Last Call

Life, Identity

Fenneck sends Alexei off and goes home to the mountains. He tells Natalya about his exciting winter.

Fenneck spent Alexei's last day down in his tavern surrounded by their friends. He had never seen the tavern so full before. Nearly everyone in Flottenheim stopped by to tell the beloved bartender goodbye. "You have to make me one final Leniscow Mule," Fenneck told Alexei playfully while sitting at the bar with him. "Yeah, but if I make you one, everyone will want one. You just mix ginger beer and vodka and put some lime juice in it," Alexei told him, reluctant to put himself behind the bar tonight. "I know that much, but you do something special to it. What's the secret ingredient?" Fenneck asked him. Alexei gave him a playful smile. "Love," he said teasingly. "Like hell I'm giving away my secret, Fen. What if this doesn't work out and I have to bartend again? I can't lose my secret weapon!" Alexei told him, laughing. Fenneck rolled his eyes and walked around the bar and playfully threw a rag over his shoulder and picked up a bottle of vodka. "Wow. This is the most powerful I think I've ever felt in my entire life," Fenneck observed. Alexei nodded. "It's something, isn't it?" he smiled. "Great way to get laid, too," he joked. Fenneck shook his head and pulled out a glass and a ginger beer. "Speaking of which, where's Padma?" he asked Alexei. Alexei shrugged. "She's resting before the big trip tomorrow. She wanted me to enjoy the night with my friends." Fenneck smiled. "Do you really like her?" he asked Alexei, feeling hopeful for the couple. Alexei gave him a small nod. "I do. I'm nervous as hell but I... I don't know. I guess I never really realized how much I was missing," he said thoughtfully. "I'm also... really excited to maybe... have kids," he said, shrugging and smiling to himself. Fenneck smiled. "You have had a change of heart," he commented, pouring the vodka over the ice in his glass. "Woah, stop," Alexei told him, watching the glass. "Now the lime juice, just a splash," he instructed. "I guess so, huh?" he commented, getting back to their conversation, still carefully watching Fenneck butcher his mule. "I think that's why I've avoided women over the years. Especially after you knocked Evelyn up. That kinda freaked me out, honestly," he admitted, taking a sip of his whiskey. Fenneck nodded, filling the rest of the glass with beer. "I don't blame you. I was scared to put my penis in anything for a hundred and twenty-seven years because of it," Fenneck joked. Alexei laughed. "Stop," he said, looking at the glass. "Look down under the bar, there's a bottle, small, unlabeled with a white liquid in it." Fenneck looked under the bar and pulled the mysterious bottle out. "What is this?" he asked Alexei. Alexei looked around to make sure no one could overhear him. "It's a mix of sugar, vodka, and bumblebear honey. Just put a splash in, and if you tell anyone, I'll kill you," Alexei whispered to him. Fenneck smiled and did what he said, happy to be let in on Alexei's most well-kept secret. He hid the bottle back under the bar before anyone saw and grabbed a spoon to stir his drink. "Well, I think your kids will be absolutely wonderful. I really do think you'll make a wonderful father," Fenneck said before taking a sip of his drink and smiling at his work. "You really think so?" Alexei asked him, concerned. "I do," Fenneck told him, leaning down on the bar, feeling infinitely wiser on this side of it than the other. "Your father was a piece of shit, but you aren't him, Lex. You aren't a raging alcoholic, and I should know because it takes one to know one," Fenneck told him, half-jokingly. Alexei rolled his eyes. "You're not an alcoholic, Fen. At least not yet. A couple bad nights is one thing, but he was addicted to the bottle," Alexei said sadly. Fenneck sighed. "I can't really blame him. He had a shit life, Lex. We've been lucky to have all this." Fenneck gestured around to all their friends and loved ones. Alexei sighed. "Let me taste it, see if you have what it takes to run the tavern now that I'm gone." Fenneck handed him the glass and Alexei took a hesitant sip. Fenneck looked at him anxiously for his approval. Alexei shrugged. "Sub-par at best," he said playfully. Fenneck scowled at him. "EVERYBODY MOVE!" Fenneck and Alexei looked up to see Vyndius waving his arms around and clearing a path across the tavern. He held out his hands and shot a