The Reborn - Finishing What Was Started IC [M]

[Minkasha]

Kysmæt

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, & Manisha Leos

Spoiler: The Girls' Adventure 

"It's alright, it's okay." Gina told their impromptu travelling companion quickly, laying her hands on the panicking girl's arms. "Don't panic. Let's just figure out where we are, okay?"

"Don't scream. Stay calm!" Cal instructed the new member of their party, the commanding tone she had used so often as a princess strong in her voice.

Bestie had opened her mouth to scream, ignoring Gina’s reassurances, but when Cal spoke, she was suddenly compliant. Her mouth had held open for a second before she shut it, relaxed her features and stood evenly.

“Okay.” the brown haired woman told Cal.

Gina's eyebrows knitted together as she turned from Bestie to Cal, confused but grateful.

The younger girls' expression was a mirror of Gina's own - relieved, of course, that the woman had heeded her words, but bewildered by her sudden change of temperament. Then again, it wasn't as though Bestie had been a picture of normalcy before - perhaps she was just prone to erratic behaviour. Besides, there were more pressing questions at hand.

"So, who are we now?" she asked.

Gina looked around. "Do you have anything in your pockets?"

They had to find out where Vahsi was, and Baka's...

As she patted herself down with her free hand and looked about for any sort of clue, she realised that her hands were shaking.

"Pockets..." Cal's small hands moved over the robes she wore, but if there were pockets concealed in their folds, she did not find them. "No, nothing. This is a market, maybe you're supposed to be selling those?" She gestured to the basket Gina held. "Let's just hope I'm not a fucking servant here, as well."

The profanity was a mark of the subservient, fearful side that had been brought out in her in the last place dissipating; the teens' potty-mouth returning with her old confidence. "Maybe..." she hesitated; caution had not yet left her entirely, and the suggestion had a questioning tone, seeking Gina's opinion, "Maybe we should just ask someone?"

Gina seemed to take a second to register the question. When she did, she chewed the inside of her cheek as she looked around again. "Well, there isn't much else we can try. But..." She looked at Bestie. "I think we've got some explaining to do first."

Bestie was looking around at the Cat-people, and the dirt that made up the thoroughfare of the market.

“It’th dirty.” Bestie commented, as she noticed she was wearing sandals with wood flats and a leather strap at the toe. “Where are we and what’ths going on?”

She spoke calmly to the other two girls, but for a second she narrowed her eyes at Gina. Game's up. Gina knew.

"Let's get out of the road." she suggested, indicating a deserted corner between two of the vine-covered buildings where they would be less likely to be overheard.

As they began to move two of the cat-children came pattering up to them. Gina almost didn't notice because her ears were still ringing. The two Cat-children stood to Cal's waist and were covered in robes with wrapped fabric over their heads. One had black fur and green feline eyes, the other a gray coat with white streaks and blue eyes. Gender was hard to determine from their young bodies. They hissed up at Cal's bruised face, fangs bared, before laughing at each other.

"You got a problem?" Gina challenged them sharply.

Cal took a small step backward, wrong-footed at the sudden intrusion despite Gina's surety. Growing in confidence she might be, but it hadn't been long since she had had to act in faux servitude. The impertinence that came with her youth shone through in the glare she threw down at the two children, but she said nothing; a sinking feeling blossoming in her stomach as she wondered at her place in this new world - her larger size didn't seem to intimidate the furry children at all.

The two cats lowered their ears, their slit irises expanding, and they whimpered. When they had begun to speak the first sounds they made were of a long vowel drawn language they couldn't understand until it suddenly shifted.

"...Why is our nurturer being mean?" the gray furred child asked, tail raised up and stiff. The black coat swished their tail staring with sad cat eyes.

Gina blinked, and exchanged a glance with Cal. They're ours?

"Sorry." she said contritely, hitching the basket back up into the crook of her elbow and trying not to sound awkward. "I'm just a bit stressed right now and you startled us!"

Cal at once felt a surge of relief that the behavior of the kittens had been playful, not threatening, and a pang of guilt at having upset them. With a twinge of nervousness, she reached out for the closest of the two, stroking the child's' black, furry head, between it's pointed ears. The child purred, Cal's fingers feeling the cloth and the soft fur underneath.

"Nurturer." the white one hugged Cal, the cat-child's head below her chest, and the teen wrapped her free arm around the childs' back, unable to hold back a smile as she was embraced. They were so cute!

Gina too let out a breath as Cal managed to mitigate her mistake.

"Sorry." she said again, offering her own arms to the second kitten.

"What happened to your face?" the purring one asked Cal, eyes lowered. Its young voice was filled with concern.

"My face..." the former princess paused for a moment, before smiling again in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "Don't worry about it. I just tripped, that's all. An accident."

"They are kind of cute." Bestie commented, flicking her hair back. But again while her face and demeanor was calm, she did manage to shoot Gina another glare. Gina started to feel uneasy again. She mouthed okay to her new companion before catching Cal's eye.

"We'd better set her straight, huh?" she suggested.

Cal nodded, then looked down at the kitten-children again, chewing her lip. Obviously they couldn't discuss it in front of them, but she was at loathe to send them away; the two were their best chance of figuring out where - and who - they were.

"Shall we go home, little ones? So I can tend to this?" She gestured her bruise and split lip. "Run along ahead, and ready a bowl of water and some cloth to clean it, will you?"

She hoped it wasn't out of line to command them, but all children had chores, didn't they? Well, she hadn't. But for common children, it shouldn't be remiss to ask.

The black-furred one lightly pulled on the gray one's wrist. They looked, vision singularly up to Cal, and meowed. Together they ran down the thoroughfare.

"Thanks for keeping them happy." Gina said, letting out a breath as the kittens scampered away. "I nearly fucked that right up."

She rubbed an eyebrow with the heel of her hand as she watched the kittens run down the street. A female cat-woman with orange fur and black lines on her face called out to them as they almost bumped into her. She appeared to be working at one of the stands, as she had picked up a fallen flower to return it back to her simple display of fanned out blooms. As she made eye contact with Georgina, she offered her a polite but reserved smile.

Gina returned the smile as she followed the kittens' progress down the street, so as to be sure of which house they disappeared into.

"That one there seems to know me." Gina said quietly, touching Cal's arm to direct her attention toward the stall. "Maybe we can find something out from them as well?"

A sigh brought her attention back to Bestie, who was looking at her nails. They had lost their polish in the hop.

"Sorry." Gina said again, this time to their otherworldly companion. "Like I said, I guess we've got some explaining to do..."

She looked around, and took a breath once she had judged that they were out of casual earshot. She noticed that her fingers were shaking again, and clenched them.

"I'm afraid I don't know where we are right now." she admitted. "Because someone's...I can't think of any way of saying this that doesn't sound mental...someone's throwing us between worlds. This is the second time it's happened to me and Cal."

She swept her arm between herself and the younger girl.

"I don't know why it's happening, 'cause all the person who's doing this left us was a note saying we had to find them or something. They keep leaving these zodiac signs on our arms..."

She rolled up her right sleeve of her robe and showed Bestie the symbols.

"If we work together we can figure this out. But...I have to be honest with you. Whenever we...jump? Whatever you want to call it...it looks like we take someone's place. I'm not really Georgina Nikas - my name's Georgina Wright. I don't know where the real Georgina Nikas is. And Cal's a princess from a world called Serroc, so if anything she's the real royalty..."

She bit her cheek awkwardly, wishing she could think of a better way to explain everything, and looked to Cal for support.

The younger girl nodded, watching Bestie cautiously to gauge her response as they made their way slowly after the kittens. "Was royalty. Now..." she shrugged, "Who knows. Nurturer means something like parent, I guess. The last place, we were there to help Prince Panos, so I guess there's some reason we've been brought here, too. We just have to figure it out..."

She trailed off, glancing from Bestie to Gina. It sounded ridiculous, complicated, when trying to explain it. She still barely understood what was happening herself, how could they expect Bestie to grasp it all in one conversation?

"Can we start from the ground up?" Gina asked Bestie earnestly, hugging her arms. "I'm afraid I don't even know your real name."

"I thould be freaking out right now." Bestie said, eyeing Gina. "But. I'm jutht not."

"I know, it's a lot to try and deal with at once." Gina sympathised. She was almost glad of not having the time to stop and process things; judging by her own shaking fingers, she suspected that once they did she would break down. "I'm really sorry for having to lie to you."

Bestie crossed her arms. "Manithha. My name'th Manithha." the brown haired woman said displeased. She looked at Cal. "Tho, you were a princeth or thomething?"

"I was the princess. On Serroc." A touch of haughtiness underlaid Cal's words as she replied, her back straightening. "Future Grand Sensibility and supreme ruler of the world... though, that was when mum had me believing the world was only as a big as our city. I guess it's bigger now."

They were drawing even with the flower seller who had given Gina a smile earlier.

"Just play along until we can figure this out." Gina suggested to Manisha in a whisper. "And keep your eyes open."

Cal paused, wondering if she should apologise for the cat children. They were supposedly hers, after all.

"Sorry about those two," she decided to risk it. It would give them an opening with the woman, an Gina had suggested they might try talking to her. "They get a little over-excited." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

The orange cat woman returned the smile, though not as brightly. She was slightly taller than the three young women, her feline green eyes narrowed on Cal. She frowned and bent down behind her stand to pull out a small, dark-grey sack. When she dropped it on the wooden surface, by the flowers, the girls could hear something inside slapping wetly.

"Will help your pink human skin heal faster, rub on and let sit for half hour." She looked expectantly at Gina. "Trade two flowers." She indicated Gina's basket of alien flowers.

"Yes, of course." Gina said, glad of the information that they had something of tradeable value. She pulled two of the fragrant flowers out of the basket at her elbow and placed them on the table just as the cat-lady had done. She smiled and nodded. "Thank you." The reaction provoked from the Cat-woman was a slow nod of her head, and a mild swish of her orange-furred tail.

"Taar and Mita show strength we need our children to have. This must be exciting for you, young nurturer." the standing cat-woman went on to say to Cal, her eyes still fixed on the purple-eyed beauty. Manisha kept staring around, absorbing the strangeness as it came into her view.

Gina exchanged a glance with Cal. Taar and Mita. Well, we've got their names - that's a start. She went about examining the stall more closely while Cal answered.

"Yes, of course." Cal nodded. "They are wonderful children. I am blessed indeed, that they are mine."

The girl gave the response she thought was expected, smiling as she did so. Though inwardly she was rather stumped on what else to say. It was clear she was filling the role of provider for these children, but what did she know of parenting? She'd hardly even had to look after herself, back home. The names were indeed a valuable piece of information, though - the children seemed their best bet at discovering their purpose here. The mention of her 'human' skin was not lost on her either - it was a separation, between they and the cat people. But of what kind? The woman seemed carefully courteous, but not friendly. It reminded her of the way people approached her when they recognised her as the princess - someone they had to treat a certain way, though they may not enjoy her presence.

Cal thanked the woman for the ointment, scooping it up from the table as she turned to take her leave. When they were out of earshot, she shared her suspicion with Gina.

"Does it seem like we're not entirely welcome, to you? I think we're classed above these creatures...and I don't think they like it. Something about the way she smiled, reminded me of home...I could be wrong, though. The kids seemed affectionate. But she called me nurturer, not mother."

"Well," Gina said, cocking an eyebrow, "Taar and Mita don't exactly look like you birthed them, do they?"

She tugged at her hair, curling it around her finger pensively as they walked towards the building that they had seen the two children disappear into.

"I don't know about us being better than them though. Maybe it's just because we're different - and let's face it, we're pretty different from everyone else around here..."

"I feel tho left out right now." Manisha said with a huff as she followed behind the other two girls. She pointed to the first house to their right. "The little cutieth went in that one!"

The dome-shaped home awaited them, its metallic door swooshing aside on some kind of motion sensor for them to enter. The vines growing over the building brushed against Cal and Manisha's faces as they passed in.

Inside they could see a small, lowered wooden square and a single step - some kind of porch. The wall was lined with pairs of sandals and a dark green mat that clearly looked to be for rubbing feet. The kittens' little feet had left dirt marks, scuffed footprints that looked almost human apart from their claw-like toes. The cat-people apparently preferred to go barefoot, since the girls hadn't observed any of them wearing shoes out in the street.

Gina looked down to examine the row of sandals as she kicked hers off. Her sandals joined a group of smaller sandals and a few pairs of larger ones. All of which shared similar styles to each other.

Taar and Mita had ran back with their coverings lowered from their heads, exposing their ears. Both of them had one ear raised and one lowered, matching, as they presented a small gray bowl of water and a cloth. They appeared to be looking directly at Cal.

"Did your friend play push you again and hurt you?" the black-furred, green eyed one asked with a tilt of its head.

They didn't buy the trip story. Gina noted, feeling a slight twinge in her stomach. Perhaps it was because the kittens' phrasing reminded her a little too much of a girl she'd known in year 2, whose dad had turned out to be beating her mum black and blue. She tried not to overthink it and kept quiet, thinking it best that Cal be the one to reassure them.

"Uhh..." Cal was nonplussed for a moment on how to respond. I guess whoever I am isn't a stranger to bruises, she thought, reflecting on the irony of that. Both of the roles she'd thrown into shared that fact, so far removed from the life she'd been dragged out of..

"It was an accident," she smiled, going down what she hoped was the safest route, and confirming the child's assumption. She accepted the bowl and cloth, dabbing at her split lip with the damp material. "Thank you," she smiled down at the young ones.

"I'm going to go tidy up a bit." Gina said, wanting a pretext to explore the house for clues. She looked at Manisha. "Want to give me a hand?" Manisha pushed back some of her brown hair and looked at Gina plainly.

"Not really, but," she shrugged quickly, "Okay"

The youngest of the trio nodded at the redhead, taking the hint, and looked from the bowl in her hand to the two children, who still stood before her.

"Shall we go and put this away, and make something to eat?" As soon as she suggested it, the girls' stomach growled - they hadn't eaten since before the party, and witnessing a shooting, then jumping across universes was hungry work. "You can tell me what you've been up to today?"

She wasn't sure she was coming across as a very convincing caregiver. She'd only had one example, and that hadn't been great.

Akinasha

Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi part 4 

Nutrient bags were bland, Vahşi's taste buds told him while he had drank them away. Panos had remained unconscious for over an hour and the robot had protested that both must consumed within fifteen minutes of preparation. The taste was something of a pasty mud with the sprinkle of mint that failed to cover it. But, with both bags it helped quiet his stomach, needing to recover from the blood loss. Despite the taste, Vahşi felt distinctly better after eating. While this wasn't the first time he'd nearly killed himself, he preferred not to do so on a full stomach.

The lupine had once again been stuck in a position of not being able to do anything. The most exciting activity he could do was use the first floor bathroom as the door had finally unlocked for him. Since he hadn't managed to find his armour anywhere, he decided to wash the blood off as best as he could. Panos would probably faint again if the lupian kept walking around covered in blood. Once he'd done that, however, there was nothing else to do. Since it was mildly cold in the ship, he returned to being a wolf since he had a fur coat and improved set of senses, but even then he was bored. He laid down, head on his forelegs, and closed his eyes while waiting. He waited alone, since the robot had left him to clean blood and stand perfectly still in the medical room.

When the white walls were starting to drive Vahşi mad, Panos finally stirred with soft sounds and rubbing of his head. Vahşi's eyes fixed on the prince and he raised his head, curious as to whether Panos would remember what had made him faint. At least the metal man had cleaned most of the blood off the floor before retreating to the medical room.

Panos felt his head ache, as did his stomach. He felt himself getting ever more hungry. His effimnate hands reached out, feeling the cold floor and its plastic-like smooth gloss. He pushed himself up to a sitting position on the side of his hips, rubbing his eyes. What had happened?

When his sapphires came open he was greeted by a scarred covered black furred wolf staring straight at him. He screamed at the top of his lungs in fright.

"VAHŞI!" Vahşi was on his feet in moments, one ear cocked forward and the other back, trying to figure out why Panos was screaming. He hadn't quite considered the fact that not looking human when Panos first awakened would be a bad idea. The Lambros felt his palms give a warm tingle before grapevines sprung forth at quick speed to wrap themselves around the wolf's neck and feet, splitting to wrap around each limb with gripping strength.

This miraculous act had Vahşi completely pinned as even with his strength he could not pull from the perfumed vines, his paws pulled together and his neck restrained. Vahşi tried to bite the vines apart but none of them were close enough to his jaws for him to do any damage. The hallway now rained with Panos' scent and screams as he kept calling out his name in distress. Vahşi rather thought that he had more reason to be yelling than Panos did, but as a wolf his voice was lost and all he could do was growl at Panos.

Panos stared at the grapevines, seeing their bases emerged from his palms. He panicked and waved his hands, making them detach and drop to the ground. The prince stood up and held his arms to his chest in fear of the wolf. The prince prayed the vines would keep him safe, Dionysus' linage becoming ever more evident. Vahşi barked in irritation, considering Panos' actions to be horribly over-the-top. After all the times he'd saved Panos on this world, he was trapped by the prince himself. Panos cried when the wolf barked at him.

He was looking around desperately to find the...wolf... Panos twitched his fine silverlette brows and then stared at the wolf again. He pointed firmly at the wolf.

"Vah.....şi?"

Vahşi was really tempted to growl at Panos again - who else would it be? - but had just enough common sense not to. Instead he nodded, an awkward motion as a wolf, and settled for glaring at the prince. Since his eyes were the same colour as when he was human, he was hoping Panos would make the connection and let him go. Being tied up on the floor wasn't exactly comfortable and he wanted his freedom back.

Panos came to the wolf's side. He took another moment to study everything while he was crouched: the scars and patches of fur, the wolf's eyes, the grapevines and the fruit that dimly glowed. What was impossible was becoming more true than the teenager could expect, or want. He felt light headed but reached out his hand to touch the vines.

"I'm...sorry." Guess, his intelligence served him well as his contact with the vines made them limp and freed the black-furred animal. He held the vines in his hand, the surface of the vine was of very smooth wood and the leaves were delicate. Bands of the vines laid on the floor and he pulled them to himself.

Vahşi scrambled out of the vines' reach and shook himself. He glared at Panos for a moment before returning to his human shape. "Yeah, I hope you're sorry," he grumbled, more to himself than to Panos. "No thanks for being a hero any more. Save someone and they wrap you up in vines."

Plucking off a purple grape from the vine he stared at its golden core through its purple skin. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't certain either. He parted his lips, putting the grape to them. The purple rested against the pink, Panos debated it for a second before it popped it in and began to chew.

It instantly reminded him of the family wine, a sweetness that elevated his mood. Yet there was a warmth about its juices that made his body feel well suddenly.

"Mmm" Panos made a small sound in delight, taking another, a green one to eat. He made another sound with a closed lip smile and continued eating them off the vines.

Vahşi's head cocked as he watched Panos, eyes narrowing slightly. He abandoned his attempt at reasoning with a shrug of his shoulders and stretched his left arm out to the side, rotating his shoulder in its socket. "You can really hit a guy, you know that?" Panos stared up at him while he kept quiet, chewing. It was surprising how fast these were filling him, and he felt overall better, relaxed.

"You are a wolf person." Panos finally said after swallowing and effeminately waving his hand at Vahşi to make the issue not as dramatic before "And I have my godly ancestor's blood." The prince gave a small smirk while rushing to pluck the other grapes and put them in the pockets of his black dress pants, gathering sixteen in total. He had no control of what just happened, but he felt a familial pride in the fact he could do it. A passing thought of his brothers came, taking away his smirk.

"There's actually a name for what we are," Vahşi explained. "And it sounds a little more adult than 'wolf person'. Wolf-boys were what the humans called us in the lab. It's considered an insult, so don't call me that. As a people, we call ourselves lupians. Individually, my name is Vahşi. I think you remembered that part because you were yelling it while trying to choke me to death." He wasn't quite sure what he thought about Panos' remark about godly blood - he definitely couldn't explain the grapevines - but he was willing to consider that it might be the truth. He noticed the smirk falling off Panos' face and asked, "What's wrong?"

Panos shook his head and stood, holding onto the plucked vines. Lupines, things of fiction, but real. The prince looked Vahşi up and down and sighed. Vahşi looked back, raising an eyebrow, but made no comment.

"It would be to our benefit if we continued. There is a reason to be on this planet. I'm quite irritated with asking questions without finding any answers." The teenager wrapped the vines around his hand. He walked around the Lupine to head to the ramp. "Open." The silver metal began to lower, revealing to them that it was no longer daytime, but dawn as the sun was slowly rising and giving the sky a pink hue.

"Looks like Bolton had us drugged for a while," Vahşi commented. "Do you remember where Tuna went yesterday?" He glanced at the rows of houses but they all looked more or less the same to him, especially since he'd been half-dead last time he'd seen them. "If it even was yesterday. We could have been out for days." That wasn't entirely likely, but Vahşi wasn't going to put it past Bolton. Panos sighed and tossed the fruitless vines onto the grass and mud alongside the ship's ramp.

"Tuna, unfortunate name." The prince finally finished buttoning up his white shirt. "To answer your question, no. I do not recall." Panos walked down the ramp in new dress shoes until he got off. He looked up to Vahşi "I'm sure they will have something for you. You were originally wearing more. Unless there is a reason you are walking around half-naked."

"Apart from being drugged and kidnapped, there isn't really a reason," Vahşi said. "If we're lucky we'll find some kind of village armoury or something." He realized that he'd once again left a perfectly viable weapon - Bolton's gun - laying on the ground and sighed. He was getting sloppy. "Let's take a look around, but be careful. Lupians don't like being surprised by strangers. And please try not to grapevine anyone, present company included."

Panos gasped and blushed, holding his hands to his chest.

"It was not by choice and I was under the impression I was to be harmed!" he protested to defend his honor.

"I was laying on the floor," Vahşi pointed out. "Whether you acted on instinct or not, I wasn't exactly acting like I was going to attack you. Try putting your hands in your pockets or something. And since we're in a lupian village, any canine is likely an inhabitant rather than a pet. Don't whistle at them or say something like 'Nice doggy.' Okay?" Panos' crystalline eyes rolled and he gave Vahşi a huff before starting to walk to the hilly village.

Vahşi smirked and followed. He liked this time of day best, the way the sun wasn't hot and the damp smell of the dew accentuated the scent of the grass. Walking through the village in this quiet moment reminded him of home and he sighed softly, glancing off to the side. If he were home, Farla would be coming from the direction of the closest group of huts, but in this world nobody stirred there.

When they came, there were few little people out and about, the handful being a few patrolling males. Panos wrinkled his nose and pointed to the left, the third hill down.

"I believe that is where the one named Tuna went." Vahşi turned in the direction Panos indicated and didn't wait to see if Panos would follow. He sniffed and could sense Tuna's scent on the road but couldn't figure out if it was the way to his home or not. None of the guards gave Vahşi any acknowledgment but they did look at Panos as if he were an oddity. The door was short, wooden and circular. Both of them would have to crouch to enter if they wanted. Panos looked at the pink sky once more, Vahşi's exposed skin felt the coolness of the weather. "Are we to knock or do some other sort of greeting?"

Inside, the Lupine's ears could hear the feint sounds of an adolescent male and female voice weeping inside. Panos seemed unaware of it as he was still looking up to him with a questioning expression. Vahşi frowned and rapped on the door twice. "Tuna, it's Vahşi," he said, and opened the door without waiting for anyone inside the hut to answer him.

He had to keep low, stepping on a holy, dirty, green walking mat. The whole building was made of arching wooden halls that were still too low for Vahşi. In the little home the floor was comprised of dirt, basic furniture of woodworking, unpolished. It smelled of Tuna's scent, and the strong scent of two other little lupines. They were at the end of the hall, holding each other. The male was brown haired with uneven cut locks at the ears, wearing leathers and the female had long black hair in a simple gray wool dress. Their green eyes looked up to Vahşi, neither looking older than a miniature fifteen.

"Son," the female said sorrowfully. "Tuna's gone-gone."

Vahşi stared at her a moment, eyes going almost blank. Panos was suddenly forgotten behind him, and he found himself shaking his head in disbelief. He went down the hall until he was just in front of the lupian couple and sat down cross-legged. "What happened?" he asked, barely getting the words out. The weeping couple went out to hug Vahşi around his neck to pull him in. Vahşi had always hated strangers touching him, but he sat still because under the circumstances it was the best option.

"He went hunting. Leader say he need to prove he good hunter. Tuna wanted to be good hunter like you and Tuna go...then...then..." The male cried even harder with the female, unable to finish the rest. He was stroking both Vahşi's black hair and the female he was crying with. Vahşi didn't even notice the contact now. Tuna had gotten killed trying to be like him. Dead because 'the leader' had decided a little kid needed to prove himself. "Where's the leader?" Vahşi asked, his voice level. His jaw clenched and he breathed in deeply.

"Leader in woods," the male said. Vahşi stood up, having to stoop because of the low ceiling.

"You been gone. Stay home, join howl for Tuna." The female shot her red eyes in Vahşi's direction.

"I'll be back," Vahşi told her, sounding suspiciously like he was going to cry. "I-I promise." He carded a hand through his hair as he left the hut and stood up outside. "Tuna's dead," he told Panos. "The leader said he had to prove himself and he went out hunting alone." For a moment Vahşi stared off at the trees; then he blinked and came back to reality. "I've gotta go after him." Vahşi cast a quick glance at Panos' face, looking almost ashamed for a moment, and turned away toward the forest.

"I.." Panos began but Vahşi was so fast that he decided to not chase. The prince sighed and leaned against the grassy hill of the home. Slowly he sat down and curled into a ball. He wanted no more to deal with death.

Spoiler: Vahşi's section 

**

Vahşi rushed through the morning plains, the sunlight coloring him and the wind rushing around his body. With the strength of the sustenance, his supernatural healing and the advance medical tech of the robot, the lupian's speed was full force. Trekking the two miles took little time. His nose filled with the forest world and he could smell a few of the little people, including one scent he knew to be the leader.

Only a few trees in was the black haired, squared faced adolescent with the unique mark. The sense of importance struck Vahşi, yet the Vulpine smirked.

"Hello maki, your brother not good hunter like you. Very sad." His expression and tone was mocking. "You be good hunter." The little adolescent man gestured to his chest. "But I be leader and you are bad for being maki. Maki need to hunt again, bring meat. Maki help no any way but hunt."

Vahşi spat at the youngling's feet. "I'm not hunting for you," he growled, staring the boy straight in the eyes and squaring his shoulders. "You're going to do something for me. You're gonna tell me why I shouldn't kill you for being responsible for my brother's death. And it better be a fucking good explanation or I'll tear your throat out." Under most circumstances this would have been a rather empty threat, but any threat coming from Vahşi was in dire likelihood of being carried out in any circumstances. Considering that he currently blamed this lupian for the death of his brothers, 'empty' was definitely not a considerable term of use. The vulpian folded his fox ears but glared.

"You don't fight leader!" The vulpian pointed up to Vahşi. "Tuna not good hunter, Tuna dead, maki!" the younger appearing one spat with anger back to the lupian.

"Maybe your clan doesn't fight their leader, but you don't have any authority over me. Tuna was a better youngling than any dozen of you put together." Vahşi glared at the marked vulpian. "Unless you're too much of a coward, fight me. Fang on fang, wolf on fox. You win and I hunt for you. I win and you explain everything about that mark on your wrist." Vahşi arched an eyebrow and smirked at him, daring him to do something. The vulpian's hostility completely dropped into confusion, he tilted his head, exposed his arms and looked down at them. His fox tail swished.

"What?" He looked at both wrists, acting as if he saw nothing. But in Vahşi's eyes it was clearly there on his right wrist.

Vahşi realized that the vulpian either didn't see the mark or was acting like he couldn't so Vahşi would drop his guard and come over. He balanced his weight on the balls of his feet, ready to dart backward if the vulpian evidenced signs of treachery, and moved forward until he was barely within arm's length of the vulpian youngling. "Let me see your right arm," he said in a commanding tone, reaching out a hand. The vulpian bared his teeth and pulled back his limbs.

"You not leader, you listen, not tell. Hunt now!"

Vahşi had instinctively recoiled when the vulpian moved, but as soon as he realized the youngling had pulled back he returned to his former spot. He seemed rather amused by the vulpian's defiance until he ordered him to hunt. "I've got to be twice your age," he said in a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me voice. "And yet you're ordering me around? Come on, behave." Instinct told him to get the youngling under control in a much more physical way, but once his anger had had the chance to fade into curiosity Vahşi found the vulpian entertaining more than anything else.

The Vulpain grit his teeth, hissing and ears perking up, tail swishing.

Vahşi snorted at the hiss. What was this kid trying to do, be a cat? "C'mon, kid, cooperate. We're wasting time here."

"I'll get others. You will listen to leader! I'm older! I'm adult!"

Vahşi very much doubted that the vulpian was older than him, but he certainly could run. It took only a few moments for the lupian to realize he wouldn't be able to catch up the way he was. The green light lasted only a second, shorter than before due to his hurry, and the black wolf darted after the vulpian with a bark of warning. He made quite an intimidating sight, especially considering the fact that the vulpian he was chasing had the stature of a youngling.

The marked vulpian whistled loudly to get five other little people of various animal traits to join him. The males looked very seriously to their leader and the leader pointed to Vahşi, who growled in return.

"He try to fight leader, maki no respect." Damn right 'maki no respect', Vahşi thought. The little people gave each other concerned looks after looking up to Vahşi's height. But ultimately they pointed their wood spikes at him. Vahşi lowered his head, flattened his ears, and glared at each of them in turn. He was after the vulpian. The rest would be collateral damage, which he wanted to avoid despite the fact they were all pointing spears at him. He started moving toward the vulpian 'leader' in a hunter's crouch, snarling softly all the while. The little people, following the leader's lead took, steps forward in their leather armors but they went forward, their metal sharpened edges came to strike the lupian, but he dodged them with a simple lunge into the air. The leader screamed as the wolf's shadow began to descend upon him.

Vahşi landed neatly on the leader's shoulders, knocking him to the ground. By the time they both hit the dirt, Vahşi was human and still ready to fight. He pulled the leader up in front of him and held him against his body in a headlock. "So far I've been trying not to murder you," he growled in the leader's ear. "Call your boys off and we can talk. Otherwise I'll kill you now." Spit landed on his cheek, and two spears plunged into him, one in his left leg and one in his right ass cheek.

"You show no respect! Die maki!" The little vulpian under Vahşi's grasp bared his teeth and tried to cut at the lupian's face but his nails came short and missed. Fire shot through Vahşi's wounds, feeling blood trickle into his leather armor. If he didn't move, they would strike his bare skin next, his combat senses told him.

