For most of Tyto Casari’s life, Merini had been nothing more than a poor rural island in the gulf of Kahka Brud. It was home to a couple of farmers, some artisans, a whole lot of fishermen, and a family of provisional governors that would approve anything, so long as they were sufficiently bribed. It wasn’t the most prosperous place to live, but the natural beauty of the surrounding ocean and the peace and quiet made up for that. The thing they were probably the most famous for was their artichokes. Tyto had never eaten an artichoke from somewhere else, but people said the ones they grew in Merini were the best.
Life changed drastically when an earthquake opened an ancient dungeon to the surface. Adventurers came in droves, weighing down barges from the mainland almost to the point of capsizing in their rush to be among the first to reach the dungeon. They were all eager for a chance to loot easy treasure, and some even believed the gossip that there was a mad sorcerer that controlled the dungeon, and if one could defeat him, they’d inherit the crown to the defunct kingdom of Merini.
Tyto only had a basic education, but he was pretty sure there was more to inheriting a kingdom than that, so he didn’t worry himself too much about what adventurers did in the dungeon. As long as they were respectful to the locals and paid their bills, what else they believed was none of his business.
With Merini’s newfound fame, it became so profitable to rent rooms to adventurers in need of a place to stay, that many local families abandoned their ancestral professions in favor of becoming landlords. Families with larger houses became incredibly wealthy. Small houses did their best to cram as many renters inside as possible. It was not uncommon to find great rooms and parlors full of adventurers sleeping shoulder to shoulder on the floor, or stables, empty of livestock, converted into makeshift barracks that could house twenty men, each dangling from a fisherman’s net that had been converted into a hammock. Almost nothing was made locally anymore, since importing goods from the mainland and selling them for ten times their value to adventurers was so much more profitable.
Tyto’s family had been the island’s only cheesemakers once, but seeing the way the wind was blowing, they’d sold their cows and used the money to build extra walls to make more private rooms in the house and barn. His younger sister and her family had moved to the mainland so that there was more empty space for Tyto to rent. He sent the bulk of the profits to them and ran the inn as best he could on his own.
Tyto missed cheese-making, but being an innkeeper wasn’t a bad life either. He enjoyed cooking, cleaning and doing minor repairs. He liked hearing about other people’s adventures. He’d never been an adventurous sort himself, so listening to other people tell their tales was all the excitement he really wanted in his life.
The Casari Inn, filled to capacity, housed twenty-five tenants between the private rooms upstairs, floor space in the great room, cots in the barn, and one cot in the cellar. The storage room attached to the kitchen that had once been used for aging cheese had become Tyto’s bedroom because the ceiling was too low to rent it to most people. Thanks to his family’s mixed blood, Tyto was a little taller than an average dwarf, but not so tall that the cheese aging room was uncomfortable.
Like most other landlords, he provided two meals a day to his tenants. Thankfully, most of the time about half of his renters were in the dungeon, so there was less work, but some days everyone was home and he had to prepare it all by himself.
All of this would have been much easier if his sister had remained on the island with him, but Livia had a husband and growing children to take care of, and there just wasn’t enough room. It also would have been easier if Tyto were married, but despite being in his 70s, he’d never found the right man or woman for it, much to his perpetual embarrassment.
Going out and talking to people was hard. He never knew what to say, and always agonized afterwards that whatever he had said was foolish and embarrassing. Whatever looks or physical appeal youth had given him were long gone. Though he was taller than your average dwarf, he was also much shorter than any tallman. His beard was decently thick, but he’d lost all the hair on his scalp decades ago. Tyto didn’t think that he was ugly, but he knew that he wasn’t particularly attractive, either, and he didn’t have the kind of outgoing personality that might make up for his unimpressive appearance.
Maybe he’d meet someone someday, though the more time passed, the more he worried that he’d missed all his opportunities.
For the next several days, Tyto had a full house to feed, which was always a laborious undertaking. He was glad that even though his sister had moved out, and even though he wasn’t married, he wasn’t completely alone anymore. He had a part-time helper.
When Kabru had first shown up in Merini like many adventurers he’d spent a few weeks sleeping on the streets. One of Tyto’s long-term tenants, a spell-caster from Fabri, had introduced them. She’d vouched for Kabru’s character because they’d worked together on a caravan, and that had been enough for Tyto to offer the boy a deal. He’d had no open rooms at the time, but there was space in the cellar for a cot, and Tyto was in dire need of an extra pair of hands. Tyto let the room go for half his normal renter’s fee, with the stipulation that Kabru would help out around the inn when Tyto needed it.
Truthfully, Tyto hadn’t been expecting much. He figured he’d be lucky if the lad didn’t take advantage of his unfettered access to the cellar, and gave him some halfhearted assistance on occasion. However, Kabru turned out to be honest and hard working. On busy nights, he threw himself into helping; hauling barrels of ale up the stairs, delivering platters of food and drink to the great room, bringing the empty ones back to the kitchen and scrubbing them clean. Tyto was grateful to have Kabru around, though he was honestly puzzled as to why the lad was on the island.
Most people came to the island in search of easy money, or if they believed the legend, they wanted power. As far as Tyto could tell, Kabru wasn’t interested in either of those things. What he was interested in was people, getting to know them, learning what they wanted and needed in life. Frequently Tyto would catch him in the middle of what seemed like a harebrained scheme to help someone that Kabru barely even knew. “How do you know them?” Tyto always asked, and Kabru would shrug and give a non committal answer. He’d met them in the market, in the dungeon, at the courthouse, the public bath, the library… And Kabru saw that they needed help in some fashion, so he’d made it his business to provide it.
Over the past two years of knowing him, Tyto had watched with growing fascination as Kabru had played match-maker between would-be lovers, or counselor for feuding spouses, or diplomat between adventurers that had suffered a party breakdown. He’d seen him help lonely people make friends, convince unruly gangs to avoid each other instead of fight, and connected merchants to people that needed their wares, and vice-versa.
He was a professional meddler in the affairs of others, and Tyto would have thought that kind of nosiness would come back and bite Kabru in the ass, but the opposite seemed to be true. Kabru helped people, really, truly helped them, and as a result, he turned strangers into allies and sometimes even friends. It felt like there wasn’t any corner of the island where Kabru didn’t have connections. To Tyto, who found making friends intimidating, it seemed as miraculous as magic.
It was through this sociable meddling that Kabru had constructed his own adventuring party. A gradual accumulation of people that believed in Kabru’s leadership ability, and wanted to follow him wherever he might go… And where he wanted to go was into the dungeon.
The lad had told Tyto his story one time, after a few drinks: Kabru came from a village in Vestra that had been home to a flourishing dungeon. It had grown out of control, and when the elves had failed to contain it, monsters and the undead had spilled out and destroyed the surrounding area, devouring the people in a bloody spectacle with very few survivors. Kabru wanted to understand why it had happened, and make sure that it never happened anywhere else.
It was a noble goal, and Kabru seemed deeply devoted to it, but Tyto had no idea how he expected to accomplish such a thing. He was only one tallman, and there were dungeons all over the world, probably some that nobody even knew about. In all this time, if the long-lived races hadn’t found a way to prevent dungeons from collapsing, maybe it couldn’t be done… Nevertheless, Kabru kept going back into the dungeon, trying to unravel whatever secrets it held.
Tyto just hoped that Kabru would survive his own curiosity. Though adventurers going into the dungeon was an everyday occurance, Tyto knew how dangerous it was. For all the people who went in and made their fortunes, there were even more that never came out at all. He knew that Kabru had already died and been revived multiple times while in the dungeon… But he might not always be so lucky.
Tyto was stirring the broth he’d been simmering on the stove when Kabru returned to the inn. When the lad went into the dungeon, he wore a mix of mail, leather and plate armor, but right now the green hooded tunic he was in told Tyto he only could have been doing things in the village.
“What are we making tonight, Mr. Casari?” Kabru’s attentive gaze skimmed across all the ingredients Tyto had set out in the kitchen, and of course caught on the stack of tomatoes among the other vegetables. “Tomatoes?” he asked, with only slightly tempered delight.
“Goat stew with tomatoes,” Tyto replied, feeling immensely pleased with himself. Tomatoes weren’t an everyday staple in Merini, but he knew how much Kabru enjoyed them, so when he’d happened upon someone selling them in the market he had to get them, and of course he had to use them with goat, since he knew that was the boy’s other favorite.
Tyto was very fond of Kabru, and that meant that he liked to do things for him when the opportunity presented itself. He tried to make sure that Kabru ate often and ate well. Tyto also cleaned his room and did his laundry, ignoring Kabru’s repeated protests that he didn’t need any help with it.
Tyto had discovered early on that Kabru knew how to clean and do laundry, because he regularly helped Tyto with washing linens and dusting and sweeping the house, but when it came to his own room and clothes, for some reason he seemed incapable of keeping up with it. So if Tyto didn’t do it, the cellar got dirty, the trash attracted pests, and Kabru frequently wound up sitting in the yard wearing nothing but his smallclothes because he’d had to wash everything he owned at once, and was stuck waiting for his clothes to dry in the sun.
