The Cycles of Revelation Series

Artifact of the Dawn: Friendship (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)

Episode 8: As Jevan and Ardyn make their way out of the forbidden woods, they learn more about each other and strengthen their growing friendship.

They made good time over the two days they traveled, working their way back toward the perimeter of the Aria’una. Since leaving the strange gleaming tower, they had spoken little. Jevan could see what they’d discovered had shaken the elf’s faith in his people, especially his elders.

Ardyn also seemed worried for him, but Jevan could take care of himself. If I can’t escape execution at the hands of these elves, at least Ard Mathias can’t force me into a pair-bond, he thought, laughing sardonically to himself.

Jevan was more concerned for the elf’s safety, although Ardyn had reassured him he was in no danger of execution, despite their extended incursion into the Aria’una. Jevan had a knot of worry that sat in his stomach, hard and heavy. He barely knew Ardyn, but he felt a connection to the elf, so he couldn’t shake his feeling of concern.

Beyond that, Jevan also worried about the tenuous truce between his and Ardyn’s people. After all these centuries, there was still so much hatred and distrust between them, and if Jevan found himself executed by the Elder Triumvirate in Maala’naa, he hoped it wouldn’t spark a new conflict.

Jevan’s village of Yanen was the closest Medellan settlement to Maala’naa. I really don’t care what happens to me, Jevan thought to himself. But I don’t want to put my mother and sister in danger. If it comes down to it, I hope I can charm my way out of this mess.

To escape his troubling thoughts, Jevan broke the silence between them. “How large is your family?” he asked.

Ardyn scowled at the question. His ears lowered before he replied curtly. “Large enough.”

“What’s wrong?” Jevan asked in confusion. “I thought your people loved talking about their families?”

Ardyn stopped walking, his fingers fiddling with the end of his long braid. “They do. It’s just… complicated.”

“If you’d rather not talk about it, then I apologize for asking,” Jevan said sincerely.

“No, I’m sorry. With everything we have learned so far, I have had some realizations that have brought up old resentments I’ve tried to forget. It’s partly related to family,” Ardyn tried to explain.

Standing silently, Jevan allowed Ardyn the time to think and explain as much as he was comfortable with.

“Maybe I should get this off my chest, but let’s keep moving,” Ardyn suggested, walking toward their destination once more. Jevan stared at Ardyn for a moment before jogging to catch up with him.

After a few more moments, Ardyn finally spoke. “First, a short answer to your question. My family includes my parents, the three females I mated, and my three children. You know Athla’naa usually live in polyamorous families. The elders encourage us to have as many children as possible, preferably with multiple mates. There are so few of us, and they taught us it helps make our children healthier and stronger if each of us mates with at least three different people,” Ardyn explained.

“So, you only had one child with each mate?” Jevan asked. “Most of your people I’ve met would have had more than a half-dozen by your age.”

“Yes, but it’s not that simple,” Ardyn explained. “I was… they forced me to mate to produce children. The first was for my coming-of-age mating ceremony, and then I had to mate with two other females for their ceremonies. The first one was from Maala’naa, and the other two were from other settlements.”

“They forced you?!” Jevan exclaimed with shock. “Why?”

Ardyn stopped again, pacing back and forth for a few moments before leaning his back against a nearby tree. “I didn’t want to mate with them,” Ardyn admitted. “But my elders didn’t give me a choice. I had to, for the good of our people… or so they told me.”

That’s when Jevan understood. “So, you’re worried that if your elders have been lying about your ancestors, what else could they have been lying about?”

Ardyn pushed away from the tree and paced again. “Exactly. Maybe… maybe I didn’t need to mate at all. I fought against it, but I gave in because of how necessary they said it was for me to at least produce three children. They made it sound like the entire Athla’naa civilization depended on it.”

“That’s a lot to put on anyone,” Jevan said. “I’m sorry. You should never have to be forced into something like that.” We’re so alike. This makes me wonder why my people are also so insistent on pair-bonding. What difference does it actually make?

Jevan set down his heavy pack and sat on a nearby log. Taking a swig from his waterskin, he tried to change the topic. “So, why didn’t you want to mate with them? Not your type?”

“Something like that,” Ardyn replied, sitting down on the ground with his back against the tree. “I prefer to mate with males, not females.”

Jevan’s eyes went wide. “You do? Yet, the other day, you seemed put off by my terrible attempt at flirting.”

“It wasn’t the fact you are male that put me off,” Ardyn admitted. “It was the fact you’re athla’maakh.”

“So, you’re not into tall, dark, and handsome?” Jevan teased, laughing at his own joke.

Ardyn laughed in return, the sound of it bringing Jevan a moment of joy. I hope I hear that laugh more often.

“I’m not sure,” Ardyn confessed. “Honestly, between the continued tension between our people, and the fact we’re so different from each other, I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“It’s okay,” Jevan said. “I’m happy to enjoy your company as a friend. We don’t need to be more than that.” Ardyn was beautiful, but Jevan had enough liaisons with other elves that he felt no need to charm the pants off Ardyn. Especially not under current circumstances.