Vahşi had warned him. Besides, they'd stabbed him in the butt. What kind of heathens did that? He thrust the vulpian leader away from him and slipped his hand up to the vulpian's chin. The neck twisted to the breaking point and gave way. Vahşi dropped the body and wolfed out on instinct, dodging the next spear thrust and snapping the weapon in his jaws. Something burned across the pad of his left forepaw and he leaped aside, assuming he'd stepped on a broken piece of wood or metal rather than recognizing the burn of another mark. He neatly slammed his body into one of the younglings, his shoulder against their chest, and broke through their ring of weapons. Rather than keep running, as common sense insisted, he stopped out of stabbing range and eyed them carefully. Even though they'd just tried to murder him, they were still kids.

Four little people looked at each other, the fifth struggled to get back to his feet. Vahşi watched him long enough to figure out he wasn't hurt, then turned his attention back to the group at large.

"He killed leader?" One of them asked the other, his little red wings flapping. Another poked the vulpian's body.

"Leader dead."

The one who stood up pointed at Vahşi.

"Maki leader? Strange."

"Maki...leader..." The five young faces stared at the lupian with reverence and puzzlement.

Vahşi considered this to be a favourable turn of events. He returned to human shape and stared quizzically at the younglings. They stared back at him. "First of all, my name isn't Maki," Vahşi said. "So stop with that. My name's Vahşi." He took a deep breath and tried to think of what to do next. Never in his life had he expected to be the leader of an alien race that looked almost exactly similar to his own. Now would be a great time to have Panos, he thought. While it was nice that the prince had missed out on Vahşi murdering yet another person, cementing Panos' hey-Vahşi-is-a-psycho theory, it was well documented on this world and others that Vahşi had zero social skills. "We're going back to the village." He only remembered at the last second to say it as a command and not a question. What was he getting into?


The five faces pursed their lips and then nodded.

"We bury Ato's body?" The five little people looked between Vahşi and the little person he had just killed. The body limp in the grass, leaves, and fallen branches.

"Yes," Vahşi said. "I'm going back now. Once you bury the body, follow me." He glanced over the little group, shook his head, and started down the path back toward the village. He was going to have a hard time explaining this to Panos.

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi part 5 

Vahşi's travel back to the village was a pain in the ass, literally. His right cheek flared with irritating muscle contractions each step of the two mile journey he took, though he had felt far worse in life. It still made him have a hitch in his walk. The left thigh burned a bit more each time he used it, but his travel wasn't heavily impeded. The Lupine smelt his own blood gather around his small piercings under the leather garments. The wounds could have been worse.

Coming back, the sun was still rising, little people slowly coming out of their homes to walk down a path at the end of the village to their right, not in the direction of the two story sized ship for it was to the left. Entering, the wind carried Panos' fragrance, a trail of rejuvenating flowery smells guided him back to the prince. Though it had looked like two things had occurred: within the forty five to hour passing of time Panos had managed to fall asleep. Somehow Vahşi wasn't surprised. After all, he wasn't expecting Panos to be eagerly awaiting his return, and there wasn't much to do here for someone like Panos. Secondly, he had gained an admirer.

The Lambros prince was laying in front of Tuna's house, beside the door, legs curled up to his body, but an arm laid out. When he wasn't wrinkling his nose in constant criticism it would take a blind individual to not notice the supposed god-blooded's serene doll-like features. His unique hair was scattered about over grass. On top of him was a brown stitched blanket, underwhelming patchwork.

And the admirer was a smiling little person. He must have been one of the guards who caught whiff and couldn't resist, as he was standing over Panos with blushing cheeks and, from what the lupian could smell, woodsy male pheromones of arousal. Vahşi's eyebrows briefly disappeared into his hairline as he realized one of the natives had a crush on Panos. Gods help them all, because now Panos was definitely going to freak out. His dirty blonde cowlicks that made up his hair bounced around as he went back and forth on the heel of his foot, staring with his dull blue eyes, no sparkle of intelligence. The miniature fifteen year old appearing little person gave Vahşi a glance.

"She's very pretty. I like her. I like weird girl."

"Uh... He's not a girl," Vahşi said. "He's a guy. And I'm pretty sure he's firmly taken. Can't remember if he's married, but he's not looking. Sorry about that. Ah..." He stared awkwardly at the youngling, having no idea where to go from here with the conversation. Deciding, or rather hoping, that he would go away if ignored, Vahşi turned to Panos and nudged the prince's side with his foot, then stepped back with a wary expression. Considering the way Panos had reacted last time he'd awoken to seeing Vahşi, the lupian was in one of his rare moments of caution.

Panos groaned.

"She, girl." The little person whiffed loudly to indicate the scent, as definition of gender. "You maki and no like girl." Vahşi shook his head and gave up. The youngling clearly had no intention of listening to him so he wasn't going to waste his time arguing.

The prince rubbed his face, something had shaken him, yet he felt warm. Slowly he sat up, just starting to open his sapphires. He glared at the quit that had been put on him.

"It's dirty!" Panos said with absolute disgust, throwing it away from his body. He saw a little person staring down at him with a smile, and Panos frowned deeply when he saw the person's privates pushing on his leather. The teenager pushed himself up using the grassy hill. "Foul! Get away!"

"Are you always this charming in the mornings?" Vahşi drawled, giving Panos an amused smirk. "Let me take a chance and guess that none of your friends have seen you first thing in the morning." Panos crossed his arms, he was getting sick of men. Big men, little men, they were all the same. Vahşi glanced at the youngling and simply rolled his eyes. "Can you go into the forest and help the hunting pack?" he asked.

"Leave Panos alone." The little person was smiling at Panos, still swinging his hips forward and back with the up and downs of his toes.

"You can leave," Panos said with a judgmental gravitas to the pervert. Nothing happened, the blond didn't move and the prince gave him a cold shoulder, looking at Vahşi. Since the lupian didn't want to reveal that he'd murdered someone during Panos' nap, he followed Panos' course of action and simply ignored the blond.With a quick scan Panos noticed the symbol of Cronus on the lupian's hand. He bit his lower lip.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, you know," Vahşi said. "Having what passes for fun among us murdering pervert lupians. Straight answer being that I got in a fight during which I got stabbed in the butt and these guys are little heathens, I swear." Considering Vahşi had been relatively emotionless through most of this journey, he was being surprisingly vocal. "Tell me it's not just lupians who consider that really underhanded." A flip of the prince's hair dismissed the question.

Panos crossed his arms again. Vahşi's antics were coming up to par to his ex-husband. Maybe worse, maybe.

"Did you kill anyone?"

If anything, Vahşi looked chagrined that he had to admit to murdering yet another person. "Okay, first of all, I warned him and I tried to talk to him rather than just leaping at him. And second of all, he tried to murder me first. So that kind of evens things out, right?" He tried a lopsided grin but quickly realized Panos didn't appreciate it. The prince yanked at his silver hair.

"By the gods, I'm done with you. Completely!" Vahşi flinched slightly at his tone, as if by instinct, but didn't physically move. The teenager turned away from both the staring little person and Vahşi. No doubt the gods gave them more of a challenge than slaughtering everyone. His brain thumped with irritation. A reaping Titan was Cronus. He stared at his own forearm to the symbols again. "What are these for? Have you any idea?" His voice shook with frustration, a solemn expression to stare at the tattoos.

"Absolutely no idea," Vahşi said, relieved that the conversation had turned away from his homicidal tendencies. "I've never seen anything like them before. Do you know anything? After the grapevines-out-of-the-hands thing, I'm not ruling any weird stuff out." The little person suddenly ran off and Panos didn't turn to face the lupian.

"They are the gods. Hermes, Aphrodite, and Mars. My people worship them. And they must be the ones challenging me...with you."

"Come on, I can't be all bad," Vahşi said. "No, don't answer that. Do you happen to know why the gods are branding us and shoving us around to different worlds? Kind of a weird thing to do, isn't it?"

"I feel like I am about to weep, you make me so angry." Panos' mood had been wrecked, in thought of Vahşi and his murderous rampage. What stopped the murderous wolf-man from killing him? "I know nothing of their intentions but I pray I live through them." People of the village seemed to all be going down the right path at the end of the hill-homes. The prince leaned against Tuna's grassy residence.

Vahşi fairly bristled at Panos' words, and when he spoke his words were sharp. "Well, I sincerely apologize for being drugged and brainwashed into a compulsive murderer. Sorry it's so hard for you to deal with." He seemed like he was about to say something else when one of the five little people ran up to Vahşi. He could remember the face.

"Oot tell Elders you leader now!"

"Yeah, surprise," Vahşi replied. He looked at Oot with an expression that was half quizzical and half cautious. "What do you want, kid?"

"I let leader know."

"Leader?" Panos asked unable to turn at look at Vahşi.

Vahşi nodded at the kid, still considering him an unknown entity. "Go ahead," he said. In reply to Panos he simply made a vaguely noncommittal noise, since the prince obviously considered him a psychopath by now. In a zip the prince came up and snatched Vahşi's hand with the tattoo, the man's hand was rough. Vahşi's instinct was to yank his hand back and growl at Panos, but he held still.

Panos grit his teeth, if only he knew what it meant.

The little person ran off. Vahşi watched him go and the Lambros sighed deeply.

"Cronus was the Titan of reaping, harvest, discipline." His fair brow twiched, his soft smaller hands holding the hand still while he studied. "How did you get this mark?" Panos stared up to the Lupine's eyes through his long lashed, crystalline gaze. "Killing that little thing?"

"Yeah," Vahşi answered. "A Titan of reaping and harvest? What are we supposed to do, settle down as farmers?" He gestured vaguely to the village with his free hand. "While this place is nice I would prefer not to stay here indefinitely."

"As if I would allow that to happen," Panos responded immediately after Vahşi finished his words. The prince sounded highly offended and Vahşi nearly smirked at his tone but hid it. Vahşi's hand was shaken a little while the prince wiggled it in frustration. "The gods must have known you were bound to kill him, or, anyone and gave you the symbol..." Panos muttered to himself, a whispered a thoughtful criticism.

Vahşi's eyes caught a flash. In the corner, to the left, the lupian looked to see the white ship was suddenly flashing red lights along its top in a line.

"Something's going on," Vahşi said, instantly suspicious. He pulled his hand from Panos' and started walking toward the ship. "Do you see those lights? Was there anyone else on the ship that Bolton mentioned?" Panos turned to witness the flashes of the aforementioned space vessel, he pursed the Lupine in haughty stride.

"No, I think you killed every living person on board," Panos said.

Vahşi rolled his eyes. "You're just determined not to like me, aren't you?"

Little people they walked past gave a head tilt to the direction of the flashing red, but with dull eyes kept their paths onward without falter. Panos expected no less of their behavior. But along the hurried walk the horned blonde from before had returned with a raw squirrel corpse in his bloody hands.

"I feed pretty girl, girl like me."

"Shut up," Panos said without a head turn. The spaceship had remained stagnant, blinking its drawing color but taking no motion. "I...do not trust this..." The royal teenager said warily. He pinched his fair nose and scoffed at the squirrel corpse being waved around him.

"You don't trust it? I thought I was the paranoid one. But whether you trust it or not, we need to make sure nothing's wrong," Vahşi said. "And I don't think the youngling will come inside," he added, gesturing toward the blonde. He walked up the ramp, leaving Panos to decide whose company he wanted to keep. While his nose and ears told him nobody was aboard, he still wanted to check for himself. The little person flapped his small red feathered wings. Panos made sound of disgust and promptly went up the ramp after Vahşi, nose still held shut. The lupian snickered but refrained from commenting.

Coming into the ship, Panos had let go of his nostrils and peeked around nervously on the first floor. The back left door swooshed open to reveal a pure white closet that was tall and had rows of shelves and clear boxes in a small little walkway.

"Here is your chest piece, do put it on." The teeenager told the lupian, walking around to go back to the robot. Vahşi made a pleased noise when he saw it and started running his hands over the pieces, instinctively feeling for any flaws before pulling it over his head and securing its fit around his waist."What is happening?" he asked the metal man.

"The ship is flashing its detection lights to help squadron find its landing point." Panos' face paled. Squadron?

"How much longer till they land?"

"One minute."

Vahşi came out of the side room, having gotten his armour to lay the way he wanted it to. "Did that thing say there's a squadron coming?" he asked, voice sounding a little strained and tinged with something like fear. "I've gotta get out of here." He started toward the door, his mind already several steps ahead of the present moment. "Sorry to abandon you, Your Highness, but if a bunch of soldiers corner me I'm going to wolf out worse than before. Bad memories. I'll stick around long enough to make sure the squadron isn't here to hurt you but then I'm gone for a couple days."

"What!?" Panos' voice jumped several octaves in fear. He looked at the robot and then at Vahşi. "No, please, take me. Don't leave me to whatever they'll do. Please take me Vahşi!" He was desperate. If Bolton had been willing to drug him, what would the others do in order to help him?

The seconds ticked by.

"Oh, come on," Vahşi snapped. "What do you think they're going to do, shoot you on sight? If anyone is going to wind up dead because of them, it'll be me. Trust me on that. Besides, if they find the ship alone, they'll probably start looking around for you anyway." Vahşi turned to issue one last word of advice and caught the brunt of Panos' look of fear and desperation. He glared at the prince for a moment before sighing. "Gods damn me for I deserve it. Fine, come along, but keep up." By the time he reached the top of the ramp leading out, he was a wolf again. He wasted no time in looking around; instead, he set off for the closest part of the treeline at a rapid trot.

Panos tried to run, going down the hall but his legs were already on fire from yesterday. Yet he rode the waves of adrenaline to push himself physically faster than he ever had before. Already above him he could hear the sounds of something flying through the sky, but the prince didn't look. His thighs and calves agonized, magma numbed by fight or flight. He had never been speedier.

Vahşi had beaten Panos into the woods by a long shot. He had turned to wait for Panos who took another full fifteen seconds to come, the prince looked physically impacted by all of this: flushed with facial contortions of pain. By the time Panos was just entering the tree line Vahşi saw a square winged ship, silver with metal plates of red sprinkled through, coming down. It was half as tall as the white ship, but twice as wide. In the chaos of all of this the youngling perusing Panos had scurried off somewhere.

When Panos entered the treeline he crashed completely, sliding into a land of leaves, mud, and branches.

The lupian's sight revealed that as the large back ramp of the squadron ship opened its mouth, six figures dressed in black combat metal gear that was chunky yet near form fitting in design. They had giant shoulder strapped guns, black and with two handles to hold and two muzzles. Vahşi's hackles raised when he noticed the latter. Their helms had a large rectangular visor that glowed neon blood red and their movements showed elite squad training as they kept in circular pack formation. The first action they took was board the white ship immediately.

Vahşi growled softly, his ears pricked in anticipation of danger. While it wasn't very likely that the squadron would come back out and start spraying the brush with bullets, he'd learned to never underestimate humans when they were hunting lupians. They were beyond dangerous when they were searching for blood. Vahşi cast a last glance in the direction of Tuna's parents' dwelling, then stepped back from the treeline.

Panos hadn't gotten up from the earth's surface. Vahşi trotted over to him, nudged the prince's arm with his nose, and moved a few paces further into the woods. Then he stopped and waited, eyes fixed on Panos. It was clear that he wanted to keep moving, but he wasn't going to abandon Panos. Yet, there were limits on what a body could achieve. The prince was all but down and out, he reached out a soft, thin arm as if it were an attempt to make himself move forward, but he couldn't get up. Vahşi had to either carry him or leave him.

Vahşi quickly realized this and stared at Panos with the closest thing to a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look that a wolf could manage. He sighed and a moment later he was a human again. "If you grapevine me for this I'll leave you for the squadron," he grumbled, and pulled Panos to his feet. He put one of Panos' arms over his shoulder and put his other hand on Panos' waist. "And don't pass out on me." Considering the height differences, it was the most awkward way for the lupian to help Panos, but manageable. Together they walked.

Panos was heavily breathing, his front covered in blotches of mud and leaves that stuck to it. Though, fabulous as always, was his hair that he flipped over to look up at the lupian with his feminine features. He was too exhausted to be sassy.

"Fine." Perhaps he did have some energy left in him. The deeper woods was calm, the comforts of an evergreen wood, a place a lupian person could call home. Vahşi followed his nose, guided to a source of water. Panos had kept quiet, focusing on taking each step he could muster. He looked to be in a bit of pain, for he was. Vahşi glanced down at him every once in a while to make sure he wasn't about to collapse but generally ignored him.

But the source of water was reward, at least a mile and a half in the woods was a small stream with large rocks decorating its flow of water, cascading down slabs of earth as it decreased in elevation. The trees would provide shelter and the abundance of animals in the area that were picked up by Vahşi's nose would be more than enough to feed them. Vahşi stopped next to one of the trees and removed his arm from Panos' shoulder. "This should be safe enough, for now," Vahşi said. "I'd like to move further in, but I don't think you would appreciate it." He turned in a slow circle, using all his senses to detect the source of every wisp of breeze and every whistle of birdsong. "Yeah, this'll work. I'm going to get dinner. You start getting some firewood together. Dry stuff, nothing green, and some tinder."

It was now the prince's turn to look up at Vahşi with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look, and unlike the lupian, the royalty could deliver. He lifted his arm, and it fell to the ground like flopping jelly. He had just helped him walk for an extended duration. The percentile chance of the prince being able to move now was zero.

Vahşi snorted and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Stay here and scream for me if anything attacks you." Shaking his head, he turned away and wandered off; by the time he got to the edge of the stream he was a wolf again. He stopped for a moment to get a drink, then jumped across the stream and disappeared into the trees, tail wagging.

Exhausted Panos took in the sight of the green energy that had enveloped Vahşi and transformed him. Being in this bodily state forced him to take the sight as is, with no pulse of fear available for him to tap into. The sapphire eyes watched the tail swinging and wondered just what other elements this godly trial could bring.

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi part 6 

The first night was quiet. And not because of the nature sounds, for they were plenty among the living things that called the forest home. But interpersonally it was silent. Panos had nothing to say to the lupian. The man had brought back meat, even cooked it, but the prince had none of it. He vehemently denied it, instead he kept to his dimly glowing grapes, their golden inner radiance all the more visible in the dark wood. At first Vahşi had argued with him to try to change his mind, but eventually he gave up Panos as a lost cause and kept the meat to himself.

For the prince it eased his sore body and elevated him enough to endure what was happening, pulling back from the brink of depression. He suckled on the juices, thinking of his bloodline, family, his ancestral god. The adolescent was coming to a point where he truly pondered the purpose of his life. The night never gave him an answer.

By morning the prince's body was lame with numbed soreness. Still did he keep his silence, letting the lupian do his rounds and explore the woods without comment. Vahşi had kept to himself with no attempt to initiate conversation. He would have said that was more interested in making sure their hideout was secure, but in all honesty he was slightly poutish over Panos' refusal to eat. Coupled with the reticent tendencies he'd been taught in the lab he'd once been kidnapped in, it made him about as talkative as a mute man. The Lambros teenager kept his eyes on the flowing water, rubbing a purple grape between his fingers. His clothes stuck to him, mud adhered to him. He felt miserable, alone, scared and puzzled. It added up to a weight that sat on him, leaving him lethargic.

The two of them remained disconnected all day. Panos hadn't moved an inch. Yet the sun overhead had finally gone from a rising sun to a falling one, the sky turning dark purples while night was looming more by the minute. Vahşi had been roaming the forest all day long in his wolf form, but as he returned to their camp he returned to his human shape and called out to Panos before becoming visible. Since he walked with practically no sound, he didn't want to risk getting grapevined again because Panos felt threatened. He sat down by the fire and noticed that the mark on his hand had faded so much that it seemed more like a smudge of charcoal than the blackly solid shapes on his arm.

As if responding to the fact that he'd noticed it was half-gone, the mark suddenly flared with a burning pain. Vahşi yelped and tilted his hand toward the light of the fire, searching for a reason why. There was nothing to indicate a wound or insect bite, and his hand was skin temperature to the touch. Under the skin, however, the mark was burning. Vahşi displayed his proficiency in cursing for several moments. "I'm guessing that wasn't you," he said to Panos. He started poking at the mark as if to see if that would make it hurt more, his brow furrowing as he examined it. Making his first movements against the tree, Panos adjusted himself to look over at Vahşi.

"I did nothing" Panos said flatly, working himself to his feet, the joints of his knees popped giving the prince a moment of relief. He stared on while Vahşi kept playing with the back of his hand, and now did Panos' brows furrow at the sight of the mark. It had lost its shading. Panos moved to be before Vahşi and stared at it closer. "It had some connection with the individual you killed, perhaps it would be beneficial if you investigate people you 'rule'. There may be a connection." The grape that had been in his hand was taken into his mouth, chewing quietly.

"I don't really rule any of them," Vahşi said with a shrug. "Considering that I had to run before most of them even met me. But you might have an idea, with taking a look." He eyed Panos for a moment then said, "Thanks." It sounded like he wasn't really sure if that was the right thing to say but was making an effort to be, if not sociable, at least not antagonistic. He stood, one thumb still rubbing over the half-faded mark, and said, "I'm going to go check out the village. If I'm not back before dawn something went wrong and I'll probably be dead or as good as. See you." He spoke casually, as if he wasn't speculating about his possible extermination, and wandered away from the campground like he was going for a walk. It didn't take him too long to cover the ground, and as he got closer to the village he returned to his wolf body and slipped closer, crouching as low as he could manage. His paw continued to feel the embers under his fur and he growled softly in irritation.

The wolf saw that the ships were gone and his ears pricked in anticipation. His nose told him that the squadron had indeed left, but there was another smell that warned him something was wrong. He trotted into the open, unafraid now of human danger, and saw that the humans were indeed gone. But what had become of the hilly village could be defined as a controlled extermination. The dome structures were burnt, to the point that there wasn't a single arching piece of architecture left standing, the over twenty or thirty homes gone over night. The fires did not stretch, showing the actions were deliberate as the grass adjacent to the former homes, and the dirt road remained untouched by damage.

Rows of blackened diminutive bodies laid in perfect lines down each side of the dirt road, nothing could be made of them other than the basic shapes of their skeletons. It was neat, orderly, and dead: finely executed. Vahşi whined softly but he didn't bother going any closer to the village. He knew they were all dead. The squadron had been made of humans, and humans destroyed lupian villages just like they had destroyed this one. He sat down, the tip of his tail brushing against his flank. A soft whine came from his throat as he looked down the row of bodies. He raised his head and howled mournfully at the moon, a growling bark of anger mixing with the sound. Eventually he stopped and looked again at the village. Then he stood and trotted away, from both the village and Panos' hideout. He broke into a run that led him in a direct line away from anything he'd seen on this planet so far. Panos would have to fend for himself for a while.

Vahşi disappeared into the forest world of the alien planet...

**

Panos stared up at the moon. Strange how it looked similar, yet its hue was slightly blue. The surface had different craters across. It was all subtle reminders that the earth that was around him wasn't Earth. It was something else entirely.

The water of the stream was cold, and while normally he wouldn't have lowered himself into this behavior, there was no other option. He bathed, watching the water drip through the cracks of his joined, cupped, hands. It trickled back into the flowing mass below, peaceful.

"Destiny..." Panos whispered to himself, entranced by the lunar body. His stomach twisted when Vahşi's bond to him grew further and further apart. He looked in the direction, through the trees though they blocked his vision. Had something happened? Where was he going?

**

The burning sensation on Vahşi's paw had disappeared once he'd seen the corpses, but it took him several hours to realize that it no longer hurt. Eventually he stopped, but only because he was exhausted enough that he nearly tripped over his own feet. He reverted to human shape and threw himself down on the nearest patch of grass. Rolling over onto his back, he dug his fingers through his hair and stared up at the canopy of trees overhead. In a few places he could see the night sky, but the stars flung a harsh, distant light that made him feel even lonelier. Without realizing it he began crying softly. Ever since he'd first come to consciousness in a red robe, there had been a nagging thought in the back of his mind that he was forgetting about someone he was supposed to protect. During the first world, he'd remembered Farla, and during this world he'd felt almost at home. Then he'd lost Tuna, and then the village, and now he was just tired of it all. "I want to go home," he whispered to himself. "I want to go home!" he screamed at the unforgiving sky. Nobody answered him but he kept staring upward, hoping for some kind of sign that somebody he knew was out there looking for him.

**

Death. Panos' mind had been lost on the sight of the slaughtered village. It held with him through the hours of his slow journey. Somehow, he had received comforts from slowly eating his grapes. It gave his body strength to continue, he needn't eat anything else, three grapes gave him his fill. The slowly dwindling amount in his pocket the singular comfort of his old life, his true self he had left.

Vahşi hadn't come back all night, the day left to Panos to make of it as he willed. He decided to go after the lupian. What else was there to do? After the field of death, the world had grown quiet, it was full of life, but it felt barren. Even if they had been annoying things, outright murder had never been on his table of options.

The prince pushed himself, crossing the great field of plains to enter another set of woods, the murderous man hid himself in here. He followed the bond they shared, taking each step that brought him closer till he found Vahşi, who hadn't really moved from where he'd been laying last night. Although he'd felt Panos coming toward him through the same bond that had led the prince to him, he hadn't bothered trying to run again.

Panos frowned.

"Vahşi..." the youth said softly as he leaned against a tree.

"Fuck you," Vahşi answered, managing to sound both dead and heartbroken at the same time. "If you want to grapevine me, now would be an amazing time." The silverette pushed back some of his purple hued hair and sighed. This man was too much like his ex-husband.

Drawing closer, Panos sat down, slowly chipping away his care that his clothes were tattered and pathetic. He was drawing in his breaths, his body a numb fire yet again.

"Fuck you, too," The Lambros royal back in a whisper. He let the silence hold.

Vahşi barked a laugh that held a hint of real humour. The silence lasted between them for a few minutes before he snorted and glanced over at Panos. "I needed that," he said. "You saw the village?" Panos hand nodded. Vahşi couldn't quite hold his stoic demeanor when he asked, but for once he didn't really care. "It would be nice to bury them but I don't know how we would manage it. No tools."

"And we are short of coins," Panos added quietly through is pout lips, the feminine figured studied Vahşi. "It is customary to give the bodies coins in their mouths so they may pass on..." He sighed and laid down on the forest ground once he pulled his hair over a shoulder. "Have you considered that you and I are already dead? I was shot, perhaps, I didn't...endure." Panos paused, staring up at the sky past evergreen branches. "You were a false brother of Lycus when I first met you. But, from the things you said...there was an existence...before that?"

"I don't think you would have come with me if you were dead," Vahşi said, speaking slowly as if he was thinking through what he was saying. "Besides, the metal man on the ship saved you. You couldn't have your life saved after you were dead. As for me, there was something once. I don't know what happened. We had finally escaped the lab, and we were running. Farla looked back at me and she was laughing. The next thing I knew, I was standing in that palace with the others. I don't know if I died or not. I don't know if she did. Maybe so."

"Was the Farla woman a lupian as you are?"

"Yeah," Vahşi said. "She had bright red hair and her eyes were kind of an amber colour. Sometimes they looked like they were made of gold. I could never figure out which. We knew each other before the humans caught us. They got her first and I made sure they knew what they'd gotten into." A sad smile twisted one side of his mouth. "Drove her crazy, all the times I got in trouble. Funny thing was, half the time she was responsible for it too. I always thought we'd be able to find somewhere quiet to live. Never thought of anything like this." Panos openly sighed sadly.

"I did not think it was possible to think this was going to happen. It is beyond imagination" The prince sighed again, the way Vahşi spoke about Farla made it clear that he loved her. There wasn't much to gain by dreaming. But, to know that seventy two hours ago, give or take, he was in Lycus' palace. And that in whatever time it had been for the lupian, he had been with that woman. "I just wanted to be happy..." Panos admitted to the sky, feeling his eyes stinging with tears.

"Yeah, you and me both," Vahşi said. "I guess that means we can't give up. We gotta keep on trying to get back to 'em. Me to Farla and you to your emperor... Lycus, right? I would have been an awful brother. Didn't even remember his name at first." Panos took a dainty hand to wipe his eyes.

"You-" The prince stopped himself suddenly from making a joke, in light of the village. He said nothing, sitting up, huffing more tears and wiping them away. "I had only met him. I wanted to love him, I hadn't the time..." The teenager brushed his tears aside, standing. Overhead was a high pitched sound that cut through the air. Together they saw a golden shape fly through the sky to the village. It was Vahşi who saw it was a sleek narrow ship with two wings that were feathered with its golden metal to mimic a bird's.

Panos sighed and leaned forward, hands on his knees. His hair spilled down to hide his tearing face.

"I had only just arrived, now I am to walk again..."

"Do you want me to carry you?" Vahşi asked, a smirk playing around his lips. He stood up in a single fluid movement that continued into a stretch. "I'm sure I'll be able to manage if you can't." There was a suggestion in his voice that Panos would never hear the end of it if he accepted Vahşi's offer. Panos sat on the ground, he grunted a little when he tried to bend them, forcing them to cross.

"I object to this," Panos said with a haughty huff, turning his head away. "Go ahead and be curious. I will be here."

"You are such a child," Vahşi grumbled. He crossed the space between them in a few long strides and picked up Panos bodily. The prince was lighter than he'd expected, and turning on his heel, Vahşi set out for the village. "And don't you dare try to bite me. I'm helping both of us out." The flowery prince glared daggers through weepy sapphires at Vahşi's near face.

"Biting is below me. I'm royalty, and not at all blood associated with anything bestial or feral."

Vahşi went on, out of the woods he had secluded himself from to see the ship landed on the plains next to the former village. It was almost a story and a half tall, a ramp was open at the back, facing them. The ship sparkled with golden metal, working to reflect the sunlight. Walking before the burnt corpses was a tall figure adorned in matching golden armor. It flowed as a single piece battlesuit, small wings were decorative on the shoulders and the sides of the full encasing helmet the figure wore, the lupian could see the shine of crystal decorate the wing accessories as trim.

Whatever this figure was, it had a visible aura. Lightly gray with swirls of red that whirlpool around the being, the aura spanned two feet above the person's head and out each direction of the body, seemingly generating this visual color field. They were raising its right wrist, a golden technological light scanning up and down the burned corpses on the floor. The being flapped their large white feathered wings, majestic in their size.

Panos stared at the winged person and held around Vahşi's neck with a grit of his teeth. He didn't trust the extremes of this reality. While his view, a half mile away, wasn't as fine as Vahşi's, the prince knew that any space person wasn't going to be good news, especially drizzled in gold. It was too pretentious to be trusted.

"Am I the only one thinking that this entire thing looks ridiculous?" Vahşi asked. "Let's go down there and see what happens." He started walking closer but moved more slowly than before, being cautious now that he could see what was going on. Because of his lupian super healing, the minor puncture wounds from before had sealed, and his walking was smooth and even. The closer they got, the more they saw this figure's definition. Vahşi guessed it was a male due to its V shaped body. The possible male, flapped wings after the golden light had stopped scanning all the bodies, ceasing to be emitted from its wrist device. The helm had two little holes where the nose was to be, and two set in rectangular eyes, the pixelated sunken in rectangles glowing with a dark golden light.

