Author’s note: I’m approaching this story a little differently. As far as characterization/motivation goes, I’m trying a much more subtle method. Very little interior thoughts. Pretty much using a stronger ‘show don’t tell’ approach than usual. Also, and more importantly, at a point of the story and from then on, character-POV won’t be as clear and separated as I usually try to ensure. It’s deliberate, so don’t think I’m getting sloppy <grin>. I’ll try to keep who’s doing what clear as much as possible, but there’s a method to my madness, so if it gets confused, try to go with the flow. I hope once the story is finished, or maybe sooner, it will be obvious why I decided to write it this way.

Price of Truth

By Lady Tempest

A bird of prey soared overhead, a silhouette against the bright, blue sky, its eerie cry echoing through the thick-leaved forest. Its shadow swooped along the earth below, sliding over rocks, and fallen branches, and a scraggly, dirt path and the two lone figures plodding along. The taller, and larger, of the two raised his dark head to the sky, his eyes intense and alert and nearly glowing gold in the strength of the midday sun.

Several paces ahead, his companion stumbled over stones and dead branches strewn about the overgrown path, and somehow, even in the youth’s clumsiness, managed to keep to his feet with an odd grace. Brambles and thorns snagged the cloth of the young man’s pale, scholar’s robe, yet he pressed on, shoulders slightly hunched and determined under the weight of his pack. Whenever leaves and branches hung in his way, he shoved them aside, oblivious to the swift ducks, dodges, or blocks the snap-back required of anyone following.

Suddenly, the youth stopped. Staggering a few steps ahead, his head tilted to the side, the sunlight dappling his hair honey brown and dark earth. He craned forward, rising slightly on the balls of his feet. With a jolt, like he’d been slapped, he whirled around, the flaps of his robe snapping about his legs. His pretty face was alight with a beaming smile, his blue eyes electric.

“Kei! We found it!” he exclaimed, arms waving in unbound energy.

Masaru Keijiro grunted, quickening his steady, leisurely pace towards his companion.

“We found it! I knew it was true. I knew it!” Not waiting for his friend or a response, the youth turned and dashed through the trees, leaves rustling as if charged by the enthusiasm speeding past them in a blur of gray.

“Danyl!” Kei called, the muscles of his broad shoulders tensing with each step deeper in the endless green his young friend fled. “Dammit, Danyl!” With a groan, he chased after the boy, his black hair, tinted blue by the sun, fluttering behind him like a tail.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he grumbled although Danyl was too far ahead to hear him.

Branches and spindly bushes snatched at the sturdy cloth of his flowing swordsman’s trousers as he ran past. He ignored them. Although maintaining awareness of every thing around him, as a swordsman must be trained to do, his focus was on only two: the delighted sounds bubbling from their still unseen source, and the looming, stone structure peeking through breaks in the trees.

“Kei, come on!” an energetic call drifted through the dense leaves and clinging, humid air somewhere in the near distance. “You have to see this.”

Shaking his head, a slight smile countered the rigid set of his jaw. Kei clambered onward, following the lively chattering of the lively young man hidden by more forest than Kei was comfortable having between them.

“It’s amazing! ...Woah! Is that...”

“Danyl! Stay put!” Kei yelled, the rapid beating of his heart from more than running. “If you move another step, I’m going to strangle you.” As he raced towards the ruin, and most certainly his friend in the process, he listened for the expected grumbling reply.

All he heard was silence. Well, the hawk still screeched in the distance, and crickets chirped, various birds sang and twittered as if in competition, and the sticky breeze ruffled through the leaves, but, aside from his own anxious breaths and hammering heart and feet pounding on dirt and snapped twigs, no human sounds.

“Dany!” His deep voice was tight, as he burst into a clearing centered by a large stone structure partly in ruins.

And on the weather-worn steps sat Danyl, blue eyes wide and innocent, rose lips in a chastened pout.

“Dany...” Kei breathed in relief. For the barest of moments he relaxed, the thrumming in his blood and prickling tension in his broad shoulders stilled as his breath.

Then the moment broke. Warrior-trained instincts took over and relief quickly flashed to intense in his golden eyes as they darted from the quiet youth to his surroundings, piercing each shadow, each niche, wall, pillar, and stone. He stalked slowly forward, eyes roving, hand twitching on the hilt of his sword. Halting mere strides from the stone steps and an anxious Danyl, Kei’s eyes narrowed, lips thinned. Then he grunted, the tight alertness straining his entire being melting to far more loose wariness. And something else.