Kabru was very, very good at taking care of other people, and terrible at taking care of himself… But despite this, Kabru regularly seduced and bedded a variety of people, while Tyto watched from the sidelines. Kabru was handsome as a devil, twice as cunning, and terribly charming. Tyto had seen at least one pair of women get into a drunken fist-fight over his attention, and he could imagine all too well what kind of mischief the boy got up to any time he went missing overnight.
Yet even with Kabru's huge amount of friends, admirers and eager potential bedmates, Tyto was the only one bothering to take care of him. And it took so little to make the lad happy! He seemed so genuinely grateful whenever Tyto left his clean clothes in a pile on his bed, or when Tyto bought him a new bottle of writing ink on a whim, or made a meal that had tomatoes in it...
The smile on Kabru’s face at the prospect of eating a meal as ordinary as goat and tomato stew was so bright and full of joy, Tyto felt overwhelmed being the recipient of it, which of course made the overpriced tomatoes feel like they’d been a bargain. Was what he did for Kabru really that special? Was he actually important to the lad, or just convenient?
Tyto wondered about this often. He was much older than Kabru, even when one compared their relative ages instead of absolute numbers, but like the other people that got caught up in Kabru’s web, Tyto had fallen prey to Kabru’s charms on more than one occasion. It was embarrassing for a man his age to let a boy like Kabru toy with him, no matter how beautiful and silver-tongued he was, but Tyto found himself incapable of saying no to him. It made Tyto blush any time he thought about the times Kabru had lured him into his bed.
“I’m sure it’s going to be delicious,” Kabru said, bringing Tyto’s attention back to the stew. The lad was looking about the kitchen in search of something to do. “What can I help with?”
Sometimes it was more work for Tyto to teach Kabru how to do things in the kitchen than it would have been for Tyto to do it himself. Kabru had never hung off his mother’s skirts, watching her tend a cooking fire, and he’d never been given those essential childhood chores that taught kids the basics and made them so useful for helping out. That meant Tyto often relegated Kabru to simple jobs like fetching and carrying water, adding fuel to the fire as necessary, and watching over things so he could alert Tyto when a pot was boiling over or something was about to burn.
‘Mr. Casari! The stove needs you!’ was a common refrain when Kabru was helping him. At first Tyto had just found the slightly panicked tone in Kabru’s voice funny, like the lad was afraid the stove was going to bite him if he tampered with it. Now Tyto just felt endeared whenever Kabru called for his aid.
“Clean and cut up all the vegetables,” Tyto told him. “I’ll go fetch the meat.”
One of the kitchen tasks Kabru was good at was anything involving a blade. Since the lad had come to stay with him, Tyto hadn’t needed to worry about sharpening any of his knives, because Kabru kept them all honed without any prompting. The lad peeled and cut vegetables with impressive speed and precision, and though he hadn’t known how to butcher an animal at first, he’d learned very quickly (while rather alarmingly remarking, “oh, not as different from a human as I thought.”), and these days Tyto left that sort of prep work to him. It freed Tyto up to do other things, which made the overall task of cooking much less arduous.
Kabru rolled up his sleeves and got to work with a scrub bucket and brush, while Tyto stacked some logs in the hearth, and got the fire going under his empty cauldron. Most houses didn’t have a kitchen big enough to prepare large meals like this, and many smaller houses didn’t even have a kitchen at all. Tyto was lucky that as cheesemakers, they’d had a big kitchen, a large hearth and a metal stove. Occasionally his neighbors came to him when they needed help preparing meals they weren’t equipped for, and Tyto made them something for a couple of extra coins on the side.
Tyto left Kabru to his task, and headed down the stairs to the cellar. Though Kabru lived down here, it was also where Tyto stored barrels of beer, bottles of wine, oil, vinegar and more. The larder was on the north side of the building, separated from the rest of the cellar by a wooden door. The shelves were lined with dried fish and meat, separated from each other by scraps of paper and linen cloth. Barley and oats were stored in wooden buckets with heavy stones on their lids, to keep pests out. Vegetables dangled in nets next to the half of a goat that Tyto had set aside for tonight’s stew.
He pulled the meat off its hook and made his way back upstairs to the kitchen, setting the partial carcass down on the counter beside Kabru. Then Tyto picked up a knife, which he used to carve off a lump of what was mostly fat and gristle from the couple of ribs that had been included with the goat’s shoulder.
Tyto tossed the fat into the hot cauldron, and soon it started to sizzle, filling the kitchen with a wonderful smell, which got even better once he started adding the onion and garlic Kabru was just finished chopping. They worked amiably together, Kabru peeling and cutting vegetables, and Tyto dropping handful after handful of them into the cookpot. He’d add the broth last, after all the other ingredients had a chance to brown.
“Throw the rest of the vegetables in here once it’s ready, then add the meat,” Tyto instructed, slapping the side of the cauldron with his palm lightly. The sound it made was far from bell-like, but it did produce a dull sort of bong that he felt in his bones.
“Got it,” Kabru said, flicking a bit of turnip peel off his knife blade and into the bucket of scraps on the floor. “I’ll be done with this part soon.”
Tyto gathered up the dried herbs that he’d set aside for tonight’s meal, and began to break them down using his mortar and pestle. Peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, marjoram… The kitchen was starting to heat up from the fire under the cauldron, and the two of them working side by side. Much to Tyto’s embarrassment, the steady, rhythmic action of the pestle in his hand, and the occasional view he had of Kabru’s bare forearms had his mind drifting in an indecent direction. There was sweat shining on Kabru’s brow. Tyto tried not to stare.
Of course, having sex with Kabru wasn’t a regular occurance, but even if it was infrequent, Tyto didn’t have an active sex life outside of those encounters. Kabru was the first person he’d done it with in something like five years. Before that, the last time had been in a sauna in Kahka Brud. Tyto didn’t even know what the other man’s name had been, they hadn’t really talked enough for it to matter, and Tyto had been too embarrassed to ask.
But most of the time with Kabru, they didn’t really have actual sex. Usually it was Kabru, dragging Tyto off to a dark corner of the inn and going down on his knees, using his mouth on Tyto, or taking each other’s members in hand and rutting until they reached mutual completion. Twice, they’d fucked properly, and Tyto still had no clue what he’d done to earn that kind of attention, or what he might do to earn it again. Frankly he had no idea how he’d earned Kabru’s mouth on his cock or his hand down the front of his trousers either, and when he asked, Kabru insisted he was just helping him out because they were friends.
If that was the sort of thing Kabru regularly did for all of his friends, maybe that was why he was so damn popular… No. Tyto was pretty sure that Kabru didn’t actually have as much sex as it seemed like he was having. There weren’t enough hours in the day for it to be physically possible, and probably Tyto would have seen more fights over him if he really was fucking all the people that he flirted with. There would be more gossip. Merini was a small island, everybody knew everybody else’s business… and while people knew about Kabru, sex wasn’t usually the first thing they talked about when the lad came up in conversation. He was just promiscuous, not a professional harlot.
It still left Tyto wondering, why was Kabru giving him that sort of attention at all? He’d certainly never flirted with the lad, or made any advances, he wouldn’t even know how if he’d wanted to. It’d be ridiculous of him to try, like a swineherd thinking he had a chance with a prince. Kabru was much too pretty, too desirable, and too noble to waste his time with an old man like him. It genuinely felt like there was no rhyme or reason to Kabru’s behavior except that… Maybe, possibly, he was fond of Tyto as well?
The thought seemed ludicrous, but every time Tyto found himself wondering about their relationship, it was the only conclusion he could come to that made even a little bit of sense. For some reason, Kabru liked him enough that he kept doing these things with him.
Maybe he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it… Tyto thought, watching Kabru dump the rest of the vegetables into the cauldron. Maybe he’s lonely, and wants someone to take care of him…
Kabru switched to working on the goat, using Tyto’s sharpest knife to separate the leg from the shoulder, pulling the limb off and setting it aside. The lad’s knife skills really were top-notch, the only other person Tyto had ever seen use a blade that way was the island’s butcher when she was in a hurry on market day. Tyto found himself momentarily distracted just watching the way Kabru’s hands moved as he switched from knife to kitchen saw, to cleaver and wooden mallet, back to knife. The lad was strong, confident, quick, and it seemed like he could do anything he put his mind to.
Despite the way Tyto babied Kabru at times, he knew he was extremely competent. His skills with people were obviously his greatest asset, but Tyto knew that he was also a formidable fighter. He’d seen it himself on the handful of occasions where Kabru had broken up fights, or forcefully ejected drunks from the inn.
He really was a fine man, skilled in so many different ways, hard-working and driven. Kabru deserved someone like a wealthy lord in a manor somewhere, with a huge library of books, jewelry and fancy clothes. Or a scholar, someone who would understand all the things Kabru was talking about when the boy started discussing magic and science. Or a diplomat, who would have so much use for Kabru’s people skills, who would take him around the world and introduce him to lords and ladies, kings and queens.
That was the sort of person, the sort of life that Kabru deserved. A middle-aged innkeeper like Tyto couldn’t give him any of that. The best Kabru could hope for with him was a kitchen full of food, a warm bed, a nice set of clothes to wear on holidays, and a life of hard labor.
