The Meskar never forget someone's scent. They remains etched in their memory forever. And Arquenes awakened forgotten memories when he sniffed Davor as the human rested on top of him. Memories of a terrible, yet hopeful past.

Graphite sketch of Chapter 10 of the novel "Meskar: Contienda de Amor," recently published on Amazon.
https://a.co/d/1bZKl3p

Chapter 10. Reflections.

Arquenes's house was located a few blocks from Ziranna's, in one of the city's residential neighborhoods. Turning a corner, they passed the same spot where the baby meskar's accident had occurred. This made Davor smile as he thought about how lucky he had been.

Upon arrival, the meskar parked the vehicle in front of the entrance. The cold air was intense at that hour of the night. The professor got out with his suitcase, and Arquenes gently helped him carry it inside. The old meskar's dwelling looked cozy. It had different spaces separated by walls, unlike Ziranna's house. It featured a variety of meskarian furniture, wall ornaments, and portraits, indicating an active family life to Davor, a stark contrast to the loneliness he felt at that moment.

"Make yourself comfortable. I'll get you something warm for the cold," Arquenes said kindly.

"Thanks, but I'd prefer something to drink, if it's no trouble."

"Oh... Are you sure, my little friend?"

"Yes," he nodded, with an obvious bitterness in his gesture. "Maybe it will help me forget what an idiot I've been."

"Come on, don't be so hard on yourself. You're not the first and won't be the last to feel that way."

"Hmm... what a great comfort."

"Heh, heh, heh... Okay. I'll get you something to drink and some food, too. It's not good to have an empty stomach with meskarian wine."

While Arquenes headed to the kitchen, Davor sat in one of the comfortable armchairs. He looked around and observed a variety of beautiful decorative objects. He was struck by the portrait of a female with a meskar child on the central wall of the living room. He imagined it was his host's family. After a few minutes, Arquenes returned with a tray overflowing with fruit, meskarian bread, spreadable cream, and a bottle of crimson wine.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, wagging his tail.

"I think so," the professor replied.

"Do you mind if I take off my shirt? Unlike you, we meskar find it very uncomfortable to wear tight clothing over our fur."

"I know. Please, Arquenes, don't bother on my account. Go ahead."

"Thanks, son. And tell me, what happened at the young lady's house?" the meskar asked as he removed the accessories and jacket from his suit.

"Well, I'll put it in a few words: she was with that guy Roniee, making love. I didn't dare go in."

"Grrr... That must have hurt, didn't it?"

Davor lowered his gaze in silence, trying to contain his emotions. He sighed deeply and nodded his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry, son. Hmm... and from what I can tell from your look and tone of voice, you really fell in love with her," Arquenes added in a paternal tone. The professor looked at him, forcing a smile.

"It was a mistake," he whispered.

"Well, dear Davor, I don't have any wine that can fix that, but I think chatting with me might help," the old man finally said.

As was customary for meskar, Arquenes was left in just his knee-length pants after removing his shirt. His brown fur was lighter than Ziranna's or Narel's. Patches of whitish hairs, typical of old age, were symmetrically distributed over his thick, somewhat plump body. However, he still retained the robustness of his youth. Seeing him, Davor commented:

"Ziranna told me you helped her hold the hose while she was rescuing the cub. Now I understand why. You have a very strong build; you still look like a meskarian athlete."

"Grrr... Heh, heh... a fat athlete, you mean... But thank you, you're very kind, son," Arquenes replied, laughing.

"I'm serious. I never thanked you for holding me up with Ziranna."

The meskar, after sighing for a moment, added:

"You know, it was horrible when the hose was cut and we fell to the ground. I thought the worst. We all did... But oh well... here you are, so a toast to you, my boy."

"Well, to that, cheers," Davor said, more cheerful now.

Arquenes sat down opposite his guest, settling into a large armchair whose backrest left plenty of space to accommodate his tail. They remained silent for a while, enjoying the pleasant taste of the meskarian wine. They drank several sips until they finished their respective glasses.

Davor tried to organize his thoughts as he planned his next steps. After a few minutes, the professor broke the silence:

"Arquenes, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm an independent worker now. I repair household appliances. That's what I was using the flashlight for that you lost, remember?" Arquenes let out a guttural laugh, an affable growl. "Grrr... Besides, at my age, I receive a state pension."

"And your wife? What does she do?" the professor added.

"My wife, you say?"

"Yes, the one in the portrait. Isn't she your partner? The one you told me about at the municipality."

Arquenes fell silent for a moment, standing up. With a new glass of wine in his hand, he slowly approached the photograph on the wall. With a serious face and melancholy in his voice, he pointed:

"I didn't tell you everything... She... she died a long time ago... They both did, I suppose."

"By all the gods, I'm sorry to hear that, Arquenes," the professor said, approaching him.

