Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 11:02:09 +0200
From: Zustara <zustara@hotmail.com>
Subject: "Galthanan's Legacy" Chapter Three

GALTHANAN'S LEGACY

A story (C) 2004-5 by ZUSTARA ORUR. Contact address: zustara@hotmail.com

1.1 May not be redistributed, commercial use prohibited!

Please see chapter 1 for standard disclaimer blurb and the dedication and
acknowledgements section.



THREE:

Two hours later the doctor and nurse had just left them alone again, having
given Tiggy an examination and administred an I.V. drip and ordered his
mother to make sure the boy got some food in his stomach. They were friends
of the family and colleagues of Katarina and were glad to help out, thinking
it would be best to make a housecall rather than take Tiggy out of his
familiar environment and to a hospital. Now he laid on his bed and rested,
having eaten what amounted to a square meal for him; less than half of what
a boy his age usually consumed in one sitting - and even less compared to a
really hungry boy like he was.

"Mum, I'm sorry", he said in a pained voice. "I... I didn't mean to make you
upset!" He was going to start crying she saw, so she quickly intervened.

"No my darling, it's alright. I was worried about you, because I love you!
I'll always love you, don't you know that?" She held his head to her bosom
as they sat in his bed, stroking his straight, black hair gently. Soon, she
began humming to him, and she noticed he was getting drowsy and thus let him
lie down again and tucked him in. Reaching out, Katarina dimmed the lights
in the room to speed things along, to give him rest.

"Do you think I'll see Emil soon?", he mumbled, almost in his sleep.

Katarina smiled. It was such a long time since he'd last spoken about Emil.
"Hush my boy... Quiet now. Go to sleep", she replied in a quiet, gentle
voice. And, he did.





THREE:

Two days later, on a saturday, an almost frantic call came to Katarina. It
was her old friend Mikaela, Emil's mother.

"That BASTARD!", Tiggy's mum growled with emphasis. "Oh, I'm so happy you're
leaving him." Katarina didn't say she'd suspected for years that her
friend's husband was abusing her, it wasn't the right moment for that. She
WAS very relieved it was over now though.

"He never said he was sorry for what he did", Mikaela said with a half-sob
over the phone. "He never apologized at all. I... I think that's why... Why
I got the courage to..."

"I understand, girl."

"I mean, *I* am the therapist!", Mikaela almost screamed with great pain
audible in her voice. "Why did I let him do this to me for all these years?
I should have known better!"

Katarina felt hesitant asking, but she had to. "Did he ever, um, hit Emil?"

Mikaela sighed deeply. "No... Never. Just me. Thank god for that..."

They spoke for another half-hour, Katarina comforting her friend as best she
could across a phoneline. The next day, Mikaela and Emil were already busy
moving into their new house in their old home town, it had all gone so fast
it had almost taken the breath out of both of them, but they needed to get
away from that horrible existance they'd been in... The new place wasn't
across the street from Tiggy's like before, but it was a really nice house.
Much nicer than before, because Mikaela had a very good job these days, and
the divorce settlement meant another pile of money, and she was suing her
ex-husband in court too for the beatings she'd had to endure. Also, Emil
would have his fourteenth birthday soon in just under a week, and that meant
Tiggy would have his birthday then too. They'd always celebrated them
together.

Tiggy was extatic. He was feeling much stronger, but was still almost as
thin as a rake. He hadn't suffered any permanent damage though, Mikaela's
doctor friend assured. She could have examined him herself, but she didn't
trust herself to make an objective diagnosis, in her eyes she was
exaggerating the severity of every rib she could count on her son's body.

Now he was on his bike zooming through the neighborhoods, tired and panting
from going so fast, but eager and excited too. It had been two years. Two
YEARS! It was almost a whole eternity. It wasn't until he reached the
house - at the top of a very, very long climb of several hundred meters
going up a scenic spot of increasingly good-looking houses (though none of
them true luxury homes; they were too small for that) - and after he put
down his mountainbike on the grass on the lawn in front of the nice
50s-style villa with its flat roof, teak garage doors and dark-stained
wooden facades, that it hit him. He was nervous. Terribly nervous!

It really had been two years, and two years is an eternity between friends.
They might not even be friends anymore, he realized! They might have aquired
new interests, things that made them grow apart, learned stuff that took
them in different directions compared to one another... It was the most
difficult thing he ever did, walking those few steps up to the front porch
of the house and press the doorbell button. There was the faint sound of
running feet coming from the inside, light, quick steps like those made by
an eager boy. Then they stopped, maybe a sign that boy inside had similar
doubts as the one standing in front of the door. There was a pause...