"I see..." He heard the voice, a man's, as the man spoke to his wrist device. Quickly he drew a gun, shaped like a hand canon. Panos shrieked and held onto Vahşi's neck tightly. The lupian made a harsh coughing sound as Panos' arm cut off his breathing. The man's aura twinkled diamond patterned specks of light and pink burst from him into the aura. "Apologies." The man's voice came through his helm and he lowered the gun. "What association do you have with this crime?"

"Panos, will you let go," Vahşi said. He was tempted to drop the prince but decided not to. When he next spoke, he addressed the winged man. "It was probably our fault," he admitted. "The villagers were the same kind of people as me, and there were humans who were studying them. I accidentally killed one of the researchers, which made the other one attack me. I meant to disarm him but killed him in self-defense. There was a squadron sent from the researchers' home planet and they razed the village in retaliation. We had already fled since we were warned the squadron was coming. I knew they would keep me in a cage for the rest of my life so I ran. The squadron left the planet sometime yesterday." The prince eased up on his choke hold to stare at the armored man staring at them and suddenly Vahşi could breathe again. He bit his bottom lip and he saw the figure tilt his head just so as he did. The timing made him suspect he had been watching him through his covered gaze, making him all the more uncomfortable.

"They had attempted to drug me as well," Panos remarked quickly.

"And the Sebacean said the were above genocide, fucking as if." Vahşi made a snorting noise that might have qualified as a laugh. The man's white wings came together and fluttered, red overtones took over the dim gray that had been the dominating shade in the bubble of colors around him. He took a last second study of the bodies before using his finger to type some things onto the wrist device. "I am reporting the crime. By The Light, justice will be served." Panos blinked, wrinkling his nose in the almighty arrogance this man threw around. Vahşi eyed him curiously, interested in the strange technology he was seemingly proficient with.

"Who are you?"

"Justice Kalton." The screen of his wrist device turned off and he put his arms to his side. Justice Kalton studied Panos. "I sense magic in you." Pink water colored the red aura. "I do not know your features, are you Terran?"

"Wait," Vahşi ordered. "We don't know you, or whose side you're on. And unless you're taking us in that-" he indicated the ship, "we're stuck here. So, what are your intentions toward us?" It was really hard to look threatening and ready for action when there was a skinny prince hanging around his neck, but Vahşi tried.

Justice Kalton nodded.

"You two look misplaced, it is strange to see you not among your Fenris pack?" Vahşi had no idea what a Fenris pack was but kept his mouth shut. There was a noticeable tone of dislike, but Kalton showed no hostile signs. "And you. I have no idea where you belong, but I'm willing to help for The Light's sake if for anything. Because here's fucked and nothing can be done yet, sadly." Panos frowned, taking in the view of this golden winged man.

"Sir." Panos fluttered his eyes "We are just lost, tired, and desire to be home again."

"I am able to transport you. You don't seem like you'd be with him and the Fenrisian. Rough bastards they are."

"People get killed, it happens," Vahşi said with a bit of a shrug that made Panos bounce in his arms, he gave out a muffled gasp in surprise. "Doesn't always mean we like it that way. What's your intended destination when you mention being able to 'transport' us?"

"Fenrisian capital, Wolfinal. I would let them and their government deal with you as they see fit. I do not know if you had fled their planet or willingly left, but a wolf needs to be with his pack." Again as he spoke about them, there seemed to be a note of irritation in his voice, the aura of red sparkled a little, yet the pink and grays were swirling clouds inside.

"He is my friend, and he has saved my life. I am to be with him in his journeys." Panos' burst of loyalty surprised Vahşi, considering the fact that in the last few days Panos had alternately hissed at him, called him a pervert or murderer, or tried to strangle him. How many wolf-people existed in this galaxy? Panos looked at Vahşi, trying to get him to nibble on this trail. It could lead to something.

"Lupians, werewolves, or wolfshifters?" Vahşi asked. The three were similar but distinct. Lupians were a species, werewolves were a story based on feral lupians, and wolfshifters were people who had dabbled in magic to allow themselves to change forms or were shapeshifters restricted in their abilities. "And how many people are there? Wolfinal is a name I've never heard before, but if they are my people as you seem to think I would be glad to go there." Panos grabbed hard, well for his weak grip, on Vahşi's shoulder. Why was Vahşi being so stupid? He was provoking this man to act weird to them.

Justice Kolton flapped his wings and waited for a second.

"They are wolf-like, there is no other way for me to describe the bastards." Vahşi tilted his chin up with a rather proud smile hinting at the corners of his lips. Whoever these Fenrisisans were, Vahşi was proud of them. Justice Kolton crossed his arms now. "For the record, why are you with him?" The man nodded to Panos.

"We both woke up imprisoned by the scientists here. We were to be experimented on with the local population here, I think..." Panos bit his lower lip "I'm not sure, we've been having trouble remembering things. Right?" The prince squeezed Vahşi's shoulder again.

Vahşi nearly rolled his eyes. Way to be subtle, Panos. "They were already doing some experiments. I think the effects hit Panos a little harder. His memory fades in and out every once in a while. We wolves heal faster." Panos swallowed down a scoff. Justice Kolton began to walk to his ship, taking one last look at the bodies, and then at Panos before going.

While the two were not quite in earshot, the Lambros looked at Vahşi with irritation.

"What is wrong with you?"

"A lot," Vahşi answered dryly. "Be specific. Do you want to stand on your own two feet now? You only weigh about fifty pounds but I've been carrying you for miles. Plus I'm not carrying you when we're on Fenris." The silverette rolled his crystalline eyes.

"Your retention is another problem. Fenris are the people, we are to be going to Wolfinal. As gods awful as that sounds." He shuffled in the Lupain's bridal hold. "I..." the Lambros paused "Can take a few steps. Thank you," Panos said begrudgingly, not looking into Vahşi's green eyes.

"That's the crankiest thanks I've ever heard," Vahşi said, setting Panos down. A smirk quirked across his lips. "People say something like 'You're welcome' when they're thanked, right? Assume I replied with whatever's socially correct and let's go. Come on, I want to see what's inside." He was definitely curious about the ship and the humanoids in it.

[Minkasha]

Akinasha

Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi Part 8 

It didn't take long for Vahşi to fall asleep despite his strange surroundings. He'd learned long ago that sleep was taken whenever he could find it. Despite the fact that he'd probably gotten at least five solid hours of rest, the noise bringing him back to the real world wasn't welcome.

Vahşi's eyes shot open wide when there was a soft rapping noise on the bedroom door. There was no lazy twilight moment where he wavered between sleep and reality. The fragrance that had put him to sleep now woke him instead, the zest of the flowery scent giving him a soothing jolt into consciousness. For a moment he thought he was back home, that it had been nothing more than a radical dream. He turned over on his side, reaching for Farla, but it was Panos' body that met his gaze when his fingers were just inches from the prince's skin. Vahşi yanked his hand back before he made contact, his heart suddenly hammering against his skin.

Panos hadn't moved an inch in his sleep, still breathing in and out slowly.

The door was knocked on once again. Vahşi exhaled harshly, almost a snort, and got out of bed. His footsteps were quiet as he crossed the floor, blinking rapidly several times to banish all traces of slumber from his expression. He opened the door and looked up into the face of the person standing there. "What?" Justice Kolton with a raise of his brow and a light reddening of his aura.

"We're over Wolfinal, your queen is a piece of work." The man fluttered his white wings, unaware that a white feather fell on the ground before Vahşi's feet.

"Damn right she's a piece of work," Vahşi said, a proud grin quirking the corner of his lips. Rather than stand in the doorway, he slumped sideways into the door frame and fixed the winged man with a daring glare accompanied with attractively pouted lips. He had no idea who Kolton was talking about, but he got the general idea that the ruler of Wolfinal was making trouble for outsiders. That was good enough for him. His gaze moved to the feather as it detached from Kolton's wings, but Vahşi only gave it a brief glance before returning his gaze to Kolton's face. "How are we getting planetside, darling? Is she letting the ship dock?" He slipped the name in instinctively, determined to provoke Kolton as much as he could get away with.

"I would punch you in the face, but you are the victim of unjust criminal activity." The man's aura reddened to a shade of a tomato's skin, which might have been menacing if it weren't for the fact it also sparkled fervently. He crossed his arms across his chest. "I am awaiting permission from their government to return you back to your kind."

Vahşi barely kept himself from laughing, but as it was his grin was nearly too wide for his face. "Punch me? Don't be like that. Justice Kolton." He drawled the name, pulling out the syllables as far as he could. "Are you ever going to see this poor victim of unjust criminal activity again? I'm sure I can get permission for you to dock on Wolfinal if you're ever in the area. After all, I am wearing your underwear. I never really thanked you for that." The man simply turned on his metal heel and walked back to the cockpit. He bent over and grabbed the headset, leaning his hand on the dash he held the earphone to his ear.

Past the bent over Justice Kolton, Vahşi could see a gray planet with large continents, healthy clouds and a good amount of green among the lit up cities he could see from space. The lupian straightened up but didn't bother to move. He couldn't tell much about the planet from this viewpoint, but then again he was orbiting hundreds, if not thousands, of miles above it.

"Permission granted? How much longer does verification require? No one else fucking has this ship design."

"It must be because of your charming attitude," Vahşi called into the cockpit, smirking again. He shut the door before Kolton could respond and let himself laugh for several long moments. While Panos would undoubtedly have disapproved, it had been a long time since Vahşi had done something like that. It felt almost normal. He crossed the room to the dresser and started buckling the armour on, tugging on the fabric of the shirt at various points to keep it from bunching up under the leather.

Panos' body slowly moved, making sounds on the sheets until he pulled himself into a sitting position. The long sleeve wiggled around was he rubbed his eyes, lashes fluttering. He adjusted his hair, and looked like usual self without a single struggle. The prince saw Vahşi and sighed loudly before chewing on one of his mysterious grapes, having not eaten anything but them for the last few days. Panos didn't question it, feeling confident and trusting in his father god. He looked at the pocket of his robe, counting the few he had left. His bare feet curled.

"Why were you laughing?" The silverette asked with another heavy sigh and flip of his hair.

"We murderous villains always start the day practicing our evil cackles," Vahşi said. "I thought you knew. Actually I was laughing at Kolton. Kolton and I, to be precise. He's working on getting us clearance to land right now but a few seconds ago we were talking for a minute." Panos took no measure to hide his boredom of Vahşi's words as he played with a strand of his own hair and yawned. The prince was also too busy focusing on the soreness of his body.

"Oh I see. I did not know you enjoyed the Justice's company." Panos said, verbally waving off the lupian and getting to his feet. Vahşi watched the effeminate prince dramatically fall to the wall next to him with a huff, hands catching him. "Oww," Panos whined, limbs and core hurting. But his eyes stared at the bathroom door. How many days had it been since he brushed his teeth? He wouldn't let that level of disgust linger any more.

And Vahşi was developing a sensation of hunger that was starting to bother him as day two of not eating was dawning.

"You do know you'll have to walk sometime today, right?" Vahşi asked. "Hey are you hungry?" He crossed the room, having finished putting his armour in place, and opened the door. "Kolton? If we could get some food before being sent off, we'd appreciate it, sweetheart. Can't let a couple good-looking guys starve because you can't get over your feelings for one of us."

Panos turned around to glare at Vahşi.

"Just what are you trying to antagonize!?" The teenager scoffed across the room. "And who said you could comment about your looks, whatever you may have. Or mine, do not include me in your low behavior." Panos end to to push himself to the bathroom, drawing claret one step at a time.

"Murderous bastards like myself just wanna have fun, princeling," Vahşi said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Can't blame us." He turned back to Kolton.

Vahşi had the pleasure of seeing the Justice glare with his red aura over his shoulder before standing up straight.

"I will be sure to add thorough detail of you in my reports. Cause trouble and the system will tag you and the Justice will see your troublemaking." The man walked off to the other door, it swooshing open. "You'll get your food," Justice Kolton said coolly while walking into the room and the door swooshing shut behind him.

"Well, we have food, but I think the Justice might be a bit perturbed with me. Don't see why. You ready to be stuck on an entire planet of lupians that you can't grapevine?" He left the door to their room open and crossed the floor to the bed. He dropped onto it like a stone and put his hands behind his head. Panos fumbled through the silver drawers of the metal cabinet, going through the toiletries. He didn't know what toothpaste of a space reality would look like, but he had seen a black toothbrush on the counter; apparently it didn't change much.

"Don't call it that," Panos spat from the bathroom. "And how do you know that? Your assumptions are dangerous. Ah!" Panos found a spare, brush and toothpaste which now came in a circular container similar to foundation makeup.

Vahşi heard the bathroom sink turn on and the mundane sounds of Panos brushing his teeth.

"What else do you want me to call it?" Vahşi asked. "'Strangulation' sounds too mundane for an amazing grapevine-spawning prince like yourself. What do you think they feed people up here?"

"I'm getting tired of your satire." When did the murderous lupian become a pseudo comedian? Panos spent another brushing intently, getting his tongue.

The door was swooshed open, the long coiled haired man came in. The large wings fluttered and his nose wrinkled all at Vahşi's causal, messy sight all over his bed. Vahşi winked at him for the hell of it, already smelling what the man had brought: fish. Looking over, he saw the golden armor man carrying a metal tray with two large metal bowls of minced fish, sprinkled with green herbs, pepper and brown rice.

"This should be nutritional for both of you," Justice Kolton said, looking away to Panos in his bathroom. His brown brow twitched as his aura also sprinkled with pink. "I see you found what you needed." Panos blushed, making his eyes water with guilt with a hand to his cheek.

"Um, I'm sorry...I was so desperate. I hope...you...um...can understand." The feminine prince batted his sapphires at the winged man and he watched the Justice smile contently. "Oh thank you," Panos said with a frail voice. Though the moment he turned his head back to the sink he rolled his eyes, wiping his conjured tears.

Vahşi rolled off the bed with a soft snort and approached Kolton. "Food smells good," he said, moving to pick up a bowl. He raised an eyebrow suggestively and said, "I'll have to thank you later, babe. Did you get permission to land yet?" He could only imagine what Panos thought of him right now. He was sure he'd hear about it later. The Justice blinked his clumped lashes together, staring at Vahşi.

"Yes, we are to land when you are finished eating." On the tray was silverware for Vahşi to grab at his leisure.

"I could imagine the burden one would have associating with you, young wolf-being."

"You're breaking my heart," Vahşi said with a dramatic sigh. He picked up the silverware laying on the tray and leaned against the wall. He dipped his head forward and fixed Kolton with his gaze. "But surely you'll be sad to see me go." He started eating, handling the silverware in a most civilized way considering he usually hunted his own food in the woods.

The man's wings fluttered once more. Panos struggled to get to the door way and the Justice noticed. Panos bit his lower lip in genuine frustration of the numb aches his body had been fighting past for so long now. He was near lame, sleep only made him wake feeling even closer to true lamehood. "Do you need help?" The brown haired man offered.

Panos nodded, not looking at the man who approached and picked him up. He felt a feather brush against his face, his hair against the man's wing as he was being lifted.

"They...are...spectacular," Panos came to admit with a cross his arms at his chest and a wrinkle of his nose.

"Trust me, they get in the way easily." The golden armored man with pale skin to match Panos' laughed a bit, chuckling. "You are magical somehow..." Justice Kolton paused, looking at Panos. "Do you require sustenance?" His head gestured to the tray left on the floor.

"No. Not in that form. I am able to tend to myself in other ways."

"Strange," Justice Kolton said, but seemed to accept it. The prince had noticed Justice Kolton's expression every time he talked about magic. If such a concept was accepted, practiced, and real in this reality...was a force like that a good thing or a bad?

The Lambros prince decided to raise his nose at Vahşi, giving him a silent judgment about his silverware usage. The lupian took a break from eating to stick his tongue out at Panos. Suddenly the prince found himself sat down on the bed.

"Huh?" Panos asked with wide eyes, he was getting accustomed to being carried.

"Excuse me, I'm to land the ship." The Justice walked off and the door swooshed behind him. Panos scoffed, he didn't do what he wanted.

"I'm so impressed you can eat like a person."

"Most of us don't spend all our time as wolves," Vahşi pointed out, waving his spoon vaguely in Panos' direction.

Panos pointed to the second bowl with a small hand. "Another, strengthen those muscles of yours for all your barbarism I'm sure you and your lupine friends are to do." After the teenager condemned Vahşi once more, he popped into his mouth another grape, eleven left. The tally had him frowning to himself.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the grapevine," Vahşi said. "Although if you're not going to eat, I'm not gonna let food waste. We never got enough in prison." He put down his now-finished bowl on the dresser and picked up the one Panos had abandoned. "Cheers." Panos huffed again while Vahşi went out, pouting. While he was thinking, he stared at the lupian. The man made him think of his first, regrettably so, lover. The black haired man ate, Panos furrowed his brows.

"I know people usually can't keep their eyes off me," Vahşi said, "but what is that look for? You kinda seem like you're about to smack me or something. Night terrors last night? Or do you still think I'm your emperor's brother who's a pervert?"

"Your behavior with Justice Kolton would suggest you are a pervert." Panos manipulated some of his wispy hair with a discontent expression on his face, upset even. Though he didn't look like he was going to address it. "I was not aware you were inclined to someone like Justice Kolton."

"Nah, I'm not 'inclined'," Vahşi said. A wry grin appeared on his lips but he still managed to look sad. "I just like teasing him. We all did, back when we were in the lab. Teased each other. Wasn't much else to do except listen to the voices in our heads. The ones of us that wanted to live, that didn't want to go crazy, we found ways to keep busy. Everyone flirted with everyone. It was a way to pass the time, kind of. Nobody wanted to talk about deep things, so we joked around. You can't tell me you've never flirted with someone for the hell of it."

"I've only been with two men," Panos began, looking at the door to the rest of the ship. "And I only use my charms in cases of survival. My father had taught me one useful lesson in his judgmental life." The prince shrugged. "Men like malakia and I plan on using that to keep myself alive. It is to be my greatest weapon, to my grief."

"The good weapons are the ones that feel like part of your body," Vahşi said, as if reciting. "The great weapons are the ones that kill you as much as your prey. That's what they always taught us. Maybe the little bastards told us the truth every once in a while." His eyes seemed different, like his dark thoughts were reflecting in their colour. "Who knew?"

"Right..." Panos' hand slowly pulled from the lock of hair he had twisted, it unwinding without his finger to curl around. The ship jostled just a little, a very faint sensation. Ten seconds pasted and the door opened. The man hadn't said anything, grabbing his helmet, twisting his hair up in a small flat bun quickly before he did. Instead of the brown eyes came back the deep set golden rectangular robotic stare.

"We are here." His aura was lightly red with sparkle. Panos was picked up, the prince putting an arm around his neck. Justice Kolton looked at Vahşi. "The queen has sought audience with you." The Lambros frowned at the mention of that.

Vahşi looked surprised at Kolton's revelation, but nodded. "If the queen wishes a response before we join her on the planet, tell here I am most honoured and will join her immediately upon landing on the planet."

"I apologize that we had not the time to make your bed..." Panos said biting his lip and looking at Justice Kolton.

"It is fine. I've given two people justice. I fucking hope."

Vahşi shrugged. "We'll find out."

**

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi part 9 

Wolfinal, Lemanian

Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi

He led them to the ramp, the stairs slowly coming down. The lupian was bombarded by the smells of outside air, though it smelled of gunpowder, not particularly fresh. When they stepped down they were taken to a concrete world that had old gray mason built towers to add age with the city's dilapidated urban look. They must have been on a square corner of a giant perimeter because each way they saw long, thick stretches of concrete covered mason fence that was two stories high.

Vahşi quickly learned what the lupian people here were like as someone came up dull stairs built into the gate to greet them. He was at least eight and a half feet tall, his eyes were golden, his skin light and ears pointed. He was a hairy man of several hundred pounds of muscle, blonde hairs down his arms that were bare from his black undershirt and vest. His tan pants showed the outline of huge leg muscles and his face was scruffy with facial hair. His pheromones reeked with strength: this would be one hell of a man to fight, and the odds wouldn't be in Vahşi's favor.

What made it worse was from this gate vantage point, Vahşi could see and smell more of these people going along the gray walking paths, men and women. The people of this planet were fierce. He had gone from the guppies to the sharks, each of them taller than he and more than likely his superior in direct competitions of brutality. He hated and loved it at the same time.

"Oh my gods," Panos stammered when the golden eyed man came up.

"Oh, hush," Vahşi said lazily. "Not everyone is as short as you are."

The large lupian openly raised his large nose into the air, taking in a deep whiff of something and stared at Panos for a second before glaring down at Vahşi. The prince had put a hand to his mouth, fighting a new fear. They were in a land of murderers now. He held closer to the Justice more than ever. Vahşi rolled his eyes. If Panos had been standing on his own two feet the lupian undoubtedly would have kicked him in the shin to get him to stop it.

"Queen Anadel wants you, little kin." Even the sky itself was gray, an overcast on a gloomy place, and in the distance of the urban world an even gloomier square, mason work castle whose maroon colors had been dulled in the rays of melancholy weather.

"The last person to call me 'little kin' was my mother," Vahşi said with a snort. He tilted his head in a way that seemed both easygoing and cautious, and added, "Let's go see the Queen, then." He would have thought the leader of a lupian community would have been called an alpha, as on his own world, but then again he was on an alien planet of giants. Nothing was supposed to really make sense here. The large lupian bared his teeth for a fleeting second, showing his fangs. His hands, covered with body hair at the outsides, had thick claws for nails.

He said nothing to Vahşi, turning to go back down the stairs. Following, Panos kept a hand at his mouth so he may spread his fearful or disgusted opinions about everyone and everything of this planet. Vahşi glanced sideways at him, half amused by his fear, and decided not to say anything.

Among the people and buildings, a lot of the lupians were openly taking whiffs and looking at their way, looking for the direct source of the smell. The Justice was ominously silent and Vahşi was literally dying to do something to pester him. The people were dressed in vests, dress pants, or corset dresses with frills and breasts pushed up to eyeful levels. Vahşi really hoped he wasn't expected to dress that way as well. These golden eyed, sharp eared, lean people were staring at Vahşi with solemn expressions to match the mood of everything else. Everything was down, the people's morale was not well. Vahşi wasn't sure if Kolton or Panos had picked up on this but decided to keep it to himself until they weren't surrounded by aforementioned people.

Buildings were doorless, giving views into bars and indoor markets, the concrete outside only used for traveling. A few of the lupians were Vahşi's stature, but their hairlessness and fresh faces denoted youth. The young looked at Vahşi with confusion, unable to tell if he was their age or not. Panos' smell seemed to make the children smile or giggle happily.

Justice Kolton was seething a red aura the whole walk through. Vahşi reached out to poke him in the ribs but realized at the last possible second that he'd probably lose at least a hand for his trouble and dropped his arm. The Justice had given Vahşi a golden, cold hard glare through his helmet. He adjusted Panos in the bridal carry he had him and fluttered his wings, looking forward to ignore the lupian. Vahşi snorted in amusement.

Walking another three miles through one story buildings and bell towers they got to the mouth of the castle, only two or three stories high, and its shape a large square, a large courtyard in the middle from what Vahşi's enhanced sight had seen from the distance. Two lupian men in thick, bubble like armor that make their eight foot taller statures ever wider and bigger, stood firm. Their guns were huge black metal monsters with dangling belts of bullets. Like their kin, they took whiffs, one smiling at Panos and the other only giving the prince a passing glance before they opened the double metal doors.

But to Vahşi they growled, smirking arrogantly at him. They were showing dominance over the much shorter, smaller, unarmed man. Though he could ignore the challenge and walk inside.

Vahşi growled back but kept moving, following Kolton and Panos. He had barely just enough common sense to not stop and fight it out with them, but he was physically incapable of not replying to the challenge. He fixed mistrustful eyes on them, fingers clenching into fists, and his gait stiffened. For once in his life he kept his mouth shut. When he took his first steps into the castle, the two guards slammed the door right behind him, the booming sound of the metal ringing painfully into his ears.

The Justice turned his head to look back at Vahşi, who wore a chagrined smile despite the pain in his ears.

"These are your people, and that is your judgment." His voice through a clear mic of the mask sounded sad. The golden pixelated eyes watched Vahşi gather his wits for a second longer before turning forward. "You shouldn't be here, not for too long," he whispered down to Panos. The prince, seeing their massive guide, was inclined to agree.

The gray stones of the walls were dripping with unattended age: spider webs spun in the corners, dust so strong that it was visible on the brick and the deeper they walked the more the air was stale. Though there were other signs that the Justice was staring at attentively, that Vahşi could understand.

Bold cuts were slashed violently down the stones, chipping away inches. They were claw marks, wildly thrown the inner halls, being the only decoration. The lupian had his nose filled with the scent of old, dried blood, halls cleaned just enough to make it not visible. But the history of this castle was in Vahşi's nasal senses. Their single turn had been rigid, taking a left and being stopped at a set of wooden doors. Two men of similar appearance stood guard. They bared their fangs at the group.

The guide turned and looked directly at Vahşi, his golden eyes fierce yet his expression near blank.

"She wants you. Only you." The winged Justice took a side step as if inviting Vahşi to go, but he kept his lips sealed. Panos frowned at Vahşi, an expression of concern. Vahşi shrugged slightly as if to say 'What can you do?' Panos was afraid of what could happen without him around. They needed each other if they were going to accomplish whatever the gods wanted. Vahşi's wellbeing was going to be everything for his own personal success. He turned his head to look at the guards, opening his mouth to speak but sooner than any words could escape, the prince was barked at and he yelped. "Only you," the guide said in a zombie like state to Vahşi.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get back," Vahşi said to Panos and Kolton, giving them a debonair smirk. He turned to their guide and nodded to indicate his willingness to proceed. "Let's not keep royalty waiting."

Spoiler: Vahşi section 

**

Proceeding, Vahşi was cut off from the only people he knew with the shutting of the wooden doors behind him. The throne room was tarnished, with slash marks across the walls, and red rugs that must have once guided people as a decorative walkway were shredded, scattered bits allowed to sit around the legs of wooden chairs and round tables.

The room had the strongest scent of blood. On a two step rise was a decorated wooden chair that had thick gold finishing around its edges. And upon the chair sat the queen, laying one leg over an arm and sitting lazily in her position of power. She was beautiful, in the standards of the Fenrisans Vahşi had seen thus far. Her cheekbones were bold and high, cat-eye-shaped eyes, red full lips, curly auburn hair that flowed to her shoulders and covered the right side of her face.

The deep red corset dress she wore took advantage of her warrior's figure, her breasts large and full. As with all the Fenrisans Vahşi had seen, her arms had noticeable arm hair. And, because of her dress having a slit almost to her thigh, he saw her legs were unshaven, and very long to match her eight foot stature.

Gingerly Queen Anadel looked at the lupian, her golden eyes, off . The color wasn't glossy, but it was dulled. Her eyes showed no sense of focus; she was looking at him but she truly wasn't. Her eyes had the lost vitality of the dead. Unnervingly, her living and dying leer held onto him. His hand began to tingle. Her wrist bore the mark.

"Aren't you cute?" The woman said with a slurring voice, waving a hand his way before rubbing her forehead with her fingers and leaning her head back on the wood and gold.

Vahşi let a smile slip across his face at her words but kept his expression and tone in check. He sketched a slight bow before speaking and made sure not to make eye contact. "It has been a long time since a member of a royal household has favoured me with words, your majesty. Yet I cannot say that any of them could hazard an approach on your stature and beauty. The news that you wished to see me was of the greatest surprise, but not less welcome for being so. May I ask why the queen has deigned to honour me by requesting my presence?" The Queen laughed and pushed herself to stand. The loud thud of her red heels clanked on the stone below her. A flip of her auburn bangs showed her face to be of an oval shape.

Coming closer, she stumbled a few times along the way. Vahşi could smell the desire coming off her, the pheromone, a weapon only a female lupian had when mating desire came to her. It touched a primal part of him, giving him a peek into unbidden thought. But as with all pheromone urges, self-control was possible for those who wish to. She had to be aware, as she came closer.

"Pretty talk doesn't get you far in these lands." The Queen towered over Vahşi, another two feet at least on him. The Fenrisan Queen had stopped two or three steps away from him. "You look grown, but you are so little. It is amusing. I wonder what little-grown men can do." In the throne room they were alone. And while the pheromone teased his primal mating natures, her other scents warned him of crossing her - the woman a feral beast her self.

"If kind words don't work, I'll feel a lot more comfortable," Vahşi said, dropping his stiffer posture. "Seems like there's not much room in any world for regimes that rule on talk and tradition." He flung the hair out of his eyes with a quick jerk of his head and eyed the Queen almost lazily. "My question still stands, your majesty. If you don't rely much on pretty talk, you wouldn't be the kind to call me here just to gawk at me." He could sense her pheromones and felt a sharp peak of desire, but kept himself in control. He had somebody waiting for him at home, with laughing eyes and flaming hair. Queen Anadel seemed lost for a moment, staring past him, randomly at a wall.

She rotated a bit on one of her heels, an aimless action that held a female's grace but looked genuinely meaningless.

"I want to see what the little-grown man can do. For my own fun, I will have you fight a man." She looked over her shoulder. "If not..." The auburn haired queen slurred once more and through her hand out to side in dramatics. "My men have more than enough bullets for all of you." The Queen laughed with uneven breathing, spinning, leaping and hoping back to her throne. As suddenly as her rear came back to the chair she became like stone and turned stiff. "It will be a fun event for the public, mmmm." She moaned to herself, shutting her eyes and slamming her head on the back of the throne chair.

What the everlasting fuck had Vahşi gotten himself into. Fighting for sport, or his life, was as natural to him as breathing. Facing a queen like this one was completely outside his experience. Even in the humans' lab, when hallucination-causing drugs had been pumped into his body with every heartbeat, he'd never seen something this weird. "I'm looking forward to almost getting murdered," he said, a smirk inching up his lips. "Although I'm sure my friend will have a different opinion. I assume we'll be given quarters in the meantime?" The queen kept her head slumped back, still moaning away until he finally stopped speaking, allowing their silence to linger. She crossed a leg with the other, kicking her heel back and forth.

"Well..." Queen Anadel's lips pulled back to show her fanged teeth, staring at her foot. "No. I want him to die more so now than later, mmm." Lunging from her throne, she landed confidently and pointed at the door Vahşi came from. "You and your friends are to attend the courtyard while the DEATH RING-" She bellowed, screaming voice echoed off the walls "-is being arranged." She clapped several time in excitement. "He has been trouble since the day he was born. Put him out for me, or you all die. Mmmm, motivation, mmmm." She shooed Vahşi with her hands. "Open the door," she commanded him.

