Logline

Zenneth Valgustus, an elf marked by the downfall of his lineage, embarks on a journey through realms steeped in both magic and human intrigue. Shunned by the elven hierarchy and marginalized in a society once ruled by wealth, Zenneth forges an uncharted path within the realm of technology.

Blurb

Zenneth Valgustus, an elf marked by the downfall of his lineage, embarks on a journey through realms steeped in both magic and human intrigue. Shunned by the elven hierarchy and marginalized in a society once ruled by wealth, Zenneth forges an uncharted path within the realm of technology.

Zen's life quickly and thoroughly intertwines with that of Kevyn Fuego, an amiable ex-airman and elf from another tribe. As Zenneth is propelled into the dizzying machinations of power and influence - corruption and warmongering - he confronts the essence of his being.

Amidst the chaos, Zen discovers his true self, finding solace and courage in the unwavering support of Kevyn. Through trials that challenge the very fabric of their existence, their connection deepens, offering a beacon of hope in a world teetering on the brink of turmoil. It is love, resilience, and the indomitable spirit that sees them through this tumultuous and captivating universe.

Chapter 1

"The planet does not need more 'successful people'. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds." - Dalai Lama

Zen Valgustus sat at the head of the long table at the Winding Oak, the regular tavern for his engineering team, his wine glass raised in a long-awaited and much-deserved toast to them all.

"I must admit, I have never been so happy," he began. Wide smiles burst from his coworkers' lips. "And relieved," we went on. Kara's eyes crinkled. "And satisfied in my entire life." 'All one hundred and three years of it', he did not add. It sounded long to them, but as an elf, that put him at around twenty-five in human terms. It made him old enough to be experienced in their estimation, yet young enough in the elven sense to be daring. He thought it paid off.

He wore a finely made white tunic, tied with an embroidered yellow sash the color of dandelions. His arms were adorned with white henna, contrasted by his umber skin. Soft, honey-blond hair fell past his shoulders, and a smattering of iridescent freckles crossed his cheeks and nose. He found that the freckles made him both more approachable, and gave him a mystique that set him apart. The most striking of all, however, was the gentle, imposing grace of his antlers - nut brown, and branched like Nature's crown upon his head.

"The ramp-up took its toll on all of us. The months of long hours. Marathon meetings. Code reviews. Lab testing. And finally, the launch and successful demonstration of our satellite system." Zen said the last with a gravity and gratitude that had the team cheering. If it drew the attention of the other patrons in the tavern Zen took no notice. His attention flitted to each team member as he soaked in the moment like a sponge. And as he thought of his connection to the work itself.

Machines were largely considered dead things, and elves found happiness in staying attuned to nature. But, Zen knew vividly, that electronics were natural. He controlled lightning, and by extension electricity, and he found great comfort in making such things work. A communion as surely as that of the Forest Folk that encouraged trees to grow and spread. Zen's blood zinged with high amperage and slowed with strong resistance.

"This project may have started from my findings, but I could not have succeeded alone. SwarmSat's estimable engineers, operations specialists, business managers, lawyers, accountants - I could go on - turned a prototype into something that could not fail."

Though Zen was an elf, and the Fae had their lands and interests, life led him here among humanity. He was not the only one, of course. Many elves did the same, and humans lived in the elven lands as well. Take this dinner, for example. There were around twenty people around the table, and two of them were elves, including himself. Then, there was Brian from Engineering, Rob from Operations, and Jessica from Software - and their subordinates - who made up most of the rest of the table.

"Especially Kara," Zen went on.

"As long as you recognize that," she teased, though she was pleased.

His right-hand woman was literally at his right side tonight - Kara Nenonene. He couldn't have led them without her. Where he tended to get more exacting as deadlines loomed, she always saw the people behind the work - and she justly told him when he needed to stop being an ass. Not to mention her absolute brilliance - many of the breakthroughs were hers. And her algorithms - well, Zen could go on and on. She was also his best friend.

The last few months were very rough, but the last few days stretched Zen to his limits. He survived thanks to Kara. They brought their swarm to life, got them all talking, moved them into position, and tested out their functions. It was amazing and exhausting. Exhausting in a way that made Zen wonder whether elves were made to withstand the fast pace the way that humans did - seemed to thrive on. As it was, he was sure he needed at least a month to recuperate. And he could take that time, but tonight he celebrated.

"Despite our best efforts, we nearly failed today." The group grew somber in reflection. "The sats weren't talking and were dangerously close to colliding when the operator had a burst of inspiration." Zen regarded the operator, the other elf at the table.

"I controlled sats for the military in my previous job and saw something like it before," the other elf said.

"And it saved our asses," Rob put in from beside him.

The team rebooted everything to no effect. Zen did his best to maintain his composure as he barked out troubleshooting tactics. When those failed, and as their window of opportunity grew smaller and smaller, the operator stressed the system - which is the Software equivalent of giving it a swift hard kick. And everything started working. That was it - mission success. The profound relief was palpable in the command room as the team moved on to their final procedures.

