WHEN ZAN STEPPED INTO HIS ROOM, Luxley had been busy engaged in self-amusement. He quickly buttoned up and dressed, and stood at a shaky attention, hoping his friend had seen nothing.

"Luxley! Sorry about not waiting for your call but I had to check in--" Zan began to say. Luxley could not help himself -- he lunged and hugged Zan.

"It's fine. All fine! I'm happy you're safe. I d-didn't hear from you. I tried calling you so many times. W-what," Luxley stuttered out.

Zan's face lost color when Luxley mentioned how he had tried to contact him already. "You tried? I never heard your voice. I was out-of-range or something. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you over nothing."

"I'm just relieved. When you didn't reply, I thought, 'does he want to be friends with me still?' Or things like 'was he killed.' Obviously, it was just you being busy. With the war and all," Luxley said.

"No. Super-busy. Oh, gods, what happened, the fancies which transpired. I wish I could tell you all about it. I think I have an enemy, now?" Zan said, his face emoting a range of notes in a brief time.

"But you're here for business," Luxley finished, already fishing for where he left Zan's translated note.

"Yeah. Sorry..."

"It's fine. Here it is. Your note," Luxley said, finding the note and handing it to Zan.

"Wow!" Zan said, taking hand of and looking at the note.

"It took me a long time, more than I thought to translate. Sorry about that," Luxley said, remembering how stressed he was when he spoke into the horn that day to tell Zan he would be wait on his work.

"It's all good. I was pretty busy with stuff on my end," Zan said. "We had time to spare. I can't read, so I will assume this is a list of locations I can easily get to in my homeland. You don't know my homeland, so I guess you wouldn't know, either. Look at us. A pair of fools."

"Speak for yourself, Luxley is no fool!" Luxley told Zan in good cheer.

Looking around the room, Zan then asked Luxley, "Hey, why is your room so sparse? It used to have a lot more stuff..."

"Yeah. Well, spring cleaning time. But also, I am moving out," Luxley said.

"Stop the cart! You should have led with that, bro! What, when?!" Zan said, excited in a way Luxley had not seen before.

"It is for schooling. Essentially... I am going to travel and study under some techy-mag engineers. To work on my boards. These things," Luxley told Zan, pointing at the boards, their circuitry, and a pile of tiny precious gems.

Going over to his desk, Zan investigated the small pile. "It's neat. I wouldn't know the first thing to do..."

"If I sat you down and made you study -- after teaching you how to read -- you would know what to do. You seem the tenacious type," Luxley said.

"You think? Yeah. I guess I am," Zan replied.

"How is this study going to affect us seeing each other?" Zan asked.

"I don't know," Luxley replied. "But I need to do this. We'll just have to make do without each other for a while. Besides, we have the horn. I will update you more often about what's happening in my life. Then, we will make time to speak to each other in private. Where only the concerns which matter between us will factor."

"Sounds good to me," Zan said. "Shall we begin that policy now? I have a few minutes to spare..."

"I never have enough time. So, I will take your spare moments and add them to my deficit. Let's sit a spell and chat."

Looking confused, Luxley explained to Zan how what he said was a 'turn-of-phrase,' and how he wanted to talk.

The boys could not catch up on everything. Zan told Luxley of his trials in the field, of the airship encounter after the battle at the villa, of Mentality, and his strange discoveries in the Wizard Tower. Luxley listened with rapt attention. Exploits such as Zan's filled his head with wonder. There was a part of Luxley which hoped his own adventures would be as eventful. He was so tired of the palace life. He wanted something real.

"And what about you?" Zan asked, once his war stories ended.

"Me? I'm moving out soon. As I said... but it all feels like air next to you. I didn't do anything, really. I kept to my studies with my tutors and made good with them. I placed words in my father's well-to-do places. And now? I am finishing my packing. Below us in the castle courtyard my father's men are busy attending the wagons which will form my convoy. My first tutor expects me in a fortnight," Luxley explained.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

For a while, Zan was contemplative. "Must be nice," he said.

"It's boring. Compared to war? Very quiet. You're have too much quiet one day, Zan. I know it."

"I hope so... I would like to spend all night with you puffing and having a good time. I should be getting this list back to my guys, though. I should leave, for sure," Zan said, already on his way back to the bed-portal.

Stopping him before he stepped through, Luxley said, grabbing Zan by the arm, "Stay just a bit longer. I need someone."

Zan turned to look at Luxley. "Okay. I'll stay. For a bit! What did you have in mind?"

Using the secret passages within the castle walls, Luxley and Zan sidestepped every servant and butler. "I don't like using these tunnels, normally, but with so many servants about, it is the only way to move unseen. I don't want to ask questions about why my Humanities tutor is skulking around when my father is heck-bent on me learning the hard sciences."

"Would he go as far to ban me from the grounds?" Zan asked, moving a cobweb out from his way.

"No... it's just easier for me, is all. I don't mind confrontation, but it gets old, fast. Things are fragile, here," Luxley explained while leading the way to a hidden cache.

