Chapter 5

A large hand scooped up Harlow's head and pulled him from the water. He had closed his eyes and possibly fallen asleep while Lennard had been away.

He opened his eyes to see Lennard's icy blue eyes staring into his own. There was a light inside them that he had never seen before, but there was also something else, a weariness that pained him to see.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked his mentor.

"Our lazy day has just been turned into a busy one," Lennard said, ending with a low sigh. "Not the kind of busy I was hoping for either." A smile raised up one side of his face. Lennard then explained the conversation he had with the mayor as Harlow withdrew from the tub and dried the water out of his fur the best he could.

Bathing, or rather the drying off afterwards, is always a chore when a person has a fur-covered body. Lennard was one of the few people in town with a wind rune fan, which both of them stood in front of and used to dry off more quickly. The moving air helped to dry their fur much faster than any towel.

Harlow was still extremely run down, but the little nap he had caught had refreshed him enough to dry off and get dressed. He was extremely disappointed as Lennard stepped into his underclothes, but understood the necessity.

Eventually, the two were dressed and stood in front of each other. Lennard, only slightly shorter, wrapped his huge arms around Harlow and pulled him close.

"I'm sorry we couldn't be lazy the rest of the day, but such is the life of a physician," Lennard spoke, looking into Harlow's eyes. He pressed his muzzle next to Harlow's again, and they kissed passionately.

This entire situation was new to Harlow. Everything had happened so fast today, and he didn't know what to do. His hands wrapped around Lennard as best they could, but he didn't know what to do with them, so he gripped the loose skin on Lennard's sides and tried to pull himself as close as possible to his partner.

A small yelp came from Lennard as he moved his hands to intercept and withdrew from the kiss. "Claws can be nice at times, but I would prefer it if you didn't try and rip off my fat rolls. I've worked hard to build them to this size," he said with a wink. Lennard quickly moved in for one more peck.

"I, I'm sorry. I wasn't sure what to do with my hands," Harlow stammered.

A quick belly laugh from Lennard all but lifted Harlow off the floor. The large muscles underneath the layer of fat and skin jumped up with tremendous strength. "It can take some time to figure out what and where to put things, especially when you've only just gotten started," Lennard chuckled.

"I guess so," Harlow said, blushing.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you," Lennard said, wrapping his arms around Harlow and pulling him close. "We have plenty of time."

They looked at each other, but understood they would have to separate. Neither of them had started this day thinking it would be anything out of the ordinary, but now they were sad to have to go back to the humdrum of daily life.

They reluctantly separated, and Lennard led Harlow, by holding his hand, out of the house and over to the laboratory inside the clinic. The gesture meant a great deal to the younger man, and even the slight touch of Lennard's hand sent electricity through him. He wondered if this feeling was normal. ”Does everyone in love feel this tingling?” he wondered to himself.

In the laboratory, Lennard walked his apprentice through the ingredients and recipe for an elixir of vitality. "Once you have the Bolanisa flower crushed, you add the boiling mixture a small portion at a time to the pestle and use the whisk to mix the potion. If you add it too fast, it will turn brown and be useless. You want the color to remain bright blue like the Bolanisa petals," Lennard explained.

Harlow tried to listen and pay attention, but the fog over his brain made understanding and memorizing incredibly difficult. There was also the fact that he draped his arm around Lennard's back to help support himself upright. The touch was incredibly distracting.

"Here you go, Harlow. Sip slowly, it's still pretty hot." Lennard said and handed Harlow a small glass vial filled with a bright blue liquid. Steam gently rose from the unstoppered lid. "Optimally, the potion should cool and rest for at least an hour before consumption. It's only at that point you should place the stopper. But in the need of haste, a hot potion will have to do."

Harlow took the vial and brought it to his face. He sniffed the concoction, a flowery yet spicy aroma wafted up. He took one last look at his mentor, who gestured with a small up-tip of his muzzle. Without sipping, even though Lennard had just told him not to, Harlow gulped down the entire potion.

The hot fluid burned the back of his throat a little, but nothing he couldn't bear. He had grown used to ingesting hot liquids, since he rarely had time in the mornings to dally before having to run off to the clinic.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I said sip it, you crazy kid. Are you okay?" Lennard spoke as the liquid rapidly descended down Harlow's throat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It actually tastes pretty good," Harlow replied. "Kind of sweet and spicy at the same time."

Lennard shook his head, then smiled. He looked at this young man. He had worked with him for years, taken him for granted, never really saw who he was beyond a bright boy who he could mold into a fine physician. But now, as he looked into his brown eyes, he saw something more.

There was intelligence there, but beyond the surface, there was a depth. Thoughts raced through Lennard's mind of what he knew of Harlow's life. His father, Brodil, had been a great farmer and man, but after his wife and daughter passed, he had all but abandoned Harlow. Harlow had to grow up much too quickly for any kid.

He learned to feed and take care of himself, as well as deal with his father, who would be drunk for days on end. He forewent friends, working around town doing whatever he could to pay for food. He spent his free time in the library or learning from whomever would teach him, all so he could eventually amount to something useful as an adult.

For the past two years, he had shown up early each morning to assist with the clinic and help out Lennard in whatever fashion he deemed necessary. Generally, these were things that Lennard didn't care to do, like fetching water, cleaning the clinic's rooms, and monitoring the potions, some of which took hours of patience to get right. Not once had Harlow faltered or complained.

