YPA: Your Privacy Assured/YPA.ISO/text/j264-019

Text File | 1995-03-09 | 60KB | 1,287 lines

     Journal Entry 019 / 0264

     It was three days before P'nyssa's fever broke, but we spent those
days in bed while P'nyssa called in to Cutter's and told Jean that she
might not be available for a few days, possibly much longer.  Jean was
very polite about the request, saying she understood and she hoped that
P'nyssa would return as soon as possible but that it was also likely
that the staff could handle everything even if their chief of pediatrics
was out for a while, ect. ect.  We decided to not push our luck, and
even though we had a few visitors in those days, few people mentioned
the rumor that had to be spreading like wildfire.

     In any event, five days after this whole thing started P'nyssa and
I awoke, ate and got into the shower.  I was washing her back, scrubbing
under the fur to get the sweet-smelling soap up against her pelt when
she reached around and slowly began to stroke my cock.  I hissed in
pleasure and heard her chuckle.  "Like that, huh?" she said.

     "Wonderful," I replied, reaching forward to stroke her between her
legs and up the crease of her ass.  She giggled, and when I ran my
fingers over her clit she crooned thankfully.  I pressed up against her,
my cock protruding between her thighs, pressed down against her ass.
Having tens instead of arms is both a disadvantage and an advantage for
tindals; while she can't lift nearly as much weight as I can, there is
no such thing as an awkward position.  She easily found my cock and
seized it with her mittens, stroking it intently.  I leaned against her
shoulder and groaned.  I reached around her and slowly stroked her sex
in response.  Using my fingers is a half-measure for me; I wanted to get
down there and use my tongue, but she kept right on stroking me, coaxing
me further and further towards orgasm.  Her other tentacle reached
around behind us both and slowly began to caress my ass.  She knows how
that drives me crazy, and slowly the combination drove me over the
brink, and I came in a wonderful orgasm, shooting out onto the shower
floor and her fur.

     I collapsed to my knees, both in momentary exhaustion and in a
desire to get at her cunt.  She still faced away from me and with both
hands I parted the cheeks of her ass, probing with my tongue to get at
the tiny brown hole hidden there.  Her fur tickled gently against my
cheeks as I traced my way from her asshole towards her cunt, licking
between her labia to part them.  I upended my self to get a better angle
and slowly I began to lick her cunt, avoiding her overly sensitive clit
and licking around it, over the hood and between the lips.  She crooned
softly, and I began to lick a little harder when she said "wait."

     "What?" I said, backing away slightly.

     "Use that," she said breathlessly, pointing to the showerhead.

     I stood from where I was as she settled to the shower floor,
leaning against the far wall which I had long ago padded with
polyurethane for just such an occasion.  I grabbed the shower massage
and handed it to her.  The massage was a blatant misuse of transporter
technology; there was no hose, just a direct transporter feed somewhere
in the wall.  I've seen the same thing done with glassware at bars and
parties; it's hard to judge how much you've drunk when this annoying
little thing at the bottom fills your glass when you're not looking.

     She took the shower massage and turned the dial to massage, one
stream.  A softly pulsing stream of water came out of it, and she
directed it towards her cunt.  "Hold me open," she said in a hoarse
whisper.  I lay down on my stomach between her legs and reached forward,
parting her cunt open.  The stream of water aimed at her clit, circling
it slowly.  Her cunt became red, and her clit stuck out visibly as the
water circled it.  She groaned.  I watched intently as she masturbated
herself, her mouth open and her breath coming in ragged, hoarse gasps.
At times she would increase the pressure on the spray, and by the time
she was on her fifth orgasm, the stream had become a strong, steady
flow.

     She snapped it off and lay there, gasping for air and totally
splayed out against the shower floor.  I wiped the spray off my face.
"How do you feel?" I asked.  I love watching her masturbate.

     "Tired.  Whew.  Help me up?"  I did, gracefully.  Somehow, I don't
mind being replaced by a machine;  I know that, more often than not, she
prefers my tongue to the shower or vibrator.  Still, I did get her these
toys.  We actually cleaned off this time, getting ready to go, dressed
in out best travelling clothes, and headed out for the stepping disk.


     The change in weather from the Castle to wherever it was D'israeli
lived was dramatic; we went from frozen midwinter to high summer on
apparently a high plain;  grass and a few scraggly trees stretched out
for miles around us.  Except for south; in that direction there was an
odd haze, like a band of mirage, that I couldn't make out.  Also in that
direction, I could see smoke, so I guessed that was the direction of the
settlement.  Actually, that made sense.  This stepping disk was
associated with only one settlement, and the tree associated with this
disk was on the opposite side of it from the smoke.  "Twenty kilometers,
huh?" P'nyssa said.

     "Something like that."

     "Then we should start walking."  And walk we did.  It should have
taken us nearly five hours to reach the settlement, and as we approached
it I noted that if the haze got any clearer, I couldn't tell.  We didn't
speak much as we walked.  We had walked  the first four hours when there
was some dust being kicked up and I turned to my left to see what it
was.  There were four large beings on four equally oversized horses
riding our way.  I focussed on them.  Uncia?  Out here?

     For that matter, I didn't know where "here" was.  For all I knew,
we were on or near the Uncia climatorial bands, in which case Rael
shouldn't been living out here.

     They rode up and heeled their horses to a stop.  The one in the
lead spoke Quen.  "Greetings, Friend.  What brings you here?"

     I replied in the growls, hisses and spits of traditional Uncian.
"Good day, Uncia.  We seek D'israeli Mittleson."

     "Then you will find him living with us, over by our camp.  Would
you like a lift?  I am called RRawl."

     "We would very much.  I am Shardik, and this in P'nyssa."

     At the mention of my name, the Uncia began to talk among
themselves.  "We would be honored by your presence, Father," RRawl said
in Uncia.

     "Thank you." I said.  I walked forward towards the horse; he held
down an arm and hoisted me onto the saddle behind him.  The one to his
left helped P'nyssa onto her horse.  He wheeled the horse back towards
the smoke.

     "Tell me," he said, "what brings you to D'israeli's home?"

     "It is a personal matter of my..." I searched for the word in Uncia
to describe my relationship with P'nyssa.  I couldn't find one, so I
switched to Quen, "Coimelin," literally, "The love of my life."

     "I see.  I would invite you to dinner, but I fear what we eat would
not be palatable to you."

     In Quen, so P'nyssa would understand, I said "I could eat your
food, RRawl," and out of the corner of my eye I could see P'nyssa making
NO motions with her mittens.  I laughed and continued, "but I'm afraid
my coimelin's stomach is not so experienced."

     RRawl roared with laughter and said, "I appreciate that.  Very
well.  You will dine with D'israeli tonight, but join us for a meal
sometime."

     "I will do that.  Would you wish me for a hunt?"

     "You will not slow us down?"

