“Mate, what crawled up your ass this morning?”

“Nothing,” Embry muttered and glared at his porridge.

Aik laughed, the sound echoing in the great hall, stopping several mages mid-conversation and making Embry hunch over his food. He just wanted to be left alone. The taller Mage sitting opposite tapped his spoon against Embry‘s bowl.

“Yo, is it the girl who spins the wool? Wanna tap that?”

“WHAT? NO!”

“Well, that‘s good since your Page gives her all heart eyes. Benji said he saw them walking and laughing yesterday evening, and they looked like they really hit it off,” Aik mused and took a swig from his mug, instantly gagging and retching. “What the fuck, Em? Did you seriously sour my milk? Are you five?”

“I’m… sorry. I need to… go,” Embry stammered and stormed off, ignoring Carla‘s stern and annoyed look. He needed to get out of there before his emotions affected the entire hall.

Aik had it all wrong, and that was okay. He wasn’t after the spinstress. He just wanted to be on better terms with his Page, and everybody seemed to be able to do it – except him.

After the contract forging, their relationship had been awkward – both trying to skate around any possibility to upset the other. Kuo, for being so savage and passionate in their first encounters and the forging itself, was silent and only talked when he had to.

Embry had started to believe that it had all been a facade when he was struck with another awkward all-silent-stares encounter, the Page carefully shielding his emotions and keeping his face straight.

And then he’d seen him laugh.

And it made him insecure. Like he wasn’t good enough for the Page. Did fate really hit him with bad luck three times?

He huffed, annoyed by his thoughts, and sat down under the big oak. And, of course, the spinstress appeared, laughing. Fledglings and other spinners followed and helped carry bags of washed and dried wool over to the spinning mill. And there was Kuo.

Of course. With a smaller bag, but he helped. Embry’s mood soured again. And then it soured even more because he knew he shouldn’t be annoyed.

The girl was lovely, he had to admit that, and she would suit Kuo well. But… wouldn’t that take too much attention away from his work? What if Embry needed him?

One of the Fledglings saw Embry and started waving, but before he could run over, Kuo shushed him and gently shoved him towards the mill. When Kuo looked directly at his Mage, he frowned unhappily and made a hand sign upwards. Embry followed his gaze and looked up into the tree. Leaves were falling down, pooling around him, all withered and sad, and the branch overhead appeared to have shed within seconds.

Kuo shook his head and trailed after the rest of the group.

***

Embry heard Aik and Benji arguing before he saw them. The Page had never mastered the ability to whisper.

“There has to be some stitching against it.”

“I couldn’t find any. What should I look for? Stitched plug for leaky emotions? Come on, Aik! That’s ridiculous,” the Page squawked.

“Do you have any idea what he’s doing with the spinstress?”

The Page huffed. “No? Since it’s none of my business? He’s all secretive, so I’m not going to be nosy. He’ll just get angry.”

Embry halted in the doorway and gave both a hard look when they finally realised they had an audience.

He pointed at Aik. “You. Are on my shit list.”

He pointed at Benji. “And you as well.”

He fumed and stomped away. This was getting out of hand. Behind him, the wooden door creaked, crumbled and turned to sawdust. He heard Aik complaining and Benji squeaking, but he didn’t care.

***

After a week, Embry was banned from the kitchen (melted pots); the weaponry (bent swords); and the barns. Not because anything happened to the animals but because nobody wanted to jinx it. Though that only upset Embry even more, because he wasn’t allowed to pet the rabbits anymore. Nor the chickens. Life was really unfair.

***

The week had been weird and it unsettled Kuo. Embry had been avoiding him like the plague for no reason at all and it had felt unfair and… lonely. And even at night, his normally disturbingly real dreams had a profound absence of Embry.

Kuo shuffled around awkwardly at the entrance of the inn, peeking in through the windows. Aik was there, and some of the other Mages, for once peacefully coexisting with Enforcers. Some guests and merchants kept the inn busy these days, and this night it was packed. Kuo didn’t dare go inside. With so many people, chances were high somebody would step on his fee,t and he was wary of the Enforcers, so his only hope was to catch somebody leaving the inn and kindly ask his Mage to come outside.

“What are you doing here? Waiting for the spinns- spin- shtressed?” somebody slurred close to his ear, reeking of strong dark beer, and before he could react, the drunken Mage had him trapped between his arms and the wall of the inn.

“Embry! I-” Kuo started, but the Mage stared at him with sad, glazed eyes. Gods, he was so drunk.