stream of ice across the floor creating a long icy path, about two and a half feet wide, to shoot out through the door and into the plaza. Gwynsickle made a funny noise and jumped onto the path and slid on his belly excitedly out the door. Everyone started cheering and Vyndius propelled himself down the path behind his penguin. It soon turned into a game and people were sliding all around the bar and cheering for the farthest distance. Fenneck downed his mule and he and Alexei took a turn down the slide. He ended up on the ice a little ways outside of the tavern and tried to stand but Alexei bumped into him causing him to fall down on top of him. They laughed for a moment trying to help each other off the ice and slipping around until Jasna barreled into them, sending all three of them off the end of the ice and onto the stone floor of the plaza. They laughed and got up and Jasna fell into Fenneck's arms laughing hysterically, clearly having had way too many vodka sours for the evening. Fenneck helped her stand and he and Alexei walked her back into the bar. "Fenneck!?" she exclaimed, looking up at him excitedly. He laughed at her drunken state. "It is me! Are you okay?" he asked her, laughing. She giggled and nodded excitedly. "I wanna dance! Come on!" she pulled Fenneck over to one of the tables and started trying to climb onto it in the least graceful way imaginable. "Jas! Be careful!" Fenneck tried to help her and eventually she made it on top of the table and started laughing hysterically. "Come on!" she said trying to stand up and pull Fenneck onto the table at the same time. "Jasna! Please be careful!" he said, trying to help her from falling. Eventually she convinced him to join her and she pulled him into her arms and tried to dance with him to the fun music that was filling the tavern. He let himself go and he and Jasna were soon dancing to a roaring cheer from the crowd below them. The bar erupted into a fun folk song they all knew and he and Jasna led the crowd in singing and dancing together. Eventually he stumbled off the table and danced with Alexei for a while, trying not to think about the fact that he was about to leave. Eventually everyone trickled out of the tavern and he was left with Alexei at the bar while a few halflings sat in the corner drinking and singing some somber bar songs. "Well, I guess I should get some rest, huh?" Alexei said sadly. Fenneck sighed. "It's a long trip, right? You'll probably need it." Alexei nodded. "You know, it's not goodbye. We'll still visit each other." Fenneck smiled. "I know. It will be different, though... without you here." Alexei took his hand and squeezed it. "Wanna spend one more night together?" he asked Fenneck, looking up into his eyes sadly. Fenneck sighed. "How does Padma feel about that?" he asked Alexei, who smiled and shrugged. "We don't really have time to fuck, Fen. I meant more like that night when we rested together." He rubbed Fenneck's hand romantically and Fenneck smiled. Alexei stood and pulled Fenneck into his room which Fenneck hated to see was mostly empty and packed away. Fenneck wrapped Alexei into his arms and kissed him lovingly as they settled onto Alexei's bed together. "Goodnight, Fen," Alexei told him, looking up lovingly into Fenneck's eyes. "I'll always love you," he promised Fenneck. Fenneck squeezed him close. "I'll always love you too. Goodnight, Alexei." Fenneck kissed Alexei one more time before they started meditating together. The next morning they woke up together and Fenneck helped Alexei carry the rest of his things up onto the Great Skyway. On the Skyway itself sat three very large chariot-like carriages dripping in gold and ancient jewels. They were being pulled by magnificent stallions that were black and gold with long flowy manes. Padma and her family were there speaking with Baegla. They turned to see Fenneck and Alexei approaching. "Good morning, boys! Hopefully you don't have nearly as bad of a headache as I do after last night!" Baegla greeted them excitedly. Alexei smiled. "We feel great. Your graces, your highness." Alexei bowed to the Gaddafi's, making brief eye contact with Padma before smiling at Baegla. Fenneck bowed to the family as well. "Your graces, your highness." Rajyet smiled, "Your highness, your excellency." He bowed to Fenneck and Alexei. Fenneck found the formal greeting pattern to be quite annoying but he tried to be polite in front of their guests. Rajyet