Desert World

[lit_gal]

Ambassadors Shan and Temar return.

Desert World Allegiances
Pairing: Shan/Temar.  Two men struggle with their own demons and try to save their world while fighting a growing attraction to each other.

Desert World Rebirth
Pairing: Shan/Temar.  Enemies in the real world and the ghosts of the past both threaten this growing relationship

Desert World Immigrants
Pairing: Naite/Verly. Heat: Frikkin' scorching.  Lieutenant Commander Verly Black had a difficult life during the war, but now he’s ready to immigrate to a new world. What he doesn’t expect is to find a kindred spirit, a man who is a warrior despite the fact that he’s never picked up a gun. He carries the scars of battle anyway. Naite Polli is a fascinating mystery, and Verly has never been good at walking away from one of those.

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five




Six

Verly woke to the sound of voices. He rolled over, and he felt a twinge in his ass that reminded him of the night before. It felt good to feel stretched and worn. Pushing himself out of bed, he headed to the window and looked down onto the dusty farm. A motorbike sat near the barn, and everyone seemed to be gathering around the door to the bunkhouse. For a second, Verly had a flash of paranoia that they were discussing him, but that didn’t actually make sense. If Ambassador Gazer had any problem with Verly being down here, the man was direct enough to say it.

He dressed soldier-fast and hurried to shift the dresser he'd used to block the door. The house was silent as Verly moved through it.

When he’d come up last night, he’d passed Rula as she sat in the kitchen, in the dark. He didn’t have any trouble spotting her sort. She was one of their female corps—women who owed the state, usually because the state had spent money feeding them as orphans, and the state demanded service in return. They protected women important to the AFP, they were prison guards in women’s facilities, and sometimes they ended up on PA planets with bombs strapped to their chests as they claimed to work for some fringe terrorist group.

Even knowing all that, he was more comfortable about Rula with her direct stare than he was around Natalie. That one did psy-ops work for sure, and she’d probably left a long line of dead men behind her. Of course, Verly didn’t exactly have clean hands, even if the dirtier side of the war had never appealed to him.

Outside, the sun already shone bright enough to make him squint, even if the fine mesh that covered the top of the valley filtered the light. Verly straightened his sleeves as he identified the people hovering in the yard. Rula and Natalie stood near the edge of the crowd, with Cyla near them. Verly had an uncharitable thought about how those women might warp Cyla to their way of thought, but the fact was that if they were lovers, they couldn’t have any love for the AFP. And if he found himself privately wondering about whether that story was true, he wasn’t fool enough to start saying it out loud. He was on thin ice here, and attacking others was a sure way of having suspicion cast on him.

He spotted the two ambassadors, Shan leaning against the bike and Temar standing halfway between Shan and Naite. A number of the workers Verly had met the day before were there, and oddly, Naite wasn’t yelling at anyone about getting back to work, so something was happening.

“Good morning,” Verly greeted everyone. Figuring that if he was in for a penny he should be in for a pound, he moved closer to Naite.

Nate gave him an odd look without commenting on the move, but Shan started grinning.

“Verly.” Temar smiled warmly. “I'm so sorry we weren't here when you came. I had no idea that this mess in Blue Hope was going to take so long.”

“Problems?

“Yes, but more the normal kind of disagreements and petty annoyances that were used to then this sort of drama you get up there.” Temar nodded toward the sky.

“I don't know, we seem pretty good at drama lately,” Shan pointed out. “If I were suspicious, I would start to worry about the good Lord sending us messages.”

Verly’s guts knotted and he looked over toward Natalie and Rula. The AFP were religious zealots—Paulists who believed in the nastier parts of the Christian bible that had little to do with Christ. Verly could admit that his own comfort level with religion dropped every time the news covered another crazy news story smuggled out of one of the breakaway planets. However Natalie and Rula didn’t react, and Naite’s eye-rolling seemed more brotherly than anything else.

“I don’t think God has anything to do with it,” Naite said. “Now your ability to stick your nose in trouble… that might be related.”

“You’re assuming I’m not an agent of God.”

Temar interrupted what looked like it was turning into a fight. “I’m assuming you’re enjoying annoying each other, but I’m tired.”

Cyla spoke up. “If Lilian went—.”

“She’d die half way across the desert. She’s too sick for that,” Naite cut her off. Verly could see the instant fury in Cyla’s face.

“She’s not that weak.”