Then the door opened.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?", Tiggy tried lightly after having
waited for a greeting or such and received none, but it was hard to mask the
disappointment in his voice. It was especially hard because Emil had grown
up to become one of the prettiest boys Tiggy had ever seen. His skin was
just as pale as it had used to be, and the light-brown waves in his hair
were there as well, but it was shorter now than in the past. He had slim,
pink boy-lips giving a small hint of what looked like sparkling white large
teeth, and the little button nose had a single red spot right on the side
which actually enhanced the overall beauty of the boy's face. The eyes were
what really caught Tiggy's attention however, Emil had always had expressive
eyes, wide across from one corner to the other but usually nearly shut,
giving them a dreamy beautiful appearance, the steel-blue in them often
hiding feelings to those not as close and reflecting away probing looks, but
Tiggy had been able to see through that, if only because Emil had used to
let him. Now those eyes, though more beautiful than ever, were closed,
bouncing away all attempts to penetrate and see what was hid inside, even
though they were staring right back at Tiggy...

Emil didn't say anything, he just stood there looking at Tiggy, his mouth
slightly open. He himself had of course grown a lot since he was twelve, but
so had Tiggy! The boy was...so cute! His skin was just the same deep-brown
hue, the hair just as long and straight and parted in the middle. The eyes
were large and almond-shaped, shiny, and the irises that same enticing mix
of coal-black and deep, rich amber if the light shone into them from the
right angle. They each had grown, but it was still easy for both of them to
recognise the other. Strange, eerie feelings rushed through Emil's mind upon
seeing the now teenaged boy with his dark skin and black straight hair, but
the strongest one was that he was back with his best friend again. Suddenly
the calm emptyness of his face cracked, his lower lip quivered and tears
started falling. Tiggy didn't even need to think, he just acted, catching
his friend and holding him tightly and noticing they were both almost
exactly the same height.

"I missed you so much!", Emil bawled, burying his face into Tiggy's
sweater-covered shoulder and neck. "I missed you every day."

"I missed you too every day", Tiggy replied softly, his voice hoarse, his
eyes blinking rapidly to keep back his own tears. It felt good to hold his
friend again, holding him really hard, and a part of their brains even
recognized each other's scents. Somewhat muskier, a bit more mature, but
basically the same. Familiar, and very comforting. Both of them noted how
thin the other felt in their grasp, but neither wanted to comment on it.
They didn't need to because they understood.

They felt Mikaela move up behind them. "Please let Tig in through the door,
Emil", she said in an amused-sounding voice. She wore dark sunglasses still,
even indoors, because she didn't want to show off the black (though
thankfully fading) eyes that was the parting gift her ex-husband had given
her. Tiggy knew, but he didn't show anything when he hugged Mikaela too,
showing how much he'd missed her as well. She laughed a giggly-like laugh
over the unexpected yet welcome closeness shown by the dark-haired boy and
hugged him back in return. "Shoo with you", she said with a chuckle. "Go to
your room, Emil. The house's such a mess, I don't want you two running
around in here before I get it straightened out."

It was a bit of a mess, yeah, but it still looked much better than one would
have expected. All the major pieces of furniture were placed out, though
flowers weren't put in order, the bookshelves were almost empty except when
they'd been used as mere storage for various smaller items, and there were
no pictures or paintings on the walls either. Of course, curtains were
missing too. Still, it was visible Mikaela had had lots of professional help
moving in all her stuff so quickly.

Tiggy was lead off to Emil's room, and he stopped just in the door after
having dumped his backpack on the floor and stared in amazement.
"Woooowww...", he mumbled, and saw everything was almost completely
fixed-up. All the furniture was in place, posters on the walls, curtains,
spotlights in the ceiling, and his mirror wall was up too. Something stirred
in the boy's memory... He looked around. The colors on the walls, the
bedspread, they all seemed the same, the light streaming in from the
windows, and the shadows hiding in the corners... It seemed so familiar!
Somehow he recognized Emil's room despite never having been there ever
before. "Wow!", he repeated again, for emphasis. "This place looks just
like... Just like when you were seven or something, Emil!"

"It was, uh, that was the happiest time of my life", the young adolescent
boy said with a thick voice. "You, and me... You remember...?" A tear left
each of his eyes even as he smiled, underlining the boy's wish to seek back
to a better time of his life.

Tiggy moved in close. "Yeah, I remember, buddy...", he said warmly, and both
of them were surprised when Tiggy's brown, warm hand slipped around Emil's
pale one. Their fingers grasped each other, and a familiar feeling of
closeness enveloped them. Emil started breathing a bit more easily. "I
remember we laid there on the floor, reading your Gaston comic albums and
laughing our butts off!"