Lennard saw looking back up at him a man who had endured more than anyone should have to. He had been molded and hardened by what life had thrown at him, but he had retained a softness and caring rarely found in most people. Lennard saw in those eyes a compassion and love unlike anything he had seen before. His heart swelled with happiness because this young man was bonded to him.

These thoughts were new to Lennard. He had never before felt this way for someone. He had always been told that there was a certain feeling that overcame a person when they found their mate. It was not something Lennard had experienced in his long life. Now, as he realized the strange sensations he was experiencing must be what everyone else had told him about, he was almost happy he had not.

He had never been one for the emotional side of things. He was a physician, and his job was to help people, not to feel things for them. But now, looking into Harlow's eyes, he felt something he had never felt before. It was a feeling of warmth and belonging, of being connected to someone on a level he had never experienced before.

He knew that this was what people called love, and he was both scared and excited by it. He was scared because he didn't know what it meant or how to handle it. But he was also excited because he knew that this was something special, something that he had never experienced before.

An idea came to Lennard. "Harlow, wrap your tail in mine, would you?" he gently asked.

Without hesitation, Harlow's tail moved up and intercepted Lennard's. He wrapped his tail around the boy's and felt him do the same to his. This touching of tails was more than just a physical intimacy; it allowed for emotional empathy as well.

Lennard had done this in the past with varying results. There needed to be a closeness to the person whose tail you linked with. The closer the bond, the more the connection was established. As their tails intertwined, Lennard looked into Harlow's eyes again.

He was immediately drawn from his body, as was Harlow. Their spirits merged into one. The room around them fell away and was replaced by a vortex of swirling images and colors. They mentally perceived scenes of mysterious vistas passing by. They saw images of themselves from each other's perspectives. They beheld a myriad of different places and people who joined the barrage of images swirling around them.

They saw daylight and dark skies, reflections of their friends and strangers as well. They witnessed a multitude of faces of different species, strange clothing, and creatures only known in books. It was a vision of their lives, both what they had already lived as well as what they had yet to experience.

The images swirled around them at a dizzying speed. Each image seemed crystal clear, yet they saw all the images as if experiencing them in a dream. Slowly, the images blurred together and faded into the background.

A soft white light replaced the swirling images. It filled in the area around them. The light brought with it a sense of peace and fulfillment unlike anything either had felt before. It was like being cradled in a cloud.

Floating in the empty light, their spirits separated slightly. Their own identities manifested once again. The still swirling images, just beyond the sphere of light, began streaming back in and coalesced into a sphere and stopped near their midsection. A rainbow ball of energy formed. It began to stretch and condense, forming a braid of liquid energy. Then it moved and attached itself to both of them.

Like a braided cable of color and light, the bond between them glowed and strengthened. All of the images from before had become encapsulated within the glowing bond holding them together.

Slowly, they floated back into their corresponding bodies, and consciousness took over. The entire vision became foggy but the meanings remained clear. Lennard opened his eyes and watched Harlow do the same. The vision granted to them, the swirling connection between their spirits, was a Lifebond.

Neither one spoke for several moments, happy just to be close to one another. Losing themselves in each other's eyes and feeling the warmth of each other's bodies touching.

Finally, Lennard whispered, "The bonding. I assumed since I wasn't your father that it had simply turned into a sexual attraction, a need to be with me physically. I thought I chose to be with you so you could continue to become a physician. But..." He trailed off.

"It's much more than just physical," Harlow continued. "It's spiritual, bonding our lives together both physically and spiritually."

"I’ve rarely heard of this happening. It’s like something out of a fairy tail," Lennard spoke quietly.

"I didn't know there was even such a thing as The Bonding this morning, imagine how startled I am" Harlow spoke and smiled at his partner. They both lightly chuckled.

They were content to just hold each other in silence for the next few moments. They had both just experienced something magical, far beyond what either could have imagined. Questions without answers whirled through their minds.

"What does this mean for us?" Harlow finally asked.

"I don't know," Lennard replied. "But I now know that we're meant to be together. This wasn’t something we did wrong."

Harlow nodded his head and smiled. He had questioned Lennard’s motives earlier. This vision eliminated any thought of this being anything other than fate.

While neither of them wanted to move, the elixir of vitality that Harlow had ingested was kicking in, and his body became anxious with pent-up energy. His paws began to quiver and grow restless, and he lightly bounced from one to the other.

"I can tell the potion worked," Lennard said, uncoiling his tail from Harlow's. "You are literally bouncing on your paws."

"Yeah," Harlow replied. "I have so many questions, though. All I really want to do is stay here next to you." He paused for a moment and sighed. "I know we need to take care of the jobs we were given, but can we talk more later?"

"We will definitely talk more later," Lennard replied. "In fact, bring what you can back here with you. I want you to move in here with me." He winked and a huge grin crossed his face. "Besides, there is still the physical connection we need to explore as well."

An eyebrow raised over Harlow’s right eye. "Uhhh... yeah," he spoke sideways, his cheeks instantly flushing. "I'm looking forward to that too." He paused for a brief second before exhaling in frustration. "But we got to get our jobs done first, right?"

Lennard moved in and stole a kiss from the ever more fidgety young man. "Unfortunately," he said. "So go burn off some energy on your trip home. Bring back what you can, and don't forget to grab some nicer clothes for the ceremony tonight." He swatted Harlow's left butt cheeck and scooted him out the door.

"Yes sir. Be back later," Harlow said with a grin and all but ran out of the building.

"Ahh, to be young again," Lennard mumbled to himself as Harlow exited the building.