“She pretends she’s not, but she is,” Naite said, ignoring all that anger, which was about the worst thing he could do. Verly had seen lots of officers just like Cyla—they were so determined to prove themselves that everything became a challenge and they took stupid risks in order to prove themselves right. Hell, Verly suspected he might have been that officer.

“Lilian. Lilian Freelander, the representative for the land owners, right?” Verly asked.

“Freeland, and yes,” Naite answered. “She’s one woman who won’t take an answer she doesn’t like.”

“Which is why she could convince Blue Hope to compromise.” Cyla crossed her arms over her chest. He body language dared them to disagree, but given the number of strong personalities in a very small space, Verly figured someone would.

“Unless she died half way there,” Naite said. “I need three men on watering duty on field four. Volunteers?” Naite turned away from Cyla and started looking to his men. Verly cringed a little for Cyla. That was cold. Of course, Naite never had pretended to be good with people skills. Verly’s ass was testament to his impatience.

Shan stepped in to try and smooth the ruffled feathers. “Temar pointed out that he isn’t likely to favor the Valley, even if he was born here. After what happened, he’s likely to vote against the Valley. They’re going to need to talk this through.”

“And if they won’t agree?” Natalie asked.

Verly found himself irrationally annoyed that Natalie understood this conversation when Verly couldn’t catch more than every other idea. He didn’t even know what Blue Hope wanted, although he had researched the planet enough to know that Blue Hope was one of the other agricultural valleys. Temar and Shan had been so careful with operation security that Verly hadn’t even figure out if they were allies or rivals.

“Then we talk more,” Temar said with a casual shrug before he reached over and caught Verly’s arm. “I want to show you a piece I made to thank you for helping us,” he said, effectively cutting off the argument.

Shan followed Temar’s lead. “It seems like I should have made you something since I’m the one you rescued, but since I doubt you want a refurbished sand bike engine, I had to settle for sitting in the tent while Temar made you something,” Shan said. Reaching out, he offered Verly his hand, and Verly shook it.

Verly smiled at Shan. The man looked a lot better than the last time Verly had seen him. “It’s good to see you up and moving around. That was a serious injury.”

“Shan’s too stubborn to die. Either that or maybe his God protects him,” Naite said in an unfriendly tone. Several of the workers had started to wander toward the various fields, but Naite still eyed his brother like he expected a fight.

Shan narrowed his eyes, and for a second, he looked like a carbon copy of Naite. “I like to think that the Lord chooses the right people to put in my life.”

“I like to think I have a brother who will give me credit when I show up to rescue his pathetic ass,” Naite shot right back, and before he had finished his comment, he was striding off toward the fields.

Shan opened his mouth as if to say something, but Naite was already far enough away that he would have needed to shout it. One of the workers laughed. “You have to insult faster than that to get the last word with Naite.”

“Not even an ex-priest can talk that fast,” another one teased, and with a few last laughs, the rest of the workers started heading out. Cyla, Natalie and Rula still presented a sort of united front that Verly wasn’t sure how to handle, so he focused on the ambassadors.

“What is the conflict over?” he came right out and asked. He wasn’t surprised that Natalie narrowed her eyes and considered him coldly, but Temar tugged him toward the house, and Shan moved to Temar’s other side, his hand finding the small of Temar’s back and resting there.

Temar answered, “They want additional water rights. They have a point… the Valley had a huge share of water when the terraforming started, so if we all share equally now, that will leave the Valley with a significant advantage for the foreseeable future.”

“So, you’re going to give them what they want?” That wasn’t what Verly expected from any politician.

“They also miss the point entirely by expecting that they can claim the same volume as in the original charter, as if the situation hasn’t changed,” Temar said as he wrinkled his nose. “So, I have to convince them they’re wrong on the specifics, even if they are right about the general shape of the piece. Unfortunately, every time we tried to discuss the details, the conversation grew a little too hot for any agreement to take shape.”

“Which is a nice way of saying screaming was involved,” Shan explained.

“I didn’t scream,” Temar said with some amusement. Shan had his brother’s dark complexion, but as they stepped up onto the porch, Verly could see the slight blush on his cheeks. So Shan had lost his temper.

“So tell me, why would being from the Valley mean you’re less likely to favor them?” Verly asked. He didn’t need the details of any mistakes Ambassador Polli might have made.

Shan raised his eyebrows in an expression that looked very Naite. However, where Naite would have gone non-verbal, Shan was more than happy to jump in. “So, Naite hasn’t given you our whole sordid tale?”

