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John finished packing his trunk while he chatted with his assistants of the elemental realms about what gifts he would bring them when he returned from leave. They knew he was doing his usual tour of the sub-continent and every group of them wanted something quite specific. The Air spirits wanted him to capture the scent of incense at a specific temple in Sri Lanka. The water devas, who were busy cleaning and sterilising the surgery area at this time of day, had sent a representative to angle for a vial of water from the Ganges, specifically where it passed the holy city of Patna this time. “You must be making a collection,” he smiled at the swirl of living water that whirled around the floor of his quarters, “Last year it was Allahabad.”
/ It’s different John,/ he heard the flowing voice in his head. / Tastes different, different magic, different people, different river. / The little thing sounded pouty and reproving at the same time. / You know! /
“Yes, I know. Just teasing, humans tease.” He said, half laughing. He loved the elementals that surrounded him, sometimes he liked them so much more than the people he had to deal with every day, but they saw the world so differently that there were always occasional translation problems.
/ It’s too important for teasing !/ the deva insisted.
“I know. My apologies.” John made a formal bow, hand to his heart, to the Deva.
/ We forgive you because you listen. / The Water spirit faced the opening of his tent, / He listens too but not as much as you do. /
John turned to find Major Sholto standing in his tent and looking amused. “You should pay more attention to your surroundings, Watson.”
“My friends usually help with that.” He glanced up curiously at the Air spirits creating the cool breeze that freshened his tent.
/ He’s a friend. We don’t need to warn you about a friend ./ They said with a marked disinterest. That was curious as his elemental companions usually told him more than he needed to know about everyone in the camp. His gift, being able to converse with all four of the native elemental Kindred, was not exactly considered acceptable by the majority of the camp. Most elementalists carried talismans from Albion to which water horses, tree goblins, and other elementals native to the Isle had consented to be bound to.
His eyes were brought back to the upright figure of the Major as he stepped further into the tent. “Your friends seem to be a little unreliable today.” He smiled. It was a small smile, barely shifting the lines of his almost regal features. “Makes me feel that an ergomancer has an easier time in the field.”
John smiled, he knew the Major was performing the very human teasing that he had been explaining to the Water deva. “But I’m more versatile than someone who just throws bolts of lightning around the battlefield.” The Major had apparently dressed to his very best standards today. His uniform was new or nearly so and tailored to flatter his tall, sturdy, warrior’s body. Sholto was the kind of soldier who was as good with a gun or a sabre as he was with spells that could spray heat, light, or any other form of energy to hand across a battlefield. He also could cut a dashing figure when he desired to and apparently today was one of those days.
“Quite,” the Major said softly but he packed the word with an appreciation that had little to do with the battlefield. “I came across these in the marketplace." He said, putting three glass globes of a size to hold in the palm of one’s hand on the small desk that John sat at to write his reports and the rare letter home. “They are one piece and vacuum sealed I.” He shrugged casually enough but the tension in his shoulders bespoke of something rather different. Major Sholto had been spending much of his free time for the past six months around the medical tents. At first John has assumed that he had discovered something wrong in the care of his men and it caused John to make a thorough inspection of his own which had not at all been to the liking of some of the more hidebound military healers. Or his superior officers.
Even after the camp hospital was up to his own exacting standards he still noticed the Major visiting often or even just sitting nearby, observing the healers who had to treat camp illnesses as well as wounds from the battlefield. It wasn’t until one of the women who was a minor priestess of Aphrodite as well as a military physician mentioned something about the Major seeking a new eromenos that John had become aware that he might be the subject of Sholto’s interest.
All his life John had been more likely to prefer the company of ladies but there had been a young man at university whose slender grace he had admired enough to court. Pursuing someone much younger than yourself was not done in any decent society but there had only been a year’s difference between them; just enough to make him the erestes. It had been a sweet time between them but he had been the pursuer, he had never been the pursued and it caused him some confusion to be placed into the role of the desired rather than the man who desired.
This gift then was a token that Sholto was indeed courting him and it caused a flush to spread up from his neck to his cheeks. “I am…flattered, Major.” He managed to stutter.
“James, please.” Sholto murmured with the slightest smile on his lips.
John nodded shortly, “I am not an eromenos that would bring credit to an officer’s career. I do not even benefit my own career with my choice of… what did you call them? Friends?”
“I think, Watson, you do not see yourself clearly. Nor, I think, my motivations.” Sholto traced a finger over the edge of one of the globes, his touch delicate and sure. John suddenly thought of that touch on his skin and shivered slightly. It had been too long since he had allowed anyone such intimacy to his person and suddenly he craved it. “I have no plans for a career in politics or Society and if I rise no higher than my current rank it is of little concern to me. I admire above all those who do not allow social conventions to interfere with effective action.” He looked to the various Kindred in the tent and then shifted his admiring gaze to John. “You are the most effective army surgeon and healer I have ever met.”
“You overwhelm me, James.” John said, smiling but shaking his head slightly. “And just at a time when I will be away for a full year. Much can happen in that time with you on the battlefield and I not.”
“I agree and as it happens my own year’s leave starts in the next few days.” James stepped closer and swept that so careful fingertip across John’s wrist. “I have heard much about your tours of the Raj. How you dress as a native and are welcome in most temples and most homes. I have thought how…enthralling it would be to see that John Watson, free of the constraints that the Army puts upon you.” John shivered as he felt a warm breath on the back of his neck. “And I much desire to see this land we spill our blood for through eyes that seek to understand rather than conquer. And perhaps as we travel we might learn to understand each other better.”
John swallowed, James had put things in such a way that he did not expect to be accepted as erestes immediately but left him the choice to be courted as they travelled. It also made it quite clear that Sholto was far more focused on companionship than finding a career advantage like other officers were.
It appealed to him. He was so often alone with his elementals these days because so many looked down upon his preference for making alliances with those spirits native to this soil. And he thought he could hear the ring of truth in James’ voice when he said he wanted to see India as John did. It would be so pleasant to show another soldier how enthralling this land could be. And it would be even more so to be courted along the way. He reached out and picked up one of the globes, accepting the courting gift, “I think we could come to such an understanding of each other.” He said in a low but steady voice and he felt something unlock within his bones that had long been tensed against loneliness and the silent battle he had waged with his fellow officer’s prejudices.
John felt a hand on his shoulder gripping just strongly enough to be reassuring and he closed his eyes as James’ brow rested on the back of his neck for a long moment. It was just a first tentative touch but it seared through John’s body with the strength of the fire Sholto often used on the battlefield. “Thank you,“ he murmured, sweetly and simply.
“Your leave begins…?”
“In three days.”
John turned and smiled into the other man’s ice blue eyes. “Then I will have time to gather clothing for you. You can hardly travel with me in uniform.”
James’ sweet, gentle smile widened slightly, “I put myself completely into your hands in these matters, John. You are the guide. But if we might…” he faltered slightly, an astonishingly rare thing for this most competent man. “May I kiss you, John? For luck on our journey or for hope of better things?” He cradled John’s chin in his hand and swept his thumb across John’s lips. “To give me something to dream upon for the next three days?”
John felt a chuckle of pure joy rise up in his chest, “Yes, I think I can allow that, James.”
The touch of James Sholto’s lips were as delicate and gentle as his hands upon the glass globes, and John took the kiss in the spirit that it was given. Nothing was sure yet; John had not consented to more than to take James with him on his travels, but there was the tantalising feel of possibilities in that kiss and they were both grown enough to savour a gentle slide towards fulfilment. John let himself fall into it and in his mind, he could feel the possibilities take root like a seedling and begin to grow towards flowering. It would be a most fruitful year of taking leave.