“You know, dschis ish the first time the contract wish you makesh me really very realllyyy… wait, oh yeah, really shad.”

Embry wobbled for a moment before he managed to steady himself again.

Kuo looked up. Embry’s eyes and mouth were too close, and the Page wished he hadn’t come. Talking with Embry like this would be impossible.

He tried to duck under Embry’s arms, but the Mage just moved them down, by accident or conscious decision… Who would ever know?

“Wait. I want to congratshulate you. She ish pretty. Really.”

Wait… what?

Kuo frowned. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Embry’s eyes got big, and he seemed to think really hard about the next sentence. In his mind, he probably had to walk through a huge pile of cluttered and scrambled thoughts to grasp the right one in his haze. “The Shpinshtress. She’sh preddy.” His head fell on Kuo’s shoulder and he hiccuped. “I’m sho shad.”

Kuo sighed. The door opened, and light flooded them. Two mismatched eyes frowned in his direction. “Ah, so that’s where he went. You okay?”

Kuo didn’t dare move, otherwise Embry would probably faceplant into the gravel. He griped, “No? What the fuck is WRONG with him, Aik? Can you… ugh.”

The drunk Mage started to topple over.

“Fuck, help me drag him over to the benches, please?”

Kuo pointed to the little nook on the other side of the street, illuminated by the inn but still tucked away in the entrance of the guest house.

“Will you just leave him there or actually talk?”

Aik still hadn’t moved.

Kuo was happy Embry had such a loyal friend amongst his kind, but gods, this wasn’t the right moment to be all huffy.

“I don’t even know what’s going on with him! He’s in a beer stupor. There’s not much I can do.”

Aik sighed and gave him a look that clearly said Really? But he grabbed Embry’s arm. The drunken Mage emitted some unhappy and unintelligible phrases before he tried to faceplant into Kuo’s neck again.

“I know you can stitch something into his shirt to sober him up and keep him sober. Benji did that shit to me, and I suspect he didn’t learn it from Aro. Do you have your threads and a needle with you?”

Of course, Kuo did. Every Page had a little pouch with material at hand. Always. “Yes, but it will take a while.”

Aik dragged the drunken Mage over to the stone bench and deposited him on it like a sad pile of wet clothes. “He’ll have grabby hands when he’s drunk, so better stitch it into the back. He’s not coordinated enough to turn around.”

Kuo trailed after him, unsure. “Thanks. I think.”

Aik clapped his shoulder just a bit too hard before he went back inside. “Fix him. He’s been moody all wee,k and it’s unbecoming. At least tell him the truth. Like this, you’re just breaking his heart.”

Huh? Wait… what?

It finally clicked. He had been so busy preparing that he’d lost sight of Embry for a couple of days, but he knew Embry had seen them. And the spinstress was nice and very talkative and gushing about the wool and the colours, and it had been great to talk about the dyeing process and the spinning, but apparently, everybody thought he was interested in her?

Oh gods…

Embry collapsed on the bench, his shoulder slumped against the backrest as he stared listlessly towards the inn across the way. Kuo swiftly climbed onto the bench seat behind the drunken man. The Page drew both legs up and carefully dragged his Mage back until he was safely tucked between them, protecting the drunk from toppling sideways off the bench each time he swayed. Kuo’s needle was already prepared to embroider, so he yanked the lower hemline of Embry’s tunic out of his pants and started to work on the stitch spell. The lighting was bad but he knew the stitches by heart.

Embry lolled about a bit, still in a beer stupor, and realised there were feet next to his legs. “Shcey look jusht like the feets ofmpage. Maybe you knowshim. Hish nameish Kuo. Heish cute but he likesh a girl,” he slurred sadly, touching one foot, and Kuo had to bite back a moan.

He usually avoided contact. His feet were still too sensitive and felt raw. Barefoot was sometimes a hassle but at least nothing rubbed on them. Having warm, soft pads of Embry’s hand slowly rubbing over his instep was nearly too much. Kuo tried to move them away, but Embry instantly wobbled and held on tight.

“Shey are so pretty. Like Kuosh. Why are you barefoots?”

The Mage tried to twist around, so Kuo held him even tighter in the clasp of his legs and pushed him to the back of the bench. “Stop. Moving. Around. For fuck’s sake.”

Embry gave up with a surprised, ”Oof.”

Only three little rows left. He muttered the enchantment while stitching and tried hard not to concentrate too much on Embry’s finger tracing his toes one by one.

