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The journey from the Eastern hemisphere to the west is as long as it is perilous to the three pillar men. Their kind had thrived in one cave for upwards of two million years- with a few scant tales of mountains and seas passed down from their ancestors. Their vulnerability to the sun slows their journey, and makes it all the more perilous. But the super Aja lies beyond the vast water and to the west- or so they hope.
From the plains that they had called home for all of their lives, they travel north. Kars leads the way, having several thousand years prior made the journey to and back on his own. Far, far to the earth’s northern peaks, there is only a short spanse of water keeping east and west apart. But between the north and south are mountains and caves, rivers and valleys, and pockets of humans each more unique than the last.
Snow and ice signal their approaching destination. In fact, the farther north they travel, the further the climate morphs from the dry heat that they called home. It’s a rare sight for their godly bodies to be so densely covered- not even vampiric strength can fend off this cold. So, between the nights, they lie in caves and thick tents together, sharing body heat (courtesy mostly of Esidisi) and pelts to keep from freezing to their bones.
Wamuu turns over one sunset, resting between this and the next night’s journey, and his ear perks to the sound of his master’s voices beside him. His lip twitches as their agitation becomes apparent- the two of them were more than prone to bickering, after all. But this time, they speak in a language that is old and alien to him, that he cannot seem to understand with all the hours of listening he has done to it. He merely turns over, and drowns out their banter with his thoughts.
For a moment, it works. But the voices grow louder as the night grows darker, and they seem to throw out any care for the fact that someone is sleeping next to them. Annoying as it is, the youngest of the trio doesn’t bother to interrupt their conversation. He waits, sure that the argument will end just as soon as it had started, and shuffles beneath his pelts.
Finally the sun outside sets, and the two exit the tent. This hardly muffles their shouts, but it’s just enough for Wamuu to adjust. Though by this time, he begins to find it odd that their spat has lasted so long. Kars would usually have Esidisi shut his trap, they would huff and turn away from one another, and be back to business as usual within a few hours. But through the ground he can feel the vibrations of their feet, slamming the snow and earth beneath them. When a body slams against the ground, the young pillar man tosses all of his hopes of sleep out of the window. The moon and his masters had risen, and so he would as well.
Wamuu sits up and fastens the circlet and cloth beside him to his head. Tuning his ears to the noise outside, he stands with some hurry at the sound of his masters, now screaming at one another. Still nothing that he hadn’t heard before, but evolved greatly from the little whisper of an argument that he’d been awoken by. So he parts the heavy light-proof leather of their tent, and peers out onto the moonlit land.
The elder pillar men shout and seethe gibberish at one another, turning up ice in flurries- it turns to steam and escapes into the air as it brushes past Esidisi’s boiling flesh. Light flashes from Kars’ blades, piercing through dark and veins. But as one of the lights flashes by Esidisi’s head, revealing bone and fangs jutting out from his skull, Wamuu realizes that something is wrong. Kars’ horns are bared in turn, and he slashes without any tact, blindly trying to harm the other man in any way that he possibly can. Esidisi flings blood and vein at him, finally tripping him into the snow. As Kars hits the earth, he does not recoil, but uses his momentum to drag the other down with him. There’s a horrid snap as he bares his teeth like a lowly animal, snapping his jaw around his comrade’s collarbone and snapping it away from the rest of his body. A sharp cry follows as it’s torn away, and even Wamuu can hardly stand the sight of his master literally tearing the other apart. This was no spat- they would very well try to kill their immortal opponent.
“That’s enough!” He booms. The other two, freed from their trance of rage, reawaken at the sound of his voice. Wamuu marches through the snow and hooks Esidisi by the foot, tossing him off of Kars’ body. He stands between them, looking as if they were the children. Neither of his elders speak, panting and pulling their wounds together. Wamuu only sighs.
“I do not know what it is that the two of you are fighting over,” He balls his fists at his sides as he speaks. “But it cannot be worth it to tear one another apart like a pair of dogs. Pull yourselves together.” He dares to call his lords out on their childish behavior, and receives no admonishment in return. They look away from him in shame, and he remains to be sure that the battle does not continue. Kars seems to concede, remaining outside as the more grievously injured Esidisi withdraws back into the tent.
