Wand-Losing & Other Things You Shouldn't Be Doing

by Gabbo De la Parra

  “So, this is your people being hard first?” Rezzu asked, eyes glued to the dance outside the blimp; a choreography that should have been macabre but did not cost any lives since both vehicles were remotely controlled.

  “I thought you weren’t paying attention that night.”

  Rezzu gave Max a sideways glance. “I’m deeply offended.” The voice had sounded stern but with a hint of mischief in it that had Max’s cock stirring.

  “They were using invisibility spells. They could have invaded my city easily, letting me react when it was already too late to do something without a massacre.”

  “They coerced you then.” Rezzu shook his head.

  “The relationship between the city-states has always been fragile. I became governor because I helped to change the cloak-and-dagger style of diplomacy into a barefaced, direct approach. Of course, the Old Guard wasn’t thrilled by it, and that earned me a few enemies.”

  “Fusdulatex ,” Rezzu murmured under his breath.

  Max chuckled; the word sounded like a curse. He continued. “But I have faith that in time, as more weasels retire or die, things will change. They could use your presence to forge my downfall, but I am confident you are here to give me the answers I need. They would be my weapons against their intentions.”

  Before Rezzu could say anything, one of the Colviri aircrafts attempted to crash itself into a warkite. It disjoined instead of exploding, letting the other pass through it like a knife through butter and becoming two identical (if smaller) warkites. There was a roaring cheer from the ground. Max made a mental note to congratulate and decorate the controller of that warkite for his mastery. Max would have vanished the warkite; this was not just remarkable but creative. A bit of showing off too, but that was part of the mock battle. He sipped his tea and uncrossed his legs, then looked at Inall, who stood beside him. “A medal.”

  Inall took a tablet from his coat’s pocket. “Noted, sir. Sergeant Verity Jaye from Vimilia.”

  Then the girl would get two medals since Max was positive Bertoldo Whinen would not let an opportunity like this to boast the prowess of his people to pass by.

  “That was impressive.” Rezzu set his teacup on the small table between them. “For how long are we planning to extend this?” The tone wasn’t exactly of annoyance, but Max could not truly identify it.

  “Inall, why don’t you take Miss Ukwosu and give her a tour of the blimp? When you’re done, you two stay in the control room until summoned.”

  The tall Colviri woman arched an eyebrow. She searched her captain’s eyes. “Vudacus Muselet, kefo dulovo vellodde.”

  “It’s all right, Ukwosu,” Rezzu told her in common language. “Govekor dosallepe,” he added.

  “I know that last word. It’s redheaded. I hope he didn’t order her to kill me,” Inall whispered in Max’s ear.

  “That would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise, Inall. Do not worry.” Max patted his assistant’s hand.

  Man and woman left the parlor, the door closing with a soft click. Max went to his feet and made the short distance between them and the ornate windows easily. He appreciated the acrobatics of the controllers and the flashes of light from explosions and rays for a couple of heartbeats. He turned around, leaning on the windowsill and crossing his arms over his chest. “Alone at last.”

  Rezzu had taken his teacup for another drink; he froze midmovement at Max’s words. The teacup returned to the table, and Rezzu stood up. He stretched his neck, tilting his head first to the right then to the left, both movements accompanied by muffled cracks. He moved like a giant predator, and the black of his uniform emphasized this impression. Cracking his knuckles as he reached Max, he rested his hands on the windowsill, caging him. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it interesting.”

  Their lips were a hairsbreadth away, but it was Rezzu’s eyes that mesmerized Max. His actions had seemed determined, beyond confident, but those two suns didn’t shine like they usually did. Something was guarded, and it deflated some of Max’s ardor. The ambassador’s closeness was a toxin, a thing he should avoid at all cost, alas his wayward body was overtaking his thought process. Clutching that last sliver of control like a lifeline, he put his hand on Rezzu’s cheek. “You can say it. Whatever it is, we will deal with it together.”