Tyto returned his attention to the simmering soup on the stove. Using his ladle, he carefully removed the bundle of cheesecloth that he’d packed with small bones, and undesirable scraps of meat and vegetables. What was left would have been good feed for pigs, but there weren’t many on the island anymore. He emptied the cloth pouch into the rubbish bucket with Kabru’s vegetable peels and bits of bone and tendon that weren’t worth cooking. He’d dump it all out next to the back step before locking up for the night, and it would be gone by morning thanks to the island’s dogs and cats.
Kabru had separated all of the bones out from the goat and most of the meat that went into the stew would be attached to that bone, boiled until it was tender enough to fall off. The rest of the meat was from little scraps from all over the carcass that weren’t big enough to make a roast, but enough to chop up and add to a stew. Of course there were always a few choice cuts, juicy and tender meat, and whether you got any of that in your bowl was just a matter of luck… Though Tyto had certainly been guilty of fishing out those good bits when he was serving dinner, to make sure they got into Kabru’s bowl.
For some reason, he likes me, Tyto thought, chewing his lower lip. He deserves better, but maybe, if he needs someone to take care of him… Maybe I could be the one to do it?
After making sure that all of the tenants that he expected to return for the night were home, Tyto checked that the doors and windows were all properly latched and began putting out the lanterns.
His last stop before heading to his own bed was the cellar, where he hesitated at the door for a moment before knocking.
“Come in,” Kabru said. He was sitting at the table he used as his desk, and he’d clearly been in the middle of writing something. The boy had immaculate handwriting, Tyto thought. Probably because of the fancy elven schooling he’d had.
“I forgot to tell you, some of your friends were looking for you earlier today,” Tyto said, setting his lantern down on the table. “There was a pretty black-haired tallman girl with them.”
“Ah, I’m sorry I missed them,” Kabru replied, carefully tapping the excess ink off of his quill before setting it down on a bit of scrap paper. “The black-haired girl - that’s Rinsha. She’s agreed to join my party on our next dungeon excursion.”
“Oh good. Is she a healer?” Tyto asked. He knew that Kabru’s group had been expanding steadily, but they were short on magic users.
“Combat mage,” Kabru corrected him with a bright smile. Tyto stared at him in disbelief for a moment.
“You’re joking,” Tyto said flatly. That skinny little girl was a fighter? Tyto knew his perception of other people’s size might be skewed since he came from a mixed family, but the black-haired girl seemed much too delicate to be using combat magic. Seemed like she’d shrivel up into nothing after casting a single fireball.
“No, she’s amazing, she taught herself and she’s very good,” Kabru said with such enthusiasm that Tyto found himself mirroring the lad’s smile. “I’ve known her for a long time, it just took awhile to convince her to join us.”
“Your party’s really shaping up,” Tyto ceded to Kabru’s authority on the matter. “You going into the dungeon again soon?”
“Yes,” Kabru said. Then an awkward silence settled between them as Tyto tried to think of how to say what he’d really come down here to say, and Kabru watched him expectantly.
“But we haven’t set a date yet, I’m still waiting to hear back from someone...Was there something else you needed to talk to me about?” Kabru asked.
“No, well… Yes, sort of,” Tyto hemmed and hawed, embarrassed by what he was about to say. He was awful at confrontation. “I know you’re busy, and I don’t want to be a bother…”
“You’re never a bother, Mr. Casari,” Kabru insisted earnestly. “What’s on your mind?”
“Well, it’s just… It’s fine if your friends are down here in the cellar while you’re here, but I’m really not comfortable with them poking around the supplies when you’re not with them. Could you please make sure they understand? They’re welcome to wait in the great room in the future, of course.”
It wasn’t even that Tyto was a mistrustful person, but as an innkeeper, he had a legal obligation to his renters to keep the inn safe. If someone was robbed of their belongings while Tyto was holding them, he would have to pay them back double what it was worth, and that wasn’t even considering the damage it would do to his reputation.
“Oh! Of course,” Kabru said without hesitation. “I didn’t realize they’d been in here... I’ll let them know not to do it again. I’m sorry, that must have been awkward for you.”
Tyto chuckled and shifted his weight where he stood. “A little bit. I came down here to clean, and suddenly there’s a whole bunch of people I don’t really know, sitting around, talking about you… I ran off instead of saying anything.”
“You ran off?! But it’s your inn!” Kabru said with a startled laugh.
“I didn’t know what to say!” Tyto insisted, and now he was laughing too. “I know I must seem ridiculous to you, but I was too embarrassed to say a word! ‘Who are you, and what are you doing in my basement? Get out of here!’ I’d feel like an orc.”
“Those would all be appropriate things to say,” Kabru said, a note of mirth still in his voice. “What do you imagine they’d reply? ‘No, this is our cellar now, you get out’?”
“Well, if I don’t say anything, I don’t have to worry about that, now do I?” Tyto chuckled.
“I’m really sorry,” Kabru apologized again, his attitude sobering. “You’re right that they shouldn’t be down here without me. And I really appreciate that you’ve trusted me to stay in your cellar all this time.”
“I couldn’t run the inn without you,” Tyto said earnestly. “With how much you help out, sometimes I feel guilty charging you for rent at all. Seems like I should be paying you.”
“That’s because you’re a nice guy. Anyone else on this island would charge me five times as much for a room that’s even smaller. And I like helping you out. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Did Kabru really consider them friends, or was that just something he said to be polite? “I, ah, I suppose we are?”
“Friends do each other favors,” Kabru went on. “But there’s no need to keep score.” Something in Kabru’s expression changed, it seemed like the lad was considering Tyto, and weighing his options. The scrutiny made Tyto’s face feel hot.
“Well… I guess that’s… true…”
“Tyto,” Kabru said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Is there another reason you came down to see me tonight?”
Tyto felt his stomach drop nervously as Kabru teased him. He’d just wanted to say goodnight to the lad, and mention the incident with his friends, and, well, maybe since they were alone, it was always possible that Kabru might do something…
Kabru only ever approached him sexually when they were alone, and if Kabru did something, then maybe, Tyto could get up the courage to say something, to offer to take care of the lad properly, tell Kabru how fond he was of him… Tyto couldn’t keep looking at Kabru. The ground by his feet seemed the best alternative to avoid those bewitching blue eyes.
“Um, well--”
“It’s been a while since I helped out with that, hasn’t it?” Kabru asked impishly, and though Tyto wasn’t looking at him, he could hear the smile in Kabru’s voice. He was having fun playing with him.
Tyto was startled when Kabru stood up from his chair and grasped him by the front of his belt. He was unceremoniously dragged over towards Kabru’s bed, where the lad sat down and smiled up at him, still gripping him by the belt as if to keep him from escaping. Tyto’s heart felt like it was going to beat its way out of his chest.
“I’m sorry, you must have been lonely, but I’ve just been so busy--”
“Y-you don’t have to unless you want--”
“I know. I do want to. I like taking care of you.” Kabru’s expression seemed so genuinely warm and affectionate that it made Tyto’s heart ache like a bruise. He dearly wanted this sort of attention from Kabru. The lad unbuckled Tyto’s belt and pulled him in closer, and Tyto stumbled forward awkwardly, body stiff with tension. His shins bumped against the edge of the bed and he ended up with his hands on Kabru’s shoulders to steady himself. Kabru felt warm to the touch.
“We’re friends, and I like you. Why shouldn’t I enjoy doing this with you?”
Tyto couldn’t think of anything smart to say to that, but he was having trouble thinking of anything dumb to say either, with the way Kabru’s clever hands were undoing the buttons on his trousers. Kabru looked exactly like Tyto imagined a fox sneaking into a henhouse would, as the boy tugged down his breeches and pulled out Tyto’s cock. Tyto was already half hard, just from the thrill of having Kabru’s attention on him like this.
“And it’s not like you have anyone else helping you with this, do you?” Kabru asked sweetly, as he started to stroke Tyto in his fist. The sight and sensation of it made Tyto’s mouth feel dry, and his hands tightened their grip on Kabru’s shoulders.
“Do you have someone else?” Kabru asked again, one shapely brow raised curiously. Although Kabru slept around liberally, Tyto had never heard of the lad knowingly breaking up an existing relationship. He was sure that if he had a fiancee or a lover Kabru would have never gotten involved with him this way.
“Oh! N-no,” Tyto stammered. There was nowhere he could look right now except at Kabru, his hand curled around Tyto’s cock, thumb playing with the tip. Tyto swallowed hard and shook his head. “No, just--I was just thinking.”
“You think too much, Tyto,” Kabru said fondly, his hand resuming a steady rhythm. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”
Before Tyto had a chance to say anything to that, Kabru scooted himself off the edge of the bed and onto the floor, kneeling at Tyto’s feet as his mouth engulfed his cock. He began bobbing his head slowly back and forth, and the way those soft lips and tongue felt stroking along his length dragged a pitiful groan out of Tyto. He quickly covered his mouth to try and muffle the sound.
Tyto never got the impression that Kabru was anything but enthusiastic when they did this. Whether that was true or not, he made Tyto believe that he wanted to be here, and that alone made Tyto feel like he’d inhaled hot coals. That heat ached inside of him and slowly radiated outwards, coaxed to the surface by Kabru’s demanding gaze, and even more demanding mouth.
