New Horizons (Part 7 of the Ignaius-Saga)

Siren's Song: Aurora

What Tanier would learn was that after they left, the cultist had gathered, wrapped the body of the dead man, and carried it out. It was speculated that they wanted to present him as evidence that they had actually witnessed the power of Ignaius first-hand. Others present at the meeting that had never witnessed it were also in awe or even disturbed, but they now understood what all the fuss over a seemingly meek an unimposing young lord was about.

Tanier kept forgetting that not everyone had his perspective on Variel, that not everyone had seen what he had. As soon as he left Variel's rooms, he noticed the buzz. He noticed the hushed words and the looks wherever he went. Most people were irritated, more than anything else. Some were impressed, some afraid. After all it was the first time that Variel had clearly used his abilities where the number and quality of witnesses silenced any debate - aside maybe of the few people who speculated that this was all a trick and tried to find out how it had been done.

Tanier eventually ordered his guards to not admit anyone to his office when he got tired of people wanting to discuss the events with him and keeping him away from his work. He understood the curiosity, but to him nothing fundamental had changed and he saw no reason at all to neglect his work.

When he came back to Variel's room, he indeed found a "very happy and relaxed little lordling" - and Visorro-Kior who seemed somewhat proud of himself.

He would also find the two of them quite naked. Vis stayed lounging on Variel's bed, while Variel got up to go hug Tanier in greeting. His cheeks were tinted pink and he was clearly tipsy. "Did everything go all right?" he asked as he looked up at the king, really hoping there was no bad news to bring them all back down to earth.

Tanier smiled a very happy and relaxed smile.

"Everything is perfectly fine," he said. It had been a good idea to make Variel stay in his rooms and keep him away from the excited gossipping.

He felt somewhat overdressed. It was not so much the fact that he was the only one fully dressed, but more that seeing Vis and Variel so relaxed made him want to shed his duties and join them. So this was just what he did: He got naked, climbed into bed and invited Variel to cuddle.

Variel came to him eagerly, climbing in between Tanier and Vis and snuggling up in Tanier's embrace. Vis had an arm up behind his head, just relaxing back and watching the two of them.

"Today hasn't been so bad, for spending much of it dealing with insane cultists or what they have caused," Vis remarked with a little grin. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Absolutely," Tanier agreed. He then looked at Variel. "Wouldn't you agree?"

He actually felt obscenely good right now.

Sober, Variel might have hesitated or only partially agreed, but he wasn't sober. He nodded, eyes closed as he enjoyed the atmosphere and the closeness. These two men were the most important people in his life and the people he trusted the most. He'd gotten to spend pretty much all day with both of them, and it meant he hadn't had much time for worrying or feeling down on himself.

For a while Tanier simply enjoyed the perfect moment. But there was more going on in his head and he was really motivated now. Only a day before he had felt like going to Aurora to bring this conflict home to where it originated had appeared out of the question, Variel had simply not seemed up to it. Now he was a lot more optimistic.

"Vis, how would you feel about going home?"

Vis didn't seem at all surprised by the mention of this subject, almost as if he'd just been lying there waiting for it to come up. Variel, on the other hand, looked a little surprised and lifted his chin to peer at Tanier, then glance off to the side at Visorro-Kior.