Tarik gripped his forehead as he trudged down the busy street, paying just enough attention to his surroundings to keep from plowing into something.
He'd slept in again. It was hard to wake at daybreak, the temperatures in the night dropping so low and putting him in a hibernatory-like state. Mornings were not his favorite time of the day. It was hard to believe that people were already out and about—had been for several hours—with no signs of weariness. Then again, they weren't cold-blooded like he was.
Looking to the sky, Tarik noted the position of the sun. A few hours had passed since it had risen, but thankfully it was reaching mid-day and the heat was beginning to climb to a suitable temperature for one such as himself. His countenance lightened. This would be a good time to sunbathe, to loosen his muscles and ease the kinks.
This notion brought new strength to his stride as he headed for the outer wall of the city.
Gae had never been this far south before. He normally kept to the forests and plains, but he had been chasing a mage and had ended up here. Sadly, that one had resisted a little too much and, well, sometimes accidents happened and he was going to have to make up the lost income. But he just couldn't feel too badly about it, whistling a tune to himself as he strolled down the streets.
One less mage to pollute the world. It was a happy day!
He couldn't help but notice a young man walking near him that wasn't sharing in the glory of this day. Shifting his angle slightly, Gae moved alongside the boy, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, "Cheer up lad! Today is good! Why so gloomy?"
So preoccupied with the idea of going out in the desert and enjoying the warmth of the day, Tarik didn't notice the man until his arm was enveloping him. This was not a normal thing for him and he automatically tensed, wondering if this person were on the attack. He couldn't think of anyone that would want to attack him—he had very few enemies, if any at all—but some people displayed forms of craziness in the heat.
But then the man spoke and his intentions became clear, if not still somewhat baffling. Tarik turned his head to look at him, taking in his cheery appearance. He was all but exploding with happiness.
Words did not come right away. How did one respond to a stranger like this, who felt no reservation when it came to making physical contact with one that had been minding his own business? Tarik couldn't imagine why this man thought he was gloomy; he wasn't depressed at all, nor was he making others depressed.
He chose his words carefully once he found them, his voice low. "I'm not gloomy," he said.
There. Question answered.
"You aren't? You could have fooled me." Gae was undaunted by the mans less than enthusiastic response. He just smiled wider, "Now, you look like you belong in this fair city! I just arrived! Why don't you show me around?"
Maybe it was because he wasn't smiling. Why did everyone have to think that when people weren't smiling, it meant that they were sad?
The plan to go into the desert to warm up disintegrated with each passing second until the last words spoken by the stranger killed them completely.
There wasn't much to show that this guy couldn't already see himself, but Tarik wasn't going to be rude.
Did he have to keep his arm around him, though?
"Around where?" he asked, voice still quiet. What exactly was the guy interested in?
"Oh, anywhere! It's always best to see what the natives want to show you. Then you get to see the really amazing things. Now, new friend, what's your name? Mine's Gae Adler and it's a pleasure to meet you."
Gae was already walking them in some direction. He figured there must be something neat to see no matter where they went, so he wasn't really all that worried.
'The natives?' This Adler person almost made it seem as if the sparkling oasis was full of primitive ethnic groups, as if it were a tribe of people that didn't know what they were doing. Then again, the use of the word natives could have been a basic translation instead of a derogatory one, and Tarik chose to go with that. After all, the stranger didn't seem to be the type that would go around insulting people; he was genially a cheerful person, if a bit strange with his custom of greetings.
Tarik found himself being lead away from the wall that went out of the city. He cast one wistful look back at it before turning his attention to the new matter at hand. "I'm Tarik," he said after a slight pause.
Wasn't he supposed to be the escort here? All he could do was let Gae lead him along, trying to avoid the stares of people that knew him. It must have looked strange to them—quiet, withdrawn Tarik with a big smiling man wrapped around his shoulders as if the two of them were the best of friends.
"I could show you the . . . vegetation," he suggested in a low voice, scarce on ideas.
"Tarik hummm? Good name. Strong! I bet you are a hit with the ladies with a name like that." Gae beamed, smacking the boy along the back.
Gae had noticed that Tarik felt cooler to the touch than he should, but he dismissed it, "Vegetation? In a desert? Really?"
Ladies?
Now Tarik had no idea what was going on. Why would a name attract ladies? He'd never seen a woman lured in by a name alone. Especially not his name.
Not used to physical contact with anyone, the slap on the back came as a surprise to him. He looked around, then back at Gae, a little alarmed. He'd seen other people act this way toward one another, so he knew it wasn't meant to be an attack, but still. To someone you didn't know?
"This is an oasis," he pointed out, gesturing at the green plants and desert brush all around them, lining the streets.
"A what now?" Gae really never came this far south. He glanced around, as if noticing the plants for the first time, "I just thought people who planted those were wealthy. Those grow here then? My, you need to learn to speak more boy. What kind of guide doesn't speak?"
"An oasis," Tarik repeated, once again gesturing at everything around them that was green and/or living. It was an obvious thing to him, having grown up in this place his entire life, and it had never occurred to him that someone might now know what an oasis was. "This city is by a natural spring. Plants grow where there's water."