     "Do my best."

     "Rumor has it you once hunted with Lukas."  Lukas was the only
human who participated in the Uncia rituals of combat and territory.  He
rarely lost.

     "The rumor is true.  With him I killed the pamthreats who
threatened the centaur town of Minya."  Yeah, and I almost died in the
process.  Lukas came out with nary a scratch.  Bastard.

     "Then I would be pleased to have you hunt with us."

     "Thank you, Uncia."  We had reached the outer fence of the
encampment.

     We rode in and RRawl said, "You'll find the route to D'israeli's
home over there," pointing to a short route that led...

     To a cliff.  The "haze" I'd been noticing was a cliff.  This
enormous plain that stretched for apparently hundreds of miles was on
top of a cliff, and D'israeli apparently lived at the bottom of this.
"He lives in your Faryth?" I asked.  RRawl nodded his affirmative.
"But, what's down there?"

     "Rainforest."

     "You're kidding."

     "No.  The drop is 2536 meters."

     I whistled.  What sort of geologic oddity had created this?  "How
long does this rift run?"

     "There is a saltwater ocean 2500 klicks that way.  The rift and the
landbed below meet about 1800 klicks that way.  The rift runs exactly
along the northern border of the southern Uncia climate band."

     "I'm impressed.  Wait.  We are not in Uncia land?"

     "Not here."

     "And D'israeli lives in the Uncia lands?"

     "Yes."

     "Very strange.  And this sort of happened, right?  Like all things
in life that happen while your making other plans."

     The Tsernen looked at me strangely, then nodded.  "I've read your
papers, Shardik.  You always declare you are not the wise man we make
you out to be.  But you occasionally do have flashes of wisdom."

     I blushed, I think.  Praise from a Uncia is praise indeed, even if,
as Shardik, I'm used to faint praise.  "Thanks, RRawl."  I turned to
P'nyssa and said, "Ready?"

     "As ready as I'll ever be," she replied, with a nervous tremor in
her voice.

     "Then lets go.  Thank you for your aid, Uncia RRawl."

     "A pleasure, Father Shardik."  P'nyssa and I shouldered our packs,
walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.  It did indeed look
like it dropped for klicks.  To one side we saw the mechanism of
descent; a stairway carved out of the rock with disintegrators and
fusers.  We began our slow climb downward.

     We reached the bottom after about three hours of careful descent.
It wasn't that much of a problem; it was, after all, just a staircase.
But it was a long drop, two and half kilometers.

     Like all things on Pendor, the forest was on a grand scale,
disappearing at the limit of vision in a haze of green foresttop and
white clouds or mist.  But a steady stream of wood smoke issued from
down at the floor of the staircase, and I was somewhat grateful that
Rael hadn't built too far from the stairs.  The idea of walking any
distance through what Uncia use as a hunting ground didn't appeal to me.
I figured though that the lands immediately about the stairwell had been
cleared of anything dangerous.

     When we reached the bottom, we did indeed find Rael's house. It had
all the modern conveniences, as far as I could see.  It looked like a
two-floor building of wooden construction, but to one side was the
ubiquitous wooden hut with rad symbol, a Rigg's fusion reactor.  Also
apparent above the hut was a tall fresh-water condenser, and next to
that a radio antenna.  I wondered where the gravity antenna was;
probably in the hut with the riggatron.

     "Do we knock?" I asked.

     "Guess so," P'nyssa responded.  She walked through the front gate
to the door.  I followed.  She did indeed find a large brass knocker on
the door, and knocked three times.  There was sound of scrambling
inside, and a feminine voice saying something in Quen I couldn't quite
make out.  The door was thrown open.

     There, standing in the door, was the oldest-looking tindal I'd ever
seen.  His apparent age must be a cosmetic decision, I thought.  Nobody
had to look that old if they didn't want to; being unaging, apparent age
was always a cosmetic decision.  He looked up and snapped, "Who are
you?"

     "Rael?  Don't you recognize me?" P'nyssa asked.

     He looked at her closely and said, "P'nyssa?  P'nyssa Traken?"  She
nodded.  "What are you doing here?" He sounded genuinely pleased to see
her.

     "We came to visit."

     "Wonderful, wonderful.  And who are you?"  I was taken aback.  He
doesn't recognize me?  Who is he to demand my identity like that?

     Wait a minute.  I was getting high and mighty again.  I regained my
composure and made a mental note to do something about that touch of
arrogance I was developing.  "How do you do, Dr. D'israeli.  I am Kennet
Shardik."

     It was his turn to be surprised.  "I'm... I apologize, Shardik.  I
had no idea.  Come in, come in."  He turned and said "Dagmar!  We have
guests!  You can stand down the surgery!"  He turned back to us and
said, "You see, when somebody knocks at the door like that, it's usually
the Uncia returning from a hunting party with wounded."

     I nodded.  An apparently younger femTindal walked into the room.
Rael took a place between us and said "Dagmar, this is P'nyssa Traken,
and this is Shardik himself."

     Dagmar looked us over with an air of complete control; apparently,
we were in her house, and that was that.  "I'm pleased to meet you."
However, physically she was quite attractive.  Well-defined but just
slightly overweight.

     "How do you do?" she asked.  "It's nice to meet you.  I've heard
quite a bit about you, P'nyssa.  Rael was quite taken with you in the
early years."

     "He was?" P'nyssa asked, querulous.

     Rael coughed and said "Ahem, well, yes.  Be serious, P'nyssa, you
were the woman of choice back then."

     "I was such a bitch then, Rael."

     "But that's what made you so interesting.  Nobody understood you,
least of all me, and with those exotic markings about your eyes, you
were considered gorgeous.  It's nice to see you've become a fine young
woman, P'nyssa.  And to have landed THE prize male on the planet."  It
was my turn to cough.  "So," Rael continued, "We don't get many
visitors.  What brings you two out this far?  Just a pleasant visit?"

     "Actually, Rael," P'nyssa began, "I'm going to have another child."

     "Wonderful!  But that's not the reason for your visit, is it?  Or
is it?"  His voice had just a hint of suspicion in it.

     P'nyssa's never been long on tact and delay.  "I want you to be the
father."

     Rael looked surprised for all of half a second.  "Oh.  Oh my.  I
see, I think."

     "Rael, can we talk about this outside?"

     "Eh?  Sure, sure.  Let me get my jacket."  Rael and P'nyssa went
through a door into the back of the old house and I heard the sound of a
screen door.

     There was a moment of dead silence, then Dagmar said "Ken, why
don't you sit down?"

     "Any place in particular?"

     "Sit anywhere.  The couch, the chair.  Just don't use that rocking
chair.  That's mine."

     I smiled and settled myself into a well-worn easy chair that
looked like it had seen its share of patches over the years.  "I have to
ask you," she began, "what's this all about?"