The duo came upon a part of the passageway not used for a long time. It was an intersection leading toward several directions with passages overclocked with distressingly large spiders. Luxley ignored the spiders, though felt as though Zan disliked their presence, so he took care to ensure the integrity of his personal space.

"My cache is just under here," Luxley said. He loosened a stone tile and pulled from a hollowed-out space a tiny sack.

"What's in the sack?" Zan asked.

"You'll find out soon enough. Follow me. I'll move the spider webs out of the way for you," Luxley said.

Zan followed Luxley to a part of the castle away from the regular castle. Luxley pressed a stone at another intersection. With a rumble, part of the wall made a clicking sound. Luxley carefully pried at the wall, unlatching and pulling free a segment of heavy stone Zan helped him move.

Luxley stepped through a small passage barely large enough for their still-maturing bodies. Zan followed with a couple stumbles to his record as he clambered through the opening. "Where are we?" Zan asked as they entered a room without a door.

"We are in my favorite spot. My fort," Luxley said.

Unlike the rest of the back passageways, Luxley's Fort was a world its own. Heavily decorated with banners, pennants, and furniture, the enclosed space was like a splotch of color on a pure dark canvass.

"I always wanted to take my friends here and just hang out. Now that I'm leaving, I won't be able to. Not like it matters since I don't have any friends..." Luxley said, settling into his oversized chair and covering himself with a blanket to help with the draft.

"Hard to believe you don't have any friends," Zan said, looking around the enclosed mini world.

"Hand me that silver tray, please. Thank you. But yeah, it's the truth. I wasn't allowed to socialize with the local kids," Luxley said, as he emptied the little bag into the silver tray.

Zan watched as flower buds clanged down onto the tray. Luxley got to work grinding the flower and building their roll-ups. Luxley passed Zan his clove-wrapped Medy-Em and said, "Smoke up. It's great!"

Smiling, Zan set the blunted cigar into his mouth. Seeing him look for a lighter, Luxley got up and crossed the distance in a heartbeat. "Sorry! Allow me, please," Luxley said as he removed the blunt-headed cigar and pressed it lightly against his own lips. Touching two fingers to the cigar's end, Zan watched as a spark shot off, followed by the end lighting. Luxley took a drag, exhaled, and said, "Oh, yeah -- so good!"

For a while, the two friends smoked. Silence prevailed as the crackle of burning paper met the incineration of a holy plant; exhaling followed; then the coughing.

Finishing his smokable before Luxley, Zan looked to Luxley truly content. Though he did not expect Luxley to be so accommodating, once Zan's first finished, Luxley made for him another. "Thanks, bro!" Zan said, already puffing away.

"What's that?" Zan asked. Luxley heard the sound, too. "Wind chimes? Or faded music. I could never tell. I don't know where from where in the castle it comes from, but I've often shared my space with the sound as I sit here late in the night. It's beautiful, don't you agree?"

Nodding, Zan's grin turned dopey looking as he cracked up and started to giggle. "Are you looking forward to getting away from your father?" Zan suddenly asked.

Not expecting the abrupt and serious question considering Zan's state, Luxley told Zan the truth -- "Yeah. I hate it here. I can't wait to leave."

"I think it's fine," Zan whispered, mostly as a joke.

"You only say that because I'm here..." Luxley said.

"Yeah, so?"

Luxley swooned. For there was no other word for how his friendship fluttered when Zan so effortlessly confirmed how much he liked him. Never having friends until now, Luxley found the feeling which now bloomed in his heart to be wonderful. His hairs stood up.

"Let's get you back home," Luxley said to Zan.

"Won't your father be upset with you for smoking during the day?" Zan asked while they re-traced their steps to Luxley's room.

"Nah. Not since I resumed my techy-mag studies. Now, as long as my tutors give him good reports and I continue to show an interest, he looks the other way no matter what I do. I could probably get him to fire Miss Maggie Weathers if I asked him to!" Luxley said, laughing more hysterically than made sense.

"That's kewl... will you, though?" Zan asked as he crossed through and back into the bedroom.

"No. I figure I won't. That might rock the boat too much. I like smooth waves."

Luxley hugged Zan once more in a brotherly way. "As I said, I will be on the horn more. We will keep each other updated, right? Right. Good. Be careful out there, Zan. I've overheard some bad things from military folk. Things are heating up in ways I don't understand."

"Is the war going bad?" Zan said, likely with hope.

"I have no idea. I've overheard talk of grand constructions and the need for haste. People seemed worked up, but I don't know over what, much less why. It's the best I can do for you for the time being. If I hear anything else, I will let you know, okay?" Luxley said, truly wishing he could have done more for his friend than merely sharing some Medy-Em, giving him a translated list, and giving him a nice pat on the back.

"I'll look forward to it!" and in a flash, Zan vanished into thin air as the hidden portal above Luxley's bed whisked him away to parts unknown.