Wamuu turns along with them, passing Kars with a sideways glance. He’ll tend to him later- if he knows anything, it’s that one of them will rather be left to himself, and the other will want someone to speak with. They don’t have one another now, so he must burden himself with the task.
Returning to the tent once more, he finds Esidisi shoving his bones back together, face returned to its normal state. The air is hot with his heated blood, but not enough that he cannot bear to take it. The youngest sits beside his elder and wordlessly takes his broken collar, shoving it back into place. Esidisi winces, but allows his bones to fuse back together, followed quickly by his flesh. He flexes his fingers, and lets out an anticipated sniff. Wamuu prepares for the coming flood of tears, but he finds very few as his master bends over and gives what he can only think to describe as a very angry sob.
“...Are you alright?” Wamuu can only ask.
Esidisi doesn’t remove his palm from his face. “I’ll be fine, just give me a minute and these wounds will heal up.”
“That is not what I meant, my lord.” The younger informs him. At this, Esidisi drags his fingers down his face, over knit brows and wet eyes.
“...It’ll be alright.” Esidisi insists.
“What on earth were you fighting about?” Wamuu breathes. “I could not understand what upset either of you. Surely it is not worth tearing at each other like that over.”
This time, the elder shakes his head and grits his teeth. Another tear falls from his eye, expression heavy with frustration and hurt. “Wamuu. Sometimes... Lovers have spats. And that’s all it was, a lover’s spat. We’ll move on from it soon enough.”
Wamuu does not believe those words for a moment. An argument did not entail ripping bones apart, powerful beings as they were. He chooses not to pry any further, however, and decides that it is time to move on to the other man. So he returns out, the humid air being replaced with the chill of winter outside.
Kars leans against one of their hut’s supports, and the moon highlights his sweat and his blood. He is significantly better off in terms of his wounds, but he holds a firm look that keeps his emotions locked within to toil.
So distracted he is, in fact, that he does not take note of Wamuu as he retrieves something out from the refreezing ice. He crosses the distance back, and Kars only turns his nose up from the ground when an object is held out to him. A look that is almost, almost embarrassed crosses his features as he reaches up to find that his left horn has been completely shed from his skull.
“Thank you.” He mutters, anger laced on his voice despite all he might do to hide it. Wamuu’s ears have been trained since infancy to detect the little nuances of his lord’s voice, and he can feel too easily that he is seething. He takes his horn and places it back onto his head, allowing a few seconds for it to fuse back into place.
It is quiet between them for a moment. Esidisi can be soothed with a bout of crying and a pat on the shoulder, but the eldest of them is as hard to ease as he is to rouse. But if Wamuu is anything, then he is dedicated to the wellbeing of those two who raised him, so he tries.
“Is there anything that I can do for you, my lord?” He asks. Kars, as expected, shakes his head no. “Are you hurt? Would you like for me to tend to your wounds?” Another shake. “Can I help to resolve your argument in any way?”
At this, Kars finally curls his lip upward. “Maybe give that moron a couple of extra brain cells.” He hisses, digging his nails into his forearm. “He and I will discuss this alone. It’s nothing that you need concern yourself over, Wamuu.”
“I understand, I only wish to help-”
“If you understand, then why do you insist on stepping on my toes?” Kars barks at him. Wamuu seals his lips together, and takes a step back. Kars only lets out a long, deep sigh, and lets his arms fall to his side. “Forgive me. None of this is your fault. Esidisi and I have made it through eighty thousand years of disagreements, we shall make it through this one. Understood?”
The younger lifts his brow with curious concern, but nods. “I understand, Lord Kars.”
...
Wamuu trails between his two masters, Kars at the front and Esidisi at his rear. Typically the two of them would step nearly side by side together, and he would await the moment some unfortunate being dared step into his shadow, but now Esidisi’s feet scrape cautiously behind him. He acts as a buffer between their furious gazes at one another, and the nights drag on and on with their silence. He tries to make some kind of conversation, to bring up old stories of the past and hopes for their future, but they die off no sooner than they begin. The pair of old lovers sleep with him between them and their backs turned from one another. It is troubling, and most stressful is that the young one has no clue how to approach the problem. Clearly his masters suffer, but what can he do to ease their anger?
