Taji From Beyond the Rings

by R. Cooper

  He adjusted his position to make staring up at Trenne less uncomfortable, then smiled. “I missed you this morning,” Taji told him, the words falling softer than the mist. “I mean—” he tried again, his face growing warm, and Trenne nodded.

  “You missed your breakfast,” Trenne corrected. He wasn’t entirely wrong.

  Taji huffed. “You took care of that for me,” he pointed out and felt his cheeks sting. “You’re always feeding me,” he added, because this was also true, so he had no reason to be embarrassed about it now. “Did you eat something?” he added quickly.

  “I’m sorry I left,” Trenne answered, as if that was Taji’s real complaint. “The ambassador requested my presence and the team had problems to be sorted out.” He paused. “I sent Lin and Nadir.”

  “Your two ranking officers probably had better ways to spend their morning than fussing over me.” Taji huffed again when Trenne only stared at him, unrepentant, possibly even pleased. “But they protected me very well—although Nadir grabbed the wrong nutrient bar.”

  “It will not happen again,” Trenne assured him. Taji absolutely believed him, even though the situation probably wouldn’t be the same tomorrow

  Trenne eased back, ever so slightly. Taji stared at his chest before his gaze dropped to the large knife at Trenne’s belt. He abruptly faced the stones. For a few seconds, he couldn’t think of why he’d found them so interesting.

  Trenne didn’t ask. Whatever he thought Taji was doing, he seemed content to stand there and let the mist slowly soak his uniform, which was another thought to make Taji warm despite the weather.

  “This is your cape, isn’t it?” he demanded as he twisted around. In the distance, Olea Rinnah, Mos, and the Koel stood under large, rectangular, umbrella-like awnings held up by servants who had not been there before. The priest was gone. The Imperial Guards had not moved, not even to protect themselves from the damp air. Lin and Nadir must have pulled their capes from their belts.

  “How long was I busy?” Taji wondered faintly. “Is everyone waiting for me? Why?”

  “They were not going to leave you.” Trenne’s ears implied great unhappiness with even the possibility.

  If Taji kept snorting this way, the Shavians were going to catch on to what it meant. He did it anyway. “It’s just water.”

  “If something had happened to you while you were in their custody, I would have every right to their lives,” Trenne spoke each word in Anglisky with devastating care.

  Taji’s mouth fell open. He closed it. He didn’t ask if Trenne was joking because Trenne wouldn’t. “Ah,” he said at last, in croaked Anglisky. “No one mentioned that bit.” He considered it while putting away his data device and beginning the process of leveraging himself to his feet. “Even though I’m nobody and you’re hurat and they are basically royalty?”

  “Yes.” Trenne leaned down to offer Taji his arm and Taji grabbed it gratefully to pull himself up.

  “That’s important information!” Taji put a hand to his hip and left the other on Trenne’s arm. “They must think I’m a brat. Shut up,” he added before Trenne could give him a reproachful look. “I thought they’d be happy I wasn’t with them, slowing them down, making them feel awkward every time I say anything…”

  “What they feel and what they will do are very different.” Trenne’s answer was unexpected—and somewhat bleak.

  “Right.” Taji deflated. “They were obligated to stay.”

  “They could have joined you,” Trenne observed. “You are usually happy to talk.”

  “Instead they called you to come get me, didn’t they?” Taji sighed for the telltale twitch of one of Trenne’s ears. He turned back to their audience and his heart beat faster with anxious uncertainty. He wasn’t certain if he was supposed to throw himself at Trenne, or what might happen if he didn’t…or if he did.

  Trenne spared him the choice. “What did you find that stole your attention for so long?”

  Taji looked up. “Was it really that long?”

  “No.” Trenne gave a small shake of his head. “I was already on my way to you. I would have given you more time, but you were getting wet.”

  “So are you!” Taji realized loudly. He pressed closer to Trenne and pulled his arm. Trenne allowed himself to be tugged and led back down toward the others, stopping only to adjust Taji’s hood.

