Emir/Ivan Part 44
May. 19th, 2020 11:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emirandivanFirst posted here
Emir retreated to his own rooms but before he could gather his thoughts, the tailor had arrived for the fitting. Gods for five minutes alone!
The tailor picked up on his lack of desire for chat and worked silently and efficiently. Emir stood still as the man worked his way around him, pinning up hems, tutting at the fit of the waist and the section of embroidery which was not quite sewn down. Emir silently regarded himself in the looking-glass.
In this calmer state he turned over the argument with Ivan in his head. Kanat had caused friction between them yet again. And everything Ivan said made perfect sense – his public association with Kanat was leading to unnecessary gossip, and with the political situation worsening it could be interpreted as disloyalty to the Crown. And yet Emir bridled at this. Where was the room for loyalty to his own people? To an old friend who had done nothing wrong?
And to the rest of it…Emir had all but confessed love, though thankfully Ivan had not realised. Distracted by the struggles of his own heart, perhaps. He wondered if Ivan and Erden had recently argued. Gods knew it was hard to watch the man you love in a relationship with someone else, and that someone have more claim to their company than you. Erden appeared to be training hard as a Queen’s Guard so was most likely too busy to accommodate Ivan as much as he’d like. He was more often in the company of the Captain of the Guard than Ivan lately; the man Adric had suggested Emir choose as a lover instead. Emir grinned at the thought.
“It pleases you, sire?” the tailor said, noticing Emir’s smile.
“Of course,” Emir said truthfully, realising his silence must have been interpreted as disapproval. “You have made a wonderful job of it.”
The outfit was a copy of the Samatran formal wear he had worn for his arrival in Eresenia, but in heavier silk. The fit was impeccable, and Emir stood straighter as the tailor worked. His shoulders looked broader and his waist neater, and the blue was the same hue as the lapis lazuli he had given Ivan as a betrothal gift. He turned his scarred cheek away from the mirror and tried to imagine how it might have looked if he was whole. The way Kanat remembered him.
“Do you plan to wear any jewels?” the tailor asked. “I have studied the portrait you sent from Samatra and it seems that I may need to accommodate that in the design.”
Gods, that portrait, with the left side of his face in shadow and his neck heaped with every necklace the family owned. He still remembered the suffocating weight of them on his chest.
“No, I have no plans to – I wish to be able to dance,” he joked.
The tailor nodded uncertainly and knelt to finish his work.
The talk of jewels made Emir’s thoughts turn to the midwinter gift he had commissioned for Ivan; a necklace made from pearls from the great freshwater lakes in the south of Samatra. Pearls suited Ivan so well with his creamy skin and red hair, and Emir had had the necklace made in the Samatran style, worn long to the waist. Perhaps it was too intimate, too romantic a gift. But he was growing tired of his own caution. Ivan was doubtless so used to adoring infatuation that such a gift would not register that way with him in any case. And even if he guessed – well, what harm could it do? It was a perfectly proper gift from husband to husband.
Emir’s mind flitted across an image of Ivan wearing it. Wearing only it, looking up at him with his grey eyes dark and his hair loose over his shoulders, the rope of pearls sliding against his skin.
Heavens save him, he shouldn’t think such thoughts with a man kneeling at his feet.
But the tailor was finished at last. He stood and helped Emir out of the clothing, taking it away with him for the final adjustments.
Anna knocked just as Emir had finished dressing again.
“I am to wait on an answer sire,” she said, holding out a note addressed to him in Ivan’s hand.
“Give me a moment, I shall bring my answer,” Emir said. Anna withdrew.
He unfolded the note in Ivan’s hurried scrawl.
“I pay attention to what is important to you too, you know. Ask me anything you like about the antlers of the Eresenian Plains Deer, I promise I can tell you. Please let us forget our disagreement. Do come to dinner with me later.”
He had sketched a small deer underneath with a splendid set of antlers.
Emir couldn’t help but smile, his heart leaping. Perhaps Ivan didn’t mean the message to hold the meaning that it seemed to…but he couldn’t help a tiny hope unfurling within him. He refolded the note and held it to his lips for a moment, breathing in the trace of Ivan’s scent it held.
Part 45
Emir retreated to his own rooms but before he could gather his thoughts, the tailor had arrived for the fitting. Gods for five minutes alone!