     "Think of it as an anniversary present," I said, thinking quickly.
"P'nyssa hasn't had a child in over two hundred years. I realized that
somewhere along the way my reluctance to have kids of my own was
inhibiting her from doing the same.  I mean, in twenty years back after
she was decanted there were three, so she must enjoy the task."

     "Who asked first?  You or her?"

     "Uhmm... Basically, she was afraid to tell me, but she talked...
griped?... to friends about the one thing in her life that was missing.
They told me, and I decided to tell her."

     "Do you think you're up to it, Shardik?"

     "Wait a minute," I said, getting all sorts of angry.  "I can take
that question from P'nyssa.  I can take it from Ember, who's lived with
me.  I can even take it from my local AI.  But what is it that makes
you, a total stranger, ask that question?"

     She thought for what seemed a long time, then said "I'm not a total
stranger to you.  We've got all the radiofeeds here, even the 'wire.
It's kind of hard to not want to pay attention to your local god."

     "I am not a god."  Was she deliberately making me angry?

     "What do you call someone who builds planets and then willfully
creates the sentients who live there?" she asked in reply.

     "A thief.  Look, I built Pendor with stolen technologies, and,
well, as for making you and y'all... That's based on the immortal's
rule: An unaging person can do anything he wants, simply because he's
got long enough.  Dagmar, I didn't come here to discuss with you my
involuntary deification.  I came here because I am a man incapable of
giving his love the child she wants.  Since you and Rael seem to have
some sort of agreement going, it's kind of obvious that if you say 'no,'
the deal's off.  Come back to the problem at hand: Are you part of the
problem, or are you part of the solution?  If you're not keen on the
deal, I'll leave right now."  I was getting angry, but my anger doesn't
last very long.  It's always been like that, water off a duck's back.  I
was settling.

     She smiled, and said, "Fair enough.  I guess I'm not one of those
people who get invited to live at Castle Shardik, huh?"

     "No, you're not.  The people who live there know I'm only human."

     "Must be a nice place," she said wryly.

     "It is.  So, from your point of view, are you a 'Yay' sayer or a
'Nay' sayer?"

     She paused for a second.  She had a cute smile, I realized.  "I
guess I'm a 'Yay.'"

     "Do you want anything to do with the child?"

     She paused again.  She always took a lot of thought before
speaking, I noticed.  "I guess... Well, obviously the child is going to
be yours and P'nyssa's, with no suggestion that there's something
missing."

     "Yeah, but it's also kind of obvious that the kid is going to know
before he's ten that Mommy and Daddy aren't quite... Mommy and Daddy.
He's also going to have to know who his biofather is in case something
goes wrong.  Mistakes in the gene code still show up, especially
chemical crosses that can't be accounted for."

     "I guess I'll have to be Auntie Dagmar."

     "Guess so.  And Uncle Rael."

     "Uncle?" she asked, as if confused.

     "It's not going to be Daddy.  Maybe it will be.  That's up for the
child's decision."

     Our conversation was interrupted by a banging in the back again,
and Rael and P'nyssa came walking in, laughing like old friends.
"Well," P'nyssa said, "It looks like we've got ourselves a willing
victim."

     "Victim, Hell," Rael said.  "I have wanted to get into bed with you
since I was four!"  That statement surprised me not in the least; when
Rael was '4,' he was just coming out of incorporation shock as a
full-grown adult.  "So," he continued, "What did you two talk about?"

     Rael, you sound like a grandfather.  "This and that.  Mostly about
what role you two would play in the child's life."

     "What role do I have?" Rael asked, innocently.  "It's not as if I'm
doing anything constructive.  I'm contributing ten minutes to the whole
affair-"

     "I certainly HOPE it takes more time than that!" Pnyssa
interrupted, laughing.

     "Oh, it will, it will.  I was talking about the coitus itself, my
dear.  As I was saying... where was I?  Oh, yes... And besides, I'm
doing something I dreamed about a lot when I was young.  What you two
want is almost coincidental."

     "It'll still be your child, Rael."

     "The Hell it will be.  It'll be yours.  You're the two who'll have
raised it.  I'd just get in the way."

     "So what do you want when he asks, 'Mommy, where did I come from?'"
P'nyssa said quietly.

     "Tell him the truth.  I thought that was the rule around here,"
Rael said.

     "It is, as far as I know," I said.

     "Then it's settled," Dagmar said with A Voice Of Authority.  "So,
when do you two plan on... making babies?" she said with a big grin.

     "Waitaminute, waitaminute, Dags dear," Rael said.  "I'm not about
to hop into bed with the young lady.  These two have just walked thirty
kilometers to get here and descended the stairway.  I think they'd both
like to eat and perhaps to rest."

     "Actually," I said, "my feet are killing me.  Dagmar, is there
someplace you'd like me to remove my boots so I don't kill anything?"

     "Just outside the back porch is fine, through that door and out the
next screen.  Don't worry, this part of the Faryth-" She said that
pretty well, for a non-Unczai "-is pretty clear."

     I thanked her and headed out.


     Dinner was excellent.  I imagine when you have to cook for
yourself, you either learn to live with it or you get better.  Rael had
clearly done the second.  Dagmar told me that Rael always cooked the
larger meals.

     "When do you have guests?"

     "When there's somebody in the recovery room."

     "Oh."  It therefore shouldn't have surprised me that the meal had
an abundance of heavily spiced meat, seeing as she was talking about
'cooking' for Uncia.  But Rael was enjoying himself, and he did cook a
dinner palatable to more delicate stomachs (like mine).

     Night came as it always comes on Pendor.  Mountainscapes and  cliff
faces do not bring on night any faster on a ringworld; the sun is always
overhead.  I know, I've written that before.  But I was born on a planet
and I know what a sunrise and a sunset are.  There are none here, not
the way most people know them.

     I sat quietly in the living room listening to the radio.  The
station they were listening to was a surprising mix of instrumental and
vocal rock'n'roll, with a heavy emphasis on groups like Madhsenger, Pink
Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Dire Straits.  More than half the music was
Terran, and all of it was heavy instrumentals.  I found it quite to my
liking.  I wrote down the index number for future reference.

     P'nyssa and Rael were in a corner talking.  Every once in a while I
heard a giggle or laugh, and I stifled an urge to turn and look, instead
concentrating on a book I'd brought, a novel by a Centaur author,
written entirely in Centaur.  Dagmar was off somewhere taking care of
her home.

     I must have been wrapped up in my story, because Dagmar walked in
and said "Hi.  Where are Rael and P'nyssa?"

     I looked up in bewilderment.  "I don't know," I admitted.  "They
must have wandered off."

     "Guiness," Dagmar said, addressing someone I had apparently not
been aware of, "Where's Rael?"

     A deep and soothing voice responded, "Rael has retired for the
evening with the young lady, Dagmar."

