Makarovia! Yes, I Know Where That is! Sophomore Year - 46. Chapter 46

Daniel, you never grocery shop when you're hungry.   You know that, but you shouldn't write when on a diet.   I gained ten pounds when I had my check up.    Bon Appetit   

The Honeymoon

We had a busy day in Montenegro. Our next stop was Corfu, Greece. We shouldn't have any problems there with tolerance. Corfu was an island off the coast of Greece. Neither Peter or I had been there. I read on the Internet (bless all who had a hand in developing that) they had plenty of beaches. Peter was looking, too.

“Do you see something you want to see?” I asked him.

Peter nodded. “I do.” He smiled at me and pointed to a picture of white sanded beach and beautiful blue water. “And what I really like about it, is no one's on it.”

I sat back a little. “You didn't like Montenegro?”

Peter gave a grudging nod. “It was fine.” He said in nearly a whine. “I felt like we were inspecting troops or opening something.”

I nodded. “You felt you were working.”

“Yes!” He got closer to me. “We're on our honeymoon. I felt we were doing some...royal duty.”

I tilted my head at him. “Aren't we?”

“We are in Makarovia.” Peter clarified. “I just want to spend time with you.”

Wanting to know how he felt I touched his chest, but I wanted him to know how I felt. “Finding you, I wasn't prepared for. Then coming to Makarovia, I most definitely did not expect.”

“Now how do you feel about the title?”

I bumped my head to his. “It opens doors.” I looked at him directly. “Hopefully, it will open eyes, too. Men and women are facing some severe homophobia.” I shrugged. “I felt we were representing them. Aren't we?”

“Yes,” he admitted slowly. “I'm being selfish again.”

“No,” I smiled. “You're not. You want to spend time with me and that's why we're on the Duchess, but you and I have not really been apart in the last two years except for classes mostly. Its nice to know you still feel that way.” I leaned in a kissed him. “I do, too.” I motioned at the computer monitor screen. “There are the usual churches and monasteries. There's Old Corfu Town and some museums.” I chuckled lightly at his bored expression hearing that. “Or we speak with Captain Agius about his knowledge of this area and see if he knows of a beach not really that populated and hard to get to without a boat.”

Peter grinned. “Do you think he does?”

“Mario has a private island,” I said. “Maria may like the same thing. I know Mario has let his sister use his island. He's probably used the Duchess. The Captain will know.”

The Duchess slowly cast off from the port in Kotor. Peter and I went to the office the Captain used.

I propped on the door frame. “Are you ever off duty?”

Captain Agius looked up and smiled. “I have time I take. Usually during in the between times we arrive at a port and leave a port. My first mate and second officer do fine during those times.” He shrugged. “I did when you were ashore. There's not much pressure. I deal with port authorities a lot.”

I nodded. “I know you do. Of course, you know a lot about the Mediterranean.”

“Of course.”

I asked. “Has the Countess or Mario asked for a private location around Corfu?”

Captain Agius shrugged. “Both.” He grinned. “This yacht belongs to the Count, but the Bassos' use it the most. The Countess and Mario.” He got up and pulled a nautical chart out. “To the South of Greece and Italy, there are a lot of islands. There are some that are not on a map.” He grinned. “I know of one used by the Countess and Mario Basso.” He chuckled. “Basically, it's sort of an...” he thought, “a reverse oasis.” He waved out of the windows. “Surrounded by all this water, there is an oasis of land here.” He pointed on the map, which I could barely understand. It had marked features underwater, of straits, mountain ranges (underwater) and canyons. I pointed at area between the boot heel of Italy and Corfu.

“I don't see it.” Peter confessed.

“You wouldn't,” the Captain chuckled. “It's barely an acre, maybe two.” He shrugged a nod. “I haven't been in a year or two. There is a little vegetation. That depends on what was left from storms. It's really the peak of a mountain in a range located here. It's not really local enough for tourists from Greece or Italy.”

“But there's a beach?” I asked.

“Last time I saw it,” the Captain nodded. “It surrounded the vegetation.”

Peter nodded. “That sounds perfect! Could we go?”

The Captain nodded. “You tell me where and I get you there.” He said simply.

Peter leaned toward me and said not so quietly. “Oh, yeah, this is very dangerous.”

Captain heard, naturally, and chuckled.

Henri smiled at us as we came to the table. “I hope you will hate this as much as you did what I gave you this morning.” He placed a couple of steaming bowls in front of us and even said, “Voilà!” “This is a creamy Lobster Bisque and Escargot.”