turned to Alexei. "You may pack your things into the last carriage there. My footmen will assist you." He gestured to the carriage. Alexei nodded and Fenneck followed him with his things. They loaded them into the carriage and Alexei turned to Fenneck and pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Fen," he said, trying not to get too emotional in front of the royal family. Fenneck squeezed him back fiercely. "Not as much as I'll miss you," Fenneck assured him. "Be safe in Sivania," he said, finally pulling away. "You can always write to Flottenheim. I'm normally able to check in every couple months or so." Alexei nodded. "I know, I know," Alexei said. "Hey, don't lose hope, okay Fen?" Alexei told him, clearly worried about his fragile emotional state. "Don't go off the deep end again because of this. It's been so good to see you happy again," he said thoughtfully. Fenneck squeezed his hands. "I'll be fine. I love you, Lex," he said. Alexei smiled. "I love you too, Fen." They embraced once more and Fenneck gave Alexei one last, quick kiss before Padma walked up to them. "You can ride in here with me, your excellency," she told Alexei, motioning to the second carriage and giving him a shy smile. He gave Fenneck one last look before turning to her. "Wonderful." He took a deep breath and looked up at the beautiful palace longingly. "It's not goodbye, Lex. You'll always be able to visit," Fenneck told him. Alexei nodded. "I know. I've just never left," he said pensively. Padma smiled at Fenneck. "It's been an honor, your highness. Please come visit us when you get the chance. We'd love to host you in Sivania and show you around our city." He smiled at her invitation. "I might have to. Have a wonderful, safe journey, your highness," he told her politely. She offered an arm to Alexei who cast Fenneck one last nervous glance before taking it and following Padma into the carriage. Eventually, Fenneck was left with Baegla as the carriages rode south toward Ringstadt. "Did you know?" Fenneck asked her. "Know what, dear?" Baegla asked him quizzically. "That he and Padma are thiramin?" he asked her as the carriages disappeared on the horizon. Baegla turned and looked up at him in surprise. "I had no idea!" she said, suddenly angry that she hadn't seen it. "Jasna didn't tell you?" he asked her, surprised that Jasna hadn't blurted it to the whole palace like she had when he met Natalya. Baegla sighed. "Jasna and I have been... well, a bit more distant than normal lately. I always love it when things like that work themselves out, though. Your god really knows what he's doing, huh?" she said, elbowing his thigh before turning away from the Skyway and heading back in to their palace. Fenneck walked across the Skyway and looked to the northwest to see if he could catch a glimpse of he and Natalya's cave or a glimpse of her bright red hair against the snow. He made out the specific mountain their cave was in but couldn't see the opening. As he looked out over the snowy mountains he felt the yearning for her in his heart grow. He longed to see her. To hold her again. To dance with her in the ballroom. To kiss her smooth, beautiful skin. To make passionate romantic love to her in the mountains. To marry her. To have beautiful, happy, red-headed children. To grow old together. To go on adventures together. To be together. He closed his eyes and felt her with him and he hoped she was safely tucked away in their cave reading a book under a bundle of warm furs and not out fighting a frost giant or something else ridiculous and dangerous. He went back inside the palace and waited for the cold months to be over. He spent lots of time with Jasna and went to visit Naertho a few times and even made a few garments for fun. He tried to enjoy his time there with his friends, trying not to miss Alexei. When it finally came time to head back into the mountains he said his goodbyes and loaded a bag of baked goods and treats onto his back for he and Natalya in the cave. "Want a lift?" Catherine asked as everyone gathered to bid Fenneck farewell. "If you're offering," Fenneck said. "Fair warning, though - it is snowing out," he told her. Catherine smiled before turning into a beautiful pegasus. Fenneck climbed onto her back and she flew him out over Flottenheim and through the snowy sky. Fenneck loved the feeling of the wind through his hair on most occasions but it was quite chilly in the cold, icy wind