The temple master had sent another letter, saying that he would be able to return soon due to the queen getting sick. It wasn't anything too bad but the whole royal family cut off any festivities to watch over the middle-aged woman, thus freeing him from his responsibilities of staying.
The moment Ives had informed Farin of the situation, the carrier had decided to spend as much time with Alvarr as he could.

"So if I suddenly can't come, then that's the reason, okay?", he finished his explanation to Alvarr, shifting to keep the two God-children on his lap from falling off. Alvarr had taken them along today, the same seven as the previous time, and they were even cuddlier than before. Contrary to their older companion, they appeared not to care about the fact that they couldn't understand the human language and made no attempt at learning it. Their tiny bodies were occupied with using both adults as a playground, tugging and nipping at them while making small purrs and growls of joyful playing.

"Understand", Alvarr voiced, though his ears and tail were lowered. "But it's not... sure yet?" "Yes, I can't tell for certain until my master is here and I have talked to him."
The thought of one being parting from their group just to leave for days to visit a foreign group was one that Alvarr didn't understand at all and had given up on, just accepting it as it was. Inside the mountain, the group Farin had seen a part of was the only one. The small area he had visited was one of another few that created a small net throughout the mountain, although all of them belonged to one tribe. They moved freely between the areas, just like houses with several separate rooms forming a village. In total, there were a few hundred of them in the huge mountain cave - not overly much, but Farin did wonder if the food would never become a problem in here, cut off as this place was. The cave was indeed gigantic, but he had no idea how large it would have to be for the little world to work independently from outside.

The Gods were incredibly social compared to humans, Farin sourly realized. Betrayal, lies, war... Alvarr didn't even understand the concept. How nice must it be, to live with others and not having to worry about them having ulterior motives.

Farin cuddled one of the girls into his arms and the little one curled into a ball, purring loudly as she attached herself to the clothes on his chest, rubbing her head under Farin's chin. "Be happy your horns are still short enough, otherwise I couldn't allow you to do that", Farin chuckled. The girl's horns didn't reach over her head yet, so they didn't hinder her in the movement. Curious, Farin tapped and tugged at her little horns, causing her to giggle when her head was tilted along with it.

"You have no child?", Alvarr asked him, crawling closer to catch one child before he could jump up on Farin's head - which would have most likely resulted in Farin's neck breaking under the weight. He dragged the boy away by his tail and lifted him on his own shoulders, where the child began to gnaw on Alvarr's horns with a growl.
"I don't. I don't have a spouse, either." A confused blink from Alvarr. Farin explained. "A person to have children with. Someone who... hmm, stays by your side as..." He struggled with the words and stopped. Marriage - the contract and promise - wouldn't exist in here. Love was too undefined as a word to explain to Alvarr, so the other wouldn't know it and he couldn't use it as an explanation. Saying a spouse was a partner wasn't correct, as not every partner would be your spouse... He really didn't know how to say it correctly. "Your birth mother and father are probably spouses? Eh, unless they have several partners..."

"Confusing to explain?" "Very. Can you tell me how it's with your people? Could your birth father have children with someone other than your birth mother?" A rude question, but only by human standards. Alvarr nodded. "Yes, everyone has several fathers and children." "No, not like that. I mean, children they gave birth to."
The God frowned for a while, then his eyes widened and he looked at Farin as if the other had said something completely ridiculous. "So, if my birth father has birthed children with not my birth mother?" "Hm. Like that."

Alvarr continued to stare incredulously until Farin awkwardly coughed. "That doesn't happen?" 
"Why would it? If my birth father wants more children, he goes to my birth mother." Farin opened his mouth and closed it again, pushing away a child biting on his hand.
"Then your birth mother and birth father are spouses." The way he says it, do they stay together with one partner for life? How nice.

The God looked pleased with that and nodded. His tail began to move around again as if he was in a good mood. A girl jumped him to bury her face in the back of his head, curling her fingers into his hair. 
"Are any of them your siblings? Children from your birth father and mother?", Farin inquired, watching how Alvarr lovingly played with the children. Alvarr nodded, pointing at the girl in Farin's lap. "Do you have... siblings, too?" "I do. Four of them, all younger than me." Farin beamed at the mention of his darling siblings. He'd love introducing them.
The girl on his lap squirmed around, reaching up to rub her face against Farin's again. The carried laughed lightly, pasting a kiss on her soft cheek that made her squeal in delight. Her blinking eyes displayed her confusion as she returned the gesture. 