Folding his arms across his chest, Kei glanced down at Danyl, scowling, expression as stern as his tone. “Danyl.”

Danyl‘s shoulders tensed, wincing, his head ducking to hide his blush. He was silent, but after a moment his gaze lifted under thick lashes to stare at Kei, expectant and contrite, bright blue shining through the fall of his dark honey hair.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Danyl said meekly. “It’s just... Just... look at this place.” He swung an outstretched arm. “Do you have any idea how old this is? Just by the weathering of these steps alone...” Danyl’s hand stroked the worn marble beside him like a mother would her child or one would a lover...

“... puts it easily at Tenth Dynasty. Probably much older. I’ll have to explore it more to get a relative date. Oh! And there were some symbols I saw... over there...”

He paused, hesitating for a moment to gaze intently at Keijiro, eyes wide, shy, and eager, brows twitching an unspoken question. Receiving no argument from his friend, he hopped to his feet with a pleased smile, and bounded to a solitary, short pillar. “Yes, I was right! It is Aisha’s sigil. And with the red and gold veining in the marble, this has to be Taladreus-marble...”

“Danyl.”

“To find either this far south is amazing, well, since no temples have been built in dedication to Aisha for centuries, only the architectural forms of churches and cathedrals, and Taladreus-marble has never been used in religious structures, at least in the north, well, with the Nysianic war over two-thousand years ago, and all, kinda tends to limit trade a little. And then there’s the symbolism of it as the ‘Bleeding Stone’... Just...Wow, to find them both, together, at a structure over a thousand years old, it’s incredible...”

“Danyl.”

Danyl flinched, startled to sudden silence. Turning, mouth slack, he stared at Kei with wide, blinking, blue eyes. “Huh?”

“You’re babbling again.”

His cheeks pinked, long lashes fluttering against them. “Oh. Right. Uh, Sorry.”

“Well, if you didn’t, I’d think you were ill.” Kei’s lips quirked into the barest of grins, but his amber eyes were alight with humor. Chuckling inwardly, he watched as Danyl‘s nose scrunched and the younger man stuck his tongue out at him. In response, Kei cuffed him gently on the back of the head, so lightly only Danyl’s honey-brown hair stirred under his fingers, soft and body-warm.

“Now let’s scout the area, make sure it’s safe.” Kei drawled the last word, pausing, letting it and his return to seriousness sink into Danyl‘s awareness. “Then we explore inside. If we’re still here at nightfall...”

“If? If....?” Brow wrinkling, and mouth slightly agape, Danyl darted a glance to the temple.

Kei held up a hand. “If we’re still here at nightfall, I don’t want any surprises, either crawling out of the woods or out of an ancient ruin.”

Danyl sighed, but nodded in agreement. “But I should translate the Sha-stone before we enter the temple.” At Kei’s raised eyebrow he hurried his words. “So we know what we’re getting into. Sha-stones usually contain basic information for the temple, like the rites and observances one must follow to not desecrate such a holy place. It might also tell when it was built. They‘re usually carved and placed before...”

“Danyl.”

“Hmm?” The younger man blinked.

“Scout. Now.” Keijiro jabbed a thumb across his shoulder to the treeline at his right.

“Right. Sorry.” Danyl began to nod then suddenly paused, as if startled. “Oh!... But...” His hand darted up as in protest.

“You can read your rock when we’re done,” Kei replied with an amused shake of his head. “You’re right. It would be sensible.”

“Really?” Danyl was all blue eyes and a shy, hopeful smile.

Kei nodded, suppressing a creeping grin. “Now, let’s go. And if you run off again, I will strangle you.”

****

The forest surrounding the temple was lush and green and thick, leaving few natural paths for human feet. As Keijiro and Danyl tromped through the underbrush along whichever semblance of a trail Kei could find, birds twittered cheerfully in the sprawl of branches overhead, lightening the dark gloom of dense foliage looming beside them. In mottled light of shifting blues, grays, flesh, and gold, the slowly trekking sun warmed their backs.

Danyl stayed close to Kei’s side, gazing frequently over his shoulder to the mass of stone and ancient craftsmanship windowed through the branches and trunks of trees likely even more ancient.

