One night, Elio receives an invitation and reads it for a spiritual retreat at The Lumanite Retreat. A religious retreat for those that follow the teachings of Lila Lumine, a religious teacher that Elio follows. The invitation allows for him to bring a guest of his choice. He sits in the kitchen while Alec sits on the couch.
"So Alec, do you want to head to a retreat with me?" Elio calls out, turning his head to face him.
Alec looks up from his manga and faces him curiously, "What type of event is it?"
"It's a traditional Lumanist event, mostly found among Elves," Elio comments.
"S-Sure, but are you sure you want me there?" Alec asks him, worried, "I feel like I'd stand out like a sore thumb."
Elio walks over to him and pats his head, "Of course I do. You're my boyfriend and I want to share a part of my culture with you."
Alec's demeanor slightly calms, "Okay then. I can come if you want me to."
When the weekend arrives, they pack up their clothes for the weekend and Elio starts driving them over to it. When they reach the sanctuary, Elio parks his Jeep by their cabin and they head to the front door to check in and Alec notices a couple Elves looking towards him and he grips Elio's hand with Elio returning the gesture. When they leave the office, they head to their cabin and start unpacking.
Elio and Alec sit on their bed together, "What's going on? You seemed nervous in the office."
"I was being stared at by some of the other guests," he responds, nervously, "It weirded me out."
"Well you are the only Werewolf here and it is a mostly Elven belief system, so naturally you would be bound to stand out, but you don't have to stand out here." Elio places his hands on Alec's shoulders and slightly moves closer.
Alec freaks out slightly, "Ookay. That's enough of that." Alec moves a step back and regains his composure, "So what are we doing today?"
"Well, most events usually involve meditation, workshopping, meeting with the monks-" Elio explains.
Alec interrupts him, "Is this a religious retreat?" Alec asks, confused.
"Yeah… is that an issue?" Elio asks him.
"No, I just wasn't expecting that. We didn't really do religion when I was growing up," Alec explains.
"Well, do you want to continue?" Elio asks.
"S-Sure, what do we do now here?" Alec asks him, curiously.
"Well, in a half-hour we will meet with the monks for some meditation, if you want to join me, just remember my people enjoy silence, especially here."
Alec blushes, "Sure, I'd love that. Do I need to wear anything specific?"
Elio tells him, "Try to wear something plain and modest, just make sure they are not flashy."
Later, Alec and Elio enter a glade led by three monks with various Elves dressed in dark green and blue robes with Alec buying a set from a shop there. Everyone gets into position in a circle with all of them facing the monks.
The head monk starts speaking,"Now everyone, get into position, then breathe and breathe out." Everyone, including Alec and Elio join him. Alec starts fidgeting while trying to focus.
He leans in to Elio and whispers to him "How long have we been here for? Fifteen minutes?"
Elio quietly shushes him, "It's been two minutes, please try to focus."
After another two minutes, Alec fidgets some more, growing impatient, he tries to talk to Elio again but he shushes him again gaining the attention of one of the monks.
The monk quietly walks over to Alec and Elio and orders them to follow him outside the glade, whispering, "Is everything alright over here?"
Elio replies, apologetically, "Yes, sorry, it's my boyfriend's first time here. I'm trying to keep us both quiet."
"Well, please keep quiet as the others here are trying to meditate or else you both will have to leave," the monk tells them.
"Of course we will, right Alec?" Elio asks him and Alec nods in agreement.
"Thank you. Now please return to your spots and don't disrupt the session any more," he orders them.
"Okay," Alec and Elio say in unison.
The group head back into the glade and Alec and Elio head back to their spot with the monk heading back to his spot next to the head monk. Alec silently fidgets next to Elio until the ending of the meeting. The group gets up and starts leaving with Alec hanging by the door while Elio gives a donation to the monks, he bows to them and starts walking to meet with Alec.
Elio looks towards Alec and they start walking out together, "How did you like your first meditation session?"
Alec sighs, relieved it is over, "Not very fun. Very boring, I don't know how you guys do it."
"Well I think you did just fine," Elio tells him.
"Thanks," Alec says calmly, his ears perk up. He places his hand onto Elio's hand.