"Yes, ma'am," Vahşi said, rolling his eyes once he'd turned away from her. This lady - Vahşi wasn't going to bother thinking of her as a queen any more - was absolutely psychotic. Panos was going to murder him, if his Death Ring opponent failed to do so. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to open the doors, considering they were nearly twice as tall as he was, but he grabbed the handle and pulled against it with as much strength as he could muster.

**

Panos stared at Justice Kolton. Did he just hear 'death ring'? The prince had nothing to do, stiff and holding onto the Justice's neck. He kept his eyes off the guards who were surly staring at he and the Justice.

Vahşi managed to open the doors and their guide, the massive husk of a man, stared down at all of them.

"To the courtyard, follow."

"Under Valkure Galactic Justice Neutrality Laws, I insist you inform me of what is happening." The golden Justice said to the tall guide. But the winged man never got an answer. He put Panos down quickly but gently to make sure he was standing against the wall. Panos sneezed from the dust. From his hip the Justice pulled his golden hand cannon appearing gun. The two guards held tighter to their large automatic guns but hadn't flinched more yet. "Or there are some less neutral ways of getting my fucking answers." The man commanded, seemingly unafraid of their larger statures and larger guns.

Vahşi rolled his eyes. "And Panos thought I was the psychotic murderer. No wonder I was flirting with you."

Panos paled, staring from the red aura Justice to Vahşi. One of the guards at the door, caved, though it was more of an irritation.

"Little kin is going to have a welcome home death match." A tsk came out of the Justice's mask.

"It's legal," he sighed and put his gun back while speaking directly to Vahşi. "As one of her people, she can do what she wants. The Fenrisan continue to fail joining galactic wide legal agreements" His aura sparkled more.

"Legal, illegal, who cares?" Vahşi asked. "In the end there's not much of a difference."

"Umm, and myself?" the prince mumbled, trying to keep his nose from the dusty walls.

"You're legally protected as a non-citizen. I am obligated and willing to ensure your safety." Panos frowned, but he stared at Vahşi's hand, seeing the mark on his skin. Catching the lupian's eye he touched the back of his own hand to make sure the wolf man was aware.

Vahşi glanced down at his hand. "Yeah, I know," he said. "Crazy place here, right?" He grinned, baring his teeth in a feral expression. "I like it." This was posturing more than truth; he belonged here as much as he'd belonged in the last planets.

"Truly?" Panos asked with a scoff, it was just a string of murders.

"If I gave you a true answer you wouldn't sleep at night," Vahşi promised. "Come on, we're supposed to be staying in the courtyard."

Panos' sapphires looked at the Justice's gun. He had at least something to keep him protected. Lame among massive wolf people, the gods were pushing him, and at times the teenager felt like he could cave at any moment. His eyes passed over the diamond rimmed metal wings of Justice Kolton's armor when he came over to him. "What has made this place so...inhospitable?" The Justice didn't answer yet, picking up Panos again and walking with Vahşi down the hall from the guards at the door, though the guide was still in front of them.

"I will say, shifts in government." An answer that tasted poor in Panos' mouth. "I've never heard of Lemanian hosting death matches before, another atrocity of the current system." He openly defamed the government but the guide continued walking without hindrance of expression of listening. "He stinks of bad magic," The Justice whispered to Vahşi and Panos. "Xanael magic."

"What the hell is a Xanael magic?" Vahşi asked.

"They use soul magic. Taking people's very spiritual lives and using it for their own gains. One of the galaxy's greatest crimes. We are at war with the Xanael for a reason, and the Fenrisan make shitty allies in that fight."

"Which side are they on?" Vahşi asked. "And what happened to their Queen?"

The helmet eyes looked over to Vahşi while they walked. The lupian could almost feel the irritation, her saw it in the man's aura. Vahşi really wanted to dare Kolton to do something, but he clenched his mouth shut for the sake of listening.

"The Fenrisan people are conquerors. That is all that they add to this galaxy. And the Xanael only strive to make their magic stronger, at the cost of everything and everyone. Both are cesspools of black. Their leadership is shit. Your people fight the Xanael only out of the convenience of location." He tsked. "You know nothing, your race is near to Xanael space."

"So it's just meaningless war?" Panos asked sadly.

"In the eyes of the Valkyries, most war is." Justice Kolton was a Valkyrie? The prince pursed his lips. He hadn't seen the queen, but if it was her doing to send Vahşi off to a death match, no doubt she must be of an ill-nature. Justice Kolton went on, "As for Queen Anadel, I know nothing other than she had been accused of murdering her husband five years ago and has ruled since. Your race keeps everything but its bloodshed to itself. And I particularly don't care. Both sides are a pain in the ass and need to get some basic grasp of just law."

While the Lambros royal continued to be carried by the Justice, he stared at Vahşi's hand. He thought of the conditions of the symbol's appearances and disappearance. His sapphire eyes had a focus to them, connecting the dots. The most obvious pattern came to him, though he dare not share it in the presence of the Valkyrie. Strange word Valkyrie was, to a mythology not popular in his reality. A strange mix of elements had the gods mixed in this trial. Panos made a small, diminutive huff to himself.

"Well, if they're a pain in the ass and don't have a grasp on the law, they can't be too distantly related from me," Vahşi said with a grin. "That sounds like just about everybody I know."

Panos pointed to Vahşi firmly, his long sleeve flapping with his movement.

"After all that's been said, I'm disturbed with the possibility that you're enjoying this."

"Hey, the murderous brainwashed assassins take all the fun times they can get," Vahşi said, grinning at him. "This is shaping up to be one of those times. As long as nobody I like gets brutally murdered, it all turns out good in the end, right?" He seemed a bit too cheerful for a discussion of violent death, but then again Panos really shouldn't be surprised.

**

Spoiler: Panos & Vahşi Part 10 

The Justice kept his eyes on the back of the Fenrisan guide. The square shape of the castle kept their walk simple. Windows, some broken, began to show what the courtyard looked like. A surprise to Vahşi's nose was the fact that it was an area free of blood that was heavy in the hallways.

Through the windows they saw a small forest made of two acres of land. Old evergreens just as tall as the castle that boxed them in grew with thick bodies and vibrant needles. Panos dropped his mouth open, not expecting a place like this to have any aesthetic value. Bright flowers of purples, reds, and yellow grew around the trees, and there was a small pebble path from the side of the courtyard, flowing into the land of trees. The colors of the petals fought hard against the dullness of the sky above.

Arching double glass doors taller than any of them were opened by the guide. Inside the woods Vahşi picked up the scent of a male Fenrisan.

"You stay here until we get you." The guide demanded and the Justice fluttered his wings with irksome feelings showing in his aura. There hadn't been a time yet where the red had gone away. The guide walked off, back into the castle without saying anything else, shutting the door.

The Lambros prince bit his lower lip, holding it with his teeth and looking at the lupine.

"Can we talk, Vahşi?" the teenager asked with a soft voice.

"If it's about one of my many problems, real or perceived, then no. Otherwise, go ahead, although I doubt you'll pay attention to my one rule of communications." Vahşi was wary about giving Panos what was nearly the equivalent of a free pass to talk to him, but he had just enough trust in Panos to do so. "Since I haven't murdered anyone recently, I'm guessing this is about something else." He shrugged. "Shoot."

Panos looked at the Justice holding him and then to Vahşi again.

"In private?"

"As long as you don't try to murder me or express your unrequited love, sure," Vahşi agreed. "Don't worry, Kolton, I won't let him get killed while he's with me."

"Oh be quiet." Panos rolled his sapphires.

"Justice Kolton," the Valkyrie corrected while setting Panos down. The prince quickly regretted doing this because as his bare feet touched the ground, his legs had to bear his weight. He was annoyingly but bearably sore.

"Eh, whatever," Vahşi said with a shrug.

"Thank you," Panos told the Justice, picking up the hem of his blue robes that to the outside observer fit more like a dress too long for him. "Come with me." Panos pointed to the courtyard forest. Vahşi scuffed his heels against the ground as he followed, practically dawdling so that he didn't outpace Panos. The prince took lead, walking a little slower than usually, crunching grass. Vahşi was almost irritated with how slowly Panos was going but knew the prince wasn't exactly in condition to keep up with the lupian's faster pace. Panos refused to step on the dirt. When they were more secluded behind one of the trees, the Lambros spoke softly. "I have an idea of what has caused your Cronus marking to return."

"Which would be...?"

Panos pointed to the mark, staring.

"Leadership. You killed the first leader, getting the mark. The village was destroyed, your mark went away. You might have to..." Panos frowned. "No that can't be it..." He hesitated.

"If you're worried about my capability of murdering someone, don't be," Vahşi advised. "Professional murderer, remember?" Something like guilt flashed into his eyes, and for a split second he looked lonely and vulnerable, but it might easily have been a trick of the light. Panos stared up, Vahşi's words not really reassuring.

"We have to be careful" He said in quiet concern. "It might not even be that simple...But I'm certain you have to do something with leadership. These people have...traits similar to you much like the others did. It means something, I know it Vahşi." The teenager passionately clutched a hand at his chest. In the distance the lupain could hear footsteps, the male Fenrisan from within the wood was coming.

"Looks like someone's coming," Vahşi said. "We'd better leave this for later. Last thing we need is you getting into trouble." He turned away from Panos to face the approaching Fenrisan.

"Forgive my eavesdropping." A man emerged, coming around the curve of the forest path to reveal himself. They were easily dwarfed by this muscular man who stood nine foot and then some. Meaning, Vahşi's head was to the man's lower abdominals and Panos' head was to his hips. For the people of Wolfinal, however, he was only a bit above average height. Still, to the prince, seeing a massive wolfish man emerge in such an intimate setting was frightful. Panos held onto Vahşi's wrist in concern, having to look straight up to meet this man's eyes. Vahşi rolled his eyes at Panos' skittishness but let the prince hang on to him.

He was also very study, through his dark gray stitched vest and white shirt covered with a sweat stains, one could see the large muscles of his body. His pheromones spewed strength, an even match for Vahşi would be a nightmare, his natural senses told him this. His hair was cut very short, yet the auburn color still showed strongly even as it was buzzed. He had the queen's high cheekbones, but his were stronger and more masculine, coupled with a square jaw, pointed nose, auburn stubble and strong golden down turned eyes. He had the oval face shape of the Queen. He looked much like her male counterpart: her son.

His hands and claws were covered in dirt, knees as well as he was wearing dark dray dress shorts. The Fenrisan continued speaking, his eyes dead set on them. "But leadership among our people is done through blood. And spilt blood makes a scent that draws the pack." He peered deep into Vahşi's eyes confidently. "You do not want to draw the pack, strange kin." Vahşi was about to remind the giant that he actually had a name but decided to save it for later. In all likelihood they wouldn't be staying here much longer anyway. The Fenrisan took another whiff, his expression dropping into a pleasant expression. He looked down to Panos. "Fair maiden I would be careful with your words. We people have strong ears." He put one of his large hands, tipped with a claw rather than a fingernail, to his earlobe and played with it for a moment.

Panos froze, the man had to be royal. He spoke the way royals ought to. How much of the conversation had he heard?

At any other time, Vahşi would have taken full advantage of Panos' shock and teased him mercilessly about talking too much. However, the Fenrisan's description of the prince prompted Vahşi to nudge Panos with his hip to get his attention. "Fair maiden?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were a guy." Panos shot a glare at the lupian. The man raised a thick auburn eyebrow.

"You also have strange jokes, strange kin," the man said, taking in another whiff. The man's dirtied hands had the smell of earth and flowers. But it was obvious he was enjoying a new flowery scent altogether - Panos. The prince kept his glare at Vahşi. The man was a complete moron. Panos was aware of how he looked, it was this presentation that he used to his advantage and the lupian was trying to blow it out of the water. They couldn't share whispers because the wolf man surly had just as sharp hearing as Vahşi. Hopefully, he would have some intelligence to be able to see the use of his appearance.

"My friend always plays weird jokes," Panos said slowly, keeping his eyes on the green of his companion. "And usually they are not funny."

"Oh, we're friends now?" Vahşi asked. "Yesterday you weren't acting so friendly. It was the opposite."

The Fenrisan laughed.

"I can tell, may I welcome you to my courtyard." With his long legs he took strides to the group and knelt to grab Panos' hand. "Would you like a tour? It is something I take great pride in." He gave a glance at Vahşi as he had just remembered the man existed at all.

"I obviously have murderous wolfy things to do," Vahşi said, gesturing vaguely over his shoulder in the direction they'd left Kolton. "So I'll leave you two to your tour." Hopefully Panos would be able to play on the Fenrisan's attraction for him and get some information. "Have fun and learn about all the trees and stuff." He backed away from the pair, then turned on his heel and started wandering off toward Justice Kolton.

Spoiler: Panos' section 

**

Panos watched Vahşi step away with a rising beat of his heart. This had quickly turned unfortunate. The man's hand had engulfed his while he held it, Panos frowned at their shared contact.

"Oh, my hand," the large wolf man said withdrawing his dirtied hand. "Forgive me, I was excited." He pulled out a deep blue handkerchief from his pocket and began to clean his hands. "My name is Jerk." His golden eyes stared deeply into Panos' sapphires. How fitting, Vahşi thought. Although he knew very little about this race besides the things he'd assumed, he was fairly certain that 'Jerk' was a name rather indicative of the society as a whole. "What would yours be?"

"Lacey," the unnerved prince revealed without a skip. He already had that name prepared for a situation like this. 'Ug, there's dirt on my hand,' his mind zeroed in on, hating to see the dark spot on his pale skin.

"Lady Lacey," the man said slowly, grabbing Panos' hand once more and wiping the dirt off before putting the handkerchief back into his dress pants. "All your ways are strange, but highly enchanting. May I?" He stood to extend his hand with royal airs. Panos bit on his lower lip, looking all the way up to this Fenrisan.

"I am unable to walk much at the moment, health concerns." He dripped fragility into his words and with feigned insecurity held himself across the chest. His legs hurt, the man was more than willing, and Panos wanted to keep his feet clean if at all possible. "Difficult journeys have put me in this position, and these ill fitting clothes." Jerk laughed, taking Panos into his arms to carry him. Vahşi nearly laughed. Health concerns? Only if the frequent cases of cardiac arrest due to his own bad ideas counted.

"My, as small and little as you are, Lady Lacey, I will have to dig through my sister's child clothes." Panos slowly put his arm around the Fenrisan's neck, feeling the bristles of auburn neck hair scratch at his forearm. Sister? If Panos wound up wearing childrens' clothes, Vahşi intended on never letting him forget.

"You would be so generous?" Panos asked, the man's face close. Jerk's touch only shrunk him further, he nearly felt like a toddler in a parent's arms with the size difference. His world began to gain speed, Jerk was walking.

"Our people are ruthless to its enemies and strong for their interests. It is as a man should treat a lady." Panos rolled his eyes inside his mind.

"How...chivalrous" He said in a wooing tone and a small closed lip smile. "You said you had a sister?" The Lambros' face paled when he saw the royal Jerk scowl.

"Yes." The tall man left it at that. Vahşi stiffened, hoping he wouldn't have to do something ridiculous like nearly get himself killed to save Panos from a pissed Fenrisan, but Jerk left things as they were.

"I...apologize...I was...trying to...get to know you..." The teenager twisted a strand of his hair, giving glance to the evergreens and flowers being passed.

"I have one sister and three brothers." It was all evident on the golden eyed man's face that his relationship with them was unwell because his scowl held through it. "Where do you come from? Had you been on this planet I would have known you much sooner."

The silverette stared into the large face staring back. Where did he come from? He put a hand to his chest because it was palpating with anxiety.

"My friend and I had been exploring Terran worlds." That was what the Justice had said? Terran? Panos hated taking the risk. Vahşi had no idea what a Terran world was, although he'd heard Justice Kolton refer to them. He wondered if Jerk knew what those worlds were like.

"Inferior they are," the Fenrisan said, hastily throwing his opinion out. Panos was slowly realizing that this man wasn't at all showing him his greenery.

"Hmmm," Panos simply said, looking around while Jerk followed the windy path.

"Why had you come to the courtyard?" Jerk probed him. The prince took the time to throw on a frown.

"Queen Anadel wished to see my friend combat for his life, and..." Like an actor he looked to the deepest parts of his psyche, when he had been wounded the most. The abuse of his father, the abuse from his ex-husband, produced tears. "And..I'm not sure what will become of him." Vahşi was definitely not letting Panos forget about this.

"He will be fighting one of my brothers." What? Panos fluttered his lashes, dripping his wet drops of sorrow.

"Why would that be? That's so horrible..." He could bond-feel Vahşi near by, he hoped lupian's hearing was strong enough to pick up this conversation. 'Horrible is the way things go...' Vahşi thought. Just keep him talking so we know what we're up against.

"My brothers turned traitor and tried to start civil war against our mother. It is a family affair. Don't cry, Lady Lacey." It wasn't much of a family affair if it also had the consequence of killing Panos' only connection in this galaxy and his only chance of getting out of this godly trial alive.

But the symbol lined up well. Vahşi meets a queen, to meet a head defector. Leaders. Leadership. Vahşi was starting to realize that there was a common pattern here, and he was wondering if he was somehow being used as a personalized genocide tool. First the miniature lupians, now the oversized ones.

**

The Justice had walked up to the lupian who was leaning against a border tree of the courtyard forest.

"And where had you left Panos?" The man had waited a bit of time before finally asking. Yet before an answer could be given, the guide stepped through the doors and stared at them.

Vahşi shrugged, eyeing the guide moodily. "He went off to look at the trees," he said. He turned away from the guide, ostensibly to search the grounds for some sign of Panos, and silently mouthed He's with one of the Fenrisans to Kolton. "Said he was okay." Hopefully Kolton wouldn't make things awkward by running off to try to rescue Panos. But it looked like he was going to as he took steps to pass Vahşi.

"You will have your match now," the guide told Vahşi bluntly, without emotion.

Vahşi put his hand out to stop Kolton and spoke urgently, trying to cram his words into as short a space as possible. "Get Panos and tell him it's perfectly fine to grapevine Fenrisans trying to kill me. If I finally get myself murdered, get him off planet. Tell him to tell Farla I'm sorry and I loved her." His gaze flicked in the direction Jerk had taken Panos, but there was obviously no time for him to go after Panos himself. Casting one last glance at Kolton, hoping the Justice would relate his message to Panos, he turned to follow the guide. He was so fucked.

[Azazeal849]

The house, as Gina discovered, was surprisingly familiar. Whether the other houses in the village boasted the same kind of interior she had no idea, but this one held a number of recognisably human furnishings. She followed a short hallway as Cal and the kittens pattered left into the kitchen, and another motion-sensor door swished aside to reveal a bedroom painted in dark green, the walls following the curve of the house. The carpet was dull grey, but soft beneath her bare feet. Everything seemed very clean and orderly, from the large double bed to the tall dresser, to the simple flat table with an hourglass-shaped piece of frosted glass that Gina thought might be a lamp. The door closed quietly behind them, muffling the sounds of Cal, Taar and Mita clattering about in the kitchen. Gina was glad to note that the ringing left in her ears by the gunshots was gradually dying away.

"Let's see what we can find." she said quietly. She turned to regard Manisha, and twisted her mouth. "How are you feeling about all this so far?"

Manisha was still staring at her with a look of quiet discontent. However, she still walked in and stared, touching a wall and then looking at her fingertips, repeating the action.

"It'th not a dream, ith it?" Manisha said in a gloomy whisper. "I really want thith to be a big big dream."

Gina's face fell in sympathy. "I know exactly what you mean. One minute I was in West Hills and the next I was in your world with no idea why...I didn't know what to think."

She gathered her hair over one shoulder and stood there toying with the ends.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this. And like I said, I'm really sorry that I spent the last day impersonating your friend. I didn't know what else to do while we sussed out where we were." She shrugged helplessly. "For what it's worth, your text helped quite a bit when we were trying to work out how to deal with Lycus."

Mainisha did not seem at all comforted by what Gina had just said. The young brunette leaned her body against the wall she had been touching and looked ready to sob.

"Thee wath my betht friend." Her lisp dominated her words. "Thee wath my beth friend and now I don't know if thee'th alive or dead!"

It was this outing thought that pushed her over the edge and she started to cry.

"My betht friend! Thee wath my thithter!"

"Hey..." Gina said gently, taking a step closer to Manisha and tentatively putting her hands on her arms, half expecting the other woman to pull away.

The fate of their doppelgängers was a question that had occurred to Gina - now that they were out of Manisha's world, were the people they had replaced back in their own skins, or were they still stuck in limbo somewhere? Manisha's tears brought the unfairness of the situation home - viscerally. Gina had had to leave good friends behind when she left the UK, and she had failed a number of other people since...but she hadn't had to deal with a complete lack of explanation, and she certainly hadn't had a strange lookalike following her around reminding her of the loss.

God knew they could all do with a minute to process things - and in a way, having Manisha to support was a blessing. It stopped her own worries from pushing too far to the front of her mind. She took a breath.

"I know where you're coming from. I do, and I'm so sorry. I promise you, we're going to find whoever's putting us through all this and make them send us back. And that includes all the lives they've messed with along the way, like yours and Gigi's. If they can pull people out of reality, they must be able to put them back."

Once again, Gina couldn't help but think that the person who wanted her to free them might not have the best intentions, judging by their methods. And yet, the only way to confront them was to follow the trail that had been laid out.

"What was she like?" she asked; looking at Manisha with an earnest expression, trying to connect. "Gigi?"

Manisha kept against the wall to soothe herself. She looked away from Gina.

"Thee wath the thluttiest, betht bitch a girl could athk for." She had went on to say with sobbing admiration while she stared at the door of the bedroom. "Thee wath confident and funny and got all the men thee wanted and no one could tell her otherwithe. Thee wath hot and thuper thexy and the queen of Crete..."

Gigi Nikas, Gina thought, and almost smiled. A queen for the Skins generation. She wondered how Gigi and Manisha had ended up as friends, and reflected that there was always something admirable about people who simply didn't give a shit about what anyone else thought. It was good to know that Gigi really hadn't kept Manisha around just to lord it over someone less desirable than she was.

All the while, she was certain Manisha was telling her that Gina herself was not all of the things she had pretended to be for a day. She wasn't about to deny it - her party days had ended with the move to Austere. That didn't mean that she hadn't flicked through her old Facebook photos more than a few times, wishing that things could go back to being so simple. She was still thankful to Izzy for not putting up the pictures of her sitting in the middle of a living room pillow fort, wearing a manic grin and pupils that were dilated as wide as saucers. That was a great night, even if the comedown was fucking horrible, and dad grounded me for a month. And to think that Baka might have ended up with the same saucer eyes if she hadn't been there when he mistook Gigi's E pills for sweets!

The flutter of humour died and curled into a fist behind her navel, mirroring the awful tug she had felt after the first gunshot. Baka's dead. She swallowed away the lump in her throat.

"Gigi would've made a better queen than Lycus made an emperor." she said after a moment, musing in response to Manisha's description. It wasn't entirely a lie - while Gina doubted Gigi's ability to take responsibility for anything, let alone a country, it was still better than a murdering tyrant who wanted to burn down the neighbouring city states.

"How did you meet her anyway?" Gina tried instead.

Manisha gave her complete disregard, pulling herself into a ball and becoming further swallowed in her emotions. "A party yearth ago. Thee was a friend of a friend, but I thought thee wath amazing. I had to be her friend. I got her all the drugth I could and then we thtarted hanging out and became the best of friendth, doing everything together...thee wath my thithter."

Manisha went to wipe her eyes that wouldn't let up, fat tears dripping. But she glared up at Gina and looked away. She looked to be done with talking to her for now.

"I'm sorry." Gina said again, gently. "I know how shit this must be for you, getting dumped here and watching me parade around in Gigi's skin..." She shook her head. "I promise you that we're going to find out where she went, and how to get her back."

She turned to face the room, rubbing her arm.

"Back in the palace the symbols on our arms acted like they were supposed to be some sort of clue. If we can find something similar around here it might be our way out."

Still standing next to Manisha, she looked around. The large double bed was covered with fitted sheets and hand-quilted blankets in various shades of green, though oddly there were no pillows. On the walls around the bed and dresser drawers were dreamcatcher-like decorations made from dangling leather straps and beads, as well as pinned-up paintings and doodles that Gina assumed had been made by Taar and Mita. Most of them were of stick figure cat-people, some holding what looked like spears or guns.

Gina looked up at the dresser thoughtfully. It was six drawers tall; the top one almost too high for Gina to see into even if she stood on tiptoe. Frowning, she padded over to the dresser and pulled out the top-most drawer experimentally, thinking back to the multiple sets of sandals she had seen in the porch.

"Do you think someone else used to live here with Cal?" she asked Manisha as she pulled out various sets of miscellaneous garments.

Manisha shrugged at Gina's question.

"The little cute cat children would thay thomething." she answered with a mumbling, lispy voice.

Gina considered. "Yeah, I think you might be right. Maybe we can find a roundabout way of asking them over lunch."

Seeing Manisha's discontented look, she bit the inside of her cheek.

"Listen, I'm sorry, you don't need to help right now. If you need to take a moment, take it. And if you need to get anything off your chest, talk to us. It doesn't have to be me - you can talk to Cal if that feels less weird. She's a smart girl, not to mention she was a princess back in her world, so she'll know a hell of a lot more about the palace life than me."

She rested her hand on the open drawer.

"I'm going to have a scout around for clues. The faster we figure out what we're supposed to be doing here, the sooner we can get us home and you and Gigi back together."

Manisha glared through her teary eyes.

"You don't have the right to thay her name." With that, she turned her head to avoid contact.

Gina exhaled quietly, but let it go. "Maybe not. But I'm still going to help you find her."

Turning back to the dresser and rooting around in the drawer, she was gaining little more than socks, folded up shawls and scarves. Odd garments for what so far looked like a jungle environment, she thought. Maybe Cal did some travelling. Just as she was wondering, one of her fingers brushed a leather bound surface under a pile of socks.

"Hey up." she muttered, and pulled out a small personal journal with a small closing strap. On the surface of the brown journal was the Mercury symbol, which Gina instantly recognised.

"This is just like one we found in Vahsi's room." she said, showing the book to Manisha, who gave it a dismissive side glance. Just like the book from before, most of the pages were blank spare one in the middle which had the familiar Mercury and Venus signs. Now however, there was also the male symbol of Mars, together with a description of action, violence, masculinity, assertion, potency and rage.

"We should keep a hold of this." Gina mused aloud, "It helped us before."

When Manisha remained unresponsive, she chewed her cheek before putting a hand on her hip.

"We'll work out what we're going to do next over lunch. But I want us to work together, when you're ready." She crossed to the door, and paused as it glided open. "You know where I am."

Leaving Manisha to her own space, she took stock of the hallway. A small, tight staircase made of white tiles spiralled up from an alcove to the left of the bedroom, leading up to a second floor. The handrail was grooved and twisted to resemble a vine snaking up the outer edge of the stair. Gina gripped it as she made her way up, consciously watching her step.

The upstairs floor, like the one below, was divided into three rooms, their walls sloping with the dome of the house. Apart from the bathroom were two smaller mirrors of the downstairs bedroom - one with blue walls, one with sea-green. The beds were much smaller than the ones downstairs.

These look like Taar and Mita's rooms. she thought. Me and Manisha must live somewhere else.

Looking at the walls, she wondered if the paint colours had been chosen to match the kittens' eyes. Each room had a small bedside table with a fluted lamp, and a bookshelf of painted wood was secured into the straight inner walls.

Now we might be getting somewhere. As she looked at the small collection of hardbacks that filled the shelf in the teal room, she felt a tingle in her mark-branded wrist, and the fat squiggles along the spines of the books became recognisable English. Just like Gigi's phone, Gina realised, massaging her wrist as the tingle faded.

Picking two likely-looking titles, she headed back down with the three small books under her forearm. A closer inspection of the downstairs rooms revealed a sitting room and, more importantly, a small study with another bookshelf. There were no photos, and no phone - in fact, despite the modern-looking appliances in the kitchen and bathroom, there didn't seem to be any sort of telecommunications at all - but at least there were books. Finding something that looked like a history book, Gina sat down in the living room and skimmed through it while Cal and the kittens carried on cooking.

From what she could determine from her crash-course studying, the planet they were on was called Kysmæt, and the cat-people called themselves the Bayn’gül. There were several references to a great disease they called The Enemy Within, which caused a crippling sensitivity to pain and had killed a lot of their people. Kysmæt was apparently an untamed rainforest jungle for the most part, filled with violent beasts if the children's books were to be believed. We'll have to watch our step outside the village.

An appetising scent of grilled fish preceded Cal and the kittens as they carried a set of loaded plates into the room. It was the first good food Gina had seen since the palace, and she didn't have to worry about it being laced with amnesiacs either. She hadn't predicted how happy that little piece of normality was going to make her feel.

"That smells good!" Gina said, smiling genuinely for the first time since their arrival. She glanced towards the bedroom door, which was still shut. "Manisha?" she called, "Food's up!"

Taar and Mita scampered around them as they set the plates down, pausing only to knead their feet into the soft carpet. It was such a cat-like mannerism that Gina had to smile again.

"Look what I found." she said to Cal as she joined her on the sofa, putting down the zodiac book with its signs and descriptors facing the other girl.

[G]

As Cal followed the two youngsters into the adjoining kitchen, she caught her companions in her peripherals, slipping away to explore the rest of the house. Hopefully they can find out more about why we're here, she thought, knowing she had better try to do the same; though she would have to be cautious in how she questioned the kittens. She had almost given herself away with her initial reaction to them, though she had managed to recover on that occasion.

Though the kitchen's furnishings weren't outlandish, Cal still paused in her progress, chewing her lip.

The first step in appearing to be the person she was supposed to be, right now, was to cook. Something the spoiled girl had never actually done before, she realised now that the situation was at hand.

"Okay," she muttered under her breath, approaching the door of the fridge and pulling it open, stalling a moment while she pretended to survey the contents. "You can do this. Just pick something simple, it can't be too hard..."

Her eyes fell on a platter of filleted fish, already descaled and prepared for cooking. She nodded to herself, and retrieved it from it's shelf, turning to the children.

"Some nice grilled fish, how about that?" she smiled down at them. Cats loved fish - or at least where she came from they did.


The two kitty children purred and nestled each side of Cal, their furry faces soft against her bare forearms. The girl smiled at the affectionate display, unused to such; her mother had never been the hugging type. Around Cal were strange kitchen objects that she had never seen before. On the faux marble counter, a sharp distinction Cal could now tell after setting in a palace of pure genuine marble, was a silver device that had a silver bowl and inside were two stick with windy ends, along the counters was a silver square box, with a glossy surface that had four dark spots embedded. The blue screen above its handle on the front asking for temperature.

