Our Nightly Talks

It’s a long friendship, one that has stretched eons and centuries alike.

When faced with the idea of love - a man whom was in love with him deeply; how could the Inbibitor Lunae possibly return his feelings. Especially to a mortal man. No matter how long of a lifespan Ren had compared to most species, the time he could spend with him was limited.

To love only to know the loneliness that would come from him leaving. He didn’t fall in love. That was something he could never afford to do. Even other Vidyadhara had somewhat short lives, the people he knew now would one day be replaced with replicas. Different lives, different names, different experiences, with no memory of who they once were. He didn’t want to know someone. He didn’t want to love someone half heartedly.

So if that was all considered, and taken as fact, why did he see himself falling anyway?

A small crush, he found himself always wanting to be around him. They started having nightly talks, every day they would talk for hours under the moon, sharing stories, and enjoying their own company.

It had just been coincidence at first. Ren couldn’t sleep one night and found companionship in the man who was seeming to glow and sparkle under the moonlight.

The topics were of no importance. At least at first.

In fact, if the same Dan Feng from two months ago, had been offered such nightly talks, he would have readily declined. He found himself waiting all day, just to speak with him, catching himself, smiling to himself about things he would keep to talk to him the following night. His councils were filled with comparisons to him, as well as taking his advice to give to other members. They almost joked that Ren was basically a member himself since that’s all he ever spoke of.

His lonely training sessions he would partake in became at another time he could spend with him. His skills were unmatched by no other but Dan Feng found that when given a sword, there was no way he could compare to Ren. A polearm was the primary weapon most learned on the planet they were at. He had spent decades, nearly centuries learning the craft. Other weapons had to be made by the wielder.

Which was the next interesting thing about Ren.

When he was away, he didn’t seem to know much about the strange man with white fur. He was an artist, his art form: blacksmithing. He had learned on his own; no tutor had taken him in. The way that he crafted was completely different than anything he had ever seen.

He had only found out when given a gift; a weapon made just for him. Balanced to fit him more perfectly than any weapon he had ever wield it before.

Cloud Piercer. What a title for such a beautiful weapon.

He had gotten his weapon last, the other members of the group had gotten theirs as he finished. He hadn’t even realized the new weapons they wielded were anything more than decorative pieces, showing that their days of fighting were behind them as each settled into peaceful homes.

However, a friendly spar with Jing Yuan with Cloud Piercer and his weapon, Devastator Glaive, showed that it wasn’t the case.

They were as if extensions of themselves, forged specifically for them. Had anyone else taking them to arms they would be fully unnatural to anybody but who they have been crafted for.

Ren had assured him Cloud piercer had taken the longest as it was his best work. How had Ren learned so much about him to make him an entire polearm better than any he had ever used before?

A gift so big had to be repaid somehow. But what could he ever do for him?

For several nights, they allow themselves to be physically closer. Dan Feng had never wanted to admit the budding feelings he had been forming, but Ren seem to feel the same way. Ren kept accidentally encouraging those feelings that he felt, with flirting, he assumed.

It was cold on this planet. Dan Feng didn’t often have the need to dress warmly as he was of the belief that he should take the world around him as it is.

Ren however, was naturally hot to the touch.

“Your own personal heater.” Ren would offer.
It was true.
He never felt cold again being next to him.

He liked him, a lot. He found though, that liked wasn’t a good enough word. “Like-like” was what Jing Yuan said. He was inclined to believe it.
Too unsure, and too soon for love, but it was more than just a like could cover.

“Dan Feng, I think-“ No. He didn’t let him say it.

What they felt didn’t need to be spoken aloud yet. Dan Feng was too afraid to know what it would mean if he said it. What would have to change about how they spoke, how they enjoyed each other’s simple company. Would they then have to talk about stupid things that didn’t matter, like the weather or politics they didn’t know?

“That’s not how it works.” Jing Yuan would try and tell him. He didn’t want to listen. Jing Yuan didn’t know everything, honestly, he didn’t trust him to know much at all.

But when they met at night, he never felt inclined to talk about the weather or politics as they sat closer. Holding hands as they spoke, naturally, nothing forced like the other relationships Dan Feng had watched others seemingly suffer through.

Only when he was finally ready, did he repay the great gift of cloud piercer. Other cultures he had learned, exchanged jewelry. Necklaces or rings to those they were close to. Neither man had much use for those. Instead, he got a set of bracers crafted, one specifically made for each man; a matching set.

Specifically made out of a material embedded with magic.

Made to feel the warmth of the other. “So my personal heater stays with me.” Dan Feng would explain.
Feel the emotions of the other far away. “So I’ll be able to know when you need me.” Ren understood.

Those bracers were presented on a night like any other, Dan Feng worried more about chasing him away than any other issue he was faced with as Inbibitor. But Ren had accepted the gift more happier than Dan Feng had ever seen him. Only did did he finally call it what it was.

“Ren, I think I-“