For the twins, it was a magical time. Their village was a sylvan wonderland, a community of tree houses supported by the trunks and main branches of a forest of oak and ask. Each house consisted of separate but connected platforms, providing space and privacy. The community was linked by walkways and swaying rope bridges.
Their aerial location was not so much for defense as to raise the elves' living quarters above the largely still air at ground level. Cooling breezes easily penetrated the open architecture of their aeries.
Stairs and ladders provided reasonable access, though counter-weighted platforms were available for heavy lifting. Going down was easy, just slide down a rope, either vertically or slantwise. Flowers grew everywhere: in the ground, on climbing vines, or in tubs, pots, and hanging planters in the trees.
In the midst of a society based on same gender sexuality, it was inevitable for the hormone driven human youths to turn to their fellow males for sex, something the young men had only experimented with beforehand. With so many willing teachers, the eager students quickly became accomplished in the amatory arts.
The presence of so many elves had awakened the twins's inherent magical gift, which was an unerring sense of direction.
That meant that they always knew the azimuth to any place they had been to before or seen, as from atop a height. They were never at a loss for orienting themselves to the points of the compass, and their archery, already good, became uncannily accurate.
The twins eventually returned to their own village where they lived at the home of their uncle. The villagers were happy to see them return safely. They had feared the twins lost, being gone so long.
Still, what was with their insistence on nudity? The villagers were not prudes and had no problem with brief nudity at the baths or swimming holes. Their young men habitually went about bare chested, clad only in a loin cloth, a strip of hide passed between the legs and hung over a leather cord.
Even that garment might be laid aside for sweaty or dirty work like digging drainage ditches, terracing fields, haying, or harvesting nuts. Males also went nude for athletic training and competition. And they slept nude as well.
The twins explained that having been inducted into the tribe as elf-friends, they intended to live as much as possible like the elves did, including giving up clothing and taking up with other pretty men.
The twins freely acknowledged to their fellow villagers they had disported themselves with elven males and intended to do so with human ones as well, including each other.
Their uncle tried to reason with them.
"Guys, guys. No one minds you taking your clothes off as the other lads do for hard work, exercise, or during the annual nut harvest, but not all the time."
Their uncle was right about the nut harvest, the prime time during the year when public nudity by young males both expected and approved.
During the nut harvest, village young men stripped entirely before clambering into the trees to knock nuts off with a cane or stick. Without clothing, they could not snag their garments or get hung up.
Though a whole lot of hard work, the nut harvest was fun too, a challenge and a chance for the men to show off. From the topmost branches that could bear their weight, these young men would yell out in sheer youthful exuberance. What male does not love to climb trees?
And if a man also got a socially acceptable chance to posture and display himself in the nude before a potential mate, why so much the better. That was a traditional way for local women to size up the village men without causing scandal by going off alone with them.
As for the women, they ever so innocently bustled about on the ground, policing up the harvest of nuts into baskets and not so innocently checking out a likely man perched in the branches above.
The village swimming holes were segregated by gender after puberty, as was only proper, but the dense shrubbery along the banks held a number of vantage spots for naughty on-lookers.
Still, for all that, human men usually did not run around starkers, especially with impressionable young ladies looking on.
Shaking a finger at his nephews, the uncle added:
"I have a good mind to take a switch to those bare hides of yours, only I don't think it would do any good, would it?"
The young men shook their head, a stubborn look on their pretty young faces. Their grit and determination soon got through to the uncle who, after all, really did love his wayward nephews, so he accepted them for what they were.
As for the rest, the twins were already generally well liked and respected, and the whole village benefited from their hunting, which provided meat for the pot plus hides and pelts. Besides, ancient customs were that those named elf friends were traditionally welcome in any village.
Soon enough, a number of young males in the village realized that these attractive youngsters were a convenient sexual outlet, an alternative to village women who, however much they flirted and courted with their young swains, insisted on saving their virginity for their wedding night.
The twins were discreet in arranging trysts with them. So the twins were tolerated to run around bare ass naked and as glabrous as any elf and to consort discreetly with their fellow village youths. All in all, things had worked out.
"Anyway, we spend most of our time these days in the forest, hunting and scouting, pushing farther than we really need to, just to see what is on the other side of the next hill." Karel explained.
"Entirely unclad as you are you might be denizens of the forest yourselves, younglings." the giant remarked. "Not that I am complaining, mind you. As sexy as you are, I wouldn't mind sampling your charms myself, if that is not being too forward."
"No, not at all. And yes, perpetual nudity does make us feel like creatures of the forest who go about as nature has provided for them." Karel explained.
With a mischievous smile on his face, his brother added:
"And we fully realize that going around in the nude in public all the time is terribly naughty, but it makes us feel so sexy and wanton. Gosh, does that make us bad guys?" he asked with a facetious smile on his lovely face.
"Anyway, after two years, total nudity feels entirely natural." Jemsen said simply.
"Tell me about it." Dahl remarked dryly. He had never worn a stitch in his life.
Balan smiled indulgently and winked at Merry. Throw Dahl into the mix, and his three bipedal comrades were marvelous examples of youthful male pulchritude, with Dahl rather more delicate looking than the two humans.
For the time being, though, he would bide his time. He was in no hurry. Let acquaintance ripen into comradeship before taking any of them to bed. Meanwhile, they had each other and more power to them.
He didn't wonder that morning would find little Dahlderon sandwiched between the blond youths when it wasn't their turn to stand guard against the Trackers.
"But tell us of yourself, Balan, "Jemsen asked. "Are you an overgrown human or a true giant?"
"Something of both though I am as much human as giant by blood. According to our genealogical records, counting both sides of the family, my blood is virtually half giant and half human. Which explains why I am rather short compared to a true giant, most of whom stand eight to nine feet tall.
"More specifically, my red hair comes from my mother and my blue eyes from my father. In my land, we are basically human but with a significant admixture from the frost giants who live north of the mountains and trade with us in spring and summer when they can negotiate the passes."
"Frost Giants? Are they called that because they are cold-blooded or what?" Dahl blurted out.