My eyes widened. “I had escargot once. It was delicious.”

Again, the different languages didn't work. These were not in shells. “They are what?”

“Ravlyky.” I said in Makarovian.

“Is it?” He looked at them closer. “They have no shells.”

“Snails are snails.” I shrugged. “Have you had them?”

“Not yet,” Peter smiled.

They were both very good. Henri came with the main course. It was a thick Cajun Crawfish Etouffee. Almost a stew! I had Shrimp Etouffee, but this had a creamy, buttery roux, or the soup part instead of the tomato based roux of Shrimp Etouffee. It also had a little bite. I was in love.

Henri came back about midway. “I hope you disliked it.”

Peter shook his head. “I absolutely loath this.” He pointed to his bowl. “This is my second bowl!”

Henri liked us, but didn't know us yet. “It's not too spicy? It has a lot of peppers in it. Green Peppers, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper...”

I nodded. “I've not had many dishes that are too spicy.”

“Have you had chili made from Seafood?” Henri said with a smile that said he knew we probably hadn't.

Peter's looked puzzled. “But you have one in mind?”

Henri nodded. “I do.”

“What's in it?” I asked.

Henri shook his head. “I'm not telling you that. You have to see and taste it yourselves.”

“Aw, Henri.” I said in a pout.

“No.” Henri said with that sharp and short the way the French do. “You must wait until tomorrow.”

“That's mean!” Peter added.

Henri nodded. “I know. I hear you will be here for lunch tomorrow. I'll serve it then. ” He grinned evilly and went back into the galley.

I looked at Peter. “Oh, he's good.”

We didn't have to be anywhere. Peter and looked out the window and saw nothing but water. On one side. On the other side there was what Captain Agius said. This island was tiny. Too small for any construction or development with a wide white beach that surrounded a few palm trees and some bushes. The most important part was no one else was there. We showered and changed.

Again the breakfast was French. I hadn't really had anything French except for French Toast. I found that they really didn't do eggs very much in France for Breakfast. They ate lightly for Breakfast. Yesterday that dish had them, but not today. We had Chausson aux Pommes! Yeah, I hadn't even heard of them either. They were puff pastry things almost like a turn over. But was flaky like a croissant but had this a filling like applesauce inside it. They were warm and sinfully delicious. Henri told us they were common in France. And he did know us enough to have our coffees.

The little island had a wide shelf below the water making the water turquoise. The distance from the ship to the beach was a little ways. The anchor would keep the Duchess where it was.

Mikell looked at the island. “How do I protect you way over there?”

Peter looked around the yacht and asked. “Protect us from what? Seagulls?”

“I know Captain Agius has something to see approaching vessels.” I said. “Use that.”

“Or even a pair of binoculars.” Peter shrugged.

“You take some time off from your duties.” I said. “We may go to Corfu tomorrow, but for today, relax.”

We took an inflated rubber boat to the island. Peter did well piloting it and pulled it on shore to prevent it from floating away. It made sense that Mario and his sister knew of this island. The need to escape made them find these places or build them, like on Mario's private island.

We swam in the cool water and stretched out on the beach on towels. The only sounds were from the breeze, an occasional seagull and the water. There weren't that many waves here.

Peter broke the spell a little as he said. “I was thinking about what you said yesterday.”

I looked over at him. “I said a lot yesterday,” I grinned. “Could you be more specific?”

“About us representing homosexuals in the world in dealing with homophobia.”

“I remember.” I said. “We aren't representing them all, I don't have the audacity.”

“We are gay,” Peter said. “We've been threatened because of that.”

I nodded. “Who better to stand up for us?” I asked. “When we were in Montenegro, they could have arrested us if we were just a visiting couple. They wouldn't because of who we were and the world would see.”

“If it gets shown,” Peter said. “Zdravko said they didn't show anything with gay content.”

“But Ms. Burgan said she agreed with us.” I pointed out. “I think if they try to stop it, both of them will raise a stink. They can't deny we were there, there were a lot of people who saw us. There will be questions that will have to be answered.”

Peter propped on his elbow. “They knew who we were.” He grinned. “We were more than just a headline they knew about from a paper or heard about it on the news. That means they've seen us before. They knew what we did.”

I smiled. “And what did we do?”

“We got married.” Peter grinned then said in a sing song voice. “We're married.”

I nodded as he leaned closer to me kissing me. “I remember.”

I did keep a sharp eye on Peter's skin. Last year he got that burn from the sun and I didn't want that again. We spent a few hours that morning in the sun, but I didn't take the chance. Slathering him with a high SPF sunscreen helped, but it only stretched the time he could be in the sun. He could still burn.

