The heavy palace doors opened for us, and Aestos entered first. We obediently followed the soldier to the throne room. Inside, the king sat on his seat, younger than I had expected. Maybe he was fifty. His beard was light due to the golden color of his hair and hard to notice from my distance.
On the seat to his left, his wife appeared with brown hair and plain features. She seemed just as regal, but I wondered about them. The day was still young and with much left to do. Did they sit in these decorated seats all day?
Aestos knelt on the carpet before the dais with his eyes lowered, and I joined him underneath the king's scrutiny.
There was no introduction. The king only spoke, and how the depth of his voice drowned the room surprised me. "Why have you come," he asked. A query for Aestos. He had not yet noticed me.
"This visitor washed upon the shore of your land. His island is no more, and he has lost all that belonged to him. I request a ship and crew so that we might recover the people and things that are left."
"You are willing to risk trapping yourself on a ship with a man you just met? You must know how naïve your request is. This stranger could be a pirate."
"He is not," Aestos declared simply. "I trust him."
"You only just met him."
"And already, he has saved my life once."
Whatever the king had intended to say next, he did not. Although his face didn't move, he seemed astonished in his eyes. Aestos had exaggerated, because I had not done much to rescue him, but his confession had earned some respect for me anyway.
That was when the king looked at me. "And who are you?"
I did not know much about how to address kings and queens. I had always been informal toward my sister and my parents when they were living. So, I looked the king in the eye. It felt proper to do so.
"I am Prince Nevian. I know it is rude of me to ask, but may this stranger also request your aid."
The king looked fascinated. "A prince? From which island are you from?"
Aestos delivered me a discreet look that I knew not to meet lest it might seem we were conspiring. But I knew well what it told me. Lie.
"I am from a nameless island. Just days ago, it suffered a tragedy, and I lost all my people."
The king hummed like he understood my anguish, although his bland expression portrayed nothing of empathy. "That is unfortunate." He tapped his finger on the armrest. "I will help you, stranger, because it is our island's protector who requests it. Tell me, if you come upon your lost items and people, will you return here with them?"
"Am I allowed to?"
He smiled. Delighted about something I could not discern. "Of course." Then, he looked at Aestos with straightened lips. "But why did you need to come here? You know you could have sent a soldier with a handwritten request for your friend. Did you leave someone in your place to watch the forest?" He asked this absently, because his interest had turned to the noisy jewelry on his wrist. Like a distracted child, he played with it.
For a while, Aestos did not answer. When he did, he finally lifted his head. The king's jewelry silenced.
"I thought it necessary to accompany him. We are comfortable with each other, and I wanted him to feel safe."
The king answered quickly, "He would have been safe with any group of my men. Tell me the truth, are you tired of your post outside the city? If you feel as though a person like you can live amongst normal men, do say so. I will consider it."
Aestos was quiet. He would not lie to the king, but the man would find his truth offensive.
The king continued anyway. "Have you grown to loathe those who are not as capable as you? Even as they provide you with all your needs and more?"
A person required more than materials to live. Gold and fine linen and exotic fruit could only contribute so much to someone's happiness. And whenever I looked at Aestos, he did not seem happy.
This time, Aestos answered. As simple as the last. "No, Your Majesty."
I felt disdain for the king, and a sour response turned in my stomach. I looked at the queen. She ogled the man beside me, her eyes peeling away layers of clothing and skin so that she might look inside him. The king noticed my gaze, then saw his wife. I witnessed the flight of disdain in his eyes, but he aimed it not at his wife.
His gaze found Aestos. Studied his arms and legs, which were uncovered and thick with muscle. Next, the crease of his chest that was unconcealed by his hair or the cheap linen he wore.
With a harsh tilt of his head, the king said, "I thought I told you to humble your appearance before coming to see me. We deliver plenty of clothes to you. Why is it you always choose rags that reveal the most skin?"
My jaw ticked.
Aestos' look was the same as my own—all men's attire was similar, no matter the type of fabric. It was typical for our legs and arms to be exposed and our chests and shoulders uncovered. Even the king's legs were bare of clothing up to his thighs. He was more covered around his ankles where expensive bangles hung. Yet it was Aestos being reproached.
I stood when it was not my turn to speak. Aestos and the king's eyes followed.
"You might first want to consider your unfaithful wife," I stated. "It is not Aestos' fault that with lust, she has taken an interest in him."
I was not ashamed to criticize either of them. However, after I had already spoken, I realized my decision to do so was not clever. After all, I still required the king's aid.
The king's countenance moved with anger. "What did you just say?"
Aestos stood quickly and moved to the front of me. Blocking my view of the king. And his view of me. "Wait outside," he told me.
I immediately thought to protest. "No—"
"Wait. Outside," he growled. And startled by the twisting of his expression, I obeyed.
I reluctantly found my way out of the palace, ignoring the unnecessary company of escorts, and I waited on the top step of the unblemished stairs. It was a while before Aestos came to join me, and he no longer seemed frustrated. His broad shoulders were lethargic instead, and his eyes sunken almost miserably.
He ignored me and started down the steps. "A house is being prepared for us. We will spend the night here and set off in the morning. The king has still agreed to help."
I stood. "Aestos."
