ficbit, 12K, GyouTai, "Recess"
Meme request #?: Gyousou/Taiki for fyredancer. Post-reunion per usual. Snuggles are a bit sparse this time, sorry! Will rectify in future.
Recess
They worked late night after night, side by side if not together. For Gyousou there was no end to decrees, no end to reports of disaster--flooding in the valleys as seven years' worth of winter ice melted in the highlands, roads and bridges swept away in the lowlands downstream--and stopgap measures to allay it. Ministers and generals came and went from Seishin, always more or less haggard, offering weary but heartfelt bows and greetings to the Saiho who sat at the same table as the king.
For Taiki there was no end to studying. If he was to be of any real use, something more than a dumb lodestone, he had to learn more of both Tai and governance, and quickly. He had traveled through the kingdom, but he still understood so little of how it was meant to run when it was not fallen into ruin, and of how it had come to be what it was. Amid the frantic scrabble of restoration no one could be spared to lead him by the nose though his education, as if he were still a child. Nor would he want them to.
Nor would he want them to, but he found himself staring down ruefully at a volume of the annals, baffled again. The passage he had just read twice in succession remained opaque. The characters wavered in front of his eyes, as if the lamplight had faltered. Resigned, he marked the passage lightly, then rubbed his eyes and looked over at his master, at the cup on the table between them.
The cup was empty. Without a second thought Taiki rose from his seat and went into the antechamber to ask for more tea. When it was brought he carried the tray back to the table himself, and set the lidded cup in front of Gyousou. The king glanced up with a faint smile.
"Robbing the attendants of their work again," he observed.
"I wanted to get up and clear my head," murmured Taiki. "I felt like I couldn't read another word."
Gyousou removed the lid from the tea and drank. As he set the cup down he reached across the table for the open volume of the annals Taiki had been reading.
"These marks," he said, with a tap of his finger to the margin. "What are they?"
If he had been less tired Taiki might have had the grace to flush. "Passages I need to ask Seirai about tomorrow, because I couldn't make them out."
Gyousou leaned back in his chair. "Seirai is the better scholar, it's true. But you might ask the one at hand."
Taiki blinked, then let out a soft puff of breath. "I couldn't--I didn't want to--" He broke off, flustered. "Master, you're working."
"Am I permitted no rest, then?" The glint in Gyousou's eyes was wry. "Usually you advise the opposite."
Taiki lowered his head. "It doesn't count as a rest if you're having to tutor me."
"No?" Abruptly Gyousou stood. He took the annals in hand and crossed the room, sitting down at a divan near the window. When he was settled he indicated the space at his side. "You must let me be the judge of that."
When Taiki balked, ducking his head again--not because he didn't want to obey, but because he did, badly--the king told him not to be obstinate, not in this.
"Come here," he said, plainly but not ungently. "If you want none of my help, so be it, but humor me for a moment."
Abashed, Taiki went to him. As soon as he sat down, of course, the greater part of him wanted only to huddle into Gyousou's side, to fit himself into the drape of that vast sleeve and listen to Gyousou's voice, to let it make sense of everything he couldn't. The longing for closeness trumped all else, even his resolve not to be a burden. He sighed a little in dismay at his own vicissitudes. When Gyousou reopened the annals Taiki looked up at his face, not at the page.
"Master," he said, "it isn't that I don't want your help. But if we are going to take a rest...." He had to look down again. His hands were curled on top of his knees. "Which I do think is a good idea...I'd rather take a real one."
The arm around him shifted. "Which would entail?"
Bed, thought Taiki, and the two of them sitting as they were, perhaps with fewer robes between them. But he could hardly say that. Instead he leaned more heavily and set his chin against Gyousou's shoulder. "No annals?"
Gyousou let the book fall shut.
Recess
They worked late night after night, side by side if not together. For Gyousou there was no end to decrees, no end to reports of disaster--flooding in the valleys as seven years' worth of winter ice melted in the highlands, roads and bridges swept away in the lowlands downstream--and stopgap measures to allay it. Ministers and generals came and went from Seishin, always more or less haggard, offering weary but heartfelt bows and greetings to the Saiho who sat at the same table as the king.
For Taiki there was no end to studying. If he was to be of any real use, something more than a dumb lodestone, he had to learn more of both Tai and governance, and quickly. He had traveled through the kingdom, but he still understood so little of how it was meant to run when it was not fallen into ruin, and of how it had come to be what it was. Amid the frantic scrabble of restoration no one could be spared to lead him by the nose though his education, as if he were still a child. Nor would he want them to.
Nor would he want them to, but he found himself staring down ruefully at a volume of the annals, baffled again. The passage he had just read twice in succession remained opaque. The characters wavered in front of his eyes, as if the lamplight had faltered. Resigned, he marked the passage lightly, then rubbed his eyes and looked over at his master, at the cup on the table between them.
The cup was empty. Without a second thought Taiki rose from his seat and went into the antechamber to ask for more tea. When it was brought he carried the tray back to the table himself, and set the lidded cup in front of Gyousou. The king glanced up with a faint smile.
"Robbing the attendants of their work again," he observed.
"I wanted to get up and clear my head," murmured Taiki. "I felt like I couldn't read another word."
Gyousou removed the lid from the tea and drank. As he set the cup down he reached across the table for the open volume of the annals Taiki had been reading.
"These marks," he said, with a tap of his finger to the margin. "What are they?"
If he had been less tired Taiki might have had the grace to flush. "Passages I need to ask Seirai about tomorrow, because I couldn't make them out."
Gyousou leaned back in his chair. "Seirai is the better scholar, it's true. But you might ask the one at hand."
Taiki blinked, then let out a soft puff of breath. "I couldn't--I didn't want to--" He broke off, flustered. "Master, you're working."
"Am I permitted no rest, then?" The glint in Gyousou's eyes was wry. "Usually you advise the opposite."
Taiki lowered his head. "It doesn't count as a rest if you're having to tutor me."
"No?" Abruptly Gyousou stood. He took the annals in hand and crossed the room, sitting down at a divan near the window. When he was settled he indicated the space at his side. "You must let me be the judge of that."
When Taiki balked, ducking his head again--not because he didn't want to obey, but because he did, badly--the king told him not to be obstinate, not in this.
"Come here," he said, plainly but not ungently. "If you want none of my help, so be it, but humor me for a moment."
Abashed, Taiki went to him. As soon as he sat down, of course, the greater part of him wanted only to huddle into Gyousou's side, to fit himself into the drape of that vast sleeve and listen to Gyousou's voice, to let it make sense of everything he couldn't. The longing for closeness trumped all else, even his resolve not to be a burden. He sighed a little in dismay at his own vicissitudes. When Gyousou reopened the annals Taiki looked up at his face, not at the page.
"Master," he said, "it isn't that I don't want your help. But if we are going to take a rest...." He had to look down again. His hands were curled on top of his knees. "Which I do think is a good idea...I'd rather take a real one."
The arm around him shifted. "Which would entail?"
Bed, thought Taiki, and the two of them sitting as they were, perhaps with fewer robes between them. But he could hardly say that. Instead he leaned more heavily and set his chin against Gyousou's shoulder. "No annals?"
Gyousou let the book fall shut.