Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:22:00 +0200
From: A.K. <andrej@andrejkoymasky.com>
Subject: The Closured Order 07/10 (sf - fiction)

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THE CLOSURED ORDER
by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2005
written on June 18th 1994
translated by the author
English text kindly revised
by Brian

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USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE CLOSURED ORDER" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic
scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family,
opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to
read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or
because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed
guest.

-----------------------------

CHAPTER 7 - RESPONSIBILITY

One of the Masters of this Convivium seemed to him to be a particularly
enlightened person, and also one "able to love", to use the expression
of the Regent. Could he possibly bring up the question? Jarvis decided
to try a talk with him.

"Master Kente, may I steal some of your time?"

"You can steal nothing; time, in fact, doesn't belong to me," the man
answered with a smile, "but if you want to talk with me, I am at your
disposal."

Jarvis smiled, "You are one of the most serene and luminous people in
this Convivium."

"You are wrong - it is this Convivium that is luminous and serene. I am
just a reflection of it."

"A very agreeable one, none-the-less. You seem to be a person able to
love - what is your secret?"

"I have no secrets - I love, love. I think that love is the greatest
force in the universe."

"Love... of any kind?" then Jarvis asked.

"There is but one kind of love, Professed, not many kinds."

"But it manifests itself in many ways... "

"I agree on this."

"And are all its manifestations good?"

"Do you have any doubt about this?"

"If not I, many do doubt this."

"Tell me a love manifestation that is not reputed to be good, then."

"Love that wants to possess."

"If one wants to possess, it is not love. Love is giving oneself, it is
not to possess."

"The love towards a person we ought not to love, then?"

"If it remains inside his heart, there is no evil. If it manifests
itself... well... it depends."

"On what, pray, Sir?"

"For instance, loving physically a person already bound to another. This
would be lacking of love towards the other person. Therefore, it is
evil. Such is the case in adultery."

"And in the case of incest?"

"It is a deformed love - love between parents and their children cannot
masquerade as a love between lovers. But above all, it is a limit that
nature decided - almost all of children born from such love, are born
with heavy taints. Thus, love between blood relations would be lacking
love for the infant."

"And what about love between two people of the same gender?"

"If it is a 'given' love, it is real love, therefore it is good."

"And yet, it is considered a crime. Is the law then wrong?"

"Law has its limits, as it is a human product."

"Doesn't law come from God?"

"Yes, certainly, like the light comes from the sun, there is no doubt
about that. But it's enough that a cloud passes, or fog rises, or an
eclipse, or just night. But the beautiful light of the sun, still
continues to shine and, though it is no longer visible, is no less
pure."

"Therefore, if a man loves a man, he doesn't commit a crime?"

"Your question is not correctly phrased - what goes against the law is
always a crime. Therefore love between two people of the same gender is
in fact a crime. But it is not said that all that we consider crime, is
evil. Then... just love your man serenely, Professed."

"Do you love a man, Master?"

"I love all men."

"One above all?"

"We all have somebody particularly dear to our heart."

Jarvis understood that it was useless to persist. After all he was a
stranger to the Master. He couldn't expect to gain his confidence. But
he decided to play a last card.

"Forgive me, but if I dared to ask you such personal questions, it is
because I have a problem and I would like your advice, that's why I
asked you if you too had experiences like mine."

"If the doctor could heal only the illness with which he had been
stricken, the ideal doctor should be dead!" the man said with a smile.

Then Jarvis said, "It is so hard for me being away from my man. I miss
him. And I miss also the physical aspect of our relationship. Here,
there is a Novice who really attracts me, and I don't know what I should
do."

"If the boy was also attracted to you, if it was a mutual desire, why
not? Fidelity is a quality belonging to the heart and to the mind, not
to the body."

"The problem is that... I cannot ask the Novice what he feels towards
me, if he wants to make love with me."

"You can make him aware, with gentleness and respect."

"Then, even if he were to accept... where, how, when? I wouldn't know
how to go about it."

