Part One - Third Year - Chapter [015]

The sun was warm, and I woke to some rays of light touching my face. 

"Morning Princess," he spoke.

That's right - memories of last night came flooding back.

I felt a couple of things, a mixture of emotions I couldn't quite describe. 

I didn't want this to end - not in the slightest, so should I just play it cool?

I was unsure of what to do next. 

The clothes I had been worrying about had been able to keep me comfortable and cozy at night. I could tell the temperature was about to rise in a couple of hours. 

But it felt like a spring breeze day, the birds were chirping, and the shadow of the man I knew in my heart of hearts.

Was the next love of my life. 

Maybe I was being presumptuous in thinking like that. 

I'm not sure. 

At this moment - I can't tell.

I never can with other people. 

Usually, it's a one-time thing with them and me. 

This time I wanted it to be different, but I had to know. 

That prompted the question. 

"Mornin' - Wait did you just call me a princess?!" My brain went somewhere, not the place I wanted it to go. 

You think it and then you say it, right?

Should be simple, in nature.

But - It's not so simple sometimes.

I looked at him, and he froze. 

I noticed now he was brushing his teeth, he was already fully dressed, his pack lying on the floor, a cup with water in his right hand, and he used his left to brush.

"Uh - Yeah," he looked almost incredulous.

But he continued. "Does it bother you?" he said through mumbles.

"The nickname?" 

"Uh-huh."

"I mean I don't hate it - it's quite nice really - maybe just use the masculine?" I said - yeah that's what bothered me.

"Sure thing!" he said and drank some water, swirling it around his mouth and finally spitting it back out. 

"Ready to go?" he said extending his left hand, holding the cup and brush on the other. I grabbed his forearm with my right, he helped me to my feet. 

He did something to my arm in a way that he locked it just as I landed on my feet. 

Even at this height, if he grabbed any part of my body - he could easily take control of it. 

We ended up just inches from each other. 

He went in for a kiss - it took me by surprise - but it was tender and sweet. I let myself enjoy it closing my eyes. 

It ended just as quickly as it started. 

"Good mornin' my sweet prince," he said with the brightest smile, so gentle it could a flower turn his way. 

"This kissing thing - I quite like it actually - doesn't bother me as I thought it was," he spilled.

If male-on-male was the norm here, or rather, quite accepted, how come he had never kissed another man?

I moved away, a couple of inches from him. 

There was so much to unpack there - but I had other things to worry about. 

"Is there any chance you have an extra toothbrush?" How had he kissed me like that?! 

I mean I hadn't opened my mouth during it, but oh my god! 

I needed to gain my confidence back, and quick.

"I do - you'll need to buy me a spare one though," he said searching in his pack, quickly finding it and handing it to me. 

The brush had two contraptions, that could make it fold in on itself and fit inside a small plastic package. 

"Sorry to intrude on your generosity," I said searching the back of my head. 

"It's fine - as long as you buy me a new one," was he blushing and being scatty on purpose? 

God - it was kinda cute. 

He gave me some toothpaste and I went off to the side of the river. 

[Aiden - psst?!] 

Apollo suddenly spoke in my ear.

"What?" I whispered, crouching down near the water. 

[You could have just asked me to remove your bad breath]

"That's right!" I said through crocodile tears. 

I comically started brushing my teeth - while feeling sorry for myself. 

A moment passed. 

"All done!" I said hoping back up the river bank, with a cheery perky attitude. 

"Good - let's get going then, it's just through the morning, and then we're at Vinymar, it'll be a breezy walk through the farms, have you ever seen real cows and horses before?" 

"I have not!" I smiled.

We grabbed our stuff and started walking. 

"Hey so are things going to be awkward between us now?" 

"WHAT!?" he shouted in a high-pitched voice.

"Of course not - you'll join the guild right?"

"Yeah - that's the plan!" 

"Then - We'll see each other all the time then, every night we can have a beer!" he suddenly started walking backward to meet my gaze. 

"What you don't like me all of a sudden?" he continued.

"Look at this face - everyone wants this," he said cocky-like.

He suddenly threw up a smile.

It made me laugh. 

"What?!" he looked offended - but had a smile on his face.

He was just playing.

"Is it false?" he mused.

"No you are very handsome," I said ever so casually. 