and he had to bury his face in Catherine's mane until they landed outside the cave. Fenneck slid off her back and looked at her to see if she would turn back into an elf or not. She shook her head and nuzzled Fenneck's face goodbye. "Be safe, Catherine. Thank you," he told her as she took off back toward Flottenheim. Fenneck turned and saw familiar firelight bleeding through the pelts over the entrance to the cave. He sighed and felt butterflies in his stomach, excited to see his thiramin. He opened the pelts and saw Natalya curled up in her bed with a book in her lap and a dagger in her hand, clearly startled by his arrival. "You're cutting it close," she said rather aggressively. He shook the snow off of himself and smiled at her sarcastically. "Hello! Good to see you too! How was your winter? I hope you had a lovely time," he said with mock cheerfulness, finding her anger cute. She rolled her eyes at him. "It was fine," she said scornfully. "How was yours?" She was in a surprisingly bad mood but Fenneck was too happy to see her to give in to her attitude. He smiled as he took off his cloak and hung it near the entrance. "Wonderful, actually," he said thoughtfully. Natalya seemed to be annoyed by this. "What was so wonderful about it?" she asked, picking up her book and flipping through the pages, clearly trying to ignore him. He took his boots off. "Well, the Winter's Eve festival was... lovely." He smiled thinking about his night with Alexei. "I spent a lot of time with Naertho and Jasna. She says hi, by the way, and asks that you come visit her soon. Now that we aren't together she says she deserves a shot with you," Fenneck joked, trying to get a reaction out of her. She smiled sadly but kept looking down at her book. Fenneck continued. "I told her to come up into the mountains herself to come see you but she chickened out. Then I..." he wasn't sure how to describe his exciting adventure with Alexei to her. "I caught up with an old friend." He smiled and hoped Alexei was settling into his new home well. "And that was mostly it." He turned and smiled at Natalya. "How about you? Did you see Dimitri?" He asked, hoping that would get her to perk up. She tried not to look at him. "Yeah, we met a couple times," she said passively. "How is he?" Fenneck asked as he took off his shirt and snow covered trousers before slipping on some comfy pants he'd made himself out of a new type of fabric Naertho had just got in that was soft and stretchy. He noticed Natalya glace at his shirtless chest and he decided to roll with it a bit, feeling more confident in himself after being with Alexei again. He found himself wanting to tell her and to talk about it. He also felt a bit guilty for it. She was his thiramin, after all, even though she had been having sex with someone else these last few years. "He's okay," she finally said. "You know, as okay as you can be living in hell," she said coldly. Fenneck walked over to the fire and checked the stew pot to find it empty. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you," Natalya said as he closed the empty pot. "That's fine," he said as he plucked an apple from the roof. He sat down next to the fire to warm himself and he started cutting into it with his dagger. "So did you fuck in the snow again?" he asked her teasingly, desperate to know if her situation with Dimitri had changed at all. "Wouldn't you like to know," she said passively as she turned a page in her book. "I had sex," he suddenly blurted out from guilt. He felt his ears start to turn red and he looked up at her to see her reaction. She paused and turned to him giving him a confused stare. He felt nervous and ridiculous as he felt himself slowly starting to turn pink. She started laughing at him. "Nice try. I don't buy it." She laughed and sighed as if he had just told her a hilarious joke. "I did!" he said, offended that she didn't believe him. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just blurted that out. But I did. I just... I just thought you should know," he said nervously. She gave him another confused look before shrugging. "We aren't a thing," she said to him. "Fuck whoever you want." She turned back to her book and Fenneck felt his heart drop at her disinterest. He tried to focus on his apple and to not be crushed by Natalya's harsh attitude. "Who... who was it?" she finally asked, trying to play off her curiousness. "Some courtesan friend of Jasna's?" He glared at her at the implication. "No," he scolded her. "He... he's an old friend," he said hesitantly. He saw her flinch in surprise when he said 'he'. "What's his name?" she asked curiously. Fenneck smiled nervously. "Alexei. We grew up together," he explained, excited to talk to her. "He's a wood-elf." Natalya slowly set her book down and looked over at him curiously. Fenneck smiled. "He's... was a bartender in Flottenheim," he said, a bit startled to have to talk about his life there in the past tense. "Is he as pretty as I am?" Natalya asked coyly. Fenneck smiled at her banter. "He's very handsome," he said, trying to avoid offending anyone. "He has black, silky long hair and beautiful dark olive skin. He has warm dark eyes and he's just a bit shorter than I am. He has a cute nose and he's..." Fenneck was blushing and absentmindedly messing with the fur he was sitting on as he trailed off in thought about his friend. Suddenly Natalya stood, still wrapped in her fur and she sat across from him on the other side of the fire. "Is this weird?" he asked her, still picking at the fur. "Talking about this sort of thing?" "You ask me about Dimitri all the time," she pointed out. Fenneck sighed. "I feel bad. I just... It had been so so long and I just..." He paused and thought for a moment. "I just wanted to do something a little crazy. I thought it would be weird because of... well... this," he motioned to himself and Natalya. "But... it wasn't. I think I've been a bit hard on myself about this sort of thing for a while," he said thoughtfully. He looked up into her green eyes and decided to risk a little bit of honesty with her. "Maybe at first I wanted to do it because I have been a bit hurt by you and Dimitri. The fact that you two have each other." He paused for a moment. "It's weird... even when I was with Alexei I... I didn't feel like I was... betraying you?" He struggled to explain his thoughts. Feeling her presence was always so apparent when he pleasured himself and it was no different during sex. It was like she had been there with he and Alexei in the throws of passion. He met her eyes and she blushed a little. "I know what you mean," she said, looking back down at the ground to avoid Fenneck's eyes. "The whole... not missing each other thing. Like... we're always together," she tried putting it into words. He nodded. "I thought it would make it... difficult... to have sex with someone else, that is." He paused and felt his heart beating profusely as he discussed this intimate thing with her. "Is it weird that I enjoyed it?" He looked up at her nervously. "Feeling... your presence?" Natalya blushed and rested her chin on her knees and avoided Fenneck's eyes. "I feel that way... when I'm with Dimitri," she said cautiously. "I don't tell him that, though. I think it would upset him," she said giving Fenneck a cautious glance. Fenneck could feel his chest start to blush and he regretted his decision not to wear a shirt. "I'm glad it's not just me, then," he said with relief, trying not to enjoy the fact that she thought about him like that, even if it was while she was getting pounded by another man. Natalya thought for a moment. "Before, back when thiramin was more common... did people who share that connection sleep with other people?" she asked him, more curious than anything. Fenneck shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't think my parents ever did," he informed her. Natalya looked pensive for a moment before looking up at him. "So other than that, I mean, a hundred years is a long time," she teased him to lighten the air. "Was it as good as you remember? Sex, I mean." Fenneck thought for a moment and smiled. "Yeah, I think so," he told her. "It was refreshing. I feel like I can... relax a bit now. I feel like my prudishness was a bit of a hindrance these last few years." He gave her an apologetic look. She chuckled. "That's the biggest understatement of the era." Natalya smiled at him. Fenneck felt the familiar pangs of joy he felt when he stared into her beautiful green eyes and he smiled back at her. "You're probably right," he giggled softly. "It was nice, to open myself up again. It's been a long time since I've allowed myself to do that," he said thoughtfully. He saw an uncomfortable look cross her face. "Besides you, of course," he assured her. "But I think with you... I forced myself to open up too much," Fenneck told her thoughtfully. "I think I'm