"Certainly, as you are a stranger here, but not the Novice. Confide in
him."

"Are there safe places and moments?"

"Do you doubt it? The same as you found them with your man, so do all
the lover couples. I wish you a good encounter, Professed." Master Kente
said, with a smile, a short bow, and left.

On the following day Jarvis was in his cell writing down his notes, when
he heard a light knocking at his window. It was the Novice Fresth. He
went to open it.

The boy handed him a small basket, "Grapes from our vineyard. I hope you
like them."

"They're for me? Thank you, you are really kind. I thought of you often
in these past days."

"I have been thinking of you, as well. I wanted to meet and talk with
you."

"I am happy seeing you. Why don't you come inside, so we can talk?"

"Novices cannot enter the cell of their superiors. We have to talk from
here."

"But from here... we can only talk." Jarvis said looking into his eyes
with a smile.

The Novice looked at him, without changing his expression, with the same
smile as before, and said, "Why, what else would you like to do,
Professed?"

The young man leaned his hand on the Novice hand still leaning on the
windowsill, in a kind of light caress, "Spend some time with you."

The boy turned his hand, palm up and lightly squeezed Jarvis hand, "Even
just talking could be pleasurable."

"Fresth,"

"Yes, Professed?"

"I like your name."

"Does it remind you of your friend?"

"Yes."

"Did you like him?"

"Yes, we were fond of each other."

"Was he handsome?"

"I liked him so very much... "

"It is beautiful having such a friend, isn't it?"

"True. Don't you have such a friend?"

"Here?"

"Yes, here."

"Not real friends - there are two of my friends, novices like me,
who..." the boy started to say but stopped, hesitant.

"With whom you feel nice?"

"Yes. At times with one of them, at times with the other."

"And you withdraw together..."

"Yes."

"As I would like to with you, Fresth."

"And I with you, Professed Jarvis."

Their hands leaning on the windowsill, held each other tighter. "Tell me
how we can do this."

"It would not be easy..." Fresth said.

"How do you it do, with your friends?"

"As novices, in turns, we have to go in couples begging in the village.
We come back in the evening. We withdraw into the thickets along the way
back."

"I cannot come begging with you, unhappily. Why don't you come through
the window? Nobody can see you, now."

"They could come to look for me, and so..."

"I desire you, Fresth."

"I too, you also."

"I want you."

"Yes..."

"We have to find a way."

"Yes."

Jarvis brought the boy's hand to his lips and kissed it. The boy moved
his hand to his cheek, then placed a kiss where the young man had kissed
it, "I'll find a way, I swear!" he said and ran off.

Jarvis watched him going, nimble and light, and felt his desire
increase.

Three days elapsed, and Jarvis saw the boy only in the moments of common
gathering - in the refectory, in the Main Hall. They couldn't exchange
even a word, but only long, furtive glances. On the fourth morning, the
boy knocked at Jarvis' window.

"Professed Jarvis."

"Oh, Fresth."

"Can you swim?"

"Yes, why?"

"Tomorrow all the novices go to the lake to fish. Each of us has to
choose the place he thinks best and then try all day long to catch as
many fish as he can. The rule is that we have to spread far apart. We
decided on the places. I will be alone on the small island with the twin
trees. I chose that place on purpose. An Acolyte will take me there with
a boat, with my food and my fishing lines in the morning, and will come
back to fetch me in the evening. You should go to the lake before we go,
and come back after we leave. Unfortunately, you will have to spend all
day there, however we will have many hours to spend together. You just
have to take care not to be seen."

"I like your plan. But how can I reach the lake, and how can I recognize
the island?"

"In our library there are maps. But I drew this sketch to show how to
get there, by swimming. It is impossible to miss that island, as there
are just six of them, but only one has two identical trees."

"How long do I have to swim? A long time?"

"If you are a good swimmer, just the time it takes to sing the 'Let me
enter' hymn."

"But if for any reason at the last minute you couldn't come? If they
changed your fishing place?"

"No, there is no such risk."

