Chapter 10
After that Ezekiel and Brandon delved into a silent rhythm.
The soft sun beat down on them and the grass, warming it, so that every blade that brushed against Brandon's ankles felt like the warm brush of a breath. And Brandon found the work and view to be a calming affair all around.
Even Ezekiels company calmed him. His presence perhaps calmed Brandon most of all. Mostly because Brandon found that he craved proximity to the Guardian that went beyond his own understanding.
Even though Ezekiel held himself in a brooding silence as they worked.
But this was understandable considering the fact that the two of them had only just gotten over a large...and mostly unresolved argument, minutes before arriving at Erin's cabin.
And for the most part, rather then continue to fight, Brandon allowed him to stew....especially seeing as Brandon had done everything in his power to aggravate and upset the guardian in the first place. So for a long moment they sat in shallow companionship, and both of them just remained in silence.
It was about an hour later that found Brandon and Ezekiel, were both sitting on either side of a much smaller, collapsed pile of potatoes. The cart that the vegetables had come out of had become their "bucket" so that each of the potatoes that the pair had managed to peel was tossed over their heads into the cart.
With Ezekiels guidance Brandon had figured out how to peel the spuds, but with his leather gloves covering his hands, the task that seemed menial, quickly became a headache for him.
The potatoes became slippery once their skin began to slide away beneath the metal tool in his hand, so that by time Ezekiel had peeled over thirty potatoes, Brandon found that he was still on his tenth one.
Beneath the midday sun and with the grass tickling his ankles Brandon was finally struggling with his twentieth potato when Ezekiel suddenly broke into his concertation.
"Brandon will you tell me something please?"
Without looking up and keeping a death grip on his current potato Brandon had to smile slightly to himself at the tenacity of the Shifter. His curiosity and insistence....were oddly refreshing. Brandon couldn't find it in himself to fault Ezekiel....or dislike him Brandon knew that he was puzzle. A mystery, and Brandon worked hard to appear that way. And most of people that saw this about him or figured out how strange he was usually turned away and left him alone. Always alone because it was safer for him and for other people.
But....Ezekiel was still trying to figure him out.
Despite the hurtles Brandon was making him jump through. Despite the fact that they we never going to see each other again. It was strangely appealing. His interest so open.
Brandon dropped the light smile on his face as he glanced up. "I don't know...Are you trying to interrogate me...AGAIN Ezekiel? Can't we just focus on the damn potatoes, because I don't really feel like arguing?"
Ezekiel glanced up at him then back down at the potato that he had in his own hand. As always Ezekiels face melted into a soft, charming smile at Brandon's blunt questions. "Calm it, I don't plan on arguing..." He said. Then he shrugged to himself. "And Ill try not to ask you anything that makes you unconvertable this time, I promise... So can't we have a normal conversation? No prying into anything personal you don't want to tell me...No games...just a nice talk."
"Why? Talk about what exactly?" Brandon mumbled, looking back down, as his hand slid and the potato peeler bit into the side of his gloves, he tisked in irritation and re-gripped the potato, before it could slid out of his hands entirely.
To this Ezekiel chuckled softly and suggested "Its too quiet...and we can talk about anything. Everything." Brandon let out a curse and didn't responded, but once more Ezekiel let out a chuckle. "Or maybe we can talk about something other than the fact that you are having a fight with a potato over there." He teased.
With a weak chuckle Brandon shot Ezekiel a look, before he let out a sigh. "Alright Ezekiel..." Brandon said softly, resting on the potato that still had most of its skin on it, Brandon turned to Ezekiel fully and shook his head at him. "In the spirit of compromise, and since it is kind of boring just sitting here what do you want to talk about first?" He inquired.
In the silence and warmth of the midday sun Brandon realized that perhaps he was backpedaling. Perhaps he was doing the exact opposite of what he need to do, which was put some space between them. And where Ezekiels quizzical nature would normally cause him to raise his heckles or feel defensive, in that quiet and secluded spot next to the forest Brandon just didn't feel the need to be defensive....especially since he didn't plan to really tell Ezekiel anything at all. But he also didn't want to get into another argument....or spend their next few hours in heavy silence. So the best thing to do was to play along.
With a few turns of his wrist Ezekiel expertly unfurled the skin off of his potato before raising his arm and tossing it back into the cart, without any issues. Only once he had begun to peel his next potato did he cast Brandon a doubtful look.
"Ok. Honestly I know next to nothing about you except for your name Brandon and I'm not sure what to ask you that won't turn this all into a gigantic argument." Ezekiel smirked slightly, then cast his blue gaze off into the distance. "So what WILL you tell me about yourself voluntarily? Tell me something about Brandon the mortal that I don't know. Something small."
Brandon the mortal? Wow
Brandon blinked and took a moment to seriously consider that question. Because he honestly had no idea what to say.