Emil smiled weakly, though a great warmth filled him. "Yeah, we did. Man, we
had so much fun..."

Suddenly they were both down on their knees, looking at the lowest shelf of
the bookcase where all the comic albums stood neatly stacked already.
Tintin, the Smurfs, Lucky Luke, Asterix, Spirou, Yakari and Gaston, amongst
many others. They immediately went for the first Gaston album and started
re-living old childhood memories. Soon they were laughing so much their
stomachs ached and tears fell from their eyes - though from quite different
reasons than before. Each new page brought screaming laughter as Gaston's
crazy inventions backfired on himself and everybody around him, and as his
pets and monster cactus attacked anything that moved.

Emil's mum came by and looked at what they were doing, not to make sure they
weren't wrecking the place because she knew they'd never do that, then
returned with milk and some of the still fresh cinnamon rolls she'd baked
and frozen just before the events that prompted her to move back had taken
place. The boys ate gluttonously sitting at the desk, smiling and looking
into the eyes of one another, and soon Tiggy was holding Emil's hand again,
petting and stroking it. Mikaela almost wept when she saw how eagerly her
son was eating, it was such a change from how he'd been these last few
months, growing thinner and thinner by the day. He had often lied to her
about having eaten when he hadn't, only picking at his plate when they had
dinner. Usually his dad had yelled at him for wasting good food, but that
had only made the boy even more reluctant to eat, making him feel guilty
both about eating and not eating. Now the pieces of sweetbread were gobbled
up as quickly as the two boys could chew them and swallow...! She quietly
removed herself and closed the door, giving her darling and his closest
friend the privacy they needed, then almost danced through the house,
feeling new energy filling her now that her son was happy again.

The two young teens moved up to the windows of the room and stood there
close together, looking out towards the west, up at the grey and overcast
sky. They had an awesome view across the valley below, it was all covered
with houses and roads and stuff, with the motorway and train tracks going
south in the middle, along with lots of apartements on the opposing ridge
that rose up at least a kilometer away. On the other side of that ridge, and
even further to the west, was where Emil had used to live what felt like so
long ago... It was autumn, and the trees had mostly shed their leaves. The
few stragglers that remained were all yellowed or brown, and fluttered
helplessly in the erratic gusts of air that blew through every now and then.

"We used to do this, remember?", Tiggy said. "Just standing at the window,
looking at the sky like this."

"Mmm-hmmm...", Emil replied slowly. "I love the autumn. I think it's
beautiful, and it's cozy too somehow..." 'Cozy if someone is there to keep
you warm', he wanted to say, but felt too embarrassed to. Tiggy knew though,
he did what he'd always done in the past and moved up behind Emil and put
his arms around his friend's waist. Then they stood there in silence and
watched the clouds gliding along, high up in the sky like lead-grey lumpy
balls of cotton. The sky was all full of them, from one edge of the horizon
to the other, and where one cloud left off another immediately took up, with
no visible gaps. "I'm glad me and mum moved back, and I don't miss dad",
Emil said softly and tried not to blush. "It's going to be fun to meet all
our old friends once more..." He didn't understand, but he didn't want to
move from that spot ever again, at least as long as Tiggy was there also.

"Geez", Tiggy blurted all of a sudden. "Nobody else even knows you've moved
back yet! I didn't want to tell them until I was sure you were really here!"
Also, Tiggy wanted to be the first to see Emil, to check they were still
best friends. Perhaps it was a little selfish, but he needed that
reassurance... "You wanna go meet 'em?" Tiggy seemed so eager it immediately
gripped Emil too, but then he became insecure again. The last two years had
been really rough for him, the kids in his new school hadn't been nice, and
his father had become increasingly violent towards his mother too, making
Emil develop a deep-rooted fear of leaving home for any reason. It was as if
he felt it wouldn't be there when he came back, as if he'd be cast adrift
upon some ocean never to be seen again. That, or worse, to be bullied by
other people like he'd been for the last two years. However, his friend
understood without even having to be told any of that... "Look", Tiggy said
and took both of Emil's hands in his own. "I'm not going to let anyone be
mean to you, alright? They've all missed you so much and they're going to be
really happy to see you've come back, I PROMISE." Tiggy sounded so sincere
and he pleaded so intently Emil calmed down and started smiling. "They ARE
your friends! Just like me."

Emil couldn't help himself, his arms reached out as if on reflex, though
just a little because he was scared still. Tiggy giggled softly though and
took his friend in his own arms and put his face in close to Emil's cheek.
They felt the warmth of each other through their clothes, and it felt way
neat... They both silently agreed, that hugging ruled.