"Nobody can see us, when we are on the island?"

"Nobody. I know it very well. I've been going there since childhood."

"With your special friends?"

"With them as well, yes."

"You are a veteran, then."

"A veteran?"

"In making love."

"My first time... I was thirteen. Three boys around sixteen years old
raped me."

"Raped? And you... did you like it all the same?"

"No, not then."

"How did it happen? Do you mind telling me?"

"No... I was aware that I liked males. I saw one of them while he was
peeing and told him I would have liked to touch it. He smiled and said,
'here somebody can see us. Come this evening to the old mill'.

"So I went, thinking I would have a good evening with him. I waited for
him. But when he came, there were two others. They jumped on me
undressed me and tied me on an old crate. I thought they were going to
kill me. Then they, each in turn, slipped their tool first inside my
mouth, then in my backside. And they laughed. Laughed! Laughed!

"I felt enormous pain, and an even more tremendous anger. I felt
dirtied. The last one, after he unloaded inside me, untied me and they
went away. I swore I would take my revenge.

"But, to my good fortune, when I was fourteen I met the eighteen year
old boy who later married my sister. He was a really handsome, sweet
boy. We first became friends, and then one evening, we made love. It was
really beautiful. He made me realize that revenge would injure me even
more than how those three boys hurt me that evening of the year before,
even destroy me. He was at that time coming once a month to make love
with my sister. When in the evening he went back to his village I
escorted him for a stretch of the road, so we stopped at a tool shed
halfway and made love. However, even though he did it with me with real
pleasure, as he always liked boys, he gradually fell in love with my
sister. So, after a year, perhaps a little more, he told me that we had
to stop. I then looked for another partner. One day at the lake I tried
with a cousin, a year younger than me. It was he who took me to that
tiny island, and there introduced me to some of his other friends.
Sometimes we even did it in fives..." the boy said, slightly
embarrassed, giggling.

Then he continued, "I then decided to become a United. When I was a
Candidate, I started doing it with one of the two friends I told you
about. When we became novices, he found another novice and arranged for
us to meet. This is all the experience I have..." the boy concluded
serenely, and then added, "You will be my first man, therefore." And a
smile full of expectation crossed his face that made Jarvis shudder.

"And the sixteenth of your list." Jarvis smiled.

"Did you count them?" the boy asked, surprised and amused.

"Yes. And I'm longing for tomorrow."

"That makes two of us!" the boy answered.

Fresth, saying good bye, went on his way.

The next day, Jarvis went out and swam to the island. After a while he
heard the splashing of oars and stayed well hidden. Then again the
splashing and after a while the boy's voice, "Where are you?"

"Here!"

With the noise of parting branches the boy appeared in front of him,
wearing only his violet loincloth. Jarvis was wearing only his black
loincloth as he had spread his robes to dry.

"Gosh, you're so beautiful!" the boy exclaimed, nearing him.

The boy was not bad at all. Jarvis, still sitting on the grass, reached
up and untied Fresth's loincloth. He smiled, pleased at seeing the
beginnings of an erection. The boy blushed lightly, but sat in front of
the man and caressed his wide, muscled chest. Then slowly lowered his
hands until he could caress Jarvis' erection through the tented fabric
between his legs.

"You are also aroused." The boy said in a low voice, with emotion and
pleasure.

"Of course, as I desire you. Pull it off, go on."

"May I?" the boy asked and opened it at once, freeing Jarvis' majestic
erection. "You really are beautiful." He sighed caressing his member.
Then uncovered his glans and lowered to lick it with the tip of his
tongue.

Jarvis caressed his back, his sides, and his chest. Fresth was now
licking the young man's testicles, then his rod all along its length,
and again the tense, swollen glans.

"You will put all of it inside me, won't you?" the boy asked after a
while.

"Do you want it?"

"Oh yes! But I first want enjoy it for a while with my mouth. It is
beautiful, big and hard!" the boy murmured and plunged again on the
flesh pole, making it slip into his throat. Then started to bob up and
down in a steady rhythm, while caressing the young man's chest.