     Wow, that was quick.  "It seems, Lady Dagmar, that they have
discreetly snuck off, a discreetness blown by your AI.  And you haven't
even introduced me."

     "I am Guiness," said the voice.  "I apologize."

     "That's all right," I answered.  "Most people don't introduce an
AI, even when he or she is a member of the household.  Especially since
in some cases AI's cover whole townships, and it's assumed we've met
already.  Where are you?"

     "I am housed in an Magi, if that answers your question.  I am
service for the K'kritt household at the top of the ridge, the Rael
household, and the T'pawl household three hundred and thirty-seven
kilometers aspin of here."

     A Magi?  A flying GP construction system serving as a Majordomo?  I
suppose it's possible.  Never heard of such a thing before.  "I'm
pleased to meet you.  Who wrote you?"

     "I am a collaboration between Bawr Mahn Shardik and Freya Majors."

     "Wow.  Made by the best."

     "Thank you.  I'll relay your compliment to my mothers."

     "Do that.  If you'll excuse us, however..."

     "I understand.  You wish to speak as privately as possible."  There
was an audible .click., and the AI detached.

     I turned to Dagmar and said, "Fascinating friend you have there."

     "He's a monitor.  We don't ask much of him, unless it's to do
ambulance work.  You know."

     "So," I said, rather quietly, "what do we do now?"

     "Well, it isn't as if I can go to bed in my own bedroom."

     "Bed only sleeps two?"

     "Rael only sleeps two, I think," she offered.  "There's only one
guest bed, too."  She looked at me and said, "What's wrong, Ken?"

     "Nothing... I guess."

     "No, seriously."

     "Well, I guess I'm not used to being put in this kind of position.
The arrangement P'nyssa and I had at home allowed us to work around any
'special nights' we may have wanted to ourselves, and to others.  I sort
of feel like I 'have to' sleep with you, almost like doing stud service,
so Rael can have P'nyssa."

     "It's not like that at all."

     "Isn't it?"

     "Well, do you like me?"

     "Of course I like you, Dagmar.  You've been a perfect host, you're
very pretty, and you've welcomed me into your home.  Why shouldn't I
like you?"

     "Then why would bedding me be stud service?  It's not as if I were
hiring you.  You're not one of those people who excel at feigning
interest, Shardik, I can see that."  She rose from her rocking chair and
walked towards me, kneeling on the floor in front of my chair.  "Let's
try an experiment."

     "Like what?"

     "Well, why don't you start by kissing me?"

     "Why don't I... ?"  I looked at her, shrugged, and leaned forward,
kissing her quickly on the lips.

     She looked at me with smiling eyes and said "Not like that.  Try
again."  I leaned forward again, and again kissed her.  Only this time,
her tens came up and wrapped around my neck, keeping me in place.  Her
lips opened just slightly and I felt her warm tongue pressing against my
lips.

     I responded to he tongue, opening my mouth.  I could feel my heart
speeding up, responding to this new female, this new sensation.  The old
sensations of newness (does that sound strange to you?  It shouldn't)
made me feel warm.  I pushed off the chair and fell forward onto my
knees on the floor.  I was still raised off the floor while she had
settled; I was still kissing her downwards, but passion had taken over.
We were no longer merely experimenting.  Dagmar was right, this wasn't
stud service; this was sharing.

     We broke for a moment, settling back into our individual heaps on
the floor, looked at each other with mock guilty expressions and
sidelong glances, slow, knowing smiles, and finally as one we broke out
laughing.  "Okay," I said.  "Let's take this into the guest room."

     "O-Kay," she said, sounding each letter.  She rose and took my
hand, leading me into the back of the house.  Off to the left there was
a small room with a good sized double bed covered in animal fur blankets
(Which we wouldn't need.  The night was hot enough, and we were about to
make even more heat.)

     She literally pushed me down onto the bed, face up, and stepped up
onto the bed, kneeling over my body.  Her tens held my face and she
said, "Still feeling uneasy?"

     "Hell no," I said, reaching up to about where the biceps would be
on her and pulled her close.  The heat of her body was almost
uncomfortable, and I knew that we were going to be sweating soon.  The
thought made me smile.  She kissed me unabashedly, our tongues
wrestling.  But she was on top, and she took it upon herself to explore
more of me, I guess.  She slid down to my right and I could hear her
approaching my ear.  Her lips and teeth found it and began to nibble,
first and the lobe and then up along the ridge.  I squirmed under her
touch; I both love and hate to have my ears nibbled.  It feels great,
but it makes me lose all control.  She slowly slid down along my throat,
and her warm mouth left a light liquid trail that cooled in the summer
night.  It suddenly struck me that I'd left a blizzard behind back at
home.  I was glad I had.

     "You humans have such small ears," she said.

     "Is that a complaint?" I said.

     "No, no," she said through muffled kisses.  She was attempting to
unbutton my shirt.  I helped.  "Just an observation."  She got my shirt
open and began to run her tongue softly over my nipple.  I moaned
quietly.  She was driving me crazy.  "Do you like that?"

     "You have to ask?" I replied.

     "I guess you do," she said around her teeth, which a soft grip on
me.  I coughed suddenly; she looked up and said "What's wrong?"

     "What do you mean?"

     "Come on, Ken, I'm a healer, you can't hide that from me.  I
distinctly felt a choking sensation from you."

     I smiled and said, "It has something to do with my nipples.  I've
got no idea what it is, but when someone bites on my nipples too
sharply, it doesn't hurt, but I feel like I'm choking, or at least like
something's tickling the back of my throat.  It's my only evidence that
acupuncture works; my nipples are someway connected to my throat, but I
don't know how."

     She looked at me querulously and said, "I'm going to have to
experiment on you a little later." THAT sounded ominous.  "In the
meantime, I guess I'll have to find something a little less...
distracting.  Or maybe moreso."  She shuffled down and began to kiss my
belly.  It tickled, and I laughed.  She laughed along.  "Ticklish, are
you?" she asked with one of those voices that makes the victim say "Uh
oh."  "Just for future reference," she said, as if to reassure me.

     Her mit had found my pants and was rubbing my erection through the
cloth of my jeans.  I suddenly realized just how erect I was, and pushed
up against her.  She responded by undoing my zipper and belt and opening
my breeks.  My erection, freed of the cloth, slapped up against my
stomach.  "Anxious little fellow, isn't it?" she asked.

     "Very," I said.  At this point I wasn't unthinkingly lustful, but
she was very surely getting me there.  I decided it was time to stop
being entirely passive to this entire process and reached up to unlace
the overly long sark she wore, untying each delicate ribbon and then
pushing the sides away.  She let the shirt fall down about her tens.
Her breasts were small, like P'nyssa's... why was I making comparisons?
And the nipples were standing out firm and hard.  I reached up and
traced my fingers slowly around the exposed areolas, then down about the
fur undersides and up around the outside.  As I traced along her body
between her breast and her underten she shivered delightfully.  "I think
I've found a soft spot," I said.