Kabru’s eyes always seemed so impossibly blue paired with his dark face, ringed by those long, black lashes. It reminded Tyto of staring into a cloudless sky. It wasn’t just his looks though. He knew that Kabru wasn’t the innocent creature he seemed at first glance. Kabru always knew exactly what he was doing, and Tyto enjoyed watching it from afar, but it was intimidating to be a target at the center of it.
Kabru pulled his mouth off of Tyto’s cock after a little while, and smiled up at him sweetly. “Sit down, old man, I can feel your legs shaking.”
Were his legs shaking? Tyto honestly couldn’t tell. Every nerve in his body felt hyper-focused on Kabru’s mouth. He mumbled something that must have sounded like an apology, because Kabru stroked the back of his thigh and whispered “It’s fine.”
Kabru tugged impatiently on Tyto’s belt, and that was enough to get him moving - he turned and sat down hard on the edge of the bed, and Kabru situated himself between Tyto’s spread thighs. One of his hands grasped Tyto’s cock again, and he began stroking it eagerly. Kabru’s spit made it smooth and easy, and Tyto couldn’t stop gasping for breath.
“If you keep doing that, I’m--I’m gonna--”
“That’s okay,” Kabru said brightly, like there was nothing in the world that would please him more. “I want you to.” He took Tyto back into his mouth without delay, hollowing his cheeks as he started to suckle on him.
The building heat in his loins made Tyto’s cock stiffen more and more, until the ache became almost unbearable. Every part of his groin felt so hard and tight that he could barely draw breath. Then Kabru’s tongue, which had been circling around his cockhead over and over did it just once more, a sensation that was soft as silk, and that sent Tyto over the edge. All that heat and pleasure rushed through him so hard and fast that it left him trembling and breathless where he sat. Kabru swallowed his seed down without hesitation, something that never failed to make Tyto blush. He really didn’t mind doing that?
Gradually Tyto realized he had one of his hands plastered across his own mouth to try and quiet his helpless cries. He lowered his trembling hand slowly and rested it against the bed, bracing himself as he caught his breath. Kabru had pulled his mouth off of Tyto’s cock and was resting his cheek against his thigh, watching him with a pleased looking smirk.
Kabru was so shameless and free with sex, and Tyto always wondered how much of that was from being raised by elves, and how much was just in his nature as a tallman. Everyone knew that elves were sex-obsessed perverts, but people also said tallmen had voracious sexual appetites… Maybe that was why those two races seemed to get along so well.
“Um,” Tyto said sheepishly. “...Thank you. I, uh--” Tyto was determined that he should return the favor somehow, but he wasn’t sure how to say that. “Maybe I can, um--”
“You could fuck me,” Kabru suggested brightly, climbing into Tyto’s lap like a tiger that thought it was a housecat. Tyto could feel Kabru’s erection pressing against his belly, and he swallowed hard.
“You… You want me to?” Tyto asked, his whole head, including his bald scalp, burning hot with embarrassment and arousal. The idea that he’d done a good enough job the other times that Kabru would consider doing it again was making his recently spent cock ache in anticipation.
“Yes,” Kabru said with a lazy smile. His hips were moving, grinding their bodies together and obviously enjoying himself, if the way his eyelids drooped and his mouth hung open was any indication. Kabru’s erection felt hot against Tyto, even through all their layers of clothes, and the way the younger man’s hips were moving looked and felt exceptionally obscene.
“You’re always so sweet to me,” Kabru murmured, his arms draping themselves around Tyto’s neck as he got closer to him. Coyly, he traced the shape of the scar on Tyto’s temple with one finger. “And your dick’s nice and thick. Feels really good in me.”
Tyto wanted to protest Kabru saying such lewd things out loud, but all that managed to come out of him was a groan, and he tipped his head forward to hide it against Kabru’s chest. The tallman laughed at him, and kissed the top of Tyto’s head which made his heart jump in the most foolish of ways.
It’s nothing. He’s just affectionate. We’re just friends, he told himself.
“Whaaat?” Kabru protested with a warm laugh. “It is! Must be your dwarf blood. I’ve never had a cock that stretched me so nicely before. It’s even thicker than other dwarves.” He was playing with one of Tyto’s ears now, tracing the spiraling shape of it with one fingertip. “So… Will you give me what I want?”
“When have I ever been able to say no to you?” Tyto replied fondly.
Tyto only saw a flash of Kabru’s happy smile before the tallman was ducking his head down in order to kiss him. The height mismatch between them meant that Kabru had to slip off the edge of the bed again, and kneel on the floor in order to get his mouth on Tyto’s, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Of course the lad’s mouth tasted salty and bitter, but Tyto could barely pay attention to that with the way Kabru’s hands cradled his face so sweetly, and the soft, warm feeling of his mouth and tongue against his.
Maybe Kabru kissed everyone like this, maybe that was why people seemed to lose their minds over him, but it made Tyto feel like he wasn’t just a boring old man that Kabru sometimes fucked out of pity. It made him feel like maybe, for whatever reason, Kabru had the smallest crumb of affection for him, and if Tyto could just be good enough, he could have more than crumbs. It made him feel like maybe it wasn’t impossible that he could be… Important to Kabru.
They undressed in a rush, though Tyto found himself fumbling and distracted. It was impossible for him to not admire Kabru as the lad stripped, revealing dark brown skin and lean muscles. Though Kabru kept his face smooth-shaven, his chest, groin and lower arms had a thin coat of black, curly hair that Tyto thought made him look incredibly cute. By dwarven standards he really looked very girlish.
Tyto wondered if the elves had ever made fun of Kabru for the fact that he had hair on his body. He knew it was something they considered ugly. Growing up, Tyto had been picked on for not being hairy enough compared to other boys his age… It made him wonder if even someone as beautiful as Kabru might have things about himself that he was insecure about. He certainly didn’t act like it, but Tyto knew that Kabru kept his true feelings on most things carefully hidden away.
“Having trouble with that?” Kabru asked coyly, smiling as he sat down beside him, completely naked. Tyto had been so caught up in his thoughts and watching Kabru that he was still mostly dressed, his hands caught up in the sleeves of his inside-out tunic.
“No, uh, I’m fine!” Tyto said, face burning as he tugged his hands free. Kabru’s own hands quickly came to his aid - or at least, Tyto was sure that’s what Kabru would have claimed he was doing, when in reality the younger man’s hands were pawing at Tyto’s bare chest, playing with the hair there and fondling him enthusiastically as Tyto struggled to get himself out of his trousers.
“Got distracted watching me?” Kabru asked with a knowing smile, “Or something else on your mind?” Of course he could see right through Tyto.
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” Tyto murmured, swatting at Kabru’s meddling hands as the lad tried to pinch at his nipples. “Do you want me to keep my trousers on?” he demanded, face red.
“No no, of course not,” Kabru said, laughing. He gave Tyto a playful shove, and Tyto let himself get pushed back onto the narrow bed, his heart starting to hammer again as Kabru tugged his trousers down, and then his underwear, finally freeing him of all of his clothes.
Almost instantly, Kabru had a hand on Tyto’s cock again, pumping it in his fist to try and revive it, and though it felt good, once again Tyto swatted at Kabru’s hands, and pushed the lad back. “Stop that,” he scolded gently, “Let me do something for you.”
“Oh?” Kabru said, his face lighting up with clear interest. “For me?”
“You lay down,” Tyto said, gruff with embarrassment. He swapped positions with Kabru, and the lad obligingly crawled beneath him and stretched out against the bed. Tyto knelt between Kabru’s spread thighs, and as he stared at that pretty body, posed so provokingly, he was paralyzed with indecision.
Tyto didn’t have a plan, he wasn’t good at this and he was never sure what to do next when he got into bed with someone. He wanted to fuck Kabru. Kabru had asked him to fuck him. So he should… He should get Kabru ready…Of course the first thing that popped into Tyto’s mind was the lewd things Kabru had been saying about his body only a moment before.
“Well, since you say I’m…thick,” Tyto said, his face burning as he spoke, “I should make sure you’re… Ready, shouldn’t I?” The words came out sounding like a question even though Tyto hadn’t meant to sound so hesitant.
“I’d like that, make sure I’m ready for you, Tyto,” Kabru echoed back in a honey-sweet voice that made Tyto forget how to breathe for a moment. He had to duck his head down to avoid making any more eye contact with Kabru, because he knew he’d lose his nerve otherwise. When Kabru said his name like that, he felt helpless, like he’d do anything the boy asked of him.
He settled down on his elbows between Kabru’s thighs, and spit into the palm of his hand before he started to poke and prod at his hindquarters. Kabru was all lean muscle and bone, and Tyto felt his heart pinch in his chest at the thought that he wasn’t feeding him well enough.
But no, Tyto was pretty sure he gave his tenants enough food. Kabru was skin and bones because he kept dying in the damn dungeon. Tyto wished he’d stop going into such a dangerous place… But then again, if Kabru wasn’t interested in the dungeon, he’d have no reason to stay on the island.
Tyto rubbed his fingers against Kabru’s puckered hole, and he felt his gut clench at how soft the skin felt against his own rough fingertips. Kabru propped himself up on his elbows, and though Tyto was keeping his own gaze fixed on Kabru’s buttocks, he could feel him watching him.