After a while Jarvis made him sit up again, "Now it's my turn to taste
yours..."

"But..."

"We have all the time we want, don't we? I want to suck it." Jarvis said
and bent to the boy's lap.

After fingering and licking it for a while, Jarvis took it all in his
mouth.

The boy vibrated, "Oh, you are skilled! That's good, wonderful!" the boy
moaned planting his hands behind him on the grass, and tilting back his
head, in an instinctive gesture of offering.

Jarvis lightly squeezed his nipples and the boy jolted again, "Oooh, but
like this you'll make me cum too soon! Ooh... oooh... It's so good!"

No, Jarvis didn't want the boy to cum too soon, so when he felt that
Fresth was tense and dangerously near his orgasm, he stopped and offered
himself again to the boy's cares, "Your turn, now. Suck mine again."

Fresth didn't need to be asked twice. He bent to the young man's groin
again with greed. Jarvis felt the tight lips, the hot, sweet mouth, the
tireless tongue of the novice on his turgid member and felt an intense
pleasure. They alternated in this way, almost in competition to give
each other the maximum of pleasure, avoiding bringing him to the point
of no return. But at a certain point Jarvis made the boy lie down and he
too lay down at his side, but head to toe.

"Now we will do it together, to each other. But this time, without
stopping."

"But I wanted you inside me... "

"Later, don't worry. I'll take you later, and you'll take me."

"Oh, good!" the boy gleefully said and started to suck him with a will.

Jarvis cupped the boys small ass with his hands and pulled him to
himself, taking the youth's smooth, beautiful rod in his mouth. Then,
while sucking with determination, started to tease and titillate the
little hole with his fingers. The boy moaned and readily followed suit.

The sun, not strong but agreeable, now at its zenith, was shining high
on the two bodies tied in a circle of growing pleasure. Only the light
lapping of waves and the high chirping of the birds were counterpoint to
the moaning of the two who were about to finally reach the peak of their
pleasure. Jarvis felt the boy shuddering intensely, more and more, and
prepared himself to receive the sweet tribute, that wasn't long in
coming, and gushed out. He tasted it with real pleasure. At the boy's
first jet, Jarvis let himself go and he too poured in the Novice's mouth
his full load of seed. Fresth swallowed it in great sips, careful not to
let leak out even just a drop of it.

They continued to suck at each other until their orgasms had subsided.
Then the Novice nimbly turned upside down and kissed the young man on
his lips.

"Are you happy being here with me, Professed?"

"Very much."

"I am too. I like you a great deal."

"But now, it would be better if we go fishing for a while, or else you
will go back empty handed."

"I placed my fishing lines carefully. Don't move from here, or else the
others might see you. I'll go to check and cast them again, then we can
eat something."

"Yes. And then?"

"And then... I still want you. You promised ... "

"Yes, certainly. But how long was it since you made love?"

"Ten days."

"Well, today you will recover."

"Yes, with you. But now I go. Meanwhile take a rest." The boy said
gently caressing the young man's genitals and depositing a kiss on them.

He rapidly girded his loincloth and disappeared amongst the bushes
toward the shore.

Jarvis watched him moving away, and told himself that this boy had the
charm of a person with a clean heart, who makes love without
complexities. The boy wasn't beautiful, he was just sweet, but he had
another kind of beauty. Fresth came back quite soon, with the fish in
his basket, and a radiant smile.

"I'm incredibly lucky, they all took the bait, but one. And they are
also big. I'll not cut a bad figure. Look here!" he said putting the
basket near Jarvis, and with an elegant and sensual gesture he removed
his loincloth again.

Jarvis threw a glance to the fish still jumping in the basket, and then
looked at the naked body of the boy.

"I'd rather look at you!"

"And I you. Look at the effect you have on me!" he said pointing at the
new erection that was again awakening between his legs.

"Do you want to make love now?"

"Yes, I would like to, sure. But first we have to eat something." The
boy said going to get the food basket.