He was trying his darndest to speak more, if only because that was what the man apparently wanted, but words never came easily to Tarik. Gae had chosen a bad person for a guide. It didn't help that he hadn't completely warmed up yet from the cool night and was feeling sluggish.
"So it's a place where plants grow?" Gae continued to look around, "Such an interesting place! How can you live in such heat all the time?"
Tarik shrugged. "I manage."
Such heat? He said it like heat was a bad thing. If Tarik had any say on the matter, he would want it to be warmer. The sun was what gave him his energy, which he was low on currently.
What else could he show Gae? The plants were the only interesting things he could think of, and they weren't really that interesting to begin with.
"Well, you really do need to learn to speak up. Oh! I know! Let's get very drunk! That always loosens the tongue eh?" Gae beamed at Tarik, hugging him tighter again, "Maybe you can introduce me to some pretty girls!"
Drunk? During the day? What kind of man--
Girls?!
Were his skin not so dark, a crimson blush would have been visible on his visage. This guy definitely had the wrong person as a guide. He didn't know the first thing about women, let alone have them as friends to introduce.
And what was with all of the hugging?
"I don't . . ." He didn't know what to say, had nothing to say. "There's a bar not too far from here," he hazarded, pointing off down the road. Were there women there? Hard to know when he never went to the bar.
"Wonderful! Let's go find some whores, shall we?" Gae beamed, dragging his new friend along, "I love girls. So soft and helpless, you know? Makes one want to protect them. Now, tell me about yourself. What do you do around here? Married?"
If there was one thing Tarik knew nothing about, it was girls. And for good reason. They were a completely different species in his mind. Talking to other guys was hard enough as it was, but women? They liked talking too much.
Not that he didn't like women. Being a guy--a guy guy--he had a healthy liking of them. That didn't mean he talked to them, or slept with them, or even ever touched them. So he wouldn't know anything about them being soft.
Helpless, on the other hand, well, that was something he had to disagree with. There were no helpless women in Essyrn. The desert turned them hard, rough, like any respectable lady should be.
"Not married," he said, shaking his head slowly. He was only 300 years old! There was time for that later. Much, much later.
This was going to be a long day.
"Have a sweetheart? Well, we'll make sure we get you one! Whores are handy like that. Do you have whores here? Gods, I hope so. A world without a willing whore is a sad one, don't you think?"
All Gae seemed to want to talk about was women. All Gae seemed to want to do was talk. His words ran through Tarik's ears so quickly, it took Tarik several minutes to even process what appropriate response there could be.
Did he look like a guy that gallivanted around with women hanging off of his shoulders? No. At least he liked to think that he didn't come off that way. He had better things to do with his time, like drowsing out in the hot desert sun.
At this thought, he looked to the clear sky wistfully. Such a great day to be doing just that.
"I don't think so," he finally said, several seconds after the question had been asked.
Gae blinked, then laughed loudly, "Aren't you a funny one! How can you want to live without whores? Though, I suppose you get lots of women wanting you, good looking boy like you." Gae really wasn't paying much attention to the place they entered, "Careful though, you know a nice girl up and next thing you know, you'll be married."
Having only known him for a few minutes, Tarik was nevertheless growing used to what words would come out of Gae's mouth, so that when he brought up the mention of Tarik being good-looking and the probability of being married, Tarik merely continued to frown his contemplative frown.
The bar they entered was one of the smaller ones in the city, boasting only a few chairs and tables and one counter the length of two men lying down. It smelled of sand and wet wood, a smell not very pleasing to Tarik's nose, but not as terrible as some places.
He'd never been here himself, only seeing men come and go from its doors when he passed it on his way home from the desert in the evenings. Today there were but two men, and about four women whom were scantily clad and made Tarik blush and avert his eyes. This was the last place he ever wanted to be on a nice, hot day.
"'Cha want?" the bartender asked from his place behind the bar counter, leaning casually forward and looking to Gae, who he apparently recognized as the one who would be spending the most money.
"Well, what do you suggest? My friend here is showing me around. What do you like Tarik?" Gae wasn't paying much attention, far more interested in the scantily glad men and women. They were a lovely sight and one he planed on enjoying.
Tarik wanted to say, "Nothing," but refrained from it. It was a silly answer. He just didn't want to be here, to be inside, to be social. Gae belonged in a place like this, fit as comfortably in a bar as a lizard did in the sand. Tarik felt more like a fish on dry land.
"Water," he said, looking away from the bartender and fixing his gaze on the wall. Did they even serve water in bars?
He was forced to look away from his staring spot when one of the near-naked women moved into his line of sight and started to beckon. Heat ran up his face.
Then something else caught his attention. A man Tarik recognized, though he didn't know his name. One of his neighbors, sporting skin as brown as almonds and an even darker-colored beard. "Oi!" the man said, coming up to them. "Didn't think I'd ever see you in here, boy." He turned his eyes to Gae. "What're you doing with the dragon boy?"