“That feels nice, you can do more, though,” Kabru purred, and Tyto pressed a fingertip into the lad just to get him to stop talking at him like that. He was a grown man after all! He didn’t need Kabru, who was so much younger, to baby him. But Kabru didn’t seem bothered by the sudden intrusion, it only made him laugh. He reached down and stroked Tyto’s cheek.
“I’m fine, see? You won’t hurt me,” Kabru insisted. Tyto grunted and began to thrust his finger in and out in an effort to prove that he knew that and Kabru didn’t need to tell him.
“Let me cast the lubrication spell, and--” Kabru said, but he must have seen Tyto grimacing, because he stopped mid-sentence. “What’s wrong?” Kabru asked.
“How does it…Make lubrication?” Tyto asked. He couldn’t cast spells so he didn’t know the technicalities of how this or any spell worked, but Kabru had used it the other times they’d fucked, and it had felt… Hot and slimy. It had worked well enough, but Tyto wondered if it was healthy. The spell probably was meant for greasing wheel axles, not sex. Right? Nobody would invent a spell like that just for sex. Well. Maybe elves would… “Maybe we should use real oil instead? We are in the cellar. I have plenty of oil.”
“It draws water and other chemicals out of the body,” Kabru said, “or the air--”
“There’s water in the air?” Tyto interrupted, surprised by the idea. “In the body?” He’d been taught that the body contained blood, bile, and phlegm…Maybe there was water in the humors? That sort of knowledge went beyond the things Tyto had learned in school, but Kabru had a much higher level of education than him…
“Yes,” Kabru replied, smiling. “But it’s not important, if you’d rather use oil, we can use oil. Though don’t take too long fetching it, old man. I’m impatient to have you.”
Tyto clambered off the bed like a pack of hounds was chasing him, and though he felt embarrassed walking around the cellar naked at least his manhood wasn’t fully erect yet. It would have been even more mortifying to have it swinging around while he walked, especially because Kabru was watching him. The boy was laying there, stroking his cock casually like it was the most natural thing in the world to be pleasuring himself while waiting for Tyto.
“Alright, alright, I’m hurrying!”
Tyto found a bottle of olive oil that was mostly used up, and climbed back to the empty space between Kabru’s spread thighs. He poured a generous amount of oil into his palm, and then stopped suddenly, at a loss for what to do with the uncorked bottle he was holding. Kabru clearly understood his predicament because the lad laughed at him again, but also reached out to take the bottle.
“Give it here,” Kabru said. He re-corked the bottle for Tyto, and set it down on the small table beside the bed.
“Thanks,” Tyto muttered, coating his fingers in oil before he resumed what he’d been doing earlier, working one of them inside of Kabru’s tight hole. The oil made things much easier, and Kabru sighed out loud as Tyto began to open him up.
“Does that feel good?” Tyto asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
“Yes,” Kabru said, “And you’re right. Real oil does feel better than the lubricant spell. The spell is just so convenient. I probably use it more than I should.”
That statement made Tyto’s imagination almost run off with him, as he thought of all the possible circumstances where Kabru was using magic for sex, but Tyto forced himself to stay in the moment. He didn’t want to just get Kabru ready for him, he wanted to do something for Kabru. He wanted to make the lad feel good. As good as Kabru made him feel.
Tyto steadily pumped his finger in and out of Kabru while he considered what to do next. The other times they’d had sex, Kabru had done all the preparations himself, much to Tyto’s mortification and secret delight. It had been embarrassing to admit that he wasn’t sure how to do all this, but it had also been incredibly exciting to see the lad working three fingers into his own body, before telling Tyto to take over, to fuck him.
Tyto had more than once had a dirty dream that focused on that exact memory.
“You can--” Kabru started to say, and Tyto looked up when he suddenly stopped talking. Kabru was holding one hand up, palm towards the sky, and he curled his first two fingers towards himself, as if he were beckoning someone to him. “--Like that. With your fingers.”
“You’ve only taken the one,” Tyto muttered, his ears burning as he looked back down at Kabru’s groin, and twisted his hand around to try and imitate what Kabru had shown him. He was startled when the simple movement drew a moan from the other man.
He looked back up at him, saw he was smiling, but in a hungry way that once again reminded Tyto of foxes and henhouses, except Tyto felt like he was the hen in the metaphor, even if Kabru was the one about to get fucked.
“You’ll give me more in a minute, won’t you?” Kabru asked, and Tyto forced himself to look down at what he was doing with his hands again. Every time he thought his face couldn’t get any hotter, Kabru always did or said something that made him feel like he was trapped in a furnace, and the temperature just kept going up.
“Yes, yes. Um, like this?” he asked, curling his finger experimentally. He was startled when he felt Kabru’s body tighten around his finger. He remembered feeling him squeeze around his cock like that when they’d been fucking, but this felt completely different.
“Y-yeah,” Kabru said, and though Tyto didn’t look up he could hear the smile in his voice. “Keep doing that.”
Tyto focused all of his attention on what he was doing with his finger, curling and uncurling it carefully. Slow seemed better than fast, and there was a spot that made Kabru tense up every time Tyto brushed past it. Kabru was starting to gasp quietly in time with the movements of Tyto’s finger, and a quick glance made him realize the lad’s erection was drooling a little puddle against his belly. The thought of Kabru being that excited because of Tyto made his mouth feel dry as a desert, and he swallowed hard.
Though he knew Kabru wanted more, he still felt awfully tight around Tyto’s finger, especially when he kept clenching, and for a moment Tyto wasn’t sure what to do. Would another finger right now be too much? The lad kept asking for more, but Tyto’s hands were a lot thicker and meatier than Kabru’s. He dared to look up at Kabru again, forcing himself not to look away immediately, and as he watched the way his erection seemed to twitch along with the lad’s pulse, he thought, ah, to hell with it.
Tyto shifted his weight and draped one arm over Kabru’s hip, and lowered his head to start licking at his cock. Kabru made a startled noise and his hips jerked up, but Tyto’s weight kept him stuck in place. Tyto was nowhere near as skilled with his mouth as Kabru was, but he’d sucked a couple of cocks in his time, and Kabru’s seemed so pretty and in need of attention, it was a shame not to do something about it.
“Oh,” Kabru said, with a giddy little laugh, as Tyto used his other hand to guide the head of his cock to his lips. “You’re spoiling me.”
“You deserve it,” Tyto mumbled as he started to lick at the tip, ignoring the bitter, musky taste. The way Kabru kept gasping cutely made it easy. “You deserve somebody to use nice oil, and to take care of you.”
Kabru didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, and Tyto took that as a cue to keep going. He kept curling his finger inside of Kabru’s body, and eventually he slipped his dripping cock into his mouth and started to suck. Doing both things at the same time proved challenging, and so Tyto did one for a bit, and then switched his attention to the other, and if Kabru minded, he didn’t complain.
“Oh, fuck,” Kabru muttered, and Tyto glanced up at him without stopping what he was doing. The lad was swearing, true, but it sounded like a good sort of swearing, and seeing the way Kabru had thrown his head back, the way his whole upper body arched up off the bed confirmed that Kabru was enjoying himself. Tyto could see how dramatically his chest rose and fell with each gasping breath he took, could see how the muscles in Kabru’s arms were flexing as his hands kneaded at the bedsheets restlessly. “Please don’t stop, keep doing that--”
Tyto swallowed hard, feeling his own cock stiffening in sympathy. Of course, he still had Kabru’s manhood in his mouth, so his reflexive action made Kabru whine in a way that sounded too damn good. Kabru never made a lot of noise during sex, but what little noise he did make really drove Tyto crazy every time. The thought that he was making Kabru feel good always lit a fire in his belly.
After a while, Tyto managed to worm a second finger into Kabru, stroking the two inside of him together, turning Kabru’s soft gasping breaths into little moans. Then it was finally Tyto’s turn to laugh, when he managed to suck with his mouth and curl his fingers at just the right time together, and Kabru swore and squirmed violently beneath him. Luckily Tyto outweighed Kabru by a good amount, and that made it easy enough for him to hold him down and keep doing it, again and again, drawing increasingly shrill moans from Kabru.
Eventually Tyto had mercy on him, and pulled his mouth off Kabru’s cock to gasp for breath. “Feeling good?” he asked, relishing an opportunity to feel confident and capable.
“Please,” Kabru whined, and Tyto’s heart kicked at his ribs at the sight and sound of him acting so needy. Kabru’s normally bright eyes looked dark, unfocused, and there was a sheen of sweat on his skin. “Please, I really want you, Tyto.”
Tyto couldn’t resist that, and he wiped the spit from his mouth with the back of his hand, and crawled up on top of Kabru in a rush. Kabru’s hands came up to touch him eagerly, he grabbed at Tyto’s biceps, his chest, and when Tyto kissed him, those arms immediately went around his neck and pulled him in close as Kabru kissed him back hungrily.
The height difference meant they couldn’t keep kissing though, and eventually Kabru pushed Tyto back with both hands. “Fuck me,” he demanded, as they both lay there panting for breath. “Let me roll over, and--”
The other times they’d done this, Kabru had been turned away from Tyto: once on his belly on the bed and another time bent over the trunk at the foot of the bed. Of course both times had been incredible, or at least that was how it had seemed to Tyto, but no matter how good it felt, a part of him really wanted to try doing it face to face, so he could see Kabru’s reaction, so he could watch Kabru touching himself…
“No,” Tyto said, his breath catching in his chest from the fear of starting a fight. “Let’s do it like this.”