They continue walking, holding hands and as they continue walking, they hear someone playing some music. They start walking towards where the music is coming from and see an Elven woman with long, dark blue hair, braided up, playing a flute with some people, mostly Elves with a Human and a Werecat mixed in the crowd. They listen for a few minutes and when she finishes, the crowd, including Elio and Alec claps.
As everyone else disperses, Alec and Elio stay and they walk to her. She starts disassembling her flute, not noticing them walking up to her.
"Your flute playing is very good," Alec comments to her.
"Thank you. I always appreciate fans," She responds, putting her flute box into a bag.
Elio chimes in, "What's your name?"
"Salacia. I'm a nomad and a scholar of sorts," she introduces herself, she lightly bows.
"So, um what is someone like you doing here? If you don't mind me asking of course," Elio asks.
"I've always wanted to share my talents wherever I go and I've always enjoyed festivals and retreats," she explains, "And who might you two be?"
Alec starts, letting his hand out and Salacia accepts it, "I'm Alec Fenrow, Parks and Recreation Administrator and occasional spiritual seeker… I guess."
Elio chimes in again, "I'm Elio Starshade, Software Analyst and active spiritual seeker."
Salacia looks at him curiously, "Starshade… I recognize that name from somewhere…"
"It's a common surname where my family is from," Elio quickly interjects.
"I see. Would you two like to join me on a walk?" Salacia asks them.
"Sure," Alec and Elio respond in unison.
Alec, Elio, and Salacia walk around the retreat while they talk. The setting sun glimmers over the lake and Salacia looks out towards it, slightly smiling. She looks towards the two of them, the Moonlight only glowing on part of her face.
"Do you two want to know why I became a nomad?" Salacia asks them, turning around.
"Sure," They respond in unison.
She smiles a bit, "Well I've always had a fascination with exploring the world and faith, specifically the Luminite faith and decided to become a traveling academic, getting the best of both worlds."
"That is amazing, so that's why you're here?" Elio asks, curiously.
"It is actually. It is my first time in the area and I wanted to make the best of it."
Alec interjects, "Do you guys know what's happening next?"
The area gets awkward for a moment and Elio responds, "Um, I think the dance is going to be soon."
"Are you two planning on going as well?" Salacia asks them.
"Sure," Elio responds to her, holding Alec's hand.
Later at the party, Alec and Elio attend, still wearing the robes from the meditation. They look around and notice it brightly lit with lights of various colors. They start heading over to the dining area when they spot Salacia talking to a couple monks in the back of the room. The two of them take a seat at a table and start talking.
"Are you excited, Alec?" Elio asks him, excitedly holding his hand.
Alec nervously looks at Elio, "Kinda. I'm just not used to this. How would we even dance together?"
Elio chuckles, "Just follow my lead and you'll be okay."
Alec smiles at him, his ears slightly perking up, "I'm usually leading, but okay."
The announcer starts talking, "Okay everyone, ready to start dancing? Let's get started."
A group of people get up from their chairs and head to the dance floor and the DJ starts playing music and the group start dancing together with their robes flowing everywhere with Elio leading Alec onto the dance floor with Elio and Alec looking at each other.
Alec blushes, "C'mon El, this is so embarrassing. I don't think I can do this."
Elio places his hand on Alec's cheek, smiling, "It's okay, Alec. It's not hard. Remember, follow my lead." Alec chuckles in response, still blushing.
The two of them start dancing with Alec tripping a bit while trying to follow Elio's lead. While dancing, someone accidentally steps on Alec's tail, causing him to bark a bit.
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" The Elf asks him.
"Yep. I'm okay," Alec whimpers. The Elf nods, and returns to dancing with his partner.
"You're doing great, Alec," Elio whispers to him.
"Thanks," Alec responds, blushing. "I just can't do something so… organized. It feels weird."
"Don't worry. You worry too much," Elio kisses his head. As they dance, Elio starts lifting Alec's arm and spins him around. Alec gets a bit dizzy from it.
The DJ changes the music and starts talking, "Okay everyone, switch partners." Everyone stops dancing and starts switching their partners.
"Let's do this, Alec. It might give you the change you need," Elio tells him, trying to encourage him.
Alec smiles with his tail wagging a bit, "Yeah. Let's do this."
Alec and Elio start walking around and Alec finds an Elf woman while Elio finds an Elf man.
