A Coming of Age

[Torin Kilvin]

Timon didn't quite make a face at the idea of becoming Kala's ward immediately after being released from Torin's purview, but once she had finished he understood that being his guardian, in a legal sense, was not what she was suggesting.

"I would be honored to have you as my teacher."

If he was honest, he had been assuming that teaching was included in the giving of magic he had been asking. Though he hadn't actually said so. It might have been a slip up in other company, but in that place, with those present, he knew it wouldn't be held against him or counted as asking two boons instead of one.

Aurin's discomfort, his obvious discomfort, was as unexpected as it was welcome to the teenager who had learned his amusements partially from the sadistic redhead. The grin on Timon's face at the halting acquiescence would have made a stranger think he might actually be distantly related to Kavafis. It was such affection, expressed in different ways from all directions, that had washed away any chance of Timon failing to believe in his own worth, and if expressing it without the normal sarcasm was difficult for the fox-faced man that only made its value higher.

Learning the value of things had been a major part of Timon's education; in relationships, enchanted and alchemical wares, services, and in lives. The worth of what he was asking was high, but the worth of what he'd already been given was infinitely higher. Saying so would embarrass almost everyone at the table, so he wouldn't. Instead, he gave Aurin his wicked smirk that would hopefully restart the man's own confidence, and then turned a milder expression on Sivan, who had sat patiently while the others answered ahead of him.

Torin felt the things coming from Aurin and understood some of them. When his hand was caught and held, he held back. Not quite so hard, for his strength was something he was always worriedly aware of, but strong enough that it would feel like a mutual need. It was a mutual need. Torin had been preparing for this moment, which felt like a loss, even as he knew he was gaining a partnership. He rather badly wanted Aurin to take him somewhere private and destroy his ability to think so that he could wake up tomorrow with the new reality firmly in place and not have to exist in the middle ground. But that would not be polite to either Timon or their hosts.

[Aurin]

Aurin was grateful for Torin's quiet, unwavering support. He gave his hand a gentler squeeze, and fully intended to fuck the both of them out of the strange headspace this milestone put them in. It was good, he knew, but he didn't know how to deal with good, even when more and more things turned good for him.

The more one had, the more one had to lose.

He let himself look at Timon. There was still a softness to his features. While he had reveled in what was left of his childhood, he had also prepared himself for manhood. He was skinny, sure, but he was growing into a whipcord leanness such as Aurin himself owned. Perhaps he would offer a nice knife fight later, the strangest show of affection. And though he had teased the lad and nudged him toward the object of his affections, he supposed it was a good thing Timon had waited. If he was going to shoot his shot, it seemed as though he wanted to bag his prey, not just enjoy him on the fly.

Perhaps he had better offer to show the lad a thing or two beforehand.

That was probably twisted, but so was Aurin.

He saw a flicker of unease on Timon's face, blinked, then turned toward Sivan and realized the elf hadn't said anything yet. He was considering Timon, weighing him without his normal warmth. The Hytori didn't look unkind, but it was strange all the same.

"C'mon, Siv," Aurin said. "Don't leave him hanging."

The ghost of a smile flickered across his face as Sivan looked to Aurin, nodded, and then back to Timon. A slight cant of his head sent a fall of golden hair into his eyes. He swept it back.

"Timon."

For a moment, Aurin savored how Sivan's journey to speaking Common left a mellifluous accent to his speech. The name sounded like a song in his mouth. Of course, he wouldn't say that. Gay.

"I am inclined to accede to your wishes. I came later to your life than everyone else here, but I have witnessed the later days of your boyhood. I think your spirit is strong enough to withstand initiation. I think your will is strong enough that you could derive great power. Like the Lady of Stars, I would have requirements: time, obedience, effort. If you asked for gold, I would give it without question, but this is different. You are a man now, and you will learn how to be your own master. You must also learn, as I had to do, how to be your own master, but also defer to the expertise and wisdom of another.