With a comment like that, Verly wanted to chase after Naite, to prove something by teasing the story out of the taciturn man. Unfortunately, he suspected Naite was better at holding out than Verly was at extracting information. “No. He didn’t say anything.”

“Coward,” Shan said softly. Temar slipped his arm around Shan’s waist, and Shan looked down. “He’s vocal enough about his beliefs. He can at least admit it when he’s wrong,” Shan pointed out, but he sounded a little defensive, and given that Temar hadn’t actually said anything, Verly suspected this was another of those old and often rehashed arguments families used to torture each other.

“He has.”

Shan’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “Well I’d be happier if he didn’t spend so much time avoiding the issue of slavery.”

“The what?” The words slipped out of Verly unchecked. He knew all about diplomatic missions and not placing your own judgment on other’s beliefs, but slavery fell far outside any moral gray area Verly was willing to consider. Slavery was a disgusting institution, one the breakaway planets used like a sledge hammer to pound anyone who disagreed with the party line while claiming that they upheld individual choice and freedom.

Shan stopped and gave Verly a serious look. “Thank you. Normal people are horrified by the thought of it.” With that, he gave Temar a slightly less happy expression.

“So I’m not normal?” Temar asked, and his voice just dared Shan to say exactly that. Shan looked like the more powerful partner—he had age and size and a certain sharp edge to him that whispered of power, but Temar had a quiet strength that didn’t yield. Verly didn’t doubt how this was going to end.

Sure enough, Shan’s defensiveness slipped, and he looked momentarily confused. “Of course you’re normal. I’m just…” Shan stopped. He just stopped. Turning, he opened the door to the house and held it open for them. “I yield. No matter what I say, I’m going to lose this battle, so I am yielding the field before I have a chance to lose. We need to have that wedding ceremony soon because no man should be this consistently wrong unless he’s a husband.”

Temar stepped close and smiled at Shan. Resting his hands on Shan’s chest, he lifted himself up on his toes to give Shan a kiss. “I love you, and you’re not wrong. You’re only half wrong, and I’m half wrong, and we’ll figure it out.”

Verly frowned, not sure he was following any of this. “Are you talking about working out a plan for slavery?” he asked.

Temar gestured for Verly to go into the house, and Verly quickly moved into the shade. In only a few minutes in the sun, he’d already developed a pounding headache, and the heat outside threatened felt like a weight pressing down. The shade and relative cool of the house was a welcome change, even if Verly was starting to have some rather elaborate fantasies about air conditioners and the ice storms of Delta Seven.

“We can’t afford prisons, we certainly can’t afford to feed people who aren’t working. So yes, slavery is part of our penal system,” Temar explained as he followed Verly into the house.

“Considering that you use sand rats for executioners, that shouldn’t shock me, but it does,” Verly admitted. The first time he’d seen Temar thought the comm view of his shuttle, Temar had threatened to take Verly back to Livre and allow sandrats to eat him alive if Verly betrayed them or cost Shan his life. Verly had a lot of respect for the man for being willing to lay the rules out like that. However, if Temar had threatened him with slavery… well, Verly might have developed a different opinion..

“The shocking part is that he was a slave, and he still doesn’t argue for abolishing the system,” Shan said softly. He still clearly disagreed, even if most of the heat had vanished from his voice.

Temar sat on the couch. “Ben abused the system and he abused me, but that doesn’t mean that the entire system is broken.” He held out his hand toward Shan, and Shan took it and sat so close that their legs pressed together. Verly felt a stab of hot jealousy. It’d been a long time since he shared the sort of intimacy that could survive the light of day. Most of his human contact took place in the dark, forgotten corners, but he hadn’t thought much of it because being surrounded by military personnel, he didn’t get to see much open affection. Seeing it here was a little like being hungry while someone ate a feast in front of your eyes. It made Verly ache in ways that hurt more than his stretched ass.

“Abused?” Verly asked, focusing on the question at hand. His emotions… well they were simply emotions. If he could find a way to tempt Naite into a second encounter, that was good. If not, this feeling wouldn’t kill him.

“Ben raped me,” Temar said in a matter of fact tone. Verly felt his stomach drop.

Temar threaded his fingers with Shan’s and for a second, he started down at their intertwined hands. “He was a sick man who did sick things. But for most people, slavery means they work for a landowner for a certain period of time in order to work off debts or learn to act like a responsible adult when they aren’t.”

