The Iron Man [Serial]

Not Alone

I woke the next day, slowly at first, aware it was light. Call to Prayer sounded through the open bedroom window. Something about the light through my lids seemed off, like a shadow passing over me; I sat quickly, finding Alpha standing beside my bed. I almost failed to recognize him.

"I did not mean to startle you." He was wearing an olive green gallabeyya. "Garin let me in."

I nodded, hand to my chest as my heart raced. I'd actually had a start.

"This happen often?" Alpha tipped his head.

"What?" I realized he must mean Hedone being in the same bed. "That I shared a bed to sleep?" I laid back down on my back. "Sometimes. Not that it's your business." He'd either not cared or noticed when it had been Murphy, which seemed unlike him, so I assumed he'd noticed and addressed the matter to Murphy.

"Erik knows?"

Hedone answered for me. "That I am an adult?" And then before Alpha could point out the other issue, "but within a couple years of your ward."

"Well, so long as your father is content." Alpha laughed, as he leaned against the windowsill. "I don't have to worry about forcing Julien to propose marriage."

I sat up, swinging my legs off the side of the bed. "Minerva! Don't joke about such things."

"I think the little 'x' on my passport makes me even less likely to marry than Julien," Hedone said. And then lightly, as if in jest, "Unless maybe we marry at sea."

I turned and looked back towards Hedone. Xe was biting xer lip as xe smiled, and had the sheet pulled demurely up to xer neck, which knowing Hedone was mostly false modesty. "That's a myth." I turned to look at Alpha. He appeared to look out the window. "It's one of those stories, isn't it? Even Pennsylvania doesn't license that." I was sure Alpha knew what I meant.

"What is Pennsylvania?" Hedone whispered.

"A place next to New York." I waved any further question away.

Alpha answered, "Navies have specific regulations against it, for everyone. That could mean some shipboard marriages were performed historically. Captains do have most other authority while at sea." He turned his head to glance at the bed, then turned full around and took a step toward the door.

"I think a Merc ship could do it," Hedone whispered, "The Mercantile is all nations and no nation."

"The real problem is having it recognized later," Alpha said, "My parents had problems just being Catholic and Muslim."

"Let's not talk or joke about it." I looked to Hedone, "Please." I didn't know what possessed Alpha to even bring up such a subject.

Hedone nodded, but then asked, "Is it that story?"

"It was horrible!" The ending of the novel had bothered me. "I even wanted Emily to refuse him, but I hated how she gave her reason."

"What story?" Alpha asked.

I got up and went to my luggage, which was near Alpha's feet. He still wore boots under the robe. As I gathered some clean clothing, I could hear them speaking over me.

"Just some old novel of Murphy's. We thought he might wake if he heard something familiar, but it was a rather dire plot," Hedone explained, "This British Lord finally worked up courage to propose to the widowed lady, even though it was hinted he might prefer bachelor ways and company of an older man, and she had been inclined to accept even so, until her young son asked if he might wear a green carnation in his lapel, too."

"I see."

"She doesn't just say 'thank you, but I cannot marry you'," Hedone said, "Lady Locke makes a long speech about what she believes wrong with Lord Reggie."

I stood up, holding onto a bundle of clothing. "The worst part!" I said, raising my voice, "The worst was that this Amarinth character was an affected buffoon who said hateful things, so Reggie should have been wise to distance himself, but Emily's speech made her equally hateful the way she compared the green carnation to art and expression and--" My thoughts were unclear and I could not follow my own train of thought.

"Julien." Alpha reached a hand towards me, but I swatted it away.

"She said he was twisted. Distorted in mind. Unnatural. Not a man!" I shook my head, "You don't say that just because you don't care for someone's jokes or a song they wrote!"

"I know."

"It's just a book, but...." I felt foolish for being upset by a book.

"It still hurts," Alpha said, "Though not so much as when it's to your face."

I looked at him. Alpha's brow furrowed. His green eyes gazed at mine.

"My life has been threatened," he told me. I knew such things happened. Of course I did. Even now, with peace, steamcabs and telephons, when we only spoke against regimes, popular media sold us romances between east and west or north and south, and being mixed-race was the ideal of beauty. There was still the bad: political advisers ineligible to vote due to their sex, people told what to wear, and death threats for being in love.

It seemed realer when it happened to someone I knew.

"But, I'm not alone." Alpha said. "I struggled for a long time." He glanced back to include Hedone, "I didn't realize Erik was trying to be supportive when we were younger, because I wasn't ready to feel accepted. I did foolish things. I even proposed to a woman."

I wanted to speak, but I knew Alpha needed to finish.

"Murphy was the first to get through and make me feel I wasn't alone." Alpha looked into my eyes, "Julien, if he kept a book, it's to remind him what he fights for, or that we need better books. I'm not as brave as he is, but I'm here. We can help each other."

I dropped the clothes to embrace him.

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Chapter 60! Again, I thank my readers! Thank you all for continuing to read, and for any votes, adds and comments.

The media for this one is the Swing version of the Pet Shop Boys song "Can You Forgive Her", selected mostly for relevant lyrics, but also because I was reminded when watching some Top 10.... Youtube video that I hadn't made use of Pet Shop Boys on this soundtrack yet. The Swing version seemed somewhat more suited to the setting.

Apparently, though ship captains cannot (simply by merit of being a captain) marry people, it is a very common belief perpetuated by TV and movies.

I had been binge-watching Seasons 2-3 of Arrow when I wrote this chapter, and there were all these scenes where characters had to remind each other they weren't dealing with struggles alone.

Fun fact? In the alternate universe, Julien, who was Catholic, took the confirmation name Felicity, and he was, for a long time, in a relationship with an archer.