  The handsome face leaned into his touch, and Rezzu sighed. “I don’t know how to act around you. I tell myself I need to be professional and be a captain and do my duty to my planet. Nevertheless, the moment I’m in front of you all I want to do is grab you, squeeze you, eat you alive. It’s pure madness, and I don’t want to be a madman.” A flame burst in those strange eyes. “This is not a spell, right? This attraction, this craziness it’s just you, your voice, your eyes, the way you move, nothing else.”

  Softly, Max shook his head. “I haven’t done anything. I promise you I’ll never use magic to control you.” He arched an eyebrow and added (because his mouth didn’t know when to stop as usual), moving his free hand over his length, “I have all this to do that.”

  The chuckle lifted and (at the same time) squeezed something in Max’s chest, like being buffeted by a harsh wind, dreading it and loving it in the same breath.

  Whoops and cheers from below the blimp made them look outside. The two smaller warkites had sandwiched one Colviri aircraft, forcing it toward the ground, using their magic shields as leverage. Max swiveled within Rezzu’s arms with a deafening, “NO.” He wrenched both warkites from the Colviri and willed it to make a one-eighty back to the sky.

  Rezzu squeezed him from behind. “You know there’s no one inside the ship.”

  Max felt stupid. “I forgot.” He rested his forehead on the glass. “You don’t know how to act around me? Hah. I’m so distracted by you I end up doing shit like that.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “It’s not a good one so far.”

  Two Colviri crafts had managed to accomplish the same sandwich maneuver, but, instead of guiding the warkite to the empty space between the two forces, they were aiming for the Alettans on the ground. That would fuck things beyond reparation.

  “Dulok oneh ubbukeh eulu!” Rezzu shouted as he dislodged from Max. “Dominik eulu!”

  The three ships changed course and, at a safe distance from the Alettan army, spliced.

  “Do we call it a tie?” Max grimaced, a little aroused by Rezzu’s panting and his hand on his ear, still pressing the linkdev; it made his bicep bulge tantalizingly.

  “You do that,” Rezzu hissed, “I’m going to find out who came up with that fantastic idea.” He did an about-face and zigzagged through chaises and low tables away from Max.

  Ugh, I wouldn’t want to be in those boots right now.

  Max had never been a fan of the tiny linking devices one used inserted in the ear, but he pressed his own linkdev to contact the Alettan forces on the ground. “Commander Mar, game over. It’s a tie.”

  “Was that to be the result from the beginning, Governor?” Mar didn’t sound amused. Max could totally see her frowning. She didn’t wait for his answer. “What do I tell the representatives?”

  “They will have their answers by nightfall.”

  “I’ll let them know, Governor.”

  “Good,” he said, closing the link. Rezzu was yelling in Colviri. Max couldn’t understand a word, but he was sure ninety percent of what was coming out of Rezzu’s delicious mouth were outrageous expletives. Rezzu wasn’t aware that the crash would have not caused any casualties (they had enough trained people to deflect such maneuvers within their ranks), but the intention behind it would have damaged any hope of appeasing the cities.

  “To the brig, both of them!” Rezzu had spoken in common language, surely for Max’s benefit. Whoever was on the other end said something, and Rezzu replied, “I’ll get back to you later.” He turned around, and his expression changed from open hostility to sudden calm as he laid eyes on Max. He released the linkdev and spread his hands. “Please have a seat.”
>
  It was odd to be offered a seat on his own blimp, but Max didn’t argue. The battle sounds had died, and now the only thing disturbing the silence between them was the quiet hum of the engines. Rezzu put a hand up, silently asking Max to wait until he was ready to start.

  Forefinger and thumb pinched the bridge of Rezzu’s nose for a moment; then he took a deep breath, lifting his face to address Max. “More than thirty standard years ago, a dust plague decimated the population of Nova Gaia. As people were dying, there were all kinds of accidents and many places ended up in ruins. Long after that, we’re talking years here, a rescue mission finally came to take the survivors to another planet. One of my fathers, Darien Wanao, at the time Muselet, was the captain of the mission on behalf of the Cygnus Federation.