The carrier turned his head away when she came too close to his lips but other than that, allowed the little girl to cover him in kisses as she giggled, often returning one on her head which made her try to duck away. He grinned at the game, ruffling through her hair with his free hand. Alvarr observed him closely.
"Can't do that near mouth?", he asked after a while and tilted his head. Farin took a while to register what he had said. "Hm? The kisses? No, that's not allowed for everyone. Do your people allow it?"

Farin knew that the meaning of kisses was different depending on how you grew up. For him, small kisses like that were fine for family and children, kisses on the lips only for your lover. In his mother's hometown, up in the north, giving your family a quick peck on the lips was fine and kisses on the cheek were common when greeting or parting with close friends.
He didn't know how the Gods would see it.

Alvarr blinked. "Don't know what you did."
For a moment, they looked at each other in mutual confusion. "What, you don't know?" "Hm. Don't." He pulled his little sister onto his lap, who flailed her short arms, and tilted his head to press his lips against her cheek. The girl didn't laugh this time but purred, as if she was more familiar with this. The basic difference was that Alvarr's lips touching her cheek was more a result of him pressing their faces together than the pure intention. Next, Alvarr imitated Farin's movement, giving her a small kiss that made her laugh again. 

The God looked up again. "Don't know it. What does it mean?"
Farin explained the concept as best as he could before faltering at the word 'lovers'. "...Well, I guess, it's for someone you really really like a lot. Enough for them to become your spouse, I guess?" He hummed. It wasn't quite that easy since humans weren't necessarily faithful and also played around a lot, but he didn't need to explain that part to Alvarr.

"Oh." Alvarr tried to control the other six squeaking little furballs that had just found out the adults were playing some kind of game with one of them that they also wanted to participate in. Five minutes and some coaxing later, the children began to play a variant of tag where the small kisses were used to tag another, causing them all to giggle constantly.
...As long as it's cute.

"Do you have something similar?", Farin asked, calling Alvarr back to attention by poking his arm. The man shrugged his shoulders. "Not completely?"
He leaned closer to brush his cheek against Farin's - a gesture the human knew from whenever he was hugged to say goodbye. "This is just generally showing that you like someone, right?" A sound to show his agreement. There shouldn't be any distinction between friends, family, and lovers for this one.

Suddenly, a warm tingle brushed over his cheek, the feeling sending a surprised shiver down Farin's spine. The slightly rough scraping wasn't uncomfortable, just something unfamiliar. Frozen, Farin only let his blue eyes jolt over to Alvarr who had a nonchalant face. "That's the other."

Of course. How else would they show affection to their lovers. Of course, it had to be like a cat or dog; giving the other a small lick on the face. Farin found himself much too focused on the lingering sensation.
He'd have expected it to be disgusting from a human's standpoint, but for one reason or another, he didn't have a trail of saliva on his cheek - just that stupid tingling that was left over from the rough surface of Alvarr's tongue on his skin.

Farin stared at the God for a long time. The other man had either drawn a complete line between personal feelings and a demonstration or he just felt that relaxed about showing Farin that he liked him. The annoying thing was, both were so very possible that Farin had no way of knowing which one it was.
Torn between that thought and wanting to be happy about getting the equivalent of a kiss, Farin felt rather irritated. 

"Oh, then, there's actually something humans do that's almost like it", he said with a fake smile. For Alvarr, who never thought about the possibility of faking one's mood, Farin was just as relaxed as before. 
It's a bit like talking to a child. He wouldn't recognize me acting and even if I talk complete nonsense, he can't tell if it's not just because I'm a human that I do things differently. No matter what I say, he's going to believe me.

Alvarr happily blinked at Farin - either because he was happy to learn about humans or because he was looking forward to a demonstration. Either way, Farin waved his hand for Alvarr to get closer. He obeyed without complaint, leaning forward once more.
Just when Farin was debating whether he wasn't being too mean after all, taking advantage of someone who maybe didn't know what he was doing, when the low rumble from the God's throat reached his ears.

Alvarr was both softly smiling and purring, his tail waving behind him in unhidden joy.
Farin frowned softly, then dragged up an eyebrow to stare at Alvarr whose face was taking up most of his sight from their close proximity.
Screw this, you know exactly, don't you?, he thought, all negative thoughts vanishing. With a quick glance to make sure that the children were still distracted with their play, he reached out to wrap a hand around the God's head, curling his fingers into the red, soft hair.

Owl

Is stopping in the middle of a fluffy scene a cliffhanger? Eh, it will continue in the next chapter. I've decided that this story won't be explicit, but I won't skip over a make-out scene that fast 

Theatre

Spoiler

Farin: "Are you flirting with me?"
Alvarr: "What's flirting?"
Farin: "It's... ah, sheesh. Whatever. It's too complicated to explain."
Farin leaves
Alvarr: "I probably was, though :P"

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