He paused, seven steps lower than me. He did not turn around.
"I'm sorry if I caused you trouble. You might not understand it, but I was trying to defend you. I did not attack the king simply to do so."
He looked over his shoulder, and I took that as an invitation to join him on the steps.
"I understand it," he stated, watching me descend, "but it is not necessary to do so. I can defend myself."
"Your body, yes, but what of your honor?"
Aestos stared blankly at me. Another thing he did not understand: someone considering him without the desire to use him.
I joined his step and took to the intimate space beside him. "Friend—"
"I am Aestos—"
"You are quick to correct me, but you will allow everyone else to call you what they please?" His lips straightened, and I softened my approach because I knew he did not understand. "I call you friend because that is what you are to me. You helped me. Now I will help you."
A perplexed frown became of him. "Not without taking from you first. You are loaning something to me. I am taking from you."
"As friends do," I assured. "We'll be spending a lot of time together from now on. Let us get comfortable with defending each other. I wish to honor you, Aestos. Will you honor me?"
"All I have is my strength," he murmured, like it was not enough, like that was what I wanted from him.
"You have something else." I touched his chest, above where his heart buzzed. "Compassion, though you might not recognize it. You are kind in a way that is confusing and discreet. Already, you have protected me more than once. Already, I trust you."
His heart danced quickly as though delighted beneath my touch, and Aestos brushed curious fingers over my knuckles. Learning something about himself and his desires. Soon, I think he would realize that affection was enjoyable. When he nodded, I removed my hand.
We were delivered to an elaborate home. Servants in the kitchen prepared a meal for us, and we spent the afternoon hour eating warm bread and chicken. For dessert, we were served bananas glazed in honey and topped with seeds. I watched from afar as the men and women who had served us crowded around Aestos to wash his feet or rub his shoulders. He hadn't asked for it. It did not seem like he even wanted it.
But he did not tell the servants otherwise, and they continued.
I went to our room and stretched my sore limbs across the bed. After a while, I grew bored with lying and flipped through the pile of books left on the small table beside me. Evening arrived slowly through the boredom, then again, we sat in the kitchen and ate.
Aestos and I returned to our room, freshly bathed and full, a few hours later. The moon was low tonight, so we relied on flickering candlelight to see where our beds were. I was confused as Aestos began stripping his mattress and piling sheets on the floor between them.
"Are you not comfortable on the bed?" I asked.
"I am not used to it," he answered, distracted with his task. His limbs seemed heavy, and he moved much slower than usual.
Aestos slept on the ground. It was all he knew. He had the skill to create many things, yet I had not seen a bed he might have made for himself. I felt sympathy for him that simple comfort was also something he did not know. So, I also stripped my bed and tossed the materials beside him on the floor.
I had always slept somewhere soft before coming here. I did not like to be uncomfortable, but I would not leave my friend to nest on the floor alone. Maybe there was good in it. Humility I could learn. A firmer back I could cultivate.
Aestos moved his eyes lazily to me. "What are you doing?"
"Getting ready for bed."
"The floor is not your bed."
"No, but I prefer to lie beside you if that is alright."
He watched as I made my pallet and lay myself beside him. We faced each other on our sides, and he continued to gaze at me like I was something to marvel at.
"Aestos," I whispered into the small space between us. "Secretly, you enjoy my company."
"It's no secret."
I smiled, and so did he.
"The servants have left. We are completely alone," he said.
I followed him easily. "You wish for me to sing."
He became uncertain, because he must not usually ask for things he wanted. "If you want to."
I wanted to teach him that it was expected to ask your friends for things. I will teach you to take.
"Ask me, Aestos."
His eyes swayed between mine. "Your music, it stirs something in my chest I do not understand. I would like the opportunity to decipher it. Will you…sing for me again?"
Love. It was love he felt. That was the power of music, and I would ensure that he would soon come to understand it.
"Did you have a mother to sing to you as a child?" I asked him.
"My mother was mute," he answered. Voice quieter than before. "She and a community of women raised me, but they were negligent. My power was great as a boy, and they treated me like a god. When I had needed my mother, I instead had senseless followers who worshipped at my feet."
My heart ached for him. "What about your father?"
Aestos lips twitched into a frown. "He was the leader of the king's personal guard. He never acknowledged me."
I tried to remain hopeful after hearing the news. "I am sure if he saw your capabilities now, he would acknowledge you."
"Impossible. Both of my parents are dead."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?"
I frowned. "It is something polite to say."
"It is unnecessary. You didn't kill them."
I took a moment, then I said, "My parents are also dead. They were killed in an invasion of our land fifteen years ago. Salyras, it was a cursed island."
Aestos nodded slowly. "Most people on this corner of the grid understand, so they avoid your island in fear of being cursed themselves. It is why I have told you to keep your origin a secret. The king would not have helped you if he knew."
I considered him with a warm smile. "Again, you have protected me."
"Because I require your music." He contemplated saying something else. "And…"
"And?"
Color spilled around his eyes like splashes of paint. He gazed at me, perhaps seeking the courage to say what was on his mind. In the end, he turned on his back and faced the ceiling. "Never mind."
The conversation ended, and I was disappointed, but I upheld my promise and sang to him anyway.
Aestos was quick to fall asleep.