"Before I say yes, could you tell us which magic you desire from each of us? In what order you wish to learn? Initiations will require recuperation. All three of us have busy schedules, travel to different places. A boy can make wishes; a man must have a plan.

"Do you have a plan, Timon?"

After a moment, Aurin muttered, "Caveat magister."

He caught Kala smiling at him for a moment before her eyes turned back to Timon as well.

[Torin Kilvin]

Had any of the three of them treated his requests as those of a child, Timon would have played along. His requests were genuine, he wanted, badly wanted, all the things he asked of his benefactors, but asking them in this way had a purpose beyond the obvious. How they answered would tell him something he wanted to know as much as he wanted any of the boons he begged. His relationship with each of those he considered personal friends had become amorphous in the last year or so. They trusted his judgment, respected his abilities, but only in the spaces in which he had studied. He could appraise an item from almost any industry with greater accuracy than any of them. He was a better businessman, though he might not say so to Aurin, yet. Could best Sivan and Torin with his blade, match Kala, and was creeping up on Aurin and Kaus.

But those were things he could do. The person he was wanted to know if they were indulging this choice to step into adulthood, or if they would treat him as he was asking, with all the difficulties and requirements therein. Kala's requirement had been the same she had given to Torin, who he knew she respected. Aurin's oddly sentimental (for him) response had been an acceptance of a different sort, and worth all the more for the fact that it was obviously unwillingly given. Sivan's question was the sort he would have asked of any of the others at the table.

It seemed that Timon was going to get what he wanted for his birthday from the ones he had already asked, even if they never gave him magic, and this gave him hope. His eyes moved, unconsciously, to Kaus, who sat observing the happenings with as much interest as anyone.

He listened with respect of his own to the elf's words. When the questions came, he leaned a little forward, as though preparing to reveal a secret and said, jauntily but without a hint of mockery,

"I thought you'd never ask. From my Lady, of Finance" Inclining his head to Kala, "I want the ability to write contracts that can not be broken or slipped out of. Scrivening."

Then to Aurin, "From my teacher in business, I want the ability to move goods quickly from one place to another and, should the circumstances require it, to move myself out of unwanted situations. Traversion."

Finally back to Sivan, who got a smile so sincere that had it not been to someone he trusted so much, it would have seemed the opposite, "And from my friend, who taught me that no one is exactly what they appear to be, I want the chance to be whatever I want to be. Animism."

The first two were genuinely a part of his business plan, the last, he was a little embarrassed to admit, in the way of very young adults trying to prove themselves, was just because he wanted it. It was for him.

Now to the table at large, "I have saved most of the generous earnings from my apprenticeship, with that I want to build a business shipping rare goods internationally. I know any of you would offer to fund my endeavors but I'd like to start small and build what I can. The skills you have all taught me fit into this plan. The ones I want, well, I am hoping to continue my lessons in finance, we were just getting into the minutia of international law, and I'll need that. If we could fit Scrivening lessons into those sessions, I would be very grateful. I know it will take time to learn, but I have studied as much as I can from books alone and I promise you will find me as apt and careful a student in Scrivening as I have been in finance."

He paused to take a drink from his glass, the water one, though he would want liquid courage before the night was out, he needed his head clear for a little while longer.

"I have worked with Traversion and Animism both, in the limited forms of the Orchard for more than a year, and they are the magics that sit best inside me, that feel comfortable when I use them." He had spent a season of memorable afternoons charming the Valley racoons while high on the aetheric fruit until he had managed to take their shape and that had been it as far as ever being fully content with only one for.

"Aurin has taught one student already, and I know I'm in good hands. For the plan, I'll have to take lessons when he is available, or I can pay for them from elsewhere. I won't be a burden and I won't hold you down." This was to the red-head directly, and with perhaps too much understanding.

That Timon had struck up a friendship with the denizen of Sivan's basement was a secret not known to any, as far as the youth knew. Rivin was an interesting man and they had more in common than one might have believed to look at them. The Lysanrin had popped out of nowhere one day when Timon was waiting for Sivan to return to his tower and asked, bluntly, if he was also fucking the elf. It was weirdly the beginning of a fast friendship that Rivin didn't seem interesting in others knowing about. Rivin didn't seem interested in others knowing anything about him at all, and that suited Timon just fine. If Aurin was unable to be there as often as Timon wanted lessons, he could learn basics from the blue-horned man.