"Want to dance, sir wolf?" The Elf woman asks Alec, bowing a bit.
"Sure." Alec reaches his hand out to her and she accepts it. Alec and she start dancing together.
"So you must be the werewolf from the rumors. What's brought you to a festival like this?" She asks him while still dancing.
"I came here with my boyfriend actually. He invited me and I wanted to support him," he responds.
"That's wonderful actually. It's nice you want to support him in that way."
"Yeah… I just want to help support and get to know him in any way possible."
"Are you enjoying the retreat so far?"
"I am… I'm glad at least the initial staring stopped."
"Well, when you're one of the only outsiders that enter, word tends to spread."
Alec smiles, "Yeah I gues it does."
Meanwhile Elio is dancing with a male elf.
"Are you enjoying the retreat so far?" The Elf asks him.
Elio blushes, "Yes. I got to share it with my boyfriend actually. It's really nice."
"That's wonderful, is he the Werewolf you were just with?"
"He is actually. I am glad he wanted to experience it with me, despite the looks."
"It must have felt weird."
"It did, I just don't want him to feel weird for coming along to any Elven events with or without me."
"Hopefully it doesn't scare him off. Anyways, how long have you been a Luminite for?"
"I've been one ever since I was born. I've mostly enjoyed the festivals part of it, if I'm honest."
The male elf smiles a bit, "I see. Well-"
The DJ announces the change in partners and after a few rounds of dancing and switching partners, the dance ends with Alec and Elio meeting back up and starting to help clean the dance room.
"How did the dance go?" Elio asks Alec, happily.
Alec smiles in return, "It went well actually. Some of my partners were quite interesting actually."
"Oh, better than me?" Elio asks, faking a frown.
"You know you're the best." Alec places his finger on Elio's nose.
Alec stacks a couple chairs and picks them up and places them in a storage closet with Elio holding the door for him. Salacia walks by carrying a table with a monk. When they walk out of the closet, the monk thanks her and walks off while Salacia walks to the side of the room Alec and Elio are on.
"I see you two enjoyed yourselves tonight," Salacia comments, she stacks a couple chairs.
"Yeah we did, I didn't see you dancing. How come you didn't?" Alec asks her, doing the same thing.
"I can't dance. I like watching people dance though. It's… calming actually."
"I hope it was good even though you didn't dance."
"It was actually." Salacia starts carrying the chairs to the closet with Alec following behind her.
When Alec, Elio, and Salacia finish cleaning the room with the monks, they bow to each other and say good bow to each other.
Alec and Elio reach their cabin, they change out of their robes off with Alec putting some pj shorts on while Elio puts on a night shirt and pajama pants. They lay by a fireplace that Elio lights and grab a blanket. They sit and start talking together about the day.
"Did you enjoy today?" Elio asks Alec.
"I actually did. It was very interesting to do everything. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow," Alec responds.
"Congrats, we'll get to do the same thing tomorrow, then we'll go home."
"Aw what?"
"Yep. That's what usually happens at this specific retreat. Maybe we can go to an Elven market. It'll have music and tons of Elven crafts there."
Alec blushes at the thought, "Yeah, we can do that."
The two of them talk for a bit. After a while, Alec receives a phone call. He picks it up and sees it is from his brother, Blade.
Alec picks up, "Hey, Blade. What's going on?"
"Hey, Alec. Are you still up for this coming weekend?" Blade asks him.
"Oh, yeah we are. Can I invite Elio along with us?"
"Definitely! Then we can make it a lucky seven!" Blade responds, excitedly.
"Cool. We'll meet up this weekend."
"Good. I hope he's good to you."
"He is. See ya this weekend, dude."
"See ya." Alec hangs up the phone and looks towards Elio.
"What's going on, Alec?" Elio asks him, confused.
"This coming weekend, my brother Blade, his wife, a few friends, and I will be meeting up for a yearly event where we celebrate under the full moon and have a few friendly competitions together. It's not often when we all can get together," Alec explains to him, while walking back to him.
"And I'm invited as well?" Elio asks, confused, "I thought those types of events were typically Werewolf only."
"They traditionally are, but my brother and friends are willing to make an exception for you. Plus, you brought me here despite it being mostly Elves."
"Oh, okay… I guess I can do it," Elio hesitantly responds.
"Awesome. You'll love him."