The white-gray marble was so unnatural among all the nature engulfing them. Yet, somehow it belonged, was a part of the living forest: tendrils of vines embracing its smooth columns, crawling along the temple’s pediment and draping over stone men frozen in an artist’s vision of life; moss growing along its western side like a green velvet; The craftsmanship of men’s hands clothed in nature’s living garments, and nature crowned by the smooth, ordered beauty of man.

Danyl’s soft-booted feet crunched and snapped dead leaves and twigs, and he winced at the loudness of it, flashing Kei a pained, apologetic smile.

Keijiro merely shook his head and continued on, hand gripped loosely on the sword-hilt at his hip, golden eyes roving the woods: the green and brown weave of branches above and rough pillars of trunks beside them, the littered earth under their wearied feet. And Kei too gazed at the clearing and the weathered temple, studying the creep of shadows across the stone plaza and patches of grass as intently as he did the darkness lurking in the forest beyond.

By the time they completed a circuit of the ruins, Danyl nearly bubbled with anticipation. If not for the soft glares Kei shot him each time Danyl had stumbled into him, -- the young scholar admittedly too anxious and distracted to pay full-attention where he was going, -- he would have suspected Kei was prolonging their scouting just to frustrate him. As it was, he did wonder.

“Are we done yet?” Danyl sighed, his blue eyes roaming along the marble pillars and worn stone of the temple, longing for its secrets and to just commune with the vast history saturating each block and pebble. Suddenly, he smacked into what felt like one of the columns: hard and tall. Yet also, unlike them, soft and warm. And very familiar, since he had plowed into it often enough during their circuit of the clearing.

His wide-eyed gaze darted in front of him to the warm vest covering his friend’s back. Like the Ha’schen hills on a moonless night, the folds draped and flowed down Kei’s strong shoulders. Danyl’s cheeks flushed hot and pink, and his tongue nervously wet his lips in an unconscious gesture. He ducked his head and swallowed, embarrassed to meet Kei’s face which peered down at him with a lifted eyebrow and frustrated scowl.

“S... sorry,” he mumbled, his fingers scrunching and unscrunching the skirt of his robe.

His breath caught when Kei’s bare arm brushed against him as the larger man turned and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Well, Dany, you won’t have apologize a hundredth time. We’re done. Looks safe... for the moment.”

Danyl looked up, blinking, embarrassment fading to bright-eyed anticipation.

“Yes, go do your...” Kei waved towards the temple in a shooing motion, mock exasperation in his deep voice. “... thing.”

Nodding eagerly, Danyl smiled, his excitement jittering off him like the light and heat from a bonfire. “This could be the find of a lifetime. Maybe several lifetimes,” he said as he scurried to the tall, red-and-gold veined standing-stone, shrugging his heavy pack from his shoulder.

He knelt down in front of the stone, lightly tracing his fingers along the smooth, cold marble, the deeply carved characters sharply etched on its face catching his fingertips. Nibbling his bottom lip, Danyl’s blue eyes narrowed, studying the curves and lines of script.

“This is incredible,” he murmured. “It looks like ancient Ha’schen, perhaps Karulo’Magnunian Era. Fortunate that the marble is Taladreus, very little erosion. The characters are probably close to the condition they were in when this was made.”

“Can you read it?” Kei grunted, pausing in his watchful scan of their surroundings to spare a glance at his friend.

“Um.” While soft brown eyebrows squirmed towards his wrinkling forehead, Danyl’s lip pushed into an annoyed pout. “Not exactly. Much of any ancient Ha’schen writings or artifacts were destroyed during the ‘Age of Enlightenment’,” Danyl muttered, the last word a sarcastic snarl. “So much has been so tragically lost.”

Keijiro’s eyes widened slightly. “So, you can’t.” It was a statement as much as a question, and as startled as it was taunting.

“Oh. No.” Danyl turned to stare up over his hunched shoulder at Kei with surprised blue eyes, mouth parted in a silent, affronted gasp. “I just need some time, that’s all. It may not be as closely related to modern forms as ancient Aj’nago or ancient Nysanic or even Teledric, but it’s not impossible. I have seen a few texts of it in the past, just not enough to be fluent, and, from what I read, the root forms remain similar enough with the evolutionary variants to be decipherable, and the character structure isn’t too far from modern Ha’schen. Thankfully, it’s not an ideographic language, like Aj’nago, or we could be here for months.”

“Sorry. I should have known.” Kei held up his hands in mock-surrender. “But all you had to say was ‘Yes, just give me a few minutes’.”