"For you," Now back to Sivan, "I will make myself available for however long you like for initiation, and after, whenever you like." It would probably require an amount of meditation and perhaps other things not strictly necessary to learning the rune but there would be no complaints from Timon. Every lesson had its value, even if one couldn't immediately see them and he was patient for a teenager, patient for any human. He just hoped it would be patient enough for an elf.

"That is, of course, contingent on how my first initiation goes. I would not ask you to keep a promise that you believed would endanger me." He wanted Animism more, but Traversion was a useful tool, if he ended up with only one rune, it was better that way.

[Sivan]

Sivan observed, listened, reverting to the full introvert he had been when any of them had met him.

Kala nodded thoughtfully.

"It was my intention to offer you a paid internship in the Ministry of Finance if you so desired. There is no better way to learn the more advanced theories than to study how capital moves through the world. It would not take up a great deal of time for you, but it will grant you insights, I think, and allow us some time to study sigaldry." She nodded. "There are perils inherent in the study, but not the same as those of runic initiation. We can begin when we return to Kalzasi. I will have more books for you."

Aurin cleared his throat. "I will most certainly definitely not ask you what goes on in whatever high-level meetings you attend..." His smile was dramatically innocent. In reality, Aurin was relieved. He had already initiated Castor in that rune, and it was the rune he understood with the perspective of one who had studied, been taught, and not just learned by trial and error. He was more confident in teaching that to Timon than anything else, and it made sense given his professional plans. Aurin respected his practicality.

"Aye. Traversion it is. You're old enough to run away from home now." He smirked. His fingers were still intertwined with Torin's under the table.

When eyes turned back to Sivan, the elf considered a moment longer, then smiled.

"I hope that my caution never reads as condescension. Then, it just begs the question whether you opt for the rune that will aid you in your business prospects first, or answer the call of the wild. Whichever you choose, assuming your threshold sickness is mild and leaves no lasting troubles, you will have to wait a season after it subsides before planning the next. And we will go to the valley for it, I think. The initiation and the recovery and the practice. Huntress will have opinions."

Did the tips of his nose and ears flush slightly at mention of the wolf?

"And though you have not asked it of me, should you wish to move your business interests into Sol'Valen, I will petition on your behalf with the Val'Istra, whether in the capacity of a limited partnership—Laurevere spends time in Kalzasi in order to oversee their interests there—or to help them expand into more of Karnor." He spread his hands, knowing Timon himself would know better how to make use of Sivan's good will with the family than Sivan himself.

Aurin nodded, too. He would certainly help with contacts outside Kalzasi; he could even see bankrolling an expansion into a new territory just so he could tap Timon's network for information. He wanted secrets more than he wanted gold at the end of the day. But he could certainly manage something for Timon in Solunarium. He didn't think Arry had ever met the kid, so wouldn't necessarily equate him with Torin.

And even Kala considered helping him into the Imperium, though she wouldn't mention it today.

The elf, though, was still as he awaited Timon's response.

[Torin Kilvin]

Timon listened as his plans were passed around the table, receiving comments and offers for expansion. When it wound down, he was comfortable, relaxed enough to drink from his wine glass.

"I think waiting for warmer weather for the amount of time I imagine we'll be spending outdoors would be good." He answered Sivan on the matter of which Rune would be granted first. His use of language was less precise now, not due to the small amount of alcohol, but because it felt less like he was trying to prove himself. Everyone was jumping onboard with their versions of enthusiasm.

One foot slid deeper under the table to brush against Kaus' across from him. It wasn't a kick, even a playful one, just a touch, but it didn't withdraw as one might if touching by accident. The youth would meet the eyes of his interest if his attention was sought, overtly or otherwise but he continued to reply to the conversation.

