Two years. It had been two years since Sidus had last visited the onyx palace, where his parents and foster brother had lived. Two years of the customary isolation of conservatory studies since he had opened this door. Two years since he had seen the familiar face inside framed by the room's heavy black and silver opulence.

The face was familiar, but the boy looking at him with curiosity and then an arched brow was not his foster brother, Daedalus. And thank the Eternal Radiance, because that would be horribly awkward.

"May I come in, Basilicus?" he asked, arching his brows right back at the other boy.

Domi's lips quirked. "If I say no, you'll just flop down on my bed anyway, so just come in."

Smirking, Sidus did just that. He closed the door behind him with a firm push, hearing the satisfying click. Alone. At last. "Sounds like someone wants me on his bed," he teased, grinning as Domi's face darkened and light flashed in the sky outside. "Maybe even in your bed?"

"Do you want me to burn the world down?" the handsome boy asked. It was adorable how even the tips of his ears were flushing.

Sidus chuckled. "Tempting though it is to try to make you burn so hot for me that becomes a risk--" At that, Domi rolled his eyes. "--I want to talk to you about something different but related."

The other boy scrubbed one hand at his cheek as though that would wipe the blush away. "R-related?"

Sidus nodded. He sank down on the edge of the bed, meeting Domi's eyes with a steady gaze as he leaned back against his hands. He could not help but notice the quick flick of brown eyes up and down his torso and away. "I've told you before that I'm betrothed and Promethidae take lovers."

Outside, the Trellis sent a flood of warm golden light across the land. Sidus found his eyes darting to it as his heart leaped into his throat.

"Oh, like where this is going, do we?" he teased, grinning up at the other boy and hoping it didn't look too strained. He felt like he was playing with fire--something far worse than fire--but he shook off the nerves. Domi was pulling off Brightening, Dimming, and the rains now. He had stopped a storm just a little while ago. Peritia and Bellus had left as fast as they'd arrived. He was getting better.

"You enjoy this too much," Domi groaned. The Trellis was resuming its steady glow, though perhaps a touch brighter than usual. The eager curiosity in the Princeps's eyes mirrored the lattice. "And yeah--I mean yes," he grumbled, correcting himself, "I remember you saying that the other day."

Sidus frowned. The other day? He thought back and blinked. Eyes devour, it really had been only two weeks ago that they'd talked about this.The whole world had turned upside down in so short a time.

"W-well," he said, shaking his head to banish the shock, "I also said that I had to talk to my betrothed. And I did. And she said yes."

His heart thudded in his chest as he waited for the other boy's response. He'd never been turned down before. He'd never asked anyone something like this before.

For a moment Domi just stared at him. And then the Trellis fluctuated through several different colors. "I'm sorry," the other boy squeaked. "Are you saying your future wife told you it's alright to bed me?"

Sidus glanced at the window again, his heart pounding in his chest now, and not with excitement and nervousness. Eternal Radiance, had the Trellis just flashed green? Maybe this wasn't the best idea right now.

He cleared his throat. "Um, well, yes. If we wanted to, one day. Not right now though. We can't until you can, ah, control the Trellis better." He blushed. "And I am not ready for that much yet. But courting? We can do that."

Domi smiled at him, backlit by the flaming green, oblivious to it with his back to the window. "You're nervous too," he pointed out, voice shy.

Sidus wasn't about to admit he was more nervous just now about the Trellis malfunctioning than he was about their conversation. "A little," he said and flicked a glance at the window, nodding. "But maybe you should..."

Domi spun and hissed a curse that would have scandalized Comitas. "How do I--"

The Trellis burned brighter, painful enough Sidus had to shield his eyes. This was not going well at all.

"You know how to practice your breathing, right?" Sidus urged, peeking carefully at the other boy as the searing light faded. Domi gave a shaky nod. "Do that. Calm yourself."