"But you only have your ration. You eat it, don't worry."

"No, they weren't watching, I took much more. You can eat as much as you
please."

"You are a dear boy." Jarvis said pulling him to himself and caressing
him.

"But doing this, you'll make me forget about food." The boy pretended to
protest, visibly enjoying the caresses.

Jarvis stopped caressing him, "Let's eat, then, without wasting time."

They ate the food, simple but tasty. Then Jarvis said to the boy, "Lie
down, lean your head on my lap. We can have some minutes of rest, can't
we?"

The boy complied, sat between the young man's legs and leaned his head
on his belly. Jarvis started to lightly caress him. "Ah, if one could
stay like this without worries!" the Novice sighed.

"Would you like living in a Convivium where you could make love in this
way, without problems?"

"You need to ask me?"

"Yes... How would you like life in a Convivium to be?"

"Like it is... but with this added. We have wonderful gardens, in our
Convivium. Just think if one could sit there this way, like we are now!"

"In front of all the others?"

"Well, no, not really. Alone."

"And the others? A garden would be needed for each couple!"

"No... It would be fine if the gardens had several cloisters where one
could withdraw."

"But the buildings must not have windows looking into the garden, or
else it would be like doing it in front of everybody."

"It is just a matter of laying out a good plan. Tall bushes, or walls,
to accord privacy. And then, also the use of the bathroom in pairs only.
It would be perfect. Being able to spend the night in the cell of the
one you love, or just like and want to make love to."

"But what if two want to make love with the same person?"

"Well, then he must decide with whom he wants to make love."

"But the one excluded would be upset, don't you think?"

"Amongst sensible people... with me today, with you tomorrow. That's
life. Ha, but such a Convivium is just impossible. Absolutely
impossible."

"But if it existed?"

"I would apply at once to be moved there! Ant once!"

"Who knows but that one day it could really exist..."

"Ha, you are more of a dreamer than I. Such a Convivium, if it existed,
would be destroyed at once. And all its inhabitants beheaded."

"It would be all right if nobody knew outside..."

"But if outside its walls nobody knew... how could I ask to be moved
there?" the boy laughed.

Jarvis shook his head amused, and started to caress the chest of the
sweet Novice. They talked some more about the "ideal Convivium" while
the boy started to caress the young man, until he felt his quivering
erection pushing against his back. He then slipped aside so that he
could lick the newly erected member. They stopped talking to devote
themselves to each other.

When they were fully aroused, Fresth whispered, filled with desire,
"Take me, Professed."

Jarvis seized the boy at his waist and made him get on all fours, then
sank his face between the boy's fresh, firm buttocks and started to lick
him in the furrow, that he parted with both his hands, to lap and wet
his little bud for a long time. His tongue darted into the tender, sweet
hole with skill, and Fresth shuddered intensely each time and moaned,
seized by a growing pleasure. When the Novice was all a quiver, Jarvis
again took him and pulled him to himself, making him sit on his lap, his
back leaning against his chest.

Fresth understood how the young man wanted to take him. And with his
hand guided the beautiful, strong, hard stake, already wet with saliva,
then let himself go down on it, so that the weight of his body
facilitated penetration.

"Aaaah!" the Novice yelled, overcome by the intense pleasure of being
impaled, "It's too good!"

"Do you like it?"

"So very much! And do you like taking me?"

"Of course I do." Jarvis answered continuing to penetrate deeper and
deeper inside the hot channel of the boy, who was welcoming him with a
radiant smile.

When the boy was well affixed to him, he made him lay with his back
askew so that his shoulders leaned on the grass, then bent to him to
suck his nipples and started to pump inside the boy from upwards with
gentle thrusts. Fresth moaned softly, tossing his head, seized with
growing pleasure. Instinctively the boy grasped his turgid member and
started to masturbate,

Jarvis stopped him, "Later you have to take me, you mustn't cum, now."

"But I'll do so all the same..." the boy moaned.

