Content warning: Some profanity

The rocks in the arena began to vibrate loudly again.  The King of the Mountain and the Queen of the Trees joined hands.  A glowing circle formed around them.  Similar glowing circles formed under each successive ring of rocks going outward, like an illuminated ripple radiating through a pond.

“Ooh…I wonder what they’re doing,” Murat whispered.

Walls of light shot upward from each concentric circle, reaching toward the sky.  Clouds swirled around the illuminated columns.  Murat and Ulanbek stared wide-eyed and mouths agape.  The light eventually dimmed and burst into thousands of specks that rained back down on the arena.  The pebbles, stones, and boulders all vibrated again.

The King of the Mountain opened his mouth and began to speak, if it could be called speech.  It sounded like a cacophonous landslide.  The arena shook with every utterance.  Murat nearly fell backward and Ulanbek put an arm around his waist to secure him.

The pebbles, stones, and boulders responded in kind and vibrated even more intensely.  Some of them even bounced off of each other.  It was an interesting call and response between the King of the Mountain and the concentric rings of rocks.  While this was going on, the Queen of the Trees dug her roots deeper into the ground and made more flowers bloom in her hair.  Murat and Ulanbek continued to observe all this, mesmerized.  Suddenly the boulders that they were hiding behind began to turn in place. The gaps between the boulders widened until Murat and Ulanbek were no longer concealed from the ceremony going on down below.  The King of the Mountain and the Queen of the Trees looked up at them.

“Shit,” Ulanbek uttered.  He grabbed Murat’s arm.  “Let’s go!”

They ran down the dirt path going downhill.  A trail of rocks bounced after them.  Ulanbek pulled Murat’s arm and led him into the thicket.  They continued to run through the dense vegetation, branches snapping against their arms and legs.  Murat struggled to keep up with Ulanbek.  His heart was pounding, his breaths were ragged, and his legs were beginning to cramp.

“Ulanbek…” he breathed.  “I can’t keep running…”

Ulanbek paused, turned around, and hoisted Murat over his shoulder.  Murat gasped and blushed.  Ulanbek continued running through the forest.

***

Through some navigational ability that Murat could not even fathom, Ulanbek eventually found their way back to the cave.  Ulanbek’s horse was still there at the entrance, munching away at wild plants like it did not have a care in the world.  Once they entered the cave, Ulanbek set Murat down gently.  Then he collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.  His hair was damp and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.

“Gods, are you all right?” Murat asked.  “I didn’t mean for you to have to carry me all the way back here.”

Ulanbek exhaled in short bursts.  Eventually, his breathing slowed down.  “It’s okay.  You said you couldn’t keep running right?”

“Yes, but…I feel really bad that you had to do that.  Did it feel heavy?”

“Not at all.”

Murat’s eyes widened and his face flushed.  “You really are super strong, aren’t you?”

Ulanbek smiled.  “I guess all that harsh training counted for something.”

“Is there anything I can do for you right now?  Do you want something to eat?”

“Yeah, that would be good.”

Murat walked over to the stash of dried meat and brought back a few strips.  He handed some to Ulanbek.  Ulanbek chewed on them for a while before speaking again.

“I guess…we really should just lay low for the rest of the day…” he said between bites.  “Sorry…my curiosity put us in danger…”

Murat shook his head.  “We didn’t actually get hurt this time…or at least, not by the rocks chasing after us.  It was interesting seeing all that though.  I do wonder what they were saying to each other.”

“Guess we’ll never know.  Even if we stayed longer, it wouldn’t have made any more sense.”

“I hope they’re not planning to do anything destructive.”

“Dunno.  The forest is their home, so they have every right to defend it.”  Ulanbek’s eyes began to droop.  “I think…I might rest a bit right now.  Wake me up if anything happens.”  He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

***

When Ulanbek awoke again, it was early evening.  He saw Murat grinding plant material with a rock.

“Hey,” Ulanbek uttered.

“Hey,” Murat replied.  “I’m making another poultice, in case you have muscle soreness from all that running.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do.  You must be really worn out since you were asleep for hours.” 

Ulanbek chuckled.  “I usually don’t sleep in the middle of the day like that.  Must be fatigue from the ongoing recovery from the wolf battle.”  He looked over at Murat.  “What were you up to while I was out?  Besides what you’re doing right now.”

“Not much.  Just gathered more plants, both for eating and for healing purposes.  Do you want any more food?  I guess it’s about time for dinner now.”

Ulanbek smiled.  “Yeah, sure.  I can get it.”  He stood up and walked over to the stash of food.  “The supplies are starting to dwindle.  I’ll go hunt for some more tomorrow.”  He gathered up some dried meat, walked back to Murat, and handed him some.  They ate their dinner in relative silence.

After their meal was over, Murat offered Ulanbek some of the poultice.  Ulanbek rolled up the legs of his trousers and applied the green concoction to his sore muscles.  He sighed as the numbness started to take over.

“So earlier,” Murat began.  Ulanbek looked up.  “So earlier, you were talking about your folklore and you said the women in your stories can wrestle?”

Ulanbek smiled.  “Yeah, they’re tough.  In fact, there’s actually this one legend - it doesn’t originate from my tribe, but it got passed on through word of mouth between the different tribes on the steppes - about a princess who challenged every suitor to a wrestling match.  If she won, her suitor would have to forfeit his horses to her.”

Murat looked at him with his mouth agape.  “That’s wild…”

“Yep, and she kept winning match after match and amassed a lot of horses.  There was one particular suitor who was very confident.  He wagered a thousand horses.”

