At first Aarik did not suspect anything unusual when he found himself alone in the large bed. Sitting up and muttering about Rowan's annoyingly cheerful morning demeanor, he looked around the room for the man in question. Not seeing him in the main room, Aarik assumed he was in the bathing chamber. Smiling, he padded silently to the bathing pool, intending to surprise his lover. However the bathing chamber was empty as well. A deep crease formed between his brows as Aarik frowned and wondered what became of Rowan. Rowan could not leave the chamber without him.... he would not dare to, now that they lost the chain and collar in that desert room. ...

It was then that Aarik noticed something different about the room.. it was messy. The clothing and towels they had left strewn about the floor were still lying where they had been discarded. This was definitely not a good sign. Rowan was always very fastidious about cleaning up the room for them in the mornings. In the past few days, a pattern had been established between Aarik and Rowan. After a wonderful night of lovemaking, Rowan always woke up first and would clean up the room and greet the servants who brought breakfast. Aarik had told Rowan this was not necessary, as his friend, he did not need to perform these slave duties. However Rowan had insisted, claiming that he was not used to living in a pig sty. He always folded up all their clothes and gathered up whatever else they had left lying around.

The fact that the room was messy this morning worried Aarik very much. Quickly he splashed his face with some water and ran his hands through his hair before pulling on his black silk pants. He had to find Rowan. Perhaps the palace staff had taken him somewhere. Aarik had firsthand knowledge of how difficult it could be to resist the urgings of the stubborn staff members.

Making sure he had the key safely tucked away, Aarik ventured out into the hallway and traveled in the same direction he and Rowan had followed days before. This time Aarik walked past the desertscape and continued past scores of other miniature fantasy environments. He knew where he was going now. Aarik would check with the Palace staff he had been with the other day. After traversing a twisting and turning route through the many passageways in the palace, Aarik reached the place he had been pampered in before. Staff members scurried about busily, taking care of the needs of the guests already there. Aarik reached out and grabbed the first staff member he could find, a blond boy that stood as tall as Aarik's chest. The boy looked at him questioningly when Aarik told him his situation.

With great efficiency, the boy led Aarik through some more hallways until they found a large lobby and front desk. Aarik vaguely remembered passing by here on his way into the palace. The boy left Aarik in the hands of a burly, but somewhat jovial looking fellow who informed him in a blunt manner that due to unusual circumstances concerning that particular slave, he had been removed from Palace grounds to a location they were not at liberty to disclose, even to a master.

At these words, Aarik's world came grinding to a halt.

::Rowan's Gone?! Why? How?:: Hundreds of questions hovered on Aarik's lips but were bitten back at the obstinate look in the burly man's eyes. Pain rocked through Aarik's body, and he felt as if someone had just wrenched out his gut. Slowly, Aarik returned to the room. The moment he stepped across the threshold, memories of their passionate days filled his mind. Everything about the room reminded him of Rowan. Aarik sat down on the edge of the bed and stared down at the imprint of Rowan's lithe body that still pressed into the sheets.

::Where had they taken Rowan! Why?!:: The questions ran circles in his head, making him feel dizzy and ill. He missed Rowan already. He had not realized how much Rowan had brightened his life in such a short time. Aarik wondered how long it has been since they took Rowan away, and why Rowan didn't bother to say good-bye. This sudden loss left Aarik feeling vulnerable. He did not like that.

Aarik sighed and lay down on the bed, next to the rumpled spot where Rowan had lain the night before. He wondered what is former slave was doing right now.

Tahnsa tossed and turned on the bed, beads of perspiration forming on his brow and running town the sides of his face.

::::.....Tahnsa moaned in ecstasy as Aarik pressed himself inside his body, slowly forcing his way around the tight ring of muscle until he slid inside effortlessly. Tahnsa moaned and clutched the sheets, his face and chest pressed into some pillows as Aarik leaned over him. Aarik was moving slowly, building up a hot friction where their bodies joined. Aarik leaned over Tahnsa's back and reached one arm around to Tahnsa's shaft and began to pump it in time with his own thrusts. All Tahnsa could do was ride the rush of sensation. Aarik's face was buried in the hair at Tahnsa's nape, his hot breath tickling the fine hairs and cooling the slick skin there. Thrust, thrust, thrust, it was a wild rhythm that Aarik set, and Tahnsa could feel his heartbeat struggle to keep in time with the pace.

His eyes shut, Tahnsa could see bright flashes of color behind his lids, swirling and intertwining with each other, mimicking the mingling of his spirit with Aarik's as they moved in time with each other. With each hard thrust, Tahnsa pushed himself back on Aarik's cock, trying to force Aarik to bury himself deeper. The amazingly stretched and full feeling set every nerve in Tahnsa's body on fire. The thrusts came faster now, and Aarik's hand on Tahnsa's rock solid manhood clenched and stroked with an equally fast pace. Tahnsa felt himself ready to explode. Aarik was close to coming as well. He growled savagely and bit Tahnsa's shoulder as he made one final thrust, emptying his essence into Tahnsa.

Tahnsa felt his body heave and buck and clench Aarik's pulsating member, draining every drop from him. Moments later, Tahnsa tensed and his own body began to jerk as his cock swelled and then released its creamy fluid onto the sheets. Aarik, breathing hard, slowly lowered his spent body onto Tahnsa's and they both fell to the sheets in exhausted completion.......::::::

Tahnsa's eyes snapped open and confusion clouded his mind as he tried to come to grips with where he was. Instinctively, he reached for Aarik, only to find himself in a cold, empty bed. Tahnsa closed his eyes again and tried to calm the frantic pace of his breathing. ::You're not with Aarik anymore, remember? You're in the Emperor's Chambers...:: That dream was so real, so wonderful... Tahnsa squeezed his eyes shut tight and rolled onto his side. He brought his knees up and hugged them to his body, assuming a fetal position. ::You're all alone again...::: He began to shiver in the dark.