"No, please, resist." The young man insisted and continued to vigorously
piston in him and to caress all over his body, tense with pleasure.

Then, without slipping out of him, he little by little changed their
position so that he was now kneeling between the widespread thighs of
the boy. Keeping his pelvis slightly raised, he leaned the boy's legs on
his shoulders and so took him from the front. He could now apply more
energy to his thrusts and the boy seemed to appreciate this change.

"You are a splendid man, strong. I never dreamed it could be so
beautiful, doing this with you. I want to belong you. Take me with you,
forever..."

Jarvis didn't answer but kissed him deeply, continuing to piston inside
him with pleasure. The novice was almost delirious. He held the arms of
the strong Professed tight, tossed under him, greedily sucked the young
man's tongue and moaned aloud. The intense pleasure of the boy inflamed
that of Jarvis who was taking him, with increasing joy. The two bodies
were shining with myriad of tiny sweat droplets. Fresth made his anus
palpitate passionately around the glorious stake driving inside him, and
Jarvis felt intense pleasure, thus he increased the energy of his
thrusts, panting, seized by a growing frenzy.

Suddenly the boy came with strong spasms that at once triggered Jarvis'
orgasm who unloaded inside Fresth emitting a long, hoarse moan of
enjoyment. They lay down, panting, worn out.

Then Fresth murmured, "I love you. I love you!"

"No... " Jarvis lowly moaned.

"Yes, I love you. Tame me away with you, please."

"That's not possible."

"Why not? Please tell me!"

"I am in love with another man, who is waiting for me at our Convivium."

"It doesn't matter. Love who you will, but let me belong to you. Take me
away with you."

"When I'm with him, I cannot make love with you, don't you understand?"

"I don't care. I want to be yours, I want to live near you."

"You cannot be mine, because I belong to my man."

"I want to come with you."

"You'll just suffer being near me and not being able to have me."

"I'll suffer a lot more being far away from you."

"Be reasonable, Fresth, please."

"I can't, I can't." the boy answered bursting in tears.

Jarvis was troubled. He caressed the boy, tried to calm him down. The
Novice wriggled away and prostrated himself on the ground in front of
him.

"Please, take me away with you! Please! PLEEEASE!"

"Fresth, please, listen to me. You feel now you can't live without me,
but this is only a momentary impression, due to the intensity of the
pleasure you felt..."

"No! No no no! I AM in love with you!"

"But I can't love you!"

"It doesn't matter."

"Fresth, stand up. Stop this."

"Please! Please, please, please!"

"STOP IT!" Jarvis shouted feeling upset by the intensity of the Novice's
sentiment.

The boy became silent, but remained prostrated, his body shaken with
sobs.

Jarvis felt pity for him, instinctively crouched near him and took him
in his arms. The boy clung to him, without a word.

Then Jarvis gently said him, "I have still many months of journey ahead,
then I will go back for about one month to my Convivium, to my man. Then
I leave for another journey. My horse cannot hold two people, so even if
I wanted to, I could not take you with me. And throughout my journey I
have to be alone, free to do my research, neither could I take care of
you. Don't you see that it is impossible?"

"No." the boy moaned.

"Perhaps not now, but if you consider it again with a more composed
mind, you'll become aware it is so."

"No, no."

"Fresth, I should not have made love with you."

"But we did."

"I didn't think... I didn't imagine that..."

"Neither did I..."

"Forgive me, Fresth."

"For what? I wanted to make love with you at least as much as you
desired it. And even if you don't want me, I'll follow you. You can only
stop me by killing me."

"Fresth! Don't talk nonsense."

"I'm not talking nonsense. I'm just saying what I feel."

"Fresth, you are a dear boy, you really are. But unhappily there is no
place for you in my life. Try to understand that."

The boy didn't answer,

"I didn't want to do you harm, Fresth..."

"You didn't do me harm, but only good."

"But now, being forced to refuse your love, I'm hurting you."

"No. You do what you think right. And I'll do the same. Don't worry
about me." The boy said forcing a smile. Then he stood up, "I'll go to
check the fishing lines." He picked up his loincloth and went away,
wearing it.