Ardyn stood and held out his hand. “Alright, friend, let’s keep moving and we may still make it out of here before nightfall.”

Jevan let Ardyn help pull him up before he grabbed his pack and followed as the elf led the way.

After walking in silence for a while, Ardyn turned to Jevan. “So, I shared about my family. What of yours? Do you have a mate and children?”

“No. There’s only my mother and sister,” Jevan replied. “My father passed from an illness a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Ardyn offered his sympathies. “I haven’t experienced a loss like that yet. How does your mother manage? Can she mate again?”

“Our pair-bonds last for life,” Jevan explained. “We are able to pair-bond again after a bondmate passes, but it doesn’t happen often. My sister remains with her, at least until she pair-bonds herself. After that, my mother will have the choice to live alone, or move with my sister and her bondmate into a new home.”

Now that Jevan had put the notion into his head, Ardyn took furtive glances at the tall man. He is good looking, in his own way, Ardyn had to admit to himself. “Do you plan to pair-bond with anyone?” Ardyn asked.

Jevan let out an exasperated sigh. “No, but my village ard has been insisting I pair-bond within the next season. I don’t want to,” Jevan explained.

“Why not? You seem like someone who would enjoy having a mate and children,” Ardyn said. “You’re so jovial, and you would make a good father.”

“Well, the truth is, I don’t like the idea of being pair-bonded to only one person for the rest of my life. Also, there isn’t anyone I know that I would want to pair-bond with.”

“Are all your pair-bonds between males and females?” Ardyn asked. “Do your people put as much emphasis on having children as mine do?”

“No, although most Medellans will pair-bond with the opposite sex, and have children,” Jevan replied. “But it’s not unheard of for someone to pair-bond with the same sex. I know a few couples like that, scattered throughout the villages I trade with.”

Wait, Jevan finds me attractive, right? Ardyn remembered. “Since you flirted with me, are you like me? Do you only enjoy mating with males, too?”

Jevan chuckled at that. “Not quite. I enjoy the company of males and females. It’s one reason I haven’t chosen to pair-bond. I’d much prefer having multiple partners.”

“You would fit right in with my people. You would just need pointier ears,” Ardyn teased.

That made Jevan laugh. “The thought had briefly crossed my mind once,” Jevan admitted. “I’d worry I would never be welcome to see my mother and sister again, but I almost asked Elder Syvan to let me become a member of her settlement.”

“Would you be able to give up all your metal tools?”

“Honestly? Yeah, I would,” Jevan said. “Although, if ancient elves made all those structures we found, I would have liked to have met them. I’d love to learn how they forged that metal. My people have never found a way to forge metal that doesn’t corrode over time.”

Feeling sheepish, Ardyn ducked his head. “Don’t tell anyone, but… I would love to know, too,” Ardyn admitted quietly. “I have always had a fascination with the technology I’ve seen your people use, and what we found in the Aria’una makes me want to know more.”

Looking up, Ardyn saw the stark white trunks and red leaves of the bhath’laa’ar in the distance. Slowing his pace, he pulled on Jevan’s arm. “We are approaching the perimeter; keep up your guard.”

“You’re still sure they are already waiting for us?” Jevan whispered, and Ardyn nodded. After so many days, the elders would have moved hunting and ranger patrols all along the perimeter of the Aria’una. A true breach happened rarely, but he’d been a part of several patrols over the past few years when the elders suspected an incursion.

As they neared the bhath’laa’ar, Jevan stopped and pointed up at something. “Ardyn, have you ever really looked at these?”

Looking at where Jevan was pointing, partially hidden up in the branches, was a small metal box with blinking lights. Running along the perimeter, there were boxes positioned on every tree. “No, I’ve never been this close to the trees before… well, never this close while paying attention, anyway.”

“I was wondering about that,” Jevan said. “I would have noticed trees like this. It makes me wonder if we both stumbled into your forbidden area through a section where these trees are missing or more obscured by the surrounding brush and vines?”

The thought hadn’t even occurred to Ardyn. The elders taught that the bhath’laa’ar formed an unbroken perimeter around the Aria’una, but it’s possible some may have been felled by a lightning storm. Trees were long lived, but even they weren’t immortal.

Jevan walked closer to a tree, setting down his heavy pack and hoisting himself up to get a closer look at the box. “These are made of the same metal as that key,” Jevan said. “Come up here and take a look.”

Climbing up next to Jevan, Ardyn pulled the key out of his pocket and held it up next to the box. The metal was the same color and smoothness, and the box also had some of that now familiar elven script. When Ardyn reached out to touch the box, the script glowed and a small panel on the side of the box popped open.

“Ior’kah!” Ardyn cursed. “You’re right!” He looked inside the box and saw a confusing array of blinking lights and things he couldn’t describe. “The elders must know these exist and… and… they must use this technology somehow. That would explain how they always knew when a breach of this perimeter happened. They have been lying to us. That’s the only explanation.”

The next moment, a voice called out from below, speaking in the language of the Athla’naa. “Get down from there immediately!”

Looking down, Ardyn recognized members of one of the hunting parties from Maala’naa. They’d found them.

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