The Vaticinator

by Namita Singh

even, as we walk towards the trees, which are darkened by a starless night.

  7.Dual The Threat

  “Vince was pretty reluctant to travel this side.” Ethan tells me as we traverse the sparse woods, towards the beach end of the meadow. “He has never been an enthusiastic traveller.”

  The wind has a chilly end to it making me curl my shoulders inward. Night times are usually colder, especially near the beach side. Ethan looks undisturbed with a thin t-shirt on. “To be honest,” I tell him, “even I am surprised that you guys have travelled to a different continent upon a request.”

  Ethan chuckles, “Wouldn’t be the first time, Josh…you don’t mind if I call you ‘Josh’, do you?”

  “No, no.” I say, “‘Josh’ is just fine.”

  “Good. And you can call me Ethan.”

  “Alright.” I chuckle. “Ethan.” I say testily. “What do you mean ‘it wouldn’t be the first time’?”

  Ethan suspires heavily, “Well…I am naturally an explorer. I like travelling.” He shrugs, “Apart from that…our realm has quite a few specialties for which therians from all the other realms come for consultation to us.” He pauses as we break out of the trees. “Vince and I are amongst the head members of the council of our realm. So, it’s not unusual for us to travel abroad frequently for attention seizing situations in other realms. Vince despises it.” He chuckles.

  I turn to look at him, “Uh…I am not quite acquainted with the…uh, traditions of the realms.”

  “Ah,” he shrugs again, “It’s a shame. Nikolai did tell us that your family is here since almost twenty years now. There are families belonging to our realm who prefer to live separately from the realm too.” He turns and gives me an incredulous look, “You haven’t even visited your realm ever?”

  I shake my head, not very comfortable at being interrogated about my lack of knowledge.

  Ethan frowns, “Strange…I’d….” he trails off then abruptly shakes his head. “Anyway. Just know that it isn’t our first time being counselors for same gender partners.” He smirks.

  “There are others?”

  “Of course.” He uses the ‘duh’ tone. “Our realm, the First, is the one with the most same-sex partners. There are sixteen couples in my division alone.”

  “Uh, I am sorry, division?”

  Ethan gives me a comical exasperated look, “You must at least know of the realms, if not have visited one.”

  “I know about the realms.” I say quickly, “Just not in very detail…I have just read certain books…” I shrug.

  “So, you must know that the First Realm is the biggest?”

  “Yes, I did read that somewhere. It was the Realm where therians were created, so naturally it expanded much more than any other Realm which got created due to migration.” I say, trying to recall the memory of my ‘curious’ years, when my incessant bugging had made father relent and allow me to read some of the books in his personal library.

  “Yeah, so it’s enough big to be divided into sections which are called divisions. I live in the east Kansas division which is about only two percent of our total realm. And there are sixteen cases of same sex partners in my region alone.”

  “…Okay. They are all…together as couples?”

  “Yes.” He says proudly, “They face slight reluctance in the beginning, for obvious reasons, but they all are eventually happy together. Some of them have identified themselves as homosexuals beforehand, so they consider their partner of the same sex to be obvious. But most are straight. So they usually end up getting slightly shocked at the revelation. In fact, the very first case of same gender partners had risen in our realm itself, back in the seventies. And God knows there must have been cases before that, just not in writing. You can imagine their shock at that orthodox time.” Ethan smirks, “Those two ladies in my realm are still alive, reveling in their old age and happily living as a couple now.” Ethan grins.

  I feign a cough, smiling, “That’s all dandy…but I don’t know how that is relevant…”

  “Oh, but it is.” Ethan interrupts, “Don’t you see? What you’re going through is not uncommon. You’ll eventually grow to accept it, instead of fearing it. You shouldn’t be ashamed. Don’t think that you’re a heterosexual and therefore not entitled to a same sex partner. You have a partner. You have no idea how much lucky that fact alone makes you. Don’t get paranoid over something so simple as a gender. You shouldn’t be anxious, you eventually adapt to the love. You’ll eventually realize that not only you need to accept your partner but that you’ll start wanting to accept him. It’s all-”

  “Actually,” I interrupt his well-rehearsed speech, smiling tightly, “I already accept him.”

  “….”

