Flux

soon as Drevan handed her the coins she pulled me away. To the accompaniment of many whistles and catcalls, of course. I was mortified.
    “She took me to a tiny room in the back, with this narrow little cot, and as soon as she shut the door she unbuttoned her dress and stepped right out of it. I’d never seen a naked woman before!”
    Ennek smiled. “I’ve still never seen one. Well, except the drawings on some of the playing cards that had been confiscated from sailors. There was a drawer full of such things in my desk at the port. My predecessor had amassed quite a collection.”
    “I’d never seen even a drawing. I was…horrified. But intrigued as well.”
    “Of course.”
    “I would have simply stood there all night, like a statue. But she took my hands and placed them on her breasts. And then she reached out and she…she touched me. Through my trousers. I yelped like a puppy and jumped back, hitting my head against the wall. I was still confused then about…about fancying men. I told myself it was only because I wanted to be pure for Eudoxia. But I was quite certain I did not want this woman. So I kept as far away from her as I could—I would have run out the door if she wasn’t blocking it—and shook my head. ‘Please get dressed,’ I begged.
    “‘Are you sure? It’s already paid for.’
    “‘I’m sure. I don’t…I’m not….’ I stumbled on like that for a bit, and then I think she took pity on me.
    “‘You’re cute,’ she said. She pulled her dress back on and sat on the cot, then patted the space beside her. ‘Come sit.’
    “So I did. And we had a conversation about food then. Just a silly little talk about what we liked to eat and what we didn’t, and how we both agreed that strawberries were wonderful and mashed turnips were horrible. I think she took a liking to me, because she kept me there a while, and when she finally stood, she mussed up her hair and deliberately misbuttoned her dress, then gave me several noisy kisses, smearing the paint from her lips all over me. And she dragged me back into the bar, complaining loudly the entire time about how she’d been cheated and such an accomplished lover couldn’t possibly be a virgin, and how she’d demand twice the payment over the pounding I’d given her with my big cock, if it weren’t for the fact that I’d made her come three times. She laid it on too thick, really.”
    “Did the others believe her?”
    “They did. Forever after I maintained an impressive reputation among the Guard.”
    “But you remained a virgin.”
    Miner grinned. “Until my wedding night. And wasn’t that a fiasco! We were both nervous and inexperienced and, well, she wasn’t a man.”
    “I was a virgin until you,” Ennek pointed out.
    “Yes, but that went much better.”
    Ennek bumped his shoulder into Miner. “But we still have room for improvement, you know. We will have to practice.”
    Miner bumped him back. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”

    ***
    They didn’t practice that night; they were both too tired to do more than munch on a few apples they had squirreled away during the day and then pull the blankets up to their chins. Miner was footsore but extremely grateful for the sandals he had been given.
    The bird woke Ennek up at dawn, pulling at his hair with its beak until he groaned and sat up. He hadn’t shaved for a few days and the stubble was thick on his chin and cheeks; Miner had always grown whiskers slowly, so his skin felt only a bit rough. Ennek glared at the Bhujanga, which had fluttered just out of reach and was looking rather pleased with itself. “I won’t be able to do anything in Donghe if I arrive exhausted,” Ennek said to it, but it only flapped its wings and croaked back.
    Miner yawned and stretched and stood.
    It only took them a few minutes to lace up their shoes and pack up their bags. They were becoming very adept at it. Miner smiled at himself as they started up the path. He never would have imagined spending so many nights sleeping beneath open sky. It wasn’t unpleasant, at least not with Ennek’s company.
    They scavenged food here and there along the way. Nothing fancy but enough to keep their bellies from complaining. And then around midday, they came to a crossroads. The bird landed on the path that led north and trilled its song at them. “This is the road to Donghe?” Ennek asked. The bird trilled again and bobbed its head. “Taking directions from a bloody bird,” Ennek