     "Mmm, hmm..." she said.  I slowly traced along her body, finding
other little places that made her shiver or giggle.  She too was
ticklish.  I delighted in finding those places as she slowly stroked my
cock between her mits.  Her fur was an even light blue with an
occasional almost feline grey that was only slightly exposed above the
beltline of her shorts.  I wanted to see where that grey went to, so I
reached down for the buttons of her shorts and undid them when she
suddenly slid back away from my hands.  "Not yet," she said.  She pushed
away a little further until she saw lying supine on the bed.  She turned
around a little and said, "First, I'm going to have a little desert."

     She took my cock into her mouth and slowly closed down on it,
engulfing me.  I groaned with pleasure as she sucked on it, slowly at
first so that I almost didn't feel it, then with mounting pressure, her
mouth bobbing up and down.

     She stopped and backed an inch or two away, blowing cool air over
me, then again dunking my cock back into her hot mouth.  As she was
doing so, she slowly maneuvered her body until her hips were next to my
head.  I got the picture almost immediately and slid underneath.
Somehow in the process of all this she had managed to get her shorts
off, and the patch of grey fur did indeed go wrap between her legs and
up over her buttocks.  I found it very attractive.  I tried to
concentrate, but there was little I could do; Dagmar was turning out to
be an extremely skilled fellatrix.  And in this position, my cock slid
down her throat.  There was no warning; she simply engulfed my entire
member down her throat and stroked me there.  I groaned in appreciation
and with mounting fervor; I was going to come at any second.

     Dagmar apparently sensed this because she began to suck my cock
with complete abandonment, taking the whole length in swift strokes.  I
tried not to respond, not to push up, but it was hard not to.  I wanted
to come, and I could feel it rising.

     Dagmar slowed, and she was right, staving off my orgasm for stroke
after stroke.  There was no stopping it, I was going to come, but she
wanted me to grit my teeth.  She stroked, and I felt, I felt...

     I came, groaning aloud, and I could feel each shot of sperm load up
in my cock and then get squeezed out, the pleasure was enormous, the
relief equally so.

     After a few seconds of breathing hard, I reached up and pulled her
cunt down to where I could reach it with my lips, parting her labia with
my tongue to reach her soft insides.  I decided I couldn't really work
at this angle and said "Dagmar, wouldn't you rather lie down?"

     "If you like," she replied and turned over, lying down on the bed.
"By the way, did you like that?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

     "I'll show you how much I liked it."  I spread her legs and lay
down between them, in a position that I find comfortable.  I leaned
forward and kissed her cunt just at the very top, then realized that I
was neglecting parts of her.  I arose from my position to lean much
further forward, bending over to kiss her nipples, teasing them.
Turnabout is fair play.  I began to lick around the areolas, and her
groans grew louder as I progressed along her fur towards her underten,
where I licked softly.  She groaned.  I progressed down her side, and
she squirmed under my tongue.  I laughed and slowly made my way back to
her cunt, kissing her on the top where I'd started.  "You're a tease,"
she accused.

     "Guilty, as charged," I said, leaning down to part her cunt with my
tongue.  I wanted to get her wet, but her vagina was already dripping
juices, and I just lapped them up and spread them over the upper parts
of her cunny.  Her juice was thick and sweet, and I couldn't drink it
but I could certainly enjoy it like candy, licking enthusiastically.  I
dove in wholeheartedly, kissing and licking until I decided that it was
time to get serious; I brought my right arm over her leg and parted her
cunny, gently tugging up the hood covering her clitoris.  I licked
around it and she responded by telling me lick harder.  I complied,
directing my attention to her clit, licking up and down.

     Three hundred years of experience has not dimmed my enthusiasm for
going down, but it is plenty of time to realize that you can never
perfect the art; each woman is different.  I licked her as well as I
could, and she replied to whatever skill I have by saying "I'm coming...
a little harder..." and I replied, pressing in hard as her orgasm came
on.  A loud, low moan escaped her as she came.  I eased back a little,
but she pushed me away from her cunt and said, "Cuddle with me, Ken."

     I rose and lay next to her.  She wrapped her tens around me and
said "You're very good at that."

     "Thanks," I said, a little embarrassed.  Then I laughed.  "I hope
Rael and P'nyssa enjoy themselves."

     "Oh, I'm sure they are."  One of her mits snaked down over my side
and found my cock.  "What are you're chances?" she said as she slowly
stroked it.

     "If you keep that up, better than fifty-fifty."

     "Then let's make it a hundred percent."  She wriggled down the bed
and again took my cock into her mouth.  The talent she showed was
certainly deserving of my complete attention, and she did indeed soon
have me rock hard.

     She stopped and looked at her handiwork, then to me.  "Fuck me,
Ken," she asked.

     I didn't need to hear her a second time.  She lay down on her back,
and I slid into her the old-fashioned way, missionary position.  Her
cunt gripped me tightly and completely, and I abandoned myself to the
thrusting demands my cock wanted me to make.  I started out pounding her
and never let up.  I don't know what came over me, I just needed to fuck
Dagmar and fuck her hard.  She apparently was willing to comply, because
she simply started chanting, "Yes, yes, yes," like that with each
thrust.  My first orgasm had satisfied my immediate wants, and the
second was a long time coming.  She spread her legs a little wider and I
went a little deeper, long hard thrust sliding in and out of her body.
I was completely aware of everything, the speed, the fur of her thighs
and her mittens twined around my neck, her yellow eyes staring into
mine, her black hair twirling loosely over the blue fur of her face, her
breathing, hard and ragged.

     I thrust, and I could feel my orgasm rushing forward like a freight
train or a cybertank, and when I came I dove to muffle my scream into
the pillow she rested her head on.  I simply lay there, bent over her,
on top of her, breathing hard into her neck, feeling a few strands of
hair getting into my mouth as I inhaled and staying.  I licked at them
gently as I tried to clear my dry mouth, slowly rising from my position
to look at her.  "You okay?" I asked.

     "Oh, I'm fine," she said, her deep but feminine voice full of
passion.

     "Ready for bed?" I asked.

     "Yes, I think I've been worn out for one night."

     "I could go on," I said quickly.

     "No, no... that's alright.  I think we've both had enough for one
night."

     I nodded and slowly slid my cock out of her.  I shuddered at the
nigh-painful sensation, but then rose and cuddled her close.  After a
few minutes when the time seemed right, I rose and went to the bathroom.
She joined me, and there were a few moments of casual touching and
joking, like old friends and lovers, as we brushed our teeth and cleaned
up.  Closing the door and turning off the lights, we bedded down for the
night.

     It was a hot night, and we didn't cuddle close because of it.  But
I did hug her. And I did say "Thank you."