They decided to bike back to Tiggy's house and look up some of their old
buddies, Tig promised they would have such fun! Mikaela again felt tears of
joy burning in her eyes as she watched the dark-skinned youth's enthusiasm
lift the spirits of her son. He'd become so scared in the past year in
particular, convinced he was all alone and that nobody liked him, and now it
was as if he dared to believe maybe that actually wasn't true. Emil smiled
small hesitant smiles every time Tiggy looked at him, blushing faintly at
all the attention he was being shown. The two quickly changed into football
gear in Emil's room because they wanted to go play immediately upon arrival;
Emil grabbed his out of a suitcase because he hadn't had time to unpack all
his clothes yet, Tiggy had his stuff in his backpack. It would get a bit
chilly, but they planned on riding their bikes really fast so that would
keep them warm. As they stripped, they became a bit body-conscious. They'd
always undressed and showered in front of each other in the past, but that
was before puberty set in and they both had only had little earthworm
penises and zero bodyhair anywhere. Now their voices were acting up, they
were getting the odd spot on their faces, and their armpits and groins were
sprouting small patches of fuzz. They both blushed and modestly turned away
from each other without really meaning it, but neither took it the wrong
way. Once their naked butts touched as they leaned down to pull up their
long-legged football shorts and it made them both gasp quietly! It felt
really weird, but also good. That was weirdest of all... The other boy's
butt was so satiny, and soft, and firm! Then they pulled on a pair of
sweatpants and sweatshirts each too because Mikaela refused to let them
leave the house wearing only shorts and T-shirts. It was only ten, twelve
degrees centigrade outside she said sternly, did they want to get pneumonia
riding their bikes with barely any clothes on at all? Emil had several pairs
of shirts and pants that fit perfectly on Tiggy's trim body, the deep-blue
set he'd selected settling snugly around his slender waist. The two were
almost exactly the same size!

Tig's arm snaked around Emil's shoulders as they went out the door, the boy
unconsciously making sure his friend would feel safe and protected as he
left the bastion walls of his home, but he had to let go once they mounted
their bikes of course. Emil was smiling though, so it was okay. He wasn't
scared anymore!

It was a long bike ride, but the first part was all downhill so Emil did not
have time to reflect on the 'danger' he was putting himself into by throwing
himself out into the outside world almost recklessly like that. Reaching the
bottom of the hill, they were already going at such a brisk pace there
wasn't room to think, and then they continued downwards toward the city
center past the now winter-closed amusement park, through the center, and
then westwards into the suburbs on the other side. They were getting tired
and it was slower going, giving Emil plenty of time to look around. He
recognized pretty much everything, little had changed since he moved, mostly
it was just the ads on billboards at bus-stops and such, and he started to
feel rather nostalgic somehow.

They reached their old playgrounds, biking past all the tall orange
apartment highrises with their wide, concave facades on the right side and
the mysteriously wedge-shaped highrises pointed towards the west with their
curved front windows on their left side, houses that somehow reminded them
of tall ships sailing off towards the horizon in formation. Then they passed
the big bus station and the adjacent tramstop and shopping mall, went
further still across the walkway bridge over the motorway up the hill and
beyond. They met several old buddies, both boys and girls, and they tagged
along, following Tiggy and Emil towards the old football field. It was a
good reunion, but despite the friendly treatment, it was hard for Emil to
believe everything was OK. He was still hesitant.

The area had a high content of immigrants, so their wide group of friends
from school, football and other activities came from all kinds of remote
corners of the globe. India, Pakistan, Iran and Irak, Gaza and the West
Bank, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria and Libya. Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Equador
and Panama. Bosnia, Albania, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Belaruse, amongst
others. Having so many nationalities and ethnic groups living so close
together wasn't always problem-free, but overall they all got on pretty well
with one another.

The friends they met on the way called other friends on their cellphones,
and soon much of Emil's entire old school class, some of his old football
team and a few other assorted friends, upwards of 30-odd young students were
converging on the football field.

The location of the field - which wasn't nearly full-size of a real football
field, it was meant just for kids to train on and have fun - was also quite
out of the way of everything, past the mazes of apartement blocks on top of
and around the base of the hill, and beyond the expanse of single-family
homes, and just across the ring-road encircling the entire suburb area.
There was nothing beyond the field except reeds and marshy wetlands for
about 20 meters or so, and then a small and shallow saltwater bay which
wasn't really good for anything, the bay being part of the jagged coastline.
Tiggy and Emil hurried ahead of everyone else on their bikes, taking the old
and familiar route between houses and shortcutting across green spots even
though one was supposed to ride on the walkways. It was neccessary to do it,
just to remember old memories...