Taar wrapped his tail around Cal's thigh, purring and rubbing away. Mita was staring at the fish with her blue feline eyes and pursing her human like lips together. They both were waiting for her.

Raw fish in hand, the teen looked around, hoping the puzzlement wasn't plain on her face as she searched for the fireplace where she might cook the meat. Finding none, her eyes fell on the unfamiliar objects in the room; hovering by the silver bowl containing the unfamiliar metal sticks before moving to the box that took precedence in the room. It's place of pride in the centre of the counter suggested it was important, and she could see no other options. But how did it work? Setting the plate on the counter, she leaned on it's top with one hand, fiddling with one of the dials on the front with the other. The markings on the glowing screen on the boxes front flickered and changed as she did, and Cal nodded. Though she wasn't sure what she had done, she had made it do something.

Aside from the display, nothing about the box seemed to have changed - focused on the dial, she did not immediately notice the temperature under her hand growing; the flat surface, once cool, had moved from comfortably warm to blistering hot in a short period of time. The girl yelped, lifting her hand hurriedly from the surface to find that one of the previously dark circles now glowed a fiery orange-red.

For a moment she just stared, nursing her scalded hand. The fire... it's inside this box! But how? A nuzzle on her arm, and concerned gazes up at her from the children brought her sharply back to awareness of her situation, and she managed a smile, reaching out with her uninjured hand to stroke the closest of the kittens (Mita, she thought, I must start thinking of them by their names.) between the ears.

"I'm alright," she reassured them, "I'm just tired. Lack of sleep makes you silly, sometimes!"

At least I'm getting somewhere, she thought. If the pain in her hand was anything to go by, the heat emanating from the box was certainly strong enough to cook the fish. Opening the door to the cupboard closest to the box, she exhaled in relief to find that it contained dark metal pans. It would not do to go rummaging through every cupboard, revealing herself to be unaware of the location of things in her own kitchen. Placing it on the hot circle, she laid the filleted fish inside, the pieces beginning to crackle merrily as they took in the heat.

"Now," she turned to look at the children, leaning against the bench. Her burned hand was curled against her belly, though she tried not to let on how badly it was still stinging.

"Weren't you two going to tell me about your day? What did you get up to while I was out?"
Both cat-children were looking at her, finding her unquestionably strange. The slits of their eyes drew narrow, tails swishing as they looked at Cal's burnt hand. They seemed upset with the frowning of their lips coming into a deep set expression.

"We were learning how to hunt in the jungle" Mita said first.

"Koolkal a really good mentor, he is making us tired" Taar looked like he was straining to elevate the social mood as his expression was one of confusion and strife while studying her.

"He made us really hungry today..." Mita said, biting her lower lip and swishing her gray, white streaked tail.

"Well, we better get this food ready for you soon then," Cal gave a rather desperate looking smile, ignoring the beads of sweat on the back of her neck. However the children's 'nurturer' normally acted, she certainly didn't seem to be hitting the mark. She glanced nervously between the kittens, gulping down a lump in her throat at their narrowed eyes and swishing tails.

"I'm proud to hear you're working hard," she fumbled, pulling a pair of metal, pincer-like items from a drawer and using them to flip the fish in the pan, which was starting to emit a delicious aroma.

Glancing back and seeing them still eyeing her suspiciously, Cal managed another smile.

"Now don't worry about me*," she told them firmly, "I'm fine! Everything's fine*. Taar, will you get some plates? Mita - cutlery, please." Both cat children put a hand to their head, groaning, oddly simultaneously. After a pause the two cat-children looked up at her and smiled.

"Okay" Taar said, he went to fetch the plates from a silver metal shelf under the counter. The girl had to be agile as she jumped up on the counter with feline grace, doing so in one motion, standing to open the cupboard.

Cal simply stood and stared as the kittens, after their momentary outbursts of pain, turned to comply with what she had asked. What? she thought, A moment ago they were suspicious, and now...

Shaking her head, she, for lack of any other way to check it, used the tongs to break off a small piece from one of the fillets, blowing on it before she ate it.

"Done!" she announced with a triumphant, albeit small, smile. Well look at that - I can do things for myself! Taking the topmost plate from the stack Taar had pulled from the shelf, she transferred the fish from pan to plate, her stomach grumbling at the smell.

Unsure how to stop the heat emanating from the stove, she fiddled with the dial that had created it, winding it in the opposite direction than she had initially until it gave a small click.

Hopefully that's stopped it. I don't want to burn down their... our house, she thought grimly, and turned back to the kittens, who seemed much more complacent toward her now. Odd, she thought again. She knew she had a commanding nature - it had been bred into her - but surely it wasn't enough to make them change so suddenly. She wrinkled her nose - perhaps Gina would be able to shed some light on it.

Thinking of Gina and their new companion, she frowned. She really should have tried to find out more about who they were - she had become distracted with the childrens' suspicions, and really hadn't found out much, other than they trained with this Koolkal, whoever they were.

"Shall we go and find Gina and Manisha, and let them know the food is ready?" she smiled. "You've met them before, haven't you?" It was a risk... but perhaps she would be able to bring them around again, if they once more grew suspicious. Taar and Mita had stopped enjoying their plates and stared at Cal as she finished asking. Their eyes lingered for a long pause, expressionless till Mita clicked her mouth and swished her tail.*

"Yesss" The cat girl suddenly laughed and the cat-boy joined her.

"You're silly, nurturer"

Cal forced herself to give a little giggle along with them.

"Of course. Silly me!" she smiled. "Let's go find them, shall we?"

Though she faked a casual air, inwardly she was frowning, disappointed with herself. She dared not risk pressing them with more questions, when they were already clearly suspicious.. albeit switching between that and their normal, carefree attitudes. She hoped the other two had been able to find out more than she. At least she'd managed the food part well enough.

The fish and kittens in tow, she exited the kitchen.

[Minkasha]

Wolfinal, Lemanian

Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Led back into the gloomy streets of Wolfinal Vahşi traveled alone spared the hairy blonde man who was leading. As a singular individual he drew more attention from the population as he was looked at with confusion from children and the towering adults. The Fenrisans though kept to themselves, all behavior quiet and tame. Vahşi had been expecting a bit more interest but he didn't mind the others' preoccupation with themselves. Hopefully Kolton would get Panos out of here if he got himself murdered.

Ten to twelve minutes of walking passed till he was taken to a square concrete building that wasn't taller than a story nor longer or wider than fifty feet. Inside, as the door was opened for him, Vahşi saw that it looked like a bar. There were wooden tables and chairs knocked over and propped up to make a large square in the center of the basic layout of the bar. Only a few, thirteen or so, Fenrisans were here including Queen Anadel who laid on the bar to the left of the little 'arena' The people with her were dressed in their gentry clothes as the mundane population ones, spare the exception of one hulking armor wearing, giant bullet gun wielding guard by the door on its inside. When he looked over the large bulky pauldron of his silverish blue armor, he sneered and then smiled with his fangs as a welcome.

The Queen raised a glass in Vahşi's direction.

"I had friends who wanted to see what the little-grown man could do!"

"Always happy to die in front of an audience," Vahşi said, his usual smirk slipping back onto his face. He was no stranger to battling for his life, having done so just a couple days ago, but this was the first time he'd be so outmatched. Though he would never admit it, except perhaps at a much later date, he was starting to feel just a bit scared. Queen Anadel's dulled golden eyes stared at Vahşi, dead inside. She childishly pouted.

"Do be much more fun then you were in the throne room..." She teased the little man with a peek up her dress by pulling open the slit that went up her leg. He had been flashed with her long, auburn-haired legs, and questionably her center, but she had dropped the fabric too quickly to be certain. "I want my little boy to enjoy himself."

A floor hatch was pulled open and two male Fenrisans were dragging up an obscenely tall man of ten feet. He was half naked, arms bound behind him and his chest swallowed in chains. He was also a handsome fellow, with the same cheekbones the family shared. He had an oval shaped face like his mother but with a stronger jaw covered in blonde stubble. His eyes were hooded, his brows still high and thick at the center to thin out mildly by the almost straight messy tips. He was lean despite his great height and well-proportioned.

To Vahşi, the moment he saw him he could also feel a sense of importance come from him as it was also coming from the queen. Queen Anadel laughed and clapped her hands together, alcohol spilling over the side of the glass.

"My little love, why had you to be so stupid and dim-witted to hurt your own mommy?" The chained wolf prince said nothing, growling at the men pushing him forward. The gunned guard at the door had his weapon aimed at the bound captive. "Now, now, I know that this fight seems so unfair! So let's even it!"

The queen laughed, making her friends join her.The tables and chairs were pushed wide open, enough to shove the prince in the impromptu arena after he has been unchained. His muscles neatly outlined through his lightly toned skin. He kept his glare on his mother.

The queen looked at Vahşi again and pulled back the auburn hair that had covered the right side of her face. She teasingly wiggled a foot his way.

"You get a free shot! Simply tell my guardian friend where you'd like a bullet lodged in my little boy and he'll do it! But!" She swished a finger into the air "Don't pick anywhere vital because that would ruin the fun and none of us here would like that!" The other wolf people cheered in agreement.

"And he'll do it!" The falsely cheery voice pushed Vahşi back into another world and time. The pistol grip was rough and cold against his fingers. He angled his body toward the child and held the weapon out in front of him, cupping it in both hands. "One shot and we'll be done," the leader finished in a cheery voice, smiling confidently at the military generals watching them through the glass. He sounded more like a doctor reassuring a child than someone ordering a murder. Vahşi raised the weapon and turned toward the leader before he fired. As always, his eyes closed before he pulled the trigger. When they reopened he was back in the Fenrisan arena.

"I would not so dishonour my opponent," he said. "A long time ago, I was a prince as well. Whether he kills me or not, he has my respect." After all, he doubted the Fenrisan wanted to battle for his life just so a class he was no longer a part of could be amused. Vahşi understood that. Before the humans turned on them, his family had been the rulers of one of the lupian clans. The irony of the situation was not lost on him. "Let's begin." Queen Anadel's son shook his head, moving his wavy blond hair that went to his shoulders.

Queen Anadel sighed and adjusted herself on the bar to lean on her other side. She took another sip of her glass.

"Mmmm, no. Not fun. I'll pick." She looked at the guard by the door and slapped her left knee. A piercing sound came through the room, a bullet flying so fast by Vahşi's face that he felt the heat and speed move his black locks, and went into the man's left kneecap. Through his dress pants the area was exploded with red and the man hissed.

"FUCK!" the wolf prince screamed, going down to his other knee.

"Mmm, that's delightful" Queen Anadel said before waving at Vahşi's direction. Neither of the opponents seemed to have quite the same definition of 'delightful' as the queen. The guard shoved his stinging hot end of his fired gun into the lupian's back to shove him into the arena. Vahşi winched at the heat but moved as directed. "Yesss, my little Love, do put up some good fight against the little-grown man. It would be an insult to your father if you lost."

The blonde hissed. Gritting his teeth as he dug his claw like fingernails into the wooden floor, digging into its thick surface. He looked at Vahşi with ferocity and life in his gold eyes.

"The bigger insult would be his own mother shooting him," Vahşi snapped back. He wished for a moment that he was surrounded by humans rather than Fenrisans, with bodies that broke and bled under claws and fangs. It was the dewanee, the wolf-madness, that the humans had harnessed in their assassins. It was something he was supposed to fight against, Farla had insisted. But Farla wasn't here, and Love was, and Vahşi was angry.

The wolf prince stared at Vahşi and gave a heavy sigh. The lupian's nose was taking in blasts of blood from the bullet wound. The ten foot man looked to be waiting for Vahşi to take the initiative and come to him. The crowd was cheering them on. They wanted them to fight, to bleed.

Vahşi didn't think he would be able to manage to get both himself and Love out of the arena alive. That had always been a problem Before, when lupians had been pitted against each other for human enjoyment or education. Eventually, one either made a mistake that got them killed or stopped caring. Vahşi stepped forward, circling around Love, looking for any weaknesses other than the obvious gunshot wound. A pool of blood began to come from the knee, bent onto the ground so the Fenrisan prince was on both knees. Thus his position was really weak because he would not spread his legs apart into a lower position, making him easy to tip over if Vahşi tried. But basic body mechanics also told Vahşi the man had way longer arms than him and if he wasn't fast enough could get clawed by the man.

Well, what's the worst that could happen? Vahşi thought to himself, eyeing the weakened prince. Imminent decapitation or the like, probably. Oh, fuck it all. Vahşi leaped forward, slipping into wolf form as he did so, and hoped he wasn't about to die. Going for it, Vahşi was oncoming to the alien wolf prince, the blonde's gold eyes never left the lupain as he was oncoming. The crowd was in gasping awe, clapping at Vahşi's magical transformation.

The wolf was small compared to the wolf man on his knees, teeth bared and lunging. But Love snatched him straight from the air with one of his massive hands, gritting his sharp teeth as Vahşi's teeth bit into his forearm. He roared when he shot his other hand up to snatch Vahşi wholly by his coat and slam him sideways onto the ground. Laying on top of Vahşi, the outer world was buried with screams and jeers of the few people in the bar. To the wolf-formed lupian, he felt some of his ribs bruise and his hip hurt from being slammed down so hard.

Heavy breathing entered his wolf ear, prince Love having put his strong well shaped lips up to the side of his skull. Vahşi noticed on one of the forearms pinning him down the same tattooed symbol marked on the spectating queen.

"The man with the gun is my friend. When I throw you at my mother, you kill her."

If the wolf-prince's friend had shot him, he wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting any of Love's enemies. "You got it," Vahşi said, growling the words out. He wasn't accustomed to speaking in his wolf form and the words were a little mumbled but the sentiment was clear. His body tensed in preparation of what may or may not be one of his last acts on earth.

"Crom carry you," Love said into Vahşi's ear before violently rolling his body and slinging Vahşi in the air like an easily lifted sack. Who the hell is Crom? Vahşi wanted to ask, but there wasn't exactly time for that. With the momentum of his roll the wolf man prince flung the black-furred wolf, Vahşi's sight heading straight to Queen Anadel who was still laughing and sipping more of her alcohol from her glass as she laid upon the wooden bar.

The collision of their bodies was awkward as the wolf smacked his head into her abdomen, causing her to scream and roll off the bar. Vahşi went down with her, the eccentric queen and scar-covered wolf spiraling down and crashing on the floor behind the bar from the spectators' view.

The wolf was underneath Queen Anadel, his lupine paws pushed up into her corset and breasts, her neck near his teeth. She smelled of her drink, of a wolf woman's lust, of soap and lingering blood. The beautiful auburn haired queen, the other being in the room to share the same symbol, looking down at Vahşi with a stupor of an expression. She was too drunk to take him seriously, the wolf after all was only half her size. Queen Anadel snorted, not aware of just how easy it would be for Vahşi to puncture her neck with his teeth should he wish to. But the phenomenons of her womanly wiles were starting to sway his judgment. He needed to make his choice quickly, or be taken in by a woman's primal call.

The crowed was gasping, feet moving hurriedly. But with tumultuous force a sudden stream of thunking gunfire began to pour out, silencing all other possible noise in its profanely loud scream of mowing death of those who were once scurrying.

The gunfire brought Vahşi back to his senses. He snarled at his own weakness and lunged up for the queen's throat. For now he was holding back the dewanee but he wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen if he was on a strange planet alone in wolf form with blood in his mouth. Panos was going to kill him if he made it through this.

Queen Anadel screamed with the toothy thrashing of her throat. Vahşi relentlessly took away from the woman's soft but strong neck, making it a meal of gore. His muzzle was soaked, the black fur glistening with her life force. The bloody bits fell out of his elongated mouth and her body rocked with the seizures of death, collapsing by his side when she had tried to push herself off of him. Vahşi didn't bother with the body. Even lupians in the grasp of the dewanee, or pushing the boundaries of it as Vahşi currently was, never touched the flesh of their own kind. Though he nosed at the queen's body to make sure she was dead he kept his mouth closed.

The rapping of bullets turned Vahşi's hearing into a high pitch numbness, hurting his skull. He growled in irritation, his ears flattening against his head. The scent of blood was overwhelmingly strong, as there were a plethora of sources filling his nostrils. His nose depicted a scene of desecration on the other side of the bar. Madness rising in his blood, but leashed by the wariness necessitated by an alien world, Vahşi moved back toward the arena. Love was standing in the middle of the ring, his friend the guard walking toward him. The floor was covered in bullet casings, bodies, and blood. Nobody seemed to be alive. Vahşi returned to his human form and approached Love, wiping the blood from his mouth on his forearm. "Guess this makes you the new ruler," he said casually to Love once he'd cleaned his face as best he could. "So where does this leave me and my friend?"

Prince Love slowly stared up at Vahşi.

"Not that easy," was all he said, his eyes showed how distraught he was. His world of inner emotional turmoil was so strong it was able to overcome his blown out knee. The man in the chunky armor had finally shoved aside the barrier of the 'arena' and now stared at both of them.

"We need to move," the man said. "Our brothers and sisters heard that."

"I know," Love said. The ten-foot-tall young man struggled to stand but managed to do so. He looked over Vahşi to the bar that kept the sight of his mother's corpse from his towering gaze. His lower lip quivered but his expression turned to stone. Turning, he looked at the hatch he had been pulled from. He finally registered Vahşi. "Friend? You're going to have to follow me or get gunned down," he told the smaller wolf-man matter-of-factly.

Vahşi's ears rang with the echos of the gunfire, making everything being taken in a strain for his mind as he had to focus past the sound to truly hear. His hip would heal within a few hours of a good nap, but it ached and his steps were clunky. Wounded and chased by angry people with guns, he though, an expression of disapproval flickering across his face. Just like old times. This episode better turn out better than the last few. He wiped the blood from his hands onto his pants and noticed the mark on his left hand was black again rather than a faded grey. He tilted his hand from side to side for a moment, looking it over, before following Love. Panos was with Kolton, who seemed fairly capable of keeping them safe. For now he had to think of himself first.

[Minkasha]

Wolfinal, Lemanian

Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Vahşi followed prince Love down the hatch and through the hidden door in the back of a closet within the stone hallways. The man was hobbling and bleeding terribly, but he said nothing. Not since he had crawled over to see his mother's body, and spent a minute with her before urging Vahşi to follow him. It was clear the man had loved her dearly.

Now they were in an even narrower stone wall, all the while Vahşi following a man whose symbol continued to tether at his senses, an important figure - somehow. The blonde hair he wore kept bobbing with his hobbles. He was sweaty and doing his best to not breathe loudly.

The smell of mildew, and wetness filled Vahşi's nose. The hallway was long, only lit by small, built-in, bulbous, yellow-tinged lights installed sparsely.

When Vahşi finally spoke, he did so quietly. "Love, where are we going? I'm under obligation to my friends to keep them safe and you're dragging me off alone in mysterious underground tunnels." Although Vahşi was sure Justice Kolton would do his best to defend Panos, on a planet like Wolfinal, Kolton wouldn't be able to do much if he was under serious attack. Vahşi had only a slightly better chance at defending them, but it was better than no advantage. His suspicions of Love's motives were an undertone to his words. Love took more steps before he spoke, his blown knee was a disaster to the eyes and nose, but he was going on still. The wolf-prince leaned on the wall with an arm.

"Your single option was coming with me. You were going to be gunned down if you stayed. My friend sacrificed himself for us." At this Love turned his face to look at Vahşi. "My father was the founder of our people, and everything has been shat on. For his legacy, and for Crom, I have to take the throne. My mother was warped somehow...and she was lost already. You gave her mercy and I am thankful for that. I need every hand for revolution."

"You don't have to thank me for that," Vahşi said. "No reason for me to not be merciful. And I'm not complaining about you saving me. But I still have an obligation. Whatever your plans are, I need to know where they leave me and my friends."

Love's golden eyes looked at the ground, carrying sorrow in his expression. Vahşi could easily speculate it was for the loss, the physical loss, of his mother. His knee wobbled and he looked back up to Vahşi.

"Your friends need safe keeping? My revolutionary pack can keep them secure underground." Weakly, Love gestured to the mildewy tunnel they were in now. "And you, I do not know where you come from, but I can smell your kinship. I know you can help us. I saw it in your eyes." Love turned his back to Vahşi, slowly pushing himself off the wall to keep going forward.

Vahşi waited for Love to get ahead of him a few steps before following. "Sometimes I think I don't know where I came from either. But if you need help - if you really want to make things better here - I can help you. Or at least do my best."

"Where are your friends?"

"I don't know. Justice Kolton might have taken Panos back to his ship, but it's more likely that they're still on the ground. There was a man called Jerk that they might have gone to, but I'm not sure." A smile twitched at Vahşi's lips and he added, "I should go with whoever you send to get them. Panos can be a little... difficult, when he's surprised or under pressure." It would have sounded much stranger to come out and say that Panos would probably grapevine somebody, but Vahşi wasn't sure what he said had sounded much better.

"A Justice is in Wofinal?" the wolf-prince asked with a bit of surprise, giving Vahşi a glance over his shoulder and pressing on. He said nothing more about it but the man made small sounds of thought to himself. "To get your friends would have to wait till nightfall. It's the only way my pack can get into the castle, and it is still dangerous then." His bad knee gave out for a moment and he stumbled but recovered quickly.

"I take it you don't often have Justices here," Vahşi said wryly. "It was his ship that picked up Panos and I from the last planet we were on." He wasn't particularly pleased with hearing that they'd have to wait until nightfall but he nodded in acceptance. "Will I be allowed to go with whoever you send?"

Love's head nodded in yes. Vahşi got his answer and followed on.

**

The intermittently lit tunnel finally started take a turn, a long undefined time of walking, another turn. It would have been easy to get lost in here if one did not have a sense of smell. The turns had options, each marked by different men, different scents marking the hallways. Love must have had the scents memorized because he would sniff once or twice and struggle to take himself down that chosen direction. The wolf-prince had quietly left a trail of his blood as their journey went on. His breathing finally turning into panting, but still made no comment about it.

The stone hallway they were in now had a strange inconsistency: there was a rectangular hole half its height in the wall. Love had to duck, Vahşi only had to walk, the top almost grazing the top of his head. It was a half jump down to another half level lower in this underground system.

After the short jump, they were in on the first of a series of small jumps down to a massive square room that must have been the base of their operations. The stone ceiling was at least sixty feet tall and sixty feet long, a warehouse-sized room that was littered with several dozen Fenris, whose sense were sharp. Despite Love's and Vahşi's distance, several were already looking toward them.

The room was chopped up into four sections with black metal shelves shaped like a plus in the center that almost extended out to each wall. This space cut in fours was the each made into small camps as Vahşi saw each section have large and small tents with barrels scattered about, a flame to make flickering blooms of light through the dark expanse.

The scents were various, many men, a few women. Definitely a lot of gunpowder and metal was picked up. Looking at the sets of jumps, Love did sigh before he took his first jump, landing on his legs with a silent shudder. He forced himself through the additional twelve jumps down till they were on the first floor and Love's Fenris came to swarm him. All were ranging in heights over Vahşi's head; he was easily the odd man out, as they were eight to nine and a half feet. They were dressed in more casual cotton garments of various state of cleanliness and sweatiness.

"Welcome him," Love whispered to the six people at his side, being helped off in one direction. An unbecoming young Fenris turned to Vahşi. He had none of the looks of Anadel or her children, and was certainly not comparable to Vahşi, Panos or Kolton. He was tall, but stocky and very hairy with black hair across his body and his arms. He looked nearly feral with how mangy he was, hair down to his shoulder unpleasantly and his face hyper-masculine to the point he look animalistic. He looked like he would be one hell of a fighter, however, wild and without reservation.

His gold eyes showed he wasn't a very controlled man, violent even.

"Welcome," the young man simply said, licking his lips as he looked down at Vahşi and scrutinized him. The others walked off with Love, looking concerned for their leader.

Vahşi had to look up to be able to look the other man in the eyes. "Thank you," he responded simply. It was obvious that the stranger was working with Love, but Vahşi wasn't sure how Fenrisian custom dictated he proceed. Deciding to proceed as he would have with a lupian from his own world, he added, "My name is Vahşi."

"Alf," he said, naming himself in return. He sniffed Vahşi's scent in one more time. "You have the queen's scent on you," he said with a slight lick of his lips in an unreadable, odd, expression.

"The queen requested audience with me when I landed on the planet," Vahşi explained. He didn't think coming right out and saying that he had murdered the queen would be the best way to go. Every revolution had spies in their ranks, it was just the way things went. Alf hadn't proved himself either way yet, and Vahşi was wary. The Fenrisian gave Vahşi a cautious side eye, as if thinking the same thing himself.

He waved his hand for Vahşi to follow, leading Vahşi through the massive stone room to the one of the quadrants where a small camp of tents was. They passed several barrels holding fires burning in their metal chambers. The lupian was taken to a tall tent that was square rather than triangular in shape. Going inside he saw rows of cots, with a tattered pattern of rugs, laid out to give the tent a much warmer floor than the stone.

Now Vahşi saw the women he had smelled. They were five of them, three of them young women and two of them older. They were tending to the children Fenrisian who were the only ones to be shorter than Vahşi. A young man sat with them in a wooden chair, legs spread. He had black hair like Alf, and they shared the same bulky nose, but this young man had better looking features and seemed more put together, beardless and hair kept close to the skull.

"Who's that, Alf?"

"Love's friend."

"He smells of the bitch." The young man crossed his arms defiantly as the women narrowed their eyes on him.

"Something 'bout planet," Alf said, licking his lips. The children giggled and were distracted by wooden toys, a small child being breastfed by a blonde in a rocking chair near the back of the large tent. This group of tall wolf-people looked at Vahşi to see what he would say.

Vahşi decided he'd have to explain things. "I'm from a different planet," he told them. "A Justice picked up my friend and I and brought us here, thinking I belonged under the jurisdiction of your ex-queen. She wanted to welcome me to Wolfinal by forcing Love and I to fight to the death." Might as well explain the rest of it. "Love convinced me to kill her instead." The metallic taste of blood washed across his mouth as he thought of the feel of the queen's throat between his fangs. He swallowed and pushed it away to the back of his mind. "Now I'm here, and if you're worried about me betraying Love, you don't have to be."

"He made the meanie queenie go away?" a small girl asked, sitting on the floor on her bent legs with a little horse in her hands.

The room had gone silent as the adults all looked at each other.

"You killed Queen Anadel?" the man of some relation to Alf asked in disbelief. He gestured to himself. "I am Alfonz. Alf's older brother, and Love's appointed protector of the women and children." He raised his nose up in charismatic exuberance in pride of his title. Indeed he had a bastard sword, which for their great height was much longer than usual, leaning against the chair and a black semi automatic gun of some sort on a wooden table by the chair.

The women shot looks at Alofonz.

"Goodbye,"Alf waved. He licked his lips and walked off. Alfonz narrowed his eyes and then looked at Vahşi with his golden eyes.

"My brother was born off," he explained quickly.

"It's no problem," Vahşi replied. "I've met many a stranger man."

The blonde breastfeeding from her ample, milk-filled chest stared. The baby enjoyed the breast out of the frill of her dress.

"You ended her life?" The women all still seemed in disbelief of Vahşi's claim. While they were indeed taller and probably stronger than Vahşi, it was still noteworthy that the women's physical bodies were still proportional to the men. They still looked softer and weaker than their male counterparts, even if they could slap Vahşi around senselessly. Though these feminine, dress-wearing women did not look trained in any combative way.

"Yes," Vahşi confirmed. He had a feeling this was going to become a pattern whenever he revealed his role in the overthrow. "She wasn't expecting it and I was a wolf. It wasn't much of a fight, but I got lucky. Considering the physical differences between us, I wouldn't have had much chance in an even fight. Without Love's help, it would have been impossible. We worked together and managed to do it."

"Hm," the blonde said, going back to rocking her baby and feeding contently. The two other women, fresh-faced in what Vahşi could guess was their version of early thirties or mid-twenties, giggled. Alfonz took a whiff soon after.

"Oh, that's nice," he said with a very small smirk. It soon after hit Vahşi. It was the pheromone Anadel had released. It was obvious the women of this wolf species had a firm control of the reproductive cycle through these silent cues. It made Vahşi feel a pleasurable tingle, an in innate understanding that these two women were fertile and healthy.

"That is impressive." The brunette was creamy complexioned, full hair to her shoulders with a generous chest. Her womanly scents of fertility were strong. The other woman was also very beautiful, a second blond with wavy hair down to her mid back in straight streaks, with a similar body type. They giggled again.

"What is your name?" the brunette asked.

"What has Love asked you to do now?" the blonde asked, golden eyes on him. Alfonz seemed content taking in the smells with a lopsided smirk on his face, tapping his foot slowly.

"My name is Vahşi," the lupian repeated. "As of now I have no assignment, but after nightfall I'll be accompanying a team of Love's warriors. I have two friends still on the surface of the planet. I owe them a rescue, especially if they're in trouble. Until then I have nothing to do, unless Love asks something of me."

The two women stared at each other and then looked at him again. The two older woman, both late middle age, narrowed their eyes on the young women. It was a look of annoyance.

"Maybe we can give you a tour..." The blonde suggested, though her tone of voice implied more than a tour.

"I'm sure the pleasure of your company would be better enjoyed once my friends are safe," Vahşi replied. He had no idea if this was customary or even allowed, and he hardly wanted to get (literally) caught with his pants down on a planet he had no chance of escaping from without help. On his own in the middle of a strongly armed camp of giants? Making one wrong step could easily be the end of his life, his role in killing the queen notwithstanding. Plus, he was fairly certain Panos would try to murder him for making out with one of the women, even if he was feeling a very strong desire to do so. Regardless of his thoughts, his body had its own ideas, but Vahşi did his best to keep his calm. Spurned, the two women looked away and went to the children, starting to play with them and giving Vahşi a cool shoulder.

Alfonz hummed and got up from his wooden chair, taking in a final primal whiff of the womanly ripe scents. He came closer to Vahşi, the gun put on his hip in one seamless motion. Alfonz's smirk came to quickly end when he was within arm's reach and put a hand on Vahşi's shoulder, the hight difference became all the more obvious side by side.

"You said you had friends...you are kind of diminutive" Alfonz spoke his words slowly, the young man's words surprised as if it had just come to hit his awareness. A lopsided smile came and went, he took in a whiff of Vahşi, as a Wolf he knew the man was trying to get information about him, the man wrinkled his nose a bit but said nothing about it. "Those friends of yours?" Alfonz prompted, leaving the women and children be.

"One is a travelling companion of mine," Vahşi explained, mindful of just how much he was going to share but knowing better than to refuse all information. "The other is more of a friend of my friend than one of my own. He's an acquaintance at best, but it was his ship that brought us here." Although there was probably another way for him to describe Panos and Kolton, that was the most accurate thing he could come up with that didn't require more complicated explanations. Even Vahşi didn't really know everything behind the reasons he'd come to be here in the first place.