“But--” Kabru started to say, a hint of confusion, and then displeasure on his face that came and went so fast, Tyto wasn’t sure if he’d really seen it at all. Kabru then seemed to settle on pleading, looking up at Tyto with big, wet eyes that reminded him of a homeless kitten. Even though he could tell Kabru was doing it on purpose, Tyto felt guilty for being the cause of that expression one way or another.
“I like it better that way,” Kabru said, playing with one of Tyto’s ears, tracing the shape of it with his index finger, his tone coy and coaxing. “I want you to give it to me really hard and--”
“I want to look at you,” Tyto blurted out, not knowing if that would work to persuade Kabru or not, but hoping the lad would at least understand Tyto wasn’t just trying to ruin his fun for no reason. “I…want to watch you feeling good. I want to see your face.”
Kabru seemed surprised by that, and after staring at Tyto for a moment with an unreadable expression, Tyto thought maybe he saw a hint of bashfulness. Was Kabru embarrassed by the idea of Tyto watching him that way?
“Is that so?” Kabru asked, a crooked smile on his lips. “You really want that…?”
“I do, I do,” Tyto rushed to reassure him.
“Well… Alright then,” Kabru said, as the hand on Tyto’s face ended up rubbing the top of his head, before Kabru patted him there a couple of times, like his skull was a drum. “Then get to work, old man!” Kabru punctuated his orders with a final slap to Tyto’s scalp; it seemed like Kabru’s usual confidence was back in full force.
Tyto moved back until he was kneeling between Kabru’s legs again, and after a moment of consideration while stroking his manhood, he decided he needed more oil. What was left on his hand after fingering Kabru wasn’t nearly enough.
“Could you give me some oil?” he asked.
“You do need more polish for a weapon like that,” Kabru agreed with an amused, leering grin, and Tyto felt exposed under the force of it. Maybe that was why Kabru was shy about being watched. It did feel vulnerable. Tyto hoped that he wasn’t asking for too much, wanting to have sex like this.
Kabru stretched across the bed and snatched up the bottle of oil from earlier, and poured some into Tyto’s waiting palm. Tyto bit his lip as he spread it onto himself while watching Kabru put the bottle away. Kabru’s long, slim legs were splayed apart for Tyto, and he was looking up at him expectantly, his cock hard and ruddy against his belly, the shine of oil peeking from the crease of his buttocks.
Tyto had to remind himself to breathe.
He leaned in over Kabru, braced one hand against the bed and used the other to guide his cock, while Kabru lifted his hips helpfully. The feeling of Kabru’s hole stretching open around him was so incredibly good that it was hard to control himself and Tyto pushed into him forcefully.
“Sorry,” Tyto gasped, and Kabru grunted in response, and pulled one of his legs up towards his chest.
“Get my leg over your shoulder,” Kabru ordered him breathlessly, and Tyto was quick to obey. He grabbed Kabru’s thigh just under the knee and pushed until Kabru was able to hook it over his shoulder. This spread Kabru much wider open and they came together in a hurry, Tyto’s body settling in the crook of Kabru’s thighs, his gut against the lad’s flat stomach, his hands braced against the bed, his cock buried in him to the root.
It felt wonderful, and though Tyto knew he should probably give Kabru a second to breathe, to get used to being filled, he couldn’t stop himself from moving. It was like his hips had a mind of their own.
“Sorry,” Tyto apologized again, “Gods, you’re so tight, a-and soft--” His face was burning with embarrassment at his lack of self-control. He tried not to thrust too hard or too fast, rocking his hips against Kabru steadily, the flimsy wooden bed frame rocking and creaking with his movements.
Thankfully, Kabru was no delicate flower, he took it all without so much as a yelp, throwing his head back and grabbing at the bed with both hands as Tyto started to fuck him.
“It’s fine!” Kabru gasped out louder than he’d probably meant to, and Tyto found it deeply endearing when the lad clapped a hand over his mouth to quiet himself just like Tyto had done earlier. Neither of them wanted to be overheard by the other tenants. Kabru groaned into his palm, and Tyto felt the leg over his shoulder squeezing at him, pulling him in. “Y-you’re fine,” Kabru hissed out between his fingers.
Tyto had to muster all of his self control not to just pound away into the lad at that point, and he tried, he really tried, to keep his wits enough that he could enjoy the sight of Kabru this way. The lad was arching his body up off the bed again, like before, but now he was tight as a bowstring, where before he’d looked relaxed and lazy. Tyto wasn’t really sure which version he liked better, but he liked how desperate Kabru looked right now. Like Tyto was giving him too much, overwhelming him.
“F-faster, harder,” Kabru gasped, looking down at Tyto with a pleading expression. Well, maybe it’s not too much after all, Tyto thought, amused by Kabru’s shameless gluttony.
Tyto hunkered down on top of him, bracing his weight on his elbows. The leg hooked over his shoulder slipped down, wound up wrapped around Tyto’s waist as he started to move more vigorously. Tyto wanted to give Kabru everything he was asking for. Out of Kabru’s choices, Tyto might not have been the most handsome, the youngest or the wealthiest, but he was determined to be the hardest working. He’d fuck the lad just how he wanted, he’d make him feel good.
Because of their height difference, Tyto’s head only reached Kabru’s chest. Kabru’s arms went around Tyto’s neck to try and hang onto him, but his hands kept slipping against Tyto’s sweaty skin. He wound up grabbing Tyto by both ears, which startled Tyto and made him laugh. Kabru was pulling rather roughly, but it was impossible to mind when everything else felt so damn good.
“Tyto, Tyto--” Kabru was gasping his name in an urgent way that made Tyto speed up even more, slapping his body between Kabru’s thighs desperately now. “Yes, fuck, don’t stop, just like that, please--!”
Tyto could feel Kabru start to move under him, restless limbs pushing and pulling helplessly as the lad tried to squirm away from the pleasure. Tyto could feel how Kabru was starting to tense up, clenching around Tyto’s cock, making it harder to thrust in and out of him. So Tyto redoubled his efforts to keep pounding into him just as hard, and Kabru gave a startled wail beneath him. His legs latched around Tyto’s waist, and squeezed like a vice as Kabru came.
The sight and feeling of it was all too much for Tyto, and he was only able to give a few more thrusts himself before he was doubled over on top of Kabru, his face flattened against the lad’s belly as he groaned, spilling his seed deep inside that tight, quivering body. They lay there holding each other for a long, straining moment, trembling as the high of their mutual pleasure ebbed away.
Eventually Kabru’s legs slipped off from around Tyto and he was able to roll off of the lad with a sigh. He nearly toppled over the edge of the narrow bed entirely, but Kabru dove after him and threw an arm around Tyto’s chest, saving him at the last moment.
“Careful there, old man!” Kabru said, laughing, his head falling against Tyto’s shoulder.
Though the clumsiness of the moment made Tyto laugh too, he couldn’t help but feel a great warm swell of emotion at the way Kabru was hanging onto him tightly as he helped tug him to the center of the bed. There wasn’t much room, so Kabru curled against Tyto’s side, and he tried to keep Tyto’s beard out of his face at first, but eventually gave up and just used Tyto’s chest as a pillow regardless, huffing quietly every time bits of beard wound up in his nose or mouth. Laying there, Tyto felt like his heart was knocking against his ribs. He should have caught his breath by now, but somehow he still felt breathless.
“That was good,” Kabru said, sounding pleased with himself, pleased with Tyto. He lifted his head so he could look at Tyto, and his smile was mischievous. “Were you jealous? Is that why you were so energetic?”
The question took Tyto by surprise. For the last however long this had taken, he hadn’t thought of anything but Kabru. He couldn’t even remember who he might be jealous of. His bewildered expression seemed to amuse the lad, because Kabru chuckled.
“Jealous of Rinsha. The ‘pretty dark-haired girl’ that was here looking for me. You mentioned her specifically.”
“No…” Tyto said, his cheeks warming. He wouldn’t call the feeling jealousy, exactly, but… “You just--You seem to be friends with a lot of pretty girls. And handsome men…”
“Most of them are just acquaintances,” Kabru said, patting a hand against Tyto’s chest playfully.
“But we’re friends?” Tyto felt the words escape his mouth before he could think them over. Kabru was looking at him oddly, and suddenly Tyto had no idea what the lad was thinking, which scared him. “I-I mean, earlier, you said--”
“No, you’re right,” Kabru said smoothly, his expression turning relaxed. “We’re friends, Tyto.”
“...I’m glad,” Tyto said, his ears burning.
They lay there quietly for a while longer, Tyto staring up at the exposed beams of the ceiling, thinking about how good it was to lay here with Kabru’s arm draped across his middle, his head resting against his chest… But then he found himself wondering when Kabru would go back to the dungeon again. He hadn’t set a date, but Tyto knew it would be soon. How long would he be down there? A week? A month? And then what? How many times would Kabru descend into the dungeon, and when he finally stopped… What would he do afterwards?