  “You did not tell me what you found,” Trenne reminded him, in ‘Asha, as if a bunch of impatient nobles and Guards weren’t listening to every word.

  “Where we were? Those stones? Where the Sha first landed, or so the stories go.” Taji knew sources couldn’t always be trusted for accuracy, especially ones with an obvious bias. “And those stones were possibly some kind of structure that they destroyed when they—” he faltered, “attacked. They had marks carved or cut into them that could be decoration or writing of some kind. Or nothing. But I thought I should document what I could. For someone.”

  He gestured one-handed to indicate a faraway future date. “But people should know. Trenne, I know the people here weren’t hurat. Or, not the way it’s defined now. But they were here and had what even the Sha called a palace, and they might have had writing or art! A palace! That implies a civilization on par with the Sha. And I know the Sha conquered plenty of other places before they came here, but this is still meaningful. It means they had to fight here. Shit, no wonder they are so touchy about that part of the history. How many rebellions did the Sha have to deal with again? I do not think I got through them all.”

  Trenne watched him, his expression unreadable. “They do not teach those. Not rebellions, only victories.”

  Rinnah and the others observed them with sharp eyes as they approached the awning.

  “Your hesitation is giving me all kinds of ideas, Trenne,” Taji informed him smartly, then switched to ‘Asha to be polite. “Are there different stories? Oral histories that the noblest of Sha would never hear?”

  Someone, probably Talfa, made a noise. The servants—and the Guards—might as well have been statues.

  “Your silence, Trenne,” Taji whispered in delight. Trenne met his gaze again before steering Taji beneath the awning. He had water droplets in his hair and across his shoulders. Taji tugged him closer to stand with him. “Will you tell me the stories?”

  “It would be my honor,” Trenne responded, and looked to the others. So did Taji. Multiple frozen but subtly displeased expressions greeted him.

  “I am sorry for keeping you,” Taji said immediately, although he didn’t think that was the only reason they were angry. “I got distracted. I will not do it again.”

  That was a lie. Lin’s stare was not amused, but she also hated wearing the hood on her cape because it flattened her ears and probably dampened her hearing.

  “I was a student of language before I was posted here,” Taji explained, which seemed to have no effect on the watching nobles. “I get excited.”

  Nadir coughed pointedly.

  Eriat swung a look his way, then focused back on Taji. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact with Trenne, or perhaps avoiding having to acknowledge his existence.

  “Trenne knows when to dive in and rescue me.” Taji met Eriat’s stare. “He is usually rescuing me.” He twisted around to look up at Trenne. “Sorry.”

  “Sorry? Is something wrong?” Eriat wasted no time in asking. “Why would you be sorry? You cannot help what you are. Can he, Talfa? That is the way of some shehzha.” Talfa was near him, wide-eyed and silent. Eriat finally looked directly at Trenne. “Why should your shehzha be sorry?”

  “It is a game they play,” Lin broke in, her accent thick and glaringly noticeable. She glanced at the assembled nobles before straightening up. Her accent disappeared. “Taji shehzha acts hurt. The sergeant major kisses it and makes it better—as the humans say.”

  Mortification struck Taji silent, left him shivering but flushed and unable to do much more than glare at Lin.

  “Kisses to make it better?” Rinnah ech
oed, confused.

  Talfa touched their fingers to their mouth. “Kisses what and makes what better?”

  “The wound.” Taji spoke stiffly. “It is usually something human parents do with children when the wound is not serious—just a scratch or a small bruise. It does not cure it or ease the pain, but it makes the child smile. I do not—Trenne and I do not do that.”

  Nadir, for once, was quiet.

  “How would lips help?” Rinnah pressed while Taji debated whether or not Trenne was legally allowed to kill Lin over this. “A shehzha should not be hurt, with or without a kiss, hurat.”