Jarvis was deeply troubled. What did he trigger inside that boy?
Something; something bigger than the both of them. He had been foolhardy
and could not forgive himself. How could he make up for it? What should
he do? He reached a decision - at the price of its consequences, he had
to confess everything to the Regent. For the good of the boy. Taking all
the guilt on himself. Yes, there was nothing else to do.

Fresth came back with more fish, "The Acolyte will not be late, fetching
me. But we do not have to worry, he'll not come looking for me, he'll
just call out to me while approaching the shore, and I'll be there on
the shore waiting for him. You should wait here for about one hour,
before you swim back to the other shore."

"How do you feel, boy?"

"Fine, why?"

"I feel guilty about you."

"You should not. It is not your fault, but mine. It is I who fell in
love with you, not so?"

"But I..."

Fresth smiled, this time with his usual fresh, sweet smile, "The problem
is mine alone, and I will solve it."

"You... you aren't planning on doing something silly. Are you? I
wouldn't want that."

"Like killing myself? No, absolutely not. I love life too much, have no
doubt of that."

"Fresth..."

"In our ideal Convivium such things could also happen, right?" the boy
jested lightly.

Jarvis looked at him, taken aback for that sudden mood change. He asked,
"And how can such a problem be solved, in our ideal Convivium?"

"In our ideal Convivium the two men continue to love each other, and the
boy withdraws without dramatics, for love."

"Are you serious?"

"I am."

Jarvis drew a silent sigh of relief. And yet, an inner voice told him
that he had to talk with the Regent all the same, as soon as he was
back.

They heard the call. The boy stood up and went close to Jarvis, "Won't
you give me a last kiss?" he asked almost shyly.

Jarvis held him in his arms and kissed him. Then the Novice picked up
his baskets.

"See you at the Convivium, Professed Jarvis," he said with a smile, and
went toward the shore quickly.

As soon as he returned, Jarvis asked to be received by the Regent. He
was received immediately.

"Well, Professed Jarvis, did you have a good trip?" the old man asked
with a serene smile.

"Yes. I wanted to talk you about it..."

"Please. Be at your ease."

"What I have to tell you is a serious matter. But I must... I must tell
you, and am ready to accept all the consequences."

"I'm listening..."

"I felt strongly attracted to one of the novices of this Convivium."

"Yes?"

"And felt a strong desire to have a physical intercourse with him."

"I see."

"Today I met him at the lake and, not seen by the others, I convinced
him to have sex with me."

"But not by force, right?"

"No, certainly not. But the problem is that now... now the boy has lost
his head for me. He wants at all costs come with me, follow me."

"And you, what did you tell him?"

"That it is not possible. Absolutely not."

"The reason?"

"Because I am in love with another man, thus I cannot give him my love,
even if we were allowed to, even if I did care for him, I'm somewhat
fond of him."

"Is this a pretext to discourage him?"

"No, this is just the truth."

"I see."

"Now, if you think fair to punish me, I will accept your decision, but I
beseech you to be magnanimous towards the boy, who has no guilt, and to
help him to regain his balance and his serenity. Please. Don't punish
the boy."

"What is the boy's name?"

"Do I have your word of honor that the boy will not be punished?"

"You have my oath."

"He is the novice Fresth, Regent."

The man smiled, "I knew."

Jarvis looked at him, stupefied, "You knew? How could you?"

"As soon as he returned from the lake the novice Fresth came to tell me
what happened between you. Just... his version is somewhat different
from yours."

"Different? How different?"

"The boy takes all the guilt on himself and entreats me to be expelled
from our Order."

"I don't understand."

"So that he can follow you. And he could not leave the Convivium in any
other way. In fact, if he ran away from the Convivium, I would be forced
to report him and to have him brought back."

"As I feared... but the fault is entirely mine, not of the boy. Believe
me, please."

"But what did you do that boy to reduce him to such a state?"

"I made love to him."