     The next day was spent in what was, for me at least, a most
unexpected fashion.  I hadn't anticipated coming to Rael's home to spend
four hours in surgery!  Guiness (He proved to be much larger than I had
thought...almost large enough to hold a spaceworthy drive) brought in
some idiot Uncit from the southern Uncia holding, not older than twelve,
who had gotten himself mauled by some large prowler, and Rael and Pnyssa
spent the next four hours in surgery trying to save the Tsit's leg.
Meanwhile, Dagmar and I were kept busy patching up the ear of the Tsit's
elder, who had gotten a good chunk of his scalp removed in the rescue.
Somehow, Dagmar's sense of humor combined with her knowledge of English
proved to be annoying; her choice of music was selected bits from Monty
Python, and patching up an angry and frightened Uncia to the tune of
"Every Sperm is Sacred" was difficult.

     But persevere I did;  I'm no slouch when it comes to the meatball
department, and this was only a missing flap of skin.  The eardrum was
intact, and Dagmar did most of the needlework.  I was grateful; it had
been so long since I'd done any sort of work that I didn't feel
qualified anymore.  I was determined to throw myself headlong into
refreshers when I had the time.  And when was that going to be?  Twenty
years from now, at best.

     The Uncit lived, but he lost the leg.  By Pendorian Uncia
tradition, there would be no cyborging and no replantation.  The Tsit
would simply wait until it grew back, which it would, thanks to the
changes I made to their genecodes three hundred years ago.  But that
growth would take three years, and in the meantime, the kid would
weaken.  He might never recover.  And unless he took his own life or was
killed by an accident, animal, or Uncia, he was immortal.  Never was a
long time.

     There wasn't much of the joyful noise we'd had the night before.
Dagmar and I comforted each other.  My penis had a mind of it's own and
rose to an occasion to which it was not invited.  I ignored it.


     The third day brought an attempt to revive our bruised spirits.
Dagmar and Rael took us to a small lake at the base of the cliff from
which a soft spray fell from above, like perpetual rain.  Rael explained
that there was a river from the high plains above that ended at cliff's
edge, and the fall was so great that it diffused a great deal.  It also
struck a few rock on the way down, rocks that had yet to be worn away.

     "Then this is a fairly recent incident?" I asked.

     "Oh, yes, the rock at the top of the cliff is apparently somewhat
softer than the lower strata, and the river is slowly eating away at the
material, drilling a groove into the mountainside.  Personally, it's too
convenient.  I'd suspect some personal intervention."

     "The Uncia?"

     "I think Guiness is more up to this than the Uncia.  It is his
specialty.  He is a FAMECE, after all."

     I agreed.  P'nyssa was already into the water when Rael and I
reached the lake.  I dove in enthusiastically and joined her, kissing
her closely.  "I love you," I told her.

     "I love you, too," she responded.  "Oh, and guess what?"

     "What?" I asked.

     "Come here," she said, pulling me through the water to where her
clothes lay.  "Look," she said, pulling out what looked like a small
electronics package.  I recognized it as a medical monitor.

     "Yeah, so?"

     "Look at conclusions package, in ram block 5."

     I punched in the request, and read it slowly.  Hormonal transits,
implantation positive, monitoring continuing, conditions nominal.  I
looked up at her and said, "Does this mean..."

     She nodded slowly, her smile betraying her joy. "Uh-huh.  Guess
what, sweetheart?  You're P'nyssa's pregnant."

     I looked at her, and she looked at me through coy eyes.  I hugged
her and vaulted her out of the water with a loud "Yes!"

     "What?" Rael asked.  He'd managed to get himself about half into
the water.

     "Look for yourself!" I said, tossing him the monitor.  I hoped it
was a standard Pendor monitor;  they were all waterproof.  This one was,
and it floated.  Rael fished it out of the water, grumbling because its
location forced him to go deeper in to the lake.  He read it carefully
and said, with a quiet voice, "Congratulations, P'nyssa."  There was
something in his voice, something almost reverent.  Despite his earlier
comments about his contribution being "almost nothing," and his jokes
yesterday about "genetic hit-and-run,"  there was a sense of awe in him,
I think, that powerful sense of "I did this?"  That he was responsible
for half of the introduction of a new person.  The fact that I
understood the process chemically did not dampen my reverence, either.
It hit me just as hard as it hit them.

     After a few minutes I said, "We should drink a toast.  Quick, who
has the champagne?"

     "Oh, no," P'nyssa said.  "None of that.  No champagne.  No alcohol,
nicotine, anything like that."  Damn.  Being in love with a doctor is
not always fun and playing doctor.

     "Okay, then, let's break out the Orange Juice."  Dagmar laughed at
that.  But she quickly said, "You know how to take care of him, P'nyssa,
do so."

     "Him?" P'nyssa asked.

     "Look," Dagmar said, handing her back the monitor.  "You've got ten
months to decide on a name, because that says XY, and you know what that
means."

     "A boy."  P'nyssa looked up and said, "I've never had a boy
before."

     "Don't sweat it," Dagmar said.  "I've had three.  And four girls.
The boys were easier."

     P'nyssa was still off somewhere in her thoughts.  "I could ask
P'maya.  She's had two boys."

     "P'nyssa?  Hello, Parma to P'nyssa, Parma to P'nyssa, are you
there, P'nyssa?" I said jokingly.  Parma is Pendor's Starship Docking
Facility.

     "Huh?  Oh, yeah."  She looked bewildered.  "Ken, what do you want
to name him?"

     "I don't know.  I haven't gotten used to the idea of you being fat
yet."

     She cuffed me playfully over the head and said, "I'm not going to
be FAT, I'm PREGNANT, you, you, you..."

     I laughed and grabbed for her.  "I love you, P'nyssa."

     "I love you too, Kennet R'yal Shardik.  Happy Father's Day."

     "Happy Mother's Day, P'nyssa Traken Shardik."  I kissed her.  I
heard a stage sigh from behind me, and Dagmar said "Isn't that sweet?"

     I turned around, said, "I'm going to get you for that," and
swinging my arms out gathered a huge volume of water to splash at her.

     The water never reached her.  It stopped halfway and fell to the
lake.  The water by Dagmar then raised of its own accord and rushed back
towards me, a huge wage that washed over me.  Damn!  Dagmar's a
telekinetic!  Arrgh!  And I thought I was going to win simply because a
tindal's tens aren't strong enough to splash effectively.

     We lounged at the lake for the rest of the day, and went back to
Rael's and Dagmar's house only when it started to rain.


     "You're going to spend one more night?" Rael asked.

     "I don't see why not," I said.  "I had planned on spending at least
a week, maybe more.  I hadn't planned on P'nyssa taking on the first
day.  I mean, it's only a day's walk back to my house, Rael.  No big
deal, you know."

     He paused as he chewed on a large piece of whatever that strange
red vegetable he had was; there was a similar vegetable on my plate, and
I was debating trying it.  Oh, Hell, I only get to live once.