The tailor picked up on his lack of desire for chat and worked silently and efficiently. Emir stood still as the man worked his way around him, pinning up hems, tutting at the fit of the waist and the section of embroidery which was not quite sewn down. Emir silently regarded himself in the looking-glass.
In this calmer state he turned over the argument with Ivan in his head. Kanat had caused friction between them yet again. And everything Ivan said made perfect sense – his public association with Kanat was leading to unnecessary gossip, and with the political situation worsening it could be interpreted as disloyalty to the Crown. And yet Emir bridled at this. Where was the room for loyalty to his own people? To an old friend who had done nothing wrong?
And to the rest of it…Emir had all but confessed love, though thankfully Ivan had not realised. Distracted by the struggles of his own heart, perhaps. He wondered if Ivan and Erden had recently argued. Gods knew it was hard to watch the man you love in a relationship with someone else, and that someone have more claim to their company than you. Erden appeared to be training hard as a Queen’s Guard so was most likely too busy to accommodate Ivan as much as he’d like. He was more often in the company of the Captain of the Guard than Ivan lately; the man Adric had suggested Emir choose as a lover instead. Emir grinned at the thought.
“It pleases you, sire?” the tailor said, noticing Emir’s smile.
“Of course,” Emir said truthfully, realising his silence must have been interpreted as disapproval. “You have made a wonderful job of it.”
The outfit was a copy of the Samatran formal wear he had worn for his arrival in Eresenia, but in heavier silk. The fit was impeccable, and Emir stood straighter as the tailor worked. His shoulders looked broader and his waist neater, and the blue was the same hue as the lapis lazuli he had given Ivan as a betrothal gift. He turned his scarred cheek away from the mirror and tried to imagine how it might have looked if he was whole. The way Kanat remembered him.
“Do you plan to wear any jewels?” the tailor asked. “I have studied the portrait you sent from Samatra and it seems that I may need to accommodate that in the design.”
Gods, that portrait, with the left side of his face in shadow and his neck heaped with every necklace the family owned. He still remembered the suffocating weight of them on his chest.
“No, I have no plans to – I wish to be able to dance,” he joked.
The tailor nodded uncertainly and knelt to finish his work.
The talk of jewels made Emir’s thoughts turn to the midwinter gift he had commissioned for Ivan; a necklace made from pearls from the great freshwater lakes in the south of Samatra. Pearls suited Ivan so well with his creamy skin and red hair, and Emir had had the necklace made in the Samatran style, worn long to the waist. Perhaps it was too intimate, too romantic a gift. But he was growing tired of his own caution. Ivan was doubtless so used to adoring infatuation that such a gift would not register that way with him in any case. And even if he guessed – well, what harm could it do? It was a perfectly proper gift from husband to husband.
Emir’s mind flitted across an image of Ivan wearing it. Wearing only it, looking up at him with his grey eyes dark and his hair loose over his shoulders, the rope of pearls sliding against his skin.
Heavens save him, he shouldn’t think such thoughts with a man kneeling at his feet.
But the tailor was finished at last. He stood and helped Emir out of the clothing, taking it away with him for the final adjustments.
Anna knocked just as Emir had finished dressing again.
“I am to wait on an answer sire,” she said, holding out a note addressed to him in Ivan’s hand.
“Give me a moment, I shall bring my answer,” Emir said. Anna withdrew.
He unfolded the note in Ivan’s hurried scrawl.
“I pay attention to what is important to you too, you know. Ask me anything you like about the antlers of the Eresenian Plains Deer, I promise I can tell you. Please let us forget our disagreement. Do come to dinner with me later.”
He had sketched a small deer underneath with a splendid set of antlers.
Emir couldn’t help but smile, his heart leaping. Perhaps Ivan didn’t mean the message to hold the meaning that it seemed to…but he couldn’t help a tiny hope unfurling within him. He refolded the note and held it to his lips for a moment, breathing in the trace of Ivan’s scent it held.
Part 45
no subject
Date: 2020-05-19 06:17 pm (UTC)ETA: Distracted by the struggles of his own heart, perhaps.
You're so close to figuring it out Emir
so
close
no subject
Date: 2020-05-20 11:47 am (UTC)