One day, another dreary one, a day when every step forward was followed by a step backward, Gan Chono, found himself lying on his back, staring into the dim light, watching dust particles drifting aimlessly above him. The euphoria was fading from the contact with his brothers. It had only come that one time and hope, ground into dust, like bits that reflected the gray light, seemed to be a dream. His core was too weak to sustain the connection and he knew that as soon as Davaajav could, he would reconnect. The wait was excruciating. 

He was healing from the bare-handed beatings; no bones had been broken this time nor had there been any internal injuries. Not that his tormentor had not tried.

 Shuurga liked to make punishment very personal, and he used Gan Chono viciously before he left. Luckily the visits were only for a few days at a time and there were often months when he was gone and Gan Chono had time to heal in between. It was the anticipation of the returns that wore him down the most. The constant inevitability.

There was no bottom to his half-brother's resentment. Shuurga was indeed a storm, dark, implacable, unrecognizable from the child born the same year as Gan Chono's eldest full-brother. They had been raised together until Anshi's birth. Then, after his mother's death, Shuurga and his mother disappeared. He had heard the woman screaming and begging for mercy late one night. Shouts of despair and accusations from their father. And in the morning both Shuurga and his mother were gone. Their yurt, and their belongings vanished and the brothers, who had loved Shuurga, were forbidden to even breathe his name. They had been erased from their lives. Their focus was then turned to their mother's death in childbirth, and their jobs were to protect and help raise their infant brother.

He alone had discovered the truth. He had fled with the remnants of the Great Eagle Tribe, after the Killing Night, thinking his brothers dead, and disappeared. He was alone and desperate, fearful and paranoid. And that was when Shuurga reappeared. Anxious, saddened, offering his support in rebuilding. Gan Chono had embraced him, weeping in the strong and comforting arms. A brother, lost for years, had returned, and it was like a miracle to the overburdened teen.

His health began to slowly erode in the next few years and gradually, as he weakened and became more incapable of thinking clearly, Shuurga began usurping his position. As soon as the time was right, he found himself confined, under guard, and Shuurga was acknowledged as Chieftain. Gan Chono remembered vague things from that time. Being displayed as a prisoner. Seeing old allies being executed in front of his eyes. And the first punishment.

But mostly he remembered the revelation made during punishment. Shuurga spoke in detail of  the day Gan Chono's mother died. Of the poison he had given her to drink. Her dying pleas for him to spare Anshi. His attempt to kill the newborn. He recounted them gleefully to the bruised and bleeding Gan Chono, who now faced his own terrible status in life. Then he left him in close confinement, silenced, until his half-brother returned to torment him again.

But now, he had hope. He did not even wish for more. Gan Chono felt, that if Shuurga returned and decided to kill him, the brief song and words of encouragement were enough. He had not been forgotten. He was still loved, and he could die happily, knowing this. He closed his eyes and drifted off, once again sleeping soundly.

____________

He awoke to a new face, vaguely familiar, but he could not place this man. He was holding the usual bowl of gruel.  But he had also brought a plate of plain, but edible food. A new keeper, obviously. The strange part was, that this one was trying to meet his eyes, not staring at the ground, as if he was dealing with a non-entity. Eye-to-eye contact with someone other than Shuurga? It frightened him and he drew back.

"I am Aasem. My family joined your tribe, before the Killing Night. Your father was good to us." He spoke softly. His eyes were kind and full of concern, but hadn't Shuurga's been the night they reunited? 

"We have some time. My orders are to make sure you eat every bite. I talked them into allowing extra food to entice you to eat the gruel; you know, alternating bites to wash the taste away. The gruel is drugged, but the plate is not. Sadly, you must continue to eat the poisons in the bowl. But the food will help you regain some strength. I know you cannot speak. I have been training to earn this right to attend to you. Nobody must know that we know one another.  There is a man, a highly placed man, who has sent people out to find The Great Eagle Tribe. He wants to help your brother Anshi, in hopes of finding you alive.  I am working toward the day you are with them all again. I hope to earn your trust."

Gan Chona forced himself to meet the younger man's eyes. His distrust was rampant at this moment. He had found out the hard way, that those who offer help, betray later, often in hideous and venomous ways. 

Aasem sighed. "You do not remember me. I thought you would not. We have changed, you and I over the years. You often called me Tazy, because I dogged your heels incessantly. You were my childhood hero."

Tazy? The kid they nicknamed after the local sight-hounds in his mother's homelands?

"I grew up quickly after the Killing Night."

Tazy?

"I have sought this position for a long time, currying favor, hoping this chance would come. As much as I am able, I will help you."

He still could see no change in Gan Chono's eyes other than slim recognition. The boy who had tolerated the child was buried so deeply that Aasem felt a deep pang of worry that he would not be able to reach him. His handsome face struggled to remain calm. Had he finally reached this goal, only to find nothing but wreckage left in Shuurga's wake?

"I do not want to force my presence on you. However, I will never harm you in anyway. Should I leave this with you and return with your dinner later?"

The extraordinary young man knelt in front of the startled prisoner, his hazel eyes, eyes like an eagle's, pinning down the carnelian ones, full of doubt and despair. 

"Do you remember when we all would go to the river to fish? You always chose the largest rock to lean against, the one warmed by sunlight. You said it made you feel safe. If you wish, I can be that rock for you. Let me stay as you eat. I will sit behind you, and you may lean against me. Let someone protect your back for once. May I do that?"

Go\an Chono's facade began to crack. He did not know if he could trust this person. But here, and now., he did not care. The chance at this kind of contact, even if it proved false in the end, was too intense, and he was shocked at the extremity of it. So he nodded as a slow tear trickled down his cheek. He closed his eyes, and felt a gentle hand brush the tear away. " I will sit behind you now. Lean back and eat. I am at your disposal, my Chieftain."