Emil went around the football field two times on his bike riding solely on
the rear wheel of his mountain bike. It was slow and pretty wobbly, but he
didn't have to go down on the front wheel or use his feet a single time. He
did it just to keep his mind clear, keep the panic at bay. On the second lap
people really started to arrive, and while Emil kept to the far side on
purpose, Tiggy greeted them and prepared them to see his friend.

"Guys", he started softly. "You be nice to Emil now, alright? He's a bit
scared because his dad has been hitting his mum, and they weren't nice to
him at his new school either. If any of you people are mean to him I swear
I'll knock your teeth out, just so you know." Tiggy was never violent and
almost always rather soft-spoken, and he was the same right then as well,
but despite his thinning, all the kids could see the radiant power contained
in him. They knew he meant every word.

"Jesus Tig! You know we wouldn't do that!", Susanna said with emphasis.
"Emil's our friend too you know, and we've been missing him a lot."

Tiggy smiled at her and felt relieved. He waved Emil over, and he came
rapidly and eagerly, knowing from Tiggy's body language it was safe. It was
a happy reunion, he got a hug and pats on the back from all the guys, and a
hug and smooch on the cheek from the girls. He blushed really cutely in the
beginning dusk, and the girls said he looked really tall and handsome (even
though he was only of about average height), and some even called him cute
which didn't really help either! They talked a bit, catching up on things a
little because there was so much to know. When he'd left they'd been in
middle school and now they were in junior high school, so everything was
new. The school itself, the teachers, even many of the kids were new, a
different mix than in their old place. Emil got to hear who was doing what
these days, and also which boy was checking out which girl, and the other
way around. He smiled and suddenly exchanged glances with Tiggy, who smiled
back and they both giggled. Here most of the kids said goodbye, they had to
get home and do schoolwork, or chores, or go to swim practice or have early
dinner or a million other things like youths do these days (one even said he
had to go play Nintendo with his little brother which made everybody crack
up), but all were honestly happy to see their old friend again and they all
hugged him until poor Emil blushed up to the roots of his brown,
nearly-curly hair... Someone even touched his butt, and he couldn't figure
out who because there were so many people crowding in around him, it could
have been either a boy or a girl! It wasn't Tiggy though, because he was
hovering nearby in front of Emil, being protective without having to stand
right next to his friend...

Then followed some footsie between the tightest group of friends, their old
teammates mostly. Tiggy still played a wicked game if he put his mind to it,
and would of course have his best friend on his side too, but these past two
years had not been kind to Emil's ballplaying skills as he hadn't had
opportunity to practice at all. He was very rusty, and his overall level of
fitness left a lot to be desired also. Therefore as evening started to fall
for real at only five thirty, they merely passed the ball between each other
in a large circle at a rather lazy and laid-back pace, not just because it
was really getting dark, but also to give the boy some practice while they
continued to talk and laugh amongst each other. Emil started to feel his old
skills come back to him, and when he made a good shot, everybody else
congratulated him, especially his best friend...! All this made a warm,
fuzzy glow spread through the young teen's chest, and he was smiling a lot,
much more in just these past few hours than he'd done for months in total!

After a while, they discovered it had gotten so dusky they could barely see
each other's faces through the evening gloom. Just a tiny hint of light
remained in the sky as the horizon was almost all hidden by hills with fir
trees on them. One would easily think that small amount of light was all
that could fight through the thick cloud cover, but in reality the sun had
already gone down beneath the edge of the world, and that faint glow was
actually light refracted in those very clouds to spread back into a part of
the world that would otherwise have been all cast in darkness. Above them
there was only the faintest amber glow of sodium yellow from the city lights
bouncing on the cloud cover down at them, and then there were some
additional rays leaking from the streetlights along the slightly curving
length of road next to the football field, and from the steady stream of
cars with lit headlights going past as well. People were heading home after
work, ready to make dinner and be with their families...

"Oh crap! I was supposed to be home almost ten minutes ago!", Masil said in
his cute accent. He spoke the language really well despite only having been
in the country for four years, but the accent was there still. Emil liked
it, it was like music in the young boy's ears. Warm and welcoming. "Look
guys, I gotta run or my dad will tan my hide. Sorry Emil!" Masil gave his
friend a quick, tight hug. "See ya all in school, alright?", he yelled out
and then dashed across the road and into the maze of houses on the other
side. The rest of the group started to slowly disperse, other people had to
go home and eat as well.

"Let's go see what mum cooked up, okies?", Tiggy said with enthusiasm. It
had just struck him again his best friend was back again, and back for good!