Alfonz stared at Vahşi but pulled away and turned his view slightly to the women and children.

"The leader wants you here, you're welcome. Probably want to stay until he calls for you. Until then, got any good war stories? You look like a man whose been around the field."

"Yeah," Vahşi agreed. "I've had a few interesting calls." Alfonz seemed interested, so Vahşi started talking about a random encounter. He wasn't sure if it was one he'd been in or not, but the words came easily and he was familiar with them for some reason.

[Minkasha]

*Trigger warning for allusions of sexual abuse.

Wolfinal, Lemanian

Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Alfonz kept Vahşi company, the women keeping their away in the tent; apparently Fenrisian women did not find it arousing to peruse a resistant mate. It hadn't taken long for the fertile females' smells to wither away while Alfonz continued to listen to Vahşi's words with curiosity. He would obnoxiously lean forward on the table and rub his hands back and forth against the wood to keep himself occupied while Vahşi went on.

His mentally deficient brother, Alf continued to frequently visit at intervals no longer than a half hour or at times even sooner. He lamented repeatedly that Prince Love's health was improving and he was healing from the gunshot. Alfonz did not seem bothered by Alf's constant visits, each time they greeted another in the same exact same way.

Alfonz kept trying to pry deeper into Vahşi with questions about his past, curiosity deep in his golden eyes. The lupian didn't go into too much detail but figured it was hardly a good idea to refuse to tell Alfonz anything. He mostly spoke about the more militant parts of his life, when he'd been fighting for some cause or other. Vahşi's internal sense of time was not well attuned to being underground, but gradually the women were beginning to yawn and the children cranky. Both men were kicked out with Alfonz giving the women a deep bow before closing the tent behind him. He stood attentively at the flaps while they stood and talked. Alfonz shared with Vahşi about planet Fenris and how the Xanael were perverse magicians that had somehow weaseled their way in and ruined this place from the inside out.

From what Vahşi remembered, that was through the Queen. Alfonz said she had once been a strong fighter on the inter planet battle, fought with her husband King Leonel using guerrilla tactics. She had been dubbed the 'Ambusher'.

The young man rubbed the back of his head, yawning after he had finished sharing some of the brighter days of the capital. The lupian could smell Love and others approaching and when he turned around he saw Love now in similar bulky battle armor.

His Fenrisan eyes stared at the two of them before the tent. He extended his arm out, the thick black rifle for Vahşi to take. The lupian took it, checking for a safety and what position it was in, before snugging the end of the stock against his shoulder, angling the barrel toward the ground. Guns had always been a human construct rather than a lupian one, but he'd learned to use one early in the days of the conflict on his home world. It was suicide to try to attack gunmen with weapons lesser than the ones they held.

"I cannot promise your friends will be unharmed, but I will promise the honor of attempting to save them. May Father watch over us." He said gravely, the seven men behind him nodded slowly. Alfonz had become uncharacteristically silent around the prince, keeping his head low in some sign of respect.

"I cannot ask for any promises as to their safety," Vahşi agreed. "But thank you for agreeing to try to rescue them." He wasn't all too sure himself that they would find either Panos or Justice Kolton alive, but so far Panos was the only person that had any idea what the marks on Vahşi's skin meant. And besides, the guy hadn't even wanted to come along, not that Vahşi had had any choice himself. This probably counted as kidnapping in a way, the way he'd gotten stuck with Panos, even though he didn't particularly care.

Love shifted where he stood. Vahşi's gaze moved to him, instantly on the alert for some kind of order or action.

"Tunnels are going to lead us through till one block before the castle. I will make sure you get in, from there you need to find your friends by yourself." Vahşi nodded in agreement. "When," the blonde lowered his eyes and cleared his throat, "I take the throne, I will look for you to assist." He gave a commanding gaze to Alfonz. "Get this man oatmeal, it will make for a shit last meal, but it might also be the thing to keep you alive."

Vahşi knew firsthand that that was very likely true. While oatmeal wasn't the best last meal he could have asked for, it was definitely better than nothing. It didn't take long for him to eat and then they were on their way.

**

Traversing through the tunnels beneath the city the lights had been dangerously irregular - black patches of hallway for many steps. But Vahşi simply had to follow the eight men stepping with hard metal steps against the tan stone bricks. None of them had been talkative, Love taking the charge. Vahşi could increasingly feel himself getting closer to Panos, his senses smelling more of the world above as they used ladders to rise levels in this underneath world. The air was cool, Vahşi could smell it through the different floral smells that the daytime had, more grassy.

Shoving the sewer lid off, moonlight and chill shot down onto all of them. The leader of the pack grabbed the dark metal of the ladder. Together the pack took a whiff, Love paused. Vahşi tensed slightly, wondering what was wrong. He couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary but he wasn't at all used to this planet so that didn't say much.

"No one at the gates," he said morosely. Vahşi hardly found that to be a problem but he said nothing..

"That wouldn't happen," a man said skeptically but sniffed again. Even Vahşi couldn't smell any odors to belong to the Fenrisians.

Another man rolled his shoulders, the rest shared glances. The tall blonde gritted his teeth and began to climb. Vahşi followed him, using his heightened senses to search for any potential danger.

Diving through the cracks of the masonry buildings, the men huddled to the rough walls, in their vision was the gloomy castle with its double doors slightly open and no one attending. Love narrowed his eyes, thinking deeply.

"Is something wrong?" Vahşi asked, keeping his voice quiet. In the gleam of moonlight, the city of Wolfinal surrounding the castle was eerily silent, all surfaces drowned in a blue hue of night light.

The prince stared seconds longer before responding.

"My brother wouldn't be so stupid," Love told Vahşi, raising his gun. He gestured them forward, away from the ally of two homes to begin crossing the masonry street. While the men tried their best to be quiet and calculated, metal against brick was still audible for all of them - the lupian races had sharp hearing. It created a tension, nearing the double doors and knowing full well that any within the entrance hallway would hear them. Vahşi made sure the safety of his rifle was off and stepped off to the side of the group so he could bring his rifle up. If anyone came out from the doors he'd have a shot at them without a member of the group getting in the crossfire.

However, the nearer to the metal doors they came - new scents were birthing in their nasal cavities: first was blood and plenty of it, the second was a delicate flowery scent that held within its perfume a springy kick. Like spring, elegant and drawing.

The men paused before pushing the doors open, no footsteps. Whiffing the eight men looked at each other, compelled to continue to experience this blood soaked drenched smell of bliss. Vahşi searched the area he could see, looking for enemies, and saw nothing. That didn't mean much since he was so much shorter than the others but his nose was more accurate than his other senses and he still suspected nothing. With all the blood, though, it was hard to know for sure.

"It is beautiful..." One of the other seven remarked, closing his eyes to filter out his other senses - reaching for it past the gouging amounts of blood hanging onto the scent.

"It is not Lemanian..." Love said hesitatingly, but smelling again himself, raising his nose towards the doors. Vahşi knew all too well what smell that was, beyond the layers of blood which he could confirm wasn't from the person of suspect, the scent was Panos'. The blood must have been spilt Fenrisan.

"It's one of my friends," Vahşi cut in. Hopefully Panos would still be alive, although with all the blood he could smell, Panos was very likely wounded. Sidestepping around one of the Fenrisans, he took a cautious step, easing forward a little at a time but staying quiet. He knew better than to call out when he didn't know what was in store for them. From the bond Vahşi shared with Panos and his companions somewhere off in this galaxy, he could feel Panos was above him, the second floor and somewhere to the right.

Stepping in the castle, he slid between the parted metal doors, as they were too large and too loud to move. His vision was greeted with a castle guard laying down the hall on the right, dead. The smell of Panos was both down the right and left hall - but, the smell of Prince Jerk was down the left hall. But without knowing the layout more than what he had seen before of this square castle, it was also going to be a guess where the access of the stairs would be.

The Fenrisans came in after Vahşi.

"Another coup?" One of the men asked stupefied, staring at the corpse.

Love growled.

"No one else would stand against the crown, this is shit." He looked left, sniffing. "My brother." The blonde man spat, raising his hand he gestured down the left, his men going in formation. He gave Vahşi a final look. "I will pray for your friend," he said softly, whiffing in the air and going down the direction.

"Thank you," Vahşi replied. He wasn't much of a religious person but he figured Love was only trying to be nice. Since Love and his men were going toward the left, Vahşi took the right-hand corridor. Between not knowing what was ahead of him and being on his own, he kept the rifle up and ready for action. Without the knowledge of the castle's layout he could only hope that he found some way of getting to the second floor before anything happened to Panos.

**

Vahşi stalking down the former queen's halls, he was able to focus past the scratch marks that marred the walls. Blood hadn't been seen down the length of the right hall, nor were there any doors. He had no choice but to go forward down the narrow, red carpeted walkaway. When the first turn came, a left, the blood struck again.

More corpses, more of the men that should have been attentive at their posts. They were in various states of armor, one of the three bodies naked in nothing but the lower legging and footwear of the bulky armor that was scattered bout. In their hands were Panos' vines and gently glowing grapes, their dead expressions happy or maddening depending on how wide the smiles were, froze expressions. Panos' scent perfumed this hall, but it was a tease - the vines smelled exactly like him. In reality the bond showed Panos to be above him.

Vahşi didn't understand the expressions on the corpses' faces, but he wasn't about to go poking among the bodies to check things out. Panos had obviously killed them, or at least his vines had, so he kept moving on. They could deal with the bodies later, in whatever way Love's people were accustomed to dealing with the bodies of their dead.

To the right, past the corpses among the royal home was a spiral staircase going up, straight ahead would vaguely be what led him to either the throne or the courtyard - assuming his memory was correct. Vahşi went up it, keeping his gun at the ready in case something happened.

Oddly, as he narrowed himself to the stairs a whiff of Justice Kolton's blood from down the hallway came and went, and as he traveled up the steps his sensitive hearing began to pick up maniacal laughter of at least four different male voices. Their words were nonsensical, delirious with ever shifting pitches and howls of pleasure. They were in constant motion, the shifting sounds of metal and cloth. Vahşi paused for a moment, trying to figure out what was happening, but no explanation came to mind so he continued, albeit with more caution than before. Even though he was probably closing in on Panos, the fact that there were other voices that apparently belonged to insane people was not very comforting.

Ending the small spiral up, from the doorway he saw the entire hall these men had been through was littered with broken glass and Panos' vines. Shards and grapes lined with irregular fragments of what may have once been dishware lingered between the Fenrisan men's feet. But they seemed so oblivious, so joyous, that even as one of the men twirled around in the nude, his feet having light cuts, none of them stopped. Guns were in their hands, but they had become more like toys than anything else. Beyond them, past a redwood square door, Vahşi felt Panos' presence, and his scent was strong now. The men were too loud, blocking any sound he may have gotten from the room.

Vahşi had to stop and stare. Of all the strange things that he had seen, this was by far the strangest. He kept his rifle at the ready but otherwise he was completely caught off guard by the sight. It was obvious that Panos was in the room behind him, so Vahşi readied his rifle and started walking through the hall, intent on getting through the hall even if he had to shoot his way to the door. His steps were cautious, when he approached them, the functionless group, he paused - nothing happened. They trotted slowly, one in circles, the other three in back and forth lines.

Sickly, their chuckles, smiles, and laughs made an off putting display of happiness tipped over the extreme, pouring out to levels of the unnatural - golden eyes glazed over with joy. Vahşi had no idea what had happened to him but hoped he would run into no more of it. Gore and torture he could deal with, but unnatural happiness was something he had absolutely no experience with. He didn't like being faced with things he didn't know how to handle.

Shoving one aside, the tall man simply slumped down the wall in his battle suit, Vahşi stopped just before the door. Another feminine smell came into his nose - a female Fenrisian was inside and he could smell her blood to be heavily split as it came in a wave of sensation. The smells of musk - sex, merged disgustingly only starting to paint a very grim picture. There was also a man, a strong Fenrisan man inside. His scents were similar to Prince Jerk's, but not exact.

"Come inside, I have a gun aimed at the lovely non-lady's head." A jovial and low voice teased Vahşi as he stood outside the door.

Vahşi had only an incomplete idea of what had happened in the room, but he was sure that Panos had managed to get himself into a hell of a lot of trouble. Where had Kolton been during all of this? Dead or imprisoned, Vahşi guessed, although it was totally possible that he'd run and gotten himself back to his ship so he could flee the system. He wasn't quite sure he actually wanted to go into the room, but he double-checked the safety of his rifle and stepped inside, keeping his rifle at the ready.

As the door creaked open, the smells only hit harder in a flowery ill that cocooned his nose. There was so much tragedy and moral depravity within the room it was hard to pinpoint a single location of where to look. A beautiful bedroom consisting a generously sized fur covered bed was giving comfort to the woman adorned in a white nightgown. She was certainly one of Anadel’s children, nearly having her face – a little more masculine brow line, laid with her arms and long auburn hair flaied out in what looked to be the ends of a struggle far too done for Vahşi to attempt to change.

She was dead. The white nightgown dyed in layers of red from the center of the chest and bled out in a large circle each direction. Her Fenrisan eyes hadn’t been shut, the young moon shaped face was void of any peace in death. Tears stained her pale cheeks. Vahşi's gaze only lingered on her body a moment past the moment he realized she was dead. The purpose and manner of his death didn't matter to him, since he couldn't do anything about it, but he should probably tell Love about what had happened here.

The weapon that must have been the thing to take her life was now within the hands of a massively tall Fenerisan man. Anadel’s pack was a good looking sort, this man with long red wavy hair all the way to his mid back, it was thick and masculine as waves were folded over to a side and strands fell down in front of his face. His cloth vest was a mess, gray and half unbuttoned to reveal his strong body – a massive man of eleven feet of height, Vahşi calculated. His pants looked hastily put back on as the dark cotton breeches were not tied properly, but he stood confidently with a long meat cutting knife. His golden eyes were reminiscent of the queen’s: the same detached mischievousness but his burned with mania as his pupils were strikingly small, beady and honed wildly. He was very much there while his mother had never been, he was in this moment wildly, breathing heavily and on the verge of laughter. Vahşi instantly knew that he was going to be trouble, especially if he lost his rifle.

In his other hand a nearly grape-barren vine was held in his hand with shaking gravitas.

“I…am…greater than all the gods! The God-King will be meeeeeee!” He hissed, teeth bared and hungry. Vahşi had no idea how to respond to that. He was, however, completely certain at this point that the Fenrisan was crazy.

Then there was Panos, behind this man. The change of several hours had been drastic, he was now wearing a sky blue corset dress that would have seamlessly made his image the same womanly visage Vahşi had seen him with when he first laid his eyes on him had it not been so raggedly torn to the point one half of the chest was peeled to show the boy’s flat chest. He, and the dress, were ravaged, many of the blue ribbons tied on its frill layers around the legs were scattered over the floor, claw marks took many of those frills away and underneath Panos was a small pool of blood – surely his. His legs were drawn close, crossing, small feet curled – arms were held up by chains and cuffs that were too short for him to let them down. His pale skin was stamped with bruises down his forearms, wrists, across his collarbones.

Panos was silent, his head down so his exotic balanced hair hid much of his face. His shoulders quaked weakly with obvious misery. Vahşi figured that as long as he wasn't dead, there was a chance of them getting out of here alive. Or at least mostly alive. Panos was obviously injured and scared, so Vahşi didn't think he'd be any help at all as far as taking down the Fenrisan went, but it was better than finding him dead.

The man raised the vine to eat a grape, rolling his eyes back and humming sweetly with every succulent chew.

He did not have a gun as he had proclaimed.

Vahşi knew how to handle crazy people who potentially wanted to kill him. Facing such a person who had a friend of his captive, well, that was an entirely new scenario. He hadn't been very interested in getting friends throughout his lifetime, with the notable exception of Farla. Panos was weaker than any of the people Vahşi had fought alongside before, and that did nothing to help either of them. "Where did Kolton go, Panos?" he asked, keeping both eyes and his rifle on the Fenrisan. "Is he still on the planet?" All instincts told him to just kill the taller man and be done with it, but he needed to know if he had to get someone else out of trouble, and Panos had never been particularly coherent after watching Vahşi murder someone.

The Lambros shuddered at the mention of his name, but any response greater did not seem possible for him now. Vahşi probably shouldn't have expected anything else but it would have been helpful if Panos had been capable of giving him more information.The Fenrisan however smiled his fangs at Vahşi and answered with, "Unfortunately his wings were plucked". As far as the lupian was concerned, that meant he was dead or as good as. The meat cutting knife was quickly raised, commanding presence several feet in the air above the wolf man.

Vahşi instantly fired, a bullet striking the Fenrisan in the shoulder before the bullets swept up to mar his throat and face. The bloody mess and screaming thunder of his rifle came together in a fit of death, knocking over the tower of eleven foot tall flesh. The red headed wolf man fell face first upon the bedroom floor. The body never let go of the vine clutched in its fist. He paused for a moment, alert and wary, before dropping the angle of the weapon's barrel toward the floor and approaching Panos. Since he was wearing what amounted to half a dress, Vahşi figured he'd have to find something for him to wear, but given the height of the planet's native population, it was probably going to end up literally being the shirt off Vahşi's back. Now that there was no immediate threat presented, Vahşi's focus turned to the chains. "I'm going to get these off you and then we're going to leave. If something happens you need to find Love and tell him you're the friend I was here to rescue." He rather doubted that any of this was getting through to Panos, so he flipped the safety of the rifle on in case of accidents and leaned it against the wall before reaching to finger the chains.

Panos' vision was blurring white and searing bright, turbulent between the forms of chaos taking his mind. He felt nearly non-existent, nothing. The cold of the cuffs was gone, the heat of his innards that had been forced open was gone, the sound of his own cries and yells to stop had been gone for some time already. Everything was no longer with him - his body was gone to him.

"...Shame..." Panos' voice weakly whispered, a taunting of consciousness and an unveiling of a dead soul trapped inside a body stripped of dignity. Vahşi was able to twist the locks of the cuffs, Panos' hands crashing to the ground. Slowly they raised to hold himself across his bruised and half exposed chest. His skin was sweating, legs pulling in even more, turning his body into a shrinking vessel of suffering.

Everything was freezing, but nothing was cold. His brain was dreadfully exhausted...it couldn't...wouldn't...tell Panos what happened. But it was replaying so vividly, that his mind also seemed unable to tell him that it was over.

Panos reeked of the man's sexual emissions and the blood under Panos was of both a dried and wet texture.

Vahşi picked the rifle back up and flipped the safety off. Since Panos wasn't chained up any more, the lupian's common sense told him they should be getting out of here, but Panos was hardly in any state to walk out the door with him. He checked the room over again before searching through the wardrobe for something small enough to fit Panos. Nothing showed itself so he went back to his original plan. Leaving the rifle on the bed, Vahşi pulled his shirt off and went back over to Panos and crouched down next to him. "You need to get changed and then we need to leave," he told him. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get you somewhere nobody can hurt you." As he extended his hand, he felt a tingle of his forearm. Giving it a glance he saw the symbol that had once been on Queen Anadel and on Prince Love's, and his own hand was now placed near the bottom of the forearm. Mercury, Venus, Mars and now Cronus, so Panos had called it.

Even in his state, the Lambros was forced to look at the call of the symbol finding its way on his forearm, pulling it away from his torso just for a moment before embracing himself again. Panos turning his head cautiously Vahşi's direction, his sapphires gracefully broken, red and raining without a cringing wrinkle of ugliness to sully his face. But his gaze was pained.

Panos had the anger towards Vahşi fucked out of him hours ago, now when he saw this man he saw only the fact that this had truly happened and it was not a painful dream. He would want death now if he had confidence the river would take his soul...but this...the gods...did the gods...did they...?

"...The pain..."

"I know it hurts," Vahşi agreed. "But the fact that you're still here means that you were stronger than anything he did to you. As long as you're alive, there's hope for something better. No matter what happens there will be someone who will take care of you. Right now that's gonna be me. Are you okay with me helping you get changed?" He really didn't want to startle Panos in his current condition and get grapevined again, but they really did need to get moving. Vahşi was hardly equipped to be a caregiver, but there was doubtless someone who could help Panos more than he could back at Love's camp. The youth's level of physical and psychological shock didn't seem to allow Panos to process the question. He shivered and stared at Vahşi.

Coming from down the hall the lupian did not need super hearing to hear the blast of bolt gun firing that must have killed the crazy men in the hallway - bodies dropping echoing. Because of the rank and pleasant smells coming from Panos and the room it was impossible to use his nose to figure out the gunman.

Vahşi paused just long enough to realize he couldn't figure out who was out there. He immediately got up, leaving his shirt next to Panos, and snatched the rifle up from the bed, checking to make sure the safety was off and moving between Panos and the door. The other was obviously in no position to be of any help or do anything so whatever happened next was going to be up to Vahşi. Given the situation he was more than happy to shoot whoever came through the door if he didn't recognize them, but he hoped it would be Kolton or one of Love's men, although he doubted it. He was in luck, hopefully, as who came through the door was indeed one of Love's men.

The man took the scene in absolute horror.

"Princess Talia....Prince Erlingur..." The Fenrisan whiffed the air and stared at Vahşi and Panos behind. Clearly he did not know what to make of the situation, blood coating much of the room from bed to floor. But he eventually glared at the vine in the redhead's dead hand and then looked at Panos again. "The witch got what she deserved," he said harshly to Panos, giving Vahşi a questioning glare and turning. "If that is your friend, it is going to be better if you leave sooner than later," he said and walked out of the room.

Vahşi didn't respond to anything the Fenrisan said. If it weren't for the fact that both his and Panos's lives depended on staying in Love's good graces, he would have been sorely tempted to shoot the other for his words. As it was he let it go, guessing they'd be out of here without much delay, whether it was on their own or because of the symbols on their arms.

"Panos, we've got to go," Vahşi said, leaning the rifle against the wall. "I'm going to help you get changed." Truth be told, he'd probably be doing all the work, but at the moment he didn't want to risk setting Panos off and getting hurt. The Fenrisans didn't seem very inclined to treat Panos nicely, if the one that had just left was any indication. He carefully put a hand on Panos' shoulder so he could turn him around to get a better idea of how the dress was supposed to come off. The prince flinched at Vahşi's touched and stared at him with a jolting gaze of fear - silence between them.

Vahşi felt a little guilty at scaring Panos like that, but they did need to be on the move. "I'm not going to hurt you," he told him quietly, trying to not look directly into his eyes. While he was mostly oblivious about how he was supposed to handle a trauma victim, he knew instinctively that taking an obviously dominant role and posture wouldn't help things. He tried to touch Panos as little as he could as he untied the back of the dress. Black lacing was carefully plucked, the joined ends of the corset slowly coming undone from the top down. Spreading apart, sheen covered pale skin was being revealed, slipping down the shoulders.

Every inch gained of taking off the garment made Panos' body more engrossed with goosebumps - as if Panos was expecting impending doom once it was taken off him. Vahşi could tell the Lambros was uncomfortable with what was happening, but they didn't have many other options. If he stayed in the dress he was going to get more strange looks, and it would probably be an invitation to the looser of Love's men to try the same. While the lupian was always up for a fight, he'd rather not have to go up against a company of Fenrisans considering their superior size and strength. Eventually he was a step away from getting the dress untied. Naked, Panos was left exposed to Vahşi seeing what the sum total of what happened to him. Panos continued hiding his body, legs and arms crossed, his shaking view stared at Vahşi. The lupian could see he was starting to fall in and out of consciousness.

"I...scared..." Panos whispered, his mind could not endure surrendering its awareness, the blackness was creeping in to take him away from the troubles of his physical self.

"Yeah, that'll be hard to get through," Vahşi said. "But you're gonna make it." He pulled the shirt over Panos' head and started searching around for some kind of pants that would fit him. Ideally he'd be able to find the Lambros' old clothes somewhere, but that hardly seemed possible so he started looking through the dresser nearby. Filled inside were finely stitched long-johns, cotton under layers and other button ups. The room must have belonged to one of the prince's, presumably the one dead and full of bullets on the floor.

The dead Fenrisian's equally dead sister must have been over eight feet tall herself, making her bloody nightgown ill fit as well. Though Vahşi was able to find raw fabrics on the bottom layer of the dresser. Where Panos' robe might have been, clearly wasn't going to be discovered.

As the lupian was shifting through the dresser he heard a thud, turning he saw Panos fall over on his side - modesty kept by his limbs, unconscious on the floor. Vahşi sighed at how much harder things had just gotten, but there wasn't much he could do about it since Panos was already out cold on the floor. He grabbed a couple pieces of fabric after sorting through them for the plainest ones that would be long enough, and went back over to Panos. With no other options, he'd have to tie one around Panos' waist. Going around half-naked was not an option, especially given what had just happened. Vahşi just hoped that Panos wasn't going to come to halfway through Vahşi dressing him and try to murder him. The lupine was swift, getting the white silk fabric dressed around Panos waist. But as long as Vahşi lingered in his room his senses would be surrounded by death and savagery.

While Vahşi was no stranger to being in bloody surroundings such as his current ones, he needed to get Panos out of there. He had very little idea of what had happened in the room as far as specifics went, but he'd gotten the bigger picture easily. Justice Kolton's ship undoubtedly had some kind of medical bay on it, so that was where he needed to take Panos, and as quickly as possible. The longer they stayed on the planet, the more they risked running into one of Love's men, or the prince himself. He managed to get Panos off the floor and over his shoulder without hurting him, and he adjusted his grip to make sure he wouldn't fall before leaving the room.

The hallway was littered with the men Vahşi had seen before - dead. Their deaths looked carefully calculated as their bullet wounds had been through the skull and their bodies shoved to the side of the hall to clear the walkway. The vines that had been with them were taken. Vahşi was highly suspicious of that, but had no desire to stick around and figure things out. He guessed it was Love's soldier that had killed the men, which he had no problem with as he'd likely have had to do it himself to get Panos out. The fact that the vines were missing worried him slightly, but he didn't think the Fenrisians would be able to do anything with them.

Coming back down the stairs, Vahşi's nose flared with Justice Kolton's blood in the far distance of the hall, down the direction he hadn't been since entering the castle a second time. The smell of Love's men and the man himself marked the hallway. When Vahşi had taken his final step down the windy decent and out to the hallway there was on one to guide him. He had to choose: go out of the castle with Panos and figure it out himself - only knowing where the winged golden ship of the Valkyrie was, or, go to the men who seemed most likely to maim or harm Panos as he seemed to have a strange connection to the things that happened to the men of this castle.

Vahşi hesitated, glancing down the hall toward the scent of Love and his men. While he hardly needed to anger the new ruler of the planet, he'd have a lot to answer for if Panos got hurt. Huffing in irritation, he hefted Panos into a slightly more comfortable position over his shoulder and started toward the last place he'd seen Justice Kolton's ship. Although he didn't know if it was still there, at the moment it was his only chance of getting off-planet.

**

Going back through the capitol was a vast experience apart from the one before. Word must have spread about the change of power because the populace had come out in jubilation. Vahşi's ears hummed with ringing through the collage of cheering - a great deal of the population had come out of their solemn homes to fill the walkways, dance and pass bottles of alcohol. The spirit of revolution swept fast within the castle-watched city.

While Vahşi was trying to make it back to the gates with wounded Panos over his shoulder, an assault bolter rifle in his other hand in primal leather armor - he was bound to get looks. The mix of blood and flowery scents first drew in random people among the main channel that led from the castle straight to the gates. They stared hard - unsure what to make of it, deciding if to intervene or not.

For most, Vahşi was able to simply walk through, being such a small man he now had a presence among them and was able to part them by his being's attendance alone. The smells of perfumed blood drawing people's eyes but repulsing them from him.

He walked through the crowds of towering wolfish gentry for over a half hour - seeing the Justice's bird-like ship still sitting on a landing pad atop the gates when drunken men came over with their suit jackets half undone and their faces sheepish. Vahşi had almost thought that he'd be able to get through the crowd without issue, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen now.

"What do you have there with you? Who's she?" The pack of three, eight foot men were laying against the steps against the gate - with the city wide crowd only a few feet behind Vahşi. His nose told him that these were men from Love's hidden base below as he could smell the tunnels off of them. If it weren't for Panos with him, he'd have been more than happy to make a break for it, but with an unconscious person over his shoulder, that was not the way to do things.

"Love gave me permission to get my friend," Vahşi said. "This is her. She got hurt inside the palace and I'm taking her to the ship that brought her here. It has the kind of medical equipment that she needs." The men raised metal cups of alcohol in their own individual paces to their mouths to swallow gradually.

"She smells really good." The Fenrisian tracing his fingers along the stone and closest to the starting of the steps said with a slow drawn out tone of his voice. If there was anything that Vahşi was not in the mood for, it was a couple of Love's men looking for trouble. On his own he would be fine, but with Panos as dead weight, he didn't want a fight.

"Smells as if something happened to her." The middle one adjusted his collar and stared at Vahşi. Now that he lingered in one spot longer than passing the scents of blood and fading semen must have reached their noses. "You have a funny way of treating your friends." The taller wolf man licked his lips and narrowed his eyes aggressively. "I do not think Love would appreciate that kind of treatment and this is his kingdom now."

"I wasn't the one that did it to her," Vahşi defended himself. "She was like this when I found her in the palace." Things would be so much easier if it was just one Fenrisian. He would have been able to dump Panos on the ground long enough to kill the taller one or knock him out. With three facing him, though, he didn't have much chance of doing that. Vahşi was stared at long and hard by the men, holding against Vahşi's strong stance till finally the man in the middle looked at him with disgust and walked off. The other two noticed his leaving and quickly followed him away.

Vahşi gave a sigh of relief and moved on as quickly as he could. Panos didn't seem to have had any difference in his condition since the two of them had left the palace, but that didn't really mean anything since the Lambros was still unconscious.

When Vahşi stepped up to before the golden winged space vessel, a golden ray emerged from an eye shaped metal hole that had shown itself from the bottom of the ship's tail end. The end result became the gradual letting down of the stairs that led back into the ship. The lupian entered and the steps closed behind him, slowly sliding up with a quiet hiss and thudding of rejoining metal. Remembering the right room was the bedroom, Vahşi walked up the small three steps and down the white hall on the right side of the entrance to enter the new room.

On the left side was a white lit table with a golden panel attached to it, the table against the wall and caved in by golden cabinets that appeared handle-less. Their expanse the length of the wall with their square shape of various sizes. On the right were surface areas and furnishings for cooking.

'Charges of the Justice are welcome to emergency equipment.' A female robot voice came from above, several squares on the left glowing a neon vibrant gold. 'Justice Kolton's status remains critical. Emergency flight to Valkure will embark soon.'