  “Previous to that, he had met my other father Kekoa Muselet, then Wanao, on the planet of my ancestors and discovered that they were mates. Yes, as in destined to be together. But this was not to happen because the federation had her sights on Colvis, Kekoa’s planet, and thus they were separated, add to this the fact that the Colviri regularly live more than two thousand standard years, so the situation seemed very grim. As the Nova Gaian rescue mission progressed, the vessels were attacked, and Darien and my two uncles, Sule and Alaric, escaped in a pod. Due to technical issues they ended up far from the other survivors, but Kekoa always had people following Darien, and these men took my father and uncles to Mireeh, my home planet. Mireeh is protected by natural defenses— instruments would read it as a black hole, and for many eons the Colviri lived without paying attention to the rest of the galaxy. Darien didn’t know he had Kekoa’s tracker in him, but the federation had discovered it and didn’t say anything, waiting to use it against Kekoa.”

  Max was confused. It was an interesting story, but he didn’t see what any of it had to do with Aletta.

  “To make a really long story short, the Cygnus Federation lost the following war, but Colvis was destroyed and, in reparation, Nova Gaia was ceded to the Colviri. My uncles became regents of the planet and started its reconstruction. Recently, records of an ancient, unauthorized expedition off planet, surfaced as an old building was demolished. The recs spoke of a greedy Nova Gaian entrepreneur who had sent scouts and found a planet so rich in resources it was a businessman’s wet dream. He didn’t alert the adequate agencies but used his own funds to establish a one-thousand-worker extraction colony on the planet. Little by little any Nova Gaian involved with the expedition was bribed or killed, and soon the existence of the colony became unknown. According to the docs found, he solely controlled every aspect of the enterprise— dispatch, reception, everything. The man became one of the richest men of Nova Gaia. It’s not clear how or why, but years later he lost all his money and committed suicide, taking with him his knowledge.”

  “That’s why we were abandoned— he died.” Max covered his mouth with his hand. The greed of one single man had condemned his people to live separated and forgotten.

  “Yes,” Rezzu moved and knelt between Max’s legs. “Our mission was to find out what happened to the people that bastard left stranded here. We didn’t have too much hope after four hundred years of separation, but you survived and thrived.” He caressed Max’s cheek softly. “I should have told you this as soon as we landed, but I wasn’t prepared. I’m a soldier. This diplomatic interaction mess was dumped in my lap without warning.”

  The sumptuous room disappeared. Max felt suspended in midair, frighteningly floating toward a whirlpool of contradicting emotions: the blessed closure of knowing and the revulsion that knowledge brought. A truly dark seed had begotten the fate of his planet. That’s why they had never been able to be completely at peace with each other; greed and all the sickness it carried were the cornerstones of their destiny.

  Hands shook him by the arms. “Come back to me, Max.” Rezzu’s voice latched at him, pulling him from the abyss of shame drowning him. “It’s the past, let it go. Let it go.”

  The two suns were wide like plates, strangely beautiful and uplifting. Max focused on them, to float upward, to be rescued. As he surfaced he threw his arms around Rezzu’s neck, holding fast for dear life. He sobbed, “Thank you, thank you.”

  Rezzu pried Max from his neck.

  And the universe siphoned into one single space.

  That tiny place where their lips touched.

  ****

  11. ESSENCE

  Since he was the offended party, the six representatives had come to see him— on his ship. They had marveled about the Oculus, and expressed (albeit each one in their own way) how deeply sorry the cities were for mistrusting the Colviri’s intentions and a thousand more inane apologies. Rezzu had replicated the records that brought the Colviri to Aletta, so they all left with the information to do with it as they saw fit.

  Max sat at the far end of the circular sofa, once they moved from Rezzu’s formal office to his quarters. He had taken his coat and hat off and loosened his cravat. “I thought they would never leave.”

  “I’m glad you stayed.”

  “I just hope they don’t start shooting each other’s blimps on their way back. I don’t know who incited the army assembly, but they will not lose time to start blaming one another.”