Danyl’s face lit with a laughing smile. “I’ll try to remember that in the future.”

Grinning softly, Kei ruffled Danyl’s hair. “Now get back to your... stuff, Dany,” he said. “It’ll be dark soon and I want to scout that temple before we make camp.”

Danyl nodded, still smiling and returned to his examination of the stone. Keijiro’s hand dropped from his friend’s soft hair to his shoulder. With a quick pat-pat, Kei turned away.

*******

Sword-hand at his hip, eyes ever-watchful, Keijiro paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, in a slow arc from one edge of the paved clearing to the other. Halfway in his track, he stopped every so often and glanced at his oblivious friend who was still hunched in front of the large stone.

Danyl’s finger drew along a row of the etched characters as his other hand flipped pages in one of the many journals sprawled around him. His head ducked down to be buried in a book, his fine honey-brown hair falling like a silk curtain to hide his face, and the finger on the stone tapping idly, seemingly to an unheard tune. The hand on the book trailed down the text with slow care.

Shoulders stiffening, Danyl jabbed a finger at a line on the page. He jolted upright, his head darting: to the stone, to the book, to the stone again. Shifting and dropping his hand from the standing-stone, he grasped the writing-charcoal laying on the lone book on his right and hastily scribbled, glancing several times to the text marked by his other hand. Then he returned to his study of the stone, his finger caressing the next string of characters.

Keijiro’s amber gaze was soft, the faintest of grins thinning his lips. With a quick glance to the sun drifting slowly toward the darkening green sway of trees, he continued silently on his own path.

********

“I have it!” Danyl cried, jumping to his feet, clutching his open journal to his chest. “This temple, or rather, this stone was placed here...” Lowering the book, his finger trailed along it’s scrawled handwritten lines. “... if I interpret the dating system correctly, over..”

Keijiro sighed. “Dany, it’s getting too dark to go into unimportant details.”

With an absent glance to the purple-pinking sky, his brows furrowed, and his bright eyes and pouty lips narrowed into a scowl. “They’re not un...”

“Danyl,” Kei interrupted in a cold yet patient drawl. “Until we can make camp, they are. Now, is it safe to go inside?”

The young scholar‘s irritation and hurt faded, faintly reluctant, as understanding smoothed his gentle features. “Oh. Well... Um, there is one passage which seems to relate.”

“And?”

“Well, it says...” He looked down to his journal in his arms, intent eyes scanning the page. Jabbing a finger at the text near the bottom, he read, “... ‘Enter with your body as earth, and your spirit as the wind; Enter with your heart as water and your mind as the heavens. Then you shall find the Blessing of Aisha.”

One of Keijiro‘s dark eyebrows arched. “And that means?”

“Um, I’m not sure.” Danyl shrugged.

“Any idea, at all?”

“Well...” Tapping a forefinger on his pursed lips, Danyl began to pace in a small, lazy circle. His journal was cradled loosely against his chest in his other arm. As in a trance, he glanced between it and the darkling horizon, distant.

His musings flowed into words, gaining speed, tugging his thoughts to his lips like a river’s current. “... the Blessing could refer to the ‘Eternal Treasure’ those villagers spoke of. The rest could be some spiritual or ritual preparation, perhaps to make one worthy to enter into Aisha‘s presence and receive the Blessing. But without more study, especially of any other information the exterior of the temple may provide, I have no way of knowing what that ritual may be, if there is one at all.”

“I see.”

“And it’s possible that if certain procedures aren’t followed something may be... uh... triggered. It would be a sign of disrespect to Aisha and some priests may have taken that seriously enough to have built a sort of ‘punishment’ for the transgression into the temple itself. It’s been done before... in temples to the old gods, especially Krenek...”

Kei darted a glance to the dark archway of the temple’s entrance. “How often do temples to Aisha contain such ‘protections‘?”

Danyl absently followed his friend’s gaze. “Um, to Aisha?” Scratching the back of his head, his mouth fell into a pondering pout. “None that I’ve known. But...”

“And one this old?”

“I thought how old it is was unimportant?” Danyl snapped, his eyes flashing blue fire.

Kei’s head turned and he stared at his friend. The wrinkle of annoyance on Danyl’s brow, crinkle of his nose, and tight set of his pink lips and his jaw, drew a slow smirk to Kei’s own lips.

“It is,” he replied curtly, stifling his grin with a forced stony frown.

