can’t explain it, Alex, but it feels right. Even though I don’t know if I like it all, it feels as if this is right. This is meant to be.’
‘I feel it too, heart song. I think we need to trust our gut on this. He has a true soul in there, not marred by lies or stained with evil. Every word he speaks, he speaks true, that much I can tell. But damn all these cryptic things. I hate prophecy! If the Gods or Goddesses that exist are actually going to tell us something, can’t they ever tell it to us straight?’
‘That’d be too simple.’ Brian laughed, the feel of it sharp and crisp like a fresh apple. It brought a smile to AJ’s lips as it always did. ‘That brings up something I’ve been wanting to ask you though, Alex. I keep hearing all this talk of the Goddess, or the Goddesses. Are…are they really real, then? Are they the creators of this world? It throws so much of my religion into question for me.’
‘I don’t know if they created everything, love. Remember, I used to have my own faith as well. But I do know they’re real. The elves have always worshiped them. Never did I hear about a God, though. Always Goddesses. A few of them, actually. They may not have touched this world, but from the sounds of it they are in charge of Nellador. There, they are like the God of here.’
While Brian mulled that over, AJ turned his attention back to what he’d been doing. He finally found the set of clothes he wanted. He pulled them out, looking them over before tossing them to Donnelly. “Here, these will be more comfortable for you.” He offered. There was a pair of warm leggings, blue jeans, and a plain black shirt. “If anything doesn’t fit, let me know. I can take it in a little if I need to.” The man was smaller framed like AJ, though not as thin around the waist, and the clothes that AJ had tossed him was a pair of Brian’s normal clothes that he wore when appearing in the mortal world.
Donnelly grinned in thanks and set about switching out his shirts. Once those were switched, he slid his pants off inside of the sleeping bag, setting them beside him. That was when he saw the leggings. He paused, looking at them curiously. AJ winked. “Think of them like long johns.” He teased lightly.
Chuckling, Donnelly finished dressing. Everything fit him pretty well, actually. He had to take his belt from his uniform and thread it into the jeans to get them to be the right size, but that was ok.
Satisfied that the man was less conspicuous now, AJ put the pack back against the wall. Once that was done, he turned to look at his new friend again. “Ok, I’m going to lay out a few things for you here, Maolán Ó Donnghaile.” He said bluntly. “Since you know your history, I assume that you know of elves and other magical beings. Dwarves, Satyrs, Pixies, the whole lot of them. Yes?” When Donnelly nodded, AJ continued. “Good. Well, as I said before and as you can see, Brian and I are both elvish. My grandfather, my mother’s father, is King Flreu. His father before him was King of Nellador when it was overthrown.”
“Mháthair Dé.” Donnelly whispered. Mother of God.
“More than that, we have other titles among our people. Trulion and baka.”
“High titles indeed!”
Good, it made it easier that they didn’t have to explain those. It was nice to tell someone about a situation when that someone understood most things without the in depth explanations like they’d had to do with Kevin and Nick. “No matter what, we would be taking up the burden of going to Nellador to save this world. As trulion, that is my job. I am all race and none. I am the arbitrator of justice. I seek to bring peace back to land that was once peaceful.
“But more than that, we have other reasons for going. Beings from that world have crossed over to this one. They took friends of ours, one of which is our cousin. They left a note, warning us to stay away or they would be killed. But that must not have been enough. The same beings are who did what I was accused of. We felt the traces of their magic there.”
Rising to his feet, AJ looked down at his lover and at the new addition to their little group. “This is a lot to take in, Donnelly, I understand that. Please, relax here for a while, take it all in. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all this. We’ve got a few more stops to make before we head back home. We’ve got until the full moon to prepare and there’s plenty I need to do before then.”
Moving over to their bags, AJ shuffled around inside of them. He sent a small thought to Brian before standing back up, a change of clothes in his hand. He continued to speak as he changed back into comfortable clothes; breeches, soft boots, and a loose tunic. “You guys relax here while I go get us some food for tonight. Bri, remember to try to keep our little site shielded a little. We don’t want anyone sensing our magic.”
“Boy, I’m luck you’re here to remind me of these things. Why, I’d just be plum lost without you!” Came the sarcastic reply from Brian.
AJ channeled air, small enough that he could pinch Brian’s ass, enjoying the way his lover jumped. “Don’t sass me, Littrell. That’s asking for trouble.”
“Promise?”
The sensual tone behind that had AJ shivering even as the taunt made him throw his head back and laugh. The gesture felt odd. It took him a moment to realize why. He brought a hand up to his short cropped hair. “Oh, I almost forgot to fix this.”
Brian grinned up at him. “Hurry up then!” He exclaimed. Turning to Donnelly, he offered him a small smile, the first one he’d given since they’d arrived. “Alex cut his hair off when he felt you guys coming so he could blend in. It just doesn’t look right. Proper elves don’t look like that. His hair is much better longer.”
“How’s he supposed to ‘fix’ it?” Donnelly asked curiously.
With a smug smirk, AJ put both hands over his head, then slowly started to pull his hands down, over his shoulders and down his front. As he did, his hair grew with it. It was the oddest sensation, a warm tingling on his scalp, but when he finally had his hair as long as it had been before, he moved his hands. Man, that felt much better! He’d become very used to his long hair.
It amused him to see the surprise on Donnelly’s face. ‘I think this mage hasn’t seen beings who use magic as easily as you and I.’ He told Brian.
‘I think so too. He doesn’t feel terribly strong, but his senses are very strong. He feels more than he can do.’
‘Like Marzio.’
AJ walked over to a pile of sticks that he’d brought back with him after his lovemaking with Brain. They were all long, about waist high. Quickly he used air thin and sharp as a knife to take down the tips until they were extremely sharp points. There, those would be good. Perfect spears.
He gave the two one last grin. “I’ll be back quickly with food.” He said before he took off lightly into the trees.