Shan’s jaw muscle bulged so that Verly feared for the man’s teeth. Given Shan’s deep feelings for Temar, Verly understood the wealth of anger there. After hearing Naite’s description of desert justice, Verly suspected that this Ben hadn’t survived long.

“That sounds more like indentured servitude,” Verly said slowly.

Temar tilted his head to the side and then looked up to make direct eye contact with Verly. “Indentured implies you have a choice. Slaves don’t. They’re convicted by the council of some crime—either an intentional crime against property or a negligent crime against a person. They don’t have a choice. Someone pays their fines, the money goes to the victim, and the person has to work for whomever paid the money. No choice.”

“Like Ben paid for you?” Shan asked, his voice almost shaking with all those dark emotions that danced across his face.

Temar turned and looked right at Shan, his voice steady. “Yes, like Ben paid for me, and like I paid for Naite. Sort of.” Temar made a face.

“For Naite I’m willing to make an exception and call slavery morally justified.”

“Whoa. Wait.” Verly held both hands up. “What are you talking about? Naite?”

Shan looked surprised. “Naite really didn’t tell you any of this?”

“No.”

Shan seemed bewildered. Temar didn’t looked confused as much as thoughtful—like he was carefully considering something. The last time Temar got that look, Verly had ended up in the middle of possibly the most disastrously stupid plan in all history, and he still wasn’t sure how it actually worked. After a second, Temar shook his head and the expression cleared.

“We had just heard that you and Naite were… well… getting along.”

“Words like naked were mentioned,” Shan agreed. Verly could feel his face start to heat up. Sex was a perfectly normal part of human experience, and he didn’t feel any need to apologize for that, but he felt like a fool for not understanding the undercurrents with these people. Maybe he was arrogant, but he’d expected life on Livre to be simple and straightforward, and here he was trying to figure out if the ambassadors were ready to kick him off the planet for putting his boots under the wrong bunk, not that boots had come off or bunks used.

“It’s good that Naite’s spending some time with someone,” Temar quickly added.

“Good for him, not necessarily good for the person who is more than likely to get dropped like a sandrat picked up by mistake,” Shan added quietly. These two had sibling rivalry that put some wars to shame. Temar put his elbow in Shan’s side. “Hey, I would go to his wedding if he would find someone and settle down. I’m just warning Verly that the odds of that aren’t good,” Shan defended himself.

“Can we go back to the discussion of slavery and leave any relationship discussion alone?” Verly asked. At this point, he’d beg if it got them back on topic.

“Naite’s serving a slave sentence,” Shan said casually, and for someone who claimed to hate slavery, there wasn’t a lot of emotion there.

“It’s complicated,” Temar equivocated.

Verly focused on Temar. “Complicated in what way because I consider slavery very close to that moral line that has no room for compromise.”

Oddly, Temar smiled at him. “And like Shan, you are half right. In Naite’s case, I don’t think he should serve this sentence. He was on the committee that sentenced me to serve for a number of years, and I probably deserved them. My stupidity led me to pull a stupid stunt—one that wasted a lot of water, water that is necessary for life.”

“By accident?”

Temar leaned back against the couch. “It wasn’t on purpose, but it certainly wasn’t an accident because I should have seen where my stupidity was leading.”

“Cyla was leading, you were following,” Shan corrected him.

“Either way, I know what I did was wrong, and I when I learned that I was only going to serve time as a slave, I was relieved.”

“But…” Verly shook his head as he struggled to understand. He was starting to miss the PA and their obsessive compulsive need to write out every rule and regulation. “You only damaged property, and they enslaved you?”

“I wasted thousands of gallons of water. Without water, people die, Verly. I really thought I might be exiled to the desert.”

That made Verly’s skin crawl. He didn’t care what Temar had done, the man didn’t deserve to die for it. “You mean executed?” he asked coldly.

Temar cringed at the same time he nodded. “I thought there was a chance. So when they sold my contract to Ben, I was grateful, all the way up to the point that I figured out that Ben was a raping, lying water-thief. However, the council who sentenced me thought they needed to pay a penalty for not investigating Ben enough and for not checking on me. They were ultimately responsible for my safety and they let me get hurt.”

Verly sat in the nearest chair. Either he wasn’t understanding Temar or the logic circuits had not closed in these council members’ brains. “So they enslaved themselves?” That sounded unbelievable, not unless some high-powered weaponry were pointed at their backs at the time.

Temar shrugged. “Most paid fines. As an unskilled worker, Naite didn’t have a lot of spare money, so he set his sentence at three years of service.”