Finally the day came when Aarik's stay at the Palace came to an end.

Aarik found himself almost looking forward to returning to slavery. He had received word of his new assignment, and was surprised to find that it was a higher ranking duty than he'd had before. ::With this new master I will be getting, my lies to Rowan will almost turned into truths...:::

The despair he'd felt over the last couple of weeks without Rowan was eating him alive. He'd had too much time to sit and replay events over and over in his mind. ::I need something to get me out of this rut.. I must try to forget him... surely this new duty will help me forget...::

The words sounded hollow even in his own thoughts.

On the morning of his departure, Aarik took one last look at the room that had become so important to him. It looked just the same as when he had first entered it. The ever-present scent of Vanilla would always remind him or Rowan....of their days spent playing and talking, of the nights spent loving each other. Aarik could hear the gentle tinkle of bells that signaled the impending arrival of the servants who would lead him away form the Palace and to his new assignment.

Aarik studied the room intently, burning every detail of it into his mind. Just then, Aarik noticed something he had previously overlooked. It was a corner of paper sticking out from a cabinet drawer at the dressing stand. Aarik opened the drawer and pulled loose the paper and carefully unfolded it. What he saw took his breath away. It was a drawing of himself. He was laying asleep on the bed on his back, with a sheet pooled around his waist. Aarik studied the picture closely. The attention to detail was amazing, and he could almost sense the outpouring of love that must have been there to prompt one to spend so much care with the picture. It was an exact likeness. Aarik felt almost like he was looking into a mirror. Aarik pondered for a moment where the picture might have come from, and was suddenly reminded of Rowan, of their first morning together in the room, the morning after their misunderstanding and before their first night together.

::When I woke up, I remember now, Rowan had been drawing something. But I was too busy thinking of my own hunger and trying to forget the night before... Rowan drew this?:: Aarik realized that Rowan must have felt strongly about him even before they gave into their attraction. ::But he told me he wasn't interested in men.. Why would he draw this?:: Aarik flipped the paper over and saw several rough sketches of what he identified as being his eyes. It was an eerie feeling, looking into his own eyes rendered so accurately. ::But how could he have drawn this, I was asleep...:: The sound of the bells was louder now, and Aarik knew they would be here any second to take him away. Carefully he folded the paper up and tucked it into his sash. Then he walked over to the bed, picked up his armor, and waited for them to arrive.

The Emperor's court noticed something different about their ruler since his return from his mysterious vacation. Wherever he had been, Emperor Tahnsa had returned a changed man. He seemed very solemn and sad. He deftly performed his official duties and would then dismiss his servants and stay alone in his chambers for a very long time. Some of the gossip among Tahnsa's female attendants claimed that the Emperor was engrossed in some sort of obsessive art project because he was always drawing. Whenever they intruded on his solitude to deliver food or drink, they would find their Emperor curled up on his bed or near the fireplace, sketching.

Tahnsa was miserable. His voyage away from his role of Emperor had surely been a mistake because now he felt he could never be content with his lot. He missed Aarik terribly. He'd known since the first moment that he'd met his master that their time together would be short, but he had fallen for him anyway. Now the emptiness was eating at his heart. It had been the most difficult thing in the world to leave Aarik that morning. He's stood by the bed for almost two hours, watching Aarik sleep, aching to reach out to him, to say good-bye. But it had to be a clean break. A long good-bye would only make it harder on both of them. Furthermore, if he had woken up Aarik, his master would have asked where Tahnsa was going, and Tahnsa didn't have the heart to lie to Aarik again. Now his days were filled with silence. His sense of duty to his position sat heavily on his shoulders. He longed to see Aarik again.

It was torture knowing that as Emperor he could easily hunt down Aarik, bring him here, and be with him again. But Tahnsa just couldn't do it. He'd already abused his power enough, and he had enough respect for Aarik as a man to drag him there and subject him to the stress of his revealed identity and to the switch in roles between master and servant.

Tahnsa wondered where Aarik was now, if he hated Tahnsa for leaving him without word. Tahsna could imagine Aarik's reaction to waking up alone, and sighed. He had become used to waking up in Aarik's arms during those few blissful days. His large bed seemed cold and empty without Aarik there.

::Maybe Aarik didn't care.. Maybe the Palace gave him another slave and they are off together enjoying themselves..:: That thought hurt, but it has crossed his mind more than once in the last several days since leaving Aarik. However Tahnsa did not really believe it. He knew the feelings between himself and Aarik were genuine and strong.

Aarik sighed and walked over to a window in his chamber and looked out at the palace grounds surrounding his personal wing. Tahnsa shivered with cold. He was dressed in a blue silk robe and black silk pants. His long blue hair was held back with gold clasps and then plaited into an intricate braid that now hung over one shoulder. The cold air in the room ticked the nape of Tahnsa's neck, causing him to shiver. Tahnsa closed his eyes and the image of green filled his mind's eye. Emerald green.. Green eyes... Tahnsa sucked in his breath and shook his head sharply. He forced his eyes open again.

:::Stop that! You made the right decision. Aarik would never have stayed with you if he knew you had lied to him about your true identity. The discovery of a lie hurts...:: Tahnsa thought of his own hurt after realizing that Aarik had lied to him about his past This brought Tahnsa up short for a moment. ::That's right, Aarik had lied to me too! He said he was a warrior in my army... but I know that isn't true... Then what exactly is Aarik? Where had he come from? Who was he?:: These thoughts nagged at Tahnsa's mind for a long time.

Just as Tahnsa wondered for the hundredth if he would ever see Aarik again, he did.