It took a few minutes, but soon Domi managed to get the sky under control. Drawing one more deep breath, he opened his eyes and peered up at Sidus with uncertainty from the breathing rug stretched before his enormous bed.

Sidus offered a wry smile. "Clearly there will be no bedding in our future," he joked. "It's going to have to be chastity for us forever, I'm afraid, or we really are going to burn the world down."

To his dismay, instead of laughing Domi just stared at him for several seconds and then burst into tears.

<>

Grumbling under his breath, Valens walked with long strides through the onyx palace's royal wing. He glanced once more at the windows lining the corridor. At least the Trellis was returning to its normal color, but now rain was pouring.

He dreaded to think what the bizarre blue-green and yellow lightshow Domi had just put on meant. Peritia had taken one look out the window, gaped, and flushed, then asked him to deal with it.

Two Electi waited at the door, looking uncomfortable as rain thundered on the skylights above. Valens ignored them and strode into the royal chamber. And stared.

He hadn't known what to expect, but this wasn't it. Domi sat cross-legged atop the breathing rug in the middle of his room, sobbing like Valens had just struck his puppy with lightning. A fretful Sidus hovered over him, eyes darting back and forth between the crying Princeps and the window.

"What's wrong, Alumna?" Valens asked, discomfort biting deep. What the hell was he supposed to do about tears? Where was Arbita? He glared at Sidus as Domi only hiccuped uselessly.

"I don't know, Aedilis," the older boy said. "We were talking and then he started crying and he won't stop. The rain--"

"A little rain won't hurt anyone. What were you talking about?"

Sidus's face darkened and the boy avoided his eyes. "I was just, um, teasing him a little."

At that, Domi sobbed harder, shaking his head furiously at Sidus with pleading eyes.

Valens frowned. Had the starholder said something cruel? "About what?" He glanced down at his alumna. "Domi--"

"Leave me alone," the kid hiccuped. He looked like bruised fruit when he cried; not his best look.

Valens sighed and turned his attention back to the other boy. "Sidus, you'd better tell me." The youth hesitated and he fixed him with a narrow-eyed glare. "Now."

"I was just joking with him a bit," the starholder finally said, shifting from foot to foot. "Talking with him about... things. It kind of made the Trellis react." Valens greeted that pathetic explanation with the unimpressed look he usually used on his alumna to encourage the boy to try harder. It worked on Sidus as well. "I was just joking, but I said that if we ever, erm, you know... then the Trellis..." His cheeks were darkening more with every word. "Um..."

Understanding rose, and with it exasperation as he caught an inkling of his student's dismay. Eternal Radiance, the kid wasn't upset over that, was he? He was only fifteen! "Oh for--" He shook his head. "Domi, I don't have the time or patience for this. Just tell me what you're upset about."

The kid hid his face in his hands. "I-I can n-never--"

"Never what? Bed Sidus?" That had better not be it.

"B-Bed anyone. Will be alone."

Eternal Radiance, that was exactly what the drama was about.

Valens closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then, without opening them, he said, "Tell me. Where do you think little Princeps Worldholders come from, Alumna?"

Silence. A sniffle.

"The Eternal Radiance doesn't drop them on your doorstep, you idiot." He opened his eyes and glared at the boy. "You're the twenty-fifth Princeps Worldholder. If your ancestors figured out how to have sex without ending the world, so can you." He could not believe he was having to explain this.

Domi peeked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said flatly. Why did he get stuck with all the awkward conversations? "Very sure." He glanced from one boy to the other, grimacing. "Just please, don't try anything yet. You're too young still, Domi, and Sidus, he needs to have a firm grip on the Trellis before..." He cleared his throat.

The older boy smirked. "Before I get a firm grip on--"

"Don't even say it," Valens interrupted.

Yes, a six-year-old alumna would be better than a fifteen-year-old one by far. This kid was going to be the death of him.

"Get rid of the rain," he grumbled, feeling weary.