Danyl glared at him.

“Just that it’s old is detail enough for now,” Kei continued, weathering his gentle friend‘s irritation, his voice even and low, and with a tone of quiet command. Pacing several steps toward the temple, he halted and turned.

“So?“ He crossed his arms over his chest. “Could it be trapped?”

“Well since I’ve never seen or heard of one this old, I couldn’t say,” Danyl grumbled, crossing his arms over his own chest.

“I see.”

The scholar stepped lightly towards Keijiro until he stood beside him. With a slight tilt of his head and pursed lips, Danyl peered at his friend warily. “I’d need to study more of the temple exterior and its writings and artistic representations.”

“Hmm.”

“If...” Danyl dropped his head, gazing at the stones at his feet, his golden brown hair veiling his face and swaying in the warm early-evening breeze. “If I explore more, I may still not find anything... but...”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Danyl‘s head shot up, his mouth agape. “But...”

Kei held up his hand, shaking his head. “I’m setting camp. I don’t like an unknown at my back, but I won’t risk...” His eyes narrowed as in slight pain, the gold glinting with something unreadable in the dusky light. He sighed. “Well, there’s little choice. Is there?”

“Not really.”

“Continue doing what you do.” Clapping Danyl on the shoulder, Kei smiled faintly. “The sooner we know something, the better.”

Danyl nodded, returning the smile.

*******

The sky lazily faded to dusky blue and hints of pink. After Kei gathered dried twigs and branches from the edge of the treeline, he started a fire before setting the rest of the camp, giving Danyl light to study by.

Danyl apparently was oblivious to the change. His mumbles and scribbling flowed uninterrupted as he caressed the carved words and sculpted reliefs decorating the bases of each column along the plaza. Leading in a pale parallel line to the temple entrance, like twin orchards of marble and age-tarnished white, they towered above Danyl, the long trails of their fading blue shadows shifting over the broken stone and the crouched young scholar.

When the sun fully set, the crackling fire flickered sharp shadows of its own on the blue-white stone. The crisp scent of burning wood and leaves mingled with roast rabbit and spices and drifted along the faint evening breeze.

“Danyl,” Kei called, from beside the campfire. Stirring stew in a small iron pot hanging from a makeshift frame over the fire, he gazed over his shoulder at his hunched friend. “Time for a break. Come eat.”

“Huh?” Blinking, Danyl raised his head, his fingers paused in their exploration of an intricate, carved relief of worshippers bowing to a human shaped sun.

“Dinner.”

“D... dinner?”

“Yes.“ Kei nodded, chuckling and waving a bowl before he began spooning the stew into it. “... Food.”

“Oh.” Blinking again, Danyl glanced at the carved marble, then back to Kei, his eyes wide and uncertain. “Uh, well... I...”

“You need to eat, Dany. The carvings aren’t going anywhere, and you’ll have just as much light after you eat as now.”

“Umm...” Shooting one last lingering glance to the column, Danyl slowly rose to his feet, gathering a few of his books with him. “I... I suppose so...”

Danyl shuffled over to the fire, careful to not drop any of the books piled in his arms.

As the younger man neared, Kei held up a bowl of the simple rabbit stew. Wisps of steam rose and swirled in the cool evening air carrying a sweet meaty smell.

“So,” he said as Danyl accepted the bowl, their fingers brushing, warmth meeting warmth, for a moment, in the scholar’s care to not drop it. “...discover anything helpful?”

Danyl‘s cheeks glowed in the firelight, his lashes fluttering against them as he settled, cross-legged, beside his friend and the fire. “Well, I don’t know if it’s significant, but each of the pictorials I’ve seen depict everyone entering the temple barefoot and wearing flowing robes. Could just mean the style of dress of the time in general, but at the least the lack of footwear is consistent with gestures of respect and piety. Although inconsistent to what little is known of ancient Ha‘schen culture.”

“How so?”

“The ancient Ha’schen, much like their modern counterparts, are believed to have been rather advanced, at least where survival and prosperity in a difficult environment are concerned. They are credited with the development of Step-Irrigation, for example. And were... are masters of stonecraft, as many of their cities are carved into mountains. Ha’sche is a harsh land, hence the origin of the word in common-speech...”

“Danyl.” Shifting forward, draping an arm over his upraised knee, Kei sighed and shook his head. His hair swayed, hanging about his face like poured ink, black and dense as shadow. It cast a dark contrast to the gleaming gold of his eyes, alight with firelight, and as intense.