An idea sparks flame in the back on his mind one evening, near to dawn when they choose a place to camp for the day. Kars stops ahead of them for only a moment, taking a long vine from the trees between his fingers. Even in the ice and the snow, this plant has managed to bloom- bright in color, its light reflects with the moon. But the elder of them parts from it, and presses on.
“Excuse me.” Wamuu ducks behind a tree not far ahead of where they had paused.
“Don’t take too long of a piss, we’re going to have to set up camp soon.” Esidisi calls to him, but really, it is a plea not to leave him alone with Kars before tensions flare.
As the other two continue through the forest, Wamuu works quickly.
...
“Lord Esidisi.” Wamuu approaches his master as they split up to scout the surrounding area for a cave or crevice to sleep within.
“Find something?” The older turns to ask him.
“I have not located a dwelling for us this day, however-” Wamuu opens his jacket, and reaches in. “Lord Kars has made a request of me.”
Esidisi raises a brow and follows the younger’s hand as it moves in and out of his clothing. From beneath, Wamuu procures a blossom. He holds it out and twirls it just slightly in his fingers, allowing the moon to bounce from its petals. “He has asked me to deliver this blossom to you. He informed me that he believes the color suits you, and as such, he found himself drawn to it.”
Wamuu tenses as the other hesitantly takes his ‘gift’. But as the other’s darker fingers brush his own to take the little bloom, he can sense that the bait has been taken. Esidisi seems to soften, and he twirls the flower in his own fingers now. “Did he now...? He’s stooped pretty low to do something like this. A flower? Why should I care?” He takes his nose to the inside of it and drags a long whiff of its scent. This seems to soothe him, and he sighs. “However, he does like them... I’ll take it.” He tucks the bloom into a pouch at his hip then, and ties it back closed. “Thanks, Wamuu. Now go make sure he hasn’t started staking the tent up without us.”
With the first phase of his plan out of the way, Wamuu dutifully follows the order. One of his comrades could be tricked easily enough- he had expected for things to go over well with Esidisi. But to try and deceive Kars was to outwit a fox. But the youngest would try.
He finds the other man beating their tent’s support into the ground with a mallet. It is nearly constructed by the time Wamuu arrives on the scene. The elder turns his gaze over. “Did you find someplace else?” He asks.
“I have not.” Wamuu shakes his head. “Lord Esidisi has sent me to you.”
Kars raises an unamused brow. “Oh has he then? And what is it that he wishes to convey that he cannot simply look into my eye and tell me?” He questions with an annoyed vein in his tongue.
Once again, the younger delves into his clothing, and pulls a delicate flower from within. “I have been tasked with delivering this gift to you. He left me with the message that he noticed this flower took your fancy earlier this night, and that its sweet scent brought the reminder of you.”
There is an even longer moment of tension as Wamuu holds out the offering to a less than amused Kars. He pecks at the bait however, eyeing it, drawing closer to its scent. “He would say something ludicrous such as that, wouldn’t he?” He takes the flower and smells it. Wamuu can almost sense a grin on the other’s features from behind the orange petals. “Go on and fetch him then, I should have the tent put together by your return.”
Upon retrieving the other man, Wamuu’s prize comes with their first voluntary exchange of words in weeks.
Hook, line, and sinker.
...
Wamuu’s feigned acts of kindness begin a slow domino of a return to normalcy. His elders exchange looks, then words, and occasionally walk side by side. But, the youngest still sleeps between them while they wait covered from the day. He ponders another fix, but his opportunity never comes.
They at last make it to the northern sea, where human fishermen travel the shortened distance between east and west. They board a ship there, hiding deep beneath all decks in the moldy and decrepit storage floor. It’s cold and it’s wet, and there is no moonlight and no stars. It is a perilous journey- their lives are in the hands of humans. If their ship should sink, then they could never make it to land, and the sun would claim them all. The three pillar men are too anxious to nap their month long voyage away, but they try.
