But Trill was beginning to seriously doubt that meeting his uncle was going to be the event he’d secretly hoped for. Still, though, wouldn’t it actually be better to know? It didn’t seem fair to have an opinion on the man if he hadn’t met him. But… it sounded like maybe he was a lot like Trill’s grandfather after all.
He’d tried not to have expectations, but it seemed that hope had blossomed anyway. Part of him had wanted real family and had dreamed of finding it here—even if it was dangerous, even if Yannoma had told him that he was being silly, and even if he was surrounded by Mage Warriors.
He was being foolish, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
His stomach rumbled, and both Molun and Arvus turned to look at him.
“Sorry,” he said, grinning at them.
“No, no, we’re sorry,” Molun said. “Here we are bringing you food and then not letting you eat it. Let’s sit down.”
They were soon settled at the table, Molun and Arvus making sure to include Trill in the discussion as they ate.
“What do you think of the city?” Molun wanted to know.
At a loss, Trill said, “It’s… very large.”
This made them both laugh.
Trill tried to be more clear. “There are lots of people, and there’s something to be said for that, but I’m used to… not somany as this. I’m used to more space. More nature. I do love people… but this is a little overwhelming.”
“Maybe we can show you a few of our favorite places,” Arvus suggested.
Trill brightened. “Oh, I’d like that very much.”
That sounded like they’d like to see him again!
They finished their meal, and now it was Molun who needed to go off to verify some of the training and oversee the others with the books.
“Why is everyone reading?” Trill asked.
Arvus said, “There’s a problem that we’re hoping to find a solution for, but you don’t need to worry about it. Would you like to take a bath?”
Trill blinked at him. “Is this your way of saying that I smell?”
Arvus smiled at him. “Very pleasantly, from what I recall. I just thought you might enjoy one, that’s all. We have a private bathtub, as you’ve seen.”
They had only cleaned up in a basic way this morning, but Trillhadnoticed the bathtub. He’d not been fully clean since he arrived in the city.
“That would be very nice, thank you.”
“Take as long as you want,” Arvus told him. “I have some reading to do as well. Yell if you have any questions or need anything.”
Trill took Arvus at his word and spent much of the afternoon in the bathtub, cleaning himself thoroughly, washing his hair, scrubbing at everything, and making sure he was altogether clean. It wasn’t the same when you only scrubbed with a cloth, although Trill was still grateful for the cloths, of course. The luxury of being able to take as long as he wanted and have all the hot water was something he wouldn’t take for granted.
He ducked under the water, holding his breath as long as he could, just to feel the water all around him, and then he poppedout again. He drained the dirty water and ran hot one more time. He leaned back, clean now, and just enjoyed the heat of the water trickling into his skin, almost a little bit like the energy did, that buzz under his skin where it filled him up or drained out of him.
Imagine if you could keep desire bottled up in a tap like this and just turn it on when you wanted some. But really, as useful as that could be on occasion, Trill preferred getting it the, er, old-fashioned way. He wouldn’t want to give sex up simply for the convenience of being able to be fed with the mere twist of a handle. (Then he laughed at himself. He supposed you could consider some kinds of sex a form of… handle twisting.)
He wondered if it would be easy to see Molun and Arvus again. Would he have to keep coming back to the pub to see if he still caught their eye above anyone else? Might they instead agree that he could come back here at some point? He loved the sex, but even more importantly, he needed to keep healing Molun’s leg.
He reminded himself again that he needed to be careful. But… he wasn’t sure he could just walk away when it still pained the other man this much. Could he convince them that he was indispensable for a little while? Would they consider having a third for a few weeks? That would give him the opportunity to heal Molun more…
If they didn’t want to do that, could Trill actually walk away without doing more? Or did he do more and then make a run for it? He was pretty sure he knew what Yannoma would have to say about that, but at least he was thinking about running, right? He wasn’t proposing that he just heal Molun and then stick around to see everything go wrong. No, Trill understood that it wouldn’t be pretty. He just… he didn’t think he could leave Molun like this.
He climbed out of the bath and toweled himself dry. He realized that his clothes were nowhere to be found and wrapped himself in the towel before padding out to the sitting room.
“I think I had clothes when I went into the bath.”
