BAD ADVICE
DISCLAIMER: This is a short story that takes place in the Wraeththu universe. The Wraeththu chronicles belong to Storm Constantine, I claim no rights on Ulaume, Flick, their family and friends.
INFO FOR PEOPLE WHO SEE THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME: The Wraeththu are post-apocalyptic beings that evolved from humans. They do not age and are also hermaphrodites, however, as they do not have boobies, they refer to themselves as "he".
har = a person
Tigron = something like a king
chesna bond = marriage
chesnari = husband/wife of a har
aruna = far better than sex
soume = the passive partner in aruna, which is far better than sex - however this entry is not rated, which says there´s not gonna be any, it is only mentioned
Kakkahaar = name of a desert dwelling tribe of hara
BAD ADVICE
It was just another peaceful afternoon in Roselane, almost bordering on lazy. The late-summer air was thick like honey, and equally golden thanks to the rich sunlight that usually graced the land until late October. Cows and sheep dotted the meadows as far as eye could see, resting in order to process their meals. Occasional barking was the only disturbing sound present - Spear, Flick´s new dog, was chasing the squirrels. They would always let him approach so close that he could almost grab them by the tail and then promptly disappear in their holes. Except for that innocent game between animals, the day was deceptively serene. Nothing hinted at possible danger here.
The air in Ulaume´s and Flick´s house didn´t smell of honey. Rather than that, there was an ugly stench of argument looming above their heads. Unfortunately, that was nothing unusual either. In the recent moths, if not years, pretty much anyting served them as a pretext for a fight: poorly performed housework, food left unfinished, bad weather, good weather, boredom, too many duties, memories from the past brought back to light, hopeless future, their sons, lack of aruna, Ulaume not wanting to be soume, Flick not wanting to be soume...
It wasn´t that they hadn´t argued in the beginnings of their relationship. Ulaume had been born opinionated, and during his life, he somehow managed to acquire the belief that the world revolved around him. He could fight like a wolf - or, more appropriately, a snake. Flick, whose character was the perfect opposite of Ulaume´s, was a har who liked his peace. Once he got used to things being in a certain way, provided that the way was making him happy, he didn´t take it well if something disturbed the stereotype. And he wasn´t skilled at solving problems, especially not problems involving their sons.
They had always been like fire and water, but in the past, their mutual bond had usually made them reconcile or think twice before blaming the other for something. The bond seemed to have vanished into thin air in the not so recent past. Neither of them had voiced it yet, nor were they quite ready to admit it to themselves.
Flick, Ulaume knew, had been backtalking him to the Tigron, until Pellaz, the allmighty ruler and their family friend, took Ulaume to the side after last year´s Natalia celebration and tried to talk sense into him. Among other things, he informed him that Flick was genuinely upset, if not miserable due to the current situation, because he was such a peaceful har. He advised Ulaume to swallow his pride, and most importantly his hissy comments, if he wanted to keep their chesna bond stable.
Pellaz had made it seem like it was always Ulaume who started the arguments, and most likely, that was the way Flick had presented it to him. The problem was that Ulaume didn´t know, if it by any chance wasn´t the truth. He was indeed easy to annoy, especially since their older son Aleeme had fallen into his current fragile psychical state. Tiptoeing around him robbed Ulaume of most of his patience, which he hadn´t been richly gifted with in the first place. Very little remained for his chesnari.
And so he considered the Tigron´s words and came to the conclusion that it wouldn´t hurt to try to follow the advice and keep his mouth shut.
Except it was more difficult than it had originally seemed. It didn´t feel right. Still, he managed to create a more or less warm family atmosphere in the house… until the wretched morning when they found out that their younger, up until then uncomplicated son, had taken off overnight along with the trading caravan from the Kakkahaar desert.
„I am waiting for you to tell me that this is my fault“, Ulaume said ironically into the heavy silence. He had been choking with supressed anger since the very moment Orien had left two days ago. His snake-slit eyes were giving Flick The Glare. „For being such a bad influence and all.“
„Well, you WERE a bad influence“, Flick agreed immediately. Maybe he wouldn´t have, if Ulaume hadn´t asked him for it. That made things a lot easier. „What with your stories about wild magic, the roony Kakkahaar tribe and laying around in the pillows all day unless you wanted to check your appearance in the mirror!“
„What! I´m not holy like you“, Ulaume snapped back, angrily twisting a strand of his hair around his finger. „You knew that from the start. Orien is a grown up har. If you actually think that a couple of ancient stories shared at a family celebration could have inspired his decision, you are deluding yourself.“
„Well, whatever the case, I think we should go and try to make him reconsider. In fact I promised Aeris we would do just that. If we start packing immediately, we can still manage to catch up with the party Orien left with within a day or two. They will be moving slowly.“
„You promised“, Ulaume hissed, „without asking me, of course. I´m not going anywhere and I repeat Orien is an adult, who is responsible for his own decisions. If he thought nomadic life would be better for him than being chesna with Aeris, then I would be the last har to drag him back home by the hair.“
„I suppose you wouldn´t go even if I asked you to do it for me?“ Flick tried, opting for a friendly tone.
„Flick, I can´t go anywhere even if I wanted to“, Ulaume sighed. „We have one more son, do you realise that? I can´t very well leave him alone.“
„Of course“, Flick growled, anger taking over him again. „For the past... I don´t know how many years, he´s been your excuse everytime something you didn´t want to do occured! His state will never get better, I know it, you know it. It doesn´t matter at all if it´s you or anyhar else who brings him his meal!“
„That was unnecessary“, Ulaume said icily, turning his back to Flick. „And also cruel. We are done here.“
„I just wish you stopped hiding behind Aleeme!“ Flick yelled after him with a desperate tone.
Ulaume didn´t say anything and started cooking - something he rarely tried, because he was useless at it. One of those hara to burn even toasts. He did it on purpose - the fact that Flick would have spoilt food for dinner was making him insanely happy. For a while, he was so concentrated on his task that he completely missed Flick´s running about, apparently carrying random stuff up and down, misplacing things. Finally he left his spot behind the counter to get some bread from the storage room and froze, having noticed that Flick had actually been piling the items and was now opening an old travel bag to put them inside.
„What do you think you are doing?!“ he asked threateningly.
„I gave a promise. If you want to stay, do as you please. I am going regardless.“
Ulaume shook his head and fixed Flick with a stare. He saw everything with sudden clarity. What was he thinking, believing that Pellaz was right in suggesting that he should allow the other to tame him? He might have been a family friend, but firstly and foremostly, he was a friend of Flick. Of course he would advise Ulaume to submit to anything and make it sound like it was the right thing to do.
They were looking at each other for a while that seemed to have lasted an eternity. Finally, Ulaume took a deep breath.
„If you walk out of this door“, he said slowly, as if making sure Flick would get the meaning of his words, „don´t bother coming back.“
It surprised him that he actually meant it.
It surprised him even more that he felt marvelous when the door closed behind his chesnari´s back.