     "Besides, Rael," P'nyssa added, "I don't relish climbing those
stairs in the dark."

     "True enough," Dagmar added.  "You know, P'nyssa, your best bet is
to climb the stairs in the early morning, spend the day up at RRawl's
ranch, and then walk to the tree after nightfall.  They have bunks, you
could take a daynap."

     "Dagmar, I'm only two days.  Stop acting like it's my fourth
trimester."

     "I'm only trying to help.  Besides, I wasn't talking about that.  I
mean it.  You should take it easy.  Those stairs are murder, and even
with those clothes the sun will be pretty bad."

     "We'll probably get a ride from the Uncia," I said.

     "Don't count on it, lad," Rael said.  "They're pretty touchy about
those horses.  Even if you are Na'Shardik, they might want to keep those
horses back.  Especially if you walk at night, after they've been ridden
all day."

     "I guess we'll take your suggestion."  I looked at P'nyssa, who
merely nodded in agreement.  An old phrase ran through my head: "Common
Sense Isn't."  Too true.

     We retired to the living room, the four of us, listening to more
modern orchestrations from the Tangent Arc Philharmonic, mostly
Tellakelvar compositions of the type that drove less experienced
conductors mad.  But the conductor that night was Marcus Ann'Hrius, a
Marklian, a race I would never have suspected of any musical ability at
all (except for those large ears).  And he was superb.  The music rose
and fell majestically, and Rael pulled out a large bottle of Chani wine
and the three of us who were allowed started to get riotously drunk when
I noticed P'nyssa was pouting.

     "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

     "I'm not allowed to drink with the rest of you."

     I though about this, trying to weave the though accurately through
alcohol-buzzed pathways, and managed to say, "It's for the child's own
good, sweetheart."  I reached to hug her.  I wasn't that drunk, just a
little buzzed (Still, hide my 'cycle keys!).  She hugged me back, and I
can't resist kissing her neck when we hug like that, so I did.

     She responded.  I kissed her again and began to nibble, enjoying
the sensation of her warmth against me.  Rael had had the good sense to
turn on a room cooler.  I moved up, finding the lower lobe of her large,
elfin ear, and began to slowly work my up the side.  She shivered and
whispered, "I want to make love to both of you."

     "What, me and Rael?"

     "Yeah, at the same time."  She looked at me with a grin.  I
responded by agreeing with her, reaching up and undoing the clasp of the
simple roquelare she wore.  Underneath it she wore nothing but a simple
piece of lingerie, which I easily untied.  It fell about her.

     She was perfectly naked on the couch, her nipples immediately
standing up in the artificial cold.  Rael scooted over to where I was as
I stood up to walk onto the couch and behind her, settling down with one
leg on either side of her.  This left her naked chest exposed to Rael
and Dagmar, who both took the hint.  I began to nibble on the back of
her neck, and she responded by cooing softly.  Rael was softly toying
with her nipples, and Dagmar, much to my intoxicated surprise, was
nibbling on P'nyssa's toes.  Never figured Dagmar for a fetish.  P'nyssa
seemed to be having trouble deciding whether she should laugh, giggle,
moan, or just hold her silence; she was trying to do all four.

     I leaned back against the couch to give myself some room, reached
up and began to give Nyss a backrub.  She sighed with pleasure as I did
so;  I was having trouble seeing what was going on, but as far as I
could tell, Dagmar had worked her way up P'nyssa's leg and was now
licking her cunny; Rael had given up trying to find a space to work in
of his own and was now paying attention to his own wife.  Personally, I
was happy to be right where I was.

     P'nyssa moaned as I tried to relax her and Dagmar tried to make her
more tense; the battle was being fought for her pleasure.  But it soon
ended when P'nyssa said, "Why don't you all take off your clothes?"

     Rael agreed first; having drunk the most there was no stopping him.
Personally, I more uninhibited when I'm sober;  I know when I'm drunk
I'll do something stupid.  Rael also still had his wits about him,
because the first thing he did was turn down the efficacy on the cooler.

     I rose to undo my own clothes and helped Dagmar with hers.  She was
grateful for the help, as she seemed to be all fumbles.  The three of us
were soon as stripped as P'nyssa, who had lain down on the couch.
"Dagmar," she said in a voice full of lust, "lick me like you were."
Dagmar soon was kneeling on the floor by the couch.  P'nyssa gestured to
Rael, who was sporting a handsome looking penis of his own, to come to
her.  He straddled her upper body and offered her his cock; she sucked
it hungrily.

     Personally, I was happy just to sit back and watch at first; it was
fascinating watching three tindals make love, all that blue fur moving,
scintillating in the light with light sweat.  It was neat.

     But the scent of their lovemaking reached me, and I had trouble
containing myself much longer.  The only accessible target to my
besotten brain was Dagmar's lovely ass, which was high in the air as she
bent over to lick my beloved's pussy, so I unashamedly knelt to the
floor and crawled over to her, parting the cheeks of her ass with my
hands and plunging my tongue between her buttocks, running it up and
down the crack of her ass, from the top where her spine ended to just
where I could reach her vagina without bending my neck to the breaking
point.  I gently probed around her asshole, my tongue coaxing it with
gentle pressure.  She cooed and pressed back against my face, the fur of
her buttocks tickling my cheeks the way all the furred hominds did; it's
a pleasant sensation.

     I finally decided that this wasn't going to get her any closer to
orgasm (forget my own... that was definitely future event.)  I lay down
on my back on the floor, grabbed a cushion to support my head, and
shimmied between Dagmar's legs.  I gestured to her and she lowered
herself onto my face.  This was almost comfortable; at least it was the
right angle.  I licked her already wet and open cunt; she'd been sliding
her own mitten between her legs, stroking herself.  Her mitt found my
hair and tousled it while I ate her.  I heard what was definitely her
groan muffled (no pun intended) by P'nyssa's cunt.  I licked Dagmar's
clit like it was the only thing on Pendor for me.  She sometimes lost
track of of the fact that I was only human, her legs giving way and
settling down on to me.  This isn't that bad; my head can take that kind
of weight.  What I was worried about was BREATHING; I might have drowned
a few times.  Was she concentrating on me, or Nyss?  Didn't matter, I
was deliriously happy.

     There was a muffled feminine scream from P'nyssa, followed by one
from Dagmar.  She got up off of me and extended a ten to help me;  I
ignored it, she looked none too steady herself.  I rose and wiped my
mouth off on my arm.  She looked at with a similarly wet face.  P'nyssa
was still lying on the couch looking like she'd been ravaged by a Mongol
Horde, her eyes closed tightly and her breath coming in short, hard
gasps.  Rael was sitting on the edge of the couch.  P'nyssa said "Ken,
lie down on the floor like you were."