Brandon spent very little time satisfying his own needs, or desires. He didn't really know much about himself nor did he like what little he could understand about his own life. He knew that he had no real feelings about anything.....or much of a personality to impress people with. Brandon didn't know what to tell Ezekiel. Nothing about him was interesting or special. He was just a blight on the world....
Finally all Brandon could do was shrug at himself. "Hows about I tell you something small about myself...." He offered not really knowing what he would say. "And then you can do the same in return." He finished. Feeling the need to have Ezekiel talk about himself some, so as to fill the void of emptiness that Brandon feared he had to offer to the coming conversation. "I guess I'll tell you...My age? No. My favorite food...is um....Soup. And my favorite color is Black if that matters?" He finally offered.
To this Ezekiel stopped slicing the potato in his hand and let out a small laugh. "That's just...sad." He said. "All of that..."
Affronted Brandon cast him a glare. "What?" he asked and again Ezekiel laughed.
"Black? That's your favorite color?" Ezekiel asked him, a slightly mocking smile on his face to which Brandon rolled his eyes at.
"Just shut up. And tell me something about yourself already." He demanded as he turned his eyes away from Ezekiel and back to the potato that he still hadn't managed to clean of its dry brown peel.
"All right." Ezekiel said, the thunk of a potato hitting the inside of the cart an indication that he had finished with his spud and had already moved on to his next one. "What would you like to ask me?"
Instantly an inquiry arose on Brandon's thoughts. Something that had been niggling at him ever since the Ghouls had appeared. And it was something that only another Shifter would be able to explain. So Brandon dropped his hands into his lap, the half peeled potato totally forgotten for a few moments. "Well...." He began. "This is something I've been wondering about ever since the attack.....But are you're Parents really over two-hundred years old?"
With a small shrug, as if the answer was obvious Ezekiel replied. "Yes...My dad is just over two- hundred years old."
"And Glen too?" Brandon asked him next.
"Yup, she's two-hundred and twenty years old. In a few years she'll be one of the oldest Leopardesses in our Clan. But the oldest one living in our Clan right now is 310 years old next month!"
"No way...." Brandon couldn't help but breath. He couldn't imagine living that long. He also couldn't believe how young and appealing Mantilo and Glen still managed to appear in their age. It was another aspect of the Shifter society that just made him want to know more. "That's amazing, your parents barely look like they are over forty to me. How is that even possible?" He asked turning a new question on Ezekiel as he dropped the potato in his hand back into the pile unfinished. Then he turned and retrieved a thick blade of grass from the ground by his leg and slowly began to pull it apart. The sweet smell earth filing the air as he ribboned the soft blade of grass.
To his question Ezekiel sighed, sat the newest potato that he had plucked from the pile back down un-peeled, and turned on to his side making himself comfortable. So that he was facing Brandon as he put his palm under his chin.
"Well I've been taught and I've witnessed that we actually tend to age differently than you mortals. Once we experience our first Shift, which normally happens a few years after puberty....we slowly stop aging from that point forward." Ezekiel explained before letting out a large sharp toothed yawn that was far too reminiscent of the big cat that he really was.
For a moment Brandon envisioned a Leopard, with soft yellowed spotted fur, tuffed triangular ears, heavy paws, and a long serpentine tail, stretching out in the midday sunlight.
Brandon allowed him to finish yawning before he asked him. "So you stop aging? Are you saying that your people...." Brandon stopped knowing that the question was ridiculous and still feeling the need to ask it anyway. "Are you saying that you're....immortal?
Ezekiel blinked, then scoffed. "No. I'm Sorry I didn't mean to imply that we live forever, what I mean is that we just slow down."
Brandon gave him a look to continue. As he plucked more grass up from the earth.
And Ezekiel did, going on to explain with one or two small gestures. "So in a nutshell...." Ezekiel started off. "We rapidly slow in aging, because of the second life that has awakened in us. A new spirit that joins with our own. A beast that makes us stronger, faster, and consequently lengthens our lives. From the point of our first Shift, most Shifters tend to age only One Year to a mortals an every Three to Five years or so I was taught in school. The longest living Shifter was nearly six hundred years old, but most of us live to be three to four hundred."
As Ezekiels explanation wound to a halt Brandon attempted to mentally calculate how old Ezekiel may have been. To him Ezekiel appeared to be in his twenty's and he also had a far less uptight attitude then his father, but rather then strain himself thinking of the answer...Brandon decided to just ask Ezekiel right out. "Okay...for Shifters you only age one year for a mortal's every five. So how old are you in mortal years, Ezekiel? And how old are you in Shifter years?"
"Hmmm...." Ezekiel bit his lip and glanced downward.
With a small frown Brandon leaned towards him "What?" he asked, only for Ezekiel to click his tongue, close his eyes and scratch the back of his head with his other hand.
"I'm thinking...Im thinking." He replied slowly.
Brandon couldn't help but smile and he shook his head and tossed down the grass that he was twining.
