Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:40:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cory Noone <noonecory@yahoo.com>
Subject: Through the Mirror chapter nine

All characters, places, and events are fictional and belong to the author.

Disclaimer: The following may contain explicit events between consenting
adult males.  If you are not of age or it is illegal for you to read this,
please do not read any further.

Chapter Nine:

The cove was one of the most beautiful things Trey had ever seen.  A stream
coming down the mountain fed into a spacious pool by way of a small
waterfall plummeting about ten feet from a rocky platform.  A carpet of
moss covered the ground and rocks around the pool, making it easy to go
barefoot and providing a comfortable pallet to snooze on.  The light was
dim, being filtered through the heavy canopy of the ancient trees, except
for one large hole from which light hit the center of the pool.  Trey could
see little fish darting around in the water, picking algae off the rocks or
chasing smaller fish in the shallows.

"We call this place Veolo Fluexi, or the Wishing Cove.  Do you see that
hole up there," Aeleon asked, referring to the part in the canopy, "The
moonlight filters through in much the same way as the sun is doing now.  It
is rumored that if you come here on the night of a full moon and bathe in
the light at the center of the pool, your wish will come true.  A lot of
people know that legend, but have no idea where this place actually is."

"Have you ever made a wish here?" Trey asked him.

"I might have, once or twice."

Trey tried to picture Aeleon here by himself, floating solitarily in a beam
of moonlight and wishing for something.  It was a striking image.  He
wondered what Aeleon had wished for, but didn't feel that it was
appropriate to ask.

The two of them could hear the low hum of an approaching bike a split
second before Braeyon rounded the curve.  He promptly hopped off his bike
and parked it by a tree.

"How the hell did you win?! You had that behemoth with you," he shrieked,
waving his arms and gesturing at Trey.

"I'm just that good," Aeleon said, a smug smile crawling across his face.

"That's bullshit!  I call a do-over on the way back," Braeyon scowled.

Anymore argument from the riled young Oelean was cut short by the arrival
of the last two zoom-bikes.  Shoori's bright neon green hair was
appealingly disheveled and bright smile lit her face, only matched by
Cercae's.  Apparently they had enjoyed the ride too.  Josh pulled up
looking far less pleased, however.  Cynom's countenance appeared neutral,
his green eyes almost radiating boredom in their appraisal of the people
around him and the location he found himself in.

"Alright, who's ready to swim?" Aeleon asked, reaching up to remove his
helmet and pull his shirt over his head.

The others followed suit, stripping down to their underclothes, except for
Trey.  He didn't intend to get in the water, considering he didn't know how
to swim.  As the others continued to remove clothing, Trey wandered off to
the side to look for a comfortable place where he could while away the next
few hours.  A hand on his arm stopped him from getting too far.  He turned
to see Aeleon standing there with his head cocked to the side, blue hair
falling across one eye, his rather dainty hand wrapped around Trey's
forearm.  It randomly occurred to Trey that the small Oelean was beautiful
in that split second.

"Where are you going?" Aeleon asked, those silver eyes locked on his own.

"I don't know how to swim," Trey told him, looking down as his cheeks
colored.  Why was he blushing?  He hoped Aeleon would assume the color
flooding his face was due to embarrassment at his lack of knowledge rather
than figure out that Trey's sudden realization was the cause of his
distress.

Aeleon flashed him one of those freely given smiles and said, "Now is a
great time to learn. Come on."

As usual, Trey found himself unable to say no and was dragged along behind
Aeleon back to the side of the pool.  The others had already shucked their
clothes and gotten into the water.  Shoori, Cercae, Josh, and Braeyon were
locked in a game in which there were two teams with one person propped on
another's shoulders.  It was complete with ample shouting and laughter,
which only increased as Braeyon was dumped off of Josh's shoulders by a
triumphant looking Shoori.  Trey noticed that the only one who did not
appear to be having fun was Cynom.  The handsome Oelean was wading in the
shallows, off to the side, and looking straight to where he and Aeleon were
standing.  Trey wondered at Cynom's attitude.

"This is a great place to learn," Aeleon told him, "Now get down to your
underwear."

Trey was glad he had decided to wear the shorts he had learned Oeleans
typically wore underneath of their clothes.  As a slave, his overlords had
not given them underwear.  Just the rough canvas shirts and pants.  They
have been a novelty to him when he had first come to Oelae, but sometimes
he chose not to wear them.  Luckily today had not been one of those days
because he would have been out of luck.  He had no illusions that Aeleon
wouldn't make him strip down, underwear or no.  In the time he had known
him, Trey had found that when his friend got an idea into his head it was
often very hard to dissuade him of said idea.

Truth be told, Trey wasn't particularly comfortable with disrobing in front
of everyone.  Even though he had been accepted with open arms by these
people, he still looked different.  The Oeleans were so pale they nearly
glowed in the dark.  Zelzian's tended to have a rich golden skin tone.
Josh, being a recent hybrid, was somewhere in between, but Trey was a bit
darker still.  There was also the fact that he was still somewhat
emaciated, even though he had put on several pounds since he had come to
Oelae.  His frame looked not quite starved, but thin enough for it to be
obvious that he had never had enough to eat.  Trey couldn't help but feel
that he looked positively sickly next to his friends' well fed frames.  The
biggest insecurity though had to be the scars.  His entire body was
peppered with them from the numerous whippings and beatings he had endured.
They crisscrossed in straight lines of varying shades of newness across his
 back, layer upon layer a testament to the abuse of a lifetime.  Trey hated
them.  To him the scars were a constant reminder that he was a slave and
would only serve to remind others as well.

"Well?  Come on," Aeleon prompted, wondering at the delay.

Trey reluctantly pulled off his shirt, tossing it in the pile of clothes
that had been made by the others.  He reached down to remove his pants as
well.  He had let them fall to about mid-thigh when he heard a whistle from
the direction of the pool.  Trey looked over his shoulder to see everyone
staring at him.  Great.

It became apparent to Trey that Cercae had been responsible for the whistle
when Shoori reached over to smack his arm and shouted, "You horn dog!"

The comment made Trey blush again.  He didn't even know why he was so
embarrassed this time.  All he knew was that as he became aware of the fact
that he was blushing, it seemed to worsen.  Aeleon was chuckling at his
obvious discomfort and Cercae was whistling again.  Sighing, Trey took a
few tentative steps towards the water and waded in until he was knee deep.

"Ok, where do I start?" he asked, trying to reign Aeleon's amusement into
check.

Aeleon followed him into the pool, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him
a bit deeper.  He had expected the water to be chilly, especially
considering the pool was fed directly from a mountain stream.  Trey was
surprised that the water was at a comfortable temperature level.  It was
appropriate for a hot day, but not so cold that no one could stand to stay
in for more than ten minutes at a time.  He supposed the hot springs Aeleon
mentioned served to balance out the temperature of water that would
otherwise be absolutely frigid.  Ready for his lesson, Trey looked to
Aeleon for instruction.

"Why don't we start with the doggy paddle?" Aeleon proposed.

+++++

Cynom was not amused.  When that slut, Cercae had tromped through the
solarium where he had been enjoying a book on the history of Oelean
royalty, shouting about going on some trip with Aeleon, this had not been
what Cynom had expected.  Honestly, he hadn't cared much about what else
had been said after Aeleon's name had been mentioned.  The only reason he
had come was to score points with the crown prince.

Why would he care about the others?  Cercae never carried himself with the
poise and decorum due his station, always involved in a fling with a
different man or woman.  Braeyon was too young to be of any importance yet
and was far too shy to get overly far in politics.  Shoori was not a noble,
even if her family was a very wealthy group of merchants and supplied much
of the castle with many top rate products.  Out of all of them, Josh was
probably the one Cynom felt was the closest person he would consider equal
to himself.  If only his Zelzian blood weren't so apparent.  Cynom's family
prided themselves on being pure Oelean, all the way back to their roots.
While it was common for people outside of the wealthy class and the ruling
class to be pureblooded, the upper echelons of Oelean society were peppered
with Zelzian ancestors due to those stupid mirrors.  There were still
several pureblooded families, but even the king's lineage was
 tainted.

And now there was this.....Trey.  Cynom's distaste for him grew with
everything he learned about the slave.  What the hell was a slave doing in
their circle anyways?  It boggled him.  For the life of him, Cynom couldn't
understand how the man justified hanging around.  It was probably Aeleon.
The prince was too nice for his own good and could never tell people when
to back off.  The last thing Aeleon needed was some low class hanger on.
He was old enough now to figure more prominently in royal proceedings,
matters that often greatly impacted Oelae.  Aeleon didn't need a
distraction, or disgrace, such as Trey hanging around.

Cynom had his eyes on the crown prince.  The striking Oelean was sure that
he was the most appropriate match to be Aeleon's mate.  He knew that he was
destined to be the queen of Oelae.  Cynom had so many changes he wished to
make to the current policies, which was something he would only be able to
accomplish with the influence of a queen and the backing of a king.  If he
had more power he would establish a more formal boundary between the Oelean
government and the Zelzian government.  The two planet nations had always
been close, the royalty and upper class of both societies comingling and
intermarrying with great frequency.  Cynom felt that this needed to stop.
Oelae was its own country and he felt that Oelae needed to quit propping up
Zelzior.  Even now, the council and the king and queen were thinking about
sending aid to Zelzior even though the planet was a lost cause.  It was
definitely time to cut ties.

This was why it was crucial for Cynom to make Aeleon love him; or if not
love him, at least make him see the benefit that could be garnered from the
two of them working as partners to fix Oelae.  Cynom was betting his plan
would be more likely to succeed if Aeleon fell in love with him though.  He
knew that the prince had bluntly stated he would not marry for political
purposes.  If Cynom were honest with himself, he quite liked the idea of
Aeleon loving him.  The crown prince was a beautiful creature, someone any
person would love to have wrapped around their finger.  He had wanted to
have Aeleon in his bed for years, but so far the young man had never
responded to his advances.  Cynom was determined to make that change.

Cynom couldn't help the sneer that crossed his face when his attention was
drawn to where Aeleon was teaching the stupid oaf how to swim.  Aeleon was
laughing his head off as Trey sunk yet again to the bottom of the pool.
How hard was it to float?  Cynom scoffed to himself and thought that it was
probably the Zelzian's outlandish size that resulted in his inability to
float.  What an ugly brute.  He was like a giant ape and his skin was too
dark.  And all those scars?  His entire body was a roadmap of disgusting
remnants of past abuse, living proof of Trey's low class origins.  Cynom
thought he would be lucky to ever find a partner among the people of Oelae,
who were mostly fair and slight of build.  Not that he cared.  At least
Cynom never had to worry about Aeleon falling for the unfortunate looking
creature.

+++++

A couple of hours later, Trey was relaxing on a shelf of rock and soaking
up to his nipples in warm water.  Aeleon had pulled him over to this area
of the pool after managing to teach him the basics of swimming.  It had not
been easy at first.  There had been several times when Trey was convinced
he was going to drown.  Every time though, Aeleon had reached down and
hauled his sorry form up from the bottom of the pool, making patient
suggestions before letting him go to try again.  Gradually, Trey had gotten
it.  And now he had his reward.  Trey had learned the beginnings of a new
skill and was now sitting beside Aeleon about two feet from a hot spring.
The feeling was divine.

Trey looked over to see Aeleon stretched languidly against the smooth shelf
of rock, his face barely above the water.  His icy blue hair fanned around
him, slowly swirling in the gentle current of the pool.  Trey heard a
contented sigh escape the Oelean's mouth a split second before he
completely submerged himself. Beautiful.  The word had been plaguing him
since they had gotten here, repeating itself in his head over and over
again.  Honestly, Trey wished it would go away.  The little lurch his heart
gave every time he looked at Aeleon was nothing but inconvenient.  Trey
hoped it would dull with time.

Releasing a sigh of his own, Trey sunk down a little further into the
water, allowing himself to truly revel in the warmth.  There was something
magical about the place.  If he closed his eyes, he could hear the wind
whispering through the trees and could just barely feel the sun that was
struggling to filter through the thick leaf cover on his face.  Birds
chirped in the distance, serenely spinning songs, of which Trey could only
guess at their meaning.  Every now and then he could make out the sound of
their beating wings as they moved from one branch to another, somewhere in
the canopy.  The place radiated peace.  Trey couldn't imagine a bad thing
ever happening here.  If he had been a superstitious man, he would say the
place was charmed.  Hell, even being non-superstitious, he wasn't entirely
ready to rule it out.  Trey felt as if he could while away the rest of his
life here, sitting in the warm water and watching the seasons change.

"Comfortable?" he heard Aeleon murmur somewhere to his right.

"Very," Trey rumbled, cracking his eyes open and turning to face Aeleon.
The Oelean looked boneless, albeit a bit pruney.

"I knew you'd like it here," Aeleon said, smiling at him, "It's so
relaxing."

"Mmm," Trey agreed, unable to summon up the energy to do much more than
groan contentedly.

Trey cut his eyes to Cynom.  The man was sitting just far enough away from
them so as to not invite conversation, but close enough that he could still
be considered in the same area as them.  He confused Trey.  So far, he
hadn't seen Cynom talk to anyone other than Aeleon and he had stayed mostly
by himself the entire time.  Why had he even bothered to come with them if
he wasn't going to enjoy the company?  Trey had tried to make a point of
talking to and enjoying this break with Braeyon, Josh, Cercae, and Shoori.
Isn't that what one did with friends?  But then, Trey didn't get the
impression that Cynom was friends with anyone here.  That only added to his
confusion as to why the Oelean had decided to accompany them.  Oh well.  It
wasn't his problem.

Trey shifted his gaze to the other side of the pool where Shoori and Cercae
were wrapped around each other.  He wondered what the deal was with them.
Cercae made passes at almost anything that moved and Shoori slept with many
of the people who made passes at her, but Trey noticed that both of them
treated each other with the utmost care even if they were seemingly
flippant about the relationship.  Trey had gotten to impression that they
broke up and got back together on a regular basis from comments the others
had made, but never could give each other any kind of commitment or
indication of their feelings.  He knew it wasn't his business, but he still
wondered.

Josh and Braeyon were also not far away from him, both of them relaxing
with their eyes closed as well.  It seemed that no one was immune to the
peace Veolo Fluexi emanated.  He noticed Cynom was looking at him, just
staring at him with a thoughtful look on his face.  Trey wasn't sure as to
the nature of that look.  There was nothing menacing about it, but it made
him uneasy nonetheless.  He offered Cynom a hesitant smile, hoping to urge
the man into a friendlier attitude, but it was a no go.  He looked just as
solemn as he had all day.

"What are you looking at?" Cynom spat, throwing Trey a dirty look.

Trey sighed and said, "Nothing."

"Don't be so grouchy, Cynom," Josh said, his eyes still closed as he
lounged in the water with the rest of them.

Cynom merely made a rude noise in his throat and sloshed water as he got
out of the pool to wander a little ways a way.  He was annoyed.  Even Josh
was standing up for the slave?  Cynom couldn't believe it.  What was wrong
with the world?  Was there no solidarity?

"What's wrong with him?" Cercae asked, as he and Shoori waded their way
over to the rest of the group.

"Nothing," Aeleon replied with a sniff, "He just wanted to take a walk."

"Oh.  Well, who all is going to the party later this week?"

Aeleon groaned.  He had almost forgotten about the stupid thing.  Every
year they held a celebration in honor of his parents' coronation.  It was
stuffy and formal and not something Aeleon particularly wanted to attend.
If his parents cared about it he would have felt differently, but they
disliked it just as much as he did.  It was a night full of hand shaking
and political grandstanding.  Everyone wanted to take their chance to
promote their idea, ask favors, or call in supposedly owed favors on the
king and queen.  Unfortunately, it was not something he could skip out on.
As informal as the king and queen seemed to be sometimes, the fact of the
matter was that they were the heads of state and appearances were
important.

"I was planning on going," Braeyon said, "Although the king is my uncle so
I suppose that was a given."

"I think my mother was going to go, so I might accompany her," Shoori
shrugged.

Josh nodded his head before saying, "I'm definitely going.  I need to start
making connections if I want a council seat by the time I'm 30."

"What about you, Trey?" Braeyon asked, playfully splashing a bit of water
at Trey's torso as he asked the question.

"Umm," Trey hedged, "I hadn't heard anything about it.  Am I supposed to
come?"

"If you want to.  It's a party celebrating the coronation of my parents.
It mostly turns into a political arena more than a celebration, so it
probably wouldn't be a whole lot of fun for you.  We could go together
though," Aeleon told him.

Actually, the more Aeleon considered it, the more attractive going to the
dinner with Trey was.  It meant he would have a more compelling reason
than, "I don't want to," to give to Cynom when the man was sure to ask him
to go with him.  It would also mean that he would have a friend to talk to
for the entirety of the ordeal.  Usually, even though the rest of his
friends showed up, they were scattered amongst their various stations and
couldn't say more than a word or two to each other.  Trey would also be
given an opportunity to observe and understand the political climate of
Oelae right now, as well as meet many of the big players.  If the ex-slave
was going to operate in this world, he would need to understand the games
many people played.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Trey asked, not wanting to invite
himself to something he felt like he wasn't supposed to go to.

"I think it would be a good idea," Aeleon suggested.

That being settled, the group of them continued to soak in the pool until
the sun started to go down and a chill began to creep into the air.  Shoori
finally suggested they start to head back to the city, considering it would
take them an hour or more and would definitely be dark before they
returned.  No one offered any opposition to this, all of them ready to dry
off and possibly get some dinner.  Cynom emerged from between the trees,
never having come back to the pool after he had stomped off to sulk.  It
didn't take long to pack up and before Trey knew it, one of the most
peaceful and relaxing evenings of his life had come to a close.

To be continued...

Author's Note: Well, I managed to get another chapter in before several
months went by.  :P I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and will tune in
for the next one.  I love feedback, so if you have a suggestion or just
want to say hey, e-mail me at noonecory@yahoo.com