"That much is certain. But so much to fall so crazily in love with you?"

"I have been really unforgivable, I know. Therefore I will accept any
punishment you decide to inflict on me."

"Even death?"

"If you think I deserve it... I put myself completely in your hands. But
help the boy, I beg you."

"You are an incredible man, professed Jarvis. You undoubtedly are honest
and valiant. It is not everyone who would assume so totally his own
responsibilities, as you are doing."

"I should have had more sense of responsibility before..."

"History cannot be written with conditional verbs. What you did is done,
at this point. For the moment I ordered the boy to remain in his room in
the novitiate until my next order. I confined him to the cell for ill
people, so that he can be alone. We have to find a solution.

"Surely it is not by punishing you that we can help him. Putting
together your two versions of the facts, I got the impression that he
wanted your encounter at least as much as you did."

"But I am a Professed, he is just a Novice."

"A Professed just a few years older than my Novice. Here there are even
Acolytes older than you, and to tell the truth, old men also less mature
than you. The boy seems ready to do anything just to follow you. He told
me that you don't want him to. But he said he would live as a beggar,
lying at the door of your Convivium, just to be able to at least see
you."

"Oh, my God!"

"And I fear that if I don't accept his request to dismiss him from our
Order, he will run away. He has really lost his head for you. Therefore
we should find, together, a better solution."

"But I cannot love him. I cannot even just make love with him, once I am
back in my Convivium." Jarvis said with a sorrowful voice.

"It seems that the boy clearly understood this point. And I don't think
he expects it at all."

"Then what?"

"You said you assume all responsibility for what you provoked in the
boy, even if unwillingly, didn't you?"

"Yes, certainly."

"And that you rely upon me?"

"Totally."

"Good. You also asked me to think of the boy's good, right?"

"Yes, certainly."

"Fine. Therefore I'll tell you what punishment I will give you, and at
the same time how I mean to help the boy. I will not expel the boy from
our Order, for the moment. Instead I will give him a horse, and a
presentation letter. And on the day after tomorrow, you two, together,
will leave this Convivium. You will take the boy with you on your
journey, then to your Convivium. Here the boy will ask to be admitted as
a Mystic. You will support his request. From here the needed
authorization will come readily."

"But I cannot give the boy what he desires."

"I am not asking you to give anything to him. Only take him with you.
Possibly the boy, in getting to know you better, will sooner or later
change his mind, and ask to come back here, where he will be most
welcome. Sincerely though, I don't think it will happen, if I truly know
men. But this is the only hope we have."

"But if he doesn't change his mind?"

"He will become a Mystic. It is much better if he becomes a Mystic than
a drifter, is it not? And who knows that he could find in the mystical
dances the appeasement of what he is feeling for you. This is my
decision."

"I cannot but comply, I promised it. Even if I am not certain that this
is the right solution. Anyway I would not be able to suggest a better
one to you - I couldn't find one, thus I relied on you."

"I am not saying that this is the best solution, I just say that I could
not find a better one. You made my task easier with your attitude,
honestly. I really thank you."

"You thank me?"

"I certainly do, as you are honest concerning our Novice."

"I should only have not made love with him..."

"But you did. You two were very attracted to each other."

"But mine was just a little more than a simple physical attraction. I
was not able to understand that for him it was something different."

"From what the boy told me, it was the same also for him, at first. It
is on the island that things changed. I have no experience with physical
love, but is it not true that mystical and sexual ecstasy have a strong
resemblance?"

"Yes, this is so."

"You made him experience ecstasy, that's evident."

"I am afraid that also is true."

"Don't feel so dejected, now. You will see that things will settle."

"Do you really think so?"

"Man is, in the absolute, the most adaptable animal existing in this
world, as our brothers the Wises say. Will you do what I am requesting
of you?"

"Yes..."

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CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 8

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In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to
read them, the URL is
http://andrejkoymasky.com
If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English
translations, so that I can put on-line more of my  stories in English
please e-mail at
andrej@andrejkoymasky.com

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