It took a few more moments but suddenly Ezekiel exclaimed. "I got it!" He took the hand on the back of his head as said. "Now ....I'd say that I'm somewhere around 23 years old in mortal years. Compared to other Shifters...." Ezekiel sighed. "I'm no better than a toddler. "
"The other Shifters think you're still a Child?" Brandon asked both intrigued and surprised.
"In a way..." Ezekiel replied, glancing out towards the village to the south where Erin had traveled off to. Then he continued. "To the elders in my village like my mom and dad....I'm only a few years past the point of being a child or so my dad likes to say to me whenever I cause a ruckus."
With a nod of his head Brandon asked "So what about your age in Shifter years? How old are you by your own people's standards?"
"Well, technically I'm 63 this year.′ Ezekiel told his softly, then grimaced and started to sit up. "Still it's nothing compared to my father's age gap." He said and grunted as he settled back into a seating position with his legs loosely crossed. "Sometimes, I wish I was already one-hundred years old. It would make life so much easier."
Part of Brandon thought that he should have been bothered by how different Ezekiel and the other Shifter were from Brandon. Sure Brandon was a monster, with terrible powers....but at the end of the day Brandon was still a mortal. And somehow he had found himself surrounded by supernatural beings that were faster, stronger and far more aged then any mortal would ever be. But truthfully Brandon felt no unease about the Shifters he was in company with. In a lot of ways Ezekiel and his family were normal people. Shifters or not. One- hundred years old....or Twenty years old.
But even though Brandon didn't mind this new information....it did make him all the more curious.
"Well, what about your brothers, Ezekiel?" Brandon asked next. "Are they older then they look too?"
"Nate is about Twenty-Six or Twenty-Seven, Lander would be Thirty, and Walter is about Thirty-Eight, all in human terms." Ezekiel answered ticking off his brothers on his fingers. "And before you ask for it in Shifter terms, Nate is Seventy-Two, Lander is Eighty-Three and Walter is Ninety-Four."
With a scoff Brandon looked out to the sun kissed fields beyond Erin's home, and tried to digest this. IT was hard to put these advanced ages with the rugged, young, playful....and downright attractive men that he had been around for the last few weeks. "Walter is 94 years old? Nate is Seventy-Two!? Really?"
Again with a shrug as if the answer were obvious Ezekiel smiled and said "Yup, its true. So, what about you Brandon, how old are you? Since were on the subject." Ezekiels asked softly next.
"21" Brandon answered fast enough after a moment, but in truth he had always just guessed at his real age. Unfortunately he had absolutely no idea what his current age really was. The people that raised him....didn't seem particularly interested in celebrating his birth. Or marking it.
Perhaps to get away from thinking any further on this subject Brandon decided to pass a jib at Ezekiel.
"Wow. So your 63 years old." He said raising an eyebrow in Ezekiels direction. The fact that Ezekiel was in mortal terms almost an old man did nothing to dampen the fact that Brandon found him to be far too attractive. And that when their eyes connected he always needed to catch his breath. "Damn Blue boy, you're an old man and you still act like a bossy little kid. Sad."
"First off...." Ezekiel began with a chuckle and a hiss combined in his words. "Don't call me that...It's a TERRIBLE nick name Brandon. And besides just because I don't take everything seriously or I happen to push certain issues it doesn't make me a bad person! You want me to be more controlled? Older Shifters are like that. They are all boring and jaded and ridged and they take themselves and life too seriously! No one knows how to have fun or live in the moment! I don't want to be like My Dad or the Elders....or like you for that matter Brandon." Ezekiel chuckled as Brandon gasped slightly at the insult.
Ezekiel shrugged off the glare Brandon tried to send him so Brandon threw the hand full of grass in his hand at the Shifter face. Ezekiel swiped his hand in front of his face easily deflecting the few blades of grass that almost managed to bush his face.
"I'm not jaded and I don't take myself too seriously! I can have fun!" Brandon bit off. As Ezekiel only smiled....and smiled harder. "Take it back."
"So are you telling me that "You" aren't ridged? That you can live in the moment?"
"Yes!" Brandon cried. Suddenly he wished HE could be the one growling.
"All right then!" Ezekiels replied suddenly putting down his potato carving instruments. "Prove it! Do something fun for once, instead of sitting here and frowning at me All The Time. Or picnicking fights with my oh so charming big brother and father."
Brandon reached down to his lap and set aside his own carving tools and tilted his head at Ezekiel, partially feeling like he was walking into a trap. "Uh? What do you want me to do exactly?" he asked
"I don't know....But its got to be something fun. Fun for both of us." Ezekiel grew quite, and put a hand to his chin in contemplation, before he suddenly s got up on his feet and laughed.
"I've got it! I want you to Spar with me!" Ezekiel exclaimed with clear and blue shinning eyes. Mischievous eyes. Beautiful, and utterly captivating eyes. Brandon couldn't find the desire in that moment to push him away.