"More learning in the Ministry of Finance would be great, splitting my time between the Forge and the Ministry would be ideal while I am getting thing set up for my business. Wouldn't mind my face being familiar to bankers and the like, either."

The Forge's shop had only been open a few days a week while Torin and Sivan had been absent, since their ability to fulfill orders had been slowed by their distance of the past two seasons. Now that they had returned, Timon saw no reason to be open more often. It wasn't as though clients for such expensive items were pouring in by the hour and anyone who wanted to make orders, or even buy the off-the-shelf Alchemical substances Sivan kept stocked, the days the shop was open were clearly indicated on the sign out front.

There was a great deal to be done before he began actually trading and it could only be aided by additional information. He had several ideas of what goods he would like to begin with, but finding suppliers and buyers was a matter of contacts. His network of merchant and manufacturing contacts had been carefully and intentionally cultivated from the moment Torin had trusted him to make purchased for the forge. There was no rush to put the pieces together, with his income from continuing to work for Torin and now working for Kala, he could live more than comfortably. Not to mention his welcome in any of the homes of those who shared the current celebration with him. It was a stress relieving situation to find himself in, considering the circumstances that Torin, Sivan and Aurin had made their first steps into adulthood under.

The conversation continued to flow, discussion of the merits and obstacles of the different locations for him to ply his intended trade devolving into jokes and more general discussions. Torin got pulled into a conversation with the elder Leukos' about the state of his valley and it's needs, similar to the needs of the people farming around Starfall. He could feel the tiny spark of life growing in the twin's sister-in-law, but there had been no announcement, so he didn't mention it.

The smith kept physical contact with Aurin, a hand in his, or on his leg, or pressing their legs together, throughout the feast. It steadied them both, and they didn't have to talk about it. Torin was hoping for a long, slow, Semblance over-lapping night shared in his bed afterward, but he would take whatever Aurin was in the mood for and enjoy it.

When the meal was complete and everyone began to mill about the chamber, continuing conversations in smaller groups, Timon let himself be drawn into a few of them, but kept an eye out for the moment when he could request his final gift. When he saw it, he politely excused himself from his current conversational partners and moved to where Kaus was hovering on the edges of a family discussion. Reaching out, the human touched the Avialae's arm to get his attention without interruption and drew him a little away.

When the two were a dozen feet from any of the other groups, standing before a wide window flooded with cold moonlight, Timon stopped and smiled at his friend.

"I hope you didn't think I had nothing to ask of you. I just... didn't want to ask with everyone watching." His eyes were hopeful, bright from alcohol, interesting, and a little bit of nerves.

[Sivan]

Sivan laughed quietly, and agreed. He then stood and raised his glass.

"To Timon," he declared, and, "may the stars be ever in your favor."

He gave Kala a hard look, but it softened quickly into an odd little smile. Such was his humor. But others picked up the toast and Sivan sat down again, turning to speak to the person at his side. He was content with Aurin initiating and training Timon first in Traversion; he would complete his apprenticeship in alchemy by the end of the season, but then there was artificery. He also wanted to grow a bit more practiced in his own animism before attempting to teach someone else to use it, and of course he didn't know whether his brand of animism, quite connected to his spiritwalking and summoning, would translate to the newly minted man.

But he banished his anxieties. Timon respected him enough to ask for it, so he would respect him enough to teach him to the best of his abilities, glad of the reprieve a season would give him in the meantime.

The party went well. Akshara was the first to excuse herself, which was to be expected. While her health was on an upswing, she wanted to ensure she got enough rest and didn't wear out a good thing. Aquilios and his wife departed next. Later, Aurin was looking at Torin as though he wanted something very particular from him when at last Timon got Kaus relatively alone. Aurin had already cornered him briefly, just long enough to mutter in his ear, "You can be a Kavafis if you want," and then wander off as if nothing had happened, the damaged fuck.

Kala, with her own brand of social gravity, had pulled more people to the opposite end of the room, another gift for Timon, perhaps.

