http://clampfix.fanworks.net/re-fix/bf7.txt </head><body><pre> Between Friends Part Seven Lantis sighed to himself as he packed a bag with what he would need for the trip. Foolishly, he could feel his resolve to remain immune to Eagle's affections weakening. "Damn him for being so cute," Lantis muttered. "And honest and smart." His eyes closed briefly as he remembered his dream of the night before. He did not believe that Eagle had in any way influenced his dream; here on Autozam, not even Eagle had telepathic ability. What little ability he had to speak mind-to-mind was empathic in basis, and borrowed on Lantis' own telepathy when they were close enough to each other. In his dream of the night before, Lantis had dreamed of returning to Cephiro... a Cephiro with none of the problems he had seen coming to it. There, he and Eagle had been joined, with both of their families in the audience, friends present as well. What had been the most odd was seeing Geo as Eagle's best man, seeing the smile on his face as he handed them the green vines to bind their wrists with for the handfasting ceremony. <A year and a day to be spent together?> Lantis thought, pondering upon the significance of the amount of time, and finding none. <Why not simply a pure marriage? Why just a trial?> Lantis sighed again and decided that he had done enough packing. He shouldered the bag and looked around his room, his eyes seeking and failing to find anything that he might need. He shrugged and left, heading towards the domicile of Eagle's family. They had agreed to all meet there before leaving for the depths of Autozam's forests. Eagle smiled to himself and finished straightening up his room after his packing. He hadn't needed to take much, just enough for half a week. He looked at his pack for a second, then decided to add his sword, just in case Lantis should happen to bring his Cephirian-forged blade. It was always more interesting to fight with real swords. The door tones chimed and Eagle smiled, checking the visual panel. "Come in, Zazu," he called, keying the door open. "I'll be out in a second." "'Kay," Zazu replied, smiling and giving him a thumbs-up sign. Eagle smiled and closed his knapsack, shouldering it and heading out towards the main room of his home. "Geo and Lantis here yet?" Zazu questioned, dropping his pack on the floor. "Not yet," Eagle replied, setting his own bag next to Zazu's. "Want to help me check out the FTO?" "Sure!" Zazu agreed instantly, his face lighting up in a grin. "It must be nice being rich, Eagle. Your parents give you the coolest birthday presents!" "You just like the FTO because it's big and mechanical," Eagle teased. "Yeah. So?" Zazu instantly replied. Eagle shook his head and sighed, gesturing for Zazu to precede him. "At times I can understand why Geo says what he does about you." "I'm a kid; gimme a break!" The mech moved through the woods, surprisingly light compared to its bulk. Eagle and Geo looked at the magnificent forest around them, virgin territory. They had never been this far before. Zazu slept next to Geo, having mumbled something about staying up way late to play around with the designs of his midterm project. Lantis curled up in his cloak too, peacefully sleeping. He had seemed fairly unimpressed by all the unspoiled forest, giving the explanation that a great portion of Cephiro looked like these woods. Eagle smiled softly; it was so beautiful out here, and the air was fresh, tasting and smelling cleaner than that in the cities. He looked over at Geo as the latter yawned. "Want to take a short nap?" Eagle called softly. "Sure," Geo replied. Eagle nodded and used his mental energy to reach out and control the machine, making it stop. He smiled and settled down into the mech's hand, next to Lantis, draping his cloak so that he would be nice and comfortable inside the temperature-adjustive fabric. "Goodnight, Lantis," he murmured, closing his eyes and adjusting his internal chronometer so that he would wake up in two and a half hours. Lantis opened his eyes as he felt a small something settle on his hair. He looked up at the small brown bird and almost smiled. He sat up slowly, and the bird remained on his head. Lifting his hand, he carefully got the small aviary creature to perch on his finger. It cocked its head to one side and seemed to examine him. "Sorry, I don't have any bird food on me," Lantis quietly informed it. With a disappointed "cheep!" the bird flew away. Lantis turned his head and considered the sleeping Eagle. Sometime they must have stopped moving, as Geo also appeared to have succumbed to a mid-afternoon nap. Sighing softly, Lantis stood and moved about quietly on Eagle's FTO. He dropped to the ground and looked around. "Cephiro..." he murmured, closing his eyes and taking his sword out. He ignited the energy-blade with a thought and immediately fell into stance. Clef may have taught him magic.... ... but it was Prince Ferio who had first taught Lantis his swordsmanship. With no more sound than a soft breeze makes, Lantis went through the moves of the many, many, attacks and defenses Zagato had made him learn that he had since practiced and refined on his own. And while he went through them, he thought. He thought about a thousand things. He thought about his brother and the Princess. He thought about his parents and the small village he had come from. He thought about Guru Clef, and how he had been trained by the sorceror at a very young age to keep his magic under control. He thought about Ferio, the Princess' brother, whom he had often practiced with before the young Prince had left the castle. And he thought about Eagle. He thought a lot about Eagle. He analyzed every moment that they had spent together, trying to figure out if there had been clues that Eagle had been falling in love with him, indications that he should have noticed. There were, and they were painfully obvious in hindsight. What Lantis should have done was never to have based his decision to stay on Autozam simply on the strength of Eagle's wish, he decided. And he should have come better prepared to deal with the strange people he might meet, the strange customs he would have to face, and the strange desires he might need to confront. Lantis had never heard of a man falling in love with another man before he had come to Autozam, never even conceived of such a notion. Yet it had happened. Eagle had fallen in love with him, and Lantis was ill-prepared to deal with such a thing. He did not want to break Eagle's heart, but he was neither sure of his own treacherous feelings towards his friend nor of his ability to avoid hurting Eagle any more than he already had. <I don't know how to be gentle and diplomatic, and I cannot be loving towards him. I cannot be what he needs, even if I am what he wants.> Lantis stood still for a moment as he remembered Geo's teasing of Eagle, months before, for being overly affectionate towards Lantis. "He's not your type, Eagle," Geo had teasingly commented. Eagle had looked Lantis up and down with a semi-thoughtful smile on his face. "Who knows? The heart is a changeable thing," he had replied in the same jesting vein of emotion. "Sometimes I worry about the two of you," Lantis had said before they all succumbed to Eagle's silliness in their own ways, Geo cracking up, Eagle laughing, and Lantis softly smiling. It had seemed like such a joke at the time. <I wonder if the heart truly is a changeable thing...> Lantis found himself wondering. </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>