starting to learn there's a balance to be struck." He looked into her eyes and admired the bright golden flames reflected in them. He wanted to tell her he loved her. He wanted to kiss her and push her into their furs and make love to her. "So, I really doubt you have anything more interesting than that to share with me about your winter. Did anything else important happen?" Natalya asked, clearly starved for conversation. Fenneck nodded, deciding to tell her the full, crazier story of what happened. "So, a little backstory. Alexei and I used to fool around together when we were younger, like in our thirties through our fifties-ish, give or take a few years. And after Evelyn, we stopped and I swore off sex. He didn't so much. And by so much I mean not at all. But he's only ever slept with men," he explained. Natalya listened curiously to see where this was heading. "So these last few years, after meeting you and it... not exactly going how I thought it would, we've started to re-connect a bit. Just as friends, but more fluid, like we used to back before the revolution and everything." Natalya gave him a quizzical look. "Fluid?" she asked him. Fenneck shrugged. "Like... we kiss each other and rest together sometimes," he explained. She pondered this. "Is he the one you kissed when we came back from the mountains the first time I ran off?" she asked him. Fenneck nodded nervously. She pondered this some more. "So you kiss as if you were together?" she asked him, unsure of what to make of this. Fenneck nodded. "Yeah. Well, yes and no. It's just how we express our affection toward each other, even if it's just as friends." She shook her head. "But you had sex, doesn't that negate the whole 'just friends' thing?" she asked him. Fenneck smiled. "No. Not really. I think maybe I tried to move into that realm of thinking for a while but ultimately I don't think they're the same." She squinted at him. "So why didn't you want to have sex with me?" she asked, unable to hide her offense. Fenneck was taken aback by this. "Well... I did, frankly. Just not when we met. The thing about us is that we're thiramin which makes things different." "Why?" she asked him. "If you're willing to fuck your best friend for fun then it shouldn't matter. It's not a sacred thing at that point," she countered. "I never said it was," Fenneck said. "It's different because I've fucked him before and it's different because we are supposed to be together!" he exclaimed, getting frustrated with her. "We are supposed to take our time and to get to know each other and to have a blissful week of lovemaking on our wedding night. That's how thiramin works! You meet each other and you decide to work it out and run off together on the horizon on a new beautiful adventure together. Not this!" He found himself shouting a bit and stopped suddenly. He felt tears building in his eyes as he thought about Alexei turning away from him and taking Padma's arm into the carriage. It wasn't fair. Why did he get happily ever after and Fenneck didn't? Natalya had retreated into herself at Fenneck's harsh words. "I'm sorry," he said, trying to calm himself. She shrugged sadly. "You have every right to be angry with me," she told him. Fenneck met her eyes. They were full of guilt and he felt awful for saying such things. "I'm sorry. Alexei slept with me because he met his thiramin and he freaked out. He didn't tell me till afterwards and then he... he ended up getting a job and moving to Sivania to be with her. I'm... I'm bitter. I'm upset that it worked for him and not me," he admitted. "I'm so sorry," she said quietly with tears in her eyes, clearly feeling guilty for their situation. He sighed. "I just need some time, okay? I've had a weird few months and I... I'm glad to be here and to get back to work. When are the next refugees available?" he asked, trying to change the subject to something more formal. Natalya seemed upset but she tried to push through her emotions as well. "In a couple days, actually. We should probably head to the other checkpoint tomorrow. I haven't been there in a couple weeks." Fenneck nodded and stood up to settle in for the night. "Great. I'll get some rest, then," he told her as he sat down on his bed. "Goodnight, Nat," he said, turning away from her. "Goodnight, Fen," she said quietly. Fenneck closed his eyes and tried to relax and avoid thinking about anything other than peaceful memories surrounded by nature.