We returned to the Duchess. We stopped by the galley and saw Henri.

“We're going to shower and clean up.” Peter told him. “We'll be ready for that chili you promised.”

“Oui, votre Altesse,” he grinned saying your highness again in French. “And I will deliver! It just needs another...” he glanced at his watch, “forty minutes?”

“We'll be ready.” I said.

“And hungry!” Peter said as I pulled Peter with me.

We took another shower to get rid of any sand and sweat. There wasn't much as we rinsed off in the blue water.

We were ready a little quicker than we asked us to be. Peter and I talked about what we wanted to do on Corfu.

“And here we are,” Henri said grandly placing two steaming bowls in front of us. The aroma was enticing! You couldn't disguise shrimp too much. I saw them in the red of steaming liquid. It was no soup or stew. It was thicker. “I will tell you now. There is the shrimp, as you can see, there is crab meat and scallops.” He looked seriously at us. “Boris told me that neither of you had allergies.”

“None we know of.” Peter said.

“It is a bit spicier than what you had yesterday...” Henri cautioned.

Peter pointed at me. “He and I have had five alarm chili.”

Henri nodded. “Ah, this isn't that hot. Three alarm, perhaps.” He placed some sliced French breads and butter in front of us. “This is for any chance it might be too hot.” He said chuckling as he returned to the galley.

Truth was given from Henri. It was a bit spicier than yesterday. I didn't have to use the sweatbands I had to with the chili Peter mentioned.

Henri came again to ask if we hated it as much as the others. The evidence were our empty bowls. We both had two bowls, each!

“I can cook many things,” Henri said. “I pretty well acquainted with other culinary styles. It doesn't have to be French.”

“This wasn't French.” I said.

“No,” Henri confirmed. “It is thought to be from Mexico, but I don't think so.”

“Where do you think it came from?” Peter asked.

“If it is from Mexico, it's interesting you almost never find it on Mexican Menus.” Henri stated. “Most of the earliest accounts came from Spain, or rather from the Spanish Canary Islands to San Antonio. My guess it was Mexico when Texas was claimed by Mexico.” He shrugged. “It evolved from there.”

I grinned. “I saw there were no beans in yours.”

Henri chuckled. “There is a famous quote that says, if you know beans about chili, you know that chili has no beans. Unless it's asked for, I don't.”

I chuckled with him. “We can't thank you enough for doing this for us.”

Henri nodded. “Ah, but you two are wonderful to cook for. Don't misunderstand, Countess von Bar eats well and they are both generous. I have watch what I make so they don't gain weight.” He waved at the two of us. “You two are young men with good appetites and so appreciative. It's a pleasure to cook for you.” He when into thought as he ran things over in his mind. “I think the Orient will be tonight.” He looked at us. “Any objection?”

Peter and I shook our heads.

“You have all that in a freezer?” I asked.

Henri's eyes widened. “Mords ta langue!” He looked almost offended making Peter laugh. He knew what Henri said. “No! I never store anything in a freezer.” Henri stated. “They are kept in a refrigerator, oui, but never frozen. I know many vendors in many ports. They are fresh.”

“What did he say in French?” I asked Peter.

“Bite your tongue.” Peter smiled and chuckled. “I've never heard a person from France say that.”

“Now, you have,” Henri corrected. “I will surprise you.”

Peter had enough sun earlier as I noticed a slight “pinking” of his skin. He was so fair that he had to take it slowly. No one should be uncomfortable, especially on their honeymoon.

We again got on the computer to look at what Corfu offered.

Corfu was called the emerald island of Greece. It had plenty of plants and trees to earn that name. It was also known as the Grand Lady of Ionian. It had been under the control of Venetians, The French and Great Britain, but Greece got it in 1864. Greece was right there next to it just off Greece's Western side! They were practically touching. It was Greek. Much of what was built in Corfu was resent. Resent as in the medieval times from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Charleston was old, Stryia was very old, but this was thousands of years old. This was where one of the you had to read in high school came from. Odysseus' ship was wrecked here. Their was also a New Fort was built in the 16th Century. Their Old Fort was went back to the 6th Century. A thousand years older than the New Fort!
Since there were different European countries in control of Corfu, there were a lot of buildings that reflected that in architecture and I knew it would be impressive. I'd enjoy seeing them, but I was really looking forward to seeing a far older Greece. An ancient Greece. Talk about what you read in high school. The myths in high school, it was in Athens I had learned they were from.