Kaus was grinning, harmlessly tipsy and enjoying himself. Home felt more whole than it had in a long time since Kala had managed to go to Atoria and come back, which had lit starfire in their mother's heart and warmed the place like unto how he remembered from his youth when his father was alive.

"Well, as handy as reaving might be," Kaus said, pausing mid-sentence for a sip of wine, "and despite your skill with the blade, I think kinetics would be more useful to you. But there's elementalism, too." He shrugged. "But you didn't have to wait for a birthday. You just have to ask for things. Although I suppose I will run out of things to teach you soon... It started later for you than for me, but you might end up with one of the best educations around."

He raised his glass.

"To the brilliant Timon..."

[Torin Kilvin]

Kaus was beautiful in the moonlight, but Kaus was beautiful everywhere, and Timon has spent the last several years of his life trying to process through all the things he felt about that fact. With difficulty, he had reached a space where he could think about it and still maintain the ability to speak coherently. He had always spoken coherently to the Avialae, but that had been by decidedly refusing to think about how beautiful he was.

Shaking his head a little, he laughed,

"That wasn't the kind of magic I was hoping you'd grant me." He might, someday, ask for Kinetics, but he had neither affinity nor particular inclination for either Reaving, which made his headache, nor Elementalism.

When the private toast came, he grinned, flushing a little, happy and tipsy and pleased by all the praise. Raising his glass, he returned,

"To my brilliant teachers." That all of his teachers were, in fact, brilliant, geniuses of their fields was his good luck and possibly the grace of some god or other. Now the grace of a goddess, who had politely pulled everyone else away, almost as if she knew. Because, of course, she knew. Her knowing and still leaving him space to make his declaration was as close to her blessing as he was willing to contemplate for the time being.

"I didn't want to ask you in front of everyone because..." Leaning closer, he rested a hand on Kaus' arm, squeezed gently, searching his eyes before dropping his own.

"I know you probably still see me as a boy, things like that don't change overnight, but I hope that, someday, you will be able to see me as a man. The way I see you." The tone held longing, it held desire, barely contained in politeness. It might not be enough, he had planned to say more, but plans in front of the mirror always go easier than they do in company.

[Kala Leukos]

.

"Well, of course you are a man now..."

Just as Timon hadn't spoken to him in these terms before, Kaus' mind hadn't truly moved in that direction either. But then the touch, while not prurient, was not the familiarity he knew from roughhousing. The tone of voice wasn't one he had heard before, nor was the look in Timon's eyes one he had seen.

Then things fell into place in his mind as though they had been parts of a building going up, suspended here until another piece could be moved out of the way, and everything fit together like some puzzle he hadn't been consciously assembling. The various presences that were always there in the back of his mind were remarkably distant, purposefully looking the other way, and that was as unbalancing as any amount of wine.

He found himself wondering what it would feel like to be out in the cold, to truly feel the cold, but that was only his mind's clever way of reminding him of the time he tracked Timon down in a blizzard and kept him alive with body heat and a bit of elemental magic. Frowning, he reexamined his memories for some deviant behavior on his part and found none. There was nobody in his mind to ask for a second opinion, which left him teetering.

Bright blue eyes peered back at Timon as he tried to examine how this realization made him feel.

"Oh..."

His gaze softened with long-standing affection. Eventually, his sword-callused hand reached out to touch Timon's cheek as if he couldn't have drawn it from memory. Fingertips traced an eyebrow, then jawline from ear to chin.

It didn't feel as though Timon was asking him to bed. That was something that would certainly require more time for Kaus' mind to process. He was asking for something a great deal more profound than that. While he could make no promises about outcomes, he had to say something.

"Give me some time," he asked softly. "Time without wine."

But let Timon take this as a rejection, and the last thing Kaus wanted to do was crush such emotional bravery, his hands came up to cup Timon's cheeks as though he were something precious.

"Happy birthday, Master Timon," he said features swimming somewhere between an impish smile and impending tears.

He leaned in and kissed Timon, lips slightly parted, though his tongue made no invasion. He lingered there, sharing his breath with the newly minted man.