"It's okay... Don't worry... The wine makes me long for the past more strongly than I'd like. That's why I don't usually drink too much," the meskar replied with a sigh.

"I understand."

"My wife was a..." he began, but his voice broke, and a painful knot tightened in his throat. He lowered his gaze, covering his eyes with a hand, and the silence became heavy between them. Davor, touching his forearm, commented:

"Forgive me, Arquenes, I shouldn't have asked."

The meskar uncovered his face to let a couple of tears roll down his furry cheeks.

"No... there's nothing to forgive, Davor. You forgive this old sentimental man. As I said, the wine makes me more sensitive than I'd like... You see, she died many years ago. And I haven't seen my son in a long time either. That's why I said they were both dead."

Davor listened in silence. He knew that in meskar culture, the touching of their skins had deeper meanings than in human culture. For them, sharing feelings and emotions was a more genuine act if done through physical contact. With that in mind, the professor offered a hug, a gesture that in his own culture might be a simple consolation, but which he knew, for Arquenes, was an offering of the soul. The old meskar responded almost instinctively. Moved, he pulled him close, letting the strong beat of his heart resonate against Davor.

"Thank you, little one..." he sighed, taking in the scent of the young human. A slight shudder shook him.

"Calm down, my great friend, everything will be fine," the professor said.

***

Roniee woke up startled in his companion's bed. Several hours had passed since he had brought her to his house. Ziranna was sleeping soundly beside him, breathing softly, an unsettling contrast to the agitated night of pleasure they had shared. Roniee noticed a look of bewilderment even in her sleep, a subtle sign that something had overwhelmed her during their encounter. Her naked body still tempted him. However, the male couldn't get what Ziranna had said in the middle of her ecstasy out of his head.

"Oh, my love," he had whispered softly in her ear, pulling her closer. "I love you, Ziranna. We are meant for each other. Tell me, tell me now, that no one else exists, who is truly in your heart?"

The female, half-asleep, whispered a name that wasn't his.

"Grrrrrr! Damn it, Ziranna! Why!" he roared in fury. Desperate, he got out of bed, got dressed, and left the house. On the way, he constantly repeated:

"Why, Ziranna, why!" biting with rage.

"This isn't working..." he muttered in a voice charged with a cold resolution that contrasted with his previous fury, as he got into his vehicle and sped away.

***

"The last war between humans and meskar had very bloody episodes... Battles and fights that were not recorded in the historical annals, Davor," Arquenes was saying as he paced back and forth with his glass of wine in his hand. The professor noticed that the meskar's movements and his slow speech were a clear sign of the wine's effect on his body.

"My wife and I fought in one of the battalions that defended Llanel from the human army. She was a wonderful warrior, you know? A great soldier. We had many casualties that time, but we finally managed to repel those damned humans. Grrr! Oh... I'm sorry, son, no offense."

"It's okay, Arquenes... I was born after the great war, I have no memories of it."

"Oh... good, good... It was then, after living through the horrors of that battle, that she and I decided to leave the militia and work for peace... Many barbarities were committed, son... We couldn't bear it..."

"Yes, that's what I've read. War, everywhere, brings nothing but pain and suffering to people," Davor commented, taking another sip from his glass.

"Grrr! Well said, son! Grrr! When the war ended and the human migration to the other continent took place, my wife and I actively collaborated to reach out to your species. I witnessed the first peace agreements and the birth of the first joint institutions, like the Central State Agency. I suppose you've heard of it..." Arquenes declared, giving the human a furtive glance.

"Uh... well... they say the CSA is a secret organization that acts in the shadows," he commented.

"To keep their actions away from the separatists of both species. It's logical," the meskar added.

Davor forced a nervous smile and lowered his gaze, a fleeting shiver ran down his spine as he thought about what that secret organization entailed. Arquenes, after observing him, smiled to himself before continuing.

"In that time of fledgling peace, a part of human society didn't accept living with us and sought alliances with the meskar who thought like them. That's how the separatist groups were born, whose purpose is to prevent peaceful coexistence between us at all costs. They devised terrible weapons. One group of humans even developed a method to control meskarian will."

Arquenes paused to drink the last sip of wine from his glass. His advanced state of drunkenness barely allowed him to remain standing. Davor, who was slightly less drunk than him, thought the meskar's swaying was funny.

"Although in the last twenty years the separatists have been mostly neutralized by the CSA and the police of both species, there are still active cells, my friend. Groups of humans and meskar who don't understand that the best way to live... is to work together, in peace and mutual collaboration. Grrr... If you ask me, the separatists are more dangerous now than before. They act in the shadows, like cowards," he finally said before falling into the armchair.

"I think that's enough talk for tonight, my old friend. It's time to rest," Davor said as he extended a hand towards Arquenes. "Come on, get up."