Wamuu lies to one side, either one day or one evening, it is impossible to tell. He finds a spot where there aren’t too many splinters and settles there, motionlessly taking in the feeling of motion beneath his resting body. And, not far across from him, nestled between crates of dried meat and booze- he hears two voices. They speak once more in a language that he cannot quite figure out. But, if he were able to decipher the words, they may sound as this:
“I love you.”
“Telling me that isn’t going to make me any less angry with you.”
Kars turns up his lip. “I am not aiming to give you my apologies.”
Esidisi sneers at the other man. “Then what are you talking about? Has breathing in so much mold made you sappy?”
The other man’s expression further sours. “We could die at any moment on this ship. Our deaths would not only be in vain, but they would be entirely out of our control. Perhaps...”
“Perhaps what?”
“I would rather you not meet your end hating me, and cursing my name.”
Esidisi stops there, and a long groan from the wood around them violates the conversation. “I don’t hate you. I just can’t believe you’d leave him back there all alone. He doesn’t have anyone, not another tribe, not a clan of humans- he’s totally alone out there. I can’t understand why you think it’s just okay to leave him.”
Kars huffs. “He was not worthy of accompanying us.”
“Maybe, but he’s still only a child. If you’d just waited another thousand years, he would have grown up just the same as Wamuu has.” Esidisi argues back.
“A thousand years? We have already wasted nine thousand as it is. We could not afford to keep an extra burden around.”
“Kars, that’s your so-”
“Hush!” The other snaps. Violet seeps out in messy tangles from his head wraps, and his crimson eyes barely show in the dark. “He was my pet, if he was anything. A dog, a beast of burden, but certainly not worthy of being called my kin.”
His counterpart crosses his arms. “Well maybe he was deserving of being mine.”
“He can be whatever you wish. But what is done is done, and it’s far too late to turn back now.” Kars settles down, tucking some of his hair back into its place. They share some silence, seething quietly at one another. Esidisi breaks the quiet, turning his back to the other man.
“When we have this rock you’re looking for, I’m going back. I’m sure he’ll manage on his own until then.” He crosses his arms over his chest and tucks one leg over the other.
“Once we have it, then you can do whatever you please. I will be spending my days on matters less trivial then trying to time wild things such as he.” Kars prattles back.
“Alright then, I will.”
“Fine. I do not care.”
Another long moan seeps into the quiet, rocking the ship’s cargo along with their bodies. The smell of salt seeps in through the wood, and brings a chill. The pair sit with their backs to one another, staring off into opposite corners of the darkness. Until one turns their head.
“...I don’t hate you.” Esidisi mumbles. “I just think you’re an asshole, and an idiot.”
Kars cocks a brow. “I suppose that feeling is shared, then.” He remains in his curled up state until the air around him grows warm, and the heat connects with his flesh. While the feeling isn’t entirely welcome, he doesn’t seek to fight the embrace from behind.
“Come here. It’s freezing.” The heated one beckons him. He pulls Kars in, unhappy as the other party may be. “I’d never even dream of hating you. I’m pissed at you, and I can’t forgive you for abandoning him. But... I still love you, regardless.”
The older of them both lets a long breath out from his nose. “That is fair. I know that the choice I made was the best one. However, it does not bring me any joy to treat you with constant malice, as I have over these last weeks.” Sure that none will see him in the darkness, he gives in to the warmth as it shields him from the cold surrounding sea. The horn that had been ripped from his head is kissed, and a gentle hand runs over the collar which had been broken. The tiny smacks of lips meeting flesh and gently leaving their mark echo off of the wood around them.
“But really now, a flower? Did you think something so small would ease my anger?” Esidisi mutters beneath a laugh.
Kars blinks at him, slowly. “What flower?”
“You asked Wamuu to bring me that flower you noticed, remember?”
“I did no such thing. You were the one who asked him to gift it to me.”
The perplexed couple stare into the other’s confused eyes for only a moment, turning their gazes over to where the other man lay. And just as he could not hear their words, they could not see his look of content through the dark.