It made him sniffle and turn his back to me again. 

He did the anime thing where you sniff your finger. 

A beat between us - at the horizon, I could already see the farmlands coming into view. With a wide open sky - they looked quite beautiful. I could see the animals. 

"So - before - you mentioned?" I started. 

"Hmmm?" he looked back at me distracted by the road. It was starting to become rubble. We were now coming out of the grasslands. The road seemed paved and more walked. Where before it was all over the place. He knew where he was heading. 

His sense of direction must be impeccable. 

"You mentioned you've never kissed, you mean like a guy?" 

"Look - I don't have children if that's what you mean." 

"Um - no,"

He finally looked back at me. 

"Then why you ask?

"I mean you were so good last night - I'm just curious." 

He stopped in his tracks to turn back at me. 

"You liked that - you enjoyed that - was that actually working for you?" he said speculatively. I nodded.

"Why is that bad?" 

"Not at all - just never met someone so open about it - most minders1 I meet wish of me discreet."

"Then why no kissing?"

"It's my rule -" he said with a sigh. 

"Do you only date healers?" A sudden question I wanted an answer to. I think I knew what was going on with him. If my assumption was correct that is. But I needed some more information before deciding on it. 

"Most of the time - I've laid with men - they only wish for my pleasure - never romance - or I've laid with them for the mana interchange." He locked his arms. "Most of the time they'll barter me for something, or ask for money, it's just an exchange of goods - nothing more about it."

"Mana interchange?!2 - Wait - Yet you're open about it too, right?"

"Sure - I don't lie about it - but if someone asks me - I wouldn't exactly tell them about it." 

"Then why the rule?"

"Because I know me - and if one day I get a little too drunk and would just walk up to you and give you a kiss out of the blue - how would you respond?" 

"That would be very nice - I would like that - yeah." 

He was stunned. 

"You're lying-" he blurted.

"I'm not - it's the truth, I still don't get what all the fuzz is about, can you please just explain?" 

"Kissing someone - even in private - is like telling the world you love that person - like you would die for them - it's the ultimate declaration of love," he said almost sweetly.

He took a moment. 

"The way you said it last night - I thought maybe that's what you meant - so that's why - I followed through. " He explained sheepishly. 

Had I jumped the gun?

Here was the heart of the matter. 

"But you'd kiss women?" 

He looked at me funny - like I was out of this world. 

"Not unless I want them to have my sons - and that hasn't happened yet," he explained.

"That's why I only intercourse with men at the moment." He said like it meant nothing. 

Did they not have the concept of being gay here?

Was it simply

Was this world without prejudice? 

Those were the questions traveling in my mind. 

We started walking again. 

"And what does society think?" 

"Who's society?" he asked. 

"You know - you're friends, family, sisters or brothers and that crazy lady down the street," I mentioned. 

"They don't mind it - I've always been a crown3!"

Huh? This sounded like gay lingo - just not quite. 

"Like last night? What does that make me?" 

"Well - A heart4 of course." 

Well, that wasn't so bad. 

A crown and a heart - it almost sounded poetic. 

"What if you were a bott- I mean a heart," I explained. "What would they think of you?"

He took a moment to consider it. 

"Why? You want to be a crown - no minder of mine has ever been a crown, you should know I have very little mana to give," he explained. 

"Right - but just as a thought experiment," 

"Okay - well - since I'm a warrior - they probably wouldn't let me back into the guild out of pride."

Funny how that works out. 

"But - with minders it's okay?" 

"Yeah - because they don't have to go into battle, all of them play a support role in questing - I guess most minders live out their life as a heart to one or another warriors crown," he mused. 

That suddenly piqued my interest. 

"Okay so one more question - " 

"Sure -" 

"As long as you date outside the military - everything is okay with male-to-male relationships you would say it's quite common?" 

"Yeah - that is correct. Minders aren't military. And yeah it's quite common warriors need the mana regen anyway." He expressed. 

My hunch was correct! 

Wait - what was that last part?!

This world - was just exactly like the Greeks!

Society acted under the same rules as I had learned in history. 

I had learned about it as a special interest. But mostly the rules went like this:

As long as Arslan continued to date outside the military - his - you could say special interest - in using his body and charms - to pursue men - was justified. 

Hell even accepted and normalized! 

I had gotten the answer to my questions.