"Good, good," the meskar replied, accepting the help. "I apologize, my boy. It's been a long time since I drank so much, and I think I've had too much wine, heh, heh. I should behave better in front of you, my guest."

Arquenes got up slowly, leaning against the wall to maintain his balance, as the alcohol made the world sway slightly around him.

"I'll walk you to bed," Davor offered, noticing his host's wavering stability.

They both walked with unsteady steps down the narrow hallway, occasionally brushing their shoulders against the walls. The meskar's bedroom was simple but cozy: a large bed took up almost all the available space, covered with thin blankets that smelled of dried herbs.

Arquenes fell heavily onto the edge of the bed, while Davor stood beside him, slightly wobbly.

"Well, old man. Lie down and rest. It's been a memorable evening. The wine has been... exquisite. The food, too."

"Davor, I hope I haven't bored you with my veteran stories," Arquenes murmured with a mix of shame and concern. "Sorry for drinking so much... sometimes memories weigh more than you'd like."

"Arquenes, it's okay. I'm not exactly in a condition to go to a hotel either, heh, heh."

"Grrr! Then stay and sleep here with me," the meskar suddenly declared with a spontaneity that surprised even himself. Without waiting for an answer, he extended his arms and gently pulled the human towards him, laying him down on his broad chest.

"Come here, Davor, you're the same size my son was when he was little," Arquenes whispered with an unexpected tenderness. "Let me hold you like I used to hold him on those difficult nights."

"Arquenes..."

"Forgive me. Just indulge this nostalgic old man," the meskar insisted, and for the first time in a long time, emotion welled up in his eyes, which shone with a wetness that wasn't just from the alcohol. "Let me hold you, if only for tonight."

"Okay, Arquenes. I'm too drunk to think clearly anyway, so I'll stay here, on top of you, like a lost puppy. Does that sound good?"

"Hmmm... a lost puppy..." Arquenes murmured, sighing deeply as he settled the human against his chest. "Speaking of that, ever since I hugged you in the living room, your scent has seemed familiar to me."

"Familiar? We've only known each other for a few days," Davor replied, his voice getting sleepier.

But Arquenes continued to sniff him discreetly, activating his meskarian instinct.

"Grrr! Yes, we meskar retain scents in our memory for life. And you smell like..." Arquenes replied, making a prolonged pause. Davor, bewildered and overcome by exhaustion, assumed it was a product of the meskar's drunkenness.

"Come on, Arquenes, tomorrow's another day, and we'll probably remember this conversation very differently," he commented, trying to lighten the mood.

But the old meskar remained focused, lost in thoughts that were taking shape with each inhalation. The human's closeness had awakened forgotten memories and apparent truths that were struggling to be validated. Then, as if suddenly coming out of a trance, his eyes widened.

"You... it can't be possible..." he whispered, with a mixture of awe and recognition.

"What do you mean?" Davor asked, raising his head slightly.

"Heh heh... Forget it, I think I'm too drunk."

"I see that," Davor murmured, getting comfortable again.

"I'll tell you something, Davor Zerek," Arquenes commented, deliberately changing the subject. "I was convinced you wouldn't survive when the torrent swept you away in that tunnel. No human could have done it... I... before I dedicated myself to repairing electrical items... " Arquenes's voice became a whisper full of mystery. "I was a state agent for many years."

Davor, despite his drunkenness, was surprised by that revelation. The meskar, with his eyes closed and senses on alert, waited for a response from his guest. When he didn't get one, he decided to push a little more.

"I knew you couldn't survive that accident... unless you had special training or... something more..."

"If you really were a state agent, you would never reveal it to an unknown civilian like me," the professor suddenly interrupted.

"Not if I were sober," Arquenes replied with a hoarse chuckle. "But wine makes old men loosen their tongues a bit. And what would you do in my place, Davor?"

"I... I have nothing to say about that..." the human evaded with an increasingly distant voice. "In my mind, I'm just thinking about her, about Ziranna... about what could have been..."

The alcohol and exhaustion finally overcame Davor's resistance, and he surrendered to sleep against the meskar's warm chest.

Arquenes, still with the persistent feeling of being in front of someone strangely familiar, stroked the sleeping human's head with paternal tenderness. His finger stopped, almost instinctively, on the small lump that Davor had on his neck, a mark that only someone with his experience could recognize.

A wide smile slowly formed on his face, a mixture of satisfaction, understanding, and a deep melancholy that had been dormant for years...

"That explains everything," he murmured softly. "Then I won't say anything either... son."

But Davor was no longer listening. His soft, regular snores filled the silence of the room, as he slept deeply on the old meskar's chest, who remained awake for a long time, stroking his hair and remembering a distant past he thought was forgotten.