  Taji sliced a hand through the air to end this dangerous nonsense, then turned around. “I am very sorry, Trenne, but I need one of my human kisses.” He darted a touch up Trenne’s chest before hooking his fingers in Trenne’s collar. He held his breath—couldn’t breathe—and had a feeling he trembled. Then Trenne’s hand was on his and Trenne bent down to press their mouths together.

  One second, no longer, before Trenne pulled back.

  Taji made an embarrassingly soft noise of protest and Trenne’s hand closed over his.

  “Is it better now?” Talfa’s earnest question broke the silence.

  Taji looked away from Trenne. “Yes and no,” he answered honestly.

  Mos stepped in to save him, or just make the troublesome shehzha go away. “I am certain you need some rest after a morning like this one,” she murmured, utterly officious and polite. Taji stared at her in disbelief before he realized ‘rest’ was probably a euphemism for ‘fucking.’

  “Yes,” he agreed, his voice a little high. “I could absolutely use some rest.” He eyed Olea Rinnah, who seemed almost embarrassed or uncomfortable as though Taji was going to pounce on Trenne in front of her and she would be forced to see a hurat body. “Maybe I can visit the temple some other time,” he offered, with as much regret as he could muster while preoccupied with images of Trenne fucking him. He sucked in a breath and dropped his gaze, although he suspected everything he was thinking was obvious anyway.

  “A rest.” Eriat gave his support for the idea in a way that made Taji clench his jaw. He was no longer a wild shehzha, but a horny concubine who needed to be fucked until he could focus. Even a hurat would do in that situation, Taji thought bitterly, only to belatedly realize Trenne’s hand was still closed over his. Trenne was with him, being simultaneously honored and insulted.

  “Yeah,” Taji answered in casual Anglisky, before switching languages again. “Rest.” He was ready to walk away when another thought stopped him. He gripped Trenne’s shirt tight. “Is there a way back that does not require so many stairs?”

  Trenne blinked twice, as taken aback as he ever got, before he turned toward the Shavian nobles.

  Several Imperial Guards tensed.

  “I—” Olea Rinnah stuttered.

  Mos tried to step in again. “Apologies. I forgot Taji Ameyo walked with a stumble—”

  “Lin. Nadir.” Trenne’s voice was even, although he did not take his attention from the Shavians around him.

  “Sir. This way.” Lin slipped from the awning, her pace slower than it would have been without an audience. Taji didn’t care. He took his time following her, his hand falling from Trenne’s collar to land on his arm. He held it too tightly and couldn’t seem to let go. His face was still burning and he had to bite his tongue.

  Nadir came out after them, and the two Imperial Guards probably followed him, but Taji didn’t look. After a while, and a turn that meant more walking but apparently no underground tunnels full of stairs, Trenne pulled a nutrient bar from his pocket and handed it over.

  “Crunchy,” Taji approved, because he might be dying of curiosity and embarrassment, but food was food. “Thank you.” He broke it in half, ignoring the spray of fine crumbs, and handed half to Trenne. “Eat, Trenne.”

  “I have.” Trenne held the bar out for Taji to take back.

  Taji glanced up doubtfully. “That one servant is going to be angry with me if I don’t keep you fed,” he said, after a dry, somewhat painful swallow.

  “She will do nothing but praise you,” Trenne countered easily. Taji looked at Lin’s back. He was not playing a game where he complained and Trenne kissed it better. He wasn’t.

  “Did you have a busy morning?” he asked Trenne, with a mental rude gesture at Lin.

  “Tiring, but not busy.” Trenne snapped his half of the bar into two pieces and proffered one again. “Eat, Taji.”

  “Do we need to see the ambassador?” Taji crunched his piece with satisfaction.

  “Yes, but it can wait.” Trenne didn’t sound at all embarrassed at the reminder that they both had to go “rest.”