Dany bit his lip as he winced sheepishly. Ducking his head, he muttered, “They wore shoes.” At Kei’s blank look, he added, “Probably originated the development. Certainly advanced it.”

“And?”

Danyl sighed, shrugging. “It’s just strange.” He waved vaguely in the direction of the temple. “The scenes in the reliefs.”

“Any of that relate to that nonsense on the rock?”

“Maybe. I...” He set his bowl down, reached for his journal and began to flip through the pages. His index finger tapped against his lips as they moved in a silent mumble to the words before him.

“Oh!” Danyl exclaimed, smacking his palm to his forehead. “Oh! I can’t believe I was so stupid for it not to occur to me earlier.”

“Hey!” Kei scolded, eyes narrowing as he leaned towards his friend.

Danyl blushed and bowed his head, his chin pressed against his chest, a shy smile on his rose-pink lips.

With a satisfied nod, Keijiro straightened. “So what is it?”

Running a hand through his hair, Danyl lifted his blue-eyed gaze. “It’s...” He smiled. “... It’s so obvious! ‘Eingeg mi den leibde zu en erd.’ Body as the Earth... body touching the earth. Bare! Bare-foot! To do otherwise would be a sign of disrespect, soiling that which is holy. Bringing into a sacred place the dirt of the outside world. Could even be a gesture of trust...”

Danyl stared into the inky blue sky, at a distant star, as far away as his mind. “So what do the others mean? It must be along the same idea...”

Kei merely watched his friend mutter to himself. The firelight flickered gold and glittering, dancing in Danyl’s hair as it fluttered in the evening breeze, like fire itself. Alive. His eyes gleamed as he lost himself in his thoughts.

“ ‘Uut mi den geiste zu an vend.’ Spirit as the wind?” he murmured. “Wind? Wind is... light... intangible... airy...yet can be strong... wear down mountains, destroy...? Maybe a strong spirit...or... or one unburdened? Free? But how can spirit and wind, both intangible, be made tangible? How could the temple know?”

“Danyl?”

Nothing.

“Dany?” Kei called once more, louder, and touched Danyl’s knee.

“Hmm?” Danyl blinked, turning back to Kei as if drifting from a dream.

Shrugging a shoulder, Kei continued, “Maybe it’s all just spiritual nonsense. You know, to become closer to the gods or some such?”

“Maybe.”

“It is a temple. Not everything has to have a literal meaning. Aren‘t you always telling me that?” Kei added, smirking.

Danyl smiled. “True enough. You may be right. I didn’t find anything that would imply otherwise, but I still have more of the exterior to examine.” Danyl began to rise, but Kei reached out and patted his arm.

“It’ll keep until morning. Rest.”

“But... You sure?” Danyl darted a glance to the temple and the column he had left some of his work-materials. “It’s still early and... and I... I can use our lantern.”

Pausing, Kei gazed intently at his friend and the barely constrained enthusiasm on his earnest face and wide blue eyes. He shook his head, mouth twitching with a wry grin “Will it be enough light?”

Danyl nodded quickly. “Done it before.”

Kei sighed. “And, as I should know by now, you’ll just stay awake anyway.”

Grinning, Danyl nodded again.

Keijiro clasped his sword and stood. “Alright, but I’m staying with you.” Extending his hand, he waited for Danyl to grasp it and helped him to his feet. “Who knows what may be out in the dark.”

******

By the soft glow of his lantern Danyl examined any markings he could find outside the temple. The guttering light made the carved figures dance, shadows shifting in erratic rhythms. But although the stone men, and beasts, and, sometimes, gods seemed to come alive in the flickering shadows, moving through their ancient scenes of life and worship, Danyl still struggled to capture their meaning, purpose; to taste of that life, and the history saturating everything around him.

Soon, the lantern dimmed, the ambient firelight from the front plaza of the temple insufficient for continued reading.

“Uh, Kei.” Frowning, Danyl lifted the lantern to eye-level, peering into its tiny, smoky glass windows. The flame on its wick glowed a muted red.

“Guess that’s it.” Kei replied, patting Danyl on the shoulder. “Time for bed.”

“But...” Danyl’s eyes widened, glittering with moon- and fire-light.

“You’ve been at it for hours.” Kei peered intently into his face, catching, and holding, his gaze “Rest, Dany.”