  A very awkward silence lingers. I clear my throat.

  “Uh, my partner,” I start, “He is a good guy. I…uh, respect him. And I certainly don’t feel ashamed of him.”

  Ethan mimics the clearing of throat and begins anew, “So…it’s him? He says that he is a heterosexual and-”

  “Nealis a human. He doesn’t know anything.”

  “I see….so you need advice over…how to court him?”

  “Ethan,” I smirk despite myself, “Stop second guessing. Let me explain my dilemma.”

  “Alright.” Ethan shakes his head. “I probably should hear the story first.”

  We walk on the cold sand, towards the endless sea in front of us. It looks dark, devoid of color, except for the whitish foam that forms upon each wave. I allow Ethan to marvel upon the beauty of the black sea striking the white sand for a while.

  “Is this partner thing supposed to be…” I say after a long moment, searching for the right word, “…romantic? Or something along those lines?”

  Ethan blinks owlishly then frowns furiously, “Conceptually…no.”

  “Yeah.” I nod. I motion for him to sit. We both sit down, the sand cold against us through the layer of cloth, “It is simply a way to find the one with whom you’ll be most compatible…most congenial. Right?”

  Ethan nods in consent, “Yes, the history says that the aura of your partner is only pleasant to you because it fits snugly with your aura alone. You know…like…threads weaving in a symmetrical fashion. Only, they are energy streaks instead of threads. And it fits so because the mechanism of thinking of your partner…which results into his particular aura…that thinking mechanism is most complaint with your needs. It’ll always be in harmony with your thoughts. That’s the one person who’ll bend for your needs without any doubt and hold the power to receive the same from you. Our minds are very complex, always desiring to be near the thing that’s the best for it.”

  I nod, “Yeah but there is no mention of it requiring to be…romantic…or uh, sexual.”

  Ethan sighs, “I knowwhere you’re going.” He mumbles then says in a louder voice, “Yes, there isn’t a need for it to be romantic per se. But…it’s expected to mate with your partner. You wouldn’t be satisfied with anybody else.” He says confidently, “The highest bonding someone receives is with one’s parents and one’s partner. Since parents come in pair, it’s natural for the person to be inclined towards his partner. And satiating your romantic needs with someone else requires you to bond with someone else, which you would drearily dislike with your partner already around.”

  I remain silent as I let that sink in. But still…

  “But…we can stay as close friends.” I say, “At least that’s how I imagine it…you know, living together…”

  “…and having a common wife to satiate your ‘romantic’ needs?” Ethan taunts, full on smirking.

  I sigh, frustrated, “We can have wives of our own and we all can stay together-”

  “Won’t work.” He shortly interrupts,“As I said, you won’t feel inclined towards your wife at all. Romancing her wouldn’t be in your capability, as far as I can tell. Plus, you’ll hate when your partner will be spending time with his wife. The idea is preposterous.”

  “How do
you know?” I challenge him, frowning. He sounds awfully confident. He says that all the same sex partners he has come across are settled as couples. How can he say that my idea won’t work when nobody has even tried it?“Nobody has tried what I am suggesting. I can at least see-”

  “It has been tried.” He interrupts me again.

  “…you just said that all the partners you’ve met are living happily as couples…?” I bite my lip as it dawns on me, “You’ve met someone who has tried…they failed…and now they are a couple.” My voice comes out tight as I state it.

  Ethan smirks, “Oh, I don’t know. I won’t say I ‘met’ this couple. It’s pretty tough to meet with yourself.”

  My mouth goes agape at the revelation. He is kidding, right?

  “Are you serious?” I ask, completely flabbergasted.

  Ethan’s smirk starts to look a little tiring, “Vincent…” he starts, “believes himself to be an undeniable heterosexual. Even now, at this stage, when we are quite happy as a couple.”

  “He suggested that you guys stay as friends?”

  “Well…” Ethan drawls, “technically no.” he sighs, “Vince and I…we have been best friends since we were toddlers. Our parents are very close. He and I have practically shared a crib. We had our first drink together, we courted girls together, we even bathed together sometimes. We had always been close, like…” he pauses, searching for the right words.

  “Brothers?” I supply.

  “Twin brothers.” Ethan says, nodding at me, “like with the