  “Good.” Taji’s voice shook, but he said it. “Although, first I might need to actually rest. My leg…” His clothes were damp and his leg ached with increasing discomfort.

  Trenne inclined his head toward him and whispered in careful Anglisky. “You would feel no pain as shehzha, as my shehzha. Understand? Not afterward.”

  Taji jerked his gaze up to meet Trenne’s and stumbled, stepping down fast on his bad leg. Trenne caught him and steadied him while Taji was still gaping.

  Taji hadn’t considered the narcotic-like effects. He should have. A real shehzha would probably even beg for the relief if they needed it. No wonder Mos had urged him to leave with Trenne.

  Taji shut his mouth. Despite that, a small whine escaped. “That’s quite a bonus feature,” he murmured at last, politely complimenting Shavian sexual secretions because he seemed to be out of blushes. “Your shehzha is very lucky.”

  On that note, Taji stopped, and when Trenne stopped with him, he glanced back toward Nadir and the two Imperial Guards. Then he stretched up to take the last piece of the crunchy nutrient bar into his mouth directly from Trenne’s hand.

  He resumed walking a moment before Trenne did.

  Trenne’s voice was almost hoarse. “You honor me.”

  Taji looked behind them, toward a gawking Nadir and two blank-faced Guards who would probably report back to the emperor. He smiled, although his hand was locked onto Trenne’s arm. “Wait until we get to our room,” he teased Trenne loudly, and resented how easy it was to say.

  WHEN THEY got to their room, Trenne spent a few minutes talking with Lin and Nadir, and Taji took another shower, this time to warm up. He came out in a thin shirt and short sleep pants to find Trenne half-dressed and barefoot, doing some sort of series of exercises that were both a pleasure and a torment to watch.

  Taji sat on the bed, waited as long as he could, then said, “Tell me what happened this morning.”

  Trenne stopped, arms supporting the weight of his body, which was glistening. “The ambassador asked to see me, with some questions about the culture. I tried to answer, but this is the closest I have ever been to this level of these families. There is much I don’t know.”

  “Not with the ambassador—although what exactly did Tsomyal ask?” Taji fell onto his side, and put his face into the pillow since that was easier than looking at Trenne. He brought his legs up with him and got comfortable.

  “What might be expected of you, since the emperor seems to have taken an interest in you.” Trenne grunted. Taji refused to look to see why and resigned himself to more frustration.

  “Tsomyal was worried?” Taji stilled. “Then you got the message to come get me, because I was looking at rocks?”

  “Tsomyal finds it interesting that the capital city is aflame with stories of fights and riots, yet the emperor is here. He does not seem ready to discuss this with his sister, but pays attention to you.” Trenne sounded as if he had moved. Taji peeked. Trenne was very flexible. He looked over when Taji sighed. “You will not be alone with him?”

  “Trenne, believe me when I say, despite the urgency I sometimes feel, I have no interest in being alone with the emperor.” Taji frowned. “But I would like to see his shehzha—or any other shehzha. Real ones, I mean.” Trenne looked as if he had something to say abou
t that. Taji shook his head, sending him deeper into the pillow. “I’m a natural shehzha, I know. Doesn’t mean I understand all this.”

  All the things he couldn’t say and risk being overheard by Shavian ears came back to him. “A shehzha’s treatment is important enough to kill over. Yet the emperor is rumored to mistreat his. This morning, Rinnah knew I wasn’t with you or the ambassador. Or if she didn’t, hid her surprise. Which means she had me go out there, essentially alone. In fact, the only reason I wasn’t alone was because you sent Lin and Nadir, and the emperor sent his goons. Yesterday, Rinnah was something of a shy scholar and her brother was holding the threat of making her a shehzha over her head. Today, she took me and the Koel to the origin of Olea power on this continent. The Koel, by the way, didn’t like seeing me outside, doing things. Eriat, in particular. I think he had plans that I interrupted. Gia doesn’t seem the kind of person to be exhausted from some travel.”