Archive of Our Own ^beta

Dusk was falling over the camp. The clan had been settled into the area for almost a whole season already, and the scent of cooking vegetables lingered in the warm summer air. The fires for the evening were still lit, and the soft murmur of music could be heard on the breeze. Leaves and branches cracked underfoot as Theo and a few of his fellow young hunting apprentices stumbled out of the brush, laughing and shushing one another in the dark at the edge of camp. 

Theo felt his head beginning to spin from pleasantly fogged to unsettlingly dizzy and focused on remaining upright. As he was concentrating on maintaining an awareness of his center of gravity, a voice and footsteps came out of the dark.

“Hey, what are you all doing back so late?” Called the voice of the irritated First. Shit.

In a hushed scramble of swearing and “go!”, his friends scattered away from him, and Theo stumbled forward from the confusion directly into Taren’s path. He looked up, hoping that Taren couldn’t discern the redness in his eyes as he swayed in front of him in the dim light. 

“Are you… never mind.” Taren sighed, turning to march Theo back toward the structure that housed the hunter apprentice beds. 

“You missed dinner.” Taren told him flatly as they went, and Theo found himself needing to grab onto Taren’s arm in order to walk straight. Fenedhis, he was going to be in so much trouble for this. 

“Just drink some water and go to sleep” Taren left him at his bed and shook his head, losing some of the annoyance in his voice as Theo stared at him in panic, “you’ll be fine.” 

When Theo woke the next morning, his head was clear once more. And to his surprise, his excuses had been made with Isen, and when he arrived to train the Keeper was not waiting there to kick him out or take away his apprenticeship. He carried on with his tasks like it was a normal morning, checking on the equipment and visiting the halla, thanking the Creators for his luck. Then, midway through the day, and just before Isen would be taking him out to practice his shooting, Taren strode up to his mentor, gave some explanation with a polite little nod, and turned to summon him with a wave. 

Theo left his bow and followed Taren away from the hunters’ camp and onto a forest path. He braced himself for an afternoon filled with lectures and scolding, as Taren ducked into the brush off of the path, following a thin trail overgrown with weeds toward the trickle of a small stream. Theo followed curiously, pushing and ducking awkwardly under branches as the path wound about and led down to a rocky ledge by a wider part of the river, backed by the trees of the forest. 

Charcoal and ash were left in a circle of rocks by the water, and a group of large flat rocks were set around it like seats. Taren stepped forward and took a seat, motioning for Theo to follow. 

“Just tell me how bad it is.” Theo muttered, leaning into a seat on another stone and slouching his head into his hands. 

“What?” 

“What did Keeper Deshanna say my punishment is? Just tell me, I don’t need you to lecture me too.” Theo groaned, muttering into his hands. 

“I wouldn’t know, I didn’t tell her.” Taren replied in a casual tone, and Theo looked up to see him smirking from where he sat cross-legged on the wide bench-like stone laid by the firepit. 

Taren turned his attention to a pouch he carried with him, pulling out a bundle of thin woody plants tipped with dark green leaves. He pulled out a small knife as well, and began to peel at the bark of the plants' stems, dropping the shavings into a neat pile on the stone.  

“You can’t smoke it wet, that’s what will make you sick.” He explained with a knowing smile as he wrapped the prepared cuttings up and tucked them back into his pouch. He then pulled out another wrapped parcel of herbs, these ones dry, and a thin wooden pipe. Taren carefully pressed some of the finely ground herb into the little wooden contraption and flicked his fingers, while Theo watched in stunned silence. 

“You know, the elders do this sometimes when we meet with other clans. There’s probably even a blessing for it.” He held out the pipe in offer, and Theo could smell the root in it burning sweetly, not at all cloudy and thick as it had been the night before. 

Theo shrugged and took the pipe, inhaling carefully. The heat hit his throat and he coughed uncomfortably, choking a little on the air as he inhaled it. Taren chuckled and took the pipe back to inhale with a long, easy draw. 

It took him a few tries, to Taren’s amusement, but Theo eventually managed to regulate his breaths to take the smoke slowly into his lungs, and exhale without choking. The sensation of lightheadedness was similar to what he had felt before, but it wasn’t accompanied by any dizziness or loss of focus. He felt relaxed, but also like some of his senses were made a little more keen. The lapping sounds of the river and the rustling of the leaves in the breeze stood out as pleasant reminders of the natural world around him, and brought him a smile. 

“Why are you showing me this?” Theo finally asked as the contents of the pipe burned down. “I thought you never did anything wrong. Don’t you only care about the rules?” The shock and slight sarcasm in his voice didn’t feel unwarranted, even if Taren was apparently being more like his old, kind self for the moment. Lately all he had seemed to be was stern and stressed, and frankly, it had gotten annoying.  

Taren shrugged, “I don’t get caught, there’s a difference.” He tapped the ashes out of the pipe and brushed them into the air to be carried off by the wind. He filled the pipe again and sighed before taking the first inhale, and released the smoke on his exhale in a long trail. “And I don’t just care about rules, idiot. I care about you.” 

Theo took a deep breath of the smoke, feeling it properly now. It was still hot and mildly uncomfortable, and he figured he should let the effects settle a while before taking more, but the effects were pleasant. He rolled his eyes at Taren’s sentimentality even though it did touch him. 

“I know.” He sighed, glad that it at least felt more like normal. “So what’s been the matter with you lately?” 

Taren glanced away uncomfortably. “Bereth and Sulahnna are going to be bonded.” He admitted, taking the pipe back for his own long drag. 

“Oh…” He knew that Taren was close with them both, and with Bereth that he had been more than that, But from the way Taren looked now, maybe he hadn’t realised just how much more. 

“Yeah, well.” Taren frowned, rubbing at his eye after he passed the pipe back to Theo. Theo set it down beside him for the moment. 

“I thought he was… I mean, you were…” Maybe Taren was only rubbing his eye because of the drying effect of the smoke, but he doubted it. 

“Not anymore.” Taren shrugged unconvincingly. 

“Dick.” Theo commented decisively. 

“Theo, don’t. It isn’t like that.” Taren corrected him, but the comment had lightened his frown. 

“Well you can do better, anyway.” He insisted, passing the pipe back to Taren. 

"So it sounds like you'll be made a full fledged hunter in no time." Taren changed his tone with the subject, landing on something light and complimentary. 

"I still have a lot to learn before Isen will let me join one of the real trips." Theo shrugged, but smiled a little at the words.

"So eager to leave?" Taren teased.

"Everyone I know is always away these days, even you." Theo took the pipe for another puff of the sweet smoke, leaning back to watch the breeze in the leaves above him. "It's weird when you're gone, Deshanna won't leave me alone."

"She just worries about you." Taren said, and Theo replied with an exaggerated groan. "I'm back for a while." Taren continued with a reassuring chuckle. 

"Does that mean we can do this again?" Theo asked hopefully. 

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Taren agreed, tapping the ashes out of the pipe once more. "But I'm not getting you out of anything else. Next time just tell me before you decide to do anything stupid."