Vahşi had no idea what or where Valkure was, but if they got off the Wolfinal, they probably wouldn't end up anywhere more dangerous. Kolton had seemed to be part of some kind of peacekeeping initiative, so while Vahşi was hardly a candidate for a peaceful life, they should at least be able to get help for Panos. "Did you say Justice Kolton is alive?" he asked, depositing Panos' body on the table with the golden panel. Unfamiliar with medbays though he was, it looked like his best bet. Panos' weight on the table provoked another scan, this one going over Panos' body. Red flashes appeared on the panel and it spoke of deep hemorrhaging and signs of blunt trauma in golden - blocky letters.

'Yes. Justice Kolton is currently experiencing the conditions of: severe blood loss, and undetermined limb detachment. 'Undetermined' sounded sketchy to Vahşi, but this was hardly the time to get into a discussion about it. 'His critical status has been alerted to all Justices. Please give patient feeding tubes of fluids.'

Some of the boxes lit up brightly, indicating which ones he should touch. Vahşi really hoped that he wasn't expected to figure out what he was supposed to choose. That was far outside his skill set. Fortunately the boxes opened on their own and displayed versions of IV bags.

'I will guide you though the steps to help the patient, we are beginning flight.'

Vahşi could feel the ship begin to move as the followed the voice's instructions. A couple times he had to wait for the ship's movement to stabilize before he could continue with his work on Panos. Eventually the movement evened out and a mechanical voice announced that they had left the planet's orbit and the time it would take to get them to Valkure.

[Azazeal849]

As Cal turned the pages of the zodiac book, Gina couldn't help but notice that the younger girl flinched and flexed her hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting down her fork.

Cal flushed, looking down at her scorched palm. "When I was cooking..." she responded, her voice low, "I didn't know about the box with the fire inside. It burned me."

"You twit." Gina said, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards. Then she frowned. "Let me see."

She hmm'd as she looked at the slightly reddened skin on Cal's palm.

"It doesn't look too bad." she said after a moment, "Come on, let's get it under some cold water."

She trotted back through to the kitchen and ran the tap, letting Cal hold her hand under it while she refilled the wide, shallow bowl they had previously been using to clean Cal's bruise.

"How did you manage that anyway?" she asked.

"Well I couldn't just ask them how it worked!" Cal retorted, a little defensively.

Gina caught herself. "True." she admitted. "Sorry. I forgot that maybe you don't have kitchen hobs in Serroc..."

"Hobs?" Cal glanced at the box again. So that's what it's called. She shook her head. "No. How do they get the fire inside it? How do they keep it burning, with no way to put wood inside?"

"It's electric." Gina replied.

Silence.

"Ah." Gina said, and wondered how best to explain it. I probably should have guessed after she didn't know what a phone was. Crap, I never did like physics. "Er...the same stuff as lightning, just less powerful. It flows through a coil underneath the ring and heats it up."

She looked at Cal's hand again before letting her immerse it in the bowl. "It'll sting for a while, but hopefully it won't blister up too much. We could try putting that cream the cat-lady gave us on it?"

"Good idea." Cal smiled, then frowned thoughtfully. "These cat-people - they're strange, aren't they? The kittens are, anyway. They seemed suspicious, when I burned my hand. But then the next moment, they were fine, happy again."

"I expect they trust you." Gina offered.

The princess gave a disappointed sigh. "I don't think I'm very good at this nurturer business. I tried to find out something more about why we're here, but I guess they're not used to their carer asking them so many questions. They know you two, though," She gestured with her dry, unburned hand, in the direction of the next room where Manisha still sat. "But I don't know why, or who you're supposed to be."

"I think we should look for mine and Manisha's houses next." Gina said, leaning up against the kitchen counter as Cal soaked her hand. "We might find another zodiac sign, and if nothing else we'll have a better handle on who we are here. Unless you've got any better ideas?"

Cal shook her head again. "No, you're right," she agreed. "The children might know where you live."

The tugging feeling, the attachment the three shared to Vahsi and the prince, wherever they were, niggled at her thinly, as though it were a slim cord stretched over a long distance.

"Maybe we'll find some clue about where Vahsi ended up, too."

Back in the sitting room Taar and Mita were busily eating the fish and licking their paws clean, while Manisha seemed to be trying to resist making adoring noises. Her face hardened when Gina entered, and she started to stare down at her plate instead, eating mechanically. Biting her cheek as she sat down to her own plate, Gina thought she might as well ask the question that she and Manisha had come up with earlier.

"So, kids, how are you getting on with just you and Cal here?"

The kittens gave her the feline equivalent of a funny look.

"It has always been just us and Nurturer." said Mita, who appeared to be the more observant and assertive of the two.

"I know," Gina said lightly, trying to gloss over the error. Perhaps the too-tall drawer in Cal's bedroom was just designed with Bayn'gul in mind, rather than short-arse humans. "I mean, what have you been up to?"

"We are happy." Taar said as he licked his paws clean. "Koolkal made us tired in hunting practice today."

"That's good!" Gina said, nodding and smiling. "The harder you work at it, the faster you get better."

She stopped to chew a forkful of the spiced fish, and decided to try a different tack.

"This is really good, Cal, thanks." she said before turning back to the two young Bayn'gul, "I remember the first time I had Cal's fish...do you remember when we first got here?"

Mita's ears cocked forward. "It was fun being so little, then being given to Nurturer. Nurturer always made delicious fish."

Mita's tone quietened as she spoke to Gina about Cal, and both kittens' ears began to flutter again. Seeing that they were uncomfortable, or perhaps that the questions weren't appropriate for her as-yet-undetermined relationship with them, Gina decided not to press them any further.

"She certainly does." she agreed, standing up and picking up the empty plates to take back to the kitchen. She paused and looked at Cal and Manisha. "Hey, this is a bit random, but do you guys mind if I have a shower before we head out again?"

When Manisha seemed interested in the fact that there was a shower available, Gina let her go first. She hoped that the small dose of normality would help their new companion's nerves, even if Gina's own interactions with her remained strained for the time being.

When Gina's turn came she kept the water cool, to help keep away the tiredness that was starting to come over her. By the time of the Greek palace they had left it was coming on for late evening, while here it still seemed to be the middle of the day.

Despite its other modern conveniences the house seemed to lack a hair drier, so she simply wrung out her wet hair and pleated it up before climbing back into her brown robe. When she got back downstairs the others were already waiting. Cal had put the Bayn'gul ointment on her hand and face, and her bruised cheek was already looking less black. Gina packed the zodiac book into a woven satchel that Cal had found in her room, and added a number of the red flowers from her basket - just in case they needed to trade something a second time. She stopped the flowers from getting crushed by putting them inside a box from the kitchen, which appeared to be made of something more or less like Tupperware.

Without any better pretext to get Taar and Mita to lead them to Gina's own home in the village, she and Cal suggested to the children that they race.

"We are going to race...?" Mita purred, pursing her lips.

"Yeah, I gueth." Manisha said, cautiously eyeing Gina and Cal as they stepped back outside. Her brown hair was heavy against her shoulders from her recent shower.

Two hours had passed since the girls had gone inside, and the sun was only a silver over its peak, eastbound. Gina looked up at it for a moment when she noticed the seemingly backwards direction of travel. I guess Kysmaet must spin the other way. Regardless, the world around continued to live on, the market filled with Cat-People - or Bayn’gül as they had now all learned from Gina's books.

"Mhm...?" Taar agreed with his sister, though he looked hesitant about it too. Their feline eyes met Gina and Cal's encouraging smiles. Manisha scratched her nose. The Bayn’gül children clutched their hands and ran back down to the dirt thoroughfare, taking a right and rushing through the market.

"Lets not lose them." Gina said, as she took off after the two at a slightly awkward run. She was a good track runner, but not quite so good in sandals and a loose robe, with the unbalancing weight of the zodiac book thumping along in her shoulder-satchel.

Trying to keep Taar and Mita in sight as they tore off through the market, Gina couldn't help noticing that the other Bayn’gül didn't seem particularly pleased by the undignified display. The adults were swishing their tails with irate expressions as they looked down at the children, rushing through the scattered market shoppers. Hisses quietly seethed from their lips.

"Sorry!" Gina called out as she weaved past them.

Cal was a little way behind the redhead - running was not something she'd ever had to do much of, but she kept Gina and the kittens in sight as they dodged between bystanders who definitely did not look pleased at the disturbance. It couldn't be helped now, though. Glancing back to make sure Manisha was still behind her, Cal continued through the crowd, trying to avoid the eyes of the irritated market populace.

Hissing Bayn’gül judged their every step through the market, the two children going ahead with laughter just as when the young women had met them. Manisha was running behind, hands on her breasts and gripping to hold them down, face cringing.

The length of the market concluded when they were led downhill to a view of loosely dense trees, each several stories tall. Sunlight spotted through the branches. Winding through them the dirt thoroughfare continued - it seemed that these exotic trees were the homes of the people. Built into their massive trunks were wooden domes, steps rolling their way up to the domes from the roots. The visible population of Bayn’gül jumped from two dozen to over a hundred. The feline people were walking from tree to tree, deeper into the woods or trekking up the hill. They gave the women small nods but smiled at Cal.

Gina returned the nods of the nearest Bayn’gül as she glanced around. She had seen pictures of redwood trees that were big enough to hollow out and drive a car through, but she hadn't seen literal tree-houses. She didn't have time to stop and appreciate the engineering though - she halted just long enough to look back and see that Cal and Manisha were still with her before running on, following Mita's grey-striped head as it bobbed away through the crowd. The children were not stopping, diving straight down into the back and forth traffic of their people.

Cal couldn't help but pause momentarily; the forested area, though vastly different to the dark woods that surrounded Serroc, set off old alarm bells. The wood there had not been a place one roamed carelessly, and the last time she had been there, it had been as a prisoner. Manisha caught up to her as she paused, and Cal took a breath, knowing she must plunge onward if she wasn't going to lose sight of...

"Shit!" she cursed, for in the growing crowds, she could not see the redhead in front of her, let alone the kittens, who had not slowed as they raced onward. "Come on!" she urged the newest arrival to the group, taking Manisha by the wrist as she hurried forward again into the trees, eyes scanning the crowd for Gina's telltale red hair and lack of feline features. Was that her, just ahead? "Do you see them?" she asked her companion, a little breathless as they hurried onward.

Manisha gave her held wrist only the quickest of displeased glances, while her other hand pointed instantly to where Gina had been. Her eyesight must have been sharp, to know where the young woman was among a mass of Bayn’gül taller than her.

"There." Manisha muscled around Cal, trying to take the lead herself and yanking the purple-eyed teen beauty with her.

Gina reappeared ahead of them, strands of her ginger hair frizzing away from her windswept scalp and pleat. For a moment Cal caught a look of panic on the other girl's face before she zeroed back in on her and Manisha. No doubt, after what had happened to Baka, Gina was paranoid about any of them getting lost in a crowd.

"Okay guys?" Gina queried as an expression of relief relaxed her features. "Just letting them race, just a bit of fun." she added, the explanation directed at one of the nearby Bayn’gül. The cat-people had indeed been giving them glances and smiles as they passed, though with their urgent chase of their Bayn’gül children, the smiles they received were short-lived and became confusion.

There was nothing for it but to press on after the laughing children, until Taar and Mita spiraled up a tree about half a mile into the tree village. The wood steps were smooth but showing the nicks gained over time, and the girls' thighs were given a straining test as the steps were tall from one to the next. The winding stairs mercilessly spanned up several stories tall, to meet a dark and glossy-finished wooden door.

"Well done!" Gina panted at the kittens, leaning gratefully up against the doorframe to catch her breath as she joined them at the top. "Little hunters in the making."

A rail followed the steps up around the tree and Manisha held onto it all the way, looking fearful of both the amassing height and the pain they forced her legs to go through.

"Time out," the Greek girl wheezed as they approached the top. "Thith is tho difficult. Oh Areth..."

Gina tried not to cringe as Taar openly frowned at Manisha when she finished her raspy-voiced, lisping words. Cal, inwardly sighing with relief that they had not lost each other in the crowd, arrived at the top a moment after the other two, breathless and red-faced. Seeing Taar's questioning look, she struggled to keep her composure; luckily, years of practice made it a less difficult feat than it otherwise would have been.

Mita looked up at Gina after staring at the door for several seconds - no one having opened it. Upon the door was no knob, only a flat metal square where one should be. The square was large, assumingly the size of an adult Bayn’gül hand.

They hadn't said whose home this was going to be, but Gina took her cue from Mita's expectant look. Still panting, she let go of the doorframe and instead placed her hand experimentally against the metal plate.

Curious, Cal watched as Gina pressed her palm against the door. She couldn't see how that would work, but it would scarcely be the strangest thing she had seen on her travels so far. She touched her own palm, her thoughts returning for a moment to the device Gina had called a hob.

Upon Gina's contact the door swooshed open quickly, almost taking her hand with it in its speedy pull into the wall. She stumbled over the doorway but kept her balance as her feet awkwardly danced on deep-brown hued wood. When Gina managed to look up, she saw an odd alien equivalent of a studio apartment; she could see the furnishings of a bedroom, kitchen and small study compromised of one bookshelf and a chair that faced the windows - all in one square room. Aside from the entrance only one door led off, into a small enclosed cubicle that Gina took to be a bathroom.

Through the windows, the light of the sun filtered through leaves and left nature's shadows on the floor. The bed was the only thing messy - wrinkled by a Bayn’gül man sitting on it. His coat was pitch-black, reflecting the sun's rays. When Gina's surprised eyes met his, his feline green irises zipped to everyone behind her and then sought the ground at his feet shamefully.

He stood, showing he was quite a bit taller than all the women, but when the three took a moment to stare they saw upon his forehead was a P shaped symbol, with a strong horizontal line stemming from its base. The rune looked to be shaved to make a fleshy symbol, rather than tattooed as Panos and the travellers' marks had been.

"That'th important, right?" Manisha asked, slapping Gina's shoulder and proceeding to openly point at the Bayn’gül man.

Yes probably, Gina thought, But some subtlety might be nice. She condensed the thought into a sharp nudge of her elbow into Manisha's ribs.

The Bayn’gül cleared his throat. His long night-black tail swished gracefully and he rubbed his arms - the girls able to see the slight indents and flexion of muscle through the fur.

"Koolkal comes here?" Mita asked, very puzzled and confused.

Cal looked from the kittens to the adult feline - so this was Koolkal. Mita was clearly surprised to see him, and his expression was one of someone who had just been caught somewhere he should not be. She supposed this must be Gina's house, since the door had opened so readily for her, but what was the children's hunting teacher doing h...

"Oh!" Cal said aloud, the most obvious solution dawning on her; then she blushed crimson at the thought. A princess did not have relationships outside of marriage, of course, but she knew what men and women were wont to do well enough; servants and commoners had lesser expectations than she had, and she wasn't entirely ignorant of their dalliances. The teenager giggled, sneaking a look at Gina to see her reaction - which transitioned from hesitant confusion to the perfect oh fuck expression as she realised what Cal was suggesting. Cal remembered herself just in time, and tried to seem composed.

"Hello, Koolkal," she greeted the Bayn’gül with a nod - obviously the children's nurturer would know their teacher, and it would be odd if she didn't greet him. She tried not to seem surprised to see him there, hoping it would allay the children's curiosity if it seemed their carer was unfazed by his presence.

Koolkal hastily fixed the bed and began walking straight towards them - but they could see on his face that he wanted to go through them to leave.

Cal didn't move from where she stood, in the doorway. The symbol, if their past experiences were anything to go from, meant he was important somehow - they had better try to find out why before they let him go. Gina seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Wait..." she blurted out at the towering Bayn’gül, "Stay. Please."

Koolkal halted, stuttered something, and looked away.

Gina took a deep breath, looking from Cal to Manisha and trying to think of any other possible explanation. He can't be stealing anything because he'd have just bolted. He isn't my flatmate because there's only one bed. And if he was just a friend visiting he wouldn't look so bloody guilty...

"Everyone just...make yourselves at home." she said, to stall for time as she put her satchel down on one of the surfaces of the kitchenette, and used the excuse to unpack the flowers and the zodiac book. She let the latter fall open on top of the Tupperware box - if Manisha had recognised the symbol shaved into Koolkal's forehead, then it was probably Greek...and therefore might be one of the book's clues. Shifting through the many empty pages, the book opened with the symbol boldly printed on the left page, while on the right its description was simple - imprinted in the center, "Pluto: Sexuality, Obsession, Pain, Rebirth, Disease, & Secrecy".

Oh great.

Gina caught Cal's eye and glanced down at the book, stepping aside so that the other girl could look at the clue. As she shuffled back round to the front of the kitchenette, she could see that her invitation for everyone to relax had been about as successful as she had expected. Koolkal's eyes kept off all the women, and even the children picked up on the tense social environment and kept quiet. The Bayn’gül tails wagged, man and children, in the silence.

"Tho....why are you here?" Manisha asked Koolkal, who in turn glared at her feet and looked away once more.

Too far away to elbow Manisha in the ribs this time, Gina raised her eyebrows sharply at her in an expression she hoped the other girl would read as stop talking, now.

Oh god, we need some privacy for this.

"Can you give me and Koolkal a minute?" she asked the room in a strained voice, before taking a hold of the Bayn’gül's furry wrist - too big to close her fingers around - and tugging him towards the front door.

To her relief, the taller and stronger-looking Bayn’gül simply allowed Gina to pull him to the door. Touching a matching silver panel on the inside wall sent the door swishing open again, letting her guide Koolkal out into the warm, breezy air of the balcony beyond. Gina steadied herself against the wooden railing as the door closed behind them. Her heart was beating against her ribs, out of a nervousness that had nothing to do with the tree-trunks tapering away downwards or the speck-like Bayn’gül milling around on the ground below.

"So what am I supposed to tell them?" she asked Koolkal, looking up at the kittens' hunting teacher.

"Is humiliation a new punishment you will give me?" Koolkal asked. He never looked or spoke in challenge to her; rather he was keeping his head low and his eyes to the side. His tail wrapped around his leg loosely - the very end of the tail spasmodically twitching until it calmed against his thigh. "You promised me pain, in private...between us."

Oh for fuck's sake. Gina thought, caught between the pressure of the moment and the absurdity of it all. Am I his Dom?

"Remind me why you deserve it." she told the huge Bayn’gül, injecting a little sternness into her voice and hoping it would mask her thudding heartbeat.

Koolkal whimpered deep in his large torso, and his body shivered - eyes never leaving the ground but moving to Gina's feet.

"Because I'm filthy, diseased." he said with self loathing, "Sick and you still love me, break me."

"That's enough." Gina snapped, only half in character. "Now listen. What are you going to tell Cal and the others?"

"It was a mistake for me to be here. I am nothing to you..." Koolkal replied back steadily.

"I don't think you understand." Gina said. She blinked, marshalling her thoughts.

He's got a mark - we need to keep him on side. Obsession; rebirth; secrecy.

"Did I tell you to leave when the others came in? No, I asked you to stay. We..." She hesitated. "What's between you and me is our business, no-one else's. I didn't bring Manisha and Cal here on purpose. Taar and Mita went running up before I could stop them. So what do you want to tell them?"

The Bayn’gül man's dagger-thin irises scanned up from Gina's feet to stop at her lips - taking interest in them.

"I was...hiding here to improve their searching through the jungles..." His voice lacked command as he remained before her.

Gina nodded, relieved. To be fair, it wasn't much worse than any other excuse they might have come up with on such short notice.

"That'll do." she said, and beckoned the tall Bayn'gul back towards the door. "Come on."

* * * * * *

As Gina and the children's tutor conversed outside, Cal took the opportunity to look around the room. The information given about the symbol on the books' open page seemed to confirm her suspicions about the two's relationship, though the inclusion of the word diseased gave the princess pause, her small nose wrinkling in instinctual distaste. Finding no further information she could glean there, she turned her attention to the rest of the abode, determined to be more useful here than she had proved in her own home.

At least I got us fed, even if I didn't find out much, she excused herself.

The small space didn't take long to explore, and she quickly found her way to the desk and chair that provided an office space. Trying to seem casual and natural, for the children were no doubt watching, she opened the desks drawers, her eyes flickering over their contents.

The first drawer offered no real clues, containing only the writing tools one would expect to be stored in such an area. The second, on first inspection, seemed to be no more help. As her gaze moved over the small collection of herbs and the blade within, her heart twinged with the memory of all that had befallen their party in the world they'd first been plunged into - the Prince's shooting, Baka's death. Impulsively, she reached in to pick up the knife, holding it uncertainly for a moment before slipping it beneath her robes, tucked into the band of her undergarments. As her fingers touched the bottom of the drawer, the wood seemed to shift slightly beneath them. She frowned, reaching back in to prod at it, and pull at its edges. The bottom lifted; it was false. The space beneath held several unfamiliar tools - cylindrical tubes tipped with wickedly sharp-looking metal points. Each was filled with a green-yellow liquid.

Shaking her head in confusion, she moved to the third and final drawer, her nose wrinkling again as she opened it. The smell that hit her nostrils was rather overwhelming. As her watering eyes focused on what it held, they widened. Were these instruments of torture? Or... again, the girl blushed as she closed the drawer, hiding the collar, whip and leather gags and bands from view once more. They reminded her of similar 'tools' she'd seen in her mother's chambers... and she wasn't entirely sure it was torture they were used for.

The two children sniffed, their noses wrinkling before they giggled and looked away embarrassed.

"I'm mithing thomething." Manisha said while looking at the two children share their joke. Coming over to where Cal was, she peered inside, gasped and started to laugh. Her hand dived straight for the collar and grabbed it. She lingered on it with a tinge of pain - missing her Bestie. The gag and collar must have reminded her of the woman she admired. She pulled out the whip.

"Maybe the people will trade thtuff for thith later..." she suggested, shaking it to make the flailing ends dance. It also sent the scent spraying out, and the children looked increasingly uncomfortable as they neared the door and kept their heads low.

The door hissed open to readmit Gina and Koolkal, the former stepping around the Bayn'gul kittens and offering them a smile as she set eyes on them.

"Koolkal explained everything." she told them. "He was hiding up here to test your hunting skills - I just wish he'd told me first..." She frowned as she registered their twitching ears and tails. "Are you two okay?"

Cal's eyes shot from the obviously upset kittens (no surprise, she thought - though the smell had no particular significance to her, their feline noses would be more powerful than her own) to Gina and Koolkal, re-entering the room, to Manisha, quite comfortably holding the whip in hand.

"Manisha!" she hissed sharply, a little panic rising in her chest and calling her to the ingrained defense mechanism of her royal heritage; control and command. "Put that away! Now!"

Manisha stared at the whip, playing with its tassels one more time in fond memory. But she was suddenly ready to move on.

"I'm going to put it back now, maybe no one would want it..." she outwardly reasoned, setting it back in the drawer and shrugging. She turned to Gina and the cat people with a slight tilt of her head. "Hide and theek on the bed...I've played thothe gameth before."

Her voice lowered into a mischievous chuckle. Her brain began to tingle and she rubbed her forehead; she had really wanted that whip.

Cal stepped forward, partially obscuring the other woman from view as she smiled at Koolkal, outwardly accepting the reasoning for his being here, though mentally she doubted that was the truth of it.

"Your commitment to their learning is wonderful," she said, "And you found him! Good hunting!" she smiled now at the children. Their tails and ears still twitched, and she wondered what they would make of the object Manisha had revealed, and the odour that came with it, which Koolkal would surely smell too.

Koolkal nodded to the children who clapped their hands and both placed their touch on his arm. He had almost flinched, a twitch of his facial muscles, but his body held stiffly. Taar and Mita accepted the worlds easily enough.

"We were lucky!" Mita said up to him. Yet again the children wiggled their noses and looked at the open drawer with uncertainty, while the black Bayn’gül secluded himself from the reaction with an aversion of his eyes. Manisha stared one more time down into the leather holding box and finally pulled away, just as Gina crossed over to them. The redhead hurriedly closed the drawer holding the bondage implements, but frowned when she saw the herbs and, more importantly, the barbed tubes sitting under the displaced false bottom of the drawer.

Gina shot a quizzical look at Cal and Manisha. When Cal responded with raised eyebrows and a tiny shake of the head, Gina frowned and ran a hand across the bookshelf behind the desk, as if she were looking for something. Evidently she didn't find it, but it didn't seem to deter her for long as she bit her lip, looked down at the sprigs of herbs again, and lifted out the false bottom they rested on to place them on the top of the desk.

"A quick test for you, little hunters." she said, closing the door and turning around to smile at Taar and Mita. "We know you can track but how good's your fieldcraft?"

She carried the herbs on their wooden slate over to the kitchen worktop. There were two kinds - one white, one pink.

"Who can tell me what these plants are and what they're for?"

Mita pointed to the leafy green plant with four square white petals. "Apercon, that makes people sleepy and warm!" the young one recalled with excitement.

Koolkal stared at the openly displayed flowers with shock, that he swallowed down and averted with a turn of his head. Taar had moved himself over to the stock of flowers to stare down the pink ten petaled flower with black dots.

"This one is for really sick people..." he whispered.

"Rosenon..." Mita whispered with shock, and covered her mouth with her hands, gasping.

"Don't be frightened." Gina said gently, hiding her anticipation that they might be on to something. "And do you know what it does?"

The two children were enthralled with fear as they lingered on the herb Mita had called rosenon.

"It slows the sickness." Mita said, whipping her tail around. Together with Taar, she looked at their nurturer with worry.

"Why does she have that...?" she asked, while the two took pulling steps away from Gina to Cal and indirectly Manisha.

Alarmed, Gina had to think fast. She was careful not to accidentally glance at Koolkal, keeping her eyes on the children. She didn't try to pursue them as they backed away, and instead pulled up a stool next to the worktop and sat down.

Cal's mind was racing - Gina was the one who seemed to be good at making up explanations, not her! Both the children were looking at her expectantly, seeking reassurance. She reached out her arms to them, allowing them to sidle closer, and recieve affection if they wished.

"I bought it a while ago, because I thought I should." Gina said quietly, saving Cal from having to respond, "You never know who could be suffering in silence, do you? I wanted to think that they could come to me for help if they needed. Without the...stigma."

Throughout the act, she was still careful not to look at Koolkal. She shrugged, and stood up.

"Don't mind me, guys. I'm too sentimental for my own good. And don't you two worry," she soothed the kittens. "There's no disease around here."

She scooped the herbs up to put them out of sight in her satchel, still on the kitchen worktop. Her attempts to soothe however seemed to have failed, as the children still sought comfort from their nurturer.

Cal knelt to pull both of the cat children firmly into her arms, one hand clutching each of them in a quick embrace before pulling back to rest a hand atop eithers' shoulder.

"You have learned so much!" she exclaimed, the image of a gushing parent - or so she hoped. "I'm very proud of you both. I know Koolkal is too!" she added, throwing an unintentionally warning glance at their teacher, who was still acting like a scared dog with its' tail between its' legs. It was only reaffirming her first assumption - clearly he had everything to do with the strange things they'd found in Gina's house, and was not happy about them being exposed. But what had at first seemed funny, now annoyed her. The children were already suspicious, and his odd behaviour would only exacerbate it. And yet she didn't want to send him away - what if they had more to learn from him?

Giving each child a kiss on the forehead, she released them, standing to cross to the door and open it. Peering outside at the afternoon sun, she had a thought.

"Koolkal," she said, her voice regaining some of its prissy authoritarianism, "We are going to Manisha's dwelling, now. You should accompany us. Help me ensure the children do not wander."

With a glance at the book, her thoughts returned to the mention of sickness, and the children's reactions to the healing herb. Was Koolkal sick? Or Gina? She gave a worried look to her friend. Was it life threatening? And if so, was she putting them, and the children at risk by asking the feline man to join them?

"How are we going to go to my place?" Manisha asked Cal audibly, poking her shoulder for input. The Bayn’gül children stared at her briefly and scratched at their heads while they held onto Cal. Their eyes had cast concern and bewilderment to one another with the purple-eyed teenager in the middle.

Gina chewed her tongue. Manisha, will you please think before you speak!

"Can you guys wait for me at the bottom?" she asked the others quickly. "I just want to tidy up a bit before I go."

Cal cottoned on quickly to Gina's plan. Being pulled by the young princess, everyone left Gina to 'tidy' her high-rise treehouse home. Wasting no time, Gina herself set about searching the studio flat, kneeling to open the studio cupboards and rummage through the food items and folded clothes that were variously stuffed inside. Nothing was hidden under them, and when she checked the small bathroom she similarly found nothing untoward. Biting her cheek thoughtfully, her eyes fell on the bed as she turned back to the main room. Stepping up to it, she ran her hands cautiously under the pillows and across the mattress, then hauled up a corner to look under it. A flash of white paper caught her eye.

Reaching under the bed, she pulled out a small bundle of folded, discrete documents. Flattening them out; she saw a language of patterned scratch-like pen marks, but with a familiar twinge from her wrist they translated before her very eyes into text she could read. The enlarged text at the top of one read Asylum Application.

Gina took a breath and slowly let it out. According to the papers, she had been planning a trip to the planet 'Valkure'. Underneath was a red-inked stamp of approval. The documents revealed that people from this planet Valkure were due to take her and KoolKal away, on the eve of the thirtieth day of the fifth month. Reasons listed were 'For hostile social environment and medical grounds'

Gina's heart began to beat faster. Between Koolkal's mark urging secrecy and the kittens' fearful reactions to the rosenon herb, she could well believe that it would be dangerous for her and Koolkal if news of his sickness got out. Well, that or they really frowned on humans and Bayn'gül shacking up together. Was that their mission here - to get Koolkal to safety?

The robe she was wearing didn't have any pockets. Twisting awkwardly, she refolded the asylum papers and stuffed them into the side of her bra. Now she needed to find out if Koolkal knew about her plan - after his hesitant, accusing words on the balcony, she didn't think so. She would have to find a private moment to tell him.

But what about Cal and Manisha? Their names aren't on the papers...

First, she needed to know what the date was. The thirtieth of the fifth month might have been today, or tomorrow, or half a year away for all she knew. She scanned around hopefully for a calendar hanging in the kitchen, but she was out of luck. Knowing that Koolkal and the kittens would begin to wonder if she took much longer, she went back to the desk by the window and made sure that the false drawer was back in place. She hid one of the hypodermic needles at the very bottom of her bag next to the herbs, and put a pen and a few sheets of paper from the desk on top of them, followed by the Tupperware box full of flowers. On an impulse she pulled down two of the books from the shelf above, but the blurb of one revealed it to be only a romance novel, while opening a random page of the other showed a surprisingly graphic picture of two Bayn'gül performing a sex act.

