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He wasn’t sure what the other man intended until he began carefully shifting through various ingredients and kitchen tools with clear intent.
“Are you making something?” Lio wondered, warmed when Tarick lit a fire in one of the smaller hearths and the heat found his hands.
Tarick shot him a smile. “Yes.”
While he waited, he shivered more and approached the fire, holding his palms to the flame to better warm them.
A looming figure was there the next instant, directly behind him. Gently, Tarick laced fingers through his, taking both of his smaller hands at once, and guided him safely away from the fire. “Not too close,” the larger man murmured.
Then a cup was placed into his hands instead.
It was warm. Dark, creamy liquid swirled inside.
“This is for me?” Lio asked.
Tarick nodded. “Drink.”
Lio drank. It was sweet dark chocolate, mixed with notes of spice that at first he was unsure about, as he wasn’t used to them, though he quickly relaxed into their peppered embrace. It was delicious. Already, he felt better and somehow assured that things, moving forward, would be ok.
Because of a warm drink gifted by this man. It had been gentle, thoughtful, and warmed more than his hands.
Lio pulled the cup from his lips and thought, blinking up at the man.
“What? That bad?” Tarick chuckled.
Lio shook his head. “I would like to court you.”
Tarick’s eyes rounded slightly, but then swiftly adjusted, diminishing his surprise and quickly switching to absolute ease. He was good at that, Lio saw. Taking things in stride. There was no judgment or confusion on his face that would make Lio feel uncomfortable or unsure.
For he had never courted someone before. He wondered if he sounded silly.
But he liked Tarick. He liked his strange smile. And he was nice. And he was other things that Lio couldn’t name, though made his stomach do a short dance and his breath hitch when he saw him.
“Shouldn’t I be courting you?” Tarick wondered teasingly, pushing one of Lio’s stray curls into place.
Lio shook his head. “As a bird, I’ve never been allowed to court someone before, but now…” Now he doubted himself. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said anything. He had not even considered rejection. What a silly fool he was.
“Should I not?” he whispered.
Tarick’s answer was immediate. Firm. He pulled Lio’s face up by the chin to look into his eyes. “You very well should.”
And so it began.
Lio knew courting meant things like flowers, but as the palace grounds were mainly covered in snow, he would have to look elsewhere. In the surrounding forest, he had come to realize.
Salas was feeling better, and after sharing breakfast with him and leaving the other Susconian to do kitchen tasks, Lio left the castle.
The forest held an abundance of winter flora. But none of the vegetation contained a single blossom of any type of flower. He eventually had to settle for something else. He uprooted a small shrub, as its leaves were star shaped and bright, and it smelt wonderful. He took it back to the kitchens. Cutting off the roots, he wrapped the stems in the prettiest paper he could find, and went to find Tarick.
He was with the horses in an open field, as he normally was. The larger man spotted his approach with a grin and waved him over.
Feeling light, like dandelion fluff on a breeze, Lio floated over.
But as he approached, his words, again, got clogged in his throat as he glanced from his gift to the large Diagorian, unsure of what to say when giving a gift.
When he was close enough, he made sure to keep Tarick in between himself and the unpredictable beast that was the horse, pausing nearly two paces away. Then he bit his lip and held out his arms, trembling as though he were offering a great sacrifice to a powerful divinity.
Tarick paused what he was doing—adjusting the straps of the mare’s harness—and looked down at Lio. Seeming puzzled, he took the bouquet gently. “Did the stables send these? Horses can’t eat maple leaves. Odd.”