"Yes, it did," Zen agreed.

That operator - Kevyn...something. He was new and worked for Rob. Their normal operator had become very ill and had to be replaced. The new guy had the most experience and so was put in instead of the operators that have been in the company longer. It was also common knowledge that the Folk were better at working with magically enhanced technology, which this was. And it proved to be true in this case.

"Thank you, Kevyn. And thank you all," Zen finished, ending his speech.

The table burst to life with vibrant chatter, and Zen looked at Kevyn again. He was talking jovially with Rob and slapping him on the back. He was handsome, with high cheekbones and a beautiful open smile. His longish black hair was artfully messy and seemed to radiate heat with an undertone of red that shone like hot coals. It was a common trait for the Fire Folk and not hot to the touch. His smile reached his onyx eyes, and his black t-shirt and red-painted arms wrapped his well-muscled frame. Kevyn's thick grey ram horns arched above his head, then down, pointing attractively back.

Kevyn noticed his eyes on him and smiled companionably. Then slightly more than companionably. Zen smiled back, feeling a warmth in his chest, and raised his glass of dry white wine to him. Kevyn did the same with his mug of dark beer and went back to talking to Rob, who was also ex-military (and his boss).

Zen finally paid attention to the meal in front of him - tender steak, fresh greens, and potatoes. He washed it down with a third glass of dry white wine.

The table slowly grew sparser after dessert - people starting to go home. Zen both didn't want the night to end and really, really, wanted to go to sleep. For a week. The remaining group filled seats at Zen's end of the table to make talking easier. When Brian left at Zen's left, Kevyn took it up, Rob at Kevyn's other side now.

"You're very good at thinking on your feet, Kevyn. Is that the military training?" Kara asked when he sat down.

"You could say that," he replied with a smile.

"Years of work and millions in cash may have been wasted without your quick thinking," Zen said.

Kevyn's smile back was even warmer, and when their eyes met. The gaze lingered. In fact, Zen was too taken in to look away.

Rob patted Kevyn on the back, unknowingly ending the moment, and said, "I know how to pick 'em, don't I?" Zen and Kara agreed.

"Have you been in Gardenia long? You were just hired, right?" Zen asked. Gardenia was coastal, pleasantly warm, and lush with greenery. It was part of what lured Zen here, besides being closer to the equatorial plane and therefore a space center.

"I've been here a few weeks. Just finished my contract with the Air Force and wound up here. It's a great company. Cutting edge." Top five in the world in the space industry, Zen knew.

"How are you settling into the area?" Kara asked, tight brown curls bobbing as she tilted her head to the side.

"The Fae district is great. I was worried since it's such a populated area, that there wouldn't be much room or open space. But no, plenty of green."

"I know what you mean," Zen said. "I used to work in Portland and it felt like a concrete tomb. Terrible urban planning, nothing like the Capitol." He grew up in the Capitol and loved the dichotomy of park space and metropolis that's been baked into it over the last three hundred years. His parents still lived there, not that he visited much.

Kevyn laughed. "I would shrivel up and die!" Zen laughed, too. "And how about you two? How long have you lived here? I know Rob's been here his whole life."

"Twenty years," Zen said. "I moved here after MagiSat - they're the ones in Portland." He thought briefly of his decades in engineering, pleased, and then touched on the older memory of his ten years of corporate life with distaste and anger.

"Seven years for me," Kara said.

"So it really is the kind of place people settle into," Kevyn said.

"Absolutely," Kara said. "It can be stressful, as you've seen - I can't believe your first project is the one that was going full throttle!"

"Literally," Zen added.

"It was exciting," Kevyn replied, cheeks flushing.

"You're not scared off easily," Rob said. "A good quality for the likes of us." Then he looked at his watch and said, "Well, I'll be getting home. Leave the jabbering to you young folks." They bade goodbye and Rob left the tavern.

"How do you like working for Rob?" Kara asked. "Some people find him," here she scrunched her nose, "rough around the edges."

"He's great. Just straightforward - I know a lot of people like that. Ex-military, ya know? Maybe I can just speak his language. And he's been teaching me the ins and outs - more than he has to I think." Zen could see why. Kevyn was the kind of guy that draws people in.

"Rob's the best operator in the company. There's no better teacher," Zen replied. There was no need to mention the endless arguments he'd gotten into with Rob. Part of the territory, really. You didn't have a good project unless everyone was willing to butt heads along the way. There were no hard feelings - mostly.

The wait staff started clearing the table and the three took it as their cue that the party was over.

"Want to head into the bar?" Zen asked the other two. It was eleven o'clock and Zen thought he'd be falling over from exhaustion by now, but he found he wanted to keep talking.

The two agreed, and they headed to a small high-top table, passing the large winding tree that was in the middle of the establishment on the way. Zen noticed as he walked behind Kevyn that he was wearing jeans instead of the soft pants the Folk tended to wear.

