Get Your Footing || Bronze Gates 6

Previously Testing Oaths

It was strange. This feeling. Somewhere between bouyant and leaden all at once. It was probably wise. Letting the anchor weight of it hold him down from getting to far ahead of himself. 

He wasn't used to this. This was certainly more than casual infaturation. That he'd felt before. Lasting and fleeting, each in its own turn. 

Vali had had his fair share of attachments and entanglements over the years. Fun and enjoyment and distraction at its best. Although brief. And welcome. 

Anything that wasn't the brutal existence of a hunter. 

But this without question was different. It felt different. It carried under his ribs differently than anything had before. It wasn't love. That wasn't acceptable. But it was... more. Certainly more. Built from hours of talk and company and the slow circling of each other. Two hawks on a current of warm air.  

But above all was the way that Leontios had lodged in his mind, preoccupying all his thoughts. To often he lost himself turning over Leontios' words, the comforting memory of moments together, and now the warm, swirling honey sensations from their shared night that made his skin tingle and prickle in all the right places. He found himself day dreaming in the moments they weren't together of when they met again what would they talk on, would he beable to make Leontios smile? Laugh? Was he allowed to steal a kiss or two? 

He didn't notice the way his feet carried him through the early dawn of the city back to the home of the Rus. 

Home. 

What a loaded word but if Leontios would not run with him then... then home it would be. 

Vali snorted and shook his head hard, he might as well ask for marriage if he let himself get any bolder.

He stepped into the quiet of the xenodochion, all the rest of his countrymen used to lazy late mornings by this time so the dawn came along with only the hurried and happy greeting of Birger and Valkyrie rushing to be pet and sniff Vali and Skause all over as if they had been gone weeks instead of only the night. 

It was early enough that Vali made his way to the hearth and was the first to strike a soark and feed it a few logs. The ritual he kept in all their camps and whereever the company went. He hummed a soft hymn as he did so before making way to the kitchen and larder to gather food for the dogs and Skause. His own belly still full from the early broken fast. He still could see the sharp blue of Leontios' eyes as the peak of the sun warmed his skin over a drink-

"Here you are."

Vali did not jump... he... twitched a bit. Thats all. It sounded... strange almost to hear his own language. He spoke so often with Leontios that Greek had begun to feel more normal to hear and speak... Before turning to look over his shoulder. 

Bjørn. The grizzled and most seasoned of their company. The silvered blonde hair and beard were left wild from sleep, not yet tamed into neat braids. His quick, dark eyes already sizing him up. Vali looked steadily back in return, face masking to hide any emotion or reaction, though it may be folly. Bjørn had known him since he was a child, there was little Vali could keep from the old warrior. 

"So. Your... builder-" Bjørn rumbled. 

"He is his own." Vali cut through sternly, turning back to cutting meat and offal for the animals. Bjørn hummed and Vali heard him move to sit near the kitchen hearth. 

"And yours. You bedded him after all." 

Vali snapped a look towards the older warrior but didn't deny it. Bjørn raised an eyebrow. 

"This one is different, isn't he?"

Vali grumbled, "Does it matter?"

"It does. As fierce as you are to defend him... you know they are different about such things here, Vali." 

"I am aware. As is he-" 

"So it is not just you're own security that you need be cautious of."

"I am not a child, Björn." 

"Strange. Because you certainly have been acting like a mooncalf around him. For some time now. We'd thought it might just be something you needed burned out of your system but seeing you now-"

Vali hunched his shoulders a bit under the scrutiny, feeling the burn of the look on the back of his neck. Then he straightened up, rolled his shoulders back as he moved the bowls of food down onto the floor for Birger, Skause and Valkyrie to eat then turned to look towards Bjørn. He felt himself standing up as straight and squaring himself as much as he could. 

"Object if you mean to, Bjørn, stop wasting our time." 

Bjørn sighed and shook his head, "You know me better than that, boy. But of all places and of all the people to fall for." 

"I'm not-" 

Bjørn cut a sharp look across that made Vali's jaw click shut. The old warrior levered himself up and moved over and set a heavy hand on the hunter's shoulder. 

"I. We. Are not unhappy. Nor do we disapprove. You know that very well. But you must admit, you certainly chose a difficult quarry." 

Vali heaved a deep sigh and sagged a little, "Well... I... nothing worth doing is ever easy, I suppose." 

Bjørn chuckled softly, and gave him a small shake before turning to leave. 

"Bjørn." 

The old warrior turned back. 

"Their emperor will call on us. Soon. No more than two days from now." 

"Then we best have a washing day. Our hides and our thatch." Bjørn rumbled, stepping aside as the first of the young servants that kept the house slipped into the kitchen. After all this time they had gotten very used to seeing the Rus anywhere and everywhere at any hours of the days. Vali and Bjørn got polite nods as the seevant started to gather things to begin a breakfast for the household. 

"Come. Let the master work, we will rouse the others. We've been lazy to long." Bjørn beckoned and Vali nodded, following, aa a knot in his chest loosened a bit.