[AU][C][M] Festivities

Fleck shook his head.

"My mother," he gave in way of simple explanation.

He wasn't going to spill his life story to his owner. It didn't matter if Richard knew that he was a whore's son from an impoverished village from his own kingdom. It didn't matter if he was a strong, famed warrior from a stronghold that even the royal city's army couldn't touch if they fought.

Here, now, he was just a slave.

A boy in a collar and cuffs, naked and waiting to be used by the man before him.

That was what mattered.

Richard tilted his head to the side.

"I see."

He didn't push anymore on the subject. He sensed with what little the slave gave away, he didn't want to discuss the subject anymore.

Pushing himself off the wall, he leant back to wash the oil out of his hair. Shaking his head a bit before standing straight again, scrunching the excess water out until curled.

"Did they leave any wine on the table?" He asked, already making a move from the other end of the pool to the stairs.

Fleck smiled at the question and rose. He was closer to the table.

It was funny, hearing someone ask that. This country was held together by sex and wine. Of course there was wine on the table. The only time better than bathing to drink, was after a good fuck.

And with moth baths in the castle containing a good fuck, it would be near criminal for wine not to be provided.

He poured a generous goblet of the sweet red liquid, and slipped back into the water to offer the full goblet to the Prince.

Of course, the slave would get up to get it. He stopped moving and signed.

Feeling his thigh touch something hard, he realised that one of the walls in the bath that curved out like a seat. He settled into it, thanking the slave as he passed him the goblet.

He let out a little appreciative noise after the first sip slid down his throat. If there was something he could appreciate about Ecrutez, it was the wine.

This one was sweet and light, not too heavy. It went down easily.

Alden tended to prefer ciders and beer. Drinks that tended to make him feel bloated. He always preferred imported wine. Normally from the kingdom Alden and Ecrutez shared a border with.

His attention turned back to the slave.

"Would you like some?"

It wasn't unusual in Alden to offer a servant a drink if they kept good company. He would often offer his attendant in the evening.

He folded himself to sit besides Richard on the bath's shelf seat. He sat about two feet away; a close distance to the Aldish, but strangely distant to the Ecrutezian.

Fleck relaxed against the hot stone, head tipping back slightly. The hot water felt blissful against his skin, and the ache that had been radiating through his backside all day was seeping from him. The mark had faded, but the tenderness had persisted, and he had had his heel pressed into the spot all day while he knelt. It was quite uncomfortable.

His shoulders relaxed as he inhaled the fragranced steam of the bath house. It was making him slightly light-headed and relaxed. The heat penetrating his tense muscles and relaxed him further.

It had been a while since he'd been allowed in these baths. He was going to enjoy the hot water while he had the chance.

His eyes cracked open and turned languidly towards his Prince, then down to the goblet in his hand. He hadn't had wine since...

A drunken night, an old man giggling, wandering hands, silky sheets, an invading force.


He blinked. It was a night he would not forget in a hurry. His first night let loose as a pleasure slave to a kind, but horny nobleman from a country bordering Ecrutezian's Eastern side.

"If it would please you to share, my Prince."

"It will please me either way," he sighed, offering the goblet.

He had tried to crane his neck to see if there was another one to fill for the slave. But it was an awkward angle.

Considering that they undressed each other, slept in the same bed and bathed together - he could also the other Aldish custom which was considered quite intimate. Something his mother and father used to do it.

"Thank you, my Prince."

He accepted the goblet, and took a small mouthful, savouring as best as he could, making sure he left no residue on his lips afterwards, then just enjoying the lingering aftertaste in his mouth as he held the cup back out for the Prince.

The wine was sweeter than he remembered. Likely that would be that the wine he had been offered during his more amiable stay was of a lesser quality.

This had to be one of the best things he had ever tasted.

And in light of the small act of kindness - great to Fleck, who had missed the taste of the countries sweet wine great - he threw Dick a bone. "It's been near four years since I was last allowed the taste of wine. I miss it."

A little personal tidbit.

"Four years?"

Was that simply the amount of time he hadn't drunk it? Or did it mean more? The amount of time he was a slave, maybe?

"Sometimes I don't think I can go a day without drinking it."

A tedious court always left him starving for it. He wasn't a natural for conversation. Especially when everything said had hidden depth. It was even worst here where he felt like he was constantly walking on eggshells.

"Drink more, if you want."

He nodded, touching his free hand to the golden collar tellingly. "Four years." The Prince's musings were crystal clear, and if he was sharing this much, he wasn't going to close off now.

"I...used to be like that. A hard day at work felt much easier when you relaxed to a cup of wine at the end of it."

His hands curled around the goblet, looking down into the deep red liquid.

After a moment, he lifted the goblet and took another, deeper draught of the drink.

Riched listened intently as another small bit of information was offered.

He couldn't imagine that. Going from enjoying a drink at your leisure to being dictated about everything you did. Tiny luxuries like that being taken away.

"Sometimes I think it is one of the only things that get me through the day," he laughed. "That, and a bath."

Right then, he had his two favourite things rolled in one.