Modern Corfu was beaches and resorts. It was beautiful! And very popular. They had visitors from all over the world. I chuckled to myself. Mikell and the others were going to work tomorrow. We had spent a good amount of time on the beach and if we wanted more of that, we could just go back to that tiny island. I had to remind myself, we were doing this to be seen. As I also said, there were visitors from around the world. Corfu was very gay friendly. Hell, all of Greece was gay friendly. No, they didn't allow marriage...yet. They recognized Civil Unions. Semantics. They did have what they called Civil Marriages. They granted same gender couples many of the same rights as couples who are of the opposite sex. It was a very liberal country. They didn't allow marriages by the name yet. Civil Marriages just said “Persons.” No bride or groom.

We would be seen. That was important. This was going to be an unplanned and unannounced visit. We didn't want give away where we were to anyone. That's why we had to skip going to Tel Aviv. It was possible to track the Duchess if they knew we were on it. That Middle East country that sent the missile could try again or the Consortium could take advantage of the situation and try to kidnap us. It was dangerous in this world.

Of course, whatever Henri was making in the galley had an aroma that was making me hungry. When I heard the noise coming from Peter. I knew he was feeling the same thing causing me to laugh at him.

“What?” Peter asked and shook his head. “It's been hours since we ate lunch. My stomach growled. I'm hungry!”

“I heard that.” I pointed to his stomach and brought his head toward me kissing him. “You're Human. It's almost time.”

Henri told us it was ready. We didn't race, but Peter got to his chair first. Sitting at the table Henri brought out...egg rolls? I'd had some before and loved them. Often they big, but these were about the size of your fingers. He placed a couple of ramekins each down with a red liquid and a brown liquid. That prevented any double dipping. The egg rolls put aromatic steam into the air.

“These are Spring Rolls from Hong Kong.” Henri told us. “The red is a sweet dipping sauce and the brown is a tangier, savory dipping sauce.” He grinned. “Your main course will be ready shortly.”

I took a Spring Roll and dipped it into the sweet sauce, but had to wait for it to cool off. I blew on it to speed that up. Again, there few words to express what I tasted. It was heavenly! The outer shell was crispy and had a nice, light crunch.

“Oh, my God!” Peter's shut as he savored the taste. He opened the them and asked. “You have got to try the savory one.”

Since there wasn't any double dipping, I dunk my half eaten Spring Roll in my savory sauce. “Damn, this is Divine.” It was a little sweet, but not like first I tried. The flavors married and made the egg roll even better. I knew one of the tastes and looked at the filling. There was the colors that lettuce or something added. But those little bits of white meat told me what I knew. It was shrimp and crab meat. I looked at Peter. “Okay, how are we doing this? Do we drug him or just knocking him out?”

Peter chuckled. “We can't do that. Not if we ever want go one the Duchess again.” He grinned. “Besides, Boris is a talented chef, also. He cooks as well as Henri.”

I sulked a little. “I know, but seven or eight days of this, they will have to use a crowbar to pry my fingers loose from the bulkhead.”

Peter chuckled at that.

I had seen the inside of the galley. I saw the monitor that showed the dining area. All Henri had to do was look at that and he knew when we were finished. He came out with a platter of something.

“Are you getting tired of seafood? Of shrimp?” Henri asked.

"Mords ta langue!” I shot back using what he'd said to me earlier. Now I was telling him to bite his tongue. I looked at Peter. “Are you tried of it?”

Peter shook his head. “Not a bit, but I look forward to getting that way. We'll let you know when we had enough.”

Henri nodded grinning. “Okay.” He placed the steaming platter in between us. “This also from Hong Kong.” He held his hands together and bowed. I could almost hear a big gong being struck. “This is Honey Orange Firecracker Shrimp. Xiǎng shòu.” He smiled. “That's Chinese for enjoy.” He winked at us and went back in the galley.

We each tasted the this dish. It was so good, there was almost a chorus of “ahhs” from a choir of angels as the awareness of how good it was hit us. We were enlightened now. I tasted the sweet of the honey, the light orange flavor and why it was called Firecracker Shrimp. There was a slight “pop” of Cayenne Pepper.

I looked at Peter who was having the same sensation as I was as his eyes closed. He sighed and he smiled. “Can we do a reverse shanghai?” He used his fork to gesture. “You know how they often took men when in port to serve on ships in the past. Can't we get that one from a ship?”

I chuckled with him. “We could.”

We were kidding, but...Henri was good. So, was Boris.