"Some porn you're into, girl." Gina murmured to her absent doppelgänger as she straightened. She piled a few more items into the top of her satchel, including a toothbrush and what she thought was a tube of toothpaste from the bathroom, and a couple of fruits from the kitchen that looked a bit like apples.

Exiting the flat back into the dappled afternoon sun, she watched the door slide closed behind her and assumed hopefully that it would lock itself. Climbing down the steps was certainly easier than climbing up, and as she neared the bottom of the spiral stair she saw Cal and the others waiting expectantly. As she trotted down the last few steps, Gina pulled one of the sheets of paper from her satchel and rested it on her hand, scribbling in one corner with the pen until the ink started to flow.

"What's the date again?" she asked, looking at Koolkal as she pretended to write something on the page.

Koolkal looked at Gina's feet. "It's the 28th." he mumbled. "Of Fifth."

[G]

The sun's descent was well underway as they neared Manisha's house, but Cal's thoughts were elsewhere. Her mind was buzzing over everything Gina had filled her in on in the hushed conversation they'd had after leaving the house, drawing back to allow some distance between the three girls and the felines. The mention of the asylum papers worried her; what if Gina was whisked away without her? And Manisha, came the afterthought. The displaced girl was their responsibility now, and it wasn't one Cal wanted to shoulder on her own. It was enough trouble trying to figure out how to get herself through this whole mess alive!

"It's only two days." Gina whispered. She was glancing around periodically, trying to be sure of memorising the route they were taking through the trees. "We just need to keep our heads down and our eyes open. We'll think of something to make sure these Valkure people take us all with them."

Gina won't let us be seperated, the princess thought, glancing at the older girl to reassure herself. She was good at all this - figuring it all out. It made Cal ever more determined not to just be dead weight; so far the only contribution she'd really made was her apparent aptitude for bossing Manisha around.

"Do you think we should ask Koolkal if someone can babysit the kittens?" Gina thought out loud as they walked.

Manisha wiped her hair back, the brown strands beginning to gather a shine of sweat, and she clicked her tongue before she spoke.

"You thould take them. They lotht their mom and you keep lying that the'th thtill around." she reasoned to Cal, as if challenging the younger girl to own up to her lies. "They are your rethponthibility now."

She gave a quick glance to Gina as she finished.

Yes, I know. Gina thought wearily.

She knew it wasn't her fault, but she still felt bad for Manisha and Gigi. The worst thing was still not knowing where the people whose lives they were being forced into had gone. Gina was keen to find the Note Writer and wring some answers out of them. If they can pull people out of reality, they must be able to put them back. she thought, remembering her promise to Manisha back at Cal's hilltop house.

Manisha had a point about the kittens, though. Gina mulled it over - she didn't want to put the kittens in danger, and after the shootout at Panos' palace she had a horrible feeling that something like that might happen again. Then again, would they be safe here without their Nurturer?

Grimly, she realised that there probably wasn't an option they could take that would avoid causing Taar and Mita pain. Take them with us, away from their home...or leave them behind without their Nurturer...or flat out admit that we aren't who they think we are...

"We could ask them?" she suggested. "We'll have to tell them about Valkure sooner or later. Maybe the best thing we could do is let them decide if they want to go or stay."

Cal chewed her lip - the nervous habit had been reverted to so frequently of late. Her teeth were starting to leave an imprint on the soft skin. Her eyes were on the kittens, just ahead.

"I don't know!" she said, the frustration evident in her voice. "Manisha's right, they're my responsiblility but... I'm not a parent! I'm not even of age yet! If we could just figure out whose doing this to us...what they're doing to the ones whose places we took..."

She had the brief, curious thought that she had no idea what was happening in her own home - was there another princess there, accepted by everyone as Cal? Even if they could find their way free of this whole mess, would she have a home to go back to?

Manisha gave her another judgemental look, but the Greek girl's biggest judgment was directed at the series of stairs that wound up the trunk of the next tree, as Koolkal began to climb them with the kittens scampering after. This must have been Manisha's house, judging by the fact that the Bayn’gül were collectively going up them. Manisha's verdict on the stairs came in the form of a heavy groan. For all three young women the journey up was sure to set their thighs on fire.

"Here we go again?" Gina murmured, offering one hand to Cal and the other, somewhat optimistically, to Manisha to help them all up the gruelling staircase. The Greek girl took it, however, and they climbed.

The second set of stairs definitely felt harder than the first. Even Gina, who liked to think of herself as reasonably fit, was feeling the burn by the time they reached the top. Climbing up and down these trees every day would certainly be one way of staying in shape. Taar, Mita and Koolkal were all waiting on the balcony platform, seemingly untroubled by the climb. They stood expectantly beside a panel-activated door, identical to the one on Gina's tree house. Manisha remembered how to open the door, using her hand to do so.

Inside, Manisha's house followed the same studio-flat layout as Gina's, although it was significantly less well kept. A strong flowery scent hit them as soon as they stepped inside, mixed with a slightly musty smell that reminded Gina unpleasantly of her old school's changing rooms. Rumpled clothes were scattered everywhere, on the floor and on several of the horizontal surfaces, and scattered among them were what looked like herbs. The sharp, sweet smell of the plants tickled the girls' noses and made both Cal and Gina sneeze. Looking at Koolkal and the kittens, they saw that all three had bared their teeth in apparent disgust.

"Bloody hell." Gina opined, scratching her nose. "I think we'd better tidy up a bit..."

The children began laughing openly at Manisha as she stared at the surroundings with wide eyes. "Where'th the help around here?" the Greek girl asked, with a disgruntled raising of her privileged nose.

Cal looked equally as disgusted with the thought of touching anything in the dingy room. She sighed, her shoulders relaxing out of the haughty stance she had been bred into. Well, this is a day for firsts, the royal thought, First cooking, now cleaning, too?

"Are you thirsty, little ones?" she asked, licking her own dry lips. They had done more exercise than she was accustomed to in the last few hours, and she was parched. Picking her way through the scattered clothes to the studio's small kitchen, she opened a few cupboards until she located the one that stored cups.

Pulling a few from the cupboard, she wrinkled her nose at the grime on them and rinsed them thoroughly under the faucet, pleased with herself that her deduction of where to source water (the pool of it in the basin below the tap had tipped her off to this worlds' equivalent of a well) had been correct. Filling them, she passed two to the children first, then drank herself.

"Now, you two sit down and rest, while I help Gina," she instructed them, then turned to the redhead. She assumed the older girl would want to use the tidying as a pretext for searching the room for anything that would help them figure out why they were here.

In the end, it was Manisha who found the first clue. The Greek girl was kicking clothes aside with the edges of her feet to sloppily 'clean' the room, when she discovered a silver chain among the crinkled layers, holding a matching coin talisman. Picking it up, she saw its symbol to be of a small claw mark, oriented to the right side of the coin.

While still evidently disgusted, Koolkal's eyes vertically narrowed as he witnessed the talisman.

"An honour by the First Sister?" his grim voice was quiet, but held the hint of a growl. The children meanwhile seemed to instantly take Manisha in some higher regard as they looked up to her with straighter posture.

Gina and Cal looked up from their cleaning. Cal had been busy binning the herbs, while Gina crammed dirty clothes into an appliance with a steel drum which she was 90% sure was a washing machine, and wondered vaguely whether the water for the flat came down from a tank above, or was somehow piped up through the middle of the tree. The idle thought evaporated as soon as she saw Manisha and Koolkal both staring at the necklace in Manisha's hand.

Koolkal kept his suspicions up. "What have you done to earn her honour?"

Manisha blinked, looked at the flowers on the ground and shrugged.

"Gave her herbth, got her fucked up. I know the good thtuff."

Gina narrowly controlled the urge to smack her own forehead with the palm of her hand. Koolkal stared at Manisha, heavily.

"You found a rarer herb for the First Sister?"

"..." Manisha slowly nodded. "That'th what I thaid." She went on to further overcompensate with a forced scoff of superiority. Koolkal lowered his head - whether it was in respect or in shyness was hard to determine.

Gina exchanged a brief, strained glance with Cal, wishing that Manisha had thought of a more evasive answer. Something like it was private, or she wasn't sure if she should say. Alright, ten points for quick thinking, but minus about a hundred for the claim we can't back up. Drugs, for god's sake?

"Have you seen the First Sister recently?" she asked Koolkal, picking up on the possible significance of the name to the three Bayn'gül. "How is she?"

Koolkal shrugged in ignorance.

"The Khal'caan is coming in two suns for..." The large animal-man lowered his ears diffidently. "The cleansing of the tribes"

The two children proceeded to lower their ears in mirror of their hunting teacher.

"There are many sick this year..." Taar mumbled sorrowfully.

The cleansing? Cal repeated in her mind, shooting a significant look at Gina. The other girl looked worried. Was this the reason for the papers they'd found at her house? That the timeframe coincided exactly seemed a clear enough indication that it was.

"Well, I'm sure they'll get better, once they're cleansed," she said reassuringly, smiling at her young charges. "They must come back home, eventually, right?"

What would be worse - to take the children from their homes without a way to return them, or to leave them here, alone? Koolkal was the only other person the kids had mentioned knowing - they needed to find out if there was someone else who could care for them.

"Is there anyone else you'd like to visit today?" she asked them, unsure of a better way to probe for that information.

Taar and Mita shook their heads. "Training." they said.

"Do you think we could go and watch, maybe?" Gina asked, directing her question at Cal, but broke off as she realised that was something was wrong with Koolkal. The silky-black Bayn'gül looked away as his left hand began to spasm, a few fingers twitching.

"I will see you at setting sun." he told the children as he began to take his leave towards the door.

Gina glanced worriedly between her companions and the retreating Bayn'gül as he put his paw to the inner door panel and it swished open. Apparently, unlike the outside touch pad, it was universal.

"I'm going to tell him." she whispered, before bolting after Koolkal. The closing door almost snagged the hem of her robe as she ran out onto the balcony outside. Koolkal was already several steps away down the tree's spiral staircase.

"Koolkal," Gina shouted after him, "Stop!"

The Bayn'gül froze at the sharp command; one hand gripping the outer bannister of the staircase, his ears twitching back against his skull.

Swallowing, Gina hurried down the steps after him, glancing round anxiously at the leafy tree canopy. The people on the ground were too far away to hear them, and she didn't see any other Bayn'gül in the nearby trees, or lurking above. Secrecy, she thought as she joined Koolkal on the sunlit side of the tree, the trunk painted gold by the lowering sun.

"I've got something I need to tell you." she told Koolkal, quietly.

Once again the tip of the Bayn'gül's long tail twitched, and for the first time Gina wondered if the spasms were a symptom of his disease rather than simple discomfort. After the kittens' lack of reaction to Cal's reassurance, Gina hoped that the Cleansing was indeed a sending away rather than the murderous purge it had first sounded like - but she was still worried about anyone else discovering Koolkal's secret before the people from Valkure arrived. Her abdomen twinged, and she found herself thinking ruefully that any more of this paranoia was liable to give her stomach cramps.

"I've got us asylum papers." she blurted to Koolkal as she circled round the step he was standing on and looked at him face to face. "They're coming in two days, to take us away to Valkure."

Koolkal stared at her. If only for the slightest moment, an iris-narrowing hostility swept the gaze of his eyes; and it had been aimed at her.

"That is dishonorable..." he replied. "I should be put to rest like all others. It is the natural way. Do not command me against that...mistress..." He whispered her title, black ears twitching sheepishly.

Gina blinked, wrong-footed. No question of how, or why, just 'honour'? While she sensed that she might be able to force him, it didn't feel right to try - especially when she didn't have the full picture yet. She paused for a long moment, trying to decide on the right words.

"This is one thing I can't command you to do." she said, resting her hands on her hips. "But I can ask you. I mean, what good are you to the people who need you if you're put to rest? Is that really what you want?"

Her words inspired the Bayn’gül to flicker his tail in a slow and thoughtful way. His large body expanded with a breath, and he rolled his shoulders. His features, fusing alien feline and familiar humanoid, held defeat thoroughly. Gina felt a dull pang at his expression.

"The healthy are those who will keep our people strong, not me." was his answer to her, as he turned to continue walking away. Gina put her hand on the bannister, blocking his path with her arm.

"Are you calling Taar and Mita weak?" she challenged him. "They are growing up to be hunters because of you, disease or not. Just this morning another Bayn'gül told Cal how strong they were and how proud she must be. That was you. And..." She hesitated, unsure of the part she had to play, before taking the plunge. "And I don't want to lose you."

Koolkal's tongue came out to lick his chops, staring. Gina could feel the tension of his conflicting thoughts and emotions.

"I was the mistress's toy. We were not bonded, it would be...forbidden."

"If you really think that," Gina countered, "Then why were you upset at the idea of you being nothing to me? It's like I told you, Koolcal - what's between you and me is no-one else's business."

Koolkal gazed down over the railing, to the plethora of Bayn'gül in various states of light, noting how far below they were from the height of their tree. He turned his eyes to the tops of the other trees, the other homes empty of passers by. Gina realised that, like her, he was checking for anyone who could see them, though she wasn't prepared for what he did next.

He purred quietly, coming closer; his feline presence was masculine. He showed only an ounce of dominance before kneeling down and licking her foot, the buds of the tongue scraping across her skin.

Oh.

His tongue was rough and sand-papery against the open top of her sandal, and Gina was glad that he didn't look up and see her knitted eyebrows and parted lips before she was able to wipe the surprised grimace off her face. The fact that her feet were the one part of her body that was absurdly ticklish didn't help either.

She maintained her poise with an effort, and swallowed to clear her throat.

"Get up." she ordered Koolkal a moment later, then softened her voice a little. "I'll see you a bit later. Just act as if everything's normal, and meet me at Cal's house on the eve of the 30th." The shaking of his frame shared outwardly his experience of a shiver going down his spine. Whether it was from pleasure or fear was uncertain. But Gina could easily speculate Koolkal to enjoy a mixture of the two more than anything else.

"Koolkal," Gina added, suddenly remembering something as the silky black Bayn'gül turned to leave. "About Manisha's honour...what does someone normally have to do to get an honour from the First Sister?" The Bayn'gül's tail swiped once in a smooth pacing.

"Give to something great in the sciences, or" he tapped the side of his skull, "the mind" His expression to her was curious but he turned to walk away.

After watching Koolkal leave, Gina climbed back up to Manisha's door, knocking for the other girls to let her in when the touch pad didn't respond to an experimental push of her palm. She wondered if it was fingerprint sensitive or something even more alien as she stepped inside.

"Good. All good." she said, a little quickly, in response to Cal's raised eyebrows and Manisha's furrowed ones. "Shall we finish up here so we can get Taar and Mita to their training?"

Cal nodded, her furrowed brows betraying her curiosity. The redhead would fill her in later, she knew.

Gina glanced out of the window, where the light through the trees was turning from gold to red; creeping towards the sunset where Koolkal had promised to meet the two kittens. Gina stifled a yawn - now that the light was fading, their 18 hour rollercoaster of a day was really catching up with her. Catching the movement, Cal yawned too; curious, how those things seemed to be contagious. She gave a little shudder as that word played through her mind, thinking again of her fear that whatever Koolkal was afflicted with might have been passed on to Gina. But if they were involved, as it seemed, surely it musn't be. Koolkal wouldn't risk her like that, or the kittens, surely.

She yawned again. It seemed ludicrous, to think of sleeping in their situation - but if they were stuck here for two days more, at least, then sleep they must.

"Come on, little ones," she said, smiling at the kittens; who seemed as alert as ever. Cats were nocturnal, she supposed. Her affection toward them came easier than it had at the beginning, and the spoiled girl was surprised to find herself feeling regret at the thought of leaving them. The kittens treated her with a familial care she had never known from her birth mother, and it was something that would be difficult to lose.

[Azazeal849]

Two suns and moons had passed, and the three women had managed to copy the behavior of the others around them enough to continue blending in. Taar and Mita seemed tense, though they were keeping quiet about it. Their animistic instincts guided them to uncertainty within their dome home. But their lives continued, with the kittens leaving for hours to train with Koolkal and then returning - coming back stronger and more mature by the day. They had presented kills for Cal to see; strange alien things looking similar to squirrels, but with prickly fur and long teeth. Each time the children had skinned the catch and prepared it for eating. Gina had thought that the meat tasted oddly like the beef jerky Aiden had introduced her to, shortly after her move to America.

On Gina's suggestion, they had all spent the last two nights sleeping over at Cal's house. The intention was to keep them all safely together, although it also had the added bonus of not forcing them to climb up and down the gigantic trees. Luckily, staying with Cal did not seem to have raised any suspicions or reactions of note from the Bayn'gül. During the hours that the children were out with Koolkal, the three young women had busied themselves with reading Cal's books, exploring the town and engaging hesitantly with the villagers, to try and get a clearer picture of their places here on Kysmaet.

From the books, it seemed that the Bayn'gül were a passionate yet very oppressed culture, held back by the Enemy Within and by the hostile nature of the planet around them. One thing that Gina had noticed was that the Bayn'gül only seemed to consider history or cautionary tales to be worthy of being written down. All other lore was passed down orally, from teacher to student - and that apparently included herb lore. Gina considered it lucky that no-one had come to them looking for the herbs stored around hers and Manisha's houses. Because if they had, we'd be totally fucked.

Travelling around the town with the others, Gina had been surprised to note that the Bayn'gül seemed to be giving her slightly more respect than Cal - which she found odd, considering Cal was the one who was "Nurturing" Taar and Mita. Eventually, from the way a couple of the cat-people addressed her, she had worked out that she was something called a Gatherer. This apparently meant that she could safely navigate the jungles around the village, to gather herbs and other useful plants without being killed by the dangerous wildlife that had claimed a number of the Bayn'gül. Without the benefit of their alter-egos' experience, the girls had immediately resolved to stay within the safety of the village unless they really had to do otherwise.

If the Bayn'gül were respectful of Cal and Gina, they seemed to view Manisha as a nuisance. They smiled and tended to her needs, but the sense of forbearance was definitely there. It had irritated Manisha to the point that she had suggested wearing her First Sister's honour openly. Cal and Gina had initially agreed, in the hope that they could find out more about the First Sister and the imminent Cleansing. But when the first few Bayn'gül had responded with bafflement and a distinct air of grinning and bearing, Gina had made Manisha take the necklace off.

"The First Sister's going to be arriving tomorrow!" she had reasoned.

"Tho?" Manisha had replied, irritably.

"So," Gina had countered, as patiently as she could manage, "No-one else around here seems to know that you had it. What if your other self isn't supposed to have it, and the First Sister calls you out on it while she's here?"

Manisha had relented, albeit with bad grace. None of the three girls had been particularly cheerful over the last two days, apart from a few moments of levity with the children, and the occasional ice-breaking joke or story of home. Gina was worried about them being found out, and by the fact that they hadn't found any more symbol clues despite being here for several days. Cal meanwhile had been getting more and more stressed about what they were going to do with the kittens. She had gently probed to see if Taar and Mita were close to any other Bayn'gül, to see if there was someone else who could look after them in her stead, but none were forthcoming. Asking about the kittens' biological parents had only depressed the children's moods, as the girls learned that they had both been killed in some sort of hunting accident. Cal had cringed at that.

Gina stacked the last of the clean dishes on the rack next to the sink, glad of the distraction that the simple manual task provided. "We'd better go and check on Nisha." she said to Cal, who was drying the dishes on a chequered cloth.

Cal's response was a weary nod. She placed the plate she was drying on the pile beside the dish rack, and transferred them to their place in a corner cupboard.

If mother could see me now, doing maid work and tending to an invalid, she thought, though these sorts of thoughts were coming to her less and less frequently now. Although in reality it had been mere days since she'd been pulled from her home, her former life was beginning to feel a lot further in the past than that.

Gina rolled down her sleeves and wrapped her arms subconsciously around her stomach. One of the more mundane problems that being thrown between universes had caused her was that she didn't have access to her pill, which she had last taken the morning she had been yanked out of West Hills. Now, three days later, she could feel the twinge of approaching cramps in her lower abdomen. Small inconvenience though it was, on top of everything else it was enough to convince her that whoever was doing this to them fundamentally hated her guts.

Then again, she thought glumly, Manisha had it worse. Whatever drugs she had been hitting back in her home universe, the Greek girl was going through some extremely nasty withdrawal symptoms. She had been irritable on the second morning, twitchy by the evening, and today Cal and Gina had woken up to find her in shivering sweats. It had gotten to the point that Manisha was scaring the children; luckily Taar and Mita were gone for now, but they would be returning soon from training with Koolkal and Gina didn't relish what would come after that. She had briefly considered giving Manisha the apercon that Mita had identified to her, but without knowledge of the safe dosage or even how to administer it, she wasn't willing to take the risk. Cal, for her part, had been horrified at first - thinking that Manisha had been afflicted with some strange disease until Gina had explained something of drugs and withdrawals, and the young princess had been placated at the knowledge that Manisha's state was, hopefully, temporary.

Gina and Cal crossed the hall, and were hit by a strong acidic smell as soon as they opened the door to Cal's bedroom. Held inside, Manisha was a mess of sweat and bucket-held vomit. Cal wrinkled her nose in disgust, a hand moving to cup her nostrils, though it did little to block the smell. She hung back in the doorway, sidestepping to allow Gina clear access - the redhead had shown over the last day that she had far better knowledge of how to deal with their companions' state than Cal; who'd never so much as held a friend's hair from their face during a drunken purge. Blood she was used to, though she'd never had to clean it; vomit was an entirely different matter.

"Oh jeez." Gina said with a grimace. She sidestepped around the bed and sat down on the edge next to the bedside table. "How are you feeling, Manisha?"

The poor girl's only responses were mumbles and whimpers. Gina picked up the glass of water they had left on the bedside table and closed Manisha's clammy fingers around it. "Here, try and drink this. We don't want you getting dehydrated."

Manisha sipped at the water, but shivered as it went down.

"Can you watch her for a sec?" Gina asked Cal, as he picked up the bucket and carried it away to empty its pale, lumpy contents down the toilet. It reminded her of looking after Izzy after she got really wasted, and to be fair Izzy had returned the favour at least once.

The youngest of the group followed Gina with her gaze as she left the room, before turning her head to look awkwardly at Manisha. As the bedridden woman groaned, Cal took a few steps toward her. Stiffly, she patted the other girl on the shoulder.

"You'll be alright," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone; affection had become easier for her with the kittens, but she was having trouble counteracting their bad start with Manisha. It was still a relatively new concept to the royal; she'd never really had friends, until Gina.

Gina returned after she had flushed the vomit away and washed out the bucket, and crossed over to the window. She pushed it open to let some fresh air into the room. The market outside was quieter than it had been on the previous days, she noted with foreboding. As a consequence of having to stay inside and look after Manisha, the Cleansing had not been seen by them, but its echos were visible as a noticeable amount of people were missing, including the orange-coloured cat woman who had greeted them shortly after their arrival. It was unsettling, to think of how the female Bayn'gül had shown no signs of discomfort or fear when they had talked to her. Then again, Gina thought, Why would she have admitted it to us?

Manisha suddenly started screaming and crying manic things, her begging cries given to either young woman who would listen to her. Cal's hand shot away from the woman's shoulder, and she looked to Gina with a horrified expression, her small mouth open in shock.

"Woah, woah, shit!" Gina exclaimed as the glass of water went flying, and joined Cal at the bed to take hold of one of Manisha's hands. "You're alright Manisha. You're okay. Look at me. We're here. We're right here with you."

In dire straights, Manisha grabbed onto Gina's wrist and forearm. Beads of sweat stuck to the sober woman, sticky against her pale skin. Manisha's brown eyes, which had been opening and closing, were wide with desperation.

"Pleath make the pain thtop, give me what I need!" Manisha was starting to scream, violently shaking Gina's arm in the process.

"Manisha, STOP!" Cal cried, reaching out to grab at the girls' arm in an attempt to stop her manhandling of Gina. Manisha's chills and quivers ceased with a single groan from her lips as she threw herself back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily to express herself instead.

Cal looked dumbfounded from the suddenly quiet woman to Gina, who was mirroring her own round-mouthed look of surprise. The princess swallowed.

"Tell us what you need." she said firmly, her eyes fixed on the wide-eyed Manisha.

"Wait!" Gina said suddenly, slapping down the hand that Cal was holding out towards Manisha. "What're you doing?"

She looked in concern between Cal and the unnaturally rigid Manisha.

"That's not normal. How're you doing that?"

"I... I'm not doing anything!" Cal said, flustered.

"Then how do you explain that?" Gina hissed, jerking her head towards Manisha, who was still lying stiff as a board and panting loudly.

"I need drugth." the Greek girl belatedly answered Cal's question, after a long delay.

"No, you don't!" Cal shot, confusion and a bit of fright at Gina's words turning into frustration. "That's the last thing you need right now, you need rest!"

Manisha blinked at her, then abruptly turned over and closed her eyes, although she continued to moan quietly.

"Stop it!" Gina half-shouted. "Whatever you're doing to her, stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything..." Cal repeated, shaking her head as Gina leaned over Manisha as if to check that she was still breathing. "I'm not fae, I can't be! My mother is...." She paused, the events of the days before she'd been swept from Serroc, and her home, flashing through her mind. Her mother, no. But her father...

"I can't be," she repeated, her voice less certain. But it wasn't the first time something like this had happened, was it? The kittens had so quickly gone from suspicious to cheerful, when she had told them to. She wasn't unaccustomed to people listening when she commanded them, but this...

Gina was gently shaking Manisha's shoulder, as the Greek girl rolled over and clutched the duvet hard to her chin. "Manisha? You okay?"

"Fuck off." Manisha mumbled, screwing her eyes shut and shivering slightly. "Wanna thleep."

Gina looked from Manisha to Cal and back again, trying very hard not to jump to conclusions. Back in her world, messing with people's free will was Their trademark. But of course, she wasn't in her world any more, and Cal was from somewhere else again. She swallowed.

"Alright, back up a sec." she said, sitting back while leaving a concerned hand resting on Manisha. "What's fae?"

"People with... magic," Cal said, her voice dropping to a habitual whisper at the last word. "They're shunned, in Serroc. You're not allowed to use it, even having it is dangerous! Mother would kill me if she found out!"

She shot Gina a frightened look, her wide eyes making it perfectly clear that she did not mean the statement figuratively.

"I didn't mean to."

"Okay, I believe you." Gina relented, taking a breath and tugging at the hair that fell across her shoulder. "But...how dangerous are we talking? What did it just do to Nisha?"

"Oh," Cal looked at the other woman, then back at Gina. "I meant dangerous for the one using it. I wouldn't hurt her! I...I don't know what I did to her. There's lots of different kinds of fae...it seems like she just did what I told her to." She tried to remember if she'd ever met a fae like that before, but her experience with them was limited.

"I might have done it to Taar and Mita too - when we arrived, and I made them suspicious with my questions. I told them not to worry, and they were fine, all of a sudden."

"This is well fucked up." Gina said uneasily. She twisted her hands.

"How did you do it?" she asked, looking pensive. "I mean...can you control it?"

Cal chewed her lip. She didn't want to ostracize the girl; she knew all too well how fae could be cast aside by those that had been their friends.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I just told her what to do, and she listened. But it's not always like that. I suppose I was worried, with her and the children, before. Maybe being emotional sets it off?"

It was certainly true that she'd lost some of her stiff self-control on this unexpected adventure. And she'd heard of fae before, whose magic flared up when they were angry, or frightened.

"Okay..." Gina said slowly, running a hand through her hair. "I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like the idea of messing with people's minds...but it's maybe better if you can control it rather than randomly firing it off, right?"

She exhaled a long breath and stood up, brushing down her loose robe and gathering her hair over one shoulder.

"Alright, let's test it. Tell me to do something."

"Oh...okay." Cal swallowed, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the idea. "Erm...sit down."

Gina blinked at her, and after a moment, shrugged. Cal chewed her lip, frowning.

"Sit down!" she said again, more forcefully this time, but the result was the same. She made a quiet, annoyed noise and shook her head.

"This is stupid - it's not going to work."

"Just try it again." Gina suggested. "Maybe think about how you were feeling when you said it to Nisha?"

"What good is magic if I can't even control it!?" Cal demanded. "What if I get angry, and make someone hurt themselves? Or hurt someone else?" Her lip was beginning to tremble, tears prickling the girls eyes. She'd never asked for this, or wanted it! It wasn't right, it wasn't fair!

"I need to be able to do this, or who knows what I could make someone do!? Come on, just sit DOWN!"

Gina sat down cross-legged, and looked thoughtful.

"Okay." she said, reaching down and tugging her right foot tighter against her left knee. "It's alright, what if..."

She looked down at her foot, and stared at it for a long moment.

"Fuck off!" she exclaimed, and tried to stand up so fast that she tangled her legs and fell down hard on her backside.

Cal's mouth dropped open as the redhead stood up on her second attempt. She looked up at her friend in shock. "It...it worked! Jump up and down! Spin in a circle! Clap!"

"Yeah it did!" Gina agreed in a shocked voice, as she spread her arms and executed a twirl in the middle of the bedroom floor. As she turned back to face Cal and brought her hands hard together, her expression changed to one of dawning comprehension.

"Hey!" she complained, "Stop it!"

Her cheeks still wet with her frustrated tears, Cal began to giggle. The heavy emotions of their adventure had been weighing on the teen more than she realised - it was the first time she'd laughed since she'd been torn from her home, and once the child started, she found it impossible to stop. Her laugh grew louder and more hysterical until she was crying again - at first, tears of laughter - but they soon gave way to real tears.

"Hey, hey." Gina said gently, and Cal felt the older girl sit down next to her and wrap her arms around her. "It's alright. It's just a test..."

"This...all of this...it's too much!" Cal forced out between sobs, rubbing furiously at her eyes in an attempt to staunch the flow. "Who is doing this to us? What do they get out of it?"

"I don't know." Gina admitted as she linked her hands around Cal's upper arm. "Maybe they've got a plan for something, or maybe they really do want our help. Or maybe they're just fucking with us..."

She rested her cheek on the top of Cal's head.

"You know, I asked the same thing back in Austere. But in the end it didn't matter. They were hurting people, and I wasn't just going to let that happen. We're not going to let that happen now."

Cal gave a shuddering sigh, propping her elbows on her knees, and her face on her fists. "Well, we've just got to carry on, don't we? It's not like we have any other choice."

"Until we meet them." Gina said firmly. She leaned forward to stay with Cal as the young princess hunched over. "Do you know what this means? We work on this some more until you can control it, and don't have to worry about setting it off by accident, or around people who don't like fae. And when we get to the end of this bloody trail, you tell whoever wrote the note to put everybody back where they belong."

Cal blinked, peering at the other girl over her shoulder.

"I... I could, couldn't I?" It was the first suggestion that her magic could be a positive thing, and the princess gave Gina a wobbly smile. And if she did go home.. maybe she could change things there, too.