The lighting was dimmer in the barroom, the fragrance of oak from the walls was heavier, and he could hear the boisterous chatter and clinking of glasses from the bar.

They ordered more drinks - house wine for Zen and Kara, and draft beer for Kevyn. The beer he ordered was 'Merry Elf'. Zen remembered some of his merry nights when that beer was on offer and complimented Kevyn on his choice.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" Kevyn asked. "I mean, it's more populated than where I came from - more to do, but where do I start?"

"We haven't been out much lately," Zen lamented. "With the project taking up our time - the long hours, and just being so tired at the end of the day. And I'd been working on my doctorate before that." A pause. "Hopefully, you won't take that as a humble brag. But, we love to mountain bike and go hiking and dancing."

Kara nodded her agreement, then added, "The downhill biking is a blast. We go down the ski slopes on our bikes in the off-seasons."

Kevyn smiled. "Sounds awesome, I've never done that."

They talked about biking for a while and agreed to take Kevyn with them sometime soon. They exchanged cell phone numbers. Zen really looked forward to it, and to all of the time off he would be taking.

Then Kara got a text, which made her smile a little wickedly as she looked at it, and she said she ought to be going. Zen guessed it was a come-home booty-text from her girlfriend. He would have teased her about it if they were with their circle of friends.

They said their goodbyes and as she passed behind Kevyn on the way out, she looked at Zen, pointed at Kevyn, and made a significant hand gesture - exclaiming silently with her whole face as she did it. She was clearly predicting how she thought the night would go for Zen. He kept his expression neutral as if she hadn't done it.

Then it was the two of them, Zen and Kevyn.

"You got your Ph.D.? I didn't realize," Kevyn said, impressed. And continuing the conversation, Zen was happy to realize.

"I'm almost done," Zen amended. "It's on the magic-electromechanical design for the project. With the successful testing of the system, all I have to do now is finish the write-up."

Kevyn whistled low. "That's really impressive," he said with emphasis. And then he looked at Zen as if he'd been talking to someone like a buddy who was actually far beyond his reach. The look made Zen's stomach twist. He'd been loving the way he spoke with him so openly - not many people did.

"You came from the Air Force right?" Zen asked, keeping a casual tone.

"Yea. Did thirty years," he replied.

"Doing what?"

"Some grunt work at first, then I was a fighter pilot for a while, then by the last ten years I was operating the military satellite system."

"Fighter pilot?" Zen asked, impressed.

Kevyn smiled excitedly. "Yeah, it was really cool. Did aid work and patrols and stuff. No actual fighting. But," Kevyn paused a moment, "then my new superior didn't want an elf in the cockpit. Said my dual citizenship meant I couldn't be trusted. So they switched me to satellite operations...But, how is that any less of a 'risk' to them when I'm controlling their satellites?" he asked with frustration and a tinge of bitterness.

"I'm sorry," Zen said, but Kevyn waved it off, not wanting to dwell on it. "So you kept dual citizenship with Kreta and your Tribe?" The country they lived in, Kreta, was settled by a smattering of other nations four hundred years ago. Now, it was the capital of the world.

"Yeah. The two sides talked when I signed on. I was given altruistic jobs and neutral ones. If they were doing any shady business against the Folk I never knew about it."

Zen thought about what he was alluding to. The last world war was one hundred and twenty years ago. There had been two world wars and countless regional ones between the elves and humans through the ages. They were on good enough terms now, but it was still strained at the edges. Zen personally believed that the tension between their nations was getting worse, not better - even as their peoples grew more and more entwined. And one day, war would be on the horizon again. So, mutual spying was likely a given. He was glad that Kevyn's career was so successful under those circumstances.

"Why did you retire?" Zen asked.

"I was tired of moving around. I was ready to stand still for a while, ya know?"

"I think I do," Zen said. "The human pace of life can be taxing. I've spent twelve years in my Ph.D. program, and I've been working at the same time for the past five. The elf pace would have been more like fifteen years full-time." They both laughed. And it was true. The elves put great importance on balancing one's life: purpose, family, friends, hobbies, nature, physical and mental fitness. And they never rushed. Zen was neglecting many of those categories, and overclocking himself, and he could feel it in his bones.

"So now you're going to stop and smell the roses before finishing your writing?" Kevyn asked.

"That's the plan." And the thought of stopping to appreciate what's around him - that is, smelling the roses - resulted in Zen looking over Kevyn's face, noticing fissures of red in his eyes amidst the inky black.

Kevyn smiled, in a different way this time. Knowing, and flattered. A thrill went through Zen. Kevyn looked back at him, lingering on his freckles as they sparkled against the flicker of the candle between them.

Zen's heart beat faster in his chest.

"Since we work together," Kevyn ventured softly, "would it be inappropriate to tell you that you're stunning, Zen?"

Zen's heart did a backflip.