“I try to be nice and give you a surprise, and what happens? You go all glum-sad-blob on me as a thank you,” the Page said angrily.

The Mage didn’t listen and started to sneak his fingers between Kuo‘s toes. He hissed and kicked Embry, but the Mage just kept touching his feet. Kuo nearly lost it when he stroked the sole.

Just. One. More. Row.

Little sparks crawled up Embry’s back when Kuo activated the spell, whispering “Sobra” into the lean muscles. He dragged his foot out of Embry’s grasp and let the spell do its thing.

The Mage moaned and flailed but managed to catch himself before he tumbled off the bench for good.

***

Embry groaned as the headache and nausea hit him like a sledgehammer, followed by the feeling of an angry pile of rat fur growing in his mouth before it vanished, and he just felt drained and on the wrong side of sober. And where the hell was he?

“Um… are you okay?” a timid voice he knew too well asked behind him.

The last person he had wanted to see that evening. Embry remembered going to the inn with Aik and some of the others but after the third… or was it the fifth beer? His memory had started to get a bit hazy.

Embry looked up and saw Kuo’s worried face cast in soft light from the inn. He sighed.

“I‘m sorry if I did anything weird. I may not be the best company right now.”

He stood up, awkwardly brushing leaves and dirt from his clothes. He didn’t like Kuo seeing him like that. It made him feel weak. He knew he was being petty. He hated it.

***

Kuo considered the Mage. He seemed sober, albeit still moody, which was unnerving because it made no sense. If he was interested in somebody, he surely wouldn’t flaunt it in front of his Mage. And since he wasn’t interested in any-, well… somebody else, the whole situation was aggravating.

“I’ve been busy with something.”

The Mage looked disgruntled agai,n and the poor wine plant next to the benches was possibly taking a hit, so Kuo flailed and added hastily: “For you. I mean… I did something for you and needed a little bit of help from the spinners. So…”

He pulled the item out of the inner pocket of his jacket and handed it to his Mage. He could feel the low hum and the sparks flickering along the embroidery. It was a lovely piece, and Kuo was damn proud of it. And not even Embry could dampen the pride he took in his work.

The Mage stroked the material, wide-eyed.

“A cowl.”

He flipped it over and gasped.

“It’s lined.”

Kuo sniffed. “The spinstress,” he stressed the word to catch Embry’s full attention, “had to show me how to dye, comb and spin it. The threads are enchanted as well since I did everything from scratch. I messed up a lot, so it took a while.”

Embry stared at him with wide eyes, probably finally grasping the situation.

He frowned.

Well… maybe not.

“I am not interested in her!” Kuo snapped. Why was his Mage so dense?

Embry turned an ugly shade of dark pink, matching his cowl, shame painted all over his face.

“I might have misinterpreted. I am sorry.”

He brought the material to his nose and took a deep breath. “It smells like you.” He peeked up at Kuo, slightly embarrassed. “It’s lovely. Thank you. It shall serve me well when we’re stuck on a night shift.”

Kuo could feel Embry’s magic embracing the embroidery’s spells, mingling with it and tingling on his bond marks.

They sat quietly for a while; Embry tracing the embroidery, deep in thought; Kuo leaning back against the building, staring toward the inn.

“What would you have done if I were interested in the girl?”

It wasn’t a question the Mage wanted to hear, and it was indeed something he had asked himself a lot in the last couple of days. He looked at his Page; stomach queasy again for other reasons. “I am not in a position to question your choice of company.”

Kuo quirked an eyebrow, challenging him with a hard stare. “Really? Is that how you feel?”

Embry stared back. “No, it’s not. But it’s the freedom I have to grant you. We’re bound by choice.”

Kuo considered challenging Embry’s view on the matter since he had proposed to a mage in dire need of a page, and sometimes it didn’t feel like Embry had got any say in the matter. At all.

Because Kuo knew he was greedy and selfish. And having Embry’s full attention felt good. He wanted to close the matter, so he gingerly edged his toes under Embry’s legs, feeling the warmth spread through them and leant back, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself. “Let’s sit here for a bit. It was a long week.”

Embry felt naked toes and having those icicles shoved under his bum felt… unpleasant at best… but he knew it was a peace offering and beggars couldn’t be choosers so he accepted his fate as a hot water bottle and stroked the cowl again.

“I’ll look like a robin.”

Kuo huffed and laughed lightly. “Yeah, but the prettiest one. I’ll be mad if you don’t wear it.”

And the Mage laughed, for the first time all week. “Oh, I definitely will.”