“So, he can’t quit?” Verly felt a wave of nausea at the thought of someone as independent as Naite being trapped.

“Sadly, no,” Shan said. “Well, actually if Naite weren’t here, Cyla would be trying to run the farm, so maybe that’s for the best. He is good at running the farm.”

“And he could leave if he wanted because I’d free him in a second if he asked me to,” Temar added. “He said that he felt guilty, and that he needed to feel like he was making up for having left me vulnerable. However, after a year of fighting with Shan and Cyla, he might be willing to give up the guilt and ask to have the slave sentence cut short.” Temar gave Shan a look full of both affection and a weary sort of frustration.

Before Shan could answer, Temar pushed himself up. “But I want to get your gift, so stay here and I’ll be right back.” Temar jogged up the stairs, and Verly was left with Shan. He didn’t know Shan all that well, and honestly, he found it a little uncomfortable to look at a man who looked so much like the lover who had used Verly hard and left him broke down at the side of the road.

Shan cleared his throat. “We were surprised you came.”

“Why?”

“We know that Natalie’s people sent her because they think she’s spying, but she said that your government would ignore us as unimportant. She didn’t think you’d come, and when you sent word that you were landing, she had some rather creative solutions planned.”

Verly thought about his welcoming party from Naite and Natalie. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

“So, why are you here?” Shan asked.

Verly leaned back and tried to figure out Shan’s game. If Natalie told Naite, she would have told the ambassadors. “My people aren’t that forgiving of mistakes, and I’ve made some large ones.”

“We’ve all made large mistakes.”

“Mine cost lives.”

Shan took a slow breath, and Verly wondered how deep he was digging his own grave. “I’ve made choices, I’ve stood by while things happened that I questioned—including watching Temar sentenced to slavery. But I was so afraid of being arrogant that I didn’t speak up, or in the case of Temar, I spoke and spoke and spoke, and I chose such poor words that I didn’t convince anyone.” Shan looked away. “We all have pasts,” he said quietly. “Luckily, there’s forgiveness.”

Verly pursed his lips. Maybe on Livre forgiveness existed. Most of the universe had a longer memory.

“Here we go,” Temar called as he came down the stairs. He had a beautiful piece of glass with colors swirling within colors. For a second, the vivid shades of blues and greens distracted Verly and he didn’t see the delicate shape, the curved wings and wide body. “I know it doesn’t replace flying, but…” Temar let his voice trail off.

“It’s stunning,” Verly said as he reached for the piece. He’d never owned such a beautiful piece of art.

“I’m starting to work glass again, but I don’t seem to be doing anything particularly useful,” Temar said with a self-deprecating shrug.

“I love it.”

Temar might be a powerful man, but he offered up a shy smile. “I’m glad, he said softly. I know you gave up a lot to come.”

“I didn’t give up anything that I’ll miss,” Verly said. It was a small lie, but maybe if he told himself that lie every day he could make it true. Today it certainly felt a little more true than yesterday. Temar reached out and rested a hand on Verly’s arm, and Verly focused on the cool glass in his hands.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

You truly are amazing at weaving intriguing tales. I can't believe how caught up I am in this one. Loved the "Paulist" reference, btw.


Gabrielle

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked that. Book two was very much about confronting that Paulist alliance.

[chaoskir.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I hope it will work out for your boys. Complivated system there but it might be effective. Thanks for the interesting update.

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

For people who don't have a lot, it does seem like a reasonable system.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

Verly sleeps with a dresser pushed in front of the door. Stated so matter of factly and not further explained it says so much about his life and what he deals with. I truly hope he can find peace on Livre.

It's so amusind to see Temar particularly through Verly's eyes. the poor man has been so thoroughly knocked off his pins. :)

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

He has had a difficult life. If he can find a way into Naite's heart, I think he'd be happier having a quiet life on Livre.

[zazreil.livejournal.com]

I liked learning more about the planet and Naite's back story. I think though I would enjoy it more if I went back and read the first two books cause I wonder if Cyla got sold into slavery too as the ring leader

Also confused about Verly had a room with a dresser when I thought what they all had was sleeping nooks.

On a side note how much time has passed since chapter 5 and 6?

Zaz

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

The problem with sequels is that you have to balance story telling and putting it within the universe.. And yes, Cyla was slaved out, but she didn't get abused.

I need to make it clearer that Verly is staying in the main house whereas Naite is in the bunkhouse.