Magick beans
Blog entry

07/08/05

Kharie'l gave Torlinque the day off today. He's training someone to become part of the regular Temple Guard rotation and is using Torlinque's regular shift spot to do it before making a permanent assignment. Torlinque neglected to mention this to me when we were together earlier this morning before I left for work.

I "went" to visit Tolirion in the conservatory this morning after I got out of a staff meeting. Who should I find draped full-length across the pillows on the window seat next to Tolirion's work table reading a book, but His Darkness, black leather uniform pants, dark burgundy silk shirt, boots and all. (The sight of him still steals my breath, honestly.) I think this is the first time I've ever seen him there. He usually never visits Tolirion while he's working.

I can tell immediately that Torlinque has been flirting with and teasing poor Tolirion mercilessly. He's just got that roguish look in his eye and Tolirion is all flushed and trying not to giggle. They quit when I tune in. I ask them if they want me to leave, but both of them tell me no. Torlinque goes back to reading his book, and Tolirion goes back to his work.

He's been trying for days to get his bean plants to grow, but they keep mutating right after they sprout 2 pairs of leaves. He's getting really frustrated and curses and stomps a foot each time they fail. He says this hybrid has grown fine in the field when left alone to itself, but mutates every time with the magick. I ask him if I can take a look at what he's doing, maybe I can help. He says OK.

He puts a seed each in 3 little pots of soil on his table. Then he starts his magick. They sprout and start growing rapidly, just fine, and then right after 2 pairs of leaves sprout, I feel a little inaudible "squeak" come from them. Then they start mutating, the stems get weak and curly, and they fail.

I tell Tolirion I think I know what might be wrong, and I ask if I can try. He sets up another pot and drops a seed in. I stand next to him and open a link to what I'm about to do so he can feel it too. I start off the same way he did, but right before I feel the "squeak" about to happen I slow the rate of cellular mitosis way down, yet still enliven the plant a bit. When the third pair of leaves comes, I slowly speed up the time in the ward zone and the rate of mitosis increases again. A couple minutes later, and I've got a healthy bean plant that has bloomed and is ready to harvest. All the while, I'm explaining to Tolirion what I'm doing.

Tolirion starts jumping up and down when he sees the finished plant. "YOU DID IT!" he yells. "It just needs a moment to catch up with itself right at that point." I say to him. "Let me try!" he says, all excited, and sets up 3 more pots. Then he copies exactly, what I just did, getting 3 mature bean plants, ready for harvest. "EEEEheehee!" he squeals in delight. Then he turns, wraps his arms around me and kisses me, hard. "I've been trying to solve that problem for weeks! Thank you, Darling." Then he releases me and pulls a very large tray of pots out from under his table and starts setting them up with seeds.

I turn and go sit down next to Torlinque. "How did you know?" he asks. "From my old field healing techniques." I say, "It happens with patients too sometimes, where they just can't handle the magick at that speed, and one has to slow it down. Usually, though, a person screams in pain. Not so, with a plant. A plant's warning response is much more subtle, but it's there. Once I pointed it out to him, Tolirion saw it immediately." Torlinque just smiled, shook his head at me, and said, "Who knew a battlefield healing technique would work on beans? Only you, Love." I just smiled and shrugged.

Then Torlinque points out to me several large baskets at the end of Tolirion's table, about the size of a laundry basket here on Earth. "See those?" he says. I nod. "The kitchen staff wants him to fill six of them full of those beans by this evening." "That will take forever!" I say. "There has to be a way to increase the yield per plant." I get up and walk back over to Tolirion's work table.

"Tolirion." I say after he finishes the latest tray. "Hmm?" he says. "What if, right before the blooms form, we could split them, so that it doubles the yield per plant?" I ask, as I try it out on the pot in the corner of the next tray. It doesn't work, and I end up with a curly mess. Tolirion thinks for a second, watching what I'm trying to do and says, "I see what you're saying Love, that would cut the work in half, but it's a different set of genes from the ones you tried. Let me show you." With that, he starts in on the whole tray. Right before they bloom he says, "See, there's a primary gene here...", and in my mind's eye I see it light up, "...and a set of secondary genes...here.", and I see those light up too. And then, there is suddenly a tray full of plants with bean pods everywhere. Tolirion sighs and says, "Brilliant idea. Thank you again." "Now, you can get this done, and have plenty of time to spend with Torlinque." I say.

I start to leave them, but Torlinque pulls me back to him. "Stay with me." he whispers, "Just while he's working." "All right." I say, lying down next to him. Torlinque is purring. "Look at him." he says, his voice soft and low. So I concentrate on the visual link for a few seconds and for the first time that morning, notice that Tolirion is shirtless, wearing light brown suede pants and boots, and a bib apron rather than his usual smock. He's standing with his feet wide apart, hands poised over his tray. His long blond curls are tied back, and we can see all the muscles in his back tense and move under his skin as he works. Torlinque tells his thoughts on all that to me in a Send that Tolirion can't hear. Then he starts nibbling on my neck, and the purring gets louder. Wicked thing. So we watch Tolirion for another half hour or so.

"Tolirion." I say. "Yes?" he says without turning to look at us. "Do you realize, that we are both over here staring at your perfect arse and wanting to sink our fangs into it?" Tolirion immediately doubles over laughing. "Thanks a lot, you two!" he says grinning, "Yes, I know, I can hear him purring, but now I'm going to be all self conscious about it!" Then he winks at us, and bends over without bending his knees and grabs another tray out from under the table, the tease.

Hahaha. I love my boys.