#nerevar

Nobody else, Nerevar would think later, would have noticed the little gulp that followed.

"The sun is in my eyes. I'm going to...go see what's going on on the boardwalk."

Odros took a deep breath, and stumbled up slightly as he got to his feet.

"You want some company? Dunno if you should try being alone when you look like you're feeling terrible."

"Nah. I'll just play a few games or something...if they even still do that."

"Well, if you're sure..."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Stay here with Voryn, he'll need you when the sunburn hits."

Voryn, who was waking up from a nap, yawned. "Where is Odros going?"

"Boardwalk," Nerevar answered, "Think he's having a bad day."

"He's been like that since he showed up at Red Mountain. I don't know what's gotten into him, but he both seems to want company and not at the same time."

"He probably needs a vacation. It's isolating, guarding one of the tools of Kagrenac."

"If he needs a vacation why was he so eager to head off to a dwemer ruin to work after all this? He doesn't even seem like he's enjoying himself."

Sadara suggested leaving it be for the moment. "He might just be trying to work through something on his own. We can check on him later if he's still like this, but if he doesn't want help we can't make him take it."

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Sadara had gone over to the boardwalk later to check on Odros, and found him sitting at the end of a dock, feeding cheese curls to seagulls and cliffracers. She tried to talk to him but he gave one-word answers, so she left him after getting him a hot dog and drink and then went back to the food stands.

To Voryn and Nerevar she brought back a bag of greasy guar burgers in one hand and a plastic jug bag of lemonade in the other.

"When did they start selling lemonade in bags?" Nerevar piped up.

"When it was cheaper to recycle than the big jugs? I don't know." She paused, handing out the burgers. Voryn ate his with a little protest about imperial slime. But he ate.

It wasn't until after they were done that she noticed something she'd missed coming back.

"Voryn? Are you red?"

"Red? No. I'm fine."

Nerevar glanced back. "You ARE red. Voryn, I told you to put on sunscreen!"

"I am not!"

"Voryn, lean forward."

Grumbling, Voryn obeyed.

"You ARE red," Sadara said, "I'm going to have to rub aloe into your face. We told you this would happen!"

"I'm a GOD," he went on grumbling, "I'm not SUPPOSED to get sunburn!"

"Well you did. Deal with it." Nerevar, sighing, went for the bottle of aloe Sadara had packed in one of their bags. "Honestly, Voryn, your pride's going to get you into trouble one of these days."

He and Sadara applied the aloe carefully to Voryn's face, and then his shoulders when they noticed some sunburn there too.

"One of these days. I've been hearing that for years." Voryn grumbled.

"Since when?"

"Since I first woke up."

"Well...do try to learn your lesson." Sadara gave a slight laugh. "Or will it have to be another three or four thousand years before you do?"

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"Now that we are," Voryn started, and winced slightly at the feeling of the robe against his burned shoulders, "All here, I think we should discuss what to do with Odrosal now that Odros is taking a sabbatical."

"We could send some ascended sleepers there," Endus said, "I have a few eager to prove themselves."

They debated it for a minute or two. It was a good idea, the sleepers were loyal, but Voryn preferred heavily having one of his brothers there, if it could be managed.

It was Gilvoth to speak up.

"You've mentioned this before, haven't you? On the trip out, I believe. I can move there."

"You--move there? You would want to?"

"It is far quieter than Red Mountain these days, and I would prefer the quiet. Send the ascended sleepers along with me if you'd like. If you don't like that idea, you can always send Araynys."

"Not all of us hate living in caves, Gilvoth," Araynys said, "It's actually warmer there in the winter, and cooler in the summer. I've built rooms into the place. I'm perfectly content to stay."

"And besides," Gilvoth replied, "I will be out of your hair as I do not doubt you already want. No more...awkward unpleasantries."

"We are fine with your presence," Voryn said, meaning himself, Nerevar, and Sadara all at once.

"Voryn." Gilvoth's hand moved over his nose. "I would prefer to be able to sleep at night without hearing sounds best reserved for brothels."

A round of chuckles went around the table.

"I do not know how the volcano echoes this badly, but now that we're all sleeping again, I would actually prefer to be able to sleep through the night."

"Couldn't you just get a bedroom on the other end of the place?"

Gilvoth didn't want to speak up.

Endus and Tureynul were stifling laughter.

"That loud, huh?" Vemyn piped up. "You know, Voryn, some of us with kinks have the common decency to practice them around those willing to deal with it."

"I am not THAT LOUD!" Voryn snapped.

"You ARE," Gilvoth said, "And if it's not you it's Nerevar! How is it that the one of you I disliked the most is the least offensive of the lot?"

"It's not that she's quiet, it's that they're loud," Endus quipped. "Nerevar and Voryn used to think they were hiding it even in the First Era. We had to soundproof a bunch of rooms in Kogoruhn for the same reason."

"ENOUGH!"

Voryn brought his fist down onto the table, and then seemed to calm down.

"Enough. Gilvoth, you can move into Odrosal and assist Odros in preparing to leave. Is that fine with you, Odros?"

"It's fine."

"Good. Now, onto ash poet rotation..."

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Voryn was tired.

He was extremely tired. Somehow he had managed to acquire a functioning nervous system and it wanted nothing more than sleep. He entered the suite of rooms he was sharing with Nerevar and Sadara and noted in one room that Sadara was already fast asleep.

Nerevar's bedroom was empty.

And his own--

Nerevar was sitting, posed as perfectly as if he were on the cover of a dirty magazine.

"Voryn..."

"Nerevar, not tonight. Let me sleep."

"PLEASE, Voryn, I need you."

"Ne--"

"Just once. Tonight. Please. I need you to fuck me TONIGHT. I'll even do all the work, I just--I need you."

Voryn yawned.