“What?  How does someone even have a thousand horses?”

“I don’t know.  He was probably someone very important.  On the steppes, the more horses you have, the wealthier you are.”

“So what happened?”

“They wrestled from noontime to the setting of the sun.”

Murat gave him a funny look.  “No way someone can wrestle for that many hours.”

“Yep, legends are fun like that.”

“So who won?”

“In the end, the princess threw the suitor to the ground and was declared the winner.  And she took his thousand horses.”

“Did she ever end up getting married?”

“Nope.  But she sure had a lot of horses.”

“Wow, that’s so different from anything I’ve ever heard before.  It’s like the opposite of how men and women are portrayed in my culture’s folklore.”

“Yeah, it might be something unique to the steppes, since it’s hard to survive if you’re not physically strong.  When I joined the Saradeyans and lived in Yizamir, I noticed that men and women had very defined roles.  Might be more similar to how you were brought up.”

“I honestly don’t think I’d survive in your culture.” Murat sighed.  “I’m already considered weak in my village.  If I had to wrestle someone to be able to propose to her, I’d be a hopeless bachelor for life.”

Ulanbek laughed.  “Well, it’s just a legend.  We don’t actually have to wrestle someone to ask for their hand in marriage.  Usually, the two families just talk it over and come to an agreement.”

“Ah, then it’s similar to how we do it.”  He looked over Ulanbek.  “Hey…”

“Yep?”

“You said before that you can’t actually marry before your fourth decade because of your military service.”

“Correct.”

“Do you have any plans on how you’re going to settle down?”

Ulanbek looked toward the ceiling of the cave.  “No, I haven’t thought that far.  Just focusing on day-to-day survival.  Also, that promised plot of land is looking a lot less enticing now.”  He gazed at Murat.  “And you?  Although…I know you’re still in mourning and it’s probably too soon to ask.”

“Um…” Murat looked downward.  He drew his knees up to his chest.  “I don’t know.  I don’t think I could find anyone else.  Who’d want to be with me anyway?”

Ulanbek winced.  “That’s…rather harsh.”

“But it’s true.  I don’t really have anything to offer.”

“You’d be a good healer.”

“Thanks.  But I don’t know if that’s enough, or if anyone would value that.”

“I think it’s pretty valuable.”

Murat glanced up at him.  Ulanbek looked back at him solemnly.  “I guess it is, if you say so.”

***

The chilly night air crept into the cave and Murat shivered.

“Hey, you okay?” Ulanbek asked.

“Yeah, it’s just getting to be that time of night when it gets really cold,” Murat said as he wrapped his arms around himself.

Ulanbek took off his red outer robe.  “Do you want to share this again?”

Murat looked at him.  “Oh sure, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

Ulanbek wrapped the robe around both of them and pulled Murat closer.  Murat’s breath hitched and tingles ran through his limbs.

“Is this okay?” Ulanbek asked.

“Yes,” Murat murmured.  He leaned against Ulanbek's chest.  The warmth was pleasant and he could feel Ulanbek’s heartbeats through his shirt.  He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.  “Were you and Luka like this?”

Ulanbek wrapped his arms around Murat even more.  “Well, for most of the two years we lived together, I just stared at him a lot.  Sometimes he’d stare back.  And smile.”

“Oh?  Did you ever tell him how you felt?”

“Only on the last day.”  Murat looked up at him.  “The night before we were supposed to move out of the host family’s house and get deployed to our respective places, we finally…expressed how we felt towards each other.”

Murat’s face flushed.  “Oh…did you two…kiss?”

Ulanbek’s eyes widened.

“Sorry,” Murat said, turning his head to the side.  “I’m asking too many questions again…”

Ulanbek smiled.  “No, it’s all right.  Ask away.  Yes, we did.  It was my first.”

“Oh…I’ve never actually kissed anyone before.  I was going to wait until I married Nadya…”  Murat looked up at him again.  “Do you think…nevermind…”

“Hm?  What did you want to ask?”

“Um…I was just curious what it was like.”

“Oh…”  Ulanbek gazed at him softly.  “Did you want me to just tell you or…”

“Could you…show me?” Murat asked, blushing.  Ulanbek raised an eyebrow.  “Um, only if you want to, of course.  If you don’t want to, that’s fine…”

Ulanbek smiled.  “I’d like to.”  He put his hand on Murat’s cheek and gently turned his head so that they were facing each other.  He leaned in closer.  “Is this okay?  Let me know at any time if you don’t want to continue.”

“This is okay.”

Ulanbek leaned in and brushed his lips gently against Murat’s.  Murat’s breath hitched.  Ulanbek leaned back slightly.  “Still okay?”

“Mm-hmm, yes.”

Ulanbek pulled Murat in closer and kissed him deeply.  Murat felt like lightning was coursing through his veins.  He melted into Ulanbek’s chest and wrapped his arms around his back.  Ulanbek ran his fingers through Murat’s hair.  They finally pulled apart to catch their breaths.  Ulanbek gazed into Murat’s eyes.  For the past several days, he’d occasionally seen Luka’s face superimposed on Murat’s.  But now he was only seeing Murat.  He began to lean in again.

“My goodness!” a voice suddenly said.  “I leave you two alone for just a day, and you’re already up to this!”

Ulanbek and Murat both froze.  They slowly turned their heads toward the direction of the intruding voice.

A lone figure stood near the entrance of the cave.  He was wearing a white chokha, a sheathed qama dagger strapped to his belt, and soft leather boots.  His short hair and eyes were both pale.  Murat’s eyes widened and the blood drained out of his face.

“Beslan?”