.

[Torin Kilvin]

The teenager waited, outwardly calm, if also intensely interested. Inwardly, he clenched everything he knew how to clench, waiting. This could go so many ways, and anything but revulsion would be alright. Even if Kaus felt revulsion at the idea of... of Timon, in that way, he was probably too kind to show it. Let down, even easy, would suck, but he was not unprepared for it. Preparing for all likely eventualities was important. He wouldn't sink into a depression or lose his interest in life if the first person he expressed ardor for wasn't interested.

He might be a bit of a bitch for a while, but not to Kaus. Aurin could take him out to drink something awful but strong and probably hook him up with a pretty platinum blond to ease his rejection, then he would get on with all the amazing things he was going to do with his life. But Kaus hadn't turned him down yet, so all of his slightly inebriated concentration was on the platinum blond in front of him. Touching him...

Timon's eyes tried to close as the warm hand moved over his face in the sort of comfortable touch they shared in other circumstances, but he didn't let them. The answer was too important. When he had heard it, he nodded, only a little, not wanting to dislodge the hand. He watched the kiss as it came, slowly, deliberately; felt his heart did things he couldn't describe, both the one in his chest and the one in his mind. Then his senses took over. Warmth, clean Kaus-scent, the taste of wine and a gentle pressure that somehow made him dizzy.

The urge to press harder, grab for more, existed, but they were far away urges. When the kiss faded, he leaned forward to lay his head lightly on Kaus' shoulder, arms coming about the Avialae's waist lightly and held there till the dizziness faded. It wasn't long, but long enough for him to feel how safe Kaus' arms always made him. Straightening without letting go, but leaning back enough that they could see each other, he answered.

"I wanted to ask you this last year, at New Years, but I wasn't ready. I needed to find more of myself. It's only fair that you have as much time as you need." Knowing Kaus also needed time to think, to grow into the idea, one way or the other, felt right. If he had just jumped at Timon, literally or figuratively, it would have been less, somehow. Not that Timon would have said 'No' to that...

"I won't bring this up again unless you do. Not for another year, and every year after, until you tell me not to. Or..."

Licking his lips, he kissed Kaus back, solemn and soft; a promise. "Or until you want more than the asking."

This hung between them for a long moment, then the young human grinned the playful grin they shared and said,

"Now get me drunk, and promise not to make fun of me too much in the morning."

[Kala Leukos]

.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a week," he said, laughing quietly.

The youngest Leukos of his generation hadn't let go of Timon. They were near the windows and Timon could catch a chill, and even if Kaus rarely felt the cold, there was a nice difference between not being cold and feeling the warmth of someone he cared about next to him.

"Back in Kalzasi, I'll take you on a proper date and we will reintroduce ourselves to each other. In a sense. We know each other, but now I will walk into it thinking of you as a man I have asked out to dinner rather than all the things you have been before."

After another long, lingering pause, "It ought to be slow, I think. If you are asking for what I think you are asking for, we ought to give each other time. But you should ask for what you want. Asking for a thing you want isn't the same as demanding it on the spot. And hey, it worked out for you tonight, didn't it?"

With a grin, he accepted the challenge. They spent the rest of the evening more easily, relaxed into what they already had even if there was the promise of newer things on the horizon. He got Timon good and drunk, helped him to his room though he had to carry him up the stairs when they defeated the young man. He cajoled Timon into drinking a full glass of water with a bit of an herbal remedy one could take before a hangover set in, and had the pitcher of water nearby in case he woke up parched.

Kaus removed Timon's boot, then spent a few minutes kneading knots out of the arch of his foot before removing the other and repeating. The happy, needy little sounds Timon made also made Kaus feel good—the pleasure of giving and receiving care was important, of course. The young man wouldn't settle for a kiss on the forehead, or even a kiss on the lips to say good night though it be nearly morning. And so, not really bothered, Kaus kicked off his own boots, climbed onto the bed and blanketed Timon with his wing.

The young man was snoring softly before too long, but they were the happiest snores Kaus had ever heard.

.