For Sinric

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan's room is almost pathologically neat, the bed made and everything in its place.

He stands aside to let Sinric in, the bathroom door standing open to reveal the huge sunken bath inside.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

"I shouldn't. I should go." He doesn't want to but he's scared and exposed and part of him wants to run from that.

[athelstanthescribe]

If he wants to, Athelstan will let him go. But if he doesn't...

"Are you sure?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Yes. No." He isn't sure of anything. "I don't know." He buries his face in Athelstan's shoulder.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan strokes his hair, sorry to have caused this vulnerability but not sorry for what caused it.

"When you have to go", he whispers, "I won't stop you. But you're welcome to stay, and no one will notice your absence through the magic of this place."

[thewidewideworld]

"You really don't mind?" He asks softly, soothed by the stroking of his hair.

"This place really is magic then?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I don't mind a bit", Athelstan assures him. "And neither would my lord Ragnar, should he come in. Yes, this place really is magic, and time will wait for you, paused, back in Constantinople."

[thewidewideworld]

"You would share me with him? If he wanted?" He doesn't seem troubled by the idea, just curious about their relationship.

"That might be useful. There are too many days I don't get to sleeps till well after dawn." Courtesan's hours.

[athelstanthescribe]

"If you wanted", he says firmly. "He has no more interest in an unwilling partner than I do. But yes, if you both wanted, I would. As he would have shared me with his first wife, and I share him with his second."

[thewidewideworld]

"So his wives know they you're lovers? That's rare. Many men I deal with would be ashamed for their women to know they enjoy the pleasures of men. That's part of the reason the Emperor has us dress the way we do. That and I look better in dresses than half the women in court." There's a little of his former strength starting to leak back.

[athelstanthescribe]

He laughs dryly.

"Princess Aslaug knows nothing of what's between us. But Lady Lagertha, before she left him... the very first night I was in their house, they came together to invite me to their bed."

He regrets now that he didn't go.

"And you do look very good in a dress."

[thewidewideworld]

"So you're having to be careful. That must be hard?" He cocks his head sympathetically. This is the other part he's good at, the listening. "Did she desire you? Or did she know already that you desired each other?"

He smiles brightly, pushing back his golden mane, somewhat mussed now. "And that's just a stola for dancing. You should see me in a full dalmatic."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Very difficult indeed. It isn't only his wife... no one can know there, for reasons I'm sure you can guess at. I believe Lady Lagertha desired me, but she must have known that Earl Ragnar did as well, and she seemed not to mind a whit." He smiles to see Sinric's confidence returning. "One day, I should like to."

[thewidewideworld]

"She sounds like a wonderful lady. Is she... no longer around?"

"Perhaps next time I come here, it will be dressed in my finery rather than just the clothes I was wearing to get back to my bed."

[athelstanthescribe]

"She left him", he says sadly, "and took their son. It was because of Princess Aslaug and the child she carried... she felt, in the end, she could not live with it and keep her pride. We don't know where they went, or if they still live." But he believes in his heart they do. "That will be a sight to see."

[thewidewideworld]

"That must be very hard on both of you, if she was more... understanding of you both." He brushes a gentle hand through Athelstan's hair, getting himself together again. "I have no doubt your paths will cross again." Because there should always be hope.

"A Persian trader made me a gift of the most beautiful length of blue silk. The dalmatic the court tailor made it into hugs my chest perfectly and makes my chest look as full as any woman. And river pearls around the hem make it shine." He's very fond of that dress.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan tips his head into the touch, enjoying the simple comfort of lying together, now the sex is done. He could have gone without it, except it seemed expected, but given what it did for Sinric, he's glad he didn't.

"She's very much missed", he says with a nod, then smiles at the description of the dress. "You must look beautiful in it."

[thewidewideworld]

"I take it your lord's new lady is not so well loved?" Sinric's glad too, even if it will take time and solitude to fully understand. He distracts himself with questions and playing with Athelstan's hair, twirling it around his fingers into little curls.

"The last time I wore it in the Emperor's presence, the Empress looked like she wanted to scratch my eyes out for it."

[athelstanthescribe]

"If it wasn't for the child", he says frankly, "he would have sent her packing for Lady Lagertha's sake. But because of the child, he felt an obligation. She is... she tries to be kind, more often than not, but always with an air of knowing her place and mine."

That gets a laugh. "But she could do no such thing? Surely a great lady in her position has no call to be jealous."

[thewidewideworld]

"But you have him and all the stolen moments you can find. It must be helpful to have a place like this."

"Oh, she could have my head on a pike if she ordered it. She doesn't like the Emperor's little birds but he does so she keeps quiet and seethes."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Very helpful", Athelstan agrees. "We lost it, for four years, but then there were stolen moments and once in a while, we would... go hunting."

He nods. "So she would have to have a good reason to order your head on a pike, or displease her Emperor. Are there many of you little birds?"

[thewidewideworld]

"So the way here is hard to find? I don't really know how I found it at all." He smiles at the euphemism. "And do you hunt often? Or only as often as you can make time?"

"Only because I'm prettier than her and the Emperor likes my golden hair. He like to watch me dance too." He stretches out on his back, resting his head on Athelstan's shoulder.

"Seven of us he keeps for play and to entertain his guests. There are twelve others picked for their brains rather than their beauty who he has trained for governance and service. Eunuchs are considered trustworthy household staff because we have no family and therefore no ambition to overthrow him."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan runs his hand through Sinric's hair.

"It can be. It showed itself often, before those four years, but then not at all - it seems that most people don't find it at all, but it finds them. I suppose eunuchs also must be useful to guard his women."

They couldn't get them illicitly pregnant if they wanted to.

[thewidewideworld]

He does quiet, thinking about that. How often will he be able to find the way? Is it safe to store things here?

He shrugs at that. "Emperor Constantine has very few women. It's not his way." He sighs. "In his own way, he's very loyal to his wives. People speak well of Maria, as kind but childless, she died about when his son by his first marriage was named co-ruler."

"Empress Consort Eudokia," He gives her name a sing-song quality, "she knows her place is as brood mare to secure his dynasty. Unless something happens to Leo, no child of her blood with never see power. A third wife is rare, and for any but the Emperor, against law. And Leo is a jealous boy. Her sons will not live long when he comes to the throne."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Do you think she'd try to arrange for something to happen to Leo?" Athelstan asks quietly.

[thewidewideworld]

"Oh no, she isn't fool enough for that." Sinric plays with Athelstan's hair, twisting it into careless braids. "And if she tried and failed Leo would not be kind and his father would not be merciful. She has no real power and so seethes at the little injustices she can't change. Like me."

A dark thought crosses his mind. "When Leo comes to power on his own, it would be a bad time to be in the city, let alone the palace. Little birds will need to fly fast."