     I followed her instructions, lying back down on the floor, which
was still warm from earlier.  She rose up from the couch and crouched
over my groin.  Taking my cock in her mitts, she began to stroke me,
bringing back to life my erection.  With little ceremony she aimed it at
her cunt and sank down onto me.  The familiar warmth of her pussy felt
so good, and I just lie there like she'd asked me to.  Her eyes closed
again, then opened.  "Rael," she said in a hoarse stage whisper, "Take
my ass."

     Hey!  I almost objected.  Making love to P'nyssa that way was a
rare enough treat for me.  But it was okay, I could understand.  Rael is
a little smaller than I am in the erection department.

     Rael smiled and got behind her.  I felt him straddle my legs behind
her, and could feel him positioning himself.  Then, from inside her
cunt, I felt it; Rael invading her anus slowly.  She let out a
high-pitched gasp and almost collapsed, but I caught her by the
shoulder.  I could feel his cock slowly pushing up against mine through
the wall between the two channels; the feeling was fascinating.  Then
all the motion stopped.  We sat there, suspended.  Nobody wanted to move
first; everybody was afraid of hurting somebody else.  Then slowly Nyss
rocked forward gently, pulling herself off of us just a centimeter, then
slowly backing onto us again.  This slow push-pull went on for a while,
and I felt Rael take the initiative, slowly withdrawing, then pushing
back in.  From where I was, I could see P'nyssa's eyes screwed up tight
with both pleasure and pain.  He slid down; I could feel the head of his
cock pushing against the base of mine.  Then slowly he slid back in.
Then out again.  P'nyssa's eyes opened, and she was panting heavily with
the effort.  "Fuck me, Rael," she said.

     Rael began to respond the way I would, slowly, concerned for her.
I agreed.  But she urged him on, and he responded.  I began to respond
as well, pushing up and then withdrawing from her cunt.  There was a
pause in our sex for a moment, and I noticed Dagmar sitting out on the
side, masturbating with a simple vibrator pushed up against her clit.
She had  her eyes glued to Rael and Nyss.  Rael began to slide inside
Nyss again, slowly fucking her back up to tempo.  The feeling of our two
cocks sliding side by side inside my beloved's body was mind blowing,
and I responded hard, wanting to go on forever and knowing that there
was no way it ever would.

     I heard Nyss say something in tindal, a language most people
considered "dead," since almost all the natural hominids speak Quen as
their base language.  I tried to figure it out, but my cock demanded my
attention.

     I was going to come.  I tried to stave it off for as long as I
could, but I heard Rael groan aloud and say, "I'm coming P'nyssa!" and I
felt him push against her hard enough I almost came all the way out.  He
pushed a few more times, then collapsed back onto his legs.  It was just
P'nyssa and me, now.  We fucked each other, our eyes staring into the
others', making love like never before, knowing that she was pregnant
was like magic, and her eyes were needful.  We were building together,
and I felt that rare link we sometimes get; our orgasm was going to
happen at the same time, and she was riding me, and I was slamming into
her, and I could feel it, and we were going to...

     Come!  I shot into her, screaming with release as she collapsed on
top of me.  I was dizzy.  Lost.  I wrapped my arms around her and held
her tight.  Was I crying?  Was I that happy?  I don't know; all I know
was that I remember her sitting up next, looking at me with this huge
smile.  "Thank you," she said.  She was crying.

     "You're welcome, coimelin, love-of-my-life."  I know there were
tears in my eyes.  I turned to Dagmar and said, "And thank you too."

     Dagmar nodded.  She and Rael were cuddling together.  "You're very
welcome."  We rested and then went to bed, P'nyssa with me, Dagmar with
Rael, for some sleep.


     We awoke the next day and Dagmar insisted on feeding us breakfast.
"You'll need your strength for the climb," she kept saying.  She at
least had the common sense to feed us light fruits and one egg apiece,
staying away from greasy meats and breads that would just weigh us down
on the trip up.  I was grateful.

     We said our goodbyes, exchanged hugs and kisses.  Being bisexual, I
felt a touch of regret at not having gotten my hands on Rael when I had
the chance, but maybe he would have disagreed.  I'm definitely more
preferential towards women, anyway.

     We walked the kilometer to the stairs and P'nyssa said, "Two and
half klicks of stair, right?"

     "Something like that."

     "And that's... how many stairs?"

     "Rael said 14,263."

     "Piece of cake."

     We began the climb.  It took most of the morning, and about an hour
after we had the sandwiches Dagmar had made for us we arrived at the
top.  The Uncia ranch was about 100 meters away, and when we arrived we
were greeted by a large female Uncia who had heard about us.  She
welcomed us in, and surprised us by having fresh fruit and clean water
ready (Fruit?  In a Uncia hold?).  Dagmar had apparently radioed ahead.
She also insisted we bunk for a few hours, and P'nyssa and I were so
beat we agreed right off.

     We awoke just as the shadow was drawing across the sun, heading
into dusk.  Well, I did; I woke P'nyssa up getting out to the bathroom.
She washed up with me, and we dressed and walked out.  The Uncia matron,
who's name tuned out to be V'lanj, insisted on feeding us.  She was so
much like Dagmar I would have accused her of being Dagmar, except I knew
there were only eighteen triple-talents on the Ring, and Dagmar isn't
one of them.  We were thusly fed despite our weak protestations.  V'lanj
wisely fed us little and poured great gouts of fresh water down our
throats.  Her attitude was so characteristic of the rustic,
'domesticated,' Uncia, that I found myself chuckling at the havoc I had
wrought.  P'nyssa joined in me amusement, and our spirits thus lifted we
headed out across the plain.  It was only four hours or so before we
reached the tree, and Dagmar had been right; it was far easier in the
dark.

     There was a four-hour difference between Rael's home and the
Castle, so when we arrived night had again just fallen.  There was a
drastic difference between where we had been and the Castle.  After all,
it was still winter at the Castle, and everything outside my window had
turned white with snow.  The storm had long blown off, and the Castle
was once again airborne.  I saw a Centaur, Rhys, I think, tromping
through the snow being chased playfully by his youngest colt.  It made
me smile.

     P'nyssa joined me at the chilled window, placing her chin on my
shoulder and leaning against me.

     "What was that you said in old tindal?" I asked her.

     "When?" she asked.

     "When Rael and I were both inside you."

     "Oh, that.  I said 'It's nice to have the whole family together
like this.'"  She smiled.

     I returned the smile.

     "Ready for part two?" she asked.

     "Dunno," I said.  "If that was part one, it was supposed to be the
easy part."

     She laughed.  "You just wait.  The best is yet to come."  We
watched the ocean lap at the snowbound beach, the winter wonderland.

--
"P'nyssa's Child, Conception"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., And Related Tales
are (c) 1989, 1990 Elf Matheiu Sternberg.  May be freely distributed by
cybernetic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for
personal use.