  “Let’s pray for the best.” Rezzu moved closer to Max; his uniform was suddenly hot and he was twitchy all over. “I have had a question nagging me long before I set foot on Aletta.” He took two deep breaths and continued. “Why didn’t your people try to find their way back once communications and support were interrupted?”

  “I don’t have a concrete answer for that. My theory is that they either thought something really wrong happened back on Nova Gaia, thus there was no point in going back, or had discovered the magic of the planet already and didn’t want to lose it.”

  “So if you leave the planet, it’s gone?”

  “That’s the conclusion of most scholars. I mean no one has left the planet ever. There hadn’t been a way to prove it.”

  Then Rezzu would not be able to ask Max to come with him. How would he romance this man? How would he make Max fall in love with him? They knew they wanted each other, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted a love like his parents’.

  Those pale green eyes that made him feel demented (and at home in the same breath) stared at him. “Speaking of magic. Will you accept your wand back?” Max drew a tiny cylinder from his pocket and it enlarged in his palm.

  Rezzu narrowed his eyes and joked, “Do I really need it? I’ve seen you do magic without one, like four times.” Now he was sure that the seeds Max had given him for Luddi, that far away day, had been summoned magically.

  “Oh, that.” Max looked like he had been caught withholding information again. “Not everybody can wield magic without a wand.”

  “But you don’t have one.”

  “I don’t have one, at the moment. I lost it.”

  “Well, keep mine, until you get a new one.”

  “It’s not that easy. Yours will never work completely right for me because it resonates with you, with your essence. Your name brought it to life. After your first wand, other considerations have to be taken to create one for you.”

  “Sweet Lady of the Shields! How many wands have you lost?”

  “Twenty-one,” came out in a little voice, almost imperceptible if you weren’t expecting an answer.

  Rezzu considered this information for a moment. He ran a hand down his face and sighed. “All right, mine has river stone in it. What would you need, a piece of this ship? I’m sure none of its parts are made from materials that could be found in Aletta. We have some plants too.”

  Max shook his head. He reminded Rezzu of a child fighting not to take a bitter medicine. “None of it will work.”

  Setting the wand in Max’s hand aside, Rezzu stroke Max’s trembling fingers. “How can I help you? Tell me.”

  “No, Rezzu. What I need for my new wand might mean that I’d not be able to see you again. I’ll fake it till I’m able to
sort it out. Luckily, I had a ban on people showing their magic around the Colviri. There’s no point for that now, and soon I will be forced to do something using a wand. But you know what? I’m a big boy— I’ll find a way.”

  “You told me, less than five standard hours ago, when you didn’t know what was troubling me, that whatever it was we could deal with it together. What’s the difference now?”

  “The difference is,” Max growled, and with each word his tone rose and became angrier, “for my next wand the core must be something from my other half!” He stood up and flailed his arms. “What if what I’m feeling is wrong, what if it’s all an illusion, and you are not what my heart keeps struggling to accept?”

  Rezzu appreciated how perfect Max looked surrounded by his things— in his quarters; his emerald trousers, golden waistcoat, and cream shirt a beautiful contrast with the dark tones of his furniture. He stood up and caught up with Max, turning him by the shoulders to face him. “Let’s make love.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, let’s make love and be inside each other at least once. Then we could go to Master Esaw, and if I’m not your other half, I’ll go quietly with your memory in my body to last me a lifetime.”

  “No. No.” Max tried to shrug Rezzu off. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m afraid to find out.”

  “I learned a long time ago that if I didn’t have answers, I needed to be open to the wisdom of others.” Rezzu kissed Max’s furrowed brow. “Wouldn’t it be worse if we stayed close to each other for weeks or months and then find out we are not meant to be together? Wouldn’t that break our hearts irreparably? As we are now, we could have this moment of happiness and cherish it afterward if we must part ways, and still be able to heal and accept others in our lives.” Although, Rezzu knew he was already very much broken for love if he couldn’t be around Max. It was a certainty he didn’t like, but one he’d fearlessly deal with if the time came to that. He loosened Max’s cravat completely and let the soft fabric slowly find its way to the floor, lightly swinging as it went downward. “Please.”