“I’ve been thinking about what you told me about the dungeon,” Tyto said, and Kabru’s fingers started combing through his beard. It tickled, but also felt very nice. Nevertheless, Tyto reached up and put his hand on top of Kabru’s to still it, so the lad stopped distracting him. “...Do you think it’s going to happen soon? The dungeon collapsing?”
“I’m hoping I can stop it, but all the signs are there. It’s getting very unstable,” Kabru said. All the playfulness was gone out of his voice now, which wasn’t surprising to Tyto. Kabru took anything to do with the dungeon extremely seriously. “If I can’t find a way to stabilize the dungeon… Either it will be sealed, or it will collapse and the monsters will escape… Either way, the island’s economy will break down.”
“Do you really think you can stop it?” Tyto asked. He had a lot of faith in Kabru, but at the same time, he’d never heard of a dungeon that had remained perpetually balanced. They all burnt out eventually.
“I can’t promise you anything,” Kabru said grimly, “All I can say is… If the western elves arrive, then it’s probably too late. I’ve failed, and the elves might be able to seal the dungeon… Or it might be another Utaya. If we’re lucky, the only losses will be economic, if we’re not…”
“A lot of people will die,” Tyto said, completing Kabru’s sentence for him.
They both fell quiet.
“...I’m going to sell the inn,” Tyto said, breaking the silence. “My neighbor keeps offering to buy it. I’ll do it, and I’ll move to the mainland with my sister and her family…”
“That’s good,” Kabru replied, and Tyto could hear warmth creeping back into his voice. When he glanced down, he saw what looked like relief on the lad’s face. Was Kabru worried about him? “Even on the off chance that I succeed… It’s dangerous to live near a dungeon. Kahka Brud’s safer. I’d much rather if you were there.”
Kabru was worried about him.
“Um, you know,” Tyto said, rubbing his thumb against the back of Kabru’s hand, where they were touching. “There’s something else I’ve been thinking about…”
“What’s that?”
“Well, it’s just… It gets so damp and cold down here, and sometimes there’s rats--”
“It’s fine! You don’t need to lower my rent any further, I’m happy to pay it as it is--”
“N-no, it’s not about the rent,” Tyto said, fighting down nerves as he tried to find the right words to express himself. “What I'm trying to say is… You don’t have to sleep down here.” Of course Kabru said nothing to that, and no doubt the lad was wondering where the hell he was going with this. Tyto cleared his throat nervously before he continued. “You could… I mean, there’s room in my bed, if you wanted to…”
“Oh,” Kabru said, clearly startled. Tyto didn’t dare to look at him, he fixed his eyes on the ceiling, held his breath, and waited.
“Oh… No, no, I’m really fine down here,” Kabru said, and his voice was casual, friendly, but Tyto could feel the way the warmth had gone from it. The ache of disappointment quickly numbed his heart as he watched Kabru pull away from him and sit up at the edge of the bed. “But thank you for offering. It’s very sweet of you, Mr. Casari.”
You could come with me, Tyto thought helplessly, watching Kabru’s back as the lad used the corner of the bedsheet to clean the mess on his belly. You could come to the mainland, and leave the dungeon to other people. You could come with me.
“For a sum of Fifteen-hundred Korona, Tytus Casari of Merini transfers his property to Rickhard Oldom of Bonnario.” The court clerk recited, and her scribe carefully inked the words onto the vellum that was stretched out on the desk between them.
Rickhard handed the clerk a leather pouch, and she emptied the contents carefully onto a scale in order to check the weight of the coins. Satisfied that the sum was correct, she removed two stacks of coins for tax, and put the rest of the coins back into the pouch before handing it to Tyto.
“This court has found the property in good condition and free of debt. It consists of the parcel of land located at number 10, Caseum street, and contains the stone house and stable known commonly as the Casari Inn,” the court clerk continued. “Formerly the dairy.”
It felt unreal to Tyto, to be standing here in the public courthouse, selling the home he’d grown up in, that his family had lived in for generations, but he was certain that he was doing the right thing. After all, was it really his home anymore, now that he was the only one living in it? Home was more than dirt and stone, more than buildings.
“This final concord is witnessed by me, Asta Storli, on this day, the first of Aprilis in the 87th year of the reign of King Ox-Cleaver IV. Gentlemen, please sign your names on each segment of the document.”
The scribe cast a drying spell to ensure that the ink wouldn’t smudge, and Tyto and Rickhard took turns signing it. The scribe took a set of shears, cut the deed into three segments, and the clerk stamped her official wax seal onto each part, one for the court record, one for Tyto, and one for Rickhard.
They both thanked the clerk, took their part of the deed, and made their way out of the busy courthouse together.
“What made you decide to finally sell?” Rickard asked, once they reached the street. “Get tired of being an innkeeper?”
“Not necessarily. I like being an innkeeper well enough,” Tyto said, scratching his beard absently. “To tell you the truth… The dungeon started to make me feel uneasy.” Rickard laughed at him, which didn’t surprise Tyto.
“Don’t tell me you let that boy from Vestra bend your ear!” Rickard exclaimed. “With his stories about dungeons collapsing and monsters rampaging through the streets. That sort of thing doesn’t happen in a civilized place like Merini.”
Tyto wasn’t going to argue about it with Rickhard, but he wasn’t sure that the other man was right. From how Kabru described his homeland, though it was undeniably exotic, it didn’t seem like a barbarian city at all. If anything, it had a lot in common with Merini. A small, physically isolated village with a booming economy, and a constant flow of outsiders looking to strike it rich, and leave. Displacing local people with folks that were just trying to profit off of the dungeon boom.
Rickhard had come to Merini when the dungeon first opened to the surface, and he’d bought three houses, which he’d converted into lodging for travelers. One of his properties was the house next to the Casaris. He wasn’t a bad neighbor but Tyto had to admit when Rickhard started talking about investments, finances, and profit margins, it went above his head. He was sure Rickhard was a good landlord in that he made a good profit doing it but he didn’t think he would want to rent from someone like him.
“Next you’ll tell me nobody should live in Bonnario because of the volcanos. Or Maalinus because of the earthquakes. There’s risks no matter where you live.”
Of course Rickhard and many others didn’t take Kabru’s warnings seriously. Tyto really didn’t know why he was. Maybe he was too easily frightened, or maybe his soft spot for the lad made him weak to his pleading. In the end it didn’t really matter, he’d already gone through with it. Now all that was left to do was pack up and leave.
“That’s true, I suppose,” Tyto said, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. “I also wanted to be closer to my family.”
“You have been on your own ever since your sister left for the mainland,” Rickhard conceded. “That’s hard. I know I wouldn’t want to stay here if I didn’t have my wife with me.”
Of course, though the dungeon and his family were the main reasons Tyto was leaving Merini, they weren’t the only thing.
Ever since his last tryst with Kabru, the lad had been avoiding him. He still lived in his cellar, but he came and went at odd hours, he skipped meals, and he spent most of his time elsewhere. Tyto rarely saw him and when he did Kabru was polite but distant. He certainly didn’t flirt with Tyto anymore. Clearly, whatever they’d had between them was over now. Tyto felt foolish for thinking it could have ended any other way, but it had been impossible not to hope when he’d wanted it so badly.
The loss made leaving Merini feel like an easy choice.
“You’ve been my neighbor the entire time I’ve lived here. It’ll be strange not having you around.”
“It’ll be strange to leave,” Tyto agreed. “I’ve only been to Kahka Brud twice, and now I’m going to live there.”
When Tyto arrived at the harbor that afternoon, there was a foreign ship in the process of docking. He didn’t have time to study it closely, but he saw that it had an elongated design, bright white sails, and there was a bird carved into the bow. Because it was unfamiliar, it made him uneasy, but he had his own business to attend to and no time for gawking.
It was only once all his cargo was loaded, and they were casting off that Tyto was able to turn his attention back to the mystery of the foreign ship. As they exited the harbor, he realized with a start that the ship wasn’t alone. He counted more than a dozen matching ships anchored out in the bay, like a flock of vultures waiting patiently to descend on the island.
As his small ship navigated between the fleet of foreign vessels, Tyto saw that they were crewed entirely by elves. Remembering Kabru’s warning, he felt dread settle in his guts. He hoped that the lad would be alright.
Life in Kahka Brud was good.
Tyto and his sister Livia had always been close, and sharing a home with her again after five years apart was wonderful. Tyto had four nephews and a niece that he adored, he got along well with his brother-in-law, and the house was big and beautiful, with more than enough room for everyone in it. Tyto felt proud of the fact that his hard work on the island had helped make this life possible.
But Tyto felt restless, being idle didn’t suit him, and so it didn’t take long to convince Livia that they should start renting out spare rooms in the house. It would never make the same kind of profit that the inn on the island had, but the little bit of extra money would be a welcome contribution regardless.
As for the island… Well, now nobody was making a profit there anymore.
The morning after Tyto’s departure, the Western elves had created a naval blockade which stopped people traveling to or from Merini. Then two weeks later, a massive earthquake had shaken the region, and the ground split open on the island, creating a chasm so huge that it could be seen from the mainland. Monsters began pouring out.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Nobody Tyto spoke with had any idea what had happened. Rumors were flying wildly. The dwarven and gnomish kingdoms sent boatloads of troops to investigate, and there had been clashes between them and the elves, until a temporary truce was negotiated.