“But...” he grimaced, although it was closer to a pout.

“They’ll still be here in the morning.”

Danyl let out a long sigh, which sagged into a yawn. As if trying to hide the traitorous sound, he clapped his hand over his mouth. Heavy lashes fluttered downward, winking against his cheeks and betraying him as well.

“See.” Kei chuckled, and affectionately wrapped an arm around Danyl’s neck, drawing him against his chest. “Come on, Sleepy-head.”

*******

Danyl pulled his blanket over himself and lay on his side. The bedroll beneath him was just thick enough to cushion him from any loose pebbles or rocks on the hard ground. With a squirm and wiggle of his hips, he tugged the skirt of his robe from catching under his body and tangling around his legs.

Finally settled, he rested his head on his rolled-up cloak, his arms snugged against his chest. The fire flickered and snapped behind him, warm against his back, lighting his hair, with a golden halo, and outlining the form of his body.

Danyl lay silent as Kei rummaged though the pile of broken branches and twigs, the pieces of wood thunking against each another as they shifted and fell. Shoving several of the thicker branches into the fire, he stood and strode to a second bedroll evenly laid a step or two from Danyl’s.

Danyl’s eyes followed his friend while he kicked aside the blanket covering his ’bed’ and slipped the leather tie from his long, black hair. Black as the night itself. With a shake of his head, the fine mass flew free, disappearing for one moment and another into the darkness around them, then rested straight down his broad shoulders and strong back.

Biting his lip, eyes glimmering, Danyl held his breath, watching. Kei turned, toeing off his shoes and nudging them next to Danyl’s with his feet. Danyl swallowed, mouth dry, as Keijiro’s blue vest shrugged from his shoulders. Smooth, muscled shoulders, golden skin gleaming in the soft firelight.

After dropping the loosely folded vest onto his shoes, Kei lay down, on his back. Snatching his blanket over himself with one hand and nestling his sheathed sword in the crook of his shoulder with the other, Kei glanced over at Danyl, turning his head slightly.

“G’night, Dany,” he said softly, with a light smile.

Swallowing again, Danyl nodded. “G... goodnight, Kei,” Danyl replied, voice raspy, and returned Kei’s smile.

Kei grinned, then turned to stare up at the vast midnight sky and twinkling silver stars.

Snuggling deeper under his blanket, Danyl drew up his legs, his body lying in a loose curl. His fingers, kneading against his chest, crumpled and uncrumpled the cloth of his robe. Silent, breath drifting past his parted lips, wisping his hair against his cheek and fluttering past his unblinking eyes, Danyl watched.

Watched the faint glow of firelight dance across Kei’s handsome face, his profile sharp, like Kei, like his sword. Watched how Kei’s dark hair fell over his rolled cloak and bled into the night. How his chest slowly rose and fell with his every breath. How the hilt of his sword matched the movement. How Kei’s eyes closed, the shadows of his lashes long on his cheek.

And slowly, the fire crackling behind him and the chirp of crickets his only lullaby, Danyl drifted to sleep. His best friend the last image before his drowsing eyes.

*******Part 2:

The sun high overhead, Danyl stood before the temple. The entrance, arched and dark, like an open mouth singing, whispered to him of the treasures beyond. Not treasures of gold and sapphire, although those could help support them and future explorations. A treasure far more precious: knowledge.

He stared, journal clutched against his chest. All he had learned and studied of the temple lay between its pages. With the sunrise, he had risen, eventually completing a circuit of reliefs and script carved on the outer walls and the few last remaining columns he had missed the night before.

Kei strode up behind him and settled a hand on his shoulder. With a sigh, Danyl bowed his head, his hair veiling his face. Taking another breath he turned to peer at his friend standing quietly beside him.

“I guess this is it,” Danyl said softly, tightening the grip of his trembling hands around the book at his chest.

Fingers gently squeezing Danyl’s shoulder, Kei smiled. “Go on, Dany.”

His blue eyes bright, Danyl’s face warmed with an answering smile and he nodded. “I just don’t want to do something wrong. It could...”

“Danyl.” Kei turned Danyl to completely face him, his hand firm on one shoulder while he clasped the other and leaned down to gaze unwaveringly into Danyl’s eyes. “You won’t.”

“But...”

“You won’t.” Kei repeated.

Danyl ducked his head, pink cheeks hidden by the fall of his hair, and nodded.