After the slave took a drink, Richard took it from his hands to take a few more sips as well. He held the goblet up between them, for the slave to take whenever he pleased.

"This is a luxury that's new," Fleck breathed. In for a copper, in for a gold. Might as well keep talking as long as nothing too distressing came into conversation.

He was still feeling pleasantly lightheaded, and probably would until they left the steamy room.

"In my village, there were no baths like this. I bathed in the sea, as infrequently as I could to avoid the harsh cold of the water."

His fingers played over the water, sending numerous ripples out into the open expanse before them. 

This, the hot baths? This he enjoyed.

Richard made a face.

While the baths at home were not as luxurious hot and large as this, it was still better than the sea. Not salt water cracking his skin, seaweed sticking to his legs or sand getting in uncomfortable places.

"I'm not terribly fond of the sea. I can't swim and I get seasick."

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have admitted that to someone - even to a slave - that he couldn't swim in a bath that was possibly deeper than he was tall.

Fleck laughed, a long and deep sound. The most honest noise he had made in Richard's presence so far.

"I don't enjoy the sea, either," he agreed.

He made no mention of the Prince's slip. He wouldn't, either.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was a beautiful subject. He just didn't enjoy being out on the waves.

Dick enjoyed the sound of the slave's laugh. The loudness and the honesty of it. It was a good laugh.

He took another long gulp and offered the goblet to the slave.

"Here, have the last bit."

"Thank you, my Prince."

He accepted the goblet, and took the final mouthful of wine, savouring it just like he had ever other taste of it that he'd been given.

When the goblet was empty, he just held it within his grasp gently, leaning back comfortably against the stone again. 

His teeth played over his lower lip, worrying it at an idle pace.

Dick turned the baths seat, one leg crossed in front of him and one elbow

The wine was stronger than the wine their common neighbour made. The hot steam of the bath made him light headed. A good mood had settled in him.

"My mother tells me off for doing that."

He brought a finger up to the bitten lip, before pulling away like it was fire.

The Touch to his lip left behind a warm feeling that he couldn't put down to the heat of the room.

His teeth sank back into the topic of conversation almost brutally when the Prince jerked back like his lip had burned him.

"My mother did me, too," he replied quietly, then dropped down. His lower face submerged in the hot water, til just below his nose.

He didn't want to talk of his mother.

Did.

It was easy to guess that slaves couldn't see their family. Not when they weren't treated like people.

If that was the reason.

He watched as the slave sank into the water and he plucked the goblet out of his hand. He didn't want to end the good mood they had.

"I'm getting more wine."

He didn't give the slave time to act. The water sloshed around him as he made his way through the bath.

At the table, he poured until it reached the lip. He took a sip and made his way over to the slave.

"Here."

He watched the Prince slosh towards the table silently, drawing himself upwards again so his face wasn't submerged, then watching the Prince return to him.

"I haven't drunk since I was twenty," he commented as the goblet was passed to him.

He took a small, savouring sip.

"If I drink too much more I will end up drunk and useless." And what good was a drunk, useless slave?

Between the steamy room, the time since his last drink, and the alcohol in his system already, he was feeling it already.

Richard sank deeply into his seat, making a soft noise as his shoulders went under. He had become accustomed to the water now. It was a little cold getting the wine.

"That's the point of drinking. To get drunk and useless."

He didn't put their different circumstances into consideration there.

Taking to goblet back he drank more deeply than the slave. Then he put the goblet down on the side.

Fleck gave a soft chuckle, though it wasn't an amused one.

"A pleasure slave is only good drunk when being ploughed by his Master." The words weren't bitter. Just a blank statement.

His tongue ran over his upper lip slowly.

He wasn't going to end up there, so he wasn't going to drink himself into that stupor.

Richard's good mood was shattered further.

The true relationship between them being brought forward again.

"Why are you all so vulgar here?"

His head tipped back. The heat and the alcohol already made him flush. Emilio's and the Queens and everyone's words here swam in his head. And not just the words. Their actions. Having to watch a slave pleasure the Prince when and where he wanted was not his taste.

"Why are the Aldish so closed off to such matters? Why do the Thansus only lie with the opposite sex?"

His head tilted so he could observe Richard's expression.

"We are each raised to different beliefs, and taught to cherish our own ways. Here, sex is not cherished like it is for your people. It's nothing more than feeding yourself here. Another base need that is met." He made a noise low in his throat.

Surprisingly, considering his occupation, the noise was disgusted.

"I admire your people for finding something good in the act. To make it something special." He let out a huff. "I thought it was special, when-" He cut himself off sharply. "It was special once."

Dick tilted is head on the mosaic side. The noise of disgust shocked him. He had assumed the slave felt about sex the same way everyone else did here. He didn't bat an eyelid as he nuzzled between his legs or crawled into bed with his back curved and ass in the air.

Four years a slave, he reminded himself.

A line was drawn between his brows.

"Once?"

"A long time ago."

That was all he was saying on the subject.

He ran his hands through his hair. "Would it please you see my hair with a wave to it?" he asked, fingering a clump of the wet strands thoughtfully.

His gaze turned to his Master as he awaited his answer.