Kahka Brud, being the closest large city, was completely flooded with people in need of lodging. There were soldiers, sailors, diplomats and academics that were there to deal with the crisis, then there were adventurers that had been on their way to Merini, but had been caught up in the elven blockade… And of course when the blockade was lifted, people were abandoning the island in swarms. Tyto hadn’t even realized how many people were on the island until he saw them filling up Kahka Brud’s port.
So it was good that he’d already convinced Livia to start renting out space, because it meant they were ready when suddenly there wasn’t an empty room to spare anywhere in the city. For months they’d had over a dozen people sleeping on blankets in the great room, ten in the hayloft, and five in the spare room they’d cleared out. Tyto had to share a room with his nephews, which made for very tight quarters, but they knew it was only temporary, so nobody minded too much.
As things began to calm down, the demand for temporary housing decreased, and gradually they were all able to reclaim some personal space in the house. Tyto had his own room again, and they only had a few renters left: a couple of people on cots in the great room, and three in the hayloft.
Though Tyto still occasionally felt the sting of loneliness, Livia and her family made it easy to forget about it. He was surrounded by people that loved him, and his days were full of chores and housework that he enjoyed doing. But sometimes he watched his sister with her husband and couldn’t help but yearn for something like what they had. They were happy, they were in love, they had a family. Was it really too late for him to hope for something like that for himself?
Of course, with so many people passing through Kahka Brud, Tyto couldn’t keep himself from searching for familiar faces. He was relieved each time he spotted old friends, neighbors and former tenants, always happy to see that they’d made it off the island safely… But despite hours spent watching at the docks, the one person he wanted to see the most still hadn’t turned up.
Was Kabru still on the island? Had Tyto missed him in the crowds? Or… Had the lad died in the dungeon collapse? The last option was especially troubling for Tyto, and though he tried not to worry about it too much, it nagged at him.
Part of him felt foolish for thinking of Kabru so often. The lad had made his wishes very clear, and they didn’t involve Tyto. Tyto had ruined what little friendship they had by being too forward, asking for more than Kabru was willing to give. It was over, and Tyto ought to move on.
Yet Tyto worried about him anyway. Even if Kabru didn’t want to see him, even if their friendship had become a tense, uncomfortable thing, Tyto still cared about the lad, and it hurt to think of him, alone and suffering. Did you do it? Tyto often found himself wondering. Did you get what you wanted out of the dungeon? Are you happy now? He hoped so. Despite everything, Tyto very much wanted Kabru to find… Whatever it was the lad was looking for.
They didn’t have a cow in Kahka Brud, but they did have three goats, and though making goat cheese was different from what Tyto was used to, he’d quickly adapted the family recipes. So now he made a fresh batch of goat cheese every week, enough for the family, their renters, and with a little left over for the neighbors. He had some that he was brining in the cellar, but it would be another week before that was ready.
Sitting on a low stool in the barn, milking one of the goats, Tyto daydreamed about buying a cow. They could afford one if they were frugal, and since the house wasn’t so full anymore, he had time and space to work on other projects. He could make enough cheese to sell… And wouldn’t it be nice, to get back to the profession that his family had cultivated across generations? Some of the children were the right age to start an apprenticeship. Maybe he could teach them… And then he’d have built-in assistants, too.
“Uncle Tyto!” his niece called from the house, raising her voice to be heard above the clattering sound of the back door being thrown open. “There’s a man asking for you!”
“I’ll be there in a minute!” Tyto called back. He was almost done with the goat anyway.
He wondered who it could possibly be as he picked up the pail of milk, made sure the goats were securely fenced in, and that they had feed and water, before he headed back into the house. Tyto hoped it wasn’t Rickhard, he felt guilty for selling to the man right before the dungeon’s collapse, even though Rickhard had all the same warnings that Tyto had.
“Who is it?” he asked his niece in the kitchen, handing her the pail of milk, before changing from his muddy stable boots to his indoor shoes.
“He didn’t say, just that he used to rent from you, that you were friends,” she replied, her face flushed with excitement. “He’s got huge blue eyes!”
Tyto felt his heart jolt in his chest at her description. It couldn’t be Kabru, could it?
He made his way to the great room in an excited rush, and the pounding of his heart only sped further when he saw that it was indeed Kabru, standing by the fireplace with his hands folded behind his back, like no time at all had passed.
“Kabru!” Tyto exclaimed, charging at the lad and grabbing him in a hard embrace. “I was worried sick about you! You’re skin and bone! What--”
“It’s good to see you too, Mr. Casari,” Kabru said, laughing with what seemed like a mix of surprise and joy.
Hearing his name said so formally brought Tyto sharply back to reality, and he quickly released Kabru and took a step away from him. If Kabru was embarrassed by Tyto’s behavior, it didn’t show on his face. Meanwhile, Tyto’s own face was burning.
“You haven’t been taking care of yourself,” Tyto scolded.
“I’ve been too busy for that,” Kabru said, stubborn and unapologetic. Tyto could see the dark shadows under the lad’s eyes, the gauntness of his face, how he had missed spots while shaving, how his hair seemed a bit too long. It was wonderful to see Kabru of course, but it looked like he was working himself much too hard.
“I’m glad that you were able to get off the island when you did,” Kabru continued. “Somehow, we were able to keep anyone from dying… But things have been very chaotic.”
“Well, come on, sit down, I’ll get you something to eat, and you’ll tell me all about it, right?” Tyto replied. The household had only just had breakfast, so Tyto’s mind was already racing ahead, thinking of what he could scrape together in a hurry to feed Kabru, who seemed in desperate need of a good, solid meal.
“Unfortunately, I can’t,” Kabru said, interrupting Tyto’s train of thought. “My party is escorting some sensitive cargo to Sadena, and I can’t keep them waiting.”
Why is he here, then? Tyto wondered.
“I wanted to let you know that I was okay,” Kabru said, and Tyto’s heart gave a valiant little flutter, like a dying bird still trying to fly. He didn’t think Kabru looked okay, but, well, he was alive, which was better than the alternative. “I wanted to see you before I left. I’m really happy that you’re doing so well.”
Had Kabru really wanted to see him? Did he care about him, even if it wasn’t in the way that Tyto had hoped for?
“...I’m happy you came to see me. I really was worried,” Tyto answered eventually, the words feeling heavy as he struggled to voice them. “The next time you’re in Kahka Brud, I hope you’ll come see me. A proper visit, so we can talk and catch up.”
Despite how casual Kabru was acting, Tyto couldn’t help but feel like they were saying a much more final goodbye. The lad might say that he was going to come back, but Tyto had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t.
“I’d like that,” Kabru said, and Tyto wanted to believe him, even though his gut told him not to.
“Before I go, there’s something I was hoping you could help me with,” Kabru said, and suddenly the lad’s visit was less mysterious. In a way it was a relief to know that Kabru wanted something from him, that his visit was strategic and not personal. At least that made sense. But what could Tyto possibly do for Kabru?
“Anything,” Tyto said, and he meant it.
“Well, I was wondering if you had a room to spare for a friend of mine.”
“Friend?” Tyto echoed, realizing with a start that they weren’t alone in the great room, that there was another dark-skinned man sitting quietly in one of the chairs by the fireplace. He’d no doubt been in the room the entire time they’d been talking, but Tyto hadn’t noticed him at all.
“This is Kaka Floke,” Kabru introduced, “I was hoping that you could take care of him while he’s staying in the city.”
The other man stood up to join their conversation, and Tyto found himself staring in stunned silence as he unfolded himself from the squat dwarven chair like some kind of long-legged river bird. He was the tallest tallman Tyto had ever seen in his life, dressed in fine gnomish clothes that seemed to have been stretched out to fit his frame. His hair was long and dark, and he had the beginnings of a beard on his chin.
“Hullo,” Kaka said quietly, and Tyto instantly recognized that despite his immense height, the other man was young, and shy. The type of tenant that would close himself up in his room and never talk to anybody if he could help it, and that never asked for anything lest he become an inconvenience to others. It was easy to recognize that sort of thing when he saw it in someone else, since he was the same way. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“I-it’s a pleasure to make your, uh, meet you too,” Tyto said awkwardly, stumbling over the formal wording. He turned to Kabru, “Yes, of course I’ll look after him.”
“Thank you,” Kabru said, sounding relieved. “Kaka’s going to be in the city for a few months at least, to oversee the transferring of delicate cargo from the island. It’s a big job.”
“I’m helping my mum and dad with their work,” Kaka explained. “They’re magic researchers.”
“Anyway, I think the two of you will really get along well,” Kabru said, looking immensely pleased with himself. “And I’ll feel better leaving Kaka here, knowing he’s staying with someone I trust.”
Though Tyto still felt like it might be a very long time before he saw Kabru again, somehow he no longer felt like the lad was going to vanish from his life forever. Maybe Kabru didn’t want him in a romantic sense, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about him at all.
“Alright,” Tyto agreed, “If you wait just a minute, I’ll pack you something to eat on the road, Kabru. And you,” he looked up at Kaka, “Have you eaten yet?”
