and pondered. I had not been called
to midday prayers. Even the afternoon eclipse had come and gone
while I lay on my bed, windows covered by thick curtains, my inner
eyelids unaffected. The only interruption had been my aide bringing
me dinner, which I ate almost without noticing.
The other seminarians trooped past my door,
tramping up the stairs for the observance of sunset. None of them
let slip so much as a thought in my direction. I sat up and
stretched, refreshed from the day of leisure. Later, after supper,
Dominic would visit me and I would ask my questions, make my
choice. I would have to tell him of Edwige’s ultimatum, let him
help me decide. It never occurred to me not to. Dominic and I were
long since one mind, if not one flesh. Perhaps Dominic could think
of a loophole, a way for us to be together while I continued my
training at La Sapienza.
Inspiration struck. Up to now, Dominic had
initiated all our visits, so that what had happened last night had
taken place “here,” at La Sapienza. Why could I not visit Dominic
instead, and be with him “there,” in Eclipsia City, away from
Edwige’s power and the prying minds of La Sapienza’s inhabitants? I
had no idea how to do this, but with a week of training under my
belt I thought it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out.
I lay on the bed and emptied my mind of
everything except Dominic. Nothing happened. I had to make my
consciousness travel and, not knowing any other way to do it, I
pictured to myself the long winding trails Edwige and I had ridden,
trying to run my thoughts along them in reverse, leaving by the
gate of La Sapienza and progressing slowly, through forests and
villages, across fields and plains, to the city. Dominic would
probably be at the ‘Graven Military Academy, so I remembered where
he had pointed it out, a section of ‘Graven Fortress, and sent my
mind along.
Somehow it worked. I could sense Dominic, was
in his mind, thinking,
My love
, with the joy that always
comes at the communion. Immediately I was seeing through Dominic’s
eyes—seeing a handsome, nervous boy of about fifteen wearing the
black-and-gray uniform of the Royal Guards—and I knew that I had
come in on Dominic with one of those cadets Edwige had warned me
about. A gifted young man, who could respond fully to Dominic’s
passion, mind and body, as I had. Even so early in our love I
understood that Dominic’s satisfaction of one desire, as with me
last night, increases his appetite for the other, as with this boy
now.
Dominic unbuttoned the boy’s tunic and shirt,
caressed and kissed him while murmuring erotic images into his
mind. By inhabiting Dominic’s consciousness I felt Dominic’s
sensations directly—his arousal at the boy’s firm young flesh, the
red lips and the tiny buds of nipples on the hairless chest, his
enjoyment of the boy’s combination of excitement and fear, his
mastery over the hair-trigger reactions of teenage sexuality.
Dominic,
vir
and sophisticated, with twenty-five years of
adult experience behind him, could initiate this boy into the
pleasures of sexual communion, as I had been last night, and I
could share in it if I wished…
I knew I must not continue with this
observation, knew that I was stimulated by Dominic’s same-sex
activity and that it was another reason for our intense communion,
but that I must not spoil things by trespassing. I tried to
withdraw, to slip out of his mind undetected, traveling back along
the trails to La Sapienza, flying now over fields still damp from
the morning’s snowfall and frost, over villages and fields,
farmhouses and barns, orchards and pastures, but Dominic caught up
with me halfway along and we hurtled through the remaining distance
at the speed of thought, landing together, in my mind, on my bed at
La Sapienza.
Dominic was laughing.
Amalie
, he
said,
you mustn’t be so frightened. It’s not as dreadful as all
that
.
But I didn’t think
, I said.
I
came in on you without warning. I
to midday prayers. Even the afternoon eclipse had come and gone
while I lay on my bed, windows covered by thick curtains, my inner
eyelids unaffected. The only interruption had been my aide bringing
me dinner, which I ate almost without noticing.
The other seminarians trooped past my door,
tramping up the stairs for the observance of sunset. None of them
let slip so much as a thought in my direction. I sat up and
stretched, refreshed from the day of leisure. Later, after supper,
Dominic would visit me and I would ask my questions, make my
choice. I would have to tell him of Edwige’s ultimatum, let him
help me decide. It never occurred to me not to. Dominic and I were
long since one mind, if not one flesh. Perhaps Dominic could think
of a loophole, a way for us to be together while I continued my
training at La Sapienza.
Inspiration struck. Up to now, Dominic had
initiated all our visits, so that what had happened last night had
taken place “here,” at La Sapienza. Why could I not visit Dominic
instead, and be with him “there,” in Eclipsia City, away from
Edwige’s power and the prying minds of La Sapienza’s inhabitants? I
had no idea how to do this, but with a week of training under my
belt I thought it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out.
I lay on the bed and emptied my mind of
everything except Dominic. Nothing happened. I had to make my
consciousness travel and, not knowing any other way to do it, I
pictured to myself the long winding trails Edwige and I had ridden,
trying to run my thoughts along them in reverse, leaving by the
gate of La Sapienza and progressing slowly, through forests and
villages, across fields and plains, to the city. Dominic would
probably be at the ‘Graven Military Academy, so I remembered where
he had pointed it out, a section of ‘Graven Fortress, and sent my
mind along.
Somehow it worked. I could sense Dominic, was
in his mind, thinking,
My love
, with the joy that always
comes at the communion. Immediately I was seeing through Dominic’s
eyes—seeing a handsome, nervous boy of about fifteen wearing the
black-and-gray uniform of the Royal Guards—and I knew that I had
come in on Dominic with one of those cadets Edwige had warned me
about. A gifted young man, who could respond fully to Dominic’s
passion, mind and body, as I had. Even so early in our love I
understood that Dominic’s satisfaction of one desire, as with me
last night, increases his appetite for the other, as with this boy
now.
Dominic unbuttoned the boy’s tunic and shirt,
caressed and kissed him while murmuring erotic images into his
mind. By inhabiting Dominic’s consciousness I felt Dominic’s
sensations directly—his arousal at the boy’s firm young flesh, the
red lips and the tiny buds of nipples on the hairless chest, his
enjoyment of the boy’s combination of excitement and fear, his
mastery over the hair-trigger reactions of teenage sexuality.
Dominic,
vir
and sophisticated, with twenty-five years of
adult experience behind him, could initiate this boy into the
pleasures of sexual communion, as I had been last night, and I
could share in it if I wished…
I knew I must not continue with this
observation, knew that I was stimulated by Dominic’s same-sex
activity and that it was another reason for our intense communion,
but that I must not spoil things by trespassing. I tried to
withdraw, to slip out of his mind undetected, traveling back along
the trails to La Sapienza, flying now over fields still damp from
the morning’s snowfall and frost, over villages and fields,
farmhouses and barns, orchards and pastures, but Dominic caught up
with me halfway along and we hurtled through the remaining distance
at the speed of thought, landing together, in my mind, on my bed at
La Sapienza.
Dominic was laughing.
Amalie
, he
said,
you mustn’t be so frightened. It’s not as dreadful as all
that
.
But I didn’t think
, I said.
I
came in on you without warning. I
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