(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

{from here}

Sinric takes Athelstan's hand and leads him through an almost invisible door and down a couple of seemingly perfectly flat hallways that somehow open out onto the rooftop and a little flat terrace with a view of the eastern sky.

Sinric clearly spends some time up here because the spot is furnished with a daybed big enough to lay on or for two to sit together comfortingly and is draped with soft furry blankets of a cloth unknown in their time.

He helps Athelstan to the daybed and sits with him, setting the flask aside for now. The stars are still clear in the sky, even as dawn smudges the horizon with warmth.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

"When he returns, we will talk together, or apart, depending on how things happen. We will do as we need to do when the time comes. If he comes before you return, would you like me to speak with him?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes", Athelstan whispers. "It's better he should know - and you have my permission to tell him all you know or can guess."

[thewidewideworld]

"Are there particular things you need him to know? Where or how not to touch you? Things you're not ready to talk about?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Tell him he must be careful with my wrists. He wouldn't pin me down anyway, but nothing like it. Even a too-firm grip in the first joy of seeing me..."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric nods, still gently massaging Athetstan's forearms. "Just as it is with my neck." He answer softly and without judgement of any kind. "He will understand."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I think I gave the poor boy assisting the physician a black eye", he says with an attempt at humour. "And so I know it must be avoided."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and drops his voice to a low and confiding tone. "I slapped my Emperor. The first week I was back in the palace. He was keeping me close, protectively so. It was fine at first, but I'd had a nightmare. I woke up flailing and slapped him hard across the face as I woke. I was so upset, so sure he would be upset. No-one slaps the Emperor of Byzantium. But he just laughed and rocked me in his arms."

[athelstanthescribe]

"There's a sign he loves and cares for you, if ever there was one. And understood."

[thewidewideworld]

"I don't think he understood, not at once. But he tried. Not always well but he tried."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Sometimes that's the best you can have, that they make the effort to try."

[thewidewideworld]

"And it will be the same with Ragnar." He assures. "He will do all he can, even if he doesn't understand at once."

[athelstanthescribe]

"The last thing I want is to hurt him", Athelstan murmurs. "Even by not being able to explain."

[thewidewideworld]

"And I'm sure he would hate to hurt you. I hope I can do my best to act as translator to both your needs."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I have every faith in you." He manages a pale smile. "You understand, after all, from the inside."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric leans in to kiss him softly. "One night, when I most fought to shake the panic, Castor sat me down and told me how their swords are made. That the iron is worked and worked, forced into shapes until it becomes steel. That is what we are - work-hardened by force to become stronger than we were before. Even if you don't feel it now, and I'm not sure I do yet, but if we are tested again, we will be stronger than we were."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And those tests will come. There can be no doubt of that, in the world we live in."

[thewidewideworld]

"But you have time to heal before you face them." He promises softly, "Here, with me."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And I'll stay with you", he promises in turn, "until the need drives me back home, to let time pass and bring me closer to seeing Ragnar come sailing in."

[thewidewideworld]

He nods and kisses Athelstan softly. "And I will be here, waiting for you between visits and carrying your love to Ragnar should your paths not cross."

[athelstanthescribe]

"The greatest gift you could give us." He leans in and kisses him again. "Along with your own love."

[thewidewideworld]

He purrs into the kiss, a contented sound rather than one of desire and settles to lay pressed comfortably at Athelstan's side, warmed by the sun and his company.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan takes him in his arms and falls into a calm silence.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric sings, a complex winding song on a language neither Greek nor Latin but holding something closer to Saxon English at its core. It's a calming song, perfectly suited to lazing in the sun with a loved one.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan doesn't know the song - or the language, really, but it's familiar enough to be soothing.

He closes his eyes, listening.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric pauses once or twice, trying to be sure of the words. It is a very long song